While Moscow imagines a Swiss-style canton arrangement, there are countless holes emerging in the cease-fire between the Assad regime and rebel forces.

By Z’vi Bar el, HAARETZ

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov dropped a diplomatic bombshell this week when he said that if Syria decides that a federal model “will work to serve the task of preserving [it] as a united, secular, independent and sovereign nation, then who will object to this? I hope the parties participating in the negotiations will consider the federation idea.”

Suddenly, everyone was talking about the “new Russian idea”: Dividing Syria into Swiss-style cantons – i.e., creating a federal government with autonomous provinces – as a possible solution to the Syrian crisis. The prevailing assessment, which has yet to be denied, is that the U.S. government, having no other plan of action up its sleeve, won’t oppose the idea. That’s despite the Americans previously favoring the creation of a new Syrian government to rule a united Syria, just as was done in Iraq.
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Yes he is telling the truth about these things but more important, he is appealing to our emotions rather than our minds.

By Ted Belman

The right in Israel rejects the creation of a Palestinian state, whether or not demilitarized, and supports settlement construction in Area C of Judea and Samaria as defined by the Oslo Accords. Israel’s current government does neither.

But it does say that now is not the time to create a Palestinian state. Big deal, so does the Zionist Union led by Isaac Herzog.

The key difference between the actions of the current government and the Unilateral Separation Plan of the Zionist Union is that the latter wants to build a barrier around the settlement blocks and to divide Jerusalem with a barrier in order to separate the Arabs from the Jews.
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By Anshel Pfeffer, HAARETZ

[..]For this visit came weeks after the eagerly anticipated agreement to establish a new progressive, egalitarian and mixed-gender prayer space at the southern end of the Kotel, separated from the Western Wall plaza and its ultra-Orthodox (or Haredi) hegemony.

But even if that morning made them feel like the paratroopers liberating the Western Wall in the Six-Day War, there was still a battle awaiting them in West Jerusalem. Their leaders had greeted the agreement as “historic” and, at last, a formal Israeli recognition of non-Orthodox Judaism. But the forces arrayed against them were formidable. They should have realized what they were up against when, three weeks earlier, Prime Minister and Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu hadn’t reprimanded his own party’s tourism minister, Yariv Levin, for describing Reform Jewry as “a waning world” and accusing them of responsibility for assimilation and the disappearance of American Jewry.
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By Jay Michaels, AMERICAN THINKER

If we’ve heard the candidates’ closing statements once, we’ve heard them eleven times: “The 21st century can be the greatest century in the history of the United States!”  “I did it in Washington.  I’ve done it in Ohio.  I’ll go back to Washington and do it again.”  “We don’t win anymore.  We don’t win.  You’re going to be very very proud of this country if you elect me president.”

Until Thursday night, Cruz’s close had been a quick riff of his promises: “We will repeal Obamacare, abolish the IRS, secure the border, defeat ISIS, and bring back jobs.”

That changed on Thursday.  Instead of addressing all voters, Cruz ostensibly spoke only to two groups: men and women in the armed forces and their families and cops, firefighters, and first responders.  He told the first that he was not going to send them into combat with rules of engagement that tied their arms behind their backs.  He told the second that he had their backs.
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By David Rosenberg, INN

Russian President Vladimir Putin has frozen missiles bound for Iran amid Israeli protest of the sale, the Kuwaiti paper Al-Jarida reports.

According to the report, an order of S-300 heavy surface-to-air missiles purchased by Iran has been put on hold by the Russian leader following talks with Israeli officials.
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I have been in close communication with Martin Sherman, the founder and head of IISS for a few years. I am pleased to say that we have formalized that association.

T. Belman. Russia has taken charge and Turkey Iran and Syria don’t like it but can’t do anything about it.

The Kremlin has been adamant that Iran withdraw its forces from Syria – including its proxy, the Lebanon-based Hezbollah guerrilla terrorist fighters – who are backing President Bashar al-Assad. Russia has reportedly told Iran their interests are different in Syria.

A highly-placed source told Kuwait’s daily Al-Jarida newspaper that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is retracting the sale of the S-300 anti-missile system. The moves comes as punishment to Iran for violating its pledge not to hand over any of its sophisticated weaponry to terrorist groups.

Russia is punishing Iran for handing fancy weapons to Hezbollah, while Ankara cozies up to Tehran for trade.

By Hana Levi Julian, JEWISH PRESS

Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met Saturday in Tehran with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the final day of a two-day official visit to the Islamic Republic.

Rouhani said cooperation between Iran and Turkey will play a positive role in the settlement of regional issues, according to Iran’s official Press TV.
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While Marco Rubio won his first state (Minnesota) and surged late in Virginia and Ted Cruz won his home state of Texas, Oklahoma, and Alaska for a total of four state wins, Donald Trump did very well in the Super Tuesday primaries.  So well, in fact, that conservatives are beginning to search in earnest for a means to win the GOP nomination with a conservative candidate.
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MEMRI
On February 15, 2016, the Russian weekly magazine The New Times published an interview with political analyst Sergey Karaganov, dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at Moscow’s National Research University Higher School of Economics, about Russia’s foreign policy and the current situation in the Middle East. The political analyst presents four reasons why Russia decided to launch a military operation in Syria, and also addresses the tension between Russia and Turkey.

The following are excerpts from the interview:[1]

‘[The Situation] Would Explode If The Sunnis Or The Shiites Would Win In Syria First. It’s Better Not To Let Anyone Win’
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MEMRI

Days before the Valdai Discussion Club’s February 25-26, 2016 conference in Moscow,[1]titled “The Middle East: From Violence to Security,” the Saudi London-based daily Al-Hayat published a report on leading Russian political analysts’ views about Russia’s Middle East policy.

The report stated that according to Russian analysts, the outcome of the Russian campaign in Syria will determine whether the Kremlin will emerge as a winner with international influence, or will end up a loser. In order to win, they said, Russia needs Syria to remain a united entity – but Russia cannot count on the army of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad or on the capabilities of its local allies, that is, Hizbullah, to achieve this and it is only with its recent intensification of airstrikes that Russia has made military gains. They further explained that Russia’s political victory is predicated on a military solution, and on creating a completely new situation, not on finding a political solution. In the meantime, even before it achieves a decisive military victory, Russia is already enhancing its global standing merely by stepping in, they said.
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 The two-state paradigm has no redeeming features, neither in terms of moral merit nor political pragmatism

By Martin Shermqan, JPOST

History shows no exact and necessary correlation between the quality of motives and the quality of foreign policy. This is true in both moral and political terms. We cannot conclude from the good intentions of a statesman that his foreign policies will be either morally praiseworthy or politically successful….How often have statesmen been motivated by the desire to improve the world, and ended by making it worse….Neville Chamberlain’s politics of appeasement were, as far as we can judge, inspired by good motives…he sought to preserve peace and to assure the happiness of all concerned. Yet his policies helped to make the Second World War inevitable, and to bring untold miseries to millions of men

– Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace
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Shoebat Foundation

By BI: After inviting the entire Third World into Germany, the Angela Merkel government has found that hundreds of thousands of them have not come from “war zones,” and were simply opportunistic invaders seeking to parasite off and criminalize white European society.
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T. Belman. This is a very important article. Instead of supporting the rebels and calling for Assad’s ouster. the US has done a 180 and is now supporting Assad, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah and is back-stabbing Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the rebels. The author doesn’t say why. I believe this reversal was part of the Iran Deal. Do the US and its new allies want Syria under Assad to remain intact or are they thinking of dividing Syria along ethnic lines? I am sure these moves have a lot to due with Turkey’s overtures to Israel.

Tag-teaming with Russia and dumping regional allies and NATO, the White House tells the rest of the world to go take a hike

By Tony  Badran, TABLET

[…]
In fact, President Obama has directly and powerfully shaped the reality in Syria. Over the last six months, as the tempo of the killing has increased, and the Russians have intervened militarily for Assad by bombing rebel-held areas to rubble, the White House has been very actively engaged in the Syrian conflict, both on the diplomatic as well as on the military front, affecting the course of the conflict in both theaters, and setting the terms of a fragile truce that seeks to cement the Assad regime’s gains on a more permanent basis. While American reporters may have largely missed the boat on the story of America’s engagement in favor of Assad, the people getting killed in Syria—the vast majority of whom are Sunni Muslims—and their allies are entirely aware of America’s role. As a result, the consequences of what the rebels—and Washington’s Sunni allies—see as a profound betrayal of their interests by the White House are likely to haunt America for many years to come.
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By MK Ben Artiz, INN

The prime minister’s brother-in-law calls for Minister Bennett to make the plan for the application of sovereignty in Area C the official plan of the party and states: If Netanyahu does not follow in his footsteps then people should leave Likud and support Bennett, since it would be clear that there is no other Rightist party.

The prime minister’s brother-in-law , Dr. Hagai Ben Artzi, calls on the Likud to adopt Minister Bennett’s political-diplomatic plan and to apply Israeli sovereignty in Area C at least. During his speech in the tent of the ‘33-hour vigil’, which was erected by Women in Green activists at the beginning of the week, he said that the application of sovereignty is also in the interest of those who advocate negotiations with the Palestinians and laid out details of his thoughts on the matter.
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T. Belman. Both Egypt and Jordan depend on Israel for their survival. You could include the Gulf States too.

Ex-ambassador says huge majority that voted to dismiss MP who met Israeli shows ‘the basic enmity in Arab states towards Israel.

By Benny Tocker, INN

‘A full 467 out of the 595 Egyptian members of parliament voted on Wednesday to dismiss MP Tawfik Okasha, who was ousted for the “crime” of meeting with Israel’s ambassador to the Nile state, again raising doubts about the 1979 peace treaty.

Okasha even had a shoe thrown at his head by another MP in a traditional Arabic insult as he was berated for meeting Israel’s Ambassador to Egypt Haim Koren, who on Thursday tried to play down the tensions with Egypt.

In order to better understand the situation, Arutz Sheva spoke with former Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Tzvi Mazel, who said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi wants to preserve the peace treaty but doesn’t want to clash with Egypt’s parliament now.
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T. Belman.  I think Lipman has the message right almost but he does not indicate how this message should be disseminated and how much money should be devoted to the task.

We know that if Israel laid down its arms it would be destroyed, while if Hamas would drop its arms, and the Palestinian Authority would stop the incitement, there would be peace in Israel.

By Rabbi Dov Lipman, JPOST

It is rare for a newspaper column to read as a “how to” manual. But in this case, I have no choice – frustration has reached an all-time high.

We know that if Israel laid down its arms it would be destroyed, while if Hamas would drop its arms, and the Palestinian Authority would stop the incitement, there would be peace in Israel. We know that Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East, and the only country in the region that provides equal rights for all people regardless of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation.
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By Melanie Phillips, JPOST

[An 1806 French print depicts Napoleon Bonaparte emancipating the Jews. (photo credit:Wikimedia Commons)]

At Jewish Book Week in London a few days ago, I took part in a panel discussion about the most pressing questions facing Jews today.

I raised one that has long been bothering me – whether Western secular values were undermining the ability of the Jewish people to survive.
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In recent weeks, the administration has warned various government ministers that any construction of housing for Jews in Jerusalem will be viewed with hostility by the administration.

By Caroline Glick, JPOST‘

The messages from Washinton ahead of Vice President Joe Biden’s arrival in Israel next week show President Barack Obama’s hostile policies toward Israel will maintained until he leaves office.

In recent weeks, the administration has warned various government ministers that any construction of housing for Jews in Jerusalem will be viewed with hostility by the administration. In contrast, the administration is pressuring Israel to permit construction of homes for Arabs in its capital city and harshly opposes all moves by the government to destroy illegal construction in Arab neighborhoods and in Judea and Samaria.
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