The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
Featuring:
Israel has begun to take action
against Iran, nObama be damned
Caroline B. Glick
"Rise up together as one voice"
"Be careful where you stand"
~~~lll~~~
The 529: Record SOTU Backdown
Barack nObama set a new record for backing down on a "fairness" tax increase noted in his State of the Union. A week after nObama proposed "free" community college paid for by taxing 529 college savings accounts, the White House is dropping the idea of the tax. Both House Minority Leader Nancy Pulosi (D-CA) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) lobbied the president to drop the half-baked proposal, warning nObama it was a political blunder. Jared Bernstein, former economic adviser to Loose Lips Joe Biden, described the tax on 529s as "kicking a ball in your own goal." nObama must have thought only rich people used 529s, as he put $240,000 into college savings for his daughters in 2007 alone. But according to the College Savings Foundation, the amount sitting in the average 529 is $19,774 -- less than a tenth of nObama's annual contribution. It's the way 12 million American families prepare for college. You could call it "middle-class economics." But Robert Tracinski argues that the Left really is anti-middle class: "The truly committed leftist looks upon our private savings as a vast reserve of capital unfairly withheld from its proper function of servicing the needs of the state." To the Left, all money belongs to the government. More... -The Patriot Post
Who's Up for a GOP Immigration Lawsuit?
Congressional Republicans haven't exactly been enthusiastic about challenging Barack nObama's executive amnesty. But never fear -- House Speaker backstabber John Boehner is borrowing a play from his nObamaCare attack: suing the president. The Daily Signal reports, "For backstabber Boehner to proceed, the House would have to approve a resolution authorizing him to take legal action on immigration, as it did last July in connection with a lawsuit over the Affordable Care Act. According to a House GOP leadership aide, legal options include joining an already filed lawsuit from more than half of U.S. states on nObama's executive action or filing a separate lawsuit." The problem with legal action, says Heritage Foundation's John Malcolm, is "nObama is not saying that [illegal immigrants] will never be removed. He's just deferring action." That could make all the difference in court if a judge gives nObama a wide berth for "prosecutorial discretion." On the other hand, nObama's power grab is quite clear -- perhaps even clear enough for a judge to see and strike down. Plus, this allows backstabber Boehner to tell conservatives he's doing everything he can to fight the president's lawlessness. More...
-The Patriot Post
Drilling in the Atlantic? Not So Fast
The nObama administration announced Tuesday that, while it would move to block drilling in significant portions of Alaska, it would seek to open some of the Atlantic Coast to drilling. But lest you celebrate a sane policy shift, The Washington Post reports, "Any drilling would be at least a decade away and likely subject to intense political and legal battles between industry backers and environmentalists worried about the risk of oil spills." Furthermore, explained Amy Harder of the Wall Street Journal, "Secretary Sally Jewell of the Interior Department stressed that this is the broadest plan that they're going to consider. When it goes final in the next couple of years, they may whittle it down to something smaller than what they proposed today. ... So I think the plan can only get narrower and given the president's commitment to climate change, I wouldn't be surprised if they ultimately took it out of the final plan, though at this point it's far to early to say." Indeed, the Left's dedication to fighting climate change will derail many economically sound plans in the coming years. -The Patriot Post
U.S. Economic Freedom Suffers Under nObama
The United States' ranking in the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom rose slightly, but no thanks to the nObama administration. The survey conducted by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal still declares the U.S. only the 12th freest nation in the world, but there were gains when the government slowed its spending. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) says it was because Republicans in Congress, influenced by the Tea Party, reined in government. "I think it's noteworthy that because of a new Republican Congress that took over in 2011," Ryan said, "we brought some temper to the out of control spending that was happening here in Washington and as a result, it made us more free. That's a good step in the right direction with many, many steps to follow." Since nObama took office, the nation's rank has fallen from 6th place to 12th, even as the rest of the world grows in its overall freedom. It's a lesson the world is slowly learning and the Left refuses to recognize: The path to prosperity is through Liberty. More...
-The Patriot Post
nObama to India: We Need You to Fight Climate Change
Speaking in India, Barack nObama returned to one of his favorite themes: climate change. And he needs India's help. "I know the argument made by some -- that it's unfair for countries like the United States to ask developing nations and emerging economies like India to reduce your dependence on the same fossil fuels that helped power our growth for more than a century," nObama said. "But here's the truth: Even if countries like the United States curb our emissions, if countries that are growing rapidly like India with soaring energy needs don't also embrace cleaner fuels, then we don't stand a chance against climate change." He's right in a sense. nObama can cripple the U.S. economy all he likes, but if India and China don't go along with his scheme, it's all for naught in terms of reducing global emissions. But why would they go along? They know their economies can't afford the huge hit, and, thus, they've rejected the deal. -The Patriot Post
1.
The Democratic Bench Is Shockingly Weak
(JAY COST) - Let’s think about this. Hilly Clinton is expecting no competition for the Democratic nomination. When, in the era of primaries, has this ever happened?...The answer is: never. It has never happened. It is unprecedented. This hardly suggests Hilly Clinton is an overawing candidate. She has strengths, no doubt, but she was beatable eight years ago by an upstart rookie senator from Illinois. She’s beatable today. What it really suggests is: the Democratic bench is now so thin that the party cannot even give its voters a real choice. At this point, the only three other candidates seriously considering the race are: Martin O’Malley, former Maryland governor who is decidedly lackluster; Jim Webb, the quirky one-term senator who -- oh by the way! -- used to work in the Reagan Administration (Democratic voters will love that); and Bernie Sanders, who does not even call himself a Democrat (he’s a socialist). http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/democratic-bench-shockingly-weak_830664.html?utm_campaign=Weekly%20Standard%3A%20Daily%20Digest&utm_source=Weekly%20Standard%3A%20Daily%20Digest%20-%2001%2F29%2F15&utm_medium=email
2.
Islamic State Defeat in Kobani Will Be Hard to Replicate
(Jonathan Spyer) - The near-complete liberation of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani this week from Islamic State (IS) forces is a remarkable testimony to the tenacity and courage of the Kurdish resistance on the ground...It also showcases the awesome efficacy of US air power, when given a clear mission and properly directed. It is nevertheless necessary to qualify some of the more hyperbolic reactions to the announcement of the IS retreat. The relief of Kobani in no way constitutes a general rout for the IS forces; neither does it signal a "beginning of the end" for the movement and its quasi-sovereign entity. Indeed, the expulsion of the jihadists from the town does not even conclude the task facing the Kurdish fighters in the immediate vicinity of Kobani, nor does it offer any general lessons regarding the possible efficacy of Western support for armed groups in Syria or Iraq. http://www.meforum.org/4998/islamic-state-defeat-in-kobani
3.
Podesta Caught Green-Handed in Major Ethic Violation
(Richard Pollock) - In 2013, John Podesta was paid $87,000 by a shadowy foreign billionaire whose passion is preventing energy exploration on American land...Just two years later, Podesta is a member of President nObama’s inner circle, and the driving force inside the White House to block 12 million acres of land in Alaska’s Artic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling. The circumstances suggest Podesta may have run afoul of nObama’s highly-touted ethics pledge, which requires political appointees to disqualify themselves in matters relating to the interests of a former employer or client. http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/29/obama-adviser-podesta-caught-green-handed-in-major-ethics-violation/?advD=1248,48782
4.
Stunning Revolt: Dems Block Fracking Regulations
(Michael Bastasch) - Democrats turned on one another Wednesday night and voted against an amendment that would have given the federal government the power to regulate hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, occurring on state and private lands...New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s amendment to “modify the definition of underground injection” was soundly defeated 63 to 35, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans in opposing the measure. These Senate Democrats included Michael Bennet of Colorado, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Jon Tester of Montana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Mark Warner of Virginia.The vote presents a huge problem for Democrats hell-bent on regulating fracking and pushing climate policies in that a sizable group of lawmakers are pro-oil and gas development. This also poses a problem for President nObama’s agenda to make more federal lands off limits to drilling. http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/29/democrats-fracking-regulations/?advD=1248%2C48782&bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiJjNTliYzIxYy1kM2ZhLTQ5MWMtYjhmZC02M2M2MjhjYzNjZjMifQ%3D%3D
5.
Swapping Prisoners with Terrorists
(Andrew McCarthy) - Suddenly, there is outrage in the land over President nObama’s policy of negotiating prisoner swaps with terrorist organizations, a national-security catastrophe that, as night follows day, is resulting in more abductions by terrorist organizations...Well, yes, of course. But what took so long? Sorry if I sometimes sound like I work the “I Told You So” beat at the counter-jihad press. But as recounted in these pages, immediately upon assuming power in 2009, nObama started negotiating exchanges of terrorists – lopsided exchanges that sell out American national security for a net-zero return. http://www.aim.org/guest-column/swapping-prisoners-with-terrorists/?utm_source=AIM+-+Daily+Email&utm_campaign=email013015&utm_medium=email
6.
“The Israeli People Are Quite Fed Up With Mr. nObama”
(nicedeb.wordpress.com) - Megyn Kelly had Lt. Col. Oliver North on the Kelly File Thursday night to talk about the recent military strikes by Iran-sponsored Hezbollah on the Lebanon/Israel border...North, who is currently in Israel, and witnessed the attacks said, “Israel has been under siege from Hamas in the South and Hezbollah in the North.” And while all that has been going on, North continued, there was “this tiff going on in Washington” regarding Netanyahu speaking before Congress. “nObama is acting like a petulant child,” he declared. “He’s detached from the reality of what’s going on on the border – with Hamas, with Hezbollah.” Asked if the Israeli people care about what nObama thinks, North answered, “I think the Israeli people are quite fed up with Mr. nObama. I hear that routinely.” Hey Oliver North, the American people feel the same way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Z93We9P7o&x-yt-ts=1422579428&x-yt-cl=85114404
7.
nObama’s Taliban Tools and Treachery
(Michelle Malkin) - To call President nObama’s Afghanistan policy a mess is a colossal understatement...To call it a coherent “policy,” for that matter, is a gut-busting exaggeration. It’s a bloody, incompetent and treacherous disaster. Our military heroes and families, God bless them, refuse to stay silent about the consequences. Consider these three national security fiascos: http://freedomsback.com/michelle-malkin/obamas-taliban-tools-and-treachery/
8.
Muslim Brotherhood: Prepare for Jihad
(investigativeproject.org) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, hailed as a moderate voice and welcomed by officials in the nObama administration just this week, issued separate statements on its English and Arabic websites this week that appear to contradict each other...A call for "a long, unrelenting Jihad" appeared on the Brotherhood's Arabic language website Tuesday. The statement, first reported Friday by the Washington Free Beacon's Adam Kredo, starts by invoking a passage from the Quran: "And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of God and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know but whom Allah knows. And whatever you spend in the cause of God will be fully repaid to you, and you will not be wronged." On its English language website Friday, the Brotherhood struck a dramatically different tone in an article in which it "Reiterates Commitment to Non-Violence." http://www.investigativeproject.org/4766/muslim-brotherhood-prepare-for-jihad
9.
Gen. Keane – Administration Story Starting To Unravel
(Rick Wells) - Megyn Kelly refers to the admission from outgoing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel that he was under tremendous pressure from the White House to release terrorists from Gitmo...She also makes note of a White House notice that went out to media outlets that the hostage trade policy is now under review. General Jack Keane believes that what we may be seeing is the beginning stages of a visible unraveling of the regime’s flawed policy, where we had people trying to defend the indefensible. Keane points out that Admiral Kirby, in spite of his reputation as a straight shooter and a good guy is defending bad policy and he knows it, adding that it is visible in all of his body language. Keane says that that’s Kirby’s job, to stand up there and lie to us. Some of us disagree that it is ever appropriate for a respected military officer to blatantly lie to the American people in service to a man rather than his nation and the Constitution, but that is a discussion for another time. It’s not merely a matter of advocating policy but he has been lying about the Bergdahl charges and other matters for quite some time now. That same body language and the facts have betrayed him on many occasions. http://www.rickwells.us/gen-keane-administration-story-starting-to-unravel-defense-of-indefensible-becoming-impossible/
10.
Sheriff David Clarke Kicks Eric Holder To The Curb
(Rick Wells) - The straightforward Sheriff of Milwaukee County, WI didn’t mince words and he had nothing complimentary to say about outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder in testimony before the Senate during the confirmation hearings of Loretta Lynch...Clarke begins by citing the portion of the mission statement of the Department of Justice which reads, “’To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law,’ let me repeat that, according to the law, ‘to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic, to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime, to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior and to ensure impartial administration of justice for all Americans.” This must be a document that Holder has never seen before, as he violated every one of those critical responsibilities on a consistent basis. http://www.rickwells.us/sheriff-david-clarke-kicks-eric-holder-to-the-curb-for-his-attitude-inflammatory-comments-cop-hating-frenzy/
Israel has begun to take action
against Iran, nObama be damned
Caroline B. Glick
(jewishworldreview.com) - Israel’s reported strike January 18 on a joint Iranian-Hezbollah convoy driving on the Syrian Golan Heights was one of the most strategically significant events to have occurred in Israel’s neighborhood in recent months. Its significance lies both in what it accomplished operationally and what it exposed.
From what been published to date about the identities of those killed in the strike, it is clear that in one fell swoop the air force decapitated the Iranian and Hezbollah operational command in Syria.
The head of Hezbollah’s operations in Syria, the head of its liaison with Iran, and Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Hezbollah’s longtime operational commander Imad Mughniyeh who was killed by Israel in Damascus in 2008, were killed. The younger Mughniyeh reportedly served as commander of Hezbollah forces along the Syrian-Israeli border.
According to a report by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Shimon Shapira, a Hezbollah expert from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, the Iranian losses included three generals. Brig.- Gen. Mohammed Alladadi was the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps liaison officer to Hezbollah and to Syrian intelligence. He was also in charge of weapons shipments from Iran to Hezbollah. Gen. Ali Tabatabai was the IRGC commander in the Golan Heights and, according to Shapira, an additional general, known only as Assadi, “was, in all likelihood, the commander of Iranian expeditionary forces in Lebanon.”
The fact that the men were willing to risk exposure by traveling together along the border with Israel indicates how critical the front is for the regime in Tehran. It also indicates that in all likelihood, they were planning an imminent attack against Israel.
According to Ehud Yaari, Channel 2’s Arab Affairs commentator, Iran and Hezbollah seek to widen Hezbollah’s front against Israel from Lebanon to Syria. They wish to establish missile bases on the northern Hermon, and are expanding Hezbollah’s strategic depth from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley to the outskirts of Damascus.
On Wednesday night, Yaari reported that the Syrian military has ceased to function south of Damascus. In areas not held by the al-Qaida-aligned Nusra Front and other regime opponents, the IRGC and Hezbollah have taken control, using the Syrian militia they have trained since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
The effectiveness of Hezbollah’s control of its expanded front was on display on Wednesday morning. Almost at the same time that Hezbollah forces shot at least five advanced Kornet antitank missiles at an IDF convoy along Mount Dov, killing two soldiers and wounding seven, Hezbollah forces on the Golan shot off mortars at the Hermon area.
While these forces are effective, they are also vulnerable. Yaari noted that today, three-quarters of Hezbollah’s total forces are fighting in Syria. Their twofold task is to defend the Assad regime and to build the Iranian-controlled front against Israel along the Golan Heights. Most of the forces are in known, unfortified, above ground positions, vulnerable to Israeli air strikes.
THE IDENTITIES of the Iranian and Lebanese personnel killed in the Israeli strike indicate the high value Iran and Hezbollah place on developing a new front against Israel in Syria.
From what been published to date about the identities of those killed in the strike, it is clear that in one fell swoop the air force decapitated the Iranian and Hezbollah operational command in Syria.
The head of Hezbollah’s operations in Syria, the head of its liaison with Iran, and Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Hezbollah’s longtime operational commander Imad Mughniyeh who was killed by Israel in Damascus in 2008, were killed. The younger Mughniyeh reportedly served as commander of Hezbollah forces along the Syrian-Israeli border.
According to a report by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Shimon Shapira, a Hezbollah expert from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, the Iranian losses included three generals. Brig.- Gen. Mohammed Alladadi was the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps liaison officer to Hezbollah and to Syrian intelligence. He was also in charge of weapons shipments from Iran to Hezbollah. Gen. Ali Tabatabai was the IRGC commander in the Golan Heights and, according to Shapira, an additional general, known only as Assadi, “was, in all likelihood, the commander of Iranian expeditionary forces in Lebanon.”
The fact that the men were willing to risk exposure by traveling together along the border with Israel indicates how critical the front is for the regime in Tehran. It also indicates that in all likelihood, they were planning an imminent attack against Israel.
According to Ehud Yaari, Channel 2’s Arab Affairs commentator, Iran and Hezbollah seek to widen Hezbollah’s front against Israel from Lebanon to Syria. They wish to establish missile bases on the northern Hermon, and are expanding Hezbollah’s strategic depth from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley to the outskirts of Damascus.
On Wednesday night, Yaari reported that the Syrian military has ceased to function south of Damascus. In areas not held by the al-Qaida-aligned Nusra Front and other regime opponents, the IRGC and Hezbollah have taken control, using the Syrian militia they have trained since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
The effectiveness of Hezbollah’s control of its expanded front was on display on Wednesday morning. Almost at the same time that Hezbollah forces shot at least five advanced Kornet antitank missiles at an IDF convoy along Mount Dov, killing two soldiers and wounding seven, Hezbollah forces on the Golan shot off mortars at the Hermon area.
While these forces are effective, they are also vulnerable. Yaari noted that today, three-quarters of Hezbollah’s total forces are fighting in Syria. Their twofold task is to defend the Assad regime and to build the Iranian-controlled front against Israel along the Golan Heights. Most of the forces are in known, unfortified, above ground positions, vulnerable to Israeli air strikes.
THE IDENTITIES of the Iranian and Lebanese personnel killed in the Israeli strike indicate the high value Iran and Hezbollah place on developing a new front against Israel in Syria.
The fact that they are in control over large swathes of the border area and are willing to risk exposure in order to ready the front for operations exposes Iran’s strategic goal of encircling Israel on the ground and the risks it is willing to take to achieve that goal.
But Iran’s willingness to expose its forces and Hezbollah forces also indicates something else. It indicates that they believe that there is a force deterring Israel from attacking them.
And this brings us to another strategic revelation exposed by the January 18 operation.
Earlier this week, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdolahian told Iran’s IRNA news agency that the regime had told its American interlocutors to tell Israel that it intended to strike Israel in retribution for the attack. The State Department did not deny that Iran had communicated the message, although it claims that it never relayed the message.
While the nObama administration did perhaps refuse to serve as Iran’s messenger, it has worked to deter Israel from striking Hezbollah and Iranian targets in Syria. Whereas Israel has a policy of never acknowledging responsibility for its military operations in Syria, in order to give President Bashar Assad an excuse to not retaliate, the US administration has repeatedly informed the media of Israeli attacks and so increased the risk that such Israeli operations will lead to counterattacks against Israel.
The US has also refused to acknowledge Iran’s control over the Syrian regime, and so denied the basic fact that through its proxies, Iran is developing a conventional threat against Israel. For instance, earlier this month, Der Spiegel reported that Iran has been building a secret nuclear facility in Syria. When questioned about the report, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf sought to downplay its significance. When a reporter asked if the administration would raise the report in its nuclear negotiations with Iran, Harf replied, “No, the upcoming talks are about the Iranian nuclear program.”
Until this month, the White House continued to pay lip service to the strategic goal of removing Assad – and by inference Iran, which controls and protects him – from power in Syria. Lip service aside, it has been clear at least since September 2013, when President Barack nObama refused to enforce his own redline and take action against the Assad regime after it used chemical weapons against its opponents, that he had no intention of forcing Assad from power. But this month the administration crossed a new Rubicon when Secretary of State Hanoi John Kerry failed to call for Assad to be removed to power in talks with the UN envoy in Syria Staffan de Mistura. Right before he met with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Hanoi Kerry told Mistura, “It is time for President Assad, the Assad regime, to put their people first and to think about the consequences of their actions, which are attracting more and more terrorists to Syria, basically because of their efforts to remove Assad.”
IRAN’S PRESENCE on the Golan Heights is of course just one of the many strategic advances it has made in expanding its territorial reach. Over the past two weeks, Iranian-controlled Houthi militias have consolidated their control over Yemen, with their overthrow of the US-allied government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Rather than defend the elected government that has fought side-by-side with US special forces in their Yemen-based operations against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the administration is pretending that little has changed. It pretends it will still be able to gather the intelligence necessary to carry out drone strikes against al-Qaida terrorists even though its allies have now lost power.
The post-Houthi-conquest goal of the administration’s policy in Yemen is to seek a national dialogue that will include everyone from Iran’s proxy government to al-Qaida.
The idea is that everyone will work together to write a new constitution. It is impossible to understate the delusion at the heart of this plan.
With the conquest of Yemen, Iran now controls the Gulf of Aden. Together with the Straits of Hormuz, Iran now controls the region’s two maritime outlets to the open sea.
Far beyond the region, Iran expands its capacity to destabilize foreign countries and so advance its interests. Last week, Lee Smith raised the reasonable prospect that it was Iran that assassinated Argentinean prosecutor Alberto Nisman two weeks ago. Nisman was murdered the night before he was scheduled to make public the findings of his 10-year investigation into the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center and the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. According to Smith, Nisman had proof that Iran had carried out the terrorist attacks to retaliate against Argentina for abrogating its nuclear cooperation with Tehran.
From the Golan Heights to Gaza, from Yemen and Iraq to Latin America to Nantanz and Arak, Iran is boldly advancing its nuclear and imperialist agenda. As Charles Krauthammer noted last Friday, the nations of the Middle East allied with the US are sounding the alarm.
Earlier this week, during nObama’s visit with the new Saudi King Salman, he got an earful from the monarch regarding the need to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
US hope that Iran and Saudi Arabia will be able to kiss and make up and bury a thousand- year rivalry between Sunni and Shi’ite Islam because they both oppose the Islamic State is utter fantasy.
Israel’s January 18 strike on Iranian and Hezbollah commanders in Syria showed Israel’s strategy wisdom and independent capacity.
Israel can and will take measures to defend its critical security interests. It has the intelligence gathering capacity to identify and strike at targets in real time.
But it also showed the constraints Israel is forced to operate under in its increasingly complex and dangerous strategic environment.
Due to the US administration’s commitment to turning a blind eye to Iran’s advances and the destabilizing role it plays everywhere it gains power, Israel can do little more than carry out precision attacks against high value targets. The flipside of the administration’s refusal to see the dangers, and so enable Iran’s territorial expansion and its nuclear progress, is its determination to ensure that Israel does nothing to prevent those dangers from growing – whether along its borders or at Iran’s nuclear facilities.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0115/glick013015.php3
But Iran’s willingness to expose its forces and Hezbollah forces also indicates something else. It indicates that they believe that there is a force deterring Israel from attacking them.
And this brings us to another strategic revelation exposed by the January 18 operation.
Earlier this week, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdolahian told Iran’s IRNA news agency that the regime had told its American interlocutors to tell Israel that it intended to strike Israel in retribution for the attack. The State Department did not deny that Iran had communicated the message, although it claims that it never relayed the message.
While the nObama administration did perhaps refuse to serve as Iran’s messenger, it has worked to deter Israel from striking Hezbollah and Iranian targets in Syria. Whereas Israel has a policy of never acknowledging responsibility for its military operations in Syria, in order to give President Bashar Assad an excuse to not retaliate, the US administration has repeatedly informed the media of Israeli attacks and so increased the risk that such Israeli operations will lead to counterattacks against Israel.
The US has also refused to acknowledge Iran’s control over the Syrian regime, and so denied the basic fact that through its proxies, Iran is developing a conventional threat against Israel. For instance, earlier this month, Der Spiegel reported that Iran has been building a secret nuclear facility in Syria. When questioned about the report, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf sought to downplay its significance. When a reporter asked if the administration would raise the report in its nuclear negotiations with Iran, Harf replied, “No, the upcoming talks are about the Iranian nuclear program.”
Until this month, the White House continued to pay lip service to the strategic goal of removing Assad – and by inference Iran, which controls and protects him – from power in Syria. Lip service aside, it has been clear at least since September 2013, when President Barack nObama refused to enforce his own redline and take action against the Assad regime after it used chemical weapons against its opponents, that he had no intention of forcing Assad from power. But this month the administration crossed a new Rubicon when Secretary of State Hanoi John Kerry failed to call for Assad to be removed to power in talks with the UN envoy in Syria Staffan de Mistura. Right before he met with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Hanoi Kerry told Mistura, “It is time for President Assad, the Assad regime, to put their people first and to think about the consequences of their actions, which are attracting more and more terrorists to Syria, basically because of their efforts to remove Assad.”
IRAN’S PRESENCE on the Golan Heights is of course just one of the many strategic advances it has made in expanding its territorial reach. Over the past two weeks, Iranian-controlled Houthi militias have consolidated their control over Yemen, with their overthrow of the US-allied government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Rather than defend the elected government that has fought side-by-side with US special forces in their Yemen-based operations against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the administration is pretending that little has changed. It pretends it will still be able to gather the intelligence necessary to carry out drone strikes against al-Qaida terrorists even though its allies have now lost power.
The post-Houthi-conquest goal of the administration’s policy in Yemen is to seek a national dialogue that will include everyone from Iran’s proxy government to al-Qaida.
The idea is that everyone will work together to write a new constitution. It is impossible to understate the delusion at the heart of this plan.
With the conquest of Yemen, Iran now controls the Gulf of Aden. Together with the Straits of Hormuz, Iran now controls the region’s two maritime outlets to the open sea.
Far beyond the region, Iran expands its capacity to destabilize foreign countries and so advance its interests. Last week, Lee Smith raised the reasonable prospect that it was Iran that assassinated Argentinean prosecutor Alberto Nisman two weeks ago. Nisman was murdered the night before he was scheduled to make public the findings of his 10-year investigation into the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center and the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. According to Smith, Nisman had proof that Iran had carried out the terrorist attacks to retaliate against Argentina for abrogating its nuclear cooperation with Tehran.
From the Golan Heights to Gaza, from Yemen and Iraq to Latin America to Nantanz and Arak, Iran is boldly advancing its nuclear and imperialist agenda. As Charles Krauthammer noted last Friday, the nations of the Middle East allied with the US are sounding the alarm.
Earlier this week, during nObama’s visit with the new Saudi King Salman, he got an earful from the monarch regarding the need to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
US hope that Iran and Saudi Arabia will be able to kiss and make up and bury a thousand- year rivalry between Sunni and Shi’ite Islam because they both oppose the Islamic State is utter fantasy.
Israel’s January 18 strike on Iranian and Hezbollah commanders in Syria showed Israel’s strategy wisdom and independent capacity.
Israel can and will take measures to defend its critical security interests. It has the intelligence gathering capacity to identify and strike at targets in real time.
But it also showed the constraints Israel is forced to operate under in its increasingly complex and dangerous strategic environment.
Due to the US administration’s commitment to turning a blind eye to Iran’s advances and the destabilizing role it plays everywhere it gains power, Israel can do little more than carry out precision attacks against high value targets. The flipside of the administration’s refusal to see the dangers, and so enable Iran’s territorial expansion and its nuclear progress, is its determination to ensure that Israel does nothing to prevent those dangers from growing – whether along its borders or at Iran’s nuclear facilities.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0115/glick013015.php3
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