A Look at the World’s Potential Hotspots

 

There are a number of places in the world which are potential eruption points outside of what the American media would have you believe. President Trump does not even rate a mention in the top few hotspots with a potential for great harm. Some of the places are more of a danger to their own people than they are to the world and others should be center of the rest of the world’s concerns before they explode onto the world scene forcing a response twice has hard, as that is what will be required almost as punishment for allowing these threats to materialize. So, let us look around the world and we can even make some happy and begin with the White House.

 

President Donald Trump in a Moment of Grimace

 

President Trump’s largest threat is to self-injury often through Tweets. He could be the first President to be Tweeted from office though if that will be his fate it will be done via the 2020 elections. The main challenge that President Trump would face if things continue on their current path would be from the primary challengers which are all but certain to come fast and furious from the elite mainstays of the Republican studless elites. One leader of these milquetoast candidates is Arizona Senator John McCain who has been double-guessing President Trump at every turn and fighting against his every suggested legislative order. There will be others whose names will become well known between now and then and another likely candidate might be former Governor of Ohio John Kasich, also one of the last men standing against Trump in the last primaries. There will also be the perennial also-rans who will toss in their hats as one never knows, if Trump could win, why not everybody else? You know the names, Rick Santorum, Rand Paul, Jeb Bush (unless his shellacking he took has cowed him permanently) and Marco Rubio all claiming they wish to give the Republican Party a real candidate and save the party from ruin from another Trump candidacy. Yes, many in the Republican Party are just as unimpressed with Donald Trump and desire to have a more conventional candidate whom they can control. If the primaries and the few actual real and accurate polls are any indicator, the people are quite impressed with The Donald and despite his eccentricities, they love the fits he is giving the entirety of the political elites and their machinery which they use to drive their chosen agendas. The people are done with these agendas which are the same with the big difference being the speed with which the government is driving towards utter destruction. Donald Trump may be just the President the nation needs despite all the fuss and bother. Yes, a more controlled and sane person who was less out of their mind might be preferable but then it may be just what we are looking for, one eccentric loonie-toon who Tweets too much too often who knows none of the limits any normal person might understand and be withheld by, and who sees a new world where governments take a back seat to a people-business partnership.

 

From Washington D.C. we move south about one continent worth and slightly east to Caracas, Venezuela, where we find the end result of the experiment in what was called the socialist utopia where actors, athletes and other elitists and multi-millionaires or even billionaires habituating the leftmost fringes of the political spectrum went to celebrate the wonderful socialist world being presided over by President Hugo Rafael Chávez. President Chávez would make regular pilgrimages to Castro’s Cuba in deference to the father of socialist utopias. Democratic leaders who believed that Hugo Chávez was the miracle worker who had finally perfected socialism and established that dream they had all claimed had been waiting for just the person who would unwrap the socialist utopian society puzzle they had worked towards all their lives. Hugo Chávez had, according to the great minds from academia to sports to finance on to every field in imagination, established that dream and now if only the world would acknowledge and follow his example. Today Venezuela is one of the most dangerous places to live in the world. The government is gunning down peaceful protesters in the streets. Cuba, the ones who employed Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara at his favorite pastime, murdering innocents, has sent their current best troops of what could be called their Che Division to Venezuela to assist Hugo Chávez’s successor, current Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro, with keeping the public order. This includes the aforementioned shooting peaceful demonstrators who are clamoring for food, necessary medicine and numerous others of life’s necessities which they are unable to find in the store’s empty shelves. Large percentages of the population in Venezuela are left to seeking food in dumpsters and the black market for necessary medicines including such as insulin for diabetics, heart medication and other such basic medicines. Venezuela is the perfect example of where socialist governance will eventually result as proven by the Soviet Union, North Korea and now Venezuela. But this will not lead to any of the proponents of seeking the perfect utopian socialist governance and installing it in whatever nation they get the opportunity. Socialism seems as if it is an infection which once contracted can never be cured and leads its victim to seek the ruin of their society in the lusting for that socialist utopia which has failed every single time it has ever been tried, but they refuse to see previous failures as anything other than one more attempt that was not perfected this time and if only they are allowed to try, it will work, they promise.

 

Our next stop is almost halfway across the globe in Asia. We arrive in North Korea where dear leader Kim Jong Un rules absolutely. He lives a lavish lifestyle borderline in comparison to that of Marie Antoinette. The difference is in North Korea Kim Jong Un decides whose head was lopped off instead of Marie Antoinette whose head was sacrificed in the French Revolution. Kim Jong Un decided his uncle was a threat, so he was removed from the population. One of his generals also irked him, so he too was removed from the population. His half brother did nothing except be perceived as a threat to his position, so he also was removed, but from the world’s population. Who knows how many others within the dark nation from which little news escapes and even less is permitted entrance has disappeared. All we know is of late Kim Jong Un has been rattling sabers and acting far less sane than his father or grandfather. Each of his predecessors would act unstable when they desired aid, often food for their starving citizens. But Kim Jong Un acts as insane as either at their height of provocation as his normal daily routine. Kin Jong Un is as unstable as any leader throughout history, even further deranged than Nero or Caligula were during Roman times. Even those closest to him tread very lightly as close proximity to Kim Jong Un does not make one safe, it is more likely to be a threat to one’s life and would require extra caution and, to a degree, one to seek anonymity to avoid notice or to be chosen by Kim Jong Un for special attention and note. Making Kim Jong Un even more dangerous of a threat to the world are his nuclear weapons program and his advancing rocket capabilities. Kim Jong Un has ballistic missiles, come very close to launching an ICBM, and is even closer to a reliable continental ballistic missile. Add to this his nuclear weapons which many believe are designed not for explosive yield but for maximizing its EMP pulse strength which can be used to knock out the electricity to an entire continent as well as destroying virtually all electronic equipment within a sizeable range. North Korea under Kim Jong Un is considered a danger of starting a nuclear war by destroying the power grid in most of North America and bringing the United States to its knees with much of its infrastructure useless and the military paralyzed. But there is more as North Korea has an equally troubling ally in Iran.

 

Iran is a theocracy with a leader who has more titles than one can throw a stick at. He can be referred to as Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Absolute Guardianship and the Leadership of the Ummah, Supreme Leader of Iran and Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei. No matter who fills other positions such as President or the Parliament are actually relatively powerless in comparison of the religious ruling structure which includes the true power of the Assembly of Experts, a body of Imams. These are the people who choose the Supreme Leader and Grand Ayatollah, the only power with significance above even the Assembly of Experts once they have been chosen. Iran has consistently experimented and developed numerous varieties of ballistic missiles from middle range to continental ballistic missiles and they are working on the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Their development has mirrored that of North Korea which is understandable as the two often are found observing one another’s testing of missiles. The frightening reality has been the consistency with which Iranian technicians, nuclear scientists and explosive experts attending nuclear testing in North Korea. This has forced some to claim that some of the testing performed by North Korea of nuclear weapons has been performed for Iran and testing of Missiles in Iran were performed for North Korea. The two imperialist nations are cooperating and both have launched satellites which used polar orbits such that they passed over the United States from the south over Texas and the central United States, a route the USSR had investigated and found to be the soft point in the defenses of the United States. An unsettling truth is that the North Koreans have a satellite using that exact orbit which passes over the central United States on a regular basis and this satellite has no discernable utility and there are some who suspect it has a nuclear EMP device which could be detonated at any point in its orbit after ordering it to lower its orbit to three to five hundred miles where it would be within the optimum altitude for maximum destruction of the American electrical grid and military operational capability. Both North Korea and Iran place the United States as their greatest enemy and one of, if not their number one, target in all of the world. Iran also lists Israel as a nation they will destroy in a single hour or less some day in the not too distant future. Iran holds regular demonstrations every Friday where the people chant “Death to America,” and “Death to Israel.” These are their two propaganda ploys to fulfill the imaginations of the people and the targets Iran claims will prove their supreme power and their approval from Allah and as the sign that they are to lead the Islamic world to their final conquest of the world.

 

Iran and Russia are cooperating, if not cooperating directly, with another hotspot where warfare has been raging for more than five years. This is Syria where the majorities of the nation’s population is homeless and have been targeted by at least one of the numerous forces in the war including their own government. One of the main threats to many of the civilians is their own government where Bashir al-Assad, Syria’s President for life, has targeted those of his population he regards as not sufficiently supportive of his government which has included the Kurds, Palestinian Arabs in refugee camps, and many of the non-Alawite population of what was previously Syria. Assad had bombed virtually every area of Syria which is not part of his power structure with possibly one exception, the Druze whose mountain regions have been spared much of the tragic results in the rest of Syria. The Islamic State was started in Syria as a response to Assad, his Alawite supporters because of their Shiite aligned version of Islam, and their being allies with Iran, the leader of the Shiite Muslims. Syria is the final piece which the Iranians need in order to use their acquiring of southern Iraq which is also Shiite and the home of the government of Iraq. The Islamic State has taken some of their fighters from amongst both Syrian and Iraqi Sunni Muslims desiring to fight against the Shiite Iranians, Iraqis and Syrians who are attempting to complete a Shiite crescent from Iran on the Indian Ocean to Lebanon and Syria along the Mediterranean Sea. Another group fighting alongside the Iranian and Syrian Shiites has been Hezballah, the terrorist group which rules Lebanon through a proxy government and have become the Lebanese Army though they attempt to portray the two as separate. Hezballah is also the Iranian proxy force which they would use to be their initial strike upon Israel such that they could claim to be responding to a Lebanese request for assistance against Israeli aggression. This is one of the interesting themes which often permeate Islamic tacticians where they will attack an enemy and when the enemy responds to the attack, they immediately claim that they were attacked without any provocation and thus they then demand that their victim be punished for what was actually self-defense to the attack from the instigator. This has been the tactics of Hezballah with their previous two wars and numerous skirmishes with Israel as well as the next hotspot, Gaza and Hamas.

 

This is the desired and long sought Iranian Shiite Crescent across the Middle East reaching from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea after Islamic State Defeat and Iran Surge Retaking Syria for Bashir al-Assad with Hezballah retaining their iron-fist control over Lebanon and the Iraqi Shiites retaining their hold on the southern half of Iraq. This could very well be the starting positions for a final World War resulting in exchanges of nuclear weapons before the end is reached. This map also depicts the areas bordering the Iranian influence which could become the future red lines and the trip wire for a horrific conflagration, exactly what the Twelvers desire to bring back the Twelfth Imam and the Islamic Messiah who will lead them to finally realize their destiny of world conquest. Despite what many in the West view as an outdated and dead idea, the Iranian leadership dreams of world conquest and desire to that end.

 

Hamas’s new leader, Yahya Sinwar, was a previous prisoner in Israel for his terrorist acts and was released in Shalit exchange. He was the founder of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas established so that the rest of Hamas, which is simply the support structure for the military wing, can claim to the world that they are simply a governing force in Gaza and have no connection with terrorism. Hamas has at times found Iran as an ally who have provided rocket and missile technologies as well as weapons and explosives often passing these shipments through the Sudan before passing into the Sinai Peninsula and then through the tunnels into Gaza. This has at times included IRGC commanders and experts to teach Hamas workers in the production of ever-larger rockets with greater ranges and payload capability. Then there is the normal Hamas alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood which is their natural ally as they are both Sunni while Iran is Shiite. The fact that Iran assists Hamas simply gives evidence to the hatred and absolute desire to threaten and destroy Israel drives the leadership in Iran. Hamas took control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in a coup during June 10-15, 2007, and since then have attacked Israel repeatedly with Israel having to enter Gaza in a major action three times, 2008, 2012 and 2014. Israel had pulled all Civilians and IDF forces from Gaza in August and September of 2005 which should have permitted the Arabs to build a functioning state in Gaza free of Israeli interference. Instead, once Hamas took control the Gaza has been used as a launching pad for rockets and infiltrations intending to murder Israelis and capture hostages to use to force Israel into releasing terrorists. This is a weakness which the terrorists will continue to exploit for as long as Israel continues to release ever more terrorist prisoners now even releasing terrorists with blood on their hands, the final red line they had promised never to cross. Hamas has been speaking up another war with Israel, as has Nasrallah of Hezballah in Lebanon. One might believe that Hezballah was too involved in Syria but they also figure that a short and limited war using mostly rockets with Israel would renew their standing amongst the Muslim population of Lebanon and if it can be coordinated with attacks by Hamas, perhaps they can have their brief conflict and take only minor damage as Israel could be more entangled with Hamas. Hamas’s new leader immediately talked of his plans to annihilate Israel, as the new Hamas forces would be vastly superior to their Israeli opponents. This type of boasting has been heard before and fortunately, these boasts have not always produced conflict. The Israelis welcome no conflict, as they desire peace with their neighbors, as they prefer not to have to fight and destroy lives and inflict casualties, especially civilians which Hamas and Hezballah both use as human shields to protect their rocket stores and launchers.

 

Russia and Turkey are both involved in Syria and the United States has taken to supporting the Kurdish forces in the northeastern Syrian regions where they mostly defend their areas from attack and are not moving to take new land but merely to push terror forces from their lands and reestablish their areas where their population resided. Turkey has been claiming to fight the Islamic State but mostly have been striking at the Kurds. President Trump mentioned the establishing Kurdistan though, like moving the embassy in Israel, that may be more talk than actual American position. Russia has one major interest in reality, their two naval ports in Syria and on the Mediterranean Sea. These are the Russian warm water ports with access to the Atlantic Ocean through the Gibraltar Straights. Turkey wants to eliminate the Kurds. Islamic State wants to conquer the world starting with Bashir al-Assad. The Syrian Free Army wants to disguise their real alliance with terrorist forces, receive American weaponry, also win against Assad, Islamic State, and then decide where to turn next as they desire as well to be the new Caliphate. Islamic State already declared themselves the new Caliphate. President Erdoğan has laid claim to being the new caliph, nobody saluted. Syria will not be producing any new Caliphate or the next Caliph, it will simply be where too many people have died and will continue to die and there will be young men who have little in their life rushing to join and make a great name so they can return home a hero. All too many will simply never return home. The real fear would be for Russia and the United States to run into a face-to-face conflict by accident or by design of one against the other trying to force a standoff to see who blinks first. There is also a small possibility that Israel could also run into a problem with Russia which there are rumors that the two do communicate normally in order to prevent just such a problem from developing but which could break down if the Russians are proved to be warning Bashir al-Assad or especially if they are warning Hezballah and their suppliers in Iran. At some point Russia is going to have to come to the realization that once Bashir al-Assad either wins back all of Syria or sufficient parts of Syria in the southeast connecting with Iraq and establishing the crescent across the Middle East and giving Iran the ability to mass troops on Israeli borders, then Iran will no longer need Russia and will desire those exact same ports the Russians desire. This could lead to Iran attempting to take the ports from Russia and forcing a confrontation between Russia and Iran.

 

The final front is all of Europe and the United States. The attackers are the terrorists and their so-called “lone wolf” attacks who have been “self-radicalized” which western leaders often just explain, “we have to learn to live with it.” Everything in quotes above is false and the reason we are losing. If these terrorists are all “lone wolves,” then why after each attack does the Islamic State claim responsibility for the attack? The reason is easy to think through, whether they had anything to do with the attack, it was still an attack for Islam and the Islamic State claims to be the leadership of all Islamic fighters, thus these “lone wolves” are all their fighters. The even bigger lie is the claim that they are “self-radicalized.” That is ridiculous as these so-called “self-radicalized” individuals received the information which turned them into a weapon of Islam, and that is what we need to call them, weapons for Islam, as that is what they claim they are, was placed in a video, a booklet, an Imam’s sermons, training in some Muslim country at a terror base protected by the government, or simply from reading the Quran, all come from other than the individual terrorist. In some means or source, they received the information and programming which turned them into a weapon of Islam and set them on their path to human carnage. Whether they are a suicide bomber, a remote detonating bomber who sits off and waits for the perfect time, of the timer placed bomber who simply hopes they chose the perfect time, they all were sent by some form of education and propaganda which they received from somewhere. There is a source and that is an Islamic source either from somewhere in the Middle East, North Africa or other Islamic nation or it is from a Mosque in the neighborhood where the Imam gave a sermon which started the future terrorist on the path and then there were the booklets from the Muslim owned book store with the free pamphlets, or the booklets and videos found on tables at the Islamic Center, or the future terrorist going to a terror base and there received the teachings of radical Islam. These terrorists will strike more and more often in shorter intervals and greater carnage as their techniques are improved. This will hit a point where the people will scream for protection and an end to this threat and their leadership will have to respond or face a very angry populace at the next elections. The people will get the leadership required to fight terrorism and take the steps required even if it takes more than one election. This will eventually lead to an alliance of leaders to end terrorism by whatever means required. This alliance will demand that the Islamic rulers either join the fight or face consequences. George W. Bush said the necessary words after 9/11/2001 and the Trade Center demolition when he said, “Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.” He said it and then went all wobbly after his Saudi friends apparently took the wind out of his sails. The question which some have to be asking is, “Where is our generation’s Churchill, and when will he appear?” Then in Israel, we are asking whether we need a Joshua, Ruth, Deborah, King David or Samson or will we need to wait for the Messiah. These are the questions which need answering so we will know now whether we are on our own and had better start taking care of ourselves and those dear to us and possibly our countries and civilization.

 

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Insights on Candidate Trump and the Rest of the Campaigns

 

There are so many detractors against Donald Trump and many are not connected or even influenced by the “establishment” or “elite” of the Republican Party, unless Fox News has finally merged with the Republican Party as many a conspiracy theorist has claimed week in and week out. There are some things which have been troubling as to why Donald Trump has not turned accusations into positives, but then again he is businessman and not a politician or a political junkie despite his dabbling in politics over the years. There have been an ongoing number of times Donald Trump has been accused, honestly, of changing his position from one debate to the next or one week to the next, or as the most recent episode, within minutes after the debate as soon as his “handlers” had got ahold of him. Donald Trump should have grabbed that charge and used it to his advantage pointing out that he knows his limitations as he cannot be expected to know everything all the time and knowing his limitations he is intelligent enough to listen to those he has hired and are knowledgeable, at least more so than he, to advise him and knowing when to listen and adjust one’s position even if it makes one look bad because being right is more important than looking right.

 

Donald Trump and his campaign needs to explain the two donations to Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign in 2008 and how and why he believes he could run against Hillary Clinton once she becomes the Democrat Party Presidential candidate. He needs to convince many in the Republican Party that he will make a viable candidate and is not just a planted candidate meant to destroy party unity and further pave the path allowing Hillary to run headlong almost uncontested as he takes the Republican Party and split its votes right down the middle after taking the nomination and then having Mitt Romney or other member of the Republican Party feeling there is no honest to goodness conservative candidate for the real Republicans to support against Hillary or possibly, though quite doubtful, Bernie Sanders. This is the right time for the Republican establishment to become concerned with the system they set up to choose their candidate earlier in the season by front-loading all of the primary elections instead of allowing the contest to take possibly into August before deciding on a candidate. Their aim was to have a more streamlined path to the candidacy allowing for a candidate to present themselves earlier and thus have a greater amount of time to prepare and set the tone for the fall run to the White House. The system is seriously worrying the Republicans on this the year of the voter revulsion revolution.

 

For the remainder of the article we will give a partial review of the candidates remaining in the Presidential race from our particular Zionist viewpoint and their stated views towards Israel. Probably the most misunderstood of them and the one who would be most dangerous to Israel is Bernie Sanders. We can already hear the gasps and the faint of heart grabbing their chests thinking, ‘But he is Jewish.’ Unfortunately the fact that Bernie was born of Jewish parents, he was not raised in a particularly religious home, a problem for many such assimilated Jewish families. Yes their children had their Bar (Bat) Mitzvahs and that was hoped, along with four to six years of Sunday school and enough Hebrew lessons to be able to perform their Bar (Bat) Mitzvahs with sufficient tutoring and practice, would fulfill their obligation to their forefathers; it was not! Some even remember how to pronounce Hebrew when in print with vowels but would be as lost if dropped into Israel as would be some aboriginal Inuit would if they dropped into Israel completely unprepared. The preconceptions about Bernie Sanders concerning Israel will be that he will favor Israel over the good for the United States. Soon any interaction between the United States and Israel will be examined under a crucial lens seeking to magnify any conceivably perceived favor proving that a President Sanders has preferences which place Israel ahead of United States and then starts a whispering campaign. There will be an undertone leading to a rumble growing towards an explosion of claims that Bernie is selling out the store to favor Israel. The fact that much of the aid Israel will be receiving is being discussed and will be initially set by the current regime under President Obama and will more than likely be signed and sealed even before the coming elections will be irrelevant to those who are set on hatreds. Bernie Sanders record towards Israel had not been one that caused any joy or dancing in Israel. The reality about much of the military aid received by Israel is that it is approved and often suggested by the Pentagon and is based on both Israeli needs and the projected needs of the United States. The one item which the brains in the Pentagon realize and know is something that Israel provides that is irreplaceable, a permanent air force and military base which the United States could utilize which would place forces closer to many areas in the always volatile Middle East and would serve as a compliment to the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean. The problem is the President is the one who is held responsible for these decisions despite his often signing off on them assuming the Pentagon knows what they are doing, not necessarily the best idea at times. Closing on a President Bernie Sanders, he would likely react should charges of placing Israel interests above those of the United States by tightening the screws, so to speak, on Israel initially cutting almost all military aid including items Israel had already negotiated and made initial payments and could even follow such up by recognizing the Arab state and sending United States military personnel to enforce the borders as they desire within some reason. Whatever might occur, Bernie Sanders would not be even remotely close to a President that favored Israel.

 

Democrat Front Runners
Hillary Clinton
Bernie Sanders

 

 

The more likely Presidential candidate from the Democrat side is Hillary Clinton. Hillary was favorable to the liberal Jewish Democrats, as they tend to vote in high proportions and provide sizeable donations to campaigns and PACs, during her Husband’s time in the White House, when she was running for the Senate in New York but reflected a far less favorable attitude while serving with President Obama. There is not much in her public persona which actually shows any preference for or against Israel when there is no political interest to serve thus the signs of which were to be a President Hilary Clinton might take. The one hiccup in this record came in 1974 after Bill Clinton had just lost an election for a congressional seat she called Paul Fray, her husband’s campaign manager at the time, a “fucking Jew bastard”. Some of those closest to Hillary Clinton have reported clandestinely, as anything less could cost one far more than their jobs, that she often uses descripted words around the word Jew as an insult and thrown at people. We can expect Hillary Clinton to do well with the liberal, professional Jews who are known to be more attached to their political liberal alignment than their birthed religion. With luck, these Jews will remain attached enough to have their children Bar (Bat) Mitzvah as that is the minimalist demand from the previous generation. Not to worry, the Jews recognize trouble and tend to band together in such times throughout history. This time they are more likely to believe that their political alignment will save them and their will be an over-abundance of Jews believing themselves safe as there is no way they can be considered to be Jews. The sorry news will come when they seek out those whose parents, grandparents or possibly great-grandparents were listed in census information as Jews then they too will be treated as such. Hillary will have no feelings of affinity for Israel just as the Jews who support her have no affinity with Israel. Hillary will be a disaster for Israel, potentially as bad as or worse than Bernie Sanders, if that is possible. Perchance the Republican candidates will be covered tomorrow.

 

Sometime this coming week we hope to provide the Zionistic Republican Review, thank you, please, no applause, you’re embarrassing us, thank you, thank you….

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

The Israeli Iran and Obama Dilemma

 

What do you do when you presumed ally’s leader appears to have joined the other side? This is only the tip of the iceberg that Israel and her elected Prime Minister will be facing when the new government is formed sometime this month, possibly towards the end of the month as the forming of a coalition often takes the threat of an impending deadline to alter demands into something more tenable. The Framework Agreement has not made the dilemma any simpler as it appears that every party to the negotiations walked away with a completely different piece of paper or each translation took great amounts of liberty with definitions of the terms. Whatever the actual cause, the statements coming out of Washington D.C. and out of Tehran, Iran appear to be diametric opposites. The classic example is the claim by the Administration in Washington D.C. that the Iranians will be limited to using their slowest, least productive and most problematic centrifuges while the Iranians have had numerous military, civilian and IRGC (Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps) commanders relate that at the date the agreement is signed they will be able to fully implement the use of their advanced IR-8 centrifuges which are twenty-times as productive and reliable as compared to their earliest models. Such gaps in interpretations of the Framework Agreement does not bode well for reaching any desired result in a final agreement with both sides permitted their own so very liberal translations and definition of the terminology. These disparate readings of the Framework Agreement should signal to Secretary of State Kerry and the negotiating team that their attempts to make the wording inconclusive in its desired definitions which has apparently led to such a different take on the Framework Agreement which is probably best served reading the French and European Union versions which are so opaque and generalized using terminology which was technically meaningless leaving the entire document a singular masterpiece in diplospeak doubletalk worthy of a George Orwell novel.

 

The definitions and interpretations are even less worrisome for the Israelis as they probably have yet to receive a copy of the Framework in any language. The one saving grace is that the Israelis do not need to research the Framework and what might be concluded from the disparate interpretations; they need only consider whatever the Iranians believe is the intent. As much as President Obama has raked the United States relationship with Israel over hot coals and through a harvester shredder, the United States President does not pose any threat or difficulty by having a unique definition of the terms in the Framework while whatever the Iranians discern from the document is potentially a direct threat to Israel and her survival. Yes, it is true that the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was chanting “Death to America” right along with the throngs chanting and cheering right along with their leader, the same man also this past weekend called for the destruction of Israel referring to Israel as that “barbaric” Jewish State which “has no cure but to be annihilated.” The Iranian Supreme Leader went on to present a strategy titled “Nine key questions about the elimination of Israel” which was also placed on his Twitter account Saturday night where he used the hashtag of #handsoffalaqsa, an oblique reference to the continuing terrorist riots and other tensions on the Temple Mount especially in reference to the right for Jews and other non-Muslims to pray on the holy site to three religions. The Ayatollah’s plans laid out a political path to replacing Israel completely with an Islamic run state where the Jews and other non-Muslims would necessarily be forced to accept Dhimmitude and a life of constant disgrace and the downtrodden shame as second class citizens living at the grace and good tidings of their Muslim masters. What he left out and even went so far as to claim his plan did not include was the death of the Jews living in the area once the Muslims were granted rule as at any point the Muslim rulers could give the Jews the choice of paying the Jiyza special tax or converting to Islam and eventually at their whim change that choice replacing the Jiyza tax making the new choice between conversion to Islam or death. Should any Jew choose to convert, if any Muslim believed that the Jew was not a true and faithful believer in Islam, they could bring charges which would inevitable result in the death penalty for apostasy. That is the truth behind the nine point plan by the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

 

But there is another bothersome problem which has raised it head some claim as many as four different times. Israel, as an ally, so as not to interfere with or be mistaken for a hostile force, will present any military plans to the United States Pentagon who shares these plans with the White House. Off the top I recall once when it was understood that the Israelis would be granted overflight permission which would include potentially refueling of F-15 and F-16 Fighter-Bombers over Saudi Arabian territories potentially just before launching a raid into Iran and potentially repeating such a refueling on their return flight. This was a quiet, under the radar, under even the kitchen table as this was obviously a super sensitive and secret permission being extended by the Saudis. Any revelation of such permission of such a sensitive and volatile agreement would immediately cause massive denials from both sides and the agreement would crash and burn. Not all that surprising but that was exactly what occurred at some point before said raid was launched when somehow the news of this agreement between Saudi Arabian rulers and Israel leaked to the press with in the aftermath it becoming obvious that the leak originated not with the Pentagon but with either the White House or the State Department, which it actually was is irrelevant as the real source of the leak was much closer if not actually to the top man in the White House. Months upon months later there was an arrangement for Israel to lease a pair of derelict unused military airfields in Azerbaijan which both lay a short distance north of Iran. The agreement might have been for these airbases to solely be used in cases of emergency such as a damaged or short on fuel fighter jet needed a landing point for repair or refueling as they would otherwise not be capable of making the entire return trip to Israel from their mission over Iran. Once again there was a leak that Azerbaijan was working with and assisting the Israelis on a potential attack on the Iranian nuclear sites. Needless to say but the complete rejection of there being such a plan was claimed and sworn to by both sides. Again the leak was traced back to the White House. Obviously Israel has a problem informing the United States about any plans to address the Iranian nuclear program in a manner separate from the Framework or any negotiated agreement but rather a more direct approach.

 

There is another problem with the United States when it would come for Israel to launch an assault on the Iranian nuclear sites or any other targets which might be included in such a scenario, and that is the fact that there are probably always two aircraft carriers and the airbase at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and within range of any Israeli attack route on Iran. These United States assets matter because it has also been rumored that the United States forces in the region have orders to intercept the Israelis and force them to return to their bases in Israel or face being shot out of the air. The actual leaked information stated that the United States pilots were to make it as difficult as possible but not to shoot at the Israeli aircraft first but to sweep them from the skies as soon as one fired at a United States aircraft or ship. These intercepts were to be taken over Iraqi airspace which is technically under United States security until the Iraqi Air Force is competent enough to do the job themselves. Needless to point out that the most direct route for Israeli aircraft would take them over Jordanian airspace followed by Iraq airspace and in reverse order upon their return to Israel. A further problem might exist within the Israeli political and military command and personnel where there are those who firmly believe that nothing Israeli has plans to do should be attempted until they receive affirmation of their plans by the United States. In many cases that person is also a member of the Prime Minister’s inner security Cabinet. One such was Defense Minister Ehud Barak who was feeding intelligence and all plans in detail directly to the White House and quite possibly directly to President Obama. Odds are this was done with the knowledge of Prime Minister Netanyahu and it is possible or even likely that it was Bibi Netanyahu who has ordered the exchange of information, especially on plans for attacks on the Iranian nuclear sites.

 

This leads to the current Israeli dilemma on what path to take and whether any or every plan should be shared with Israeli allies. Israeli leadership does need to take under consideration the obvious fact that President Obama has an apparent amorous desire to complete a deal with Iran and nurture said plan while building up the Iranian power granting them recognition and respect while protecting the Iranians from threats of a military address to destroy their nuclear program by preventing that option from being taken off the table and put into practice. It appears that President Obama and his closest advisors not only seek to empower Iran granting them hegemonic powers throughout the Middle East and even into South East Asia, Northern Africa and Eastern Europe, surpassing Israeli powers in similar areas, and completing this shakeup and restructuring of the Middle East, the President seems set on pressing Israel to take steps President Obama sees as the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict even if those steps end up being performed unilaterally and result in Hamas or ISIS taking control over Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and causing a direct threat to the Israeli heartlands where close to three-quarters of her citizens reside and an even higher percentage of her infrastructure, industry, manufacturing, commercial and service industries exist. Pulling back to the borders envisioned by President Obama would return Israel to the borders which would permit any attack on Israel from Judea and Samaria to cut Israel completely in half isolating the Galilee from the Negev and destroying and occupying a quarter of Israel simply by advancing the approximately the diameter of the Washington D.C. Capital Beltway which is just a smidge over nine miles. That is the width of the central neck of Israel should she be forced back to the Green Line, the pre-June 1967 Six Day War. As modern artillery is capable of firing well beyond ten miles with great effect and accuracy, simply mounting artillery batteries almost anywhere in western Judea and the Arab forces could systematically destroy all of central Israel within a single twenty-four hour period. Israel would not need fear an attack by missiles from Iran when artillery from Iran would do just as well if not better and cost far less. This would be the biggest gift President Obama could grant Iran, even better than the ambiguous Framework and the agreement to follow. This was why it was assumed even in the United Nations that Israel would be allowed to retain the lands of Judea and Samaria and any refugees would be settled within the country where they were located and considered an even treatment as Israel absorbed many hundreds of thousands refugees from Middle Eastern and North African Arab and Muslim states by 1960 as these were Jews chased from their homes and towns where they had resided often for over fifteen-hundred-years, some even over two-thousand-years.

 

All those who have been claiming that all Israel has to worry about is surviving the remainder of President Obama’s term in the White House, this is far from true. Israel is facing so numerous threats of annihilation and from so many directions that it is almost impossible to get one’s arms around it. Even Egypt and Jordan, two nations which have made their peace with Israel and now reside with frosty borders and relations, have at least kept those borders peaceful. There are even those occasions where Israel will take steps to aid Jordan and Egypt and they, mostly Egypt, have been known to take measures which assist Israeli survival. The greatest example of such cooperation has been the enforcement by the Egyptians of their own embargo and strict rules enforced for passage through the Rafah Gate into the Sinai Peninsula from Gaza. This is not done by Egypt completely out of friendship as much as it is due to the assistance that Hamas provides the terrorist groups located in the Sinai Peninsula who attacks Egyptian soldiers, border guards, and even attack Egyptian resorts located in the Sinai Peninsula along the coast of the Red Sea. The truth is Iran is also a threat to Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and all of the other Arab Sunni nations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and so on. Currently the Iranian threat and control has spread to some very challenging areas where they threaten far more than Israel. Iran is openly supplying arms and also IRGC soldiers to Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad along with Hezballah terrorist forces from Lebanon allowing al-Assad to survive against ISIS and the other rebel groups. Iran has great influence over the Shia majority in Iraq and is assisting the fighting again ISIS in Iraq. This is not entirely altruistic as it is a definitive possibility, some might say inevitability, that ISIS has plans for engaging Iran directly at some point once it gets control over Iraq.

 

Furthermore, Iranian backed Houthis are moving directly across Yemen and have already swept the United States backed government from the capital and disbanded replacing themselves as the rulers of Yemen. Yemen is doubly important as it furthers the Iranian encirclement of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. Their reaching the southwest corner of Yemen gives Iran control of the Bab el Mandeb Strait (Arabic: باب المندب‎) which translates as “Gateway of Anguish”, or “Gateway of Tears” and is important because it connects through its narrow waterway the exit from the Red Sea, which includes all shipments from the Israeli port of Eilat and the Jordanian port of al-Aqabah and ships passing southward through the Suez Canal, into the Gulf of Aden and on to the Arabian Sea and the east coast of Africa or on to the Indian Ocean and all of Asia. This would be an additional maritime choke point which matches well with their ability to shut down the Straits of Hormuz which is the choke point for the Persian Gulf through to the Gulf of Oman and on to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean with passing through the straits what is claimed to be at least one-third of the world’s oil. Should Iran ever close both of these points then international trade would be greatly hampered and Europe would basically have to take the old route around the Cape of Good Hope or across the Atlantic Ocean and through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific Ocean which would be longer but some might believe it provides safer waterways. Still, closing these two passages would still bring much of maritime trade to a screeching halt while greatly increasing shipping times and place a burden on retail outlets to raise their prices on many if not all imported goods.

 

Finally, the biggest threat of an nuclear armed Iran is the threats posed to Israel and other nations of a nuclear armed Saudi Arabia, a nuclear armed Egypt with the potential to have the Muslim Brotherhood return to power, a nuclear armed Turkey, Syria, Hezballah, al-Qaeda, nuclear armed UAE, Kuwait, Iraq and who knows who else as terror elements gain access to nuclear weapons supplied by their state sponsors such as Iran or Saudi Arabia. The spread of nuclear armed states spreading throughout the Muslim world might inspire and motivate other nations to begin their own nuclear armed program and they might receive assistance from other new nuclear powers. The fact is that a nuclear armed Iran would forever alter the balances of power everywhere. We very well might need to adjust to a world without any restraints on who can have nuclear weapons and it simply becomes anybody with the cash to finance their breakout point making it realistic for every nation who really desires such weapons. Of course if your neighbor decides to join the nations with nuclear weapons stockpiles and then another neighbor announced their advanced program and claims to have developed thermo-nuclear devices, hydrogen bombs, and has produced a number of those in their stockpile, how long before the nation, now surrounded by nuclear armed neighbors, makes the only logical decision they can for their future survival they begin their own nuclear weapons research and development. As we pointed out in our April 7, 2015, article titled Historic Lessons and Future Nuclear War where we traced some of the super weapons through the ages as man developed from clubs to thermonuclear devices which can level whole cities or destroy only the electronic infrastructure bring a nation to its knees, we realized that there has never been the development of a super weapon which was not used, sometimes these weapons made such a difference that it decided which trail the human genome traveled from that one crucial super weapon for that warfare. We also found that often the super weapon from the last war is the standard for weapons used in the next war and thus one can only deduce that there will be a future war where some form of nuclear weapon will be used on the battlefield which may easily lead to an exchange of nuclear weapons which might be misinterpreted as a launch and use their nuclear weapons against their enemies while they are still able and the spread continues from this one episode to a conflagration which would be immeasurable. All this might be the eventuality after Iran becomes a nuclear armed state and it spreads through the Arab and Muslim worlds and from there beyond spanning the globe. Perhaps holding such power under one’s control will temper their arrogances and put their pride and conceits in perspective and nation shall choose to no longer lift their sword against their neighbor as war might then draw too large a cost to even be imagined. But what about the terrorist entities of which there are a number who are supplied by Iran which include Hezballah and Hamas, both of which border Israel and have started conflicts using every weapon they could muster. What will be the result if these entities are given access to nuclear weapons which they could then use against Israeli cities? Additionally, Iran has been attempting to gain favor and supply Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority which occupy Judea, Samaria and have access to all of Jerusalem and control the Temple Mount through the use of civil disturbances and rioting. Should Fatah receive a nuclear device it would not be impossible to place it in a vehicle, likely a stolen vehicle from within Israel and sporting Israeli citizen plates granting it free travel with relative ease. Such a situation could result in such a device being set to detonate right outside the Knesset Parliament Building and possibly even timed to coincide with a second device being set-off in central Tel Aviv. Such an attack would leave Israeli little choice but to strike back and to do so with the ferocity of a wounded mother protecting her children as that would be exactly what Israel would be engaged in, protecting those Children of Israel who had survived despite having much of her heart torn from within her. Never Again also meant that we would never allow the Masada ending to be played out again and no longer would Israel sit still to be carved-up by her neighbors, Never Again!

 

Beyond the Cusp