In The Shadow

...of the Tribulation. We see it every day in the news - take a step back and look at the big picture - it couldn't be more clear:

Ralph Peters: Iran Building A New Persian Empire

[This is fascinating analysis and very timely. The entire article is worth reading, but as a disclaimer there is some offensive language contained in this report]

First of all, what are we going to do about those Jews?  No, I’m serious.  I’m serious.  What are we going to do about all the Jewish refugees?  After the nuclear cataclysm in the Middle East? Some missiles are going to get through.  Tel Aviv will be gone, Ashdod, Haifa, but a lot of Israelis will survive.  Now, should we offer them a reservation in Nevada with a sign above the entrance that says “Arbeit Macht Frei”?  Or, maybe we should put them in a DP camp, and the reason I’m saying this isn’t just to shock you. 

The world doesn’t care.  The world doesn’t care, and without the United States and Israel together, working together to common strategic goals, common civilizational goals, there is going to be a catastrophe, and it is nothing short of appalling.  When Bibi Netanyahu came to Congress and laid out the argument as clearly as could be, it was a masterful speech.  I suspect Michael Oren probably wrote it, but it was really just superb, and then you had the refusenik Democrats come up in their conference.  I love the guy from Oregon with the bowtie and a bicycle, and they sided with Iran.  They took Iran’s side against Israel.  That’s what it came down to.

Now, this is tough for Israel, because Israel has the military might to set back the Iranian nuclear program.  It does not have the military might to fully destroy it, because a succession of American presidents, especially Barack Obama, have given — the Iranians don’t need this deal.  They may end up rejecting it because they got what they want.  They wanted time.  They wanted sanctions relief.  Well, we’ve given them over $12 billion in free and unfrozen funds, but it goes beyond that, because as soon as we started opening the sanctions program, businessmen, including American businessmen, flocked to Tehran, trying to set up deals, smuggling increased.  Obama has been, I want to say Allah’s gift to Iran, and if there are any closet anti-Semites out here in the audience, let me tell you why you should care, even if you don’t care about Israel, why you should care, because an Iran with nuclear weapons, with a nuclear arsenal, even if it never uses one of those weapons, already has hegemony, strategic control of the Persian Gulf, de facto control of the Persian Gulf, and the greatest concentration of oil and gas supplies in the world.

You do some analysis, but they want you to comment on the story of the day, but sometimes you have to stand back and put it on the wide-angle lens, and when you do that, the world looks even more terrifying than it does off the headlines.  We have returned, in crucial parts of the world, to barbarism.  There’s just no other word.  It is barbarism, and the American intelligentsia for the most part defends and excuses that barbarism, and it is stunning because the campus leftists haven’t studied their own left-wing history.

When the revolution wins, guess who goes to the guillotine.  Guess who goes to the Gulag.  It’s not the workers of the world.  It’s the intellectuals, but again, as you heard wise remarks about this earlier today, it’s really about emotion...But the left, particularly, but even some on the right, are denying fundamental facts of human nature.  You heard Marie Harf’s silly comment about well, the terrorists need a job.  They’ve got a job, and they love their job.  Dad loves his work, and it’s just phenomenal to me that this generation, two generations now of leaders whose idea of violence was lacrosse at Princeton.  They’re utterly, psychological, practically, and factually unprepared to deal with the likes of the Muslim Brotherhood, let alone ISIS or Al Qaeda, and when you look at the atrocities committed by Islamic State, and increasingly by other terrorist affiliates and organizations who are competing with Islamic State for brutality, because everybody wants to outdo the other guy, what you’re seeing is joyous violence...

It’s just stunning to me this elite that governs us are in denial about the nature of human violence, just the nature of humanity.  They’re in denial about the threat significant portions of Islam in the Middle East, the Islamic world in the Middle East, pose, and they’re in denial about one absolutely huge factor: Religion.

Appeasement doesn’t work with fanatics.  Appeasement doesn’t work with empire builders.  It hasn’t worked with Putin; you remember the reset, and by the way, one of the lowest moments in the U.S. presidency was when Barack Obama was caught leaning over to Dmitry Medvedev and telling him, after the election, after I fool the American people, I can give Vladimir a better deal.  So, with Iran, this idea of strategic patience amounts to standing there and letting a mugger beat the hell out of your because you hope he’ll stop at some point.  Strategic patience just makes the enemy stronger, and look, there is not a military solution to every problem. 

But, as I think I started to say, Israel has the power to start a war with Iran, to harm their program, but Iran would respond asymmetrically.  If it doesn’t have nukes yet, they would respond asymmetrically.  They would attack Arab oil fields, gas fields, loading terminals, storage tanks on the other side of the Persian Gulf, and cripple the world economy, and who will everybody blame?  Israel, and then at that point, we will be in it anyway, so if we must, if we absolutely have no choice but to act against Iran, we should do it together.

Islamic State Attack On Italy Coming

The Islamic State terrorist group likely will launch an attack on Italy within weeks, not months, according to a senior Libyan government official.

Aref Ali Nayed, Libya’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, said in an interview that one likely method of attack would be to use stolen Libyan airliners now believed to be in the hands of Islamists in Libya.

“The horrific video showing 21 Coptic Christians beheaded in Libyacontained a direct threat from ISIS to Rome,” said Mr. Nayed, using an acronym for the terrorist group. “The threat of ISIS to Italy could become a reality in a matter of weeks rather than months.”

The Islamic State could use two attack methods, the ambassador said. The first would be for Libya-based terrorists to infiltrate Italy by using one of the many boats carrying undocumented Libyans to Italy. Once in Italy, the terrorists could regroup and carry out an attack.

“Second, ISIS could weaponize a civilian airliner or small military aircraft in Libya, loading it with explosives and/or chemical weapons.” Mr. Nayed said. “Rome is one hour from the ISIS-controlled airport in Sirte.”

U.S. intelligence agencies warned in September that Islamist militias in Libya have taken control of nearly a dozen commercial jetliners that remain unaccounted for.

A U.S. official familiar with the reports in September said “there are a number of commercial airliners in Libya that are missing” and that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks showed what could be done with hijacked planes.

Mr. Nayed said the recent attack in Tunisia that was claimed by the Islamic State shows that the group is capable of conducting coordinated and effective attacks with speed and precision from Libya.

“Their attacks are increasing in both frequency and scope, and we must take their threat against Italy and Southern Europe very seriously,” the ambassador said.

“Libya is in very real danger of becoming an ISIS garrison and an ATM for ISIS operations in Syria and Iraq,” he said in a December speech. “There is a good chance that Libya’s oil wealth was siphoned off by Islamists and provided oxygen for the growth of ISIS during the recent Islamist regime. It certainly has not been used to make our country a better place for Libyans.”

The Middle East War Will Eventually Lead To World War

War In Yemen, Crazy Middle East U.S. Policy, Iran Nuke Deal

This Wrap-Up will try to make sense of the nonsensical, crazy U.S. Middle East policy. We start in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are getting ready for an invasion of Yemen. Saudi Arabia has already been bombing key positions of Iranian backed terrorists (also known as Houthi rebels). It was little more than six months ago that the President called Yemen a success in terms of fighting terror, but now the government has imploded, and al-Qaeda backed terrorists are fighting for control of the country with Iranian backed terrorists. Of course, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are enemies of the Iranians, and now it looks like the Saudis will also team up with al-Qaeda to drive out the Iranian terror group on its southern border in Yemen. We are talking total and all-out war, which includes tens of thousands of ground troops, tanks, jets, helicopters and also a blockade of Yemen. It is also a place where the Pentagon admitted to losing a half billion dollars of military equipment. We’re talking things such as more than a million rounds of ammunition, 160 Humvees, helicopters, aircraft and boats. Some of it ended up in the hands of al-Qaeda, and some of it ended up in the hands of the Iranian backed terrorists.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, the U.S. is conducting air strikes against ISIS, cousins to al-Qaeda, for the Iranian led attack to retake Tikrit. So, the Saudis, a U.S. ally, are teaming up with al-Qaeda to fight against the Iranian backed terrorists in Yemen, while the U.S. helps out the Iranians in Iraq. What happened to Syria? I thought the U.S. Congress voted to back the so-called moderate rebels, which in part is al-Qaeda, to fight the Assad regime, which is backed by Iran. Are you following this so far? If there is a strategy in the Middle East, what is it, and why doesn’t the mainstream media (MSM) ask the Obama Administration to explain it? If it is a policy of chaos and confusion, they are meeting their goals. What could possibly go wrong?

Also see:

Saudi Airstrikes In Yemen Target Rebel Stronghold In North

In Yemen, It's The Bad Guys vs. The Bad Guys

China Has Two Types Of Missiles To Attack U.S. Satellites: Report

Congress Pushes Obama-Backed National Biometric ID For Americans

'Huge Surge' Of 'Unscreened' Muslims Flooding U.S.

Goodbye GPS? DARPA Preparing Alternative Position-Tracking Technology

EU Waiting For Cash-Strapped Greece's Reform List