Category: Middle East

Is Middle East Instability An Opportunity To Apply Leverage?

A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter launches mortar shells towards Zummar, controlled by Islamic State , near Mosul September 15, 2014. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah – RTR46B59 As I have written , even without ISIS, the Middle East, the epicenter of radical Islam, is a complex political-military environment dominated by the Sunni-Shia religious conflict, but influenced by ethnic aspirations, tribal rivalries, regional hegemony, superpower competition and ever-shifting allegiances.

Learn From The Bible Mr. Kerry

In Philadelphia, the Gold Star Khizr Kahn told Trump t and wondered aloud whether President-Elect Trump had ever read the Constitution, pulling his own pocket-sized copy from his jacket for emphasis. Now I wonder has John Kerry ever read the Bible or Koran? Barack Obama and John Kerry’s stance is unbelievable by not vetoing the resolution.

Israel and the damage done by Obama

In this Nov. 9, 2015, file photo, President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House. The audience – overwhelmingly Jewish, passionately pro-Israel and supremely gullible – applauded wildly.

Rep. Franks: Sanctions Based on ‘Leaks,’ Obama Acting ‘Hypocritically’

Congress has not yet been briefed on whether Russia interfered in the presidential election, and it’s a “little premature” to come to conclusions that lead to President Barack Obama’s sanctions against Russia, Rep. Trent Franks said Thursday, and he finds it hypocritical that Obama is making such accusations. “What we’re hearing is information leaked from the intelligence community, primarily from the Barack Obama administration apparatus,” the Arizona Republican, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told MSNBC Thursday afternoon.

What the UNSC resolution means for the US and Israel

The United Nations Security Council on Friday passed a resolution condemning Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The United States abstained on the resolution, allowing it to pass, rather than vetoing it — as it usually does with resolutions it sees as overly critical of Israel.

What the UNSC resolution means for the US and Israel

The United Nations Security Council on Friday passed a resolution condemning Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The United States abstained on the resolution, allowing it to pass, rather than vetoing it — as it usually does with resolutions it sees as overly critical of Israel.

Relations between Obama, Netanyahu camps hit rock bottom

It took eight years of backbiting and pretending they got along for relations between President Barack Obama’s administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to finally hit rock bottom. Though they’ve clashed bitterly before, mostly notably over Iran, the two governments seemed farther apart than ever after a speech Wednesday by Secretary of State John Kerry and last week’s United Nations resolution.

Netanyahu Obama and the UN

By Gwynne Dyer Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is very, very cross about last Friday’s United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the creation of illegal Jewish settlements all over the occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem. He called in the ambassadors of all the Western countries that voted for the resolution to tell them off: Britain, France, Spain, even New Zealand.

Israeli PM calls Kerry speech a ‘deep disappointment’

Israel’s prime minister decried Secretary of State John Kerry’s Mideast policy speech as a “deep disappointment” on Wednesday and vowed to work with the incoming Trump administration to contain the fallout from last week’s U.N. resolution calling Israeli settlements illegal. Netanyahu’s angry statement, delivered at a late-night news conference shortly after Kerry’s address, capped a tumultuous week in which years of tense relations with President Barack Obama boiled over.

AIPAC: Kerry tried to defend the indefensible

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee , the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, on Wednesday criticized Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech on the Middle East , saying it was “a failed attempt to defend the indefensible.” “Contrary to Secretary of State Kerry’s address today, the United Nations Security Council resolution that the administration unconscionably failed to block was unfair, unbalanced and represented a profound departure from the policies of previous Democratic and Republican administrations for nearly the past forty years.

The Latest: Dems offer mixed reactions to Israel speech

Democratic lawmakers are offering mixed reactions to Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech deploring Israeli settlement-building and defending the U.S. move not to veto a controversial U.N. resolution. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York says his former Senate colleague “seems to have forgotten the history off settlements in Gaza” and warns Kerry’s speech may have “emboldened extremists on both sides.”

Trump Says He Had ‘Good Talk’ With Obama

Authorities say a toddler in foster care has died after suffering brain and internal injuries at a west Lincoln home. Lincoln Officer Katie Flood said Wedne… A missing woman and her great-granddaughter have been found alive in Virginia, according to state police.

Netanyahu calls Kerry speech ‘deep disappointment’

Israel’s prime minister decried Secretary of State John Kerry’s Mideast policy speech as a “deep disappointment” on Wednesday and vowed to work with the incoming Trump administration to contain the fallout from last week’s U.N. resolution calling Israeli settlements illegal. Netanyahu’s angry statement, delivered at a late-night news conference shortly after Kerry’s address, capped a tumultuous week in which years of tense relations with President Barack Obama boiled over.

Trump shatters peace with Obama with tweet on ‘roadblocks’

In an interview published by CNN on Monday, Obama said that he would have beaten Trump had he run for a third term. Donald Trump accused President Barack Obama of hobbling the transition to the Republican’s administration with unspecified “inflammatory” statements and “roadblocks,” as tensions between the two men spilt into the open less than a month before Inauguration Day.

Live: Secretary Kerry’s Speech on Israel-PA Peace

Secretary of State John Kerry said that the two-state solution is in jeopardy despite being the “only” path towards peace between Arabs and Israel. Kerry claimed that the Obama Administration did not betray Israel when it allowed the passage of an anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council last week.

Trump signals end to multilateralism

For eight years, President Barack Obama’s foreign policy doctrine has been rooted in a belief that while the United States can take action around the world on its own, it rarely should. His successor, President-elect Donald Trump, has derided some of the same international partnerships Obama and his recent predecessors have promoted, raising the prospect that the Republican’s “America First” agenda might well mean an America more willing to act alone.

The Latest: East Jerusalem housing vote delayed

In this Nov. 24, 2015 file photo, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry waves as he boards the plane on departure from Israel after meetings in Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah. A senior leader of a Jewish settlement council is calling U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry “a stain on American foreign policy” and “ignorant of the issues.”

Barack Backhands Bibi

Did the community organizer from Harvard Law just deliver some personal payback to the IDF commando? So it would seem. By abstaining on that Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal and invalid, raged Bibi Netanyahu, President Obama Hence, we have an Israeli leader all but castigating an American president as a backstabber and betrayer, while the White House calls Bibi a liar.

‘Ironclad’ info White House helped craft anti-Israel resolution

Doubling down on its public break with the Obama administration, a furious Israeli government on Tuesday said it had received “ironclad” information from Arab sources that Washington actively helped craft last week’s UN resolution declaring Israeli settlements illegal. The allegations further poisoned the increasingly toxic atmosphere between Israel and the outgoing Obama administration in the wake of Friday’s vote, and raised questions about whether the White House might take further action against Israeli settlements in its final weeks in office.

U.N. anti-Israel vote finds contempt from both sides of House

The vote by the United Nations Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements on the West Bank has drawn sharp criticism from Brooklyn lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in the House of Representatives. On Dec. 23, the 15-member Security Council voted to adopt a non-binding resolution, stating that establishing Israeli settlements in The U.S., which in the past has blocked anti-Israel resolutions by vetoing them, abstained this time around.

Iranian Currency Hits Record Low After Trump Election

President-elect Donald Trump is doing more to hinder the terror state of Iran before he even takes office than President Barack Obama managed in eight years. Reuters reports that the value of Iran’s rial has fallen to a record low against the U.S. dollar, in part due to concerns about Iran’s “ability to attract foreign money after U.S. president-elect Donald Trump takes office.”

Rivals hit Netanyahu on U.N.-vote response

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s domestic critics are coming out in force as the effects of the United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements begin to sink in. After focusing initially on condemning what most Israeli politicians considered a hostile act, the opposition on Monday blamed Netanyahu for hurting the country’s standing and criticized his response to the Security Council’s resolution.

When Obamas Got Your Back

After Obama said he had Israel’s back went ahead and abstained to vote against the U.N. Anti-Israel resolution. “A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Netanyahu’s government has “ironclad” information tying President Barack Obama directly to the anti-Israel resolution passed last week by the United Nations Security Council ” A.F. Branco is a GrassRoots Conservative Political Cartoonist for Conservative Daily News, Net Right Daily, Legal Insurrection, and now Ammoland Shooting Sports News .

Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to Israel sparks hot debate

If President-elect Donald Trump wanted to show he planned to obliterate President Barack Obama’s approach to Israel, he might have found his man to deliver that message in David Friedman, his pick for U.S. ambassador. The bankruptcy lawyer and son of an Orthodox rabbi is everything Obama is not: a fervent supporter of Israeli settlements, opponent of Palestinian statehood and unrelenting defender of Israel’s government.

Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to Israel sparks hot debate

If President-elect Donald Trump wanted to show he planned to obliterate President Barack Obama’s approach to Israel, he might have found his man to deliver that message in David Friedman, his pick for U.S. ambassador. The bankruptcy lawyer and son of an Orthodox rabbi is everything Obama is not: a fervent supporter of Israeli settlements, opponent of Palestinian statehood and unrelenting defender of Israel’s government.

Trumps pick for ambassador to Israel sparks hot debate

If President-elect Donald Trump wanted to show he planned to obliterate President Barack Obama’s approach to Israel, he might have found his man to deliver that message in David Friedman, his pick for U.S. ambassador. The bankruptcy lawyer and son of an Orthodox rabbi is everything Obama is not: a fervent supporter of Israeli settlements, opponent of Palestinian statehood and unrelenting defender of Israel’s government.

Why Security Council Resolution 2334 Matters a Lot More Than We Think

Those who long ago succumbed to cynicism and hopelessness when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can find many reasons to discount the importance of Security Council Resolution 2334, passed unanimously on December 23. It is certainly true that Israel will ignore and indeed work actively to undermine the Resolution just as it has ignored innumerable other resolutions demanding a halt to settlement construction or expansion. As one activist tweeted shortly after its passage, in all likelihood Israel will expand the seizure of Palestinian land and construction of settlements just to thumb its nose at the UN and to demonstrate the irrelevance of the UN when it comes to the Occupation.