The Religion of War – Rachel Ehrenfeld – American and European leaders are “shocked” that the Islamic State (IS) barbarians beheaded two American reporters, Steven J. Sotloff and James Foley. Their “shock” is disingenuous and troubling. They react as though such barbarism is something new among Islamists. It is anything but. And if not earlier, then certainly in the aftermath of al Qaeda’s attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001, a spike in Islamic groups’ and individuals’ barbaric crimes has been reported worldwide. Islamist beheading is nothing new. Open a Quran in any translation to find the instructions that the IS and other jihadists groups are following, in the name ‘the Beneficent, the Merciful Allah.’ Bloody fighting as prescribed in the Quran serve as the foundation of their religion of War.…more…
Israel-Jordan: Natural Gas Agreement – J. Millard Burr and Rachel Ehrenfeld – On September 4, 2014, Israel signed a letter of intent to sell natural gas to Jordan. In January 25th, 2012, we published J. Millard Burr’s report on ”Egypt: Natural Gas, Pipelines, and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.” The report said: “In mid-November terrorists active in the northern Sinai Peninsula blew up and thus shut down the Arab Gas Pipeline that provides Egyptian natural gas to Israel and Jordan.. It was the seventh such attack in 2011… “Importantly, the distribution of Egyptian natural gas to Israel and Jordan had been a constant reminder of the benefits that derived from the Camp David peace accord of 1979, and the “sabotage” was a strong indication that the neutrality of the Sinai peninsula, and the security of the Egypt-Israel border, could no longer be taken for granted.”…more…
Creation of a Prosperous Economy and A Just Society in Ukraine – Norman A. Bailey – The famous sociologist and former president of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, when asked why, with all its abundant natural resources, Brazil was still a poor country, responded: “Brazil is not a poor country. It is an unjust country”. There is a reason why the Bible tells us “Justice, justice, thou shalt pursue”, not “Riches thou shalt pursue” or “Power thou shalt pursue”. This is the theme of my talk today; namely how to create a just society while constructing a prosperous economy….The monumental failure of the communist system; it combined economic disaster with the total absence of any form of justice… Ukraine has all the necessary preconditions for rapid and balanced economic growth: vast extensions of excellent agricultural land; well-developed industry; large potential energy resources; good communications and transportation networks, and an educated population. Having the preconditions, however, does not guarantee success.…more…
NATO, EU Face Acid Test – Norman A. Bailey – One of the iconic photographic images of recent decades was the film of a young Chinese man standing in front of the lead tank of an armored column on its way to crush the pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The tank driver apparently had a conscience and refused to run over the protester. It is reported that the people of Mariupol, Ukraine, are forming a human shield to protect their city from the oncoming Russian troops and armored vehicles…. In any case, Russia is now in open violation not only of its own pledges to respect Ukrainian territorial integrity in the Budapest Agreement of 1994, but of every tenet of international law concerning armed conflict between states… It now remains to be seen if the western world–Europe and The United States–will do anything about it.…more…
Saving NATO – Sol W. Sanders – It was one great historical irony that when NATO’s famous Article 5 – an attack on any member is an attack on all and demands their assistance – was invoked, it would be not in the aid of the European states for which the Treaty was designed but for the U.S. Nor did the 9/11 attack come from NATO’s anticipated enemy, the Soviet Union, but the new international jihadist terror network. Thus history’s most successful alliance – it protected Western Europe at the highwater mark of Communism both without and within for a half-century until the Soviet Union imploded — met a new challenge in far-off Afghanistan… Now, almost two decades after Moscow seemed a convert to a new universalism of free elections, an independent judiciary and media, a civil society and market economics, the European leadership is back to square one. A lying, hypocritical Russian dictatorship in all but name – if basically weak — has challenged with naked aggression the whole benign concept of what the Obama Administration keeps preaching is a new universal morality. Somehow, Putin doesn’t seem to have heard that sermon.…more…
ACD in the Media
‘Jimmy Carter Never Met ‘Islamic Terrorist He Didn’t Like’ – Ehrenfeld on NEWSMAX TV – Terrorism expert Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld on Thursday slammed former President Jimmy Carter for his planned speech at a fundraiser for a terrorism group linked to Hamas, telling Newsmax TV that “Mr. Carter has never met an Islamic terrorist that he didn’t like.” “Mr. Carter started his involvement with, as far as I know, with several nefarious characters even before he was elected president, when he was governor, and his peanut business was in trouble,” Ehrenfeld, the director of the American Center for Democracy, told “America’s Forum” host J.D. Hayworth. “It goes back to the days even before BCCI,… he and his family had been living on Saudi largesses and others,” Ehrenfeld said of the Democratic president. “The older he’s gotten, the more supportive he has become of … others who are really not supporting anything that is written in the American Constitution. “He was a big champion of Hamas — and, apparently, he has been known, actually, to be very anti-Semitic,” she added. “So, combined with that, he’s having a ball.”…more…
News & Commentary
They Have a Strategy: The jihadists’ insurgencies may look like ‘ local power struggles,’ but their ambitions are far grander – Thomas Joscelyn
You Can’t Understand ISIS If You Don’t Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia – Alastair Crooke
Connecting the dots. Western leaders failed to recognize the similarities between the Islamic State and Hamas. – Michel Gurfinkiel
Islamic State makes millions from stolen antiquities. – Al-Monitor
Inside modern Iran, where porn and prostitution are rampant – Larry Getlen
Palestine Needs Better Friends. Defenders of Hamas practice the bigotry of low expectations. – David Feith
Big Media Ignores Hamas’s “Ugliest Crimes” – Khaled Abu Toameh
Nigeria, Iraq, Gaza—The Threat is the Same – Douglass Murray
Pushing Back Against Putin. No U.S. leadership, no NATO. – John Bolton
Russian bank hires two former U.S. senators. U.S. sanctions against Russia are becoming a boon for Washington’s lobbyists – Public Integrity
Moscow to Help Iran Escape Western Boycott – Paul Goble
Obama’s Curious Rage. Calm when it comes to Putin, ISIS and Hamas, but furious with Israel. – Bret Stephens
Stark Choices: Fish or Cut Bait on Ukraine – Walter Russell Mead
Al Qaeda Wasn’t ‘on the Run’ – Steve Hayes
War in Europe is not a hysterical idea – Anne Applebaum
How Not to Help Americans Captured Abroad: A few lines, buried deep in the 2015 appropriations bill, could be a nightmare for American detainees and the State Department. – Richard Grenell, Jeremy Stern
The world in flames – Henry Kissinger
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