After Trump - Middle East Nations Already Plotting Next Moves

After Trump - Middle East Nations Already Plotting Next Moves

 PNW STAFF

Donald Trump may be the most powerful player on the Middle Eastern chessboard today, but virtually every government in the region understands something that could ultimately prove more important: Trump has an expiration date.

January 20, 2029.

Israel knows it. Turkey knows it. Saudi Arabia knows it. Qatar knows it. Iran knows it. Hamas certainly knows it.

That reality may help explain some of the seemingly contradictory maneuvering now taking place across the Middle East. Governments are negotiating with Trump, accommodating Trump and attempting to extract concessions from Trump. At the same time, they are positioning themselves for the possibility that America's next president could dramatically change the rules of the game.

They don't necessarily have to defeat Trump's policies.

Some may simply have to survive them.

This is particularly important because the Middle East Trump inherited has become even more volatile.

The war with Iran has shaken confidence in traditional security arrangements, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have now established the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement. Their first high-level meeting under the pact is taking place as all three countries reassess their security requirements in an increasingly unstable region.

Meanwhile, Gaza remains unresolved.

The original promise was that Hamas would be disarmed and a new governing structure would emerge. Yet the process has dragged on, while Turkey, Qatar and Egypt have become increasingly important intermediaries in determining Gaza's future.

For Hamas, delay may itself represent victory.

Hamas does not necessarily need to defeat Israel militarily. If it can preserve enough fighters, weapons, financial networks and political influence to remain relevant until America's political environment changes, its prospects could look considerably different.

Iran may be calculating similarly.

Tehran has suffered enormously during its confrontation with America and Israel, yet the regime remains standing. Fighting erupted again this weekend when U.S. forces struck Iranian rocket launchers near the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran therefore has every reason to watch the American calendar.

Why make concessions today if Tehran believes a future administration might offer negotiations on more favorable terms?

Turkey may be playing the longest game of all.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can maintain his relationship with Trump while strengthening Turkey militarily, expanding its influence in Syria, participating in Gaza diplomacy and building new strategic relationships with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

The critical point is that these relationships could survive Trump.

The original article raises exactly this concern regarding the possibility of Turkey eventually receiving American F-35s. Presidents come and go. Advanced fighter aircraft don't.

The same principle applies to Saudi Arabia's nuclear ambitions. Nuclear infrastructure constructed during Trump's presidency could remain for decades.

That means Washington isn't simply negotiating agreements for 2026.

It may be constructing the strategic environment of 2036.

Then comes the variable every Middle Eastern capital will increasingly be watching: America's 2028 presidential election.

It would be foolish to assume that every Democratic president would abandon Israel or return automatically to Obama's Middle East policies. Democrats themselves remain deeply divided over Israel.

But the direction of the debate is unmistakable.

Forty-five members of the Senate Democratic caucus recently signed a letter sharply criticizing Israeli policies in the West Bank, while some Democrats have advocated restrictions or an outright halt to American military assistance to Israel.

Potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender Rahm Emanuel has gone further. Although he argues Democrats can remain pro-Israel, Emanuel recently warned Israelis that the current U.S.-Israel relationship cannot continue unchanged and proposed ending what he described as America's subsidy of Israel's defense budget.

Meanwhile, the Democratic grassroots are shifting as well. Candidates associated with the movement that protested Democratic support for Israel during the Gaza war have scored notable victories in 2026 Democratic primaries.

Turkey, Qatar, Iran and Hamas don't need to know who the Democratic nominee will be to recognize the possibilities.

A Democratic victory could potentially mean greater pressure for Palestinian statehood, restrictions on Israeli military operations, renewed diplomacy with Iran and greater willingness to pressure Jerusalem.

That possibility has strategic value right now.

Israel Has The Opposite Problem

For Israel, the clock runs in the other direction.

Jerusalem cannot assume it will enjoy the same freedom of action indefinitely.

That creates powerful incentives to resolve as many strategic threats as possible while Trump remains president: Hamas in Gaza, Iranian military capabilities, Hezbollah's remaining infrastructure and Turkey's expanding presence in Syria.

Everyone else can potentially wait.

Israel may believe it cannot.

And that could make the next two years considerably more dangerous.

Trump wants to remake the Middle East before he leaves office. Erdogan wants Turkey positioned for whatever comes afterward. Saudi Arabia wants maximum strategic independence. Iran wants to survive. Hamas wants to endure. Qatar wants to remain indispensable.

Israel wants threats removed while Washington is still willing to let it remove them.

All of them are watching the same clock.

Because the most important question shaping the Middle East may no longer be what Donald Trump does next.

It may be what everyone else intends to do when he is gone.

The new Heil Hitler greeting:

The new Heil Hitler greeting: 'Free Palestine'

Cookie Schwaeber-Issan

“Heil Hitler” were the first two words, exchanged by German citizens in the 1920s, already loyal to the Nazi party, a greeting, which 100 years later, has been replaced by “Free Palestine,” indicating unwavering fidelity to the anti-Israel crowd.

Who would have thought that two words could tell you all you need to know about someone and that refusing to say them might cost you everything?

That was the hard lesson discovered by California Senator Scott Wiener, not so long ago, who, ironically, should have already been considered a card-carrying member of the Woke Zionist haters, given his championing of trans rights and personal contempt for the country he claims has committed a genocide. Yet, somehow that wasn’t enough.

Commanded to go one step further, Wiener could not pass the test without uttering the two-word pledge of allegiance, “Free Palestine,” when confronted by activists who swarmed the senator at a San Francisco bar, where a Trans March was set to take place.  

Demanding that he use the sole password of redemption, earning him the privilege of staying in their good graces, Wiener never saw that coming. Looking shell-shocked, while the screaming mob attempted to get him to turn on his own Jewish identity, the senator had to be escorted from the area to escape the verbal and physical abuse he was getting.

What was it about those two words which, if spoken, would have made all the difference despite his obvious wrong ethnicity?

As with the Heil Hitler salutation, the words immediately established the existence of a totalitarian society as well as the enforcement of a public conformity, building a type of religious devotion to the leader.

Now, “Free Palestine” has replaced the 1920s galvanizing motto, meant to solidify the accusation that Israel represents the oppressive force that has enslaved the Gazan population, keeping them an oppressed people in servitude and bondage.   

By voicing those two words, a person is immediately accepted into the virtue signaling club, exemplifying the purest character and superior social awareness that is on offer these days. The act of planting one’s flag on the “hill of moral high ground” is a pre-requisite to being viewed as possessing the right amount of disgust for whatever is being judged as the evil “flavor of the month.”

These days, that distinction has gone to Israel for nearly three consecutive years. And without proper acknowledgment of that favored revulsion, there simply is no access to being part of the “cool kids.”

The pressure to conform is real and found in the most unusual places.  Take, for example, the annual 10k race which took place in Atlanta on July 4th. As 60,000 participants approached the finish line, they were greeted by Palestinian flag-waving lunatics, attempting to block the remaining route as they linked arms together.

Protesting America’s 250th anniversary, they sought to hijack the festivities, while screaming “Free Palestine,” to a massive crowd they hoped to influence. Five were arrested in the end.

Why would those two highly-charged words be shouted at the once-in-a-lifetime patriotic celebration of a country that has provided them with unfettered freedom? Instead, they prefer to pledge their loyalties to a flag that represents coercion, subservience and death!

Do those activists even know that Hamas terrorists are the real oppressors of Gazans, who have lost everything they had before their leaders decided to go for broke by brutally massacring innocent Israelis who, for decades, offered them the olive branch of peace?

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US reissues call for citizens in Mideast to exercise caution amid possible ‘unforeseen escalation’

US reissues call for citizens in Mideast to exercise caution amid possible ‘unforeseen escalation’

TOI STAFF

The US State Department has reissued a security alert to American citizens in the Middle East, urging them to exercise caution due to the “potential for unforeseen escalation.”

The same alert was issued in July and August by US embassies in the Middle East, including in Israel.

The latest alert came amid tit-for-tat strikes between the US and Iran, which saw several countries in the region caught in the crossfire.

“Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise heightened vigilance and be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures and travel disruptions,” the alert says. “Americans traveling to or from the region should monitor information about airport and airline operations.”

“US diplomatic facilities, including outside the Middle East, have been targeted. Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other US interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world, including US businesses and other institutions,” it adds.

US President Donald Trump denies that his current strategy is to force Iran back to the negotiation table.

“I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement,” Trump writes on Truth Social.

“I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable,” he adds.

“When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?” Trump asks.

While Trump began the war by urging Iranians to take over their government institutions after the bombing subsides, he went on to caution against such a revolt, given that unarmed demonstrators would be no match for the regime gunmen cracking down against them.

US strikes Iranian sites around Hormuz, IRGC says it retaliated against base in Jordan

US strikes Iranian sites around Hormuz, IRGC says it retaliated against base in Jordan

Jacob Magid

The US military hit targets in Iran on Tuesday, and Tehran fired missiles and drones in response, as hostilities flared once again in an intermittent war that has lasted more than six months.

The Iranian Red Crescent said four people were killed, including a child and over 50 others were wounded after a US strike hit a home that was hosting a wedding in the town of Kuhestak in the country’s south.

The US strikes followed others on Sunday that abruptly ended a month without military action and threatened to fully reignite a conflict that has spiked global oil prices and posed political problems for Republicans in November’s midterm congressional elections. The renewed fighting comes after US President Donald Trump had appeared to pivot toward trying to bend Iran to his will through economic sanctions.

“If the failed nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings,” Trump warned on social media.

US Central Command said the latest strikes were in response to Tehran trying to attack commercial ships and American forces in the Middle East. Trump offered additional explanations, first writing on Truth Social that the US strikes were in retaliation for Tehran’s “failed attempt” to lay mines along the Strait of Hormuz.

He later told Fox News that the US strikes were actually in response to Iran trying to rebuild its radar.

“They tried to rebuild their radar because they can’t see anything,” Trump told Fox. “We waited until it was almost built and then we hit it.”

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard claimed to have retaliated on Tuesday by again firing ballistic missiles at a US base in Jordan along the Gulf of Aqaba coast, according to Iran’s state television. Explosions that appeared to be interceptions of incoming air attacks were seen over the southern Jordanian city of Aqaba.

While the IRGC claimed to have killed a large number of US forces, two US officials told Reuters that no casualties have been reported.

The Jordanian army said it intercepted 10 of the 13 missiles fired by Iran, while three of the projectiles were allowed to fall in remote areas.

Residents of the southern Israeli city of Eilat heard blasts, possibly from impacts or interceptions from the attack.

Iran’s military warns of ‘devastating blows’ as country reports attack on airport

Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and its joint military command said the armed forces would deliver what they described as “crushing and devastating blows” against the United States. The state-run IRNA news agency cited a statement by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which warned that the attacks have only strengthened the Islamic Republic’s resolve and tightened Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil normally flows.

Explosions were reported across several southern Iranian coastal areas, including the port city of Bandar Abbas that is home to naval and air force facilities as well as Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Witnesses in Bandar Abbas told The Associated Press that the explosions were stronger than those on Sunday and said they saw smoke rising from the eastern part of the city on the strait.

Iranian state television said US strikes hit a fishmeal factory on Qeshm Island and several civilian sites in Hormozgan province. It said a fishing pier and a Ports and Maritime Organization tower in Sirik were among the locations struck.

State TV also reported that the US military struck the civilian Jiroft Airport in central Iran’s Kerman province, saying a projectile struck an area outside the runway and caused no casualties or damage to airport infrastructure.

Iranian state television reported that Tavanir, Iran’s electricity grid management company, said several parts of Hormozgan province’s power network had been struck. It said authorities were working to restore resulting outages.

According to Channel 12 news, the US strikes on Iran on Tuesday were broader than previous waves and targeted dozens of sites at least.

For the first time, the US was also targeting tankers belonging to Iran’s state-owned oil company as part of a new “tanker-for-tanker” policy, a senior US official told the network. Under the policy, Washington will strike an Iranian oil tanker each time Tehran attacks a tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

The latest strikes also reportedly targeted air-defense systems, radar installations and anti-ship cruise-missile launchers.

According to Channel 12, Iran had recently begun moving weapons from the Tehran area toward the Strait of Hormuz, prompting the US military to warn US President Donald Trump that Tehran was re-establishing its capabilities in the area and that it was time to “mow the lawn.”

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The AI Financial Threat: Will The Next Crisis Accelerate Digital ID?

The AI Financial Threat: Will The Next Crisis Accelerate Digital ID?

 PNW STAFF

For years, the greatest fears surrounding artificial intelligence have centered on jobs, misinformation and machines eventually becoming too powerful for humans to control. Now one of the world's most important financial watchdogs is warning about another threat that could hit much closer to home: AI could become a danger to the stability of the global financial system itself.

Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England and chairman of the Financial Stability Board, issued the warning in a letter to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors ahead of meetings in Asheville, North Carolina. The FSB coordinates financial regulators across the world's major economies, making the language particularly noteworthy.

"For the financial system, the most immediate concern is the potential impact of frontier AI on cyber risk," Bailey warned.

These aren't hypothetical concerns about what artificial intelligence might be capable of decades from now. Bailey says frontier AI models are already demonstrating increasingly sophisticated autonomy, problem-solving abilities and threat capabilities, potentially changing the "speed, scale and economics" of cyberattacks.

That should get everyone's attention.

Cybersecurity has always been a contest between attackers looking for vulnerabilities and defenders trying to close them. But increasingly capable AI could fundamentally change that contest.

Imagine an AI system probing thousands of possible weaknesses at machine speed, discovering vulnerabilities humans haven't noticed and adapting when defenders attempt to close them. A successful attack might not simply affect one bank either. Modern finance depends upon interconnected payment networks, cloud infrastructure, software vendors and other technology providers used by multiple institutions.

Bailey specifically warned regulators to consider scenarios involving simultaneous disruption across multiple firms or shared technology dependencies. He has previously called for stronger international coordination in testing frontier models because cyber systems cross national boundaries.

The FSB is taking the possibility seriously enough to emphasize the ability to restore critical systems and data from "bare metal" following a major cyber incident. In simple terms, institutions need to contemplate scenarios in which systems are damaged badly enough that they essentially have to rebuild them from the ground up.

This is no longer just about someone stealing a credit-card number.

It is about systemic resilience.

Imagine A Bank Run At Machine Speed

The next stage is where the danger becomes even more concerning.

Financial crises ultimately revolve around confidence. Once people believe their money may be inaccessible, rational behavior can quickly become panic.

Now combine a serious cyberattack with automated trading, instant banking, social media, AI-generated misinformation and millions of customers capable of moving money from their phones.

A convincing false report could spread within minutes. Trading algorithms could respond almost instantly. Depositors could begin transferring funds. Financial institutions could restrict services while attempting to determine what was real and what wasn't.

Instead of the old image of depositors standing outside a bank waiting to withdraw their savings, the next bank run could occur almost entirely inside computer networks.

And it could happen remarkably fast.

That possibility becomes even more troubling because Bailey's warning arrives while regulators are already concerned about other weaknesses. The FSB says stretched asset valuations, sovereign-debt vulnerabilities, private credit and increasing leverage could amplify a future market correction.

AI doesn't have to single-handedly destroy the financial system. It merely has to provide the spark that hits something already fragile.

Every Crisis Produces A Solution

For Christians watching the development of digital financial systems, however, there is another side of this story worth considering.

What happens after a major AI-driven financial crisis?

Governments rarely respond to systemic emergencies by demanding less oversight. They typically demand greater visibility, stronger security and more control.

And AI is creating a powerful argument for all three.

The problem begins with trust. Artificial intelligence can increasingly impersonate people, generate convincing communications, automate fraud and potentially penetrate computer systems. As distinguishing legitimate users from machines becomes more difficult, governments and financial institutions will inevitably look for stronger methods of proving identity.

That is where digital identity becomes extremely important.

The progression isn't difficult to imagine:

More capable AI creates more sophisticated fraud and cyberattacks. Greater fraud produces demands for stronger authentication. Stronger authentication accelerates biometric verification and digital identity. And once identity becomes deeply connected to financial transactions, governments and institutions gain unprecedented ability to verify, monitor and potentially control access to the digital economy.

None of this means policymakers created the AI threat in order to introduce digital identity. There is no evidence for such a claim.

But crises have a way of accelerating technologies and policies that were already under development.

Digital Money Meets Digital Identity

The same principle applies to digital money.

Central banks, governments and private financial institutions are already exploring CBDCs, tokenized deposits, stablecoins, instant-payment systems and other forms of increasingly digital financial infrastructure. Meanwhile, governments around the world are developing digital identity systems and stronger online verification requirements.

Now introduce an AI-driven crisis capable of disrupting banks or undermining confidence in existing financial infrastructure.

The political argument practically writes itself: the financial system needs to be safer, more traceable, more resilient and better able to distinguish legitimate transactions from malicious activity.

Each individual step can be presented as reasonable cybersecurity.

Yet Christians familiar with Revelation 13 cannot ignore where increasingly centralized control over identity and commerce could ultimately lead. Scripture describes a future system in which participation in economic life becomes conditional: people are unable to buy or sell without the required mark.

Digital ID is not the Mark of the Beast in and of itself. Neither is artificial intelligence, biometric authentication, or a central bank digital currency. However, all of these technologies may have a role to play in creating the infrastructure that could one day make such a system possible.

The infrastructure developing around us demonstrates something previous generations could scarcely have imagined: a world in which identity, money and permission to transact can technically be linked together on a massive scale.

Watch The Response To The Crisis

That may ultimately be the most important part of Bailey's warning.

The immediate story is that AI is becoming powerful enough for the chairman of the Financial Stability Board to warn the G20 that it could threaten financial stability. The bigger story may be what governments decide they need in order to protect us from that threat.

If a serious AI-driven financial disruption eventually arrives, watch carefully for the solutions offered afterward.

The next financial crisis may not simply change how banks protect their computers.

It could accelerate the transformation of how everyone proves who they are, accesses their money and participates in the digital economy.