by Gordon G. Chang, GATESTONE INSTITUTE  •  April 20, 2021

Russia in recent weeks has reportedly massed an estimated 85,000 troops near its border with Ukraine. The concentration of Russian forces there is the highest since 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea. Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers in a trench on the front-line facing Russia-backed separatists in the Lugansk region on April 8, 2021. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

• Russian troops are massing on the Ukraine border, Chinese vessels are swarming Whitsun Reef of the Philippines in the South China Sea, and China’s air force is flying almost daily through Taiwan’s air-defense identification zone. Chinese troops for almost a year have been dug in deep in Indian-controlled Ladakh in the Himalayas. Two large aggressors are threatening to break apart neighbors and absorb them.
• American attempts to de-escalate flashpoints are seen in Russian and Chinese circles as failures of resolve.

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By Borak Bekdil, BESA

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 2,002, April 20, 2021

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The emerging Islamic bloc of three Muslim states—Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan—seems feasible in theory, but its growth is constrained by the realities. Azerbaijan is still more Russian turf than Turkish, and Pakistan remains Chinese territory. The new Islamic bloc resembles three kids playing cowboy while their parents smile and watch. The parents will stay on the sidelines only until such time as they sense danger to their interests.
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T. Belman. What is driving this outcome, is the desire in Vienna to lift sanctions.  Europe, Russia and Iran want them lifted.  Nothing else matters.

Analysis: Jerusalem understands that Biden administration plans to revive 2015 nuclear deal and lift sanctions on Iran within weeks; in order to have a voice at the table, Israel is heeding an American request to tone down its offensive operations

By Ron Ben-Yishai, YNET NEWS

Israel will begin a concentrated diplomatic effort to improve relations with the Biden administration and the other world power signatories to the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, according to a decision made at the highest levels of the political and defense echelons.

The defense establishment believes that the U.S. – along with the European Union, China and Russia – is determined to return to the original deal signed during the Obama presidency and not make changes to the problematic aspects that former president Donald Trump said prompted his withdrawal in 2018.

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T. Belman. Netanyahu deserves to be Prime Minister but if he can’t find an extra two seats he should resign for the good of Israel and allow a rightwing government to form. Sitting in opposition is no answer.

Trump, despite a great record, had to accept defeat.  So must Bibi.

Anti-Bibi bloc aims to replace his ally, speaker Levin * PM says Bennett replacing him would be “absurd.”

By GIL HOFFMAN, JPOST   APRIL 19, 2021

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost control of the Knesset and may soon also lose the Prime Minister’s Office, after the anti-Netanyahu bloc defeated him in a key vote in the parliament on Monday.

Netanyahu’s opponents succeeded in passing their proposal for control over the powerful Knesset Arrangements Committee, which runs the Knesset until a government is formed, thanks to the support of the Ra’am (United Arab List) Party led by MK Mansour Abbas.

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Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi says controversial accord, which bypassed Jordanian parliament, was ‘the fruit of long negotiations’

By AFP      21 March 2021,

US soldiers participate in a joint drill with Jordan on April 26, 2018, in a training area near the town of Zarqa, east of Jordan’s capital of Amman. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan on Sunday made public a defense agreement with the United States that allows free entry of US forces, aircraft, and vehicles onto the kingdom’s territory.

Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told parliament that the defense accord was “the fruit of long negotiations.”

The agreement was signed in January and the government approved it last month, but, in an exceptional move, it bypassed parliament. The royal decree was published in the official journal this week.

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By Kyle Shideler, CSP

FBI director Christopher Wray faced some tough questions on the threat from Antifa during the April 15 House Intelligence Committee hearing on the latest Worldwide Threat Assessment by the U.S. intelligence community.

Antifa was the primary focus of a line of questioning from Rep. Michael Turner.

Turner asked Wray whether he had changed his position that Antifa is “just an idea.” During a 2020 presidential debate between Biden and Trump, Biden called Antifa “just an idea”  paraphrasing testimony from Wray claiming Antifa was not an organization.
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T. Belman. Israel will prevent Iran from getting the bomb. Of this I am certain.

” there is a significant chance that the U.S. will “stay at the negotiating table as long as it takes for them to capitulate to Iran.”

ForeignDeskNews       April 19, 2021

The Biden administration appears willing to overlook the desires of U.S. regional allies and the Iranian people who are directly affected by the regime’s malign activities in order to reenter the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), according to Former Iran Advisor for the Secretary of State under President Trump, Gabriel Noronha.
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By Nwo Report      April 18, 2021:

Source: REDPILLED Media

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by Victor Rosenthal          April 19, 2021 

Recently I’ve had some arguments with Jewish anti-Zionists (although they sometimes claim they are Zionists). These are not the ones who wear Palestinian keffiyes and say kaddish for dead terrorists. These are the “moderate” ones who say that they totally understand why Israel should exist, but think that it should repeal the Nation-State Law and become a “democratic state of all its citizens” instead of one that privileges one group at the expense of others. It makes them nervous that Israel has a Jewish symbol on its flag, and refers to the “Jewish soul” in its national anthem.

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This is long but really worthwhile for those who want to understand China.

The Biden administration is open to hearing Israeli concerns, but doesn’t seem to be taking them into consideration, the source added.

By LAHAV HARKOV, OMRI NAHMIAS, JPOST    APRIL 18, 2021

Israeli ministers expressed concern about the nuclear talks between the US and Iran, following a diplomatic-security cabinet meeting on Sunday.

“The Americans want a deal at all costs and the Iranians know it,” said a source in the meeting.

The Biden administration is open to hearing Israeli concerns, the source added, but doesn’t seem to be taking them into consideration.

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This conversation is very special.

https://www.prageru.com/video/the-candace-owens-show-the-lies-of-modern-feminism/

T. Belman. Did anyone have any doubt. Biden isn’t about to prevent Iran from getting the bomb. Not only will he lift U.S. sanctions but he will give them money and say he is sorry. But for Israel, Iran is calling the shots.

THIS MEANS WAR.

According to information received by Israel, the six world powers will not require Iran to destroy the new advanced centrifuges it has built, rather just disconnect them.

By  Ariel Kahana , Shahar Klaiman and Neta Bar, ISRAEL HAYOM 

Delegation members from the parties to the Iran nuclear deal attend a meeting at the Grand Hotel of Vienna, Saturday April 17, 2021 | Photo: Handout/EU Delegation in Vienna/AFP

Unnamed Israeli diplomats over the weekend unofficially expressed disappointment over what they called “complete American capitulation” in nuclear talks with Iran in Vienna. Learning the lessons from the Obama administration’s clashes with Israel in 2015, the Biden administration is trying to avoid any surprises and is keeping Israel abreast of developments. With that, the two allies remain at considerable odds over Iran and its nuclear ambitions.

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“FES Southern Perspective”

In this study Dr. Ehud Eran analyses the reasons of the dramatic shift the Eastern Mediterranean emerged in Israeli strategic thinking in the last decade. While traditionally Israel did not view the region as an essential strategic arena, nowadays it became significant for Israeli strategy and activity.

There are two interrelated pillars for this development:

1. the discovery of natural gas at the seabed by Israel and
2. an alliance with Greece and Cyprus.

This Israeli-Hellenic Alliance is a possible framework to contain Turkey’s growing efforts to project power and influence in the region.

In the 18th Apr 21 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

• 3 Israeli research breakthroughs into cancer, aging and obesity.
• NASA names two asteroids after their Israeli-Arab student discoverer.
• Japan praises Israel for its help on the 10th anniversary of the tsunami.
• A hi-tech Israeli competitor to zoom.
• Investment in Israeli startups breaks three all-time records.
• Israelis once again were able to properly celebrate the nation’s birthday.

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By Uldis Sprogis, AM THINKER

So far, documented COVID-19 variants are in the U.K., Brazil, South Africa, and Northern California, and I am sure there are others in India and China.  So COVID-19 is behaving much like the flu with mutations to new forms going on all the time.

Influenza or flu types A and B cause yearly epidemics, and there are over 60 kinds of known flu viruses.  Type A and B undergo seasonal changes almost every year.  To vaccinate yourself against the flu every year is a waste of time for most since there are just too many mutations, which change every year, and the flu is not deadly for most.

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