A few years back, in one of his finest moments, Senator McCain said on a Sunday talk show that “Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country.” It was right when he said it, and it’s even more right today.

Vladimir Putin’s circle of corrupt oligarchs gouge whatever money they can from the impoverished Russian economy and move it to bank accounts overseas. They do this after giving President Putin his cut, after which he apparently also sends the money overseas.

Many say Mr. Putin is the richest man in Russia, worth billions and billions. So the old Soviet model of the nomenklatura communist bureaucrats getting rich while the rest of the country declines is still in place.
Read more…

Saudi Arabia is our new best friend, right? Unfortunately, no. But my goodness, it’s complicated.

The Arab and Muslim world is in flux and chaos. The need to halt Iran’s drive for regional hegemony, and the resulting Shia dominance over the Sunni Islamic world, has driven the Saudis into a tacit alliance not only with America but also, even more remarkably, with Israel.

With the UAE, the Saudis are now also leading an economic and diplomatic boycott of Qatar, the Sunni Gulf state which is nevertheless allied to Shia Iran and which the Saudis rightly accuse of being behind much of global terrorism.

Read more…

Nationality Law changed under pressure from haredi parties to emphasize Jewish nature of state over democratic nature.

T. Belman. I never was happy with the former proposal as it equated the Jewish value with the democratic value. I argued that often courts have to decide which of the two takes precedent and said courts will invariably give the nod to democratic. Thus I argue the new law should recognize Jewish above democratric.

The new Nationality Law will define Israel as a ‘Jewish State with a democratic regime’ rather than as a Jewish and democratic, due to pressure from the haredi parties. The law will also include an order to preserve the state’s religious heritage and the holy places according to their traditions.

The updated draft of the Nationality Law was approved by the Special Ministerial Committee for the Approval of the Nationality Law, Israel Hayom reported. The draft will now move to the Knesset plenum to be voted into law.
Read more…

President Donald Trump delivered the following remarks to the people of Poland from Warsaw’s Krasi?ski Square after being introduced by first lady Melania Trump.

Thank you very much. That’s so nice. The United States has many great diplomats, but there is truly no better ambassador for our country than our beautiful First Lady, Melania. Thank you, Melania. That was very nice.

We’ve come to your nation to deliver a very important message: America loves Poland, and America loves the Polish people.

The Poles have not only greatly enriched this region, but Polish-Americans have also greatly enriched the United States, and I was truly proud to have their support in the 2016 election.

It is a profound honor to stand in this city, by this monument to the Warsaw Uprising, and to address the Polish nation that so many generations have dreamed of: a Poland that is safe, strong, and free.

Read more…

T. Belman. This was a great speech (text). Continetti points out a number of reasons but to my mind, misses the most important message; our civilization, our way of life, our values are threatened from within and without,

“it is the people, not the powerful, who have always formed the foundation of freedom and the cornerstone of our defense.”

“Our citizens did not win freedom together, did not survive horrors together, did not face down evil together, only to lose our freedom to a lack of pride and confidence in our values. We did not and we will not. We will never back down.”

“The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?”

President Trump speaks at Krasinski Square at the Royal Castle Thursday in Warsaw. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Some observations on what Matthew Continetti rightly calls Donald Trump’s “remarkable” speech in Warsaw, Poland.

(1) This was a speech filled with remarkably apt references to Polish history, a subject surely few people suspected the president came to office familiar with. There were multiple references to Pulaski and Kosciusko, the Poles who crossed the Atlantic to fight for American independence, and to the Miracle of Vistula in 1920, when the Polish army under General Pilsudski repelled a Soviet invasion.

Trump recounted Pope John Paul II’s 1979 sermon before 1 million of his fellow Poles and how they responded by chanting, “We want God.” “Poland is the story of a people who have never lost hope, who have never been broken, and who have never, ever forgotten who they are.”

Read more…

SEE ALSO U.S. prepared to hold joint operations with Russia in Syria, Tillerson says

Officials: ‘We’re determined to defend ourselves’ against Iran in Syria

U.S. forces have been instructed to take all measures needed to protect American interests in Syria, including military measures, as part of an effort that comes after top officials in the Trump administration assessed that Iran is deliberately probing American weaknesses and reactions on the Syrian battlefield, according to senior Trump administration officials who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.

Iran-backed forces, including Hezbollah, have already initiated multiple encounters with the United States by violating agreements worked out between Washington and Moscow aimed at preventing the various factions targeting ISIS inside Syria from coming into conflict. This is part of a campaign that analysts inside and outside the White House believe is aimed at testing the Trump administration’s resolve, sources said.
Read more…

Anti-occupation activists’ resentment and disbelief at liberal U.S. Jewish outrage over the Wall shows how disconnected they are from key tenets of American Jewish identity

A stone barrier painted with an Israeli flag in Hebron, December 15, 2015.

US Jewish liberals won’t be heading to the anti-occupation barricades anytime soon: A stone barrier painted with an Israeli flag in Hebron, December 15, 2015. Gil Cohen-Magen

It was to be expected that the near unanimous outrage among non-Orthodox American Jews over the Israeli government’s backtracking on its Western Wall promises would be resented by the ultra-Orthodox and those who support the Kotel status quo.
Read more…

T. Belman. How can American Jews who voted overwhelmingly for Obama, twice, and Hillary Clinton, expect to have a seat at the table in Israel when religion or peace is on the menu.

Something is terribly broken in the relationship between American and Israeli
Jews. I say this as an American Jew who has lived in Israel for almost half a
century. But if anyone thinks this started with Women of the Wall, or PM
Netanyahu’s recent – and I believe unfortunate—backtracking on the agreement
over egalitarian prayer space at the Kotel, he is suffering from selective
memory, if not total denial.

Read more…

T. Belman. I totally agree. Israel can do without liberal Jews who support J-Street or progressive causes, especially when they include support of the Palestinian cause or Islam. One thing is certain. Liberal Jews will never give up their progressive policies in exchange for recognition at the Kotel. Their brand of Judaism is dying out and will be a memory only in two generations.

This week, Jewish Democrats hurdled toward irrelevance as a force in American politics, and they don’t even know it yet.

A few days ago, Israel found it could no longer sustain its longstanding pretense of esteem for American streams of Judaism. (The flashpoint was worship at Israel’s revered Kotel, or Western Wall.) In response, liberal segments of American Jewry have begun actualizing threats to withhold financial and political support for Israel unless it extends them veto power over its democratically determined religious policies.

Many observers expect one side to blink, but neither will, because American Jews crave something Israel can never provide: equality for heterodox Judaism.

Read more…

T. Belman. As I read this stuff, I am chilled to my bones. This powerful stuff is backed by 1.3 billion Muslims and oodles of oil money. Unfortunately Israel is playing defense. It is hanging on for dear life.  It has no offense. This message will only get stronger as the years go by. And as it does, Israel will get weaker.  What passes for policy in Israel is the embrace of the status quo. There is no status quo. By choosing to be passive, Israel is sliding down the slope to oblivion.

By not destroying our enemies, we enable them to destroy us. Enough already.

Eid Al-Fitr Sermon by Advisor to PA President Abbas: Not a Single Millimeter of the Western Wall Will Fall under Non-Palestinian Sovereignty

In a recent sermon, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, advisor to PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Religious and Islamic Affairs, said that the Al-Buraq Wall (the Western Wall) was part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and “more important than all the others.” “The Al-Buraq Wall, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine – not a single millimeter of them may fall under any sovereignty other than that of the Palestinian people,” he said. The sermon, marking Eid Al-Fitr on June 25, was broadcast by the official Palestinian Authority TV channel and was attended by President Abbas.

Read more…

How often when you encounter thinly veiled or indeed naked anti-Semitism are you met with the riposte: “It is not anti-Semitic to be anti-Zionist; it is legitimate criticism of Israel; you are only raising the false charge to stifle debate/criticism of Israel or to smear the left”, and so ad nauseam?

Well, a significant development occurred this week which may have a considerable bearing on the debate around these issues but has been met by near total obliviousness by friend and foe alike. The reason for the near silence in the press and on social media alike is unclear but maybe because it all occurred thousands of miles away from Israel, the UK and the US.

Read more…

Steve Bannon, White House chief strategist and one of the architects of President Trump’s longshot populist victory in November, reportedly has his mojo back after a period of “hibernation” and is now one of the top voices in the Trump White House — just as Trump looks to take the initiative and push back against those in Congress and the media looking to stifle his agenda.

Bannon, Breitbart News’s former executive chairman, was widely reported to have been on the out in Trump’s inner circle as he disagreed with Gary Cohn, Dina Powell, and other more globalist-minded members of the Trump White House, often putting him at odds with Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner. But it seems those reports may have been overblown or premature.
Read more…

As the Trump administration continues to overhaul and codify a  comprehensive new Iran strategy, the opposition coalition to the mullahs in Tehran held a massive rally on Saturday in the French capital calling for regime change.

An enormous crowd of participants joined hundreds of prominent dignitaries from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. The entire convention voiced exuberant support for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and its President Maryam Rajavi as the sole viable alternative for the Iranian regime.

Read more…

Narendra Modi’s three-day visit Israel on 4 July is imbued with symbolism, breathtaking benefits to the two countries and an era of promise for both. Its timing underlines the slow upswing in ties from years of aloofness to the establishment of diplomatic ties 25 years ago and the onset of flourishing relations ever since.

Modi stands out for Israel – not just as the first Indian prime minister to visit, but also as a prominent world leader willing to skip the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, thereby removing the automatic bracket attached to most foreign visits. This gesture is appreciated in Israel no less than booming defense deals totaling more than $1 billion a year and the joint projects in water management, cyberspace, data protection, agricultural innovation, medicine, digitalization and numberless other fields with the world’s fastest growing major economy. Fighting terrorism and sustainable development are watchwords shared by one of the largest and one of the smallest Asian nations.
Read more…

If the UN and UNESCO cannot uphold the values and principles necessary to protect world cultures and heritage sites, let its validity be brought to question – not that of the Jewish People.

One has to hand it to the Palestinian Authority. When it adopts a policy of delegitimizing Israel, it goes all the way. Once again it is attempting to co-opt UNESCO, this time to expropriate the tombs of the very founders of the Jewish People – and to turn their resting place into a Palestinian World Heritage Site.

To achieve that feat, the upcoming UNESCO meeting in Krakow, Poland, will have to deliberately erase history instead of protecting it.
Read more…

Prof. Jordan Peterson, who made headlines last fall when he publicly refused to use gender neutral pronouns, aims to “take the humanities back” from university establishments after surpassing $45,000 monthly fundraising goal.

T. Belman. This Canadian professor is absolutely brilliant. Just listen to what he has to say in the following videos.

Jordan Peterson: Why You Have To Fight Postmodernism

Jordan Peterson Best Moments

7 Times Jordan Peterson Went Next Level Genius

You will understand why people are rallying to his cause. To listen to him is a treat.
He is simply fascinating.

A controversial University of Toronto psychology professor is making nearly $50,000 per month through crowdfunding, from a base of supporters that was ignited in large part by the professor’s anti-political correctness views.

Prof. Jordan Peterson, who made headlines last fall when he publicly refused to use gender neutral pronouns, has been using the fundraising platform Patreon since last March to subsidize costs associated with filming and uploading videos of his lectures to YouTube.
Read more…