Jordan Parliament Against Recognizing Israel As Jewish State

From The Jerusalem Post: 

Jordanian Parliament Against Recognizing Israel As Jewish State

The statement by Jordan’s Lower House of Parliament, meanwhile, followed a debate last week over the peace process and clarified the need for an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with eastJerusalem as its capital, Jordan’s Petra News reported.

The House called for the return and compensation of Palestinian refugees.

In addition, any final agreement should take Jordan’s interests into account concerning refugees, Jerusalem, security, water and settlements, it said.

Israel has made the Palestinian recognition of a Jewish state a condition for any final deal.

The House also stressed that a Palestinian state should have full sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Islamic and Christian holy places – rejecting Israel’s actions in the city.

“Any change of the city’s demography is a blatant violation of international law and a gross breach of international resolutions,” read the statement, according to Petra.

“The House voices its appreciation and backing of the earnest efforts that Jordan, under His Majesty’s leadership, exerts in defense of the Arab identity of Jerusalem, and its firm stand against all the Israeli measures and decisions aimed at obliterating Jerusalem’s Arab-Islamic character, as well as the Zionist designs of hegemony and expansion carried out daily against Palestine, and Jerusalem in particular,” said the statement.

And this from Joel Rosenberg:

Putin Builds Closer Ties To Terror Regime In Iran

 In October, Forbesmagazine named Russian President Vladimir Putin “the world’s most powerful person.” 

Now, with the Olympics in Sochi underway, the eyes of the world are riveted on Russia and its leader, who have invested a record $51 billionin creating what they hope will prove a dazzling showcase to reassert Russian power and influence.

Putin is determined to use a string of missteps by President Obama — hesitation and vacillation in the Syria crisis, the Benghazi scandal, health care rollout fiasco, sky-high budget deficits, and Mr. Obama’s sinking poll numbers, to name a few — to reposition Russia as a major world leader in hopes of eventually eclipsing American power.

Amidst these themes of global peace and harmony, however, Putin is simultaneously working hard to build closer ties with Iran, the world’s most Radical Islamic terrorist regime.

“Iran and Russia are negotiating an oil-for-goods swap worth $1.5 billion a month that would enable Iran to lift oil exports substantially, undermining Western sanctions that helped persuade Tehran in November to agree to a preliminary deal to curb its nuclear program,” Reuters recently reported. “Russian and Iranian sources close to the barter negotiations said final details were in discussion for a deal under which Russia would buy up to 500,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil in exchange for Russian equipment and goods.”

“Good progress is being made at the moment with strong chances of success,” said a Russian source. “We are discussing the details, and the date of signing a deal depends on those details.” The Kremlin declined comment.

Other signs of intensifying Russian-Iranian ties in recent years:

• RUSSIA, IRAN, SYRIA, CHINA TO HOLD MASSIVE WAR GAME: Echoes of Bible prophecy?
• Russia, Iran sign agreements to form “strategic partnership” as Russia sends warships to Iranian port.
• Putin meets with Ahmadinejad to strengthen Russian-Iranian alliance amidst Mideast drama.
• Putin, Rouhani to meet in Kyrgyzstan

Iran, meanwhile, is:

• sending warships to patrol near U.S. shores.
• continuing to play a powerful and aggressive role in Syria’s civil war
• continuing to enrich uranium and moving towards building nuclear weapons

Putin is also using the Olympics to strengthen ties with other world leaders. 

The Los Angeles Times reported that “Putin used the hours before the lavish opening ceremony for the Olympic Winter Games to hold court with world leaders who did attend and project an image of the globally influential chief of a resurgent Russia. Upon arrival in Sochi, where Western journalists have focused on fears of a terrorism attack and discomforts in the hastily constructed hotels and venues, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Putin on his staging of the prestigious competition as evidence that ‘Russia is heading toward strength and prosperity.’ Xi also hailed Russian-Chinese cooperation on Syria and Iran – two foreign policy challenges that have pitted the once-rivalrous eastern giants against the three Western countries that are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, preventing the American, British and French faction from securing sanctions on Damascus or Tehran…..Putin also received Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose crackdown on political opponents and public protest over the last year have alienated Turkey from its traditional allies in Europe and Washington. Putin seemed eager to cast Russia as an alternative diplomatic partner more respectful of Ankara’s right to decide its own domestic affairs.”

As I noted in December, “Vladmir Putin sees himself not so much as Russia’s president but as an old-time Czar for the modern age. All knowing. All powerful….Determined to expand his territory and grow his power and personal wealth. This is what makes him so dangerous.”