TheFrontPageCover
~ Featuring ~
Is US Being Sucked Into Syria's War?
by Pat Buchanan 
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Iran Unveils New Homemade Nuclear-
Capable Ballistic Missiles Amid
Massive War Celebrations
by Adam Kredo
{ freebeacon.com } ~ Iran unveiled a series of new homemade nuclear-capable ballistic missiles during military parades held over the weekend... a move that experts view as a bid to bolster the hardline ruling regime as dissidents continue efforts to stir protest. On the heels of an encounter between an Iranian drone and Israeli forces, Iranian leaders showcased their ballistic missile capabilities, which includes a nuclear-capable medium-range missile that appears to share similarities with North Korean technology, according to experts. The nuclear-capable missile can strike Israel even when fired from Iranian territory, raising concerns about an impending conflict between Tehran and the Jewish state that could further inflame the region... http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-unveils-new-homemade-nuclear-capable-ballistic-missiles-amid-massive-war-celebrations/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=5ac41c6445-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-5ac41c6445-45611665 .
Seriously Ill American Imprisoned
in Iran Rushed to Hospital Late Sunday
by Susan Crabtree
{ freebeacon.com } ~ An ailing 81-year-old Iranian-American who Iranian authorities recently returned to prison against the advice of doctors was rushed the hospital... with a racing heart rate Sunday, according to his attorney. Baquer Namazi, who has a pacemaker and has suffered life-threatening heart problems in Iran's notorious Evin prison for two years, was sent to the hospital late Sunday night when his heart rate doubled from its usual 60 beats per minute to 120 beats per minute. He also experienced fluctuations in blood pressure and a severe loss of energy, his attorney Jared Genser said in a statement. His family once again fears he could die at any time and has pleaded with Iranian authorities to release him on humanitarian grounds... http://freebeacon.com/issues/seriously-ill-american-imprisoned-in-iran-rushed-to-hospital-late-sunday/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=5ac41c6445-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-5ac41c6445-45611665 .
Republicans need a
nudge to lower health care costs
by James C. Capretta and Lanhee Chen
{ aei.org } ~ Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration repealed the penalties associated with the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate... in the tax act that passed in December. Now they need to replace the mandate with something that will address rising premiums and command broader support. Automatic enrollment into health insurance plans is a good place to start. A replacement for the mandate is needed because the A.C.A.’s insurance rules are still in place. Those rules, which enjoy bipartisan support, protect the sick by requiring insurers to charge the same premiums to all consumers of the same age without consideration of their health status. The mandate was supposed to encourage the healthy to stay continuously insured, through a federal tax assessment for every month without coverage, even though they could drop coverage and later acquire it when needed, without paying higher premiums. With enforcement of the mandate ending in 2019, more healthy people may leave the A.C.A.’s exchanges, driving up premiums even faster for those who remain in the market. Automatic enrollment counters the natural human inclinations toward myopia and inertia. Many people do not plan adequately for contingencies, either because they don’t want to or because they lack the resources to do so. Further, the natural disinclination toward taking action means some consumers will not jump through the hoops necessary to sign up for benefits even if they find what is being offered attractive... http://www.aei.org/publication/republicans-need-a-nudge-to-lower-health-care-costs/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWkdSbFpUY3pNbUU1TWpSayIsInQiOiIxTmJ6NUFCNGZQVTVtMlhDalMxM2wxUGRDaDFDbnBMVm81RHp5dzd2NGdcLzBjNklLM00rSG1hUlwvTVJRZ0ErZ1YyVURLVVJOQ0s5SCtMTzVTTWFXMmE1MXBoaFlIUUtEbDVtTnVVT0xEdE1IM3BRdmxMNkorN3RUM212aUJFdHhyIn0%3D .
It’s time for Trump to
attack Iran’s Revolutionary Guard
by Richard Goldberg
{ nypost.com } ~ When Iran flew an unmanned aerial vehicle into Israel this weekend, the mullahs were testing President Trump, not just Israel... The Iranian drone, reportedly based on US technology, was a reminder of America’s abandonment of an active military deterrent, which began in 2011 when President Barack liar-nObama allowed Iran to recover a highly classified UAV instead of sending a missile to destroy it. In the years that followed, liar-nObama applied intense pressure to prevent an Israeli airstrike on Iranian nuclear facilities, abandoned coercive diplomacy to appease Tehran in nuclear negotiations and responded to the capture of 10 US sailors with the diplomatic equivalent of “Thank you, sir, may I have another.” Worse still was liar-nObama’s refusal to act in Syria, even to enforce his own red line on the use of chemical weapons... https://nypost.com/2018/02/12/its-time-for-trump-to-attack-irans-revolutionary-guard/ .
If liar-Hillary Is Arrested,
The Left Will VIOLENTLY Revolt!
by Mac Slavo
{ shtfplan.com } ~ Mike Adams, commonly known as the Health Ranger, has sounded the alarm that we should prepare for violent civil unrest... Should liar-Hillary Clinton ever be arrested for her crimes against the United States, Adams says the left will launch a violent uprising. Adams has been at the forefront of the political scandal surrounding democrats for some time. He’s been decently accurate when predicting which moves the left will make next. Now he wants everyone to be aware of what he says will happen in the event of liar-Hillary Clinton’s arrest. A couple of months ago, Adams reported on contractors being told to brace for a domestic deployment. He now believes he understands why these people were put on alert...let them revolt. Lock her upl http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/health-ranger-if-hillary-is-arrested-the-left-will-violently-revolt_02122018VOICE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMZ5MqBa-nM
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Is US Being Sucked Into Syria's War?
{ townhall.com } ~ Candidate Donald Trump may have promised to extricate us from Middle East wars, once ISIS and al-Qaida were routed, yet events and people seem to be conspiring to keep us endlessly enmeshed.
Friday night, a drone, apparently modeled on a U.S. drone that fell into Iran's hands, intruded briefly into Israeli airspace over the Golan Heights, and was shot down by an Apache helicopter.
Israel seized upon this to send F-16s to strike the airfield whence the drone originated. Returning home, an F-16 was hit and crashed, unleashing the most devastating Israeli attack in decades on Syria. Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu says a dozen Syrian and Iranian bases and antiaircraft positions were struck.
Monday's headline on The Wall Street Journal op-ed page blared:
"The Iran-Israel War Flares Up: The fight is over a Qods Force presence on the Syria-Israeli border. How will the U.S. respond?"
Op-ed writers Tony Badran and Jonathan Schanzer, both from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, closed thus:
"The Pentagon and State Department have already condemned Iran and thrown their support behind Israel. The question now is whether the Trump administration will go further. ... Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has affirmed that the U.S. seeks not only to ensure its allies' security but to deny Iran its 'dreams of a northern arch' from Tehran to Beirut. A good way to achieve both objectives would be back Israel's response to Iran's aggression -- now and in the future."
The FDD is an annex of the Israeli lobby and a charter member of the War Party. Chagai Tzuriel, who heads the Israeli Ministry of Intelligence, echoed the FDD: "If you Americans are committed to countering Iran in the region, then you must do so in Syria -- first."
Our orders have been cut.
Iran has dismissed as "lies" and "ridiculous" the charge that it sent the drone into Israeli airspace.
If Tehran did, it would be an act of monumental stupidity. Not only did the drone bring devastating Israeli reprisals against Syria and embarrass Iran's ally Russia, it brought attacks on Russian-provided and possibly Russian-manned air defenses.
Moreover, in recent months Iranian policy -- suspending patrol boat harassment of U.S. warships -- appears crafted to ease tensions and provide no new causes for Trump to abandon the nuclear deal Prime Minister Hassan Rouhani regards as his legacy.
Indeed, why would Iran, which, with Assad, Russia and Hezbollah, is among the victors in Syria's six-year civil war, wish to reignite the bloodletting and bring Israeli and U.S. firepower in on the other side?
In Syria's southeast, another incident a week ago may portend an indefinite U.S. stay in that broken and bleeding country.
To recapture oil fields lost in the war, forces backed by Assad crossed the Euphrates into territory taken from ISIS by the U.S. and our Kurd allies. The U.S. response was a barrage of air and artillery strikes that killed 100 soldiers.
What this signals is that, though ISIS has been all but evicted from Syria, the U.S. intends to retain that fourth of Syria as a bargaining chip in negotiations.
In the northwest, Turkey has sent its Syrian allies to attack Afrin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened Manbij, 80 miles to the east, where U.S. troops commingle with the Kurd defenders and U.S. generals were visible last week.
Midweek, Erdogan exploded: "The Americans tell us, 'Don't come to Manbij.' We will come to Manbij to hand over these territories to their rightful owners."
The U.S. and Turkey, allies for six decades, with the largest armies in NATO, may soon be staring down each other's gun barrels.
Has President Trump thought through where we are going with this deepening commitment in Syria, where we have only 2,000 troops and no allies but the Kurds, while on the other side is the Syrian army, Hezbollah, Russia and Iran, and Shiite militias from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan?
Clearly, we have an obligation not to abandon the Kurds, who took most of the casualties in liberating eastern Syria from ISIS. And we have a strategic interest in not losing Turkey as an ally.
But this calls for active diplomacy, not military action.
And now that the rebels have been defeated and the civil war is almost over, what would be the cost and what would be the prospects of fighting a new and wider war? What would victory look like?
Bibi and the FDD want to see U.S. power deployed alongside that of Israel, against Iran, Assad and Hezbollah. But while Israel's interests are clear, what would be the U.S. vital interest?
What outcome would justify another U.S. war in a region where all the previous wars in this century have left us bleeding, bankrupt, divided and disillusioned?
When he was running, Donald Trump seemed to understand this.
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