As the World Burns

 

The Arab Spring started with the self-immolation of a vegetable barker over his frustrations with the insurmountable legal requirements and licensing which made making a profit impossible and expressed his feeling of utter hopelessness of his life in one blazing protest sparking a wave of protests which were to spread. The government of Tunisia fell within days followed by Egypt with an assisting push and a shove by United States President Obama pushing Egyptian President Mubarak out the door and all but guaranteed the Muslim Brotherhood would take control of Egypt. Little was known at the time that this had been the design by President Obama. The so-called Arab Spring rolled into Libya next and with a great amount of assistance from NATO powers Muammar Gaddafi was knocked from power almost solely due to the air strikes and other NATO assistance but the plan for any reconstruction failed leaving Libya broken into its tribal elements and some areas under the control of the influence of al-Qaeda and other areas under Islamic State with the rest under tribal control which may prove more stable a practice than the imposed state system from Sykes Picot, the one complaint made by ISIS before they decided to go on Jihad as the New Caliphate which had some degree of merit, but lust for power always overrules sensibility. The next stops were Yemen and Syria. These appear to be currently the play of power of Iran using Yemen to gain control of vital waterways off of southwestern end where the Red Sea exits into the Gulf of Aden and on into the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean all through the choke point known as Bab-el-Mandeb which is the name of the straights with which Iran wrests control for all shipping traffic through the red Sea including Suez Canal traffic and sea traffic from Israel and Jordan coming south through the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea on to Africa or Asia. Closure of this vital waterway would provide a causes belli of war should Iran block this waterway bringing Iran in direct contention of Europe, the far east and much of commercial shipping which would normally use the Suez Canal. Such a blockage could rapidly escalate out of control with nation after nation declaring their rights being challenged and commerce being directly affected adversely.

 

But the Arab Spring quickly became the Arab Winter as Egypt had a second set of massive demonstrations even larger than before which were more widely attended including students and businesspeople and others from nearly every walk of life which eventually led to the Egyptian military replacing the sitting government which had been on a fast track to implement Sharia, at least the interpretation of Sharia by the Muslim Brotherhood which they would have inevitably used to place themselves in the sole position of appointing the future Presidents and members of parliament thus giving themselves dictatorial powers. These new moves came to attempt to change the military hierarchy which was one step too far and the military balked and took down President Morsi and his government claiming to be doing so in the name of the people. Meanwhile there was a reshuffling of the Tunisian government to make it more representative of the people and guarding against trading the old dictatorial governance for religious dictatorial governance, a similar but less drastic measure than the one necessitated in Egypt. And the demonstrations began in Syria but unlike the previous demonstrations the one in Syria did not receive the full and hardy backing of the Western nations thus the peoples demonstrations slowly morphed into a disastrous civil conflict which itself morphed into a large Sunni against Shiite war front which spawned the Islamic State which took control over a sizeable area of Syria and Iraq. The latest development has been the introduction of serious air power and missile assaults by the Russians in defense of their naval base at Latakia, Syria and in support of their chosen ally, Bashir al-Assad and the introduction of IRGC troops, the special forces of the Iranian military.

 

Eventually the Egyptian governance worked its way to what all hope will be regular, open, free and fair elections on schedule with the results truly representative of the Egyptian electorate. Hopefully the same can be said for Tunisia which also appears to have settled from its early days as the lead of the changes which swept much of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). There were also the unsuccessful or muted. The first were any demonstrations in Saudi Arabia or any of the nearby GCC countries such as Bahrain, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. There potentials for demonstrations in Saudi Arabia, where a number of Shiite Imams had given sermons to emotionally prepare their adherents to challenge the authorities, many ran out into the streets that fateful afternoon and looked up and down the street and realizing that they were cut off at the end of the block at both ends by security forces, armed so as not to need to discuss principles; so the Shiites calmed themselves and went home without incident in virtually every case and any case where the reaction was different was squelched so fast that it made no news. There was one exception which was Bahrain. Bahrain is ruled by a Sunni Monarch but is predominately Shiite and this led to street demonstrations of a severity which the Monarch was not willing to use the force which would have been required to put down the rioting demonstrators but also could not allow the lawlessness to continue. This required the King Hamad Ibn Isa Al Khalifa to make a call to his friends over the causeway in Saudi Arabia for assistance. The one thing known to the people of Bahrain that should the Saudis come to the rescue of their King, then they may have gone a bit too far and their time left to continue their actions is limited to as long as it takes the Saudi Arabian military to arrive to restore order. This was a particularly large demonstration which almost lasted four hours until they saw a disturbance heading towards the Island of Bahrain along all six lanes of the causeway between the Saudi Arabian mainland and their Island, three lanes in each direction, except this was all six lanes heading for the Island. As the vehicles came closer it became obvious these were Abrams tanks and Armored Personnel Carriers which meant that unremitting and lethal force was coming to their demonstration. This took the wind out of their sails and quickly the demonstrators dispersed rather quickly and peaceably with a small number of fools not heeding the obvious. They were quickly subdued and turned over to the Bahraini officials and the Saudis returned home a week or two later with a small rotation of forces remaining for a month or two as a reminder.

 

There were some rather sizeable demonstrations in Iran where pleadings were chanting for President Obama to assist their cries for freedom and representative governance. There was no reply from President Obama as he had this plan where he would be the one to bring Iran in from out in the cold through negotiations with the Supreme Leader. This plan had no room for new representative governance or for the people’s revolution. President Obama’s plan called for him bringing the previously unapproachable and immovable when it comes to that which he believes and the way he rules and the desires and directions he wishes to take the nation are completely unchallenged as his word is treated as if it were the words from Allah himself. This would eventually play out well after the demonstrators were routed by the Basenji Militias and other extreme police and security forces. The universities were put under a lockdown with security and Islamic observance groups patrolling the dorms and grounds. The end result was an additional term listening to the rantings of President Ahmadinejad, violently put down democracy demonstrations, and after a painfully extracted and pathetic set of surrenders which may or may not be finished and a nuclear treaty with a ruling elite who are not exactly known for keeping promises, meaning what they say or doing what they say or in the end having said what they said as everything is negotiable and even the meaning is open for an ever changing series of interpretations even to the point that what they say means exactly what they mean it to mean at the moment they say it. Deals with the mad hatter or Cheshire cat would be more trustworthy, and didn’t we decide that the President was a lookalike for the Cheshire Cat such that we labeled him Cheshire man as in the picture below. Perhaps that picture may be the closest thing to an accurate depiction of the reality dealt with in making the Iran Nuclear Deal.

 

 

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani smiling for report on how he and Iran charmed the world reminding all of the evil laugh as the Cheshire Cat faded away leaving only his wicked smile and it just fit calling him the ‘Smiling Cheshire Man’

 

 

The problems from the Arab Winter have just begun. The real problem is still a full generation away, a good fifteen years before everything begins to blossom and explode upon the Western world. Presumably, Iran will legally be capable of perfecting and testing ballistic missiles which will give them all the time they could possibly need as they will be completely free to produce, or should we say finally assemble the necessary parts to make their nuclear warheads using the technology perfected by their scientists or by following the methods used by either North Korea and thus be completely ready to produce deliverable warheads using such designs or be using their own designs, whichever way they decide to branch into nuclear warhead designs. Iran can take their time and while working on their nuclear warhead designs and production they can begin the hardest part of the challenge facing them, the proselytizing within and outside of the Islamic communities in Europe and the United States and other Western World Nations to drastically increase the numbers of Shiite Muslims more so amongst those living outside MENA though there will be some moves outside of the ardently Sunni states such as the GCC, Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey (though Turkey might be a more ripe for change than many believe). This will be accomplished with the monies freed up by the Iran nuclear deal and target the young who may find Shiite Islam’s dynamic Jihadi strengths more attractive than the more sedate Sunni Islam which is a more conservative approach.

 

The next three years will see between thirty-five-thousand and fifty-thousand “refugees” from MENA invading Europe and sending a fair number to the United States and Canada, especially if these nations remain under leftist control, especially the immigrations offices. Do not get me wrong, the majority, even the vast majority of these will be actual refugees as almost any family which can manage to get to Europe or the United States, the Western world, the first world, such a transit would be a welcome improvement in their lives as even the poorest family in the Western World live in a level almost unimagined other than for the wealthiest in their nations in much of the MENA world. Over the rest of the decade these refugees will likely repatriate with another ten to fifteen people per family. Eventually there will literally be an army ready to impose Sharia across all of Europe and there will be swaths of land in the United States which will be “no-go zones” just as they have in areas around many British, French, Swedish and other European countries where police and even fire and rescue personnel refuse to enter except in force, will populate many areas around numerous cities and training areas may be found in the countryside acreages around Europe and the United States. What many are unaware of is that there exist such training ‘cities’ outside numerous cities in the United States already and these ‘cities’ are well guarded and only allow Islamists known to their group and they hold firearms training and some even hold tactical training and live-fire exercises.

 

 

Terrorist Training Centers in the United States
as of 2002. Just Imagine How Many and Where
They Are Now and How Many We Do Not Even
Know of That Exist in the Middle of Nowhere?

 

 

These are the stark realities facing Western Society which the governments are ignoring at their people’s own peril. Why these known camps are being left to their own devices while the FBI infiltrates neighborhood militias and paramilitary militias which often consist of some friends who are ex-military and enjoy target shooting and having paintball outings or even some which simply are reenacting Civil War or Revolutionary War battles. The future is not yet written in stone but it had been stenciled into wet cement and it is starting to dry and will take a while to cure thereafter but the stencils are still malleable, their final story will be up to the people if they decide to take government into their own direction and this may mean many people making whatever sacrifices are necessary and perhaps work for or make a needed new political party or influential branch of a party like the Tea Party had started to make inroads but it will take a long term commitment and it will take families deciding the time has come for regular families to take charge of the governments such that the governments will serve the future of the Western World and the family unit with an emphasis on control of the education of the children as they will be the future and if they are not better prepared than we were, then there will be even less hope, and hope is all there is right now and we cannot lose hope or our future.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Importance of Sizeable Revolt as Boehner Wins Speaker Vote

 

It is suspected that the day after reports in the mainstream media will belittle the Republican Representatives who voted against reelected Speaker of the House Boehner emphasizing their failure while intentionally ignoring the fact that had all the members of the House of Representatives voted their revolt would have succeeded. What they will omit from their reporting is that the real reason Speaker Boehner won reelection was due to the funeral for former three-term Governor of New York Mario Cuomo as this event drew twelve Democrat Representatives attendance thus missing the vote for Speaker of the House. Subtracting these twelve Representatives from the 435 members to a maximum of 423 voting which changed the number of votes necessary to win the Speakership from 218 to 212. As all of those attending Mario Cuomo funeral were Democrats, this resulted in changing the numbers necessary for the Republican revolution to change from 28 to 34 out of the total number of potential Republican 246 votes. As if that was not enough, the final voting recorded only 408 votes cast which meant the Speaker Boehner needing 204 votes which raised the number of votes required to prevent Boehner’s reelection over 40, something well beyond the original 29. Despite the daunting task ahead to garner the votes to block the Speaker’s reelection and the obvious lack of votes, the original 15 decenters still raised another 10 dissenting voters but getting beyond the 25 count proved too much of a mountain to climb.

 

What is lost in all the numbers is that the number of dissenting voters was the greatest revolution against a sitting Speaker of the House in recent history. The revolution also makes the expected effectiveness of Speaker Boehner to control the agenda more challenging leaving him two directions which he can seek to get the necessary support. The direction the conservative and constitutionalist leave for Speaker Boehner is to lean in their direction and work within his party. The other direction would be to find either a dedicated core of Democrats willing to agree to support a neutral agenda thus giving him whatever votes he might need to replace those Republicans who oppose his direction and support for compromise legislations. The other problem is that no matter which direction will be taken by the Speaker, the legislations he passes along still must pass through the Senate and even then get past a veto from President Obama as he has guaranteed to do in his recent statements. The direction the Speaker will be availing himself of will become evident early on and thus define where the opposition will be concentrated. The dissenting Republican Representatives will very possibly gain additional Representatives who may have refused joining the revolution against the sitting Speaker but actually align politically with the revolutionary Representatives as polls showed that sixty percent Republicans who voted in the last elections opposed Boehner being reelected Speaker making their desires for new and more conservative direction.

 

These facts brings us to another important subject that the current Republican majorities in both Houses of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, to deliver on their desired conservative support and avoiding severe compromises where the Republicans are marshalled to reach compromises which appear more like simply surrendering and adopting the liberal, progressive agenda. This will only serve to further alienate the Republican base. A very significant portion of the Republican voters are demanding for their Representatives in both Houses of Congress to define the Republican platform through their legislative agenda even if sending such legislation to the President results in his using his veto to block every bill. What would surprise very many people is that much of the truly conservative, constitutional agenda would be supportable by numerous Democrats in Congress as their constituents may be inspired to call in support such legislation. This is not to say that the Republicans will not face a confrontation to their agenda and that there is any guarantee the Democrats will not attempt to filibuster in the Senate which begs the question as to whether the Republican controlled Senate will adjust the cloture rule back to the 60 vote requirement or simply leave the nuclear option of requiring merely a majority vote to gain cloture and end debate or a filibuster. Should the Republicans adopt the rules as they were in the previous Congress we can expect some real shouting about the Republicans killing the Senate by changing the traditional rules while leaving out of the argument that this nuclear option was initially voted into place by the Democrats during the previous Senate when they had the majority.

 

The coverage given virtually every Republican piece of legislation or even making the rules exactly as they were under Senator Harry Reid in the previous session would receive damning coverage in the media. In reports from the ‘newspaper of record’, the New York Times, and the other most quoted papers which includes the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chicago Tribune, the Seattle Intelligencer or other far left media will make the story in almost identical wording casting the Republicans as the greatest threat to civility and transgressing all the rules of decency by their motivations and enactment of rules. The truth that the Republicans were simply adopting the currently standing rules will not stand in the way of reporting that the Republicans are adopting Senate rules which will grant them dictatorial powers and squelching all oppositions. There will be polls taken which claim that the Republicans are overreaching and destroying all the historic rules which had stood for close to two-hundred years. We can expect such a ruckus while making mountains out of ant hills casting the Republicans as the usual ogres and spawns of demons that the Republican leadership are often defamed with all while not reporting anything weighty nor making honest reports. What is coming is nothing new nor is it actual news. The editorializing by the papers and their overt partisanship should not alarm anybody as the carrying the water for the Democrats has been guiding their path for decades and have yet shows any desires or indications for changing any time soon.

 

We can also look forward to hearing many sound bites and speeches from President Obama with some being given with media present instead of simply releasing a press release. No matter how the President decides to give out his disdain for the encroachments on a whole series of life on the planet, the media will simply accept everything he announcemes as truth. The President will castigate the Republicans for taking actions which are killing the planet, destroying the safety nets which help the poor, refusing to permit undocumented citizens from joining the rest of society in the light, and that they are destroying the medical coverage provided the entire citizenry by altering of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. There will also be skits on Saturday Night Live, Comedy Central and other places all spoofing the Republicans as the brutish knuckle dragging dolts just as they have been betraying the Tea Party movement members. Each channel will use the same phrases which are best received by the public simply as if it works once, it should work every time.

 

So, in conclusion we did not receive sufficient numbers of Representatives to replace the Speaker of the House but at least neither did Nancy Pelosi as the only thing that can be stated with absolute certainty is that Boehner is an improvement over Pelosi and McConnell is an improvement over Reid. That leaves an election to place a preferable person in the White House; something I feel will happen even if it ends up being anybody but a Bush or a Clinton, even if it ends up being Elizabeth, I’m a Native American, Warren; and who knows, maybe the Americans can find some new leadership and start to revive an America that the world can be glad is back on track, even though once that comes to fruition the World media, particularly the European media along with the rest of the Western intolerant media sniping at their every values based decision. Americans ask why the Islamic world despises them so completely and the answer is so easy to see. Right in front of their own eyes they can see the problem, it is the face the world receives thinking this is what America is all about. They see America as America is represented in the media which makes America in their eyes as Miley Ray Cyrus (born Destiny Hope Cyrus), Justin Bieber and the rest of the media favorites from Hollywood, the music industry, advertising and commercials and anything else from either coast. What is missing from the view many around the world and especially in the Muslim world not get to see as often as they should if they honestly desired to know what makes America great, the regular working class American. What is so great about the regular working class American is that they are so much not regular as they are exceptional. Many of these very same regular working class Americans have the exact opposite morals as are portrayed in films and television and other media, they are industrious instead of frivolous, they are modest, not empty braggarts, and many are believers in G0d even if they are not church goers and they have a strong sense of morality and responsibility. What would shock the followers of Islam the most would be the average American residing in what the elitists call flyover country as they would see something they do not recognize. There are many elites from Islam who know very well that the vision they paint of America is false, but they use the horrid image of the media to paint the average American as a debauched boor seeking only carnal pleasures and the other sins of the flesh rather than a believer in G0d and having exemplary moral characters even if they stumble from time to time. There are many Americans who have lost sight of the ordinary American who may be ordinary in America but is something extraordinary everywhere else. We must remember that it was those unusually silent, mostly unseen, hard-working, completely dedicated, moral through and through, down to earth, selfless people who have saved Europe twice in the last century ending both World Wars. Let us just hope Europe will not need saving once again.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Is a Bloodbath Rapidly Approaching?

During most attacks and even murders perpetrated by Muslims, the perpetrator often shouts Islamic phrases and insults mixed with Quranic verses while stabbing, shooting or even beheading their victims. There are the same claims from authorities and Islamic leadership with statements released by authorities claiming the act had nothing to do with Islam and that immediate precautions are to be taken to secure Islamic neighborhoods and Mosques due to the fear of revenge attacks against Muslims. The authorities give admonitions that any violence against Muslims will be treated with the utmost seriousness. Then we are reminded that, and I quote, “Islam is the religion of peace.” Then, on the other side of the coin, often when figures are released depicting increased violence against Jews and anti-Semitism the statement is almost always accompanied by claims that there has also been a concurrent increase in violence against Muslims as if one excuses the other. All of this is probably not being done in order to show equality and equal treatment of all segments of society, even those which apparently are in need of special note whenever there might be the possibility that they might feel opposed in the slightest way. These actions treating Muslims with special kid gloves whenever an extremist Islamist acts as extremist Islamist tend to act are not having the intended effects. Actually they are having exactly the opposite effects than what I hope they are intended, namely to diminish any latent and gathering resentments and anger which eventually will cause a backlash that will be beyond any ability of the authorities to prevent or even bring to a stop once it begins.

 

It appears that the undertow builds towards a breaking point; it appears that the Europeans in numerous countries are experiencing it at a much higher level than in the United States or Canada. In England there has been a group of Christian youths who wear the Crusader’s Cross and patrol the bus, tubes (subways for the Americans) and other public transit on the routes which pass through Muslim neighborhoods, especially those which claim they enforce Sharia, and escort single women protecting them from any violence or harm. This is a laudable reaction to what had started to become a real problem but for every one taking the route of making a difference through positive actions, how many are simply not finding a constructive release and a seething is building inside? How long before such people explode in violent acts which will only serve to increase the animosities and friction between the two cultures. Such explosions when they are singular acts eventually fade except that eventually one such act will occur during a period of heightened emotions and sensitivities and lead to a domino effect which eventually explodes into a massive assault and breakdown of civility and law enforcement. The damage and other results of such a riotous explosion of violence pitting two communities against one another will result in heightened animosity and raw nerves which may never heal and simply lead to a constant and building violence erupting between the two communities eventually leading to a total collapse requiring the imposition of martial law before order can be restored. The question comes is what happens if the men and women in the military instead of reestablishing order break their ranks and instead act as individuals each joining their respected community which will add military weaponry to the violence and making it a war for the heart and soul of that nation. And the terrifying possibility is once such open warfare begins in one nation it then poses the possibility of spreading across the entire continent or even be the spark which, like the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, will be the spark which ignites the next global war with the division being down religious lines.

 

Such an explosion should be feared by every sane and rational people. How this eventuality can be avoided is something that people should start pondering and take the necessary actions and soon. The cultural differences are producing a growing emotional violence which will not remain suppressed forever and the government officials are in denial and refuse to recognize the stresses and strains which are about to tear the fabric of their societies apart, shattering the calm and pitting one side of the society against the other. For this to be avoided a path must be found to support and invigorate the reputed majority of Muslims who desire for Islam to truly be the religion of peace and desire for Islam to live in balance and peace with the other religions and even the atheists and to live and let live to take charge of their religion. If while on the path to empower the peace loving Muslims who are reputed to desire to coexist, even to the point of putting the on their vehicle without fear of retribution, that their numbers are insignificant and that the Islamists extremists are a sizeable segment of the total and they are supported even if not joined by an even larger and frightfully significant percentage of the body of the Islamic faith, then we will know that there is no possibility for a reformation and transformation to bring Islam into the modern age where religions are no longer universally set on spreading their faith to all nonbelievers, even by the sword. The sooner the truth of the beliefs of the vast majority of the one to one and a half billion Muslims with whom we share the planet, the sooner we can understand what this struggle will require if we wish to retain out pluralistic multicultural world and honestly believe it is worth saving.

 

Beyond the Cusp