As the Pacific Far East Crumbles Away

 

Eight years of steering the United States away from even the slightest whiff of conflict or controversy leaving virtually every former ally stuck out in the wind swept stormy seas of fate have started to leave some palpable damage along the Asian Pacific Rim. These damages may only last until the few weeks after the next Presidential Inauguration or may be cemented with more to follow; it all depends on the coming, and it can’t come too soon, American Elections. The slow tear between Washington and Manila may have just torn well past the turning point as the State Department may decide to hold on an agreed arms shipment for the Philippine Police because a single Senator, Benjamin Louis “Ben” Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland, informed them he would block such a request. It seems unusual for an already approved arms deal would be held, maybe cancelled, because a single Senator raised his displeasure unless his displeasure was requested from a higher source who preferred hiding in the shadows this close to the election. No reason to risk the Philippine and other related votes in what might be a closer election than the media has painted. The reason, apparently, for Senator Cardin demanding the weapons be withheld was due to the violent manner in which the Philippine authorities are carrying out their resolute and determined crackdown on the drug lords and their criminal enterprises. The claim is that the Philippine government is using extrajudicial killings against the drug gangs because obviously there is little chance the drug gangs might be resisting the efforts to close their operations down. It is interesting to note that extrajudicial killings is exactly the same charge made by leftist Europeans, leftist Americans and the Arab lobby to throw at Israel whenever a terrorist is killed instead of coddled like a harmless puppy.

 

In nearby Malaysia, Premier Najib Razak also had some suggestions for Washington, though he directed them at the West in general referring to the former colonial powers when he cautioned, “It is not for them to lecture nations they once exploited on their internal affairs.” He was referring to the July lawsuits filed by the United States Justice Department implicating the Premier in a money-laundering scandal referencing more than three and a half billion dollars which were allegedly misappropriated. The Justice Department charges could not have anything to do with Najib is looking to strengthen ties with China and his recent six-day visit to Beijing. The United States State Department cannot be overly happy as Premier Razak’s China visit followed on the heels of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit. Not to worry folks, it’s all part of fundamental change President Obama promised in his October 30, 2008, speech where he stated, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” We would say job well done except that the entire job is not near finished. Yes, the news from the Far East, particularly the Philippines and Malaysia, but many allies of the United States have held silently strong knowing, or at least hoping and praying, that the United States would return to its former policies and things returning to previous normal. The four year hopes died hard and the eight year prayers will be determined within the coming five days even if there are states making recounts.

 

Malaysia Philippines and Indonesia

 

There is a theory that no matter the results of the Presidential Election there is one coming end of term surprise from the White House, a surprise President Obama wants the visceral satisfaction of performing personally. This is one that is so personal that President Obama may even take a vacation and visit Turtle Bay and the United Nations in order to call a Special Session of the Security Council to hear a proposal to solve what he has determined is tantamount to the root of all problems in the Middle East if not the world, solar system, galaxy or potentially the entirety of the Universe and all creation, Israel and the formation of an Arab State for the ‘Palestinians’ in Judea and Samaria with East Jerusalem as its Capital City. President Obama would be sure to relate how the recent UNESCO decision which removed all Jewish and Christian connection to the Temple Mount or the Old City of Jerusalem, which is most of East Jerusalem, and that it is solely a Muslim Holy Site thus would serve as a natural capital for a new Islamic Palestinian nation. This would be his argument along with the seeming international itch to take away a fair sized additional chunk of the lands originally promised for the Jewish State and form yet another doomed to fail Arab Muslim State reneging yet again making a mockery of international treaties. The only surprise would be such a move being vetoed by one of the other four permanent members of the Security Council; Britain, France, China or Russia. Is such likely? In a word, “Yes.” As to which one, that remains to be seen. Our guess has three in the following order least to most likely, China, Britain, or Russia.

 

That leaves a single pair of questions. One is whether nations which have started to distance themselves from the United States could be gathered back to the warm bosom of Washington and all the wondrous prizes that includes? Should the next President and advisors in the administration return to a more traditional set of policies, then time will reset most relations. Some of those who have moved away or distanced such as the above mentioned Malaysia and Philippines and includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan and an additional small selection largely in Eastern Europe will move further from United States orbit unless concerted and deliberate efforts are expended. Even then the chances of returning all will prove near impossible. Nations such as Iraq and Egypt may be lost for the foreseeable future as Russia and China pick up influence. Still. The majority of estranged nations would gladly return given the slightest of efforts. That is the good and the bad side, but there is a worse possibility.

 

What could be worse than losing as many as a half dozen or potentially more lost due to the changes made during President Obama’s Administrations? Well, the continuation of this path which is and always was an idea which found favor in the State Department no matter the President and their policy preferences. Many Presidents since some time after World War I and the infestation of Progressive, Leftist anti-American policies siding with virtually every enemy of the United States changing hands while the highest levels nurture whatever opposing force of the moment that faces the United States with the chain simply altering as the leadership is always passed to those supporting the subversion. These State Department employees are Civil Service workers who are protected by Civil Service rules and very strong unions, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) or the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE). There have been instances where these unions have been suspected on working on campaigns, something quite unethical if not illegal. Should the advisors from the State Department continue in their privileged positions for setting foreign policy, then the current damage will only come closer to becoming permanent and the United States losing her position as leader of the free world. There are those who are claiming that continuing the current policies will lead to the death of the free world. Our comment is to say not so fast. There are places where freedom is still strong and others where freedom is slowly growing. Will there be a terrible and rough period? There are always such, the areas affected simply change with time. Hope should never be lost as cycles are a constant and things constantly change and that is unavoidable. As for what level of hope one should hold? Wait just a bit and we will get back to you on that.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Time to End Minhal Ezrachi and COGAT

 

Both Minhal Ezrachi (Civil Administration) and COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) are obsolete, counterproductive, anti-Israeli, anti-Zionist and well beyond their use-by-date. They both were established during the heady and oft wrong-headed days after the Six Day War designed to administrate over the formerly Jordanian occupied lands, illegal under every last line of applicable International Law and solely recognized by Pakistan and Britain, with the potential purpose to permit their ready status to be traded with Jordan in exchange for a peace treaty. Well, Israel has her peace treaty and Jordan renounced their false claims thus the reverting of these lands of Judea and Samaria back to their rightful owner under applicable International Law, Israel. That should have been the end of the story and Israel should have annexed these lands legally registering the residents as resident alien citizens granting them limited political rights within the areas they constitute a majority but barring them from national elections until a means, path and completion of becoming Israeli citizens was accomplished. Those refusing such should have been encouraged to emigrate even to the point of bribery. That, after peace was reached with Jordan would have been the end of the issue.

 

Instead, Minhal Ezrachi, COGAT, the elite ranking officers with the Minister of Defense (or without if need be) plus the Supreme Court backed by a core set of Ministers of the Knesset from both sides of the aisle all support the status-quo. All of these disparate entities have a stake in this game as it extends their control over the lives of the littler people starting with the Israelis residing in Judea and Samaria and continuing through the remainder of the population. There are any numbers of reasons this fiasco which could be resolved and settled once and for all is instead perpetrated indefinitely. Most of the players are fiercely guarding their power to control people and areas plus retaining their well-paid positions as commanders in the IDF and their path to the highest echelons and beyond into politics or a cushy job once they retire from serving in the IDF. These are careerists more than soldiers who claim they know what is best in Judea and Samaria constantly painting the area as fraught with dangers with a wild-west kind of vibe where only the Military keeps things from worsening. They also prevent change and thus progress to a solution. They see their responsibility to extend a situation in such a manner such that the IDF continues to rule the area, specifically the Israeli or, more accurately, the Jewish Israelis always calling for additional soldiers and funding as everything is forever escalating with just the right inclusion of progress which becomes erased and any freedoms further curtailed at every terrorist strike.

 

The Supreme Court simply is chasing that perfect society as they envision Israel. They view Israel quite differently than the average Israeli. The Supreme Court is largely a political dinosaur from the 1950’s Israel as the Supreme Court is largely, along with the position of State Attorney General, a self-replicating monster which perpetuates the socialist utopianism of the original court with extreme leftists all with minimal numbers as exceptions. They would feel at home on the Haaretz Editorial Board. They could best be described as Universalists and post-Zionists. They believe in Israeli democracy over Israel as the Jewish Homeland which they view as too exclusive; and they are multiculturalists as well as ultimate protectors of the human rights for everyone and even more so the determined underclass, in Israel’s case, the Palestinian Arabs. The Supreme Court Justices treasure their acceptance by the elite of Europe, particularly the leading government figures and the elite of the European Union. The Justices crave the approval of these leaders and paragons of human rights, post-modernism, multiculturalism and, of course, internationalism which call for the erasure of borders and above all the acceptance of the other who while having been raised under oppressions existing from their past treatment at the hands of the Western World and whose culture is equal if not superior to the Judeo-Christian, never to mention Jewish culture described and laid out in Torah, and must be not only accepted but treated with respect denied Western Culture. These are open border with state guaranteed wage, a combination long proven to be the views adopted just before the fall of near countless civilizations throughout history.

 

What makes all of this far more theater of the absurd than simple fiasco is for reasons unknown Jordanian law is enforced in Judea and Samaria by the IDF as directed by COGAT and the Minhal Ezrachi backed by the Supreme Court and allowed such insanity by the powers on both sides in the Knesset with a few select exceptions. Observing Jordanian Law is anti-Semitic as selling land to a Jew is punishable by death and simply being a Jew on land under Jordanian law is illegal punishable by deportation to Israel within the Green Line, the apparent intent of numerous NGO’s and much of the Muslim world plus the rest of the planet with few exceptions, or death. By observing Jordanian Law it was thought it would facilitate the return to Jordanian occupation. This was despite knowing that the Jordanian occupation was outright illegal as the border between Jordan and Israel was set as the Jordan River in so many treaties including but not limited to the San Remo Conference, the Treaty of Sèvres, the ,a href=https://beyondthecusp.wordpress.com/treaty-of-lausanne/ target=blank>Treaty of Lausanne amongst others which culminated World War I as well as Article 80 of the United Nations Carter which further codified the Mandate System. These treaties give Israel first right to all of Judea and Samaria as well as voiding any and all of the land grant provisions by which leading members of the Jordanian government and friends of the King were granted deed to great stretches of these lands such that all the lands were gifted in this manner and largely was never developed. These land claims are utilized by NGO’s such but not limited to Peace Now, Yesh Din and Rabbis for Human Rights to sue any and all Israeli building in Judea and Samaria. These demolitions brought on through the Supreme Court by direct filing these NGO’s attack Jewish buildings from a single stand-alone home to entire cities such as Amona, which is currently under threat, as well as other “Jewish settlements” which are considerably larger and more developed (see picture below). Direct filing with the Supreme Court is legal and done in this case so that the liberal, left-leaning Supreme Court Justices can rule without requiring any investigation into the legality or even existence of actual Arab ownership. Evidence is taken as if vetted and verified thus these NGO’s need no tangible proof and an entire city can be ordered erased. When cases are filed to actually claim the land in court, many such cases are resigned from the docket before even a hearing as the claimant has withdrawn knowing the entire claim to be bogus.

 

Larger Jewish Settlement Under Threat of Demolitions

 

Many of these NGO’s including those licensed and claiming to be homegrown pro-Israel groups are part of a post-Zionist, leftist, universalist groups which are all predominantly financed by European, American and other Western and Universalist entities receiving often less than one-third and some next to no funding originating in Israel. Some of the monies come from individuals directly, surreptitiously or through front groups or organizations; more from individual governments who also use other NGO’s to put distance, deniability and insulation between them and the monies; and some is funneled through the long and many tentacles of the United Nations and its various groups which are more money laundering operations than anything else. While almost every nation in this so-called civilized world has laws disallowing NGO’s from obtaining majority funding from outside the nation, some requiring well above half be domestically raised, whenever Israel proposes such a law the Europeans and American leftists, progressives and far right haters of Jews and Israel rise and make a cacophony of cries of complaints, screams of unfairness, yelping that democracy is under attack, squawking that freedom is being curtailed and other hooting and hollering over any-and-everything under the son being squelched and a fascism rising in Israel. All these accusations are made to prevent Israel having the same protections these other nations enjoy. This demanding Israel meet a standard not required of other nations has a name, anti-Semitism. Some claim it is anti-Zionism while others anti-Israel in the occupation, but all three are identical, demanding the Jew, the Jewish State, Israel to be judged by a different set of rules designed for the destruction and dismantling of the national home of the Jews. Yep, that is anti-Semitism.

 

Finally, much of this is the Israeli leadership’s fault. That includes all the leadership; the IDF, the Supreme Court, the media and especially Knesset and political hierarchy. The Knesset and political hierarchy could annex all of Area C with a simple bill with the only thing potentially blocking such a move would be the Supreme Court claiming it had some reason to belay and void the legislation passed by the Knesset. The way beyond that would be change a couple of punctuation and pass the legislation again and again and make it the biggest thing since Jews ate manna in the wilderness and allow the majority to get behind the idea and carry the day. Then Israel could city by city set up local governance for the Arab Palestinians, the former Jordanians, the Arabs holding other than legal Israeli passports; grant them semi-autonomy over the areas where they reside but keep them barred from general elections until they decide and take a path to citizenship. Emigration enticement with assistance in the form of a buyout of property with an added percentage for a clear deed should be Israeli policy including a records check to assure the land was not sold or belonging to another Jordanian/Palestinian Arab or other party. Even in such cases some form of emigration enticement should be in order. Emigrants must be made aware that any unauthorized return within Israeli borders will be dealt with harshly followed by an immediate deportation after prison sentence has been carried out. Israel honestly will by necessity have to annex these lands as soon as Hamas or Islamic State takes over after any remotely free elections. The Palestinian Authority (PA) is mortally wounded and entering its death throes. Abbas is entering the tenth or eleventh year of a five year term. Elections were once again cancelled; the PA had cancelled elections numerous times since their scheduled date of spring of 2009. Law and order is breaking down and radical Islamists are banding together and arming for whoever decides they want the base of operations so close to the heart of Israel. The time to act was actually immediately after the Six Day War with another opportunity immediately after Jordan made peace with Israel. Unfortunately, the Knesset and political hierarchy will continue dragging their feet and claiming that acting is impossible and need wait until the climate changes for the better. We’ve watched the world climate towards and concerning Israel and here have noted climate change and it has been the worst. Time has come to let the dust fly and settle where it will. Waiting has ceased to be the answer. There are six days before the Presidential Election in the United States after which President Barack Hussein Obama will be free to call a special session and pass a binding resolution negating all recognition currently existing for annexation of Judea and Samaria by the Security Council passing a Section Seven Resolution establishing the Palestinian State with the Green Line as its border and the whole of Eastern Jerusalem as its capital. Such a binding resolution would alter International Law possibly forever and would establish and likely add as a full member the new nation of Palestine. This is why action must be decided now and no delay must be permitted. The power to do so lies with the Knesset and the IDF could assist by working to prevent and end their assisting circumventing and neutering Israelis’ rights to settle our land. If we wait, we lose.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Why We Think Trump Had Said NATO is a Problem

 

Donald Trump is doing something of which very few of us will ever understand the difficulty. For people used to blurting out whatever is on their minds, damn the consequences, it becomes even rougher row to hoe. Being of a similar mold and having attempted a run for office you quickly realize that there are some truths you hold close and can never reveal as they are one of many blocks of Kryptonite. The problem arises at some point where your natural nature breaks through and you start to speak one of those truths which must not be spoken and as they start to slip your lips you recover just short of the hidden nugget within which is the real poison to your campaign, so you quickly and abruptly end your sentence as smoothly as possible. The media, the darling little devils, are a devious lot and when they smell an opening, they are like jackals on carrion tearing at the carcass of the bedeviled thought seeking that hidden nugget. When Donald Trump complained about NATO, I got the sense that his problem was not the financial costs as he maintained upon further pressure from many media types. As Trump is closer to a third party candidate where there is no Republican running, he has been pestered and hammered from both ends of the media and his rather combative nature tends to allow for more unforced, though coerced or due to carefully laid traps, misspeaks and half-speaks leading him ever further down the rabbit hole, and wonderland is the worst place for a politician to end up as there it most certainly ends with the Red Queen screaming, “Off with his head,” pointing at them. And who wants to be executed by a horde of red animated playing cards? Such has been the NATO issue and the reason is far more potentially intriguing than the answers we have been giving, not that we disagree with having those nations incapable of providing the troops required to field NATO adequately to its demands having to pay the United States for making up the difference.

 

Thinking of what else Donald Trump might have been told which could include NATO it became obvious when it leaked into our ears, well, before our eyes really, the answer to the riddle and it concerns one of our pet problems with the world, Kurdish independence. The plan is to make Syria a collection of autonomous cantons with the Syrian government responsible solely for those items which cross the borders such as main roadways, money, national defense and others. The first canton mentioned was for the Kurds in the north and northeast of Syria. This was leaked as part of a report by respected Turkish journalist Mahmut Borzarslan who gave information we received in one of our memos from American Center for Democracy concerning a plan being brought forward initially in Syria by the Russians. The initial laying out of the plan while receiving all-out support by the Kurdish representatives was roundly dismissed as pure fancy with no hope of acceptance by the Syrian government of Bashir al-Assad be their position less tenable than they may yet realize. What makes this all the more interesting is that the Kurds would be natural allies to the United States as they have proven extremely helpful in Iraq allowing American forces to concentrate on the bigger problems while they basically ruled and kept straight the entire northern third of Iraq and assisted with the pacification of Mosul. Further, the Syrian Kurds, with assistance from their Iraqi cousins, have had the greatest success against the Islamic State defending their own held areas while liberating other areas with some of the toughest fighting coming for control of the city of Kobanê, which they accomplished with some assists in the form of targeting Islamic State positions with bombings, and a remarkably few at that. The Russians will soon point out that if Bashir al-Assad desires to remain among the living and rule over anything he will need to realize two things, he can only hope to rule an Alawite Canton and only that with the second, Russian assistance and if he desires the second he will need to accept the first. This he will understand even if the Russians need ground their planes, silence their artillery and retreat their forces to hold only Latakia and protect their naval instillations there.

 

There is no means on Earth which would make this idea acceptable to President Obama as his new best friend forever and darling of the Muslim Brotherhood since the fall of Egyptian President Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood government has been Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The removal of Morsi and his gang of undesirables proved the Egyptian people more knowledgeable than the United States President and State Department, the latter not that difficult a feat as it takes minimal common sense and does not require literacy, calling on even the military to retake power as they would be a kinder and more beneficent master. The added problem is where Donald Trump and NATO come into the picture. Turkey is a member of NATO due to their geography. They hold the southern front on Russia, formerly the Soviet Union and the reason for NATO, and control the Dardanelles, the waterway and series of straights leading from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and the world and also the Russian access to a warm water access to the Atlantic Ocean (see map below). Being a NATO member, Turkey could claim and likely verify terrorist threats against her by Kurds being aided and secluded by Syrian Kurds making a case for it being an act of war. As attacking Kurdish region of Syria would place Turkish fighter aircraft in space over Russian zones and might even draw Russian assistance to the Kurdish side as the Kurdish actions have aided Russian interests, they could demand military assistance under the NATO Charter. Should the United States enter such a conflict in even the smallest of means; one could bet the Kurds would have no alternative but to request Russian assistance even simply to provide air cover to prevent bombings as the Kurds have no air forces and likely minimal if any air defenses. Remember that Turkey has already downed a Russian fighter jet under somewhat questionable conditions and Russia is not a nation to forget such and jump at an opportunity to repay in kind and then some. This could quickly get out of hand with Russian and NATO, potentially including United States, aircraft in combat against one another. Does any rational person really want to see where such could lead?

 

From the Sevastopol Docks and Shipyards
Across the Black Sea then
Through the Bosphorus Strait and the Dardanelles
to the Mediterranean Sea and thus the Atlantic Ocean

 

For this reason and numerous others, it will be best left until after the United States Presidential Elections and the late January inauguration before any serious negotiations on such a solution can have any hope to progress. This is where Hillary Clinton can claim that Putin would prefer Donald Trump as both she and dear Vlad know theirs would be a tumultuous relationship at best and adversarial at the very least. If there is to be any cooperation between the United States and Russia on Syria and a host of other areas, then Donald Trump need be the next United States President. Hillary Clinton has already made it clear that her foremost foreign policy objective will be to humble and force Putin to bow before her will from the very first moments of her reign. This is also one of the main unspoken fears, dare we say horrors, many foreign policy theorists and experts foresee. The guaranteed irritant on so many trouble spots and potential disasters would result from a continuation of an American shirking of international responsibilities. Should America continue leading from ever further behind soon to never even arrive, added to a focus on pressing only Russia and President Putin frustrating him while continuing to arm “rebels” in Syria, could lead to an ever greater set of conflicts. Add the blindness to Islamic pressures and subversions would bring much of the ensuing violence down initially upon Europe and soon thereafter on the United States as well. As learned, or not, from both world wars, the United States sitting on the sidelines refusing to lead the powers of democratic governance, freedom and liberty against the powers of darkness and human bondage; be it physical, mental, spiritual or otherwise; only prolongs the insufferable carnage and adds, nay, multiplies the numbers of combatants and innocent civilians slaughtered and can even place the final outcome in doubt as was the reality in World War II where had the Nazis broken through Stalingrad and connected to the Arabian oil fields the outcome may have been very different. Of course should Donald Trump become complacent concerning the possible designs Vladimir Putin may be considering for Eastern Europe and many of the former Warsaw Pact nations, that too could lead in a very threatening and dangerous direction. Oh the trials and tribulations of trying to run the world with so many other actors filling the stage. The solution in Syria will never resurrect the visions of Bashir al-Assad and he may become the sole obstruction to an agreement all the other groups agree with once the Islamic State has been vanquished, an inevitability no matter who wins the election. Such a position would make Assad a problem for Russia, and even worse, for Putin which would make Assad no longer desirable. That would be a very nasty place to be standing surrounded by Russian military and special agents and further, Bashir al-Assad is not unreplaceable with a new and compliant Alawite leader and there are likely quite a few just waiting for such an opportunity. Assad should remember the Arab Code, “Me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; and the tribe against the world. And all of us against the infidel.”

 

Beyond the Cusp