The World Ruled by Iran and Shia Islam

 

Shia Islam is not as well understood to many in the Western World and even Islam is greatly unknown or misunderstood. Islam has a completely separate value system to that of the Judeo-Christian Western World. Islam places a higher priority on the afterlife and portends that the life here amongst the living is supposed to be miserable and hardening of the senses while all pleasure awaits the holy who are obedient in the afterlife. It is part of this philosophy from which the concept of the martyr receiving seventy-two raven haired perpetual virgins in the hereafter. These virgins regain their virginity immediately after the martyr having taken them while additionally his lands have lush green meadows with rivers and waterfalls and the wine flows in near torrents and all the food one could ever imagine becomes available. The afterlife for the martyr is presumed to be the ultimate in sensual pleasures which were denied them on earth as they are considered to have lived perfect lives as martyrdom erased their every sin and replaced it with Quranic study or its equivalence thus not only is every physical and sensual pleasure available in the most perfect of imaginable surroundings, but the martyr will always be in total preparedness to take advantage of these pleasures eternally. This perfection in the afterlife stands in contrast to the defined perfect life for a follower of Islam in this life in the present here on Earth.

 

Let us now look into the defined perfect lives which presumed to be lived and are to be forced upon the people of Earth according to the founder of Iranian Shia Islam, Grand Ayatollah and Leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolution Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini. His edicts and defining laws are to be enforced by every following Grand Ayatollah and Supreme Leader and have been thusfar by the second Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei. Iranian law is based upon Ruhollah Khomeini’s interpretations of the Quran and the Hadiths. These interpretations use the far more austere Shia Islamic versions of these writings as they split from Sunni Islam upon the death of Muhammad as the Shia believe that the right of passage for power must remain within the relatives of Muhammad and disagreed with the choice made by the Sunni Muslims.

 

This split came when the Shia believing that Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was married to Muhammad’s daughter Fatimah, was the rightful successor to Muhammad while the Sunni believed that leadership should fall to the person who was deemed by the elite of the community to be best able to lead the community and thus invented the position of Caliph which led to a series of dynasties. At one point, Ali led both branches as he was selected as the fourth Caliph, but his lead was short lived as he was killed in the Battle of Kufa where the backers of another they desired to be the Caliph assassinated him and seventy-two members of his family in an attempt to stamp out his lineage. The Sunni continued with choosing Caliphs and the Shia next followed Hasan ibn Ali and continued through their Twelve Imams.

 

The definitions and rules set forth by Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini for Iranian subjects were to follow as applied to Shia Islam. These are the laws which the world would be ruled under, should the dream of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini become reality, once Iran reestablishes the Persian Empire with Iran ruling the world. We will be using mostly quotes from his speeches, interviews and writings which will be in bold-italics. Our first quote is, “Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious. Islam does not allow swimming in the sea and is opposed to radio and television serials. Islam, however, allows marksmanship, horseback riding and competition… (source is from Meeting in Qom “Broadcast by radio Iran from Qom on 20 August 1979.” quoted in Taheri, The Spirit of Allah (1985) p.259)). So, first off forget parties with alcoholic drinks, music, laughter and spirited joy. There will be no jokes or humor so Saturday Night Live is replaced with an Imam reading Hadiths so as to raise your spiritual essence. Radio and television will be utilized for the glory of Allah and the furtherance of the rule of the Supreme Leader, the Grand Ayatollah. This quote pretty much defines itself and is not requiring our additional commentary, as many of his quotes will prove to be similar.

 

Supreme Leader and Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

 

“Islam and divine governments … have commandments for everybody, everywhere, at any place, in any condition. If a person were to commit an immoral dirty deed right next to his house, Islamic governments have business with him. …. Islam has rules for every person, even before birth, before his marriage, until his marriages, pregnancy, birth, until upbringing of the child, the education of the adult, until puberty, youth, until old age, until death, into the grave, and beyond the grave.” (statement to his students in Najaf, 28 September 1977. Found in Khomeini, Sahifeh-ye Nur, vol.I p.234-235) quoted in Dabashi, Theology of Discontent, (1993), p.476-7) As far as the Supreme Leader and Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini is concerned, his rule and the rules of Allah as interpreted by him already spread to the entirety of the world. He probably is using the belief that Adam and Eve were Muslims and all of humankind are born as Muslims and are diverted from the true course of surrender to Allah allowing Islam to rule there every act throughout life. This means that the Grand Ayatollah already is presumed to be the true ruler of the world and there are only temporary obstructions preventing this reality, small obstinate reprobates known as nations and followers of other religions and philosophies being utilized to guide the lives of their inhabitants. Of course there are two in particular which were the most foul and offensive to the Supreme Leader and Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini which have alternate reference, the Great Satan and the Little Satan which are also known as the United States and Israel. There is another nation which has also been given special attention, Saudi Arabia. The Supreme Leader and Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini believes that the Royal family are all sinners and blasphemers unworthy of holding rule over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. This is another item which Iran is being armed and prepared to remedy this unacceptable situation.

 

“And I am confident that the Iranian people, particularly our youth, will keep alive in their hearts anger and hatred for the criminal Soviet Union and the warmongering United States. This must be until the banner of Islam flies over every house in the world.” (source Wright, In the Name of God 1989, p.196) Here we again see the solid intent to rule the entirety of our planet as well as his intent to overpower the two presumed greatest powers of his age. “If you have any tie or link binding you to this world in love, try to sever it. This world, despite all its apparent splendor and charm, is too worthless to be loved.” (source Islam and Revolution, p.357) Again we see the belittling of this world claiming it to be pathetic and unworthy of our affections, unlike the afterlife which is filled with splendor. This is an enticing reason for the state of life where the majority of the population is barely scratching out an existence, let alone having excess. The problem is that once people do achieve some level of affluence, even the slightest of affluence, then life takes on some happiness and this is a warning to these people that they should distance themselves from these enjoyments as they are evil sins and only wretchedness in this life is to be found as holy.

 

“We are against this prostitution. We object to such wrongdoings … Is progress achieved by sending women to the majlis? Sending women to these centers is nothing but corruption.” (source Speech in Qom quoted in Esfandiari, Iran: Women and Parliaments Under the Monarch and Islamic Republic pp.1-24, quoted in The Last Great Revolution by Robin Wright c2000, p.151) This is self explanatory. “Islam differs sharply from communism. Whereas we respect private property, communism advocates the sharing of all things – including wives and homosexuals.” (source Abrahamian, Ervand, History of Modern Iran, Columbia University Press, 2008, p.179) There is enough stated here. “Since Allah Almighty has commanded us to follow the Messenger and the holders of authority, our obeying them is actually an expression of obedience to Allah.” (source Khomeini, Islam and Revolution, (1981), p.91) The interesting inclusion here is not so much obedience to Allah as Judaism believes in obedience to Hashem and most of Christianity preaches obedience to Hashem as well and some pray to Mother Mary while others to Jesus, but neither command obedience to the Rabbis or Priests or others in the religious hierarchy, but he is demanding as equal to Allah the commands coming from Imams, Ayatollahs and specially from the Grand Ayatollah and Supreme Leader as well as leadership of the government. This is support for totalitarian governance.

 

Khomeinism Essays on the Islamic Republic

 

When conspiracy dominates political action, then “those with view different from one’s own were members of this or that foreign conspiracy. Thus political activists tended to equate competition with treason, … One does not compromise and negotiate with spies and traitors; one locks them up or else shoots them.” (source Abrahamian, Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic, p.130) This explains the reasoning behind the treatment in Iran of any dissidents. They disagree with the rulers thus are foreign agents and thus spies who are to be treated most harshly. The authorities in Iran often make sweeps through the universities taking any student who has taken part in demonstrations against the government and send many to Evin Prison while the ringleaders are simply tortured and then executed usually by hanging or shooting.

 

The next quote requires an introduction in order to make any sense. Khomeini believed that the huge turnout of Iranians in anti-Shah demonstrations during the revolution meant that Iranians had already voted in a `referendum` for an Islamic republic, and that in Muslim countries Islam and Islamic law, truly belong to the people. “In contrast, in a republic or a constitutional monarchy, most of those claiming to be representatives of the majority of the people will approve anything they wish as law and then impose it on the entire population.” (source Khomeini, Islam and Revolution, (1982), p.56) Here he is simply restating that those with the real power will exercise their power and the people have selected such a governance thus their rule has been validated and no further renewal of the theocratic structure need be taken and everything is set in stone.

 

“We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry ‘There is no god but Allah’ resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle.” (source 11 February 1979 (according to Dilip Hiro in The Longest War p.32) p.108 from Excerpts from Speeches and Messages of Imam Khomeini on the Unity of the Muslims.) Do we really need to comment on this? Well, then we will use another quote. “Establishing the Islamic state world-wide belong to the great goals of the revolution.” (source Resalat, 25.3.1988) (quoted in The Constitution of Iran by Asghar Schirazi, Tauris, 1997, p.69)) Clear yet or do you need some more? Well, we can do that. “We have often proclaimed this truth in our domestic and foreign policy, namely that we have set as our goal the world-wide spread of the influence of Islam and the suppression of the rule of the world conquerors … We wish to cause the corrupt roots of Zionism, capitalism and Communism to wither throughout the world. We wish, as does Allah almighty, to destroy the systems which are based on these three foundations, and to promote the Islamic order of the Prophet … in the world of arrogance.” (source Bayan, No.4 (1990), p.8) This should clarify the aim of the Supreme Leader and Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini set for Iran during his rule and forever after this is the goal set for all Supreme Leaders and Grand Ayatollahs who may follow him. They have the design to end the rule of world conquerors by being the final world conquerors themselves. What could make any more sense? These are the thoughts, designs set for Iran which they actually plan to make these plans into reality, and they seriously believe that they were chosen by Allah to rule the entirety of the world and believe the writings in the Quran which set as the supreme effort of Islam to become the sole religion of Earth. Now the Sunni believe it should be their version of Islam, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey believes he is to be the one by reestablishing the Ottoman Empire and, of course, the Supreme Leader and Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini firmly believed that Shia Islam through Iran is to rule the world. The common thread between these rulers who believe they must conquer and subdue the world is Islam which makes it not just a religion, but also a theory of governance and a military initiative and the developed world had best take note of these delusions because they will be attempted to initiate and complete by actually conquering the world using every ability they can implement from open warfare to infiltrations, subversion, mass conversions, using the tools of democracy to vote Islam and Sharia into power and once in power ending the true democratic form of governance and replace it with the same theocracy as in Iran, as the land would be incorporated into Iran by either surrender or other form of absorption. There is a great similarity between fascism and Iranian Islam and other forms of Islam where voting is actually a sham and the real power is in the hands of the religious leadership through imposing Sharia and the absolute power of the Imams and Ayatollahs with the Supreme Leader and Grand Ayatollah being perceived as directly in line immediately below Allah and Muhammad and only to be superseded by the return of the Twelfth Imam or the coming of the Mahdi. Either would also be a signal of the end times which makes who is ruling at the time of the coming of the end times soon becomes quite irrelevant. Still, the ideas and beliefs of Ruhollah Khomeini spell out the reality about Islam and its designs on the future, namely that Islam must rule all of mankind unless prevented by those wishing not to be ruled by their theocratic hell on earth just so the afterlife will be equally pleasant as our lives were miserable.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Can There Ever Be Trust Again?

 

Despite what is being written and stated by much of the media in the United States, Germany and across the remainder of Europe by the media, there must be some relieved leaders and military commanders in much of Europe and in the Sunni states of MENA and, of course, Israel to have the United States reaching out to many of her more traditional allies. The United States had its nervous breakdown, where anybody that was perceived by the administration under President Obama of being or supporting European colonialization or could be guilty of privilege were considered as an enemy who had to be belittled and brought low, and the winner of the lottery of life ended up being an ally who despised the same nations as President Obama’s White House, which was Iran. This became an obsession and was to become the pinnacle of President Obama’s foreign policy to equal his domestic policy of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The wonderful result is both will have equally horrific results. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will cause economic disruptions and will probably force a number of smaller health insurance companies out of business. His Iran nuclear deal, the Parameters for a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Nuclear Program, will have far deeper reaching effects which may potentially be far more horrific and could cost millions if not billions of lives. It is this foreign policy which will have the farthest reaching of all effects and some of these may present themselves as desirable.

 

There will be some people making noise about a Sunni-Israel alliance which might even join as an appendage to NATO. The NATO talk is pure hyperbole. The Sunni-Israel alliance will be make or break on two specific realities; the first being any demands for Israel to permit an Arab state, especially if the requirement is to use the pre-Six Day War lines, the 1949 Armistice lines from the Jordanian front and especially if it requires relinquishing half of Jerusalem, and second on the next President after President Trump leaves office, especially if that President should be a Democrat similar in ways to Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.

 

The first condition, especially if it should include anything concerning relinquishing parts of Jerusalem, could be a complete dead end and thus no cooperation except in the most dire situations. Israel cannot permit the return to those borders under any circumstance and anyone demanding Israel do so will face the stiffest resistance from the people. Even should there be offers of peace treaties with every Sunni nation, Israel should refuse even that offer as peace treaties are about as permanent as marriages in much of the Western world and any divorce on a peace treaty is far more serious than who gets the house and which car and who pays whom how much each month and all the other messy little details. The end of a peace treaty is more often than not war and Israel has seen enough peace treaties grow cold and in the history of the Jews over the past three thousand years, we have seen nations which allowed the Jews refuge willingly and with great fanfare only to chase them away within a few decades but only after murdering some percentage as a lesson. The Jews slaughtered in the Shoah, the Holocaust, were not in Germany or Poland or France or any of the European nations illegally, they were productive members of their societies and many fought for their country valiantly in World War I. Statistics showed the Jews fought in higher percentages than any other religious group, and yet were treated as traitors and dangerous citizens who needed to be exterminated. Trust, for Israel that should be as valuable as diamond, rubies, sapphires, gold, silver, platinum and even more rare than these and that is why Israel need be careful and guarded. We have been a trusting people and yet that trust was regularly betrayed by every power and nation with which the Jews, the Israelites, entered into from the Persians to the Greeks on to this very day. Giving the Arabs yet another state carved from the British Mandate which was to be the Jewish State would be an act of suicide. The Zionists surrendered seventy-eight percent of the British Mandate in order for the British to honor the second half of their World War I obligation to King Feisal allowing both his sons to be granted their own kingdoms, one given Iraq and the other Jordan. This left the Zionists, the Jews with a mere twenty-two percent and ever since the world has been obsessed with taking the remainder from the Jews. If the world desires peace and truth with Israel, the first step is to stop trying to destroy Israel.

 

The Sunni states claim they want the best for the Palestinian Arabs. They claim that the best would be for them to be granted a state with their current governance taking power and leading them. The same people who have stolen billions of dollars and delivered nothing. How about we try to give them something better than the thieves who have all but imprisoned them starting with Yasser Arafat and continuing under Mahmoud Abbas. Maybe the best thing the Sunni states could do is to give the Palestinian Authority leadership including their security commanders permission to keep their ill-gotten gains and move to Qatar or some Sunni state and enjoy the rest of their lives including their children and everyone else who gained from the theft of funds for all these years. Perhaps arrangements could be for them to take up residence in the same row of villas and high scale apartments in Paris with Ms. Arafat. Then they can work with Israel and resettle the Palestinian families throughout the Sunni Arab world after they receive a generous buyout from Israel for their properties and a resettlement incentive from a combined pool of funds from all honestly interested in settling the Palestinian Arab situation. Their leaders do not and never have had their best interests at heart and that is the misfortune they have suffered and that is the misfortune which needs repair, not Israel as many were moved into the lands by Jordan to make facts to use against Israel. That would be a start for winning Israeli trust and making amends for the years of threats and warfare.

 

That should settle the Arab-Israeli conflict and in some means give restitution to both the Arabs who have been victimized by the same people who have victimized Israel. Israel has no animosity against the Arabs in Judea and Samaria, as they are just as much victims of this conflict as the Jews. Once Israel has received the promised lands which are honestly hers under Article 80 of the United Nations Charter, then everyone can move on. That brings us to the future and what could be a promising which could potentially provide a secure future with the nations in the area actually making an honest peace laying all their cards on the table and then having the bravery and even audacity to reach an accord and actually mean every word of their agreements and build trust. Their agreement will need to be backed by the Western world if it is to have any hope, in particular the United States. This brings us to a crucial point, the promises of the United States. We need now to go back to the great Gaza deal made between Israel and the United States to allow the Palestinian Authority to prove their ability to actually form a functioning nation state. Israel was provided a letter which was authorized by both houses of Congress and signed by President George W. Bush and presented to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with conditions which were to be backed by the Office of the President of the United States spelled in the letter. When President Obama took to the Oval Office he all but immediately reneged on every promise in that letter and the Congress, completely controlled by the Democrat Party, refused to enforce the stipulations in President Bush’s letter which had they chosen to do so by the same margin with which they had endorsed its writing, they could have easily overrode any Presidential veto. This set probably the most disturbing precedent ever in United States history. Now a promise from a President which had all but unanimous consent from Congress is only trustworthy for as long as that President remains in office. Maybe, if the same party of a President is in office the promises would be honored, but even this can no longer be completely trustworthy.

 

This makes any agreement potentially to be made in the Middle East between Israel and the Arab nations, Sunni or Shiite, all but impossible unless Israel is willing to take what would be a huge risk in trusting the Arabs. Thanks to recent history, Israel now knows that they can no longer count on anything the United States promises even in an actual and ratified treaty if a President can decide that they can ignore anything even that which had the complete support of Congress as apparently Congress has no desire to back those things a previous Congress had ratified. This was not something promised and ratified in the days of the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes or even John Adams (either John Adams or John Quincy Adams as it matter little) but the previous President whose promises were voided by his successor. The United States has been all but neutered as far as entering into relations with any guarantees of any nature due to this reversal of policy making the word of the United States a matter restricted to each administration and afterwards simply something which only has meaning should it agree with the new Presidential policy interests. Now when there are alterations in foreign policies made one day they have a guaranteed until date on them and that is the end of the administration which reached the accord, if even that long. The only thing which thus far has not been made irrelevant is a promise by a President while they are in office, something that if that were to fail, the United States would then have lost all credibility in world relations. Perhaps this will be the first which President Trump will make pass as he might make a promise and forget about the promise and then turn a full 180o making the promise disappear and ending the United States word having any validity whatsoever.

 

That brings us back to the forming of any warm relations and possible alliances with Israel and Arab nations. The history between Israel and any or all Arab nations has been one of violence and mistrust. One of the Muslim nations which Israel once had good relations was Iran under Shaw Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi but after the 1979 revolution and the return of Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini Iran became one of the greatest Israeli enemies promising the complete and total annihilation of the entire nation and every Jew within. Further, Israel and Egypt reached an accord signing a peace treaty with Egyptian President Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Begin signing the treaty at the White House with President Carter watching on. When, while under pressures from United States President Obama, standing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stood down and an election was held electing President Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, the treaty between Israel and Egypt became under suspicion with the Egyptians claiming they were not planning on honoring the treaty though they were not going to go to war quite yet. The Egyptian people rose up and the Egyptian military overthrew President Morsi and held new elections which were won by the former Egyptian Military Commanding General, el-Sisi who on becoming President made known to Israel that he would honor the peace treaty. Still, for the span under President Morsi the treaty between Egypt and Israeli was truly in jeopardy and was not being enforced except through expediency. The basic problem is there are no real guarantees that any Arab nation can give and the backing by the United States is severely tarnished such that it can not be trusted much more than any Arab leader as with changes in any of these leaders can make all the difference as to whether or not these agreements hold any weight and have actual meaning equal to their intent.

 

Display of the Muslim Nations of the World in the Middle East, Asia and Northern Africa in Green with Israel depicted in Red

 

The one other problem is that Israel has entered so many agreements including a number before becoming a state as the Zionist Congress did when making the supposed ironclad agreement with the British Crown presumably guaranteeing that all the lands of the British Mandate west of the Jordan River was to be preserved by the British Crown for the Jewish State yet they were one of two nations (the other was Pakistan) who recognized the annexation of Judea and Samaria by Jordan, so much for the British Crown. Further, the United Nations also was supposed to back up that very promise under Article 80 of their Charter yet they too tried to cut Israel in half and giving Israel lands which would have been half desert. The Security Council fortunately did not agree to this motion forcing it to remain as General Assembly Resolution 181 which once it was refused by the Arab League became completely null and void and unenforceable yet this is the one Resolution the world constantly claims it must enforce. All of these point to one simply rule which Israel must live by, if there is any agreement which favors Israel, it will be ignored or overturned and if there is any agreement which is to the detriment of Israel, it can never die no matter how many times it is refuted even by International Tribunals because the world will still be eager to find some way of reviving it. So, there can be only one means by which Israel could enter into any agreement allying herself with Arab nations even with the guarantees from the European Union, United Nations, United States, British Crown and Commonwealth, the French Republic, the German Fatherland, Mother Russia, the People’s Republic of China and any group, combination, litany or expediency thrown together by the world to impress and promise that virtually every person and entity existing and residing on the planet stands behind, and that is only through the unending desire to believe in the best and the foolhardiness of her leaders and particularly the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Security Cabinet. The problem is it appears when people make it into such high offices in Israel they lose all common sense and in its place become overly optimistic that everything will be for the best. Where that is fine for the average person, but that may not be the wisest of conditions for leaders. Still, that is the reality and all the rest of us can do is pray and pray very hard and often.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Coming American Foreign Policy Challenges and One Done Right

 

We may as well start by talking briefly about the one area that the United States has started addressing and thus far has taken the proper and righteous approach. Contrary to what many have claimed, President Trump had begun to implement a Syria strategy. The first, and thus far, primary step has been to work to show that the United States has a group they are willing to stand with and are going to protect. They have made this statement boldly and sent a message to President Erdogan of Turkey that the Kurds are to be left alone. No longer will his indiscriminate attacks by air and land against the Kurds be tolerated and if President Erdogan desires to join the fight in Syria, then it will be against the Islamic State like he has told the world he was fighting and not against the Kurds who was who he was really fighting. The green and gold banner of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and the colors of the United States were noticeable as they flew side-by-side in northern Syria for the first time. The images of Army Strykers and YPG vehicles rolling in Kurdish territories in Syria flooded social media and is intended to send a hands-off message to Turkish forces and to President Erdogan in Ankara. The YPG Militias are part of the Syrian Democratic Forces that the United States has been backing through arming them and now is showing a more active support. In the Washington Times Erdogan was quoted saying on Sunday that he vowed to carry out more strikes against Kurdish targets in northern Syria, telling reporters in Istanbul he was “saddened” by the images of the American and YPG flags flying in tandem. He impressed that this would be a major issue at his scheduled May meeting with President Trump in mid-May. We hope President Erdogan is prepared to be disappointed.

 

United States Armored Troops Move into Kurdish Areas of Syria

 

More news on the Syrian front comes as the White House has called for making areas safe-zones complete with enforced “No-fly zones” in place. President Trump spoke at length with Russian President Putin and it was reported that the talks were productive and the two men appear to have found some common middle ground. It is expected that Turkey’s President Erdogan will oppose any no-fly zones or safe zones that include Kurdish held ground as President Erdogan has sworn to wipe the Kurdish people from the map as he sees them as no different than the Ottomans viewed the Armenian and he desires applying the same solution. Should Presidents Putin and Trump reach an accord on these safe zones and no-fly zones and mutually enforce such, then Erdogan would prove to be a mad-man should he decide to test the resolve of Russia and the United States. Still, we suspect that he will test the American resolve at least twice and once he loses some of his aircraft will he finally return to Turkey and resign that he will not reach his envisioned “Greater Turkey” (see map below). Meanwhile, despite the fact that Syrian Dictator Bashir al-Assad would dearly love to see the Kurds crushed, he shares with Erdogan their mutual hatred of the Kurds viewing them as less Muslim than their own people, the Alawites for Assad and the Turks for Erdogan. As far as the Russians are concerned, as the Kurds have mostly just protected their own spaces and not attacked anyone other than the Islamic State, they are not posing any direct threat to Russia or Assad in their eyes. This will likely lead Putin to allow the Kurdish areas to be designated safe zones and placed under a no-fly order, which would fall to the United States to enforce. President Trump can expect Erdogan to attempt to disallow American aircraft from the base in Turkey to be utilized for this purpose. President Trump could then use an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea off of Syria or Israel, secretly use an Israel airfield, or ignore Erdogan and test his resolve. Erdogan just might be the fool enough to test President Trump by taking measures against American forced in Turkey thus potentially making Turkey the test case for what happens to people who test a commitment by President Trump. We figure such would be a very risky move with terrible consequences, but Erdogan believes that the United States is still under weak leadership as the American media have portrayed President Trump with their constant questioning and belittling his every move. This could have horrible consequences.

 

Greater Turkey

 

There will be two areas where President Trump will face great tests. His being used to business deals where contracts actually mean what the two sides intend to commit to is quite different than when dealing with rogue regimes. President Erdogan will simply be an introductory course in the art of international miscreants. There will be little learned here as this will be reminiscent of President Trump’s days growing up in a rough and tumble New York neighborhood where deeds were the real rest and talk often could substitute for deeds until somebody called you on your words and you needed to then prove your mettle. The real test will come from North Korea and the Palestinian Arabs. Both Kim Jong Un and Mahmoud Abbas have the same record in observing and keeping promises made in agreements, none. Both men will sign agreements, demand the other side meet all obligations and then refute that any demands or promises were made by their side and renege on everything upon which they had agreed. This defaulting by them has no bearing on their demands that everyone else meet the terms of that very agreement. This is the kind of dealing which gets one a bad name in business dealings but is not so uncommon in international affairs. The dictatorial and rogue states are well versed in double-dealing and will not feign from taking affront at others’ comments about them while dispensing insults as if they were candy at a children’s birthday party. This may be something Trump needs to realize that there is no arbitration between nations and the only means of enforcing agreements is through coercion, threat or actual use of force. Where this may be undesirable, it is still a necessary lesson that such is the way of the world and things are far from ideal.

 

Kim Jong Un and Mahmoud Abbas

 

The first installment of this message came fast and furious from the Palestinian Authority (PA) this week. While President Trump lauded Mahmoud Abbas for promising to end the payments to terrorists and their families commensurate on the numbers of Israelis the murdered and injured including those in prison in Israel, Mahmoud Abbas and nearly the entirety of the PA hierarchy upon Abbas returning came out in force to deny that any such promise had passed his lips. They also pointed out that such payments were a central tenet of their government and would continue. We guess the good news is that at least they did not announce an increase in these payments. This comes atop news that President Trump promised the PA additional funds and we can only hope that these funds are now prevented in response to the announced continuing for using such funds to reward terrorism directly, a definitive form of incitement if ever there was one. The unilateral PA announcement that funds will continue to be used to pay terrorists benefits commensurate with people murdered and maimed should be used by Congress, if the President does not take the initiative, as the reason to end all United States aid to the PA and to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East). The additional reason for including UNRWA is the curriculum, which is full of terror incitement and terrorist glorification throughout their schoolbooks and enforced further by employing Hamas members as teachers and administrators in Gaza and PA appointees in similar positions in Judea and Samaria. Their teaching incitement and aggrandizement of terrorism is reason enough under stipulations already in place to end funding to all entities involved. This is but the first test from these two fronts.

 

President Trump will need to understand the duplicitous dealings from these actors before dealing with Iran who proved to have taken President Obama to the cleaners. The fact is President Obama desired just such an end and actually led the parade with the part of class clown aptly played by Secretary of State John Kerry. The fact that Secretary Kerry was actually attempting to please his boss and attempting to do as best as he could only added to the shame heaped on the United States by the Nuclear Deal with Iran. Making matters even worse was the fact that Iran wrote up the agreement they were to make in Farsi which nobody at the State Department or Defense Department ever translated or checked to verify it concurred at least with the European or Russian versions, we already knew the United States version was for domestic use only and that everyone had their own version, this deal was a farce in action. When the news broke that the United States version given to the media did not jibe with either the Russian or the European versions, the Russian and European versions at least matched fairly well and were likely the sole true representation of the actual agreement, the media reported on that for two days never quite detailing the differences and then the Iran deal became old news seldom to be mentioned again until the campaign and Trump using it as a campaign point. Such a fiasco can and must never be permitted again in the future and any and all translations need be vetted for reality and matching the actual points as agreed upon, otherwise we are allowing each member to write and sign their own version of reality and everybody leaves with copies of a treaty which do not match one-another and everyone just then does what they decide is best and no real treaty exists.

 

Kin Jong Un is also delusional, megalomaniacal, and dangerously paranoid. This is not a healthy combination when it comes to world leaders of nations, especially nations on the verge of having warhead size thermonuclear weapons and the ICBM’s on which to place them threatening the entirety of the globe. The entire population of North Korea have been raised and actually believe that when their country fails, that is when, not if, that the entire globe will also be failing as everywhere is just like North Korea. The reality is except for Venezuela of late, the rest of the globe is doing much better than North Korea which is an even more dysfunctional state than Hamastan in Gaza, the PA in Judea and Samaria and possible on par, without the warfare, with Syria. The people are close to starving as a rule of life, there is little relief in sight but they honestly believe that should North Korea fail by war, starvation or plague, then the entirety of the globe must fail with them. This is how they are educated from infancy through into the military if they are fortunate as the military at least can afford food and shelter. Kim Jong Un lives like a king and his top people, military commanders live well, and he is only shown small areas of the capital of Pyongyang where his leadership live in relative comfort with ample housing. The distressing poverty of the country is kept from his eyes as should he realize the mismanagement, nobody can predict how many and whom he would have executed as responsible. As he has had an uncle executed for speaking sharply to him, executed a general for treason with little evidence and even less of a trial and his half brother assassinated sending a hit squad to another nation to murder him, Kim Jong Un has earned his credentials as unstable. How to make such a person hold to a treaty or anything resembling sanity is the question. Strangling him through embargoes may be all it would take for him to initiate nuclear Armageddon.

 

As if Erdogan, Kim Jong Un, Hamas, the PA, Islamic State and Bashir al-Assad was not enough facing President Trump plus a roguish President Putin with his exploits, there is one last madman backed by a regime of madmen, Iran. Their Supreme Leader, the Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei (Persian: سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای‎‎) believes that he speaks with and for Allah and Muhammad here on earth. He is to be the leader to prepare all Islam for the coming of the Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam who has been in hiding for near on nine-hundred years. His return is to be some mythically magical event and a highway has been built from the perceived well in Qom to the center of the capital of Iran, Yehran, where he will be welcomed by the Supreme Leader, the Assembly of Experts and others from the religious heirarchy in Iran. Iran had two independent militaries with seperate lines of command and sets of orders. The Iranian military is a normative military which is tasked with protection of the nation from all external enemies. The IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) is responsible for activities outside the nation and national security within the nations including the religious police. They are responsible for providing troops and weaponry for the efforts in Syria, for Hezballah in Lebanon, occasionally for arming, training and providing rocket technology to Hamas in Gaza, running and securing the training camps in the Tri-Border region in South America. The Tri-Border Region (see map and picture below) is an area on the borders of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil and an area where all three national police and militaries refuse to interfere. It was from these camps that the terror squads, which carried out the bombings on Israeli and Jewish targets in Buenos Aires, were carried out. This has been an IRGC and Hezballah training paradise since the mid 1970’s and has faced little to no interference largely because it is almost as well armed as any force that might be sent to face them in the surrounding jungles. This is the reach available to the IRGC who are in close operational interconnectivity with Hezballah as both serve Iran as foreign contingents. The advantage of the IRGC working with Hezballah is that through such affiliation they provide Iran with sufficient separation to have plausible deniability. Never suspect that Iran does not know how to play political games, remember that it was the Persians who invented the game of chess.

 

Tri_Border Region of South America Terror training haven and Iranian proxy state in the Americas and Base of operations for the 17 March 1992 Israeli Embassy Bombing murdering 29 injuring 242 and the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) 18 July 1994 bombing murdered 85 injured over 800 and now we must add the murdered Argentine Prosecutor Alberto Nisman to AMIA fatalities

 

Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as he is oft referred in the international media, knows well the art of warfare by other means. He appears to be versed in Sun Tzu and the other writers on warfare. He uses words for weapons and assassins when required to strike where he desires. His rule is absolute and as such he has grown accustom to things as he prefers to see them and his subordinates dare not fall short in their assigned tasks. The power structure in Iran follows a duality just as does the military. The Iranians have two main targets, the United States and the Zionist Entity, as they refer to Israel. Together these two make up the Great Satan, United States, and the Little Satan, Israel. Israel is privileged in this world as unlike the United States that only need worry about the Iranian Army and the IRGC military, Israel gets to have an addition to these two adversaries, the al-Quds force, named for the Arab name for Jerusalem. The al-Quds force is responsible directly for the reconquest of Jerusalem primarily and secondarily for the complete destruction of Israel and the death of the Jews, that is all Jews. The al-Quds force is a special group of squads who are selected from the Special Forces groups within the IRGC, which is considered the Special Forces taken from within the military ranks rated on their military prowess and their religious purity. The entirety of the IRGC is religious warriors modeled on the Persian Immortals from history and the al-Quds would then be the Hashshashins, a select group willing to fight to the death without a second thought. Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is a person not used to being denied that which he desires. Still, he commands the respect that one will speak only truthfully when answering his questions. This does not mean you will be well received or even survive the telling, but if you are caught in a lie, things will go even worse for you. Torture is a tool in Iran as it is in the PA, Hamastan and North Korea as well as more of the world than most would like to believe. Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei truly believes that his position will welcome the coming of the final days and be at the center of the world once it has been transformed. He realizes he might not be alive to see this day but that whoever fills the role of Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah must be prepared to take on this mantle at any moment. They will be the leader of the conquering forces, which will subdue the world and bring everybody to Islam as they believe. They honestly believe that the Shiites, who are approximately ten percent of Muslims, will win out as the preferred of Allah instead of being murdered as Apostates under a world ruled by Sunni Islam.

 

These are simply the initial individuals who often define the world as they wish it to be and then act from there. The one thing all these leaders and their followers have in common is that they believe they are the rightful and powerful on the world’s stage, and that the United States can be easily defeated and they know exactly how to proceed to do so. They all believe their country to be one of the major forces in the world or a member of what will be the ruling force in the end when everything is settled. They all believe that the world can be brought under the rule of a single individual and that they are the one. (This is where normally we would have to say, “Zathros know, you are not the one, Zathros can tell.” One need remember the show Babylon V to understand or recognize this.) The Western World has reached the decision that the world cannot be conquered and placed under a single leader. They also believe that this is intuitively obvious and that everyone can see that world conquest is a pipe dream that cannot be accomplished. All this means is that they will never rule the world but it does not mean that there are no longer people out in the world willing to try. One might remember in the early days of the Islamic State when, as ISIS, their forces of terrorists were taking uncontested ground and destroying all they could find including irreplaceable artifacts and treasures and their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was declaring himself Caliph and announcing how the ISIS fighters (terror forces) were going to conquer the world for Allah and convert or murder all unbelievers and simply murder all apostates. Their initial run was impressive until the clash with the Kurds and was bloodied. There went their invincibility, from there the Iraqis contained them, and they stalled out completely. The point was that al-Baghdadi with a few thousand fighters, many not well trained or untrained, still believed that ruling the world was possible. Turkey’s President Erdogan sees himself as the Caliph ruling over the same areas as once made up the Ottoman Empire, which started as a single tribe in Turkey that set out to conquer the world. President Erdogan sees himself as the one to reestablish the Turkish-Ottoman Empire with himself as the central Caliph. It is time that the Europeans woke up and smelled the threats at their doorsteps and their own self-made weakness and how dangerously unprepared they have become for their own defense. They have at most a decade before such might becomes necessary and already it appears that Germany, if they remain with Merkel and France after electing Macron, have simply surrendered to their conquerors. President Trump needs to awaken a sleeping world to the onrushing dangers before the onrushing dangers reach their shores and announce themselves formally. Thus far, the violence has been sporadic and disorganized. That will not remain the case and the time is drawing nigh with not a lot of time to turn Europe around and prepared to fight to save their way of life and their liberated lifestyles. President Trump may have been elected at a crucial time but it will be the two Presidents that follow Trump who will really be inheriting the whirlwind. Inbetween, we will see broken promises strewn as windblown autumn leaves.

 

Beyond the Cusp