New English Review

The Trump Administration spearhead of the ideological war against Radical Islamic Jihadism is Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to President Trump and member of the White House Strategic Initiatives Group. He has recently surfaced as spokesperson for the Administration on this and related issues and been the subject of a number of media reports. We had prior knowledge of his views on Radical Islamic jihadism from our New English Review book review and interviews prior to his involvement in the Trump transition team.  Subsequently, following the President’s election he was selected to serve in the Executive Office of the President.  We were afforded an opportunity to interview him on a wide range of current issues on Northwest Florida’s Talk Radio 1330amWEBY.  The program aired February 28, 2017.

Mike Bates:                            Good afternoon welcome back to Your Turn. This is Mike Bates. With me in the studio Jerry Gordon is the Senior Editor of the New English Review and its blog The Iconoclast and joining us by telephone Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to the President in the strategic initiatives group. Dr. Gorka, welcome.
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By Yuri Barman, AL SHARQ FORUM

Against the backdrop of instability in the global energy industry, Moscow is seeking to consolidate its share of the oil and gas markets as well as ensure that its revenue stream from the oil trade does not thin out. With that in mind, Russia pursues a policy of engaging its natural rivals in the industry from the Middle East with the aim of dividing up the markets fairly and on mutually beneficial principles. Moscow negotiated an almost-impossible deal with Saudi Arabia to cut oil output and made peace with Turkey against all odds in order to protect its interests in the European gas market. These steps show that despite remaining ‘frenemies’ Russia and its regional counterparts find ways to maintain a balance in the global energy market.
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T. Belman. The first problem was that McMaster right out of the gate said “Islam is a religion of peace.” Trump quickly and loudly countered with using the term “radical Islamic terrorism”. Now it appears that Mattis wants to appoint as his deputy, Anne Patterson, an appointee of Obama, who loves the Muslim Brotherhood. So far Trump has resisted. Trump’s In A Fight With Defense Secretary Mattis–And Trump Is Right.Here’s another one, Top TPP Negotiator, and Obama nominee, Now Part of Trump Administration and another problem, Sessions’ Recusal in Russia Probe Leaves Obama Lackey in Charge of DOJ Witch Hunt

By Ed Rogers, WaPo

Like the proverbial canaries in the coal mine, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster are expected to be early alarms in the event that life in the Trump administration becomes untenable. If the White House fails to build an atmosphere in which they can work, Mattis and McMaster — both of whom are keenly aware that the world is watching their every move — could take their leave. The shock waves caused by their departure would be felt throughout the White House, Congress, and foreign capitals around the globe. The stakes couldn’t be higher — everyone knows that if they aren’t able to make it work, something must be seriously broken.
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T. Belman. Trump still insists he will accept any deal that brings peace. So both he and Netanyahu are angling for peace rather than trying to enable Israel to get more land. Trump knows that the art of the deal requires that he shake people up so that they are unsure of their position and are more likely to compromise.

They are negotiating a deal between them as to what settlement construction will be permitted. But why does he not come out and affirm Israel’s right to build within the settlement boundaries just as Bush did. As Netanyahu keeps repeating “everyone knows we are going to keep them”. So I am disappointed. Trump has not changed one iota of Obama’s position on settlements. He has just used a softer tone.

In fact he has also been very cautious about changing Obama’s Foreign Policies, other than rhetoric about reigning in Iran. I believe that he means to reign in the anti-Israel UN.

By David Israel, JEWISH PRESS

Israeli Ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer revealed this week at a closed forum that President Trump’s request at his joint press conference with Prime Minister Netanyahu, that Israel restrict settlement construction, caught the latter by surprise, Makor Rishon reported Friday.

Dermer spoke at the annual conference of Israeli diplomats from all over the world at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, and stressed that despite the unexpected request, relations with the new Administration over the disputed territories would be much better than they have been before January 20.
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By Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE

Obama’s goal is to oust Trump from the presidency either by forcing his resignation or through his impeachment, The Daily Mail reports according to a family friend. To help him “lead the fight and strategy to topple Trump” his longtime consigliere, Valerie Jarrett, has moved into The Obama’s house with them in Washington.

After Eric Holder’s comments yesterday:

Barack Obama is getting closer to making his public reappearance in politics, his friend and former Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday.

Holder said he’s been talking to the former president about ways — including fundraising and interacting with state legislators — that could help the new National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which Obama asked Holder to chair last year.

“It’s coming. He’s coming,” Holder said, speaking to reporters at a briefing for the new group. “And he’s ready to roll.”

Throughout, Holder said, Obama “will be a more visible part of the effort.”

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By Tabitha Korol

Gross Schechter Day School is a Jewish day school whose mission is to encourage “creativity, exploration and self-discovery” by stressing “critical thinking, personal responsibility and global awareness.” Their children are to be “active students of the global world,” making them the ideal subjects for a multicultural outreach program, such as the “No Place for Hate Workshop,” sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

The Workshop hype claims to prepare students to support and assist in resolving peer conflicts and to uncritically accept all manner of belief systems, cultures, ethics, values, behaviors, and religions. They are being taught to abandon their own standards of morality while accepting the evils perpetrated by others, such as the oppressive woman-hating regime of Islam, where they chop off hands and feet for petty crimes and decapitate for other offenses.
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By Ralph Peters, New York Post, Mar. 1, 2017

In his politically adept address to Congress Tuesday night, President Trump largely ignored foreign policy and spoke only generally — though warmly — about our armed forces. That was a good thing. It might have been disastrous had the president attempted to lay down a “Trump Doctrine” on national security and international relations prematurely. He and his team long have been engaged on domestic issues, but, true to the pattern of recent administrations, they regarded global affairs as an annoyance and national security primarily as a stick for poking opponents.

Now, in office, Trump is learning how complex the world is and how confounding the collision of security, diplomatic and economic interests can be. Mr. President, take your time. Listen to premier advisers, such as Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Hear out the senators who’ve studied national security for decades. Recognize that politics truly ought to end at water’s edge.
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The Obama administration’s support for Hamas was not passive.

BY CAROLINE B. GLICK, JPOST MARCH 2, 2017 22:41

The State Comptroller’s Report on Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s war with Hamas in the summer of 2014, is exceedingly detailed. The problem is that it addresses the wrong details.

Israel’s problem with Hamas wasn’t its tactics for destroying Hamas’s attack tunnels. Israel faced two challenges in its war with Hamas that summer. The first had to do with the regional and global context of the war. The second had to do with its understanding of its enemy on the ground.
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By MARK LANDLER and ERIC LICHTBLAU, NYT, MARCH 2, 2017

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions, facing a storm of criticism over newly disclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States, recused himself on Thursday from any investigation into charges that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election.

His announcement, delivered at a terse news conference, came after a day of rapid-fire developments in a murky affair that has shadowed President Trump, jeopardized his closest aides and intensified pressure for a full inquiry into Moscow’s attempts to influence the election as well as the policies of the new administration.
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U.N. working to add IDF to list of entities responsible for inhumane acts against children

By Adam Kredo, NEW BEACON,   March 2, 2017 5:31 pm

The White House and Congress are considering slashing U.S. funding to the United Nations in light of its most recent effort to declare the Jewish state’s fighting forces a chief violator of children’s rights, according to multiple conversations with U.S. officials.

The U.N. is working to add the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, to a list of entities such as terror groups that are responsible for inhumane acts against children.

The move would be just the latest anti-Israel salvo by the U.N., which caused controversy late last year when, with the backing of the Obama administration, it moved to condemn Israel for building homes for Jewish people in Jerusalem.
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By Ted Belman

On Tuesday of this week I went to Tel Aviv to attend a political convention intended to give birth to a New political party called Zehut (Identity). Moshe Feiglin as expected was elected Chairman.

It was a raucous event, attended by close to 2000 fans and diehards. I crossed paths with Shmuel Sackett, Feiglin’s lieutenant, who organized the event. I have known him for years and occasionally correspond with him. I also met up with Yishai Fleisher who is competing for a seat in the party.

I then attended a VIP dinner and was lucky to sit opposite Moshe Feiglin himself. We chatted.

In Aug 2016 I posted The Feiglin Solution. I urge you to read it again.

A few weeks later I posted Feiglin’s Zehut Party is expecting over 12 seats in next election. Read it again to get a sense of what Zehut is about.

Finding a political solution is challenging while the Trump administration is weighing its approach to the war

By Yaroslav Trofimov, WSJ March 2, 2017

GENEVA—Peace talks between Syria’s regime and opposition face a formidable obstacle: Until President Donald Trump’s administration decides how to approach the six-year war, it makes little sense for anyone to compromise.

“It’s very difficult to reach any political solution if there is not a positive, active and serious role of the U.S.A.,” said Nasr Alhariri, head of the opposition delegation to the current round of talks now under way in Geneva.

After all, President Bashar al-Assad’s regime holds out hope that Mr. Trump’s eagerness to mend fences with Russia will lead Washington to further curtail support for the rebels.
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by John Rossomando, IPT News
March 1, 2017

Some supposedly very smart, well-informed people are making ignorant and misleading claims in the debate over designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group.

The Trump administration is considering designating the nearly 90-year-old Brotherhood, which seeks a global Islamic state governed by religious law known as shariah.
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BY SARIT ZEHAVI, JPOST MARCH 1, 2017

In 2013, the US designated the al-Nusra Front a terrorist organization, since it was a branch of al-Qaida in Syria.

Just like in the Sykes-Picot Agreement during World War I, when the British and French divided the Middle East between them, various factors involved in the fighting in Syria – Middle East countries and opposition organizations, great powers and terrorist organizations – are doing the same thing today; they all want a share of the spoils. There is just one problem: the fighting is far from over in Syria, following the collapse of the third cease-fire.

The rebel groups The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is in fact an umbrella organization of different groups of rebels across Syria, each group with a different agenda. After the signing of the most recent cease-fire, led by Russia and Turkey, Moscow claimed the agreement did not include the Salafi factions affiliated with al-Qaida, while the FSA disagreed. While this disagreement may seem purely tactical, it is in fact very important to clarify, as it is a major key to understanding why the fighting in Syria continues despite the cease-fires.
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Tunnels beneath destroyed ‘Jonah’s tomb’ reveal ‘treasure-house of world’s 1st great empire’

By Jay Baggett, WND

Inscription on the Lachish Reliefs. Left hand side inscription states: “Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment, before the city of Lachish. I give permission for its slaughter.”

Archaeologists in Iraq are decrying the latest destruction of the nation’s historic heritage by the Islamic State while celebrating an amazing discovery of biblical significance made possible only by the terror group’s looting.

The slow recovery of Mosul by Iraqi forces, backed by an international coalition, has allowed archaeologists to examine ISIS’ damage to artifacts at the site of ancient Nineveh. In 2014, shortly after taking control of Mosul, ISIS militants rigged the Nabi Younus shrine – the traditional burial site of the prophet Jonah – with explosives and blew it up.
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Israel’s force in bilateral relations will greatly increase if compared to the current confrontation with the EU behemoth with its more than 500 million inhabitants.

BY MANFRED GERSTENFELD, JPOST

After Brexit referendum, the breakup of the European Union through a collapse or voluntary disbandment can no longer be considered a fully absurd scenario. To create a framework of thought it is worthwhile to start analyzing what that could mean for Israel, even though Israel will not play any role in the process if it develops.

Particularly in the new century, the EU has taken increasingly hostile and occasionally antisemitic positions toward Israel on several issues. This led the Simon Wiesenthal Center to put the EU in third place in its 2015 list of worldwide promoters of antisemitic and/or anti-Israel incidents. It gave as reason: “The European Union has chosen to label products from the Golan Heights and disputed territories on the West Bank alone, ignoring the products of other occupied and disputed territories in the world such as Western Sahara, Kashmir, Tibet and products from areas controlled by terrorist Hamas and Hezbollah. This use of double standards against Israel typifies modern anti-Israelism and has been at the core of antisemitism for many centuries.”
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DEBKAfile Exclusive Report   March 1, 2017,

Secret contacts currently underway ahead of the Arab League summit later this month may bring about a sea change in the Arab world’s relationship with Syrian President Bashar Assad, DEBKAfile’s sources report.

On Saturday, Feb. 25, Egypt’s parliamentary committee for Arab affairs called for the return of Syria to the Arab League. This step symbolized an initiative launched by a number of leaders to invite Syrian President Bashar Assad to the March 29 Arab Summit in Amman – five years after Syria was expelled from the 22-member Arab League over the savage civil war then at its height.
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T. Belman. Not a word about the peace process. That’s a good thing.

By Patricia McCarthy, AMERICAN THINKER

Tuesday’s address to a joint session of Congress was without a doubt the best speech President Donald Trump has ever given, perhaps the best speech to a joint session of Congress since the great Ronald Reagan. But who could watch it and not be embarrassed by our infantile, bitter Left?

It was uplifting, optimistic, full of unifying words, and obvious to everyone. The pathetic exception was the Democrats in Congress. And those were the ones who did not boycott the event.

Like spoiled children, who had not gotten their way, they refused to applaud at the most obvious good-for-the-country lines. In fact, they were like a clique of mean girls in middle school who have decided to target one of their own.
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