By Ted Belman

There is no end in sight for the Syrian War because both sides have a lot of fight left in them. This is due in part to the fact that losing is not an option for either and both sides are being financed by oil money.

What started as a civil war in 2011 quickly escalated in a sectarian war between Shiites, (Iran, Alawite Syria and Hezbollah) and local Sunnis aided and abetted by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states and from time to time Turkey. Almost from the start, President Obama backed the ouster of Assad by Turkey and some Gulf states with the intention of installing the Muslim Brotherhood to run it just as he installed the Muslim Brotherhood to run Egypt.
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By Rachel Ehrenfeld, AMERICAN THINKER

No one expects the Trump administration to reverse the disastrous effects of the Obama-supported Muslim Brotherhood’s hijacking of the “Arab Spring” in the Middle East that increased the regional contest for supremacy in the Islamic world.  The rivalry has intensified between the Sunni camp led by Saudi Arabia and the Shiite camp led by Iran – each with its pet terrorist organizations.

It’s hard to overstate how much damage was done by the Obama administration’s misjudgment that Sunni jihadists and Shia Iran were somehow friendly to us and could be useful tools of American policy.  But using jihadi groups claiming to be less violent than al-Qaeda and ISIS resulted in the Benghazi massacre of four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, and the destabilization of Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria, and elsewhere.
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By Shalom Pollack

My observations of the last week or  so have made me ponder yet again, this miracle called Israel.

One of the requirements for maintaining my tour guide license is continuing education offered by the ministry of tourism.  Within this framework, one of my choices   was to attend a lecture on the “Geopolitics of the Mid East”. I love that stuff so I attended.

During the break I met a colleague with whom I discussed a point made in the lecture.
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by Barney Breen-Portnoy, ALGEMEINER

A visiting Israeli author painted a bleak picture of non-Orthodox Jewish life in the US during a New York City book signing hosted by The Algemeiner last month.

Tuvia Tenenbom — whose newest book is titled The Lies They Tell, which details a trip he took across America — told the crowd at the Center for Jewish History, “In state after state, temple after temple, what I saw and what I witnessed was a nightmare. You see rabbis, or so-called rabbis, leaders, supposed leaders, standing at a podium and all they can tell to their listeners is that Israel is an apartheid state and that Judaism is racism. That’s what they preach.”

Later, he added, “When you see some anti-Jewish thing, if you dig deep and put a magnifying lens to see who’s behind it, over and over and over you find a Jew, and that’s frightening.”

By Bill Robinson, WESTERN JOURNALISM

If we are going to conduct espionage in the future, we are going to have to make some changes in the relationship between the intelligence community and the public it serves. –Michael Hayden, CIA Director 2005-2009.

Espionage is our friend when protecting Americans and our national security.

Espionage when used on American citizens, especially those running against the incumbent president, his surrogate and political party in an election, becomes immoral, illegal and criminally prosecutable.

It is my prediction that when the full truth is outed about President Donald Trump’s “wiretapping” tweet, quite a few people—Democrats—will be going to jail. The president knew what he was doing.
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T. Belman. This is one of many reversals which include the appointment of Mattis and McMaster, both apologists for Islam, the ousting of Bannon, the failure to criminalize the Muslim Brotherhood, the appeal to Democrats to help pass Trump/Ryan care, the bombing of Syria, the empowerment for both Jared and Ivanka, both of whom are Democrats. the empowerment of Wall Street Democrats, Cohn and Schwartzman, the turning toward a two-state solution and the acceptance of the Iran Deal. The list goes on.

u-turns on NATO, China, Russia and Syria

Who would believe it.

By Ed Straker, AMERICAN THINKER

Supporters of Donald Trump, many of whom prominently campaigned for his election, are outraged by all the campaign promises he has reversed himself on – NATO, military action in Syria, the Federal Reserve, and the repeal of Obamacare, to name a few.  But the straw that may break the camel’s back is the issue of immigration and border security.

Trump campaigned against letting more Syrian refugees in; in fact, he was so firmly against them, he said he would deport the ones already here.  But what has happened now is that not only is Trump letting in more Syrian refugees, but he is admitting them at twice the rate that Obama did.  On this issue, Trump is the political equivalent of not one, but two Barack Obamas.
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Exchange to any letter to appease any party is a betrayal of the Palestinian narrative’

Proposed changes to textbooks by UN agency, welcomed by Israel, reportedly include revised maps, a ‘balanced representation of Jerusalem,’ and excision of messages seen as incitement

BY DOV LIEBER, TOI April 13, 2017,

The Palestinian Authority Education Ministry on Thursday announced it was suspending ties with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) over plans by the international agency to reform its curriculum.

The Palestinian ministry, in a statement published on its official website, called the possible revisions to the curriculum an “affront to the Palestinian people, its history and struggles,” and said the suspension would continue until the UN agency’s “positions are corrected.”
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By HELENE COOPER and MUJIB MASHAL, NYT

WASHINGTON — The United States dropped the “mother of all bombs” — the most powerful conventional bomb in the American arsenal — on an Islamic State cave complex in Afghanistan on Thursday, the Pentagon said, unleashing a weapon so massive that it had to be dropped from the rear of a cargo plane.

The strike was the first combat use of what is formally named the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast. President Trump has bestowed additional authority on the Pentagon in his first months in office, which the military has argued will help it defeat the Islamic State more speedily. Mr. Trump did not say whether he had personally approved Thursday’s mission.

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By MARTIN SHERMAN

With the Mid-East on the cusp of melt-down, imagine what Isaiah (5:20) would say of proponents of ‘regional integration’: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness…”

Worst Chemical Attack in Years; US blames Assad  – New York  Times, April 4, 2017.

Death toll climbs in clashes at Palestinian camp in Lebanon Reuters, April 9, 2017.

Deadly blasts hit Coptic churches in Tanta, Alexandria – Al Jazeera, April 10, 2017.
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Business leaders are making a push for moderation — and meeting with some success.

By JOSH DAWSEY and BEN WHITED, POLITICO

Wall Street titan Stephen Schwarzman has recently taken on a new, informal job: counselor to the president.

The CEO of Blackstone Group, who has known Trump for years, has become so close to the president that the two sometimes talk several times a week, covering everything from Chinese trade to tax policy to immigration.

White House and New York business officials say Schwarzman was critical to Trump keeping the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as the Dreamers program, with Trump making the decision after a call with the hedge fund billionaire. The two also recently chatted at Mar-a-Lago about a possible reorganization of the White House, two people familiar with the meeting say, though the conversation didn’t include specific names.
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S. Arabia is set to support an extension of the production cuts when OPEC next meets on May 25

By Benoit Faucon, WSJ

OPEC said Wednesday its output had kept falling in March as members tightened compliance to agreed cuts, but said U.S. producers were enjoying a revival thanks to higher oil prices.

The 13-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries committed last year to cut about 1.2 million barrels of oil a day in a bid to bring a vast global oversupply of crude back in line with demand and raise petroleum prices.

The agreement helped raise oil prices about 20% after it was announced on Nov. 30. Russia and 10 other non-OPEC producers also pledged to trim another 558,000 barrels a day.
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By ELMIRA BAYRASLI, NYT

Turkish democracy is on life support. On April 16, Turks will vote on 18 amendments to their country’s Constitution, including whether to abolish the office of the prime minister and transfer its powers to the president.

Pushing for a “yes” vote is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A presidential system would not only give Mr. Erdogan more authority to appoint judges and ministers, and control budgets, but also allow him to rule for two more terms — until 2029 — and it would solidify Turkey’s shift to authoritarianism. But even if a “no” vote is preferable, it may not be enough to save the Turkish republic from Mr. Erdogan’s damage.

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By Prof. Eyal Zisser, ISRAEL HAYOM

This coming Sunday, Turkish citizens will partake in a national referendum, set in motion by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, over several constitutional amendments that would augment his powers as president.

At hand are a series of technical adjustments, primarily geared toward granting Erdogan the authority to declare a state of emergency and dissolve the Turkish parliament, as well as appoint the prime minister and cabinet. These changes would shift Turkey from a parliamentary system of government, similar to Israel and Europe, to a presidential system, similar to the United States, in which the president wields considerable power. We must keep in mind, however, that Turkey is not the United States and does not have the same tradition of democracy; nor does it have the same organized system of checks and balances to limit the president’s power.
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The idea is to ‘remove the threat by not having civilians there,’ officer says.

By Malcolm Dash, IISS

Contingency plans, “Codenamed ‘Safe Distance,’  would see up to 250,000 civilians cleared out of border communities if they come under major attack by Hamas or Hezbollah” according to an Israeli officer.

It’s difficult to avoid cynicism when examining the latest, “contingency plans to evacuate up to a quarter-million civilians from border communities to protect them from attacks from Hamas, Hezbollah or other terror groups”. Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad is a line from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1875), it seems that the IDF Chiefs of Staff have become unhinged or plain “mad”. Why they are not imbued with the rich traditions of the IDF of victory and deterrence rather than its new penchant for withdrawal and “evacuation” i.e. surrender to the initiatives of the enemy?
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When the state points out the violations and seeks to demolish the illegal construction, it becomes the bad guy.

BY JOSH HASTEN, JPOST APRIL 13, 2017

Following a legislative initiative over a decade in the works, the Knesset last week passed the “Kaminitz Law,” granting the state greater authority when it comes to enforcement with regard to construction violations throughout the country.

The legislation, known as amendment 109 of the Planning and Building Law, which passed 43-33 in a special session held during the Knesset’s Passover recess, is a game changer.

Defense of the indefensible
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By John Hayward, BREITBART

Frank Gaffney, Center for Security Policy president, joined SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Wednesday’sBreitbart News Daily to discuss Gaffney’s warning that things can get worse in Syria.

“The Syria situation is one that is fraught with peril, as I see it, for the United States at this particular moment in time,” Gaffney explained. “Because President Trump seems sorely tempted – and I think that tempting is not simply a function of the usual suspects, people who have been horrified by the humanitarian crisis there, the people there who think that it will be resolved, or at least diminished, by bringing Heaven knows how many refugees from Syria here and the like – but now from his own national security team that we must get involved, we must inject ourselves into the crisis in Syria.”
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Officials say Kushner taking unprecedented role to interfere in foreign policy matters

By Adam Kredo, NEW BEACON

White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner is leading an unprecedented effort to meddle in the White House’s National Security Council, causing mayhem for senior staff who say the president’s son-in-law is interfering in key foreign policy debates, according to Trump administration officials who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.

Kushner has taken aggressive action to micro-manage the NSC, overshadowing even recently installed National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, according to sources both inside and outside the White House who described Kushner’s behavior as highly unusual and damaging to the country’s national security infrastructure.
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