Jeffrey A. Tucker | July 9, 2024

Portrait of Ernest Renan (1823-1892) by Antoine Samuel Adams-Salomon (The Art Institute of Chicago/Public Domain)

The year was 1882 and the speaker at the University of Paris, Sorbonne, was the essayist and historian Ernest Renan. His topic: “What Is a Nation?” The thesis rocked the continent and the world. What he called for, in essence, was nations by choice not by force.

I know that it is hard for us today to imagine that the words of any academic intellectual could or would have that impact but times were different. People in those days took intellectuals seriously, probably because they existed and earned their reputations.

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Peloni:  Very revealing analysis.

But it is unlikely to reach its goals

by Stephen Bryen and Shoshana Bryen | WEAPONS AND SECURITY | July 10, 2024

NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  The name should have been changed long ago, when NATO shifted its focus and operations south and eastward. NATO is shifting once again, most seriously by expanding its membership without any serous planning about how to secure its new flanks.

Outgoing NATO Chief  Jens Stoltenberg said last month that China should face consequences for its support of Russia. He wasn’t specific. “It’s too early for me to say exactly… My message is that is… it’s not sustainable and viable that China continues to fuel the biggest security threats … for NATO allies, especially in Europe.”

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Peloni: Avivi condemns what he desribes as the concept of “settlement”, behind which he explains there is only one thing, “losing the war and leaving Hamas intact without achieving the goals of the war, including the failure to return all of the abductees, not to mention Hamas’s ability to re-strengthen endlessly.”  He goes on to explain that this concept will include the notion that Hezbollah is dettered in an attempt to lure the Northern residents to return to their homes.  Avivi warns that this concept will only lead to new fighting in the north and the south and that the only solution to be had is, for the south, to meet the war aims as previously established, and for the north, a campaign pressing Hezbollah back beyond the Litani river.  He rebukes the politicians who are involving themselves in petty politics as they fail to appreciate the magnitude of the threat facing the nation.

Please click on tweet to see full 3-tweet thread

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— Amir Avivi ???? ????? (@Amir_Avivi) July 10, 2024

Peloni:  With the recent report of the Israeli govt considering giving up control of the Philadelphia Corridor, this analysis becomes even more relevant.

When you only have a hammer. . .

by Will Selber & Bill Rogio | FDD | July 10, 2024

GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS WAS ALL THE RAGE in the mid-2000s. No American general captured the public imagination in the way that he did, in part because he was one of the most prominent advocates of the strategy adopted to turn around the war in Iraq: population-centric counterinsurgency (COIN). For the better part of a decade, the COIN mantra “clear, hold, and build” echoed through the halls of the Pentagon and dominated the debate among the civilian leadership—and of Petraeus it could be said literally that he wrote the book on the subject.

David Galula, Lawrence of Arabia, and Edward Lansdale. The Anbar Awakening and the subsequent Sons of Iraq movement were the gold standard throughout the DoD. For a brief moment, Iraq seemed destined to succeed. However, President Barack Obama’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces in 2011 destroyed all that progress. Of note, General Petraeus did not publicly criticize President Obama’s decision. Less than three years later, the Islamic State captured Mosul and declared its caliphate. Ultimately, President Obama reversed course, sending American forces back to Iraq, where they remain today.

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The conflict in Israel’s north and the displacement of tens of thousands cannot continue indefinitely. Something has to give.

Douglas Altabef | July 9, 2024

Israeli soldiers watch the Syrian side of the border in the Golan Heights in northern Israel on Oct. 30, 2023. Photo by Michael Giladi/Flash90.

Franz Kafka would feel right at home in northern Israel.

Life here has a surreal, absurdist character with the indivisible mix of the mundane and the potentially catastrophic. A quiet day has only a handful of rocket or drone attacks and we have become used to incessant plane noise and to looking up and around after a boom or two.

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Daniel Greenfield | July 9, 2024

“Democracy begins with each of us,” Joe Biden, shadowed by two teleprompters and multiple off-stage handlers declared on the beaches of Normandy.

Biden wasn’t celebrating winning WWII so much as the end of the Democrat primaries a day earlier which had handed him Guam and the Virgin Islands. The artfully rigged primaries which had boosted South Carolina while banishing New Hampshire had made Biden the nominee.

All he had to do was get through a debate and a convention. How hard could that be?

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Peloni:  Sundance provides a deep dive into the Intelligence Community apparatus, how it came to be, and how it was weaponized by Obama.  Sundance also explains why simple fixes are less feasible than would otherwise appear to be obvious.  Additional links are provided for greater depth and analysis, as well as a three tier plan of action to overcome the control being exerted by the Intelligence Community over the US.

Sundance | July 9, 2024

I was explaining how Joe Biden is now facing two formidable forces against his 2024 election candidacy, (1) Barack Obama, and (2) the Intelligence Community.

A question was raised: “I thought the IC and Team Obama were one in the same?”

The answer is no, not really; and the expanded answer is a little more important given the nature of what our nation is facing right now in the 2024 election.

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Peloni:  Braverman provides a thoroughly fair and honest post election analysis which demonstrates that the recent Tory bloodbath stands not as a condemnation of Conservativism and conservative values but of Liberalism and liberal values:  “My party governed as Liberals and we were defeated as Liberals”

Flash Brief | FDD | July 9, 2024

Seth Frantzman

Latest Developments

U.S. concern over Qatar’s relationship with Hamas is reflected in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s draft of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), released on July 9. Specifically, section 1287 of the bill would require the secretary of defense to “submit a report and provide a briefing to the congressional defense committees on the operational value of al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, taking into consideration the relationship of the Government of Qatar with Hamas and other terrorist organizations.” Hosting an estimated 10,000 U.S. troops, al-Udeid is the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East and the location of U.S. Central Command’s forward headquarters.

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Peloni:  In this episode, Mike Doran reports that the Israeli govt is considering whether they should maintain control of the Philadelphia Corridor.  In addition to this, he and Gadi discuss the views of the Right as it applies to the IDF leadership, in which they share a sharp difference of opinion.  They also discuss the calamity in France.  Very interesting discussion.

Peloni:  And so, the same Liberal World Order which brought the waves of migrants from Arabia to populate Europe’s streets are now working in lock step with these Islamists to purge Eastern Europe of its still remaining tiny minority of Jews.  As if the West was too impotent to see this task thru on their own, they imported the descendants of those who did the same for all of Arabia some 70yrs ago.  The ignominy of this betrayal will never be forgotten, as the promise of Never Again in Europe has been crushed again and again and again.  Where next will this bond of Leftists and Islamists go to chase our people from their long held homes, where next will they pervert the legal codes to demonstrate that there is no place for the Jews in all of  Europe.  In fact, the promise of Never Again was never fulfilled by Europe as post war pogroms sent thousands of Jews fleeing for their lives, something which we are now facing will likely take place once again.  Instead, the promise of Never Again has always been tied to the existence of the Jewish state, where the fate and survival of the Jewish people will be decided, not by the masters of Europe, but by the Jews themselves.  Hence, as Europe returns to its ancient tradition of ridding themselves of their Jewish subjects, these Jews will come to find that they have a place in which to take refuge and to flourish in the lands of their ancestors where the vow of Never Again is fulfilled.

By Christine Douglass-Williams | July 9, 2024

The recent French elections and the far left victory is leading to nervousness among France’s Jews. Islamic antisemitism rose to alarming levels during the surge of Muslim migration to France in 2015 and the years thereafter. Open-door migration has come to define leftist politics.

Since 2020, the World Zionist Organization (WZO) has been “working on a plan to bring hundreds of thousands of French Jews to Israel.” The population of Jews in France is roughly 453,000.

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By Daniel Greenfield, Gatestone Institute, July 8, 2024

Pictured: President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event in Madison, Wisconsin, on July 5, 2024. (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

• Candidates past their prime go up to bat because they have the biggest networks of fellow politicians, donors and party activists. It’s as if Major League Baseball favored players on the basis of seniority and how well they networked, not based on how well they can pitch or hit.
• Voters self-importantly think of elections as the big political competition, but that’s like judging companies based on the keynote addresses of their CEOs. Elections are the least important part of politics. All the really important parts of politics happen behind closed doors. What politicians do isn’t run for office, they network, they cut deals and they plan their careers.

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Israel’s Defense Minister, in a visit to Mount Hermon on July 7, said that regardless of whether Hezbollah stops its attacks, Israel may continue to operate against Hezbollah.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN | JULY 8, 2024

HEZBOLLAH LEADER Hassan Nasrallah delivers a video address, watched at an event in Beirut’s southern suburbs, last month. (photo credit: MOHAMED AZAKIR/REUTERS)

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah slammed Israel this week in a statement on Sunday. “Nasrallah says that horrendous and unprecedented crimes committed by the Zionist regime in Gaza have awakened the conscience of people in the West,” the Iranian state media IRNA reported.

This comes at an important time for Iranian-backed groups. Iran has a new president and these groups will be under some scrutiny now for whether they escalate tensions. This is because these groups are linked to the IRGC in Iran. The Guards want to show that the new president won’t affect its policies. Reports already indicate Iran is moving forward with missile production facilities.

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Peloni:  Another sizeable victory for those who were betrayed by their employers, who were themselves betrayed by their govt.  The penalties for this suit should be sizeable and the subsequent lawsuits should be as well.  Tyranny has no basis in a free society, and it is quite an important victory to see that this suit was awarded on summary judgement.

Today, we beat @TysonFoods in federal court, and the court awarded summary judgment on liability to the plaintiff employees who lost their jobs to a vaccine mandate. https://t.co/LPPNpcSEXt

— Robert Barnes (@barnes_law) June 28, 2024

By Hugh Fitzgerald | July 8, 2024

Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab, a journalist, an enemy of Hamas, and an outspoken supporter of Israel. In a recent article, Tawil takes note of those soi-disant “innocent civilians” in Gaza, from those who took part in the October 7 atrocities, to those who have been holding Israeli hostages captive in their homes. More on Tawil’s analysis can be found here: “Palestinian ‘Civilians’: Complicit in Hamas Crimes,” by Bassam Tawil, Gatestone Institute, June 10, 2024:

“The courageous Israeli operation that resulted in the rescue of four Israeli hostages on June 8 has confirmed what many Israelis and Palestinians have known for some months: that Palestinian civilians were, and continue to be, complicit in the crimes carried out by the terrorist organization Hamas prior to October 7, 2023, and onward.

The four hostages, Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv, were abducted, together with more than 250 Israelis, during the Hamas-led attack — backed by Qatar and Iran — on Israel eight months ago.

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— Rabbi Jacob Y. Herzog ??????? ????? ??????? ?????? (@RabbiHerzog) July 7, 2024