#India has reportedly delivered 20 Hermes 900 drones to #Israel amid the ongoing war in #Gaza. The India-made drones were manufactured at a private facility in Hyderabad. pic.twitter.com/YUruO713K5

— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) February 13, 2024

Read more…

by Marilyn Stern
Middle East Forum Webinar  February 12, 2024

Michael Rubin, director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, spoke to a February 12 Middle East Forum podcast (video). The following summarizes his comments:

Iranian-backed Houthi militants are harming the international economy by disrupting global shipping in the Red Sea with anti-ship missile and drone attacks. The Houthis, a Shia tribe in northern Yemen, have been accumulating weapons since their uprising in 2004 against the government of Yemen. In 2009, Iran shipped weaponry to the Houthis in an effort to counter its regional Sunni foe, Saudi Arabia, which had begun “sectarian propaganda” against the Houthis. Iran’s assertiveness coincided with the commencement of the Obama administration, and the regime, which was emboldened to “test the waters,” concluded that there was “permissiveness.”

Read more…

B. Kalman:  In the United States, espionage has gone completely off the rails.  The passage of the Patriot Act allowed the NSA to surveil potential terrorists outside of the United States.  Under the Obama administration the Patriot Act allowed for surveillance of US citizens that Obama deemed his political rivals and enemies.  Now surveillance in the US is used for anyone deemed “a threat to democracy,” i.e. any conservative, traditional Catholic, patriot, or political populist, or dissenter of the government’s narrative.  There are no guard rails at all.  The Senate Select Permanent Committee on Intelligence, instead of protecting the rights of the citizens, serves to protect the Intelligence Community from the prying interest of the citizens.

By Everest Chahali, UJASUSI BLOG                         17 February 2024

The art of spying, or espionage, has been an integral part of human history for centuries, evolving alongside societal, technological, and political changes. From ancient civilizations to modern nation-states, espionage has played a pivotal role in shaping the course of events, influencing diplomacy, warfare, and even the fate of nations. This essay aims to delve into the multifaceted world of espionage, exploring its history, techniques, ethical considerations, and contemporary relevance.

Read more…

A comprehensive timeline of the White House’s post-Oct. 7 words and deeds eviscerating the claim it has Israel’s back — let alone America’s

Benjamin Weingarten, Substack Feb 16, 2024

The notion that President Joe Biden is a stalwart supporter of Israel, let alone acting in the best interests of the U.S. in the Middle East, is and has been a complete and total canard.

This Big Lie, propagated by the administration and its mouthpieces, provides cover for what amounts to an anti-American plot to put the screws to Israel, as part and parcel of an effort to make the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, Iran, the regional hegemon.

Since Oct. 7^th, a Holocaust-in-a-day perpetrated by Iran’s proxy Hamas, despite initial rhetoric to the contrary and the continued provision of munitions (for now), the Biden administration has shown in word and more importantly deed that it is doing everything it possibly can within political reason to slander, stymie, sabotage, and ultimately imperil the very existence of our chief ally in the Middle East.

Read more…

I24News English, February 17, 2024

B. Kalman:  This is an article containing and about the Tucker Carlson interview with Mike Benz.  It contains Sundance’s perspective on the changes being made to the internet in the US by the US national security surveillance state.  The changes are happening now, but may seem invisible at first.  It’s important to know what we are facing.

By Sundance, CTH                                                             16 February 2024

The national security state is the main driver of censorship and election interference in the United States. “What I’m describing is military rule,” says Mike Benz. “It’s the inversion of democracy.”

CTH readers have discussed this issue for several years.  What Benz describes in the video below is the reality of what systems and tech architecture are in place right now.  The big picture of who wants control over the domestic internet apparatus and how.  WATCH: 

Read more…

INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR                  16 February 2024

The Iran Update provides insights into Iranian and Iranian-sponsored activities abroad that undermine regional stability and threaten US forces and interests. It also covers events and trends that affect the stability and decision-making of the Iranian regime. The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) provides these updates regularly based on regional events. For more on developments in Iran and the region, see our interactive map of Iran and the Middle East. 

Read more…

by Majid Rafizadeh, GATESTONE  •  February 17, 2024

Protesters and members of Iranian paramilitary’s Basij forces march next to the fourth generation Khorramshahr ballistic missile Khaibar in Tehran on November 24, 2023. (Photo by Hossein Beris/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

• “No one ever said it better than Osama bin Laden: When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they are attracted to the strong horse.” — Thomas Friedman, newyorker.com, July 5, 2010.
• Especially in the Middle East, leaders are looking for who will protect them.
• Read more…

Kedar discusses the threats of potential Iranian militia attacks from Jordan and Syria.

IDSF Webinar,  February 14, 2024

Peloni:  As the US comes to wage economic war upon its allies as well as its enemies, it would only serve to increase the already disparaging view of allegiance to the US dollar.  I would argue that even the report that such sanctions were being considered against Israel will have a detrimental effect upon the already frayed trust in the American monetary system, just as I would also argue that this will likely not be the end of the US consideration of this policy in the coming months.

The Biden admin is desperate to stop Israel’s campaign against Hamas.

by Daniel Greenfield, Front Page Magazine February 16, 2024

The Biden administration has a plan for the Hamas-Israel war. It’s the same plan that past administrations have unleashed on Israel. Pressure Netanyahu or whoever is in office into ignoring voters and conservative members of his coalition, push him into making a deal with the Islamic terrorists, and go back to advocating for a terrorist state. The problem is that things fundamentally changed in Israel on Oct 7 even if they didn’t change in D.C.

Read more…

By Victor Sharpe, RENEW AMERICA   February 15, 2024

‘‘The Gaza War was notable for the horrible scenes that erupted in European and British streets. Who can forget the sight of British bobbies running for their lives in London as pro-Hamas mobs chased them with impunity.’’

The above words might as well be describing what has been happening in British, European and American cities since the Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israeli men women and children occurred on that horrific day of October 7, 2023. But no, it refers to an earlier day in February 2009, fifteen years ago.

Read more…

Francisco Gil-White, The Management of Reality Substack Feb 16, 2024

Once thought to be the mask of Sargon of Akkad, this is now believed to be, on stylistic grounds, the mask of Naram-Sin, his grandson. Credit: Wikimedia.

Imagine that history class were like plunging into the millennia-spanning, action-packed, multi-novel adventure worlds of Frank Herbert (Dune), Isaac Asimov (Foundation), or J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings). No child would ever get bored!

So why are teachers boring them?

I ask because the political history of Western Asia—which includes Europe—does have that fantasy/science-fiction structure: it’s been a 4,300-year clash between two great ideological forces.

Read more…

B. Kalman:  This interview by Tucker Carlson of Mike Benz will give you a granular, detailed description of how the US National Security State has been the primary driver of censorship.  It began with US efforts to use social media to overthrow other governments.  But with Trump’s election, the national security state realized that they no longer controlled the media and thus they no longer controlled the message.  Enter a kind of censorship which has all but ended freedom of speech and association in the US and the western world, because in their view, it was an issue of “national security” to stop the growth of populist/dissident movements in the US and America.  The interview is startling in its encyclopedic completeness.

By Tucker Carlson, X                                                        16 February 2024

Ep. 75 The national security state is the main driver of censorship and election interference in the United States. "What I’m describing is military rule," says Mike Benz. "It’s the inversion of democracy." pic.twitter.com/hDTEjAf89T

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 16, 2024

Peloni: The UN is an entirely antisemitic organization, whose specific animus against the Jewish State seems to never fail to demonstrate that animus.  In fact, the UN is entirely aligned with Hamas against Israel in this war, as it has been aligned against Israel since Israel disappointed the world by not being consumed in the War of Independence. 

Israeli officials blast UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, who claimed in TV interview that Hamas is a “political movement” and not a terrorist group.

Elad Benari, INN Feb 16, 2024

A United Nations official came under fire from Israel on Thursday, after he claimed in a TV interview that “Hamas is not a terrorist group for us”.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, spoke to Sky News on Wednesday and, when asked whether he thought Israel’s plan to eliminate Hamas was realistic, replied, “I think it’s very difficult. I’ve worked with many many many different terrorist and insurgent groups. Hamas is not a terrorist group for us. It’s a political movement.”

Read more…

by Gregg Roman, JNS    February 15, 2024

Lebanon is being held hostage by Hezbollah and Iran. The country’s plight is stark. It’s trapped in the clutches of Hezbollah, a pawn in Iran’s regional power play. As Hezbollah’s dominance metastasizes, Lebanon now finds itself at a crossroads. The time has come for decisive action to extricate the country from the grip of extremism.

Lebanon is under the control of Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy that obstructs Lebanese politics and is more powerful than the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). Thanks to Iran and Hezbollah, Lebanon has become a failed state.

Read more…

The two-state conceptzia, like other fatal errors in Israel’s history, relies on the delusion that there is a willingness to live in peace with Israel as a Jewish State. Intafadas and multiple Gaza Wars do not deter Israelis who stand by the two-state conceptzia. 

We have been in Israel for several weeks hoping to help in various ways and to possibly see our grandson who has been in Gaza from day one. Invariably in almost every conversation with Israelis and others the term conceptzia (?????????) has arisen with different definitions.

More often than not it is used to lambast Netanyahu and his team for the abject failures of October 7. Others use it to describe the failures of military intelligence and command general staff. No clear consensus.

Read more…