Was Andrew Napolitano Correct?

 

Was Andrew Napolitano Correct when on “Fox & Friends” he claimed that British intelligence officials had helped former President Barack Obama spy on Donald Trump? We know one thing, he was definitely wrong to have said so without having run the idea past Fox News’s law department, the “Fox & Friends” show’s writers, any managers related to both the “Fox & Friends” show and those responsible for Judge Napolitano and perhaps anyone else he could have found even to include the people behind each of the three cameras shooting the show and perhaps the microphone grip just for good measure. Apparently he also needed to include our friends, the British, into the mix of the Trump accusation his phones in Trump Tower were tapped by the Obama Administration. Of course any allegation which includes the Russians with the election victory by Donald Trump is perfectly within bounds as with the Russian allegations the target is President Trump and with Judge Napolitano’s British accusation the target is President Obama. The difference is more than obvious, it is also very revealing. In American media, even the presumed conservative darling Fox News, any accusation against President Trump can spread guilt to any target and still be acceptable while accusations against President Obama may not apply guilt to other targets because expressing potential for guilt of President Obama is what was not permissible and thus also the British. But perhaps delving deeper might be an interesting exercise and be quite revealing.

 

Judge Andrew Napolitano

 

We need to go back to the era of PRISM or before that Echelon as well as whatever the code name was back to the mid-1950’s which was finally revealed to the public in the mid-2000’s and was simply the latest data gathering system used by the National Security Agency (NSA) in coordination with the data collection abilities of the other Anglo-nations, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand with the United States in order to be capable of collecting, through coordination, the maximized capabilities of their systems. Their coordinating their systems meant that they could prevent duplicating each other’s efforts. In order to guarantee that each nation would still have access to whatever data they needed there was an agreement. The initial agreement was called the UKUSA Agreement, or the United Kingdom – United States of America Agreement. The actual agreement upon full ratification included all the Anglo-nations mentioned above. This agreement also permitted each nation to have total access to the information of the other nations. Now as it was easiest for each member nation to collect complete and total accumulation and compilation of their own population’s data, each nation was assigned with the collection of all electronic communication including phones of all varieties, internet, wireless and any other variety of communication which lent to interception. Obviously ground mail was still safe from this collection processes though e-mail was not and was also collected along with all else.

 

The fact that each nation in the group, the United States, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada all have laws which do not permit spying on their own citizens without first having a judge issue a warrant; this made it such a tedious and limiting requirement that each country desired some means of getting around this nasty limitation. Unsurprisingly, leaks revealed that they found just the means by which to collect what was their hearts, and snooping, desires without the needless waste of finding some judge to issue a warrant, even after the The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) and the accompanying FISA Courts where warrants could be granted in complete and total secrecy. But what if your target was somebody who you did not believe that even a FISA Court would issue a warrant? Well, one could always resort to the “old school” method for such situations. The five nations which finally entered the UKUSA Agreement agreed that when any one deemed they required intercepting, read bugging, anyone of their own citizens, something universally illegal under several laws, they would simply request a surveillance report covering the individuals phone numbers, their internet e-mail address and internet entrance and other electronic identifiers using all the direct alpha-numeric identifiers such that no names were ever exchanged. The nation receiving the request would then query all five nations’ data collection systems and compile their report simply listing all communications by the target accounts and thus the individual of interest. This report was then presented to the nation unable to actually collect such information themselves legally without making legal requests at some level. This was the method, as we pointed out, back in the day. Now, all those out there who believe that this method of data acquisition has fallen by the wayside and is no longer accessible, raise your hands. Let’s see, OK George, put your hand down, not funny. So, we all believe that if somebody from the political, law enforcement, foreign intelligence collection group or domestic intelligence group desired to gain such information, they could simply contact somebody they could trust from one of the other nations and have all the information they might desire and all without anybody being all the wiser.

 

So, what is the most important concept behind all of this spy vs. spy scenario? Well, it has to be the part that nobody would be any the wiser. Would it be possible for somebody in the government, say the President, or more likely a subordinate, a trusted subordinate with contacts across a border in say New Zealand or perhaps Canada to gather a compiled report which includes all the communications, or simply phone conversations, from a specific set of alphanumerics representing a person of interest even daily? The obvious answer is an obvious “Yes” and all without anybody in either government actually believing anything untoward had taken place. Are such requests made currently? Probably, though nowhere near in the numbers which were likely back twenty or so years ago. Still, this polite gentlemen’s agreement was put in place for just the reason that listening to then candidate Trump’s phone calls was made to produce. Did President Obama actually order or just request such a report from the British? The truth is it is unlikely but did he actually mention that he was wondering what Trump was up to, very likely. Might an overeager subordinate have then issued such a request hoping to have something interesting he or she could then report to the President? You tell me and if you have a name and proof, that would be appreciated as well. We promise not to use such information, well, not without giving you the credit if you desire such as we would not desire taking the heat alone. What is obvious is that the scenario is not beyond possibility.

 

What must be added to this entire scenario is that the new NSA data collection systems currently are capable of collecting every single last piece of electronic data from the United States plus probably Europe and a select dozen additional nations just for fun without taxing their systems which are tied into world-wide communications networks at their sources. Further, when gathering data using the numerical address the actual target remains unidentified in almost every situation as numerical identifiers can be used which disguise the actual target from those collecting the data. Thus, simply using such identifiers one can draw up all the information from any identifier for any period simply by entering a query into the huge data storage complex outside Reno, Nevada. This could even be done directly out of virtually any office of a Congressperson and nothing untoward would ever be suspected. From the White House, well, that might raise some suspicions, but from any agency which is assigned to gather information, nobody would ever suspect anything. Even those who are responsible for guarding that all data acquisition is done all legal and above boards have so much to review that it is very possible that many requests get through never being reviewed as review is probably reserved for such demands made by courts and other persons having a purpose to request such reviews. This means that even had Trump had his file accessed, nobody is likely to have been the wiser and it is entirely possible that the old UKUSA Agreement system of scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours could have been used to make tracing all the more difficult. Whatever the actual situation, Judge Napolitano was hired to give commentary, his best assessments and legal advice. His commentary if presented as fact might have been a bit overly pretentious, but was not entirely out of line. If he presented it as theory, then it was within the assigned duties of a commentator. Whatever the situation proves forth, should the Judge need a part-time, non-paying position, we can always use another commentator here at BTC whose views might be appreciated by our readers and who would add to our broad views of what is, what may be and what we wish would be.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Iran Desires Some Things Even the Saudis Cannot Buy

 

Saudi Arabia is used to facing problems for where the determining factor is oil or money. The current crisis is not one of that ilk. It is not one that can be done completely just by controlling the price of oil as doing that might upset Russia, the Saudi’s recent new best friend after the United States proved unreliable and apparently had joined the Iranians whose immediate plan is to take the Saudi oil fields thus neutering the Saudi influence and taking away their only real weapon. But the apparent newest friend of the United States has far more than taking merely oil, they want it all and the Saudis had best know about the other half of the Iranian plans, the half where they take the most valuable of the Saudi influences. The oil is only money and that can be taken back with force even if doing so heavily damages the fields as that too can be easily repaired and the Iranians do not wish to become merely the all but sole power over OPEC and thus be able to push the price of oil up or down according to their whims. But the oil fields, as such, are not even the primary goal because the Iranians have as their primary appetite which is to control Islam, something they find to be the more appealing and possessing a far more important goal requiring their attentions and that is to have the holy cities starting with Mecca and Medina. Some here believe that their backing of the Houthis to take control of Yemen is less about controlling the Bab el Mandeb Straights and more about providing them with a more direct route in reaching Mecca and Medina coming from the south which is often the least guarded area of Saudi Arabia and once the Iranians get past those tasked with guarding the southern borders it would become a three party race to control the holy cities, two being the Iranians closing from Yemen in the south and from Iraq in the north while the Saudi forces would need to be called from their concentration on the oil fields and transported the width of the country to join the fight. This lends to my answering those who have asked about what made me believe that World War III was on the horizon and this is my reply and explanation.

 

Once Iran controls the oil fields and both Mecca and Medina, and thus adding to the Shiite holy sites in Iran and in Iraq where their efforts will be directed in defending those near Islamic State borders or already swallowed by the Islamic State thus requiring liberation they can move to their next challenge. With their control over Mecca and Medina added to Damascus, Najaf, in Iraq with Qom in Iran they can then fortify any other Shiite holy places in Iraq from the ravages of the Islamic State and work towards returning Damascus and all of Syria which at the moment appears more like a pressing and difficult problem. Should the situation turn for the worst, as it appears that the Syrian and Hezballah forces are losing badly in Syria, Iran will need to interject some serious forces to reacquire all of Syria thus rejoining these lands with Iraq and thus attaining a direct land route for resupply. This will require the removal of Islamic State from their holdings and that may prove to be a most difficult task. None of these tasks are dependent on the Iranian production of nuclear weapons as those weapons can only be utilized in places which possess no natural or religiously important sites as such sites becoming uninhabitable due to radiation would defeat gaining their control. Taking out the Islamic State resources in open areas of lesser importance would be the perfect locations for tactical nuclear intervention providing breaking the treaty just negotiated would not prove advantageous as it would give the next President of the United States the perfect excuse to interfere with Iranian immediate plans to take control of the most prized and sensitive locations in all of Islam.

 

Fortunately for Israel and the United States these goals are more likely the primary goals for Iran as their gaining preeminence in the Muslim world and the display of Shia Islam as ascending and Sunni Islam as the weak and decrepit old and stale form of Islam would serve them well in converting the majority of Sunni adherents to Shiite doctrines. The fact that once the Iranians had defeated Saudi Arabia or at least gained the vital parts of the oil fields of the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia along with Mecca and Medina they could then set to establishing Madrassa throughout the Islamic and Western worlds replacing the Wahhabi schools and other centers with Shia schools and centers and will go a long way towards this goal. There are two other obstacles which Iran will need to overcome, Turkey and Egypt, both of which are well armed and have well trained militaries and will each pose their own necessary problems for the Iranians to address. Many might claim that the Kurds would also pose a problem but oddly enough, there are scenarios in which they could become allies if their ends were also considered. Should the Iranians prove to be the chess players they were at the P5+1 nuclear talks, not that President Obama desired to present any bit the real defender of the realm and actually desired to provide Iran with a perfectly clean route to nuclear weapons even to go so far as to provide United States assistance in designing the ultimate in centrifuges and potentially the actual plans, methods and procurement of equipment for the entire production of thermonuclear warheads and setting up multiple sites dispersed around Iran in German designed and build bunkers for their continued safety and Secretary Kerry as the clown at the talks being advised and encouraged all the while to simply give in at any sign of resistance and to make the demands in such a plaintive, diminutive and weak tone as to invite refusals, what could possibly go wrong as long as the American people were never aroused the plan would work, and it functioned like clockwork they will parley these gifts into further gains.

 

So, once Iran has cemented their control over the Arabian Peninsula, and the Shiite crescent through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, the next two nuts to crack are Turkey and Egypt. Turkey can be defeated quickest and with minimal efforts providing they decide not to simply bow to Iranian hegemony and take the refusal to their retaining independence and instead becoming a semiautonomous district subject to the whims and necessities of Tehran, then Turkey will have been neutered and the Kurds circumvented and thus left alone for the time being as their threat is minimal as all they desire, much like Israel, is their little corner of the world and they will be content ad happy. Unfortunately for the people of Turkey, I do not see Erdogan capitulating and to subside his rule to Tehran which would make him an enemy. The best tactic for invading Turkey would be to seek the aid of the Kurds under the promise of granting them the eastern quarter of Turkey and the lands they already control even including Mosul as an autonomous region loyal to Iran. As long as the Iranians remain loyal to their promises the Kurds would do similarly. This would leave Egypt as the sole roadblock to hegemonic establishment of the Caliphate as the rest of North Africa would readily fall to Iran. There is no easy way to take Egypt but she could be weakened severely just by the loss of the Sinai Peninsula and grabbing control of the two ends of the Suez Canal thus taking from Egypt a major revenue source. Probably the best manner of taking Egypt is from within and by establishing Shia Islam as dominant and thus having them desire to join the strong and growing in power Iranians who are the true leaders of Islam and the emerging Caliphate.

 

After Egypt the goal changes immensely and the impossible must be considered, well, the impossible from the erudite scholars in the West, nobody told the Iranian or the Arab worlds that such was considered beyond acceptable, the seeking to conquer the entire world and willing to do whatever it takes and destroy half the world simply to rule the remainder. The United States has always practiced capture and release policy starting in the twentieth century and this molded their concept that any one nation conquering the world was out of the question. Europe, as we have seen, would be happy to unite Europe and have it ruled by a council of the nations and somehow find some formula that equalized Germany and Greece and the two completely foreign to each other lifestyles. Europe, in its self-imposed demilitarized European theater would pose little opposition should their Islamic populations approach thirty percent and decide that Europe should be required to join the Caliphate as the real and unadulterated authoritative force in the world. It is entirely possible that should there be rioting and mayhem with hundreds if not thousands murdered in the uprising that the European Union would desire quiet to such an extent as to capitulate and then the nations would call for a meeting of NATO and it is quite possible that most of NATO would claim their desire to join the Caliphate and desire all of NATO to simply recognize that this was the future of the world. The United States and possibly some of the eastern European nations would oppose such and NATO would effectively be dissolved allowing the majority of NATO nations and European Union nations would just surrender to Islam without a fight, the preferred method by the rulers of the Caliphate.

 

 

Could this be an Iranian Caliphate resulting from the concessions all are making in the here and now and their hungers being satiated by a weakened and war weary Western World, especially Europe and leftists in America?

 

 

At some point the remaining European powers, probably Poland and England and a few of the former Warsaw Pact nations resisting and uniting with the United States, and oddly enough, with China and Russia all unite in order to fight to prevent what they finally recognized was an actual intent to rule the entire globe. The unthinkable would finally begin to be realized that nobody had informed the Iranians that conquest of the world was an undesirable goal and totally unacceptable by what was formerly the civilized Western World. The problem is that only the Western World had ever adopted that concept. Unimaginable as it would be to think so, but even Kim Jong Un probably envisioned a world being ruled by him or one of his progeny. The remaining powers somehow included Israel, which had lost Tel Aviv to the Iranian hope that one bomb would end Israel. Instead that one bomb just steeled their steadfastness and lighted the resolve of one third of American Jewry who made Aliyah bringing with them their wealth, all under an emergency plan by Israel’s government calling for all Jews to male Aliyah immediately. This was stated to be the rallying for the safety of Israel and Jerusalem. This swelled the Jewish population even after the loss of almost two-million souls when Tel Aviv was struck; the Israeli Jewish population reached an unthinkable eleven-million Jews. This in-swelling of the Jews from around the world was seen by many younger Arab Islamists as a sign for them to move across the Jordan River and join with the Caliphate which had absorbed Jordan in a three day blitz. The Jordanian King was able to get his family inside Israel along with many of the ruling elites who desired the relative safety of Israel than to face the often unpredictable dictates of the Shia conquerors. Israel offered safety and provided an escape to the United States where they all took up residence in the Napa Valley and spent their days sipping wine on the various tours of the vineyards.

 

The alliance of Britain, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Russia, China, a number of other smaller former Soviet satellites and miraculously, Israel joined forces to end the rise of the Caliphate once and for all. It is inevitable given the divisions in this world which have irreconcilable differences and completely opposing philosophic views and precepts, the clash between the two once the weaker, Islam, could be united against the currently still stronger United States and the British commonwealth nations which includes Canada, Australia, the British Isles, Ireland (though they would deny it till the end), United States, India, New Zealand, and a few I probably missed, would band together in a response to any threat against a single state, especially if that threat was aimed at London and Ten Downing Street and Buckingham Palace as the world knows, there are but five Queens in this world and there are near countless versions of four and one stands apart. They are the Queen of Hearts, Queen of Clubs, Queen of Spades, and Queen of Diamonds and above them all is the Queen of England. That will be the next and hopefully final world war though I have my doubts about last. Let us pray that the deal struck with Iran does not make that final World War the one told of by Albert Einstein in the answer he presumably gave when asked what weapons World War III would be fought with and he replied “I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

If Only! If Only!!!

 

They are at it again, blowing off steam, pacing, pouting and protesting everything. But best of all, they’re threatening again the one threat they would never ever, ever carry through. The two most vocal of the Arab Authority have taken to the media and threatened to dissolve their governance and turn governing Judea and Samaria over to the Israelis threatening that then Israel will be forced to govern and perform the requirements of an occupying power. Mahmoud Abbas threatened this on Sunday and Saeb Erekat made the threat again on Monday. Whenever I hear this empty threat my first thought is always, “If only!” The first item the Israeli government should commit to is permitting the Arab refugees which Mahmoud Abbas, Saeb Erekat and the rest of the Arab Authority pretenders have shown their great concern and sympathy for their fellow Arabs in the camps in Judea and Samaria and under the autonomy and governance of the Arab Authority (we will no longer refer to them as the name they use to try and replace the Jews as the rightful owners to the Promised Land when they use their name of Palestinian Authority to claim that Jesus was a Palestinian and not a Jew and they are the real modern descendants of the Israelites from the Old Testament thus the new term of Arab Authority) keeping them isolated and living in poverty and without any possibility of attaining employment or living outside the concrete refugee camp where they remain isolated from their Arab brothers just outside the camp and liberate them freeing them to live free and have the same rights as the rest of the Arabs residing in Judea and Samaria. They should be permitted to seek employment and be treated the same as any Arab living within the areas which were under the Arab Authority kleptocracy.

 

The threat that Mahmoud Abbas and Saeb Erekat are making does have consequences for the Israelis. The consequence has nothing to do with their threats but with the mendacious and perfidy of the Europeans, United States, United Nations and those who now send trillions of Euros and Dollars to the Arab Authority as if such funds will actually be used to assist the Arabs living within the Arab Authority and not have much of the funding end up in numbered Swiss bank accounts of the leadership of the Arab Authority. It was ignored that Mahmoud Abbas and sons ran multiple construction contracting companies who received an inordinate number of contracts where little work was accomplished but funds were authorized and the monies simply disappeared. The funds which have gushed into the Arab Authority will dry up without a single dollar, without a single Euro, without as much as even a collapsed and nearly worthless Ruble will be sent to assist Israel in caring for the same Arabs. But that does not matter as once the Arabs are freed from the Arab Authority oppressions and depredations and permitted to find employment, start their own businesses, and with time find work within Israel once they are cleared and given work permits to cross into Israel and no longer needing to gain the permission of the kleptocracy and are permitted to work for themselves and gain from the sweat of their own brow and they will soon realize the depth and deprivations of their oppression under Abbas who was no different or less corrupt than was Arafat before him as the acorn that is Abbas did not fall far from the master Arafat and the difference was in attire, not in practice, dishonesty or theft of the bread and butter from their subjects’ mouths.

 

This threat is not aimed at Israel as in Israel they are aware that given the ‘burden’ of taking over running of the areas of Judea and Samaria would have its challenges but with time the Arabs would learn that the Israelis were not the problem and the reason why they were deprived of the treasure from the efforts at making a living or living a decent life free from the oppressions the oligarchy placed upon them and denials of freedoms. The freedom to make a living and to be employed and to employ those you choose free of interference from the governance which hung over them would initially amaze and eventually become a liberating experience. Allowing Israel to take control over Judea and Samaria would be a boon for entrepreneurs willing to invest and open businesses in manufacturing, service, food and in all manner of enterprise which could initially be permitted their first two years free from many taxes to encourage such investments.

 

But the benefits for all would go far beyond the economic liberty and opportunities which would be presenting a world of difference from the restricted opportunities controlled and limited by the Arab Authority. The education system could be completely revamped changing the emphasis from the destruction of Israel and hatred of Jews to something revolutionary, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic and the other subjects which would offer the next generation with the added opportunity to be self-sufficient. They would still be educated in their religion but also be given an education which would facilitate a better future with new opportunities and facilitate future generations who will forge a greater future for all the Arabs within Judea and Samaria giving them an equal chance for a future equal to that of every Israeli. Israel was an agrarian economy through the 1960s and into the 1970s and then things changed with the influx of thousands of Russian Jews who were trained in computer sciences, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, computer technology, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, numerous other forms of engineering, theoretical sciences and the entire span of the sciences amongst other subjects which altered Israeli society. This influx was timed almost perfectly with an increasingly urban population and the necessity for new areas of employment and industrialization. This change of the emphasis in a society from agrarian to high tech took some time but the change took place and Israel became a technological wonder in the ensuing decades. The same transformation could be performed with the population in Judea and Samaria and Mahmoud Abbas and Saeb Erekat both are fully aware that once they permit Israel to give the Arabs they currently oppress would result in their never being permitted to return to power and possibly result in their fleeing before they were held responsible by those they cheated from having a full life and permitted to achieve to their full potential.

 

So, exactly why are Mahmoud Abbas and Saeb Erekat once again making their empty threat to end their governance, or should I be honest and call it what it really is, mis-governance, of Judea and Samaria? They are doing this for the same reason that they make any of their preposterous, over-the-top, exaggerated, outrageous and ridiculously excessive threats; to simply panic the United States, Europeans and to signal the regiments of NGOs to go into full panic mode exclaiming the coming disaster and thus get all the regular targets to pressure the Israelis while pledging to provide additional billion of funds, if not trillions, and politicians from the entire world pleading them to remain and continue doing that which only they are capable of performing, raising the next generation which will assist in the terrorism and political elimination arguments and actions which may work towards the day when Israel will be eliminated and those who have worked so diligently behind the efforts can still say the eulogies and proclaim their sorrow and regret that the Jewish state fell before unforgiving pressures from all directions which they themselves had no hand in, honest, they will proclaim their absolute innocence and refute any who claim otherwise. This exercise is performed on the stage of ludicrous pronouncements mixed with massive amounts of over-dramatization plus no small measure of prevarication and punctuated with hyperbolic histrionics all played out on the world’s stage before an always pliant and hungry Western appetite ready to dance to the Arab Authority depictions of honest execution of truth all in a dishonest effort to pander to their sympathetic Western fools. This particular passion play is being performed for a particular reason. The Arab Authority is aiming to reapply for recognition of statehood before the United Nations Security Council as January brought a changing of the guard, so to speak. The changes in the Security Council are Australia who voted against and is being replaced by New Zealand, Rwanda who abstained being replaced by Angola, South Korea who abstained is being replaced by Malaysia, Luxembourg who voted in favor is being replaced by Spain, and Argentina who voted in favor is being replaced by Venezuela. As all that the Palestinian require if all the remainder of the nations carried over to the New Year vote as they did in the previous vote is for New Zealand, Angola or Malaysia to vote in favor and for Spain and Venezuela to vote in favor as did Luxembourg and Argentina in the previous vote. Basically what it comes down to is for Spain and Venezuela to vote in favor as Malaysia is very likely to vote in favor giving the Palestinians the ninth vote and if either should change their vote to abstain or against, then either New Zealand or Angola would need to vote in favor to balance the equation. Unfortunately, it does appear that the Palestinians if they get their petition before the Security Council again in this new Security Council which is quite likely as Jordan will be serving as the President in January it will almost assuredly pass. Should the Palestinians gain the nine necessary votes the question becomes what will the five permanent members do, would any use their overriding veto? Since France, China and Russia supported the previous attempt they would be unlikely to use their veto which leaves Britain and the United States. There is a remote possibility that the United States might decide not to veto the petition which might not matter as if that were to be the case, it is actually possible that Britain’s Prime Minister Cameron might instruct their Ambassador to veto the petition, despite as surprising as many might find such a move. Between the Arab Authority’s current temper tantrum and their plans to reapply to the United Nations Security Council to force Israel to surrender to the Palestinian territorial demands it is not going to be a boring start to this New Year. It is an ancient Chinese curse which wishes for one to live in interesting times; perhaps things such as this are the actual meaning of interesting which would make it definitely a curse.

 

Beyond the Cusp