Left: Anti-Israel protestors in Scotland / AP

Antisemitism = Islamism – Rachel Ehrenfeld – “Antisemitism can even be found in the halls of the United Nations,” said the joint statement signed by only 40 of the 193 United Nations member states on January 22, 2015. Really? The joint statement was signed at the informal meeting on Antisemitism at the UN General Assembly, January 22, 2015, to “rededicate” member states “to eliminate Antisemitism in all its forms.” Here are excerpts from Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor’s statement on Antisemitism at the UN General Assembly, January 22, 2015.…more…

Saudi Arabia – Replacing Abdullah – Yoel Guzansky@INSS – The custom since the days of Ibn Saud, Abdullah’s father and the founder of the modern Saudi kingdom, is that the crown passes among his sons, in this case, to Abdullah’s half brother, Crown Prince and Defense Minister Salman. The process of succession has thus far been smooth. Indeed, the fact that Abdullah has an experienced heir in the form of Salman should lessen concerns about a succession struggle, which would lead to a power vacuum. However, the 80-year-old Salman is functioning only partially, since he has suffered a stroke and apparently suffers from dementia. If and when he is appointed king, he will probably rule for a shorter time than any Saudi king until now..…more…

The Religion of Peace – Belligerent Reality – Rachel Ehrenfeld – “Sunni and Shiite believers of the fictional “religion of peace” could not have chosen a better time to expand their jihad against the infidels. The misleading portrait of the religion whose symbol is the sword, whose fanatic adherents’ principal aspiration is martyrdom by killing the nonbelievers, is not new. However, the twentieth-century Muslim Brotherhood fib of separation between the mosque and the state, at the time Western economies’ dependence on Arab/Muslim oil provided vast amounts of money, helped the believers to propagate this lie, and to increase their influence in the West, even while attacking it. Deception, a major weapon in the arsenal of Islam. Accordingly… “they portray Muslims as peaceful, tolerant human beings, while non-Muslims are aggressors, imperialist-colonialist occupiers. Therefore their victims and even their potential victims, i.e., all Muslims, must fight to defend themselves and retaliate against the Kuffar (non-believer), who always instigates war. These clearly contradictory characteristics of Arab-Islamic political culture mean that Muslims can viciously attack at every possible opportunity, while crying out they are victims of oppression and aggression. They can perpetuate obscene inhuman acts of violence, terrorize and intimidate, while they accuse the other of colonialism, apartheid, racism, and Islamophobia.”…more…

Old Islamists Never Die: Mohammed Haydar Zammar – J. Millard Burr and Rachel Ehrenfeld – On March 2014, in an Islamic-State-sponsored prisoner swap, Mohammed Haydar Zammar, the al-Qaeda operative jailed in Syria in 2001, was freed in exchange for Syrian army officers held by the IS. News articles that covered the prisoner exchange did not bother to explain why the IS would go to such trouble to gain his release. However, analysts familiar with the history of Islamist movements knew why.…more…

Obama=Incoherence – Sol W. Sanders – In any litany of the failures of policy of the Obama Administration, the question of Guantánamo ranks high on the list. The Bush Administration, in the white heat of post-9/11, absentmindedly improvised a solution to problem of the capture of prisoners of war–but in a war against a non-state entity. It chose an extra-legal method since Supreme Court decisions have set a precedent that non-citizens are entitled to the same legal rights as citizens under the constitution. And since the nationality of the party with which the U.S. was at war could not be identified, these were a new kind of POW, who (for lack of a better rubric) fell under the rubric of criminals. But if they were simply labeled “criminals” and brought into the American justice system, that meant that captured terrorists would be read their Miranda rights and might escape the kind of interrogation so necessary to get at the intricate connections they knew of in the international terrorist world. And, obviously, as in any other war, it was not predictable how long such prisoners would have to be held; but it was increasingly seen as a long and bitter struggle. Guantánamo became, then, not only a center for imprisonment but an important intelligence gathering point in a war which, perhaps more than any other, relied on subtle analysis of a complex social and religious, as well as political and military, puzzle.…more…

News & Analysis

The CIA’s Top Spy Is Stepping Down – Jeremy Bender

The State of the Union Is Great for Iran; Obama wrongly views Iran as a potential partner and Congress as a current adversary –  James S. Robbins

Ship insurer warns of Iranian oil breaching sanctions at UAE port – Reuters

Ignoring the news of Iran’s evildoing – Benny Avni

Alberto Nisman’s Warning About Iran – Claudia Rosett

Scotland Yard Reveals Huge Rise in Anti-Semitic Crime in London – Rosa Doherty

The Time of the Assassins. The Arab world has no counterforce to the murderers in our midst. – Hisham Melhem

Oil drop ‘disastrous’ for anti-ISIS fight – Sam Jones

Meet the honor brigade, an organized campaign to silence debate on Islam – Asra Q. Nomani

Turkey, terror, and tirades: what the Paris attacks reveal about Erdogan’s regime – JNS

The Global War on Modernity: Islamists set the time machine to the Dark Ages. Putin dreams of czarist Russia. A common enemy: America. – Garry Kasparov

El-Sisi moves on banning foreign publications offensive to religion – Ahram Online

Why Hitler Wished He Was Muslim. The Führer admired Atatürk’s subordination of religion to the state—and his ruthless treatment of minorities. Review of ‘Ataturk in the Nazi Imagination’ by Stefan Ihrig and ‘Nazi Germany’s War’ by David Motadel. – Dominic Green

Packing Time for France’s Jews. The Fifth Republic has been a good home for Jews. A Sixth Republic may not be so hospitable. – Bret Stephens

France’s Moment of Truth. Historically, politically, and economically, France stands on a precipice – Michel Gurfinkiel

State of Mind: A Future Russia – Walter Laqueur

The Big Chill: The Battle for Central Europe – Peter Pomerantsev

Pro & Con: Obama’s hesitation in Ukraine endangers Eastern Europe – Lawrence Haas

Is There No One Who Will Stand Up for Ukraine? Seems the West will do anything these days to avoid a confrontation with Vladimir Putin. – John Vinocur

Russian banker warns west over Swift. VTB chief executive says country building alternative payment system for banks – Gillian Tett and Jack Farchy

Europol ‘to be given new internet watchdog powers’. Confidential proposals, to be discussed by Theresa May and other European interior ministers next week, would create EU internet monitoring unit – Telegraph UK

Davos 2015: Spectre of Isis haunts Middle East debate – Gideon Rachman, FT

Obama scuttles. America retreats. Things fall apart – George Weigel

Capitol Hill

House—

Hearing: Protecting the Internet and Consumers Through Congressional Action – Energy & Commerce Committee – January 21, 2015

Hearing: Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research and Development – Science, Space & Technology Committee – January 21, 2015

Senate—

Hearing: Iran Nuclear Negotiations: Status of Talks and the Role of Congress – Foreign Affairs Committee – January 21, 2015

Hearing: Global Challenges and U.S. National Security Strategy – Armed Services Committee – January 21, 2015

CRS Reports

CRS Insights: Post-9/11 Evolution of the United States’ Defining of the Terrorist Threat from Al Qaeda – John W. Rollins, Specialist in Terrorism and National Security – January 20, 2015

Terrorism Risk Insurance Legislation in the 114th Congress: Issue Summary and Side-by-Side Analysis – Baird Webel, Specialist in Financial Economics – January 20, 2015

Yemen: Background and U.S. Relations – Jeremy M. Sharp, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs – January 21, 2015

Overview and Issues for Implementation of the Federal Cloud Computing Initiative: Implications for Federal Information Technology Reform Management – Patricia Moloney Figliola. Specialist in Internet and Telecommunications Policy; Eric A. Fischer. Senior Specialist in Science and Technology – January 20, 2015