In The News: Racing Towards The Tribulation

Today is one of those news days in which we see so many different signs - all pointing towards the coming Tribulation. We know what the world will look like during that time (totalitarianism, growth of the 'revived Roman Empire', persecution, war, famine, a world aligned against Israel, and unprecedented human suffering). We see all of these signs on a daily basis, but today is one of those days where we see tangible evidence of many such signs - and of course, as usual, they are all moving in the same direction - directly into the Tribulation. More importantly, if the Tribulation is close, then...well, you know the rest. 

Israeli Author: 'I Think This Deal Makes An Israeli Strike Inevitable'

This week, an American reporter interviewed Yossi Klein Halevi, “the American-born Israeli author of the masterful [book], Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation, who is in the U.S. on a book tour. He had strong words of condemnation for the nuclear deal reached in Geneva with Iran.”

Excerpts from the interview:

• “I think it’s a betrayal. The Obama administration had to be dragged into supporting sanctions. It took the administration three years to sign up for crippling sanctions. And now, just as they’re starting to work, the administration is beginning to dismantle the system. That’s a betrayal. 
• “They are laying the groundwork for another North Korea. One way or another, they [Iranians] are going to reach the finish line. They’re either going to do it through subterfuge, or by pocketing the gains from this deal and then not moving forward to the final status agreement and then daring the international community not to implement the sanctions….
• “Before this deal, there were two credible threats to a nuclear Iran. One was the sanctions effort, and the other was a Israeli strike. The deal with Iran undercuts both. If Israel doesn’t strike, Iran will go nuclear. And the price of an Israeli strike has now has risen exponentially.
• [The reporter] asked Halevi about Jeffrey Goldberg’s conclusion that the deal was the “least-worst thing that could have happened.”
• “If you’re going to make a deal, this is the best deal they could make. But there should not have been a deal. The Iranian regime was being cornered. Sanctions might even have brought about the fall of the regime. This is an unthinkable surrender.
• “Obama has created a condition in which Iran will be gradually reaccepted into the international community, and Israel could well find itself a pariah. That’s Obama’s gift to the Jewish people.
• “I think this deal makes an Israeli strike inevitable.”

'The Hidden Cost Of The Iranian Nuclear Deal'

Michael Totten points us to this excellent analysis of the Iranian nuclear deal by Brookings Institution'sMichael Doran. He makes some interesting points that I haven't seen elsewhere.

On the nuclear question specifically, I don't see this as stage one. In my view, there will never be a final agreement. What the administration just initiated was, rather, a long and expensive process by which the West pays Iran to refrain from going nuclear. We are, in essence, paying Ayatollah Khamenei to negotiate with us. We just bought six months. What was the price?

But a hidden cost that is more easily verified is the free hand that the United States is now giving to Iran throughout the region. This is the price that troubles me most.

The nuclear deal will further subject the Arab world to the tender mercies of the Revolutionary Guards. Iran will now have more money -- our money -- to channel to proxies such as Hezbollah.

Whether he realizes it, Obama has now announced that the United States cannot be relied upon to stand up to Iran. Therefore, Israel and our Arab allies will be forced to live by their wits. Some actors, like the Saudis, will prosecute their proxy war with Iran with renewed vehemence.

Six months from now, when the interim agreement expires, another payment to Ayatollah Khamenei will come due. If Obama doesn't pony up, he will have to admit then that he cut a bad deal now. So he we will indeed pay -- through the nose.

German Coalition Draft: More Powers To EU Foreign Service

[Paving the road for the future leader]

Germany's upcoming government will not change its eurozone policy, but wants more powers for the bloc's foreign service and a "special relationship" with Russia, according to a draft coalition agreement to be signed off on Wednesday (27 November).

The 177-page document lists all domestic and foreign policies to be implemented by the new "Grand Coalition" led by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"The EU should focus primarily on big tasks for the future - this is where we need a strong, democratic and decisive EU."

The new German government promises to table new initiatives on "strengthening and deepening" EU foreign policy after the December summit, which should touch upon these matters.

The new coalition government wants to strengthen the post of the High Representative for foreign and security policy, currently held by Catherine Ashton. With her mandate coming to an end next year, Germany wants to improve the way her diplomatic service (EEAS) reacts to and seeks to prevent crises.

Drones - a tool used by the German military in Afghanistan - will continue to be used and the new German government wants to "push forward the European development of unmanned aerial vehicles."

The new government also backs a controversial law allowing drones to fly in EU airspace and wants it introduced as soon as possible.

Israel At Odds Over Latest EU Slap In The Face

Israeli ministers this week were hotly debating what to do about the European Union's rejection of an Israeli proposal on how the Jewish state can participate in a major upcoming research program without legitimizing the dreaded "Jewish settlements."

As part of its new anti-Jewish settlement policy guidelines set to go into effect in 2014, the EU will ban cooperation with all Israeli research institutes that have a presence in Judea and Samaria, the so-called "West Bank."

That means Israel won't be able to participate in the important upcoming Horizon 2020 program, which it has already poured hundreds of millions of euros into preparing for.

Where ministers from both sides of the spectrum agree is that the state of relations between Israel and Europe has never been more troubling.

'Largest Massacre Of Christians In Syria' Ignored

[A picture of things to come. Note, the ones who did this are supported by the U.S. government. Food for thought.]

One of the worst Christian massacres—complete with mass graves, tortured-to-death women and children, and destroyed churches—recently took place in Syria, at the hands of the U.S.-supported jihadi “rebels”; and the U.S. government and its “mainstream media” mouthpiece are, as usual, silent (that is, when not actively trying to minimize matters).

The massacre took place in Sadad, an ancient Syriac Orthodox Christian habitation, so old as to be mentioned in the Old Testament. Most of the region’s inhabitants are poor, as Sadad is situated in the remote desert between Homs and Damascus (desert regions, till now, apparently the only places Syria’s Christians could feel secure; 600 Christian families had earlier fled there for sanctuary from the jihad, only to be followed by it).

In late October, the U.S-supported “opposition” invaded and occupied Sadad for over a week, till ousted by the nation’s military. Among other atrocities, 45 Christians—including women and children—were killed, several tortured to death; Sadat’s 14 churches, some ancient, were ransacked and destroyed; the bodies of six people from one family, ranging from ages 16 to 90, were found at the bottom of a well (an increasingly common fate for “subhuman” Christians).

The jihadis even made a graphic video (with English subtitles) of those whom they massacred, while shouting Islam’s victory-cry, “Allahu Akbar” (which John McCain equates to a Christian saying “thank God”). Another video, made after Sadad was liberated shows more graphic atrocities.

West Ignores 'Largest Massacre Of Christians In Syria'

The massacre took place in Sadad, an ancient Syriac Orthodox Christian habitation, so old as to be mentioned in the Old Testament. Most of the region’s inhabitants are poor, as Sadad is situated in the remote desert between Homs and Damascus (desert regions, till now, apparently the only places Syria’s Christians could feel secure; 600 Christian families had earlier fled there for sanctuary from the jihad, only to be followed by it).

In late October, the U.S-supported “opposition” invaded and occupied Sadad for over a week, till ousted by the nation’s military. Among other atrocities, 45 Christians—including women and children—were killed, several tortured to death; Sadat’s 14 churches, some ancient, were ransacked and destroyed; the bodies of six people from one family, ranging from ages 16 to 90, were found at the bottom of a well (an increasingly common fate for “subhuman” Christians).

Here are the words of Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh, Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Homs and Hama (another detailed account, with pictures, appears here):

”What happened in Sadad is the most serious and biggest massacre of Christians in Syria in the past two years and a half… 45 innocent civilians were martyred for no reason, and among them several women and children, many thrown into mass graves. Other civilians were threatened and terrorized. 30 were wounded and 10 are still missing. For one week, 1,500 families were held as hostages and human shields. Among them children, the elderly, the young, men and women…. All the houses of Sadad were robbed and property looted. The churches are damaged and desecrated, deprived of old books and precious furniture… What happened in Sadad is the largest massacre of Christians in Syria and the second in the Middle East, after the one in the Church of Our Lady of Salvation in Iraq, in 2010.”

The New American Foundation Disgraces Itself And Spreads Anti-Israel Hatred

There is no American hater of Israel and all it stands for more extreme than the young would-be journalist Max Blumenthal. The son of former Clinton administration staffer Sidney Blumenthal, he is author of a book so steaming of hatred for Israel that it makes the work of Noam Chomsky seem moderate in comparison. It has received blurbs and endorsements from Stephen Walt (of Walt and Mearsheimer), Rashid Khalidi, Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian, and Chris Hedges, among others. In other words, all the usual suspects are pushing it.

Yet Alterman, having read Blumenthal’s book, dubbed it “The ‘I Hate Israel’ Handbook,” noting that some chapters “are titled to imply an equivalence between Israel and Nazi Germany,” such as chapters titled “The Concentration Camp,” “The Night of Broken Glass,” and one would-be humorous and juvenile chapter titled “How to Kill Goyim and Influence People.” Alterman’s bottom line is this:

Alas, his case against the Jewish state is so carelessly constructed, it will likely alienate anyone but the most fanatical anti-Zionist extremists, and hence do nothing to advance the interests of the occupation’s victims.

One could — and should — ignore Blumenthal’s book. It is disconcerting to find, however, that on December 4^th, the New America Foundation is having a book talk by Blumenthal, introduced by the noted counter-terrorism expert and best-selling author Peter Bergen. The announcement for the talk calls Blumenthal’s book “an unflinching, unprecedented work of journalism which depicts a startling portrait of Israeli society under siege from increasingly authoritarian politics.”

For those who don’t know, NAF is the leading Democratic liberal and pro-Obama think tank in Washington, D.C. It was created as a liberal alternative to the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. Former administration member Anne-Marie Slaughter, who served as director of policy planning at the State Department from 2009 to 2011, now heads it. Its board includes Fareed Zakaria, Francis Fukuyama, Atul A. Gawande, James Fallows, and many other notables.

Caroline Glick: The Goal Of U.S. Foreign Policy

It isn’t surprising that the US and the other five powers signed a deal with Iran on Saturday. Over the past few weeks, US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry made it clear that they were committed to signing a deal with Iran as quickly as possible.

And it isn’t surprising that the deal these overeager leaders signed with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism makes the world a much more dangerous place than it was before the agreement was concluded.

Iran will achieve nuclear capability while enriching itself through the deal because the deal gives Iran sanctions relief without requiring Iran to make any irreversible concessions. Indeed, Iran just received the international community’s permission to continue to enrich uranium, keep all its nuclear installations open and build new centrifuges

While the deal isn’t surprising in and of itself, Obama’s decision to conclude it now makes clear the true goal of his foreign policy. To understand that goal, it is first necessary to consider an aspect of the deal that, on the surface, makes little sense.

Over the past year, Obama has engaged in systematically weakening Israel’s position both regionally and in Washington. Regionally, the US has forced Israel into talks with the Palestinians that are engineered to weaken Israel strategically and diplomatically. The US has delegitimized Israel’s legal rights to sovereignty and self-defense, while effectively justifying Palestinian terrorism as a legitimate response to Israeli actions – which themselves were perfectly legal. So, too, the US has given a green light to the EU’s illegal, discriminatory economic war against Israel.

Beyond that, the Obama administration has significantly expanded the prospect of war between Israel and Syria by leaking Israeli strikes against Syrian targets that posed a threat to Israel’s security.
The US has also weakened Israel’s capacity to take steps short of war to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons possessing state by leaking key components of Israel’s covert operations against Iran’s nuclear program.
In the US, the Obama administration has targeted Israel’s American supporters. This has been advanced, first and foremost, by actively weakening AIPA C. As Lee Smith explained in Tablet, the administration has taken three key steps to neutralize AIPA C as an effective force in Washington.
It has supported J Street and so legitimized anti-Israel policymaking.

Obama appointed outspoken critics of the US-Israel alliance to key positions in his national security team. First and foremost in this arena was his appointment of Chuck Hagel to serve as defense secretary.

When we consider Obama’s decision to wait for a year to sign the deal that enables Iran to become a nuclear power in the context of his main activities over the past year, we understand his foreign policy.
His goal is not to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. It isn’t even to facilitate a rapprochement between America and Iran. The goal of Obama’s foreign policy is to weaken the State of Israel.

Also see:

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Pentagon Prepared To Defend U.S. Planes In China Defense Zone

The People Of The Lie

Netanyahu Shifts To Backroom Diplomacy On Iran Deal