The Council Has Spoken!! Our Watcher’s Council Results 03.20.15

The Council Has Spoken! The votes have been cast, and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

“”You see, it’s been our misfortune to have the wrong religion. Why didn’t we have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? The Mohammedan religion too would have been more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?” – Adolf Hitler

“I studied the Qu’ran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction that by and large there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad. As far as I can see, it is the principal cause of the decadence so visible today in the Muslim world and, though less absurd than the polytheism of old, its social and political tendencies are in my opinion more to be feared, and I therefore regard it as a form of decadence rather than a form of progress in relation to paganism itself” – Alexis de Tocqueville

“All this talk of people who burn the Koran and nothing about the people who reacted in such a stupid way. We are always blaming the victim and not holding them — not most Muslims, but at least a large part of Muslim culture that doesn’t condemn their people… There is one religion in the world that kills you when you disagree with them and they say ‘look, we are a religion of peace and if you disagree we’ll f**king cut your head off, and nobody calls them on it — there are very few people that will call them on it. It’s like if Dad is a violent drunk and beats his kids, you don’t blame the kid because he set Dad off. You blame Dad because he’s a violent drunk” - Bill Maher

This week’s winning essay, Joshuapundit’s The Chicken Or The Egg? looks at some elements of Islamic culture and asks: is it Islam that promotes the extreme violence and misogyny associated with Muslim societies? Or is that just [art of a tribal society that persists in spite of Islam? Here’s a slice:

Unless you’re in a coma, you’ve probably noticed that a great many of the violent and barbaric acts in our modern world can be attributed to followers of Islam.

In the Islamic world today, aside from homicide bombings, jihad and terrorism directed against dar harb ( the part of the world not ruled by Islam), honor killings, female genital circumcision and other forms of violence against women are commonplace, and homosexuals are routinely brutalized and murdered. Non-Muslims are treated as barely human in much of the Islamic world, if they’re allowed to exist at all. Warfare carried out by Muslims is done with modern tools of the trade provided by the despised infidels, but is a relic of the good ol’ primitive and tribal days. Hostages, beheadings and the deliberate killing of civilians are all fair game, and the language of jihad is essentially the same heady stuff used back in the 7th century against the infidel. And through it all, there remains the miasma of seething violent rage at things like the Danish cartoons that simply doesn’t exist in other religious groups.

The question nobody wants to ask keeps floating to the surface: Is Islam to blame? Or, to put it another way, are the perpetrators simply bad Muslims or are they actually good ones who are simply more in tune with Mohammed’s message than the majority? Does Islam itself promote violence? Or are the acts simply a product of primitive tribal society that persists in spite of Islam?

Actually, this is a trick question. I personally believe that Islam and the primitive tribal culture combined back in the day to sustain each other and can’t be separated by their very nature…even though some valiant attempts have been made in the past, and are being made today.

Let’s look at honor killings, for example. Probably the oldest recorded one is in Genesis 34, when Jacob’s daughter Dinah was seduced (or raped, depending on how you interpret the text) by a man from the town of Shechem (modern day Nablus). Afterwards, Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi instigated the killing of the town’s men in revenge. But the Torah also tells us how Jacob denounced the killings and actually took the time to bad mouth his sons for the deed from his deathbed. Not only that, but you’ll notice a profound difference from the Islamic way of handling this – the onus of punishment fell on the male, not the female.

his isn’t the only honor killing mentioned in the Bible, but they were never condoned or part of Jewish law, just merely reported.

Islam, on the other hand, not only sanctions honor killings but is quite clear about its position in the matter. Killing or flogging an adulteress or a female that has relations with a non-Muslim male are part of sharia ( Qu’ran: 4:15, for example) – provided an Islamic court orders the punishment rather than an individual male family member going off on his own.

Even at that, Islamic courts today in the Muslim world frequently view male family members taking the law into their own hands fairly leniently. In Jordan, for example, many brutal honor killings have been punished by as little as a three month sentence under Jordanian Public Law 340. Moreover, in the context of Islamic society such murderers are often celebrated and held up as role models. Just as homicide bombers and terrorists who kill infidel civilians often are.

But what if a Muslim feels himself disrespected and lives in say, Britain or New Jersey? If no Islamic courts are available, is it permissible to take the law into one’s own hands? Probably. There’s not much in the way of Islamic rulings or commentary on that particular subject, but the near silence of most Muslim clergy in the West when it comes to denouncing honor killings speaks volumes…one of those little inconvenient truths Western apologists for multiculturalism and Islam constantly run up against when a number of Muslim clerics themselves insist that honor killing, female genital mutilation, and stoning of adulterers are mandated by Islam. And, as you’ve probably guessed by now , that’s one of the unspoken reasons behind the push among many Muslims in the West for sharia courts to handle those messy domestic problems that come up with uppity females from time to time.

Violent death penalties for women caught in adultery is fairly typical of a primitive society, but only Islam continues the practice into the present day. No Christian court has ever condemned a woman to death for adultery. And although the death penalty for adultery is found in the Book of Leviticus, there is no record of such a sentence ever carried out by any Jewish court. The same is true of homosexuality; while both Christianity and Judaism consider it ‘a sin and an abomination’ only Islam clearly mandates the death penalty for such activities and carries it out in our present day.

So why does Islamic society persist in these practices ?

Much more at the link.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Daniel Greenfield’s – Obama’s Treason Is The New Patriotism submitted by The Noisy Room. Daniel has some very hard hitting things to say about President Obama and a number of his questionable actions..and the tendency by the usual suspects to name anyone whom disagrees with the Regime a ‘traitor.’

Here are this week’s full results. GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD and Rhymes With Right were unable to vote this week, but were not subject to the usual 2/3 vote penalty for not voting:

Council Winners

• *First place with 2 1/3 votes! – Joshuapundit - The Chicken Or The Egg?
• Second place with 2 votes – Bookworm Room – Trevor Loudon tells enthralled Marin County audience that victory in 2016 requires uniting and inspiring conservative base
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes – VA Right! - Is the Location of Hillary Clinton’s Email Server 75 Broad St New York, NY 10004?
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Nice Deb – President Bystander Blames Bush For ISIS – Even Though He Funded Them and They Metastasized On His Watch
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Ask Marion – Beating The Odds
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Don Surber – Prime Minister: “Australians are sick of being lectured to by the United Nations”
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – The Right Planet – The Silencers
• Fifth place with 2/3 votes – The Noisy Room – The Faustian Pact Between Obama And Iran
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 votes – The Glittering Eye - The History of ‘Advice and Consent’
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 votes – Rhymes With Right – But The Obama Administration Assured Us These Folks Were Poor People Who Just Needed Jobs!

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 votes! – Daniel Greenfield/FrontPage Mag – Obama’s Treason Is The New Patriotism submitted by The Noisy Room
• Second place with 2 1/3 votes – Michael Totten – Let Iraq Die: A Case for Partition submitted by Joshuapundit
• Third place with 2 votes – James Rosen/Playboy – Dick Cheney Interview: ‘Obama is The Worst President Of My Lifetime’ submitted by The Watcher
• Fourth place with 1 vote – Walter Russell Mead – The Way Forward on Iran submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes -Michael Douglas/LA Times – Michael Douglas finds Judaism and faces anti-Semitism submitted by Don Surber
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes -Richard Epstein/Hoover Institution - Race Baiting And Ferguson submitted by Nice Deb
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Veronique de Rugy/The Daily Beast – On Ex-Im Bank, the Democrats Are the Real Corporate Shills submitted by The Razor
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Victor Davis Hanson/PJ Media - A Tale of Four Droughts submitted by Bookworm Room

See you next week!

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. and every  Tuesday morning, when we reveal the weeks’ nominees for Weasel of the Week!

And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

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The Council Has Spoken!! This Weeks’ Watcher’s Council Results - 01.31.14

Alea iacta est…The Council Has Spoken!, the votes have been cast, and we have the results  for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living – Marcus Tulius Cicero

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives – Samuel Johnson

To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth- Voltaire

This week’s winner, Joshuapundit’s Obama’s Loving Requiem For A Prominent Communist – And Mine is an obituary. Singer Pete Seeger passed away this week, and  President Obama saw fit to issue a handsome and fulsome ( and revealing) tribute out of the White House. Since I knew a bit about whom Pete Seeger was and about his career, I thought I’d write one of my own. Here’s a slice:

The mask is coming off, even if it never covered much to begin with.

Pete Seeger is dead today, at 94. And this is what our Dear Leader had to say about it:

“Once called “America’s tuning fork,” Pete Seeger believed deeply in the power of song. But more importantly, he believed in the power of community – to stand up for what’s right, speak out against what’s wrong, and move this country closer to the America he knew we could be. Over the years, Pete used his voice – and his hammer – to strike blows for worker’s rights and civil rights; world peace and environmental conservation. And he always invited us to sing along. For reminding us where we come from and showing us where we need to go, we will always be grateful to Pete Seeger. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Pete’s family and all those who loved him.”

Now, aside from being someone who made quite a contribution to American music, Pete Seeger was also a hard core communist and apologist for Stalin during the time when ‘Uncle Joe’ murdered over 100 million people. The forced collectivization, the murder of political opponents, the show trials, the forced famine in the Ukraine that murdered at least 3 million people, the gulags…none of it mattered at all to Pete Seeger, that ‘champion of justice and freedom’.

By his own admission, he was a red diaper baby, someone who was brought into the party by his parents and raised under what the Comintern called Party Discipline. That meant you followed the orders of the Kremlin, no questions asked. And that’s exactly what Pete Seeger did. He claimed that he ‘drifted out of the party in the 1950′s’, but he never once lifted his voice to oppose Soviet tyranny until the game was almost over, in 1982 when he made statements in favor of Poland’s Solidarity movement.

After the 1939 Hitler-Stalin pact, there were some commies who woke up to what that meant and left the Party. But not Pete Seeger! Whatever Hitler was doing to the Jews was no never mind to him. As a member of the Almanac singers (later called the Weavers) with a fellow party member, Woody Guthrie, he totally followed the Moscow line, calling for America to stay out of WWII…here’s a sample lyric: “Franklin D., listen to me,/You ain’t a-gonna send me ’cross the sea.”

He and his fellow Party members lobbied aggressively against aid to Britain, American re-armament and against FDR’s selective service act, which passed in 1940 by one vote. If it hadn’t, things would have been very different after Pearl Harbor. The Almanac’s 78 recording, Songs for John Doe was so subversive even Eleanor Roosevelt, a fan of the group, denounced it.

That changed abruptly in June, 1940, when Hitler invaded Russia. Then, Seeger and his friends started singing a brand new tune, urging America to get into the war and save Stalin’s posterior. In a true 1984-style example of revisionism, Seeger and his pals had all the available copies of Songs for John Doe recalled and destroyed…although enough copies remained in a few people’s hands so that we can see exactly how hypocritical, radical and anti-American these people were.

After the war, Seeger remained active in shilling for Stalin and his successors. He was one of the leaders calling for clemency for the Rosenbergs, the spies who gave Stalin the atom bomb. Yes, the great world peace advocate had no problem with a homicidal maniac and mass murderer like Stalin getting the bomb.

In 1945, Seeger put together something called People’s Songs, Inc, an organization designed to “create, promote and distribute songs of labor and the American People.”

Here’s what the California Senate fact finding committee had to say about it:

“People’s Songs is a vital Communist front … one which has spawned a horde of lesser fronts in the fields of music, stage entertainment, choral singing, folk dancing, recording, radio transcriptions and similar fields. It especially is important to Communist proselytizing and propaganda work because of its emphasis on appeal to youth, and because of its organization and technique to provide entertainment for organizations and groups as a smooth opening wedge for Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist propaganda.”

Seeger was actually subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955, but refused to answer questions about his communist past and eventually refused to answer subpoenas. He was actually tried and convicted of contempt of Congress, but his conviction was overturned over a technicality.

Along with his commendable support for civil rights for blacks in America, Seeger continued to be a shill for the Soviets and ultra-Left causes throughout the years.

He was a big advocate of unilateral disarmament by the West, including the Soviet’s phony International Peace Petition. In spite of his image as a champion of freedom, he had nothing to say about the Soviet repression of democratic revolutions in Hungary in 1956, or in Czechoslovakia in 1968. And of course, he was a supporter of Fidel Castro and his executioner, Che Guevara.

He was predictably against the Vietnam War, but had nothing to say about the North Vietnamese gulags and fascist repression after the war, or Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge’s Killing Fields in Cambodia.
He opposed President Reagan’s rearmament of the West after the Carter years, and was huge advocate of he Nuclear Freeze Movement of the 1980s, a Soviet-sponsored initiative that would have frozen Soviet nuclear and military superiority in place and stopped Reagan from defeating the Evil Empire.

Much more at the link.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Kevin Williamson NRO for Great Caesar’s Ghost submitted by Joshuapundit. Written the day of President Obama’s SOTU snoozefest, it takes apart the entire institution with wit and savage precision. Do read it.

OK, here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 5 1/3 votes!Joshuapundit - Obama’s Loving Requiem For A Prominent Communist – And Mine
• Second place with 2 2/3 votes – The Noisy Room – The New Progressive McCarthyism
• Third place with 2 votes – The Razor – China’s Rise No Longer Peaceful
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – The Right Planet – The Inequality of Equality
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Ask Marion – The Power and Ruling Elite
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Independent Sentinel – What Obama Won’t Dare Talk About in His State of the Union Speech
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Simply Jews – Now, what will State Department say about that?
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Bookworm Room – Dachau: The bitter fruit of a terrible evil, in color
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Nice Deb – Comments on proposed IRS rule targeting the Tea Party Overwhelmingly negative
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Iran’s Next Supreme Leader
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Liberty’s Spirit – How frightening is this Hillary 2016 reality?

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 1/3 votes! – Kevin Williamson/NRO – Great Caesar’s Ghost submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place with 2 2/3 votes -Sultan Knish –Totalitarians of New York submitted by The Noisy Room
• Third place with 2 1/3 votes – Dangerous Minds – It didn’t always suck to be a woman in Afghanistan submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote - The Passing Parade – The Canard Conspiracy, only vaguely by Robert Ludlum…or someone like him, only still living submitted by Simply Jews
• Fourth place with 1 vote-Watchdog Wire – Citizen Files Ethics Complaint Against Wendy Davis submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Fourth place *t* with 1 votes - Dennis Prager/National Review - What Bothers You Most?submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Maggie’s Notebook – Malik Obama, Obama’s Brother Photo’d with Hamas Scarf & Slogan: ‘Jerusalem is ours – WE ARE COMING! submitted by The Independent Sentinel
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Crystal Wright/Washingtonian Times - Hillary Clinton and Chris Christie – Oh, how the mighty may fall submitted by Ask Marion
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - MoreRight.Net – Splitting Apart the United States submitted by The Razor
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - JustOneMinute – They Lost Me With ‘Hello’ submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote - Allen West – Tonight: The State of the Dictator — uh, Union submitted by VA Right!
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote - Gary Schmitt/The Weekly Standard – Privacy or Security: a False Choice submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote - Rick Moran/PJ Media - Media Not Very Curious about D’Souza Indictment submitted by Nice Deb

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in…don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter…..’cause we’re cool like that!

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One Giant Leap Towards War

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton – the NoisyRoom – Cross-Posted at AskMarion

My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds. — Neville Chamberlain

Today, that diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure — a future in which we can verify that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and that it cannot build a nuclear weapon. While today’s announcement is just a first step, it achieves a great deal. For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and key parts of the program will be rolled back. — Barack Obama

So much for the US’ non-existent red line and the numerous UN Security Council resolutions that required Iran to halt nuclear enrichment. Now Iran gets six months to finish their nuclear preparations with no sanctions and in fact, with 4.2 billion dollars in additional aid from the US. We are actively funding and assisting with a planned extermination of the Jewish State. In the last great war, we fought against the NAZIs, who allied with radical Islam. This time around, we have switched sides.

I have no love for Bill Kristol, but his quote on this is timely and apropos:

What will the Obama administration’s leading lights say when this becomes obvious? When he sees his grand diplomatic achievement crumbling around him, will Secretary of State John Kerry join his counterpart, Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in sighing and exclaiming with pithy eloquence, “Uh-oh”? Will President Barack Obama offer the same apology to the Israelis that he has to Americans who held insurance policies they liked: “I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me”? As the implementation of the Iran agreement goes the way of the implementation of Obamacare, will his reaction be to say, “We’re going to have to, obviously, re-market and re-brand”?

The president and his colleagues will presumably say these sorts of things. But of course it will be too late. Congress can legislate to try to make up for the failure of Obama’s assurances about health insurance, and to try to help Americans get their old policies back. But Congress won’t be able to legislate to undo a nuclear Iran. The American people can ignore Obama’s efforts to re-market and re-brand Obamacare, and instead insist on its repeal. But the American people won’t be able to repeal Iran’s nuclear weapons once Iran has them.

Indeed. As the nukes begin to fly, will Obama feign shock and quietly applaud? I believe so, even when the EMPs strike America. His allegiances are to communists and Islamists, not to America. Israel will stand alone and fight it seems. My money is always on God’s people. For the first time in my life, I am ashamed to be an American. May God forgive us for what our ruler has wrought.

Video: Barack Obama: Iran Has a Right to Nuclear Energy

Video: UNREAL... Nuclear Deal Includes $4.2 Billion in Aid Relief to Iran

As my friend Maggie Thornton so aptly put it, Obama and the European leaders have just given the green light to Iran to kill the Jews and I might add, attack the US. This will be war in our time, count on it:

Representatives of Iran and Western powers reached an interim deal on Iran’s controversial nuclear program early Sunday morning, after a weekend of intensive talks in Geneva.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, “Yes, we have a deal,” as he walked past reporters crowding the hotel lobby where marathon negotiations had taken place over the past five days. Asked if there was a deal, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said “Yes” and gave a thumbs up sign.

Diplomats refused to spell out details of the talks, but a senior Obama administration official said that the West had not conceded an Iranian right to produce nuclear fuel through uranium enrichment, a key sticking point in previous negotiations.

The official said the deal included an agreement that Iran would halt progress on its nuclear program, including a plutonium reactor at the Arak facility. The deal also calls on Iran to neutralize its 20-percent-enriched uranium stockpiles. Tehran has also agreed to intrusive inspections under the terms of the deal.

According to a Western diplomat quoted by Reuters, the deal would grant Iran access to $4.2 billion in foreign exchange.

In a statement Sunday morning, US President Barack Obama said the deal opened up a “real opportunity to achieve a peaceful settlement.”

“It won’t be easy,” he said, “and huge challenge remain ahead, but through strong and principled diplomacy, the United States will do our part” to deny Iran nuclear weapons. Obama acknowledged that the deal may be hard to stomach for some of Washington’s allies in the Middle East, saying, Israel and the Gulf countries, “have good reasons to be skeptical.”

The West has been seeking a six-month agreement to partially freeze Iran’s nuclear program while offering Iran incentives through limited sanctions relief. If the interim deal holds, the parties would negotiate final-stage deals to ensure Iran does not build nuclear weapons.

The agreement built on the momentum of the historic dialogue opened during September’s annual UN gathering, which included a 15-minute phone conversation between Obama and Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, after three decades of US-Iranian estrangement.

“The Iranian people’s vote for moderation and constructive engagement, plus tireless efforts by negotiating teams are to open new horizons,” Rouhani said in a statement Sunday morning.

“Agreement in Geneva: first step makes world safer. More work now,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a comment tweeted by the State Department Sunday morning. The statement was retweeted by Rouhani’s account.

Kerry and his counterparts from Russia, Britain, France, China and Germany headed for Geneva Friday after diplomats said Zarif and EU representative Catherine Ashton had made significant progress.

A previous round of talks between Iran and the six world powers ended November 10 with no deal, even after Kerry, Lavrov, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany and a Chinese deputy foreign minister flew in and attempted to bridge differences.

The United States and its negotiating partners had signaled they were ready to ease some sanctions in return for a first-step deal that starts to put limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

They wanted Iran to stop enriching to a level higher than its main stockpile and only a technical step away from weapons-grade uranium as part of such a deal. They also sought to limit overall enrichment, as well as a formulation that would reduce the proliferation danger from the Arak reactor, which, if completed, would produce enough plutonium for up to two weapons.

But they insist that the most severe penalties — on Tehran’s oil exports and banking sector — will remain until the two sides reach a comprehensive agreement to minimize Iran’s nuclear arms-making capacity.

No details on relief offered have been made public. And the US administration has not commented on reports from congressional officials that Obama’s team estimates Iran could get $6-10 billion in benefits over six months for rolling back its nuclear program.

Several US senators — both Democrat and Republican — have voiced displeasure with the parameters of the potential agreement, arguing that the US and its partners are offering too much for something short of a full freeze on uranium enrichment.

Iran evidently got everything they wanted and more, including money to speed along their evil little venture. I expected this and even I am shocked. Iran never even slowed down. They were confident of the outcome, one way or the other. They are on a mission from their God — one for the Mahdi that ends in blood across the globe. It would seem the leaders of the world are cool with that, especially Obama. In fact, Russia is funding two new nuclear power plants as I write this. You knew the Ruskies were behind Iran, right? I’ve stated it enough on this blog. Russia is using Iran to do its dirty work for them and Obama knows it.

And its not just Iran and Russia. China is stepping it up and making a move as well:

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Saturday the United States is “deeply concerned” over China’s move to establish an air defense zone over a string of disputed islands in the East China Sea.

“We view this development as a destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region,” Hagel said in a statement. “This unilateral action increases the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculations.”

The Associated Press reports that the Chinese Defense Ministry issued a map showing the new East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, which encompasses what the Chinese call the Diaoyu islands. The move is seen as an aggressive step against Japan, which bought what it calls the Senkaku islands from private owners in 2012. The islands are uninhabited, but are believed to rest near large underwater oil reserves. Taiwan also claims possession of the islands.

Hagel said the map will have no effect on how the United States conducts military operations in the area, and that concerns are being conveyed to China “through diplomatic and military channels.” Hagel also said the United States believes that the Senkaku islands are included as part of Japan in the U.S. Japan Mutual Defense Treaty.

China worries the US, but not enough to actually do anything. It’s all lip service and faux concern. As far as the US is concerned, China can do whatever she wants. After all, she owns us right?

You would never know we are on the brink of war as our dufus Kerry slaps backs and shakes hands with monsters — takes one to know one, I guess:

After Ashton read out a statement on the deal to the cameras at the United Nations in Geneva, ministers appeared elated. Ashton and Kerry hugged each other, and Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shook hands. Minutes later, as the Iranian delegation posed for photos, Zarif and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius approached each other and embraced.

A White House fact sheet detailed what Iran could obtain:

• Potential access to $1.5 billion in revenue from trade in gold and precious metals and the suspension of some sanctions on Iran’s auto sector, and its petrochemical exports;
• Allow purchases of Iranian oil to remain at their currently significantly reduced levels. “$4.2 billion from these sales will be allowed to be transferred in installments if, and as, Iran fulfills its commitments,” the fact sheet said;
• License safety-related repairs and inspections inside Iran for certain Iranian airlines.

Most of the sanctions, Kerry said, would remain in place.

“The approximately $7 billion in relief is a fraction of the costs that Iran will continue to incur during this first phase under the sanctions that will remain in place,” the White House said. “The vast majority of Iran’s approximately $100 billion in foreign exchange holdings are inaccessible or restricted.”

I agree with General Thomas G. McInerney that the US now faces the greatest threat it has seen militarily since 1930:

Video: Gen. Thomas G. McInerney --- Arutz Sheva

The Jew hatred is ratcheting up in the UN and across Europe. You also see it in the knock out games here in the US and in our government. Now, the United Nations has barred Jews from attending a Monday meeting of the United Nations Division of ‘Palestinian’ Rights reports Adam Kredo at the Washington Free Beacon:

The Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust (IHRH), a U.N.-approved NGO group, claims the U.N. Division for Palestinian Rights (UNDPR) has unjustly barred 18 pro-Israel Jews from attending a Monday event marking the “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.”

U.N. security officials initially had granted the Touro Institute credentials permitting 18 Birthright Israel alumni to attend the daylong series of meetings, which will be attended by the U.N.’s most high-level officials.

However, those credentials were quickly revoked at the behest of the UNDPR, according to IHRH officials and e-mails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The incident has sparked a pointed back-and-forth between U.N. officials and IHRH director Anne Bayefsky, who accuses the body of allowing the UNDPR to effectively bar pro-Israel groups from attending major events regarding the Palestinians.

Bayefsky is concerned that this behavior is part of a larger trend by the Palestinians to control the narrative at the U.N. and prevent dissenting voices from being heard.

Bayefsky has registered her concerns with multiple U.S. officials and even U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, who has yet to reply.

“This is the face of modern anti-Semitism by the U.N.,” Bayefsky told the Free Beacon when asked about the days-long back-and-forth. “This is the how discrimination works in the real-life operation of the U.N. Where is Ambassador Samantha Power?”

Kerry sold Israel and all of us down the river as Weasel Zippers put it. True that. But this was decided upon long ago. Valerie Jarrett has been holding secret talks with the Iranians (her family is from Iran) for a year. Obama has never been Israel’s friend – he has always been their enemy. And by the way, they lied about these secret negotiations. But that’s okay, they were only lying to the infidels:

WASHINGTON – The United States and Iran secretly engaged in a series of high-level, face-to-face talks over the past year, in a high-stakes diplomatic gamble by the Obama administration that paved the way for the historic deal sealed early Sunday in Geneva aimed at slowing Tehran’s nuclear program, The Associated Press has learned.

The discussions were kept hidden even from America’s closest friends, including its negotiating partners and Israel, until two months ago, and that may explain how the nuclear accord appeared to come together so quickly after years of stalemate and fierce hostility between Iran and the West.

But the secrecy of the talks may also explain some of the tensions between the U.S. and France, which earlier this month balked at a proposed deal, and with Israel, which is furious about the agreement and has angrily denounced the diplomatic outreach to Tehran.

President Barack Obama personally authorized the talks as part of his effort — promised in his first inaugural address — to reach out to a country the State Department designates as the world’s most active state sponsor of terrorism.

The talks were held in the Middle Eastern nation of Oman and elsewhere with only a tight circle of people in the know, the AP learned. Since March, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Jake Sullivan, Vice President Joe Biden’s top foreign policy adviser, have met at least five times with Iranian officials.

The last four clandestine meetings, held since Iran’s reform-minded President Hassan Rouhani was inaugurated in August, produced much of the agreement later formally hammered out in negotiations in Geneva among the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, Germany and Iran, said three senior administration officials. All spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss by name the highly sensitive diplomatic effort.

The AP was tipped to the first U.S.-Iranian meeting in March shortly after it occurred, but the White House and State Department disputed elements of the account and the AP could not confirm the meeting. The AP learned of further indications of secret diplomacy in the fall and pressed the White House and other officials further. As the Geneva talks appeared to be reaching their conclusion, senior administration officials confirmed to the AP the details of the extensive outreach.

I am sooo freaking tired of the lies. Just bring on the Hunger Games already.

There are those in Congress that are stating this is the best deal we could get. Now, that’s hilarious. It’s the best deal we could get, because Obama arranged it that way, you morons.

Daniel Pipes put it best:

This wretched deal offers one occasion when comparison with Neville Chamberlain in Munich in 1938 is valid. An overeager Western government, blind to the evil cunning of the regime it so much wants to work with, appeases it with concessions that will come back to haunt it. Geneva and Nov. 24 will be remembered along with Munich and Sep. 29.

Barack Obama has made many foreign policy errors in the past five years, but this is the first to rank as a disaster. Along with the health care law, it is one of his worst-ever steps. John Kerry is a too-eager puppy looking for a deal at any price.

With the U.S. government forfeiting its leadership role, the Israelis, Saudis, and perhaps others are left to cope with a bad situation made worse. War has now become a much more likely prospect. Shame on we Americans for re-electing Barack Obama.

As the world charges into the breach of a Neville Chamberlain in Munich in 1938 moment, the US has taken one giant leap towards world war.

The Council Has Spoken!! This Week’s Watcher’s Council Results - 07.12.13

JoshuaPundit - The Council Has Spoken!, the votes have been cast, and we have the results for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

“A little rebellion is a good thing. ” ― Thomas Jefferson

This week’s winner, Joshuapundit’s The Coup In Egypt And Why It’s Important   looks at  one of those ‘little rebellions’ , what it means and yes,  why it’s very, very important.   Here’s a slice:

The military coup in Egypt is pretty much a done deal. Former president Morsi’s in jail, along with the real people who were pulling the strings, the top figures from the Muslim Brotherhood including its chief Mohammed Badie and his deputy Khairat el-Shater.

I first saw this coming back in late June, and those of you who were awake and online at 3 AM Left Coast Time got the first reports of the army’s move, thanks to a couple of my notorious Lil’ Birdies.

So why is this important? To put that together, we have to get into the back story on what happened. Thanks to the Lil’ Birdies, I have some new details on how the whole deal went down.

The Egyptian Army is not like the U.S. Army. Like China’s PLA, it owns farms, companies and private businesses that are often staffed by conscripts.

A lot of the ‘military aid’ from us goes to the army directly to fund these enterprises.

Morsi had purged a number of the top generals of the Egyptian military and replaced them with men whop were either fellow Islamists or apolitical.. or so he thought. With the Muslim Brotherhood government receiving support and patronage from President Obama, Morsi figured he had the Army under his thumb.

One of his appointments, as defense minister and chief of the Army was General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, a former junior member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the junta that ruled Egypt until the Brotherhood took over.

As Egypt’s economy spiraled out of control, Morsi and his Brotherhood allies began leaning heavily on al-Sissi and the military to eliminate a number of their prerogatives and to transfer most of the military aid they receive back to the government, so the government could use it for their own purposes.

Morsi and the Brotherhood were fairly certain that they would be able to put the squeeze on al-Sissi with President Obama’s help. They were wrong.

After his phone call with Morsi, President Obama tried exactly that, telling al-Sissi and the other generals that a military coup would have a loss of U.S. aid as a consequence. That had worked before for the president, when the SCAF tried to limit Morsi and the Brotherhood’s power and President Obama intervened.

This time, Al-Sissi and the other generals decided to call Obama’s bluff. They realized that giving in to Obama and Morsi would lead to them losing any vestige of independence and freedom they had, and since Morsi was already poised to take their aid money away they had nothing to lose anyway. In the end, al-Sissi and his fellow general’s first loyalty was to Egypt and the army, not the Brotherhood.

Not only that, but not only had Morsi and the Brotherhood become deeply unpopular, so had President Obama. The Egyptian street was very much familiar with Obama’s role in putting the Brotherhood in power and keeping them there.

Once the decision was made, the coup proceeded smoothly, without any hesitation from the army generals or the soldiers under their command.

So what does this mean? Why is it important?

Today’s events amounted to a tremendous loss of prestige for the genocidal Muslim Brotherhood. It was one thing to be the romantic opposition, operate a few soup kitchens, schools and clinics and tell everyone that if only Mubarak was out and they were in power, they would bring true greatness and prosperity to Egypt by following Allah’s divine sharia-licious path.

But when they finally got in power, things were different. They were almost as corrupt, far more dictatorial and brutal and far more incompetent than Mubarak ever was. They will not be trusted with power for years, if ever. And their loss extends to other countries aside from Egypt, like Jordan, Libya, the rest of the Maghreb and the Arabian Peninsula. Egypt was the Muslim Brotherhood’s chance to show that their version of a Sunni Islamist state could work. They failed miserably, and not only did they lose Egypt but they did major damage to the Caliphate President Obama and his administration were trying so desperately to put together in the Arab World. People who were prepared to put the Islamists in power are now looking at what happened in Egypt are having second thoughts.

More at the link.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Andrew McCarthy’s  superb Elections Are Not Democracy  submitted by Joshuapundit. It details exactly why so many  efforts to export democracy to countries in the Muslim World without a history and tradition of democratic institutions fail. As supplemental reading for those of you so inclined, I recommend  William Manchester’s biography of General Douglas MacArthur, American Caesar, an excellent example of the right way to do this with reference to how General MacArthur imported democracy to Japan.

OK, here are this week’s full results. Both Bookworm Room and the Noisy Room were unable to vote this week, but neither was subject to the usual 2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners

• *First place with 5 votes! Joshuapundit – The Coup In Egypt And Why It’s Important
• Second place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – The Right Planet - NSA Fever and the Sinister Entity
• Second place *t* with 1 1/3  vote – The Political Commentator - New York State I-STOP law: Obamacare incarnate?
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey - Asimov’s robots as a metaphor for human nature
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – Liberty’s Spirit - Attacking the Interest Rate Hike Instead of the Real Problem: No Future Inducing Jobs
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Nice Deb -The New Hotness: Libs Keep Comparing Conservatives To Islamofascists
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Bookworm Room - Lois Lerner’s demand for immunity before she’ll testify before Congress
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD –Democrazy Démarche
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – VA Right! – Has Obama Actually Accomplished Anything Positive in 5 Years?
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Noisy Room – Allen West at His Best – Teach Obama a Lesson
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Glittering Eye – The Compliant Press
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Razor – The Liberal Fetish For Elections

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 2/3 votes! – Andrew McCarthy - Elections Are Not Democracy  submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place with 2  votes – Doug Ross@ Journal – Comic Book Version Suitable for Low Information Voters: The Road to Serfdom   submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Third place  with 1 2/3 votes – The Whited Sepulchre – Happy Independence Day ! – (let’s start another government)   – submitted by Simply Jews
• Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes -American Thinker - Political Correctness Is Cultural Marxism   submitted by The Right Planet
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote – The Augean Stables - The Constriction of Western Intelligentsia-Honor/Shame Dynamics submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote - The Duck of Minerva – The Israel Lobby and the Nixon Administration   submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Aeon Magazine – Magic or Medicine?   submitted by The Razor
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote -ABC Religion And Ethics –The End of American Protestantism   submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Victor Davis Hanson – Nemesis, After All   submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Lonely Conservative – The Horrific, Brutal Murder The Media Has Ignored    submitted by The Watcher
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Canada Free Press – Obama ducks criticism of his support of Muslim Brotherhood Morsi with lies submitted by The Political Commentator
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Chronicle of Higher Education – Against Environmental Panic   submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion – Democrat (State) Senator Switches Parties… Video Goes Viral (Nationally)

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in…don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter…..’cause we’re cool like that!

Technorati Tags: Watcher’s Council,Raphael Cruz,collection of articles,NSA,GOP,Democrats,alternative media,Egypt,freedom,you be the judge,educate yourself,news,voters,Elbert Guillory,news nuggets,politics,bloggers,blogosphere,Muslim Brotherhood,Obamaland,media,Palin,Libertad,Political Correctness,coups,rebellion,Thomas Jefferson,elections

Celebration from Egypt ==> Morsi, denouncing ‘full coup,’ is ousted by Egypt’s military - Updated

Millions rejoice but more trouble looms as army suspends constitution, says government of technocrats will take over until new elections; 39 killed in protests

Military special forces surround supporters of Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi in Nasser City, Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Army troops backed by armor and including commandos have deployed across much of the Egyptian capital, near protest sites and at key facilities and major intersections. (photo credit: AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Times of Israel: CAIRO (AP) — The armed forces ousted Egypt’s first democratically elected president Wednesday after just a year in power, installing a temporary civilian government, suspending the constitution and calling for new elections. Islamist President Mohammed Morsi denounced it as a “full coup” by the military.

After the televised announcement by the army chief, millions of anti-Morsi protesters in cities around the country erupted in delirious scenes of joy, with shouts of “God is great” and “Long live Egypt.”

Fireworks burst over crowds dancing and waving flags in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, epicenter of the 2011 uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Now it was one of multiple centers of a stunning four-day anti-Morsi revolt that brought out the biggest anti-government rallies Egypt has seen, topping even those of 2011.

But the move potentially throws the country into further confrontation.

Moments after the army statement, a statement on the Egyptian president’s office’s Twitter account quoted Morsi as saying the military’s measures “represent a full coup categorically rejected by all the free men of our nation.”

Morsi has insisted his legitimacy as an elected president must not be violated or Egypt could be thrown in to violence. Some of his Islamist backers, tens of thousands of whom took to the streets in recent days, have vowed to fight to the end.

“Down with the rule of the military,” some of them chanted after the army announcement, reviving a chant used by leftist revolutionaries during the nearly 17 months of direct military rule that followed Mubarak’s removal.

The army has insisted it is not carrying out a coup, but acting on the will of the people to clear the way for a new leadership.

El-Sissi speaking on state televison. (Screenshot: Egypt State Television/ AP)

In his speech, army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court would step in as interim president until new elections are held. He would be sworn in judges of his court, el-Sissi said. A government of technocrats would be formed with “full powers” to run the country.

El-Sissi spoke while flanked by the country’s top Muslim and Christian clerics as well as pro-reform leader Mohammed ElBaradei and two representatives of the youth opposition movement behind the wave of protests.

He promised “not to exclude anyone or any movement” from further steps. But he did not define the length of the transition period or when presidential elections would be held. He also did not mention any role for the military.

The constitution, drafted by Morsi’s Islamist allies, was “temporarily suspended,” and a panel of experts and representatives of all political movements will consider amendments. He did not say whether a referendum would be held to ratify the changes, as customary.

Seeking to avert a destabilizing backlash, he warned that the armed forces, police will deal “decisively” with violence.

After the 9:20 p.m., the Brotherhood’s TV station went blank

Shortly before the 9: 20 p.m. announcement, the army deployed troops, commandos and armored vehicles in cities around the country. In Cairo, they stationed on bridges over the Nile River and at major intersections. They also surrounded rallies being held by Morsi’s supporters — an apparent move to contain them.

Travel bans were imposed on Morsi and top figures from his Muslim Brotherhood including its chief Mohammed Badie and his powerful deputy Khairat el-Shater.

At least 39 people have been killed in clashes since Sunday, when the mass protests against Morsi began — hiking fears that greater violence could erupt when the final move was made against him. Street battles in the Nile Delta city of Kafr el-Sheikh on Wednesday left at least 200 people injured.

The army’s move is the second time in Egypt’s 2 ½ years of turmoil that it has forced out the country’s leader. It pushed out Mubarak and took power itself. This time, however, its removal of an elected figure could be more explosive.

Elected with 51.7 percent of the vote in last year’s presidential election, Morsi took office vowing to move beyond his roots in the Muslim Brotherhood.

But his presidency threw the country into deep polarization. Those who took to the streets this week say he lost his electoral legitimacy because he tried to give the Brotherhood and Islamist allies a monopoly on power, pushed through a constitution largely written by his allies and mismanaged the country’s multiple crises.

“Now we want a president who would really be the president of all Egyptians and will work for the country,” Said Shahin, a 19-year-old protester in Tahrir, said, falling to the ground to pray as soon as el-Sissi spoke.

Mahmoud Badr, spokesman for Tamarod, or Rebel — the youth movement behind the rallies — praised the crowds in the streets saying, they succeded in “putting your revolution back on track.”

“Let’s start a new page, a new page based on participation,” he wrote on his Twitter account. “Our hand is extended to all

Morsi and his allies say the opposition never accepted their appeals for dialogue — seen by opponents as empty gestures — and that Mubarak loyalists throughout the government sabotaged their attempts to bring change.

The military had issued an ultimatum on Monday giving Morsi 48 hours to find some solution with its opponents. Any deal, however, was a near impossibility, making it inevitable the military would move.

Earlier in the day, el-Sissi met with ElBaradei, Egypt’s top Muslim cleric — Al-Azhar Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb — and Coptic Pope Tawadros II, as well as youth representatives and some members of the ultraconservative Salafi movements. The consultations apparently aimed to bring as wide a consensus as possible behind the army’s moves.

But the Brotherhood boycotted the session, its political arm the Freedom and Justice Party said.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi addresses the nation in a televised speech on Tuesday, July 2. (photo credit: AP Photo/Egyptian State Television)

In a last-minute statement before the deadline, Morsi again rejected the military’s intervention, saying abiding by his electoral legitimacy was the only way to prevent violence. He criticized the military for “taking only one side.”

“One mistake that cannot be accepted, and I say this as president of all Egyptians, is to take sides,” he said in the statement issued by his office. “Justice dictates that the voice of the masses from all squares should be heard,” he said, repeating his offer to hold dialogue with his opponents.

“For the sake of Egypt and for historical accuracy, let’s call what is happening by its real name: Military coup,” Morsi’s top foreign policy adviser Essam al-Haddad wrote on his Facebook page.

*Mubarak was removed only to be replaced by someone worse, Morsi, backed by the Muslim Brotherhood.  Although this is a military coup, it seems to be backed by the people.  Perhaps this will give Egyptians another chance at a fair and honest government of their choice.  We can only hope and pray.  Maybe it is a chance at a more stable Middle East… again, we can only hope and pray.

One thing about the protests that wasn't mentioned in the U.S. is the massive anti-Obama sentiment.

 
Egyptians who have thronged the streets in three days of nationwide pro- and anti-Morsi and anti-Muslim Brotherhood protests. Morsi's speech was answered by loud chants of "irhal!" - "leave!" from the protesters.

The Islamist rats were quicly leaving the sinking ship. Foreign Minister Kamel Amr tended his resignation, becoming the sixth minister to quit within the past 48 hours. Two of Morsi’s presidential spokesmen also quit, as did Sami Enan, Morsi's military adviser.

Doug Ross has an entire gallery of 15 photos showing the signs of the protesters that are being carried around excoriating President Obama and US Ambassador Anne Patterson, who they correctly see as enabling Morsi and the Brotherhood's tyranny.  Hillary Clinton would be up there as well had she not already resigned.

Of course, the real story is what happens next. With Morsi ousted, a huge blow against the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamist Caliphate and President Obama (and Hillary Clinton) appear to have been aiding and abetting in the Arab world, which is a wonderful thing.

But Egypt still has terrific problems that need to be solved. Will military chief and defense minister General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi take over as strongman? Will the military midwife a government? And if so, what kind of government? Have the Egyptians finally developed a taste for freedom and democracy? We'll see.

Video:  Live From Egypt… the Celebration

It's now official. Defense minister and army chief General al-Sissi has announced that the Islamist constitution has been suspended, Morsi has been removed and arrested (he's been jailed in an undisclosed location) and that that the chief of the Constitutional court would be named as civilian head of government during a transitional period before another election. Under the army's control, of course, although al-Sissi didn't say that.  That period will likely be anywhere from 9 months to a year.

Al-Sissi said the new government would be “diverse and include all the people,” and that the constitution would be revised to reverse changes made by the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohammed Morsi.

Travel bans have been imposed on the top figures from the Muslim Brotherhood including its chief Mohammed Badie and his deputy Khairat el-Shater, and Morsi is in custody.

Perhaps as we celebrate our own 4th of July and the brave people who fought for their and our freedom, by standing up to tyranny, we should also honor the brave people of Egypt who stood against tyranny this week.  Too bad their tyranny included our own president and his administration.

Prayers-up for Egypt and for all those who have stood up courageously throughout history.  We in America can hopefully draw some parallels back to our own fight for freedom and independence in the past and draw some knowledge, courage and encouragement from this week’s events for the fight that might lie ahead.  AM~

h/t to JoshuaPundit

Update: 07.04.13 - 5-Brotherhood leaders arrested as Egypt interim leader sworn in

• Top Muslim Brotherhood leader(s) arrested
• * Sixteen people killed, hundreds wounded in clashes
• * Cairo calm after wild street parties
• * Despite crackdown, politicians call for reconciliation

Interesting sideline story:

Reuters: Princess Fawzia Fuad, a daughter and sister of Egyptian kings and the first wife of the last Shah of Iran, died on Tuesday in Alexandria, a member of the former royal family and a senior local police officer said.

Her death at the age of 91 was also reported on a Facebook page associated with her nephew, King Fuad II, Egypt's deposed and exiled last monarch.

Fawzia, the glamorous sister of Fuad's father King Farouk, married Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1939, before he acceded the throne in Tehran. They divorced nine years later.

Princess Melekper Toussou, a descendent of the former Egyptian royal family, told Reuters Fawzia had had no easy life.

"In a nutshell, "contre mauvaise fortune, bon coeur" (a brave spirit in the face of ill fortune) I think describes her perfectly," she said in apparent reference to her brief marriage to the Shah and to the 1952 coup that stripped the Egyptian royal family of its titles and its wealth.

She was one of a handful of royal family members who continued to live in Egypt after the 1952 revolution

"In all the years I knew her I never heard her complain, and, God knows, she had many reasons to," said Melekper Toussou.

Fawzia remarried, to an Egyptian army officer, on her return from her failed marriage to the Shah. The Shah went on to marry twice more and died in Cairo in 1980, less than a year after he was deposed in the Islamic revolution.

"The royal family of Egypt announces to the nation that it is mourning the passing of Her Royal Highness Princess Fawzia Fuad, daughter of His Majesty King Fuad I and sister of His Majesty King Faruk I and aunt of his Majesty King Fuad II and the former Empress of Iran," read a statement on the Facebook page.

"The funeral procession for Her Royal Highness Princess Fawzia will start after noon prayer on Wednesday," it added.

Relative Mohamed Yakin said she would be buried in Cairo.

Technorati Tags: hope,Muslim Brotherhood,second chance,military coup,Egypt,Middle East,Morsi,Will of the people,self-rule,Israel,progress,anti-Obama,anti-elites,Mubarak,prayer,celebration,al-Sissi,tyranny,victory,We the People,Princess Fawzia Fuad.

The Fog of Misdirection

Photo: Nir Ellias/Reuters

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton  -  the NoisyRoom

A week after three Syrian tanks moved into the Golan Heights where they stayed for several hours before leaving, a mortar shell struck the Golan Heights this morning fired from Syria. There were no injuries and Israel retaliated with warning shots into Syria. Syria is testing Israel’s resolve to hold on to the Golan Heights, taken in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. This is being touted by the MSM as the first direct conflict since a cease fire in 1974. Technically, Syria and Israel have never ceased being at war. It has been quiet since the ceasefire, but make no mistake… Syria wants that land back and if they get it, it will be the end of Israel. Israel cannot afford to give it up – their survival depends on it. However, saying this is the first direct conflict since 1973 is not exactly correct. Remember, in 2008, Israel took out Syria’s nuclear facilities in “Operation Orchard” and rightly so. They delayed an oncoming firestorm by taking it out.

From the Jerusalem Post:

Israel limited its return fire, since its policy is to only fire intensively in response to coming under major Syrian fire. “We didn’t continue firing because this was one mortar we were responding to,” the source said.

“We will not accept any firing into our territory,” he added. “This was a signal to the Syrians, that we will not be so forgiving of everything that lands in a territory.” The source stressed that as of now, Israel and Syria were not a in a conflict situation.

The IDF is currently on standby for a security deterioration on both the northern front and the border with Gaza.

After the incident this morning, Israel filed a complaint with the UN, who promptly ignored them and did nothing. The UN is populated by radical Islamists, so this is no surprise. Israel is now totally surrounded by the enemy and America just reelected a President who hates Israel. They can no longer depend on America as an ally. Once again, as seen throughout history, Israel stands alone, but not entirely. They have God at their side, which is worth more than any other ally. Meanwhile, Barack Obama is aiding and abetting our enemies, getting our soldiers, ambassadors and personnel killed; all the while pushing Taqiyya and going to massive lengths not to offend the Muslim world and paying homage to the Mullahs of Iran. He is the ultimate enemy from within and made America a Marxist offer they evidently couldn’t refuse.

From Reuters:

In a statement, the Israeli military said soldiers had “fired warning shots towards Syrian areas”.

“The IDF (Israel Defence Force) has filed a complaint through the UN forces operating in the area, stating that fire emanating from Syria into Israel will not be tolerated and shall be responded to with severity,” the statement said.

There was no immediate comment from the 1,000-man United Nations Disengagement Observer Force which patrols the area.

Turkey, Jordon and Lebanon have all had similar run-ins with Syria on their borders as of late. Turkey has retaliated. Meanwhile, the rebels in Syria (who are populated by the Muslim Brotherhood, Obama’s new best buds) are begging for more help from the US. While America cannot see fit to help their closest ally Israel, they seem to be helping the rebels with arms and intel. This feeds into the furthering of a worldwide caliphate and eliminating Israel. All of the violence in Syria will eventually lead to a war with Israel, which may have been the not-so-subtle plan all along. The Islamic world is more than willing to slaughter their own (36,000 dead in Syria so far) to further planetary conquest. At some point they will combine forces and go after tiny Israel. And the Russians will stand in the background with the Iranians rubbing their bloody hands, chuckling with evil glee. Barack Obama will be the ultimate pawn on a geographic chessboard populated by dictators, evil Mullahs and corrupt politicians, moving towards a hellish checkmate for the soul of humanity. Well done America. Well done.

It is hard to discern if Israel can see all this unfolding… I believe they do, although they protest to the contrary, outwardly hoping for Assad’s fall and saying they don’t believe Syria means them harm. Syria has ALWAYS meant them harm, so I take this diplomatic fluff as simply deflection while they continue to prepare for the war they now know is unavoidable.

From the AP:

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet that Israel is “closely monitoring” the border with Syria and is “ready for any development.”

Earlier, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned, “If a shell falls, we will respond.”

Israel fears that if Assad’s regime is toppled, the country could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists or descend into sectarian warfare, destabilizing the region.

It also is afraid that Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons and missile could fall into the hands of its Lebanese ally, the Hezbollah guerrilla group, or other anti-Israel militants if Assad loses power.

The aftermath of Egypt’s revolution has also provided Israel with reason to worry about its frontier region with Syria: Egypt’s Sinai desert on Israel’s southern border has turned even more lawless since longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February 2011, and Islamic militants are now more easily able to use it as a launching ground for strikes against southern Israel.

When Conservatives lost the presidential election this week to a committed Marxist and a close friend of Jihadists, I not only mourned for America and all she has fought for… I mourned for Israel, God’s chosen children. Those that turn their backs on Israel, turn their backs on God. May He have mercy on the United States, but I’m beginning to doubt that and now I understand why we are not mentioned in end times eschatology.

While Islamic foes poke the Israeli badger, hoping for a violent response to provide them cover to attack, the Israelis are showing their nerves of steel in a complex battle that has implications for all of us. The Syrian conflict is the perfect excuse to attack Israel in a series of battle forays. Forget about the fog of war, the radical Islamists are practicing the fog of misdirection. Let’s hope that fog is not cleared with a nuclear detonation.

Comment:

AJ:

AWESOME article Terresa, and you're right!  And what you said here is just what I've been thinking too, "...and now I understand why we are not mentioned in end times eschatology."

Technorati Tags: Syria,Middle East,Israel,Gaza,Muslim Brotherhood,Taqiyya,End Times,Assad,Egypt,Mubarak,Jihad,politics,Benjamin Netanyahu,IDF,chemical weapons,Islamic extremists,Lebanon,Hezbollah,God,Marxists in the White House,end times eschatology,America in mourning,God's chosen people