“For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My Name will be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My Name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My Name will be great among the Gentiles,” says Yahweh Sabaoth. (Malachi 1: 11)
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Hurriyet Daily News—Erdoğan’s declaration of ‘system change’ outrages Turkey’s opposition:
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s declaration of a de facto shift in Turkey’s administrative system to a presidential system has infuriated opposition leaders, who say the declaration indicates “rule by diktat.”
In remarks delivered in his hometown, the Black Sea province of Rize, on Aug. 14, Erdoğan said Turkey had witnessed a change in the president’s new role and asked for the constitution to be updated to recognize his de facto deployment of enhanced powers.
“There is a president with de facto power in the country, not a symbolic one. The president should conduct his duties for the nation directly, but within his authority. Whether one accepts it or not, Turkey’s administrative system has changed. Now, what should be done is to update this de facto situation in the legal framework of the constitution,” he said.
The remarks came exactly a day after incumbent Prime Minister, the leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Ahmet Davutoğlu, failed to forge a coalition alliance with the Republican People’s Party (CHP), edging Turkey closer toward new elections.
According to CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Erdoğan’s statement marked the “acknowledgement of a coup.” “He [Erdoğan] wants this coup that he initiated to be settled on legitimate, legal grounds. He says, ‘I want this to happen by making a constitutional change.’ He wants to implement the coup process in the same way that putschist Kenan Evren did [before Turkey’s 1980 military coup]. A putschist first stages the coup and then builds the coup’s legal infrastructure,” Kılıçdaroğlu told daily Hürriyet.
[…]
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SnyderTalk Comment: Erdoğan’s political stratagem is eerily similar to Hitler’s assumption of dictatorial power in Germany. The Führer changed German law to combine the roles of chancellor and president while President Paul von Hindenburg lay dying.
This is how The History Place describes what happened:
For Hitler, Hindenburg’s demise couldn’t have come at a better time. He had just broken the back of the rowdy Brownshirts and cemented the support of the Army’s General Staff. Now he just needed to resolve the issue of who would succeed Hindenburg as president.
Hitler, of course, decided that he should succeed Hindenburg, but not as president, instead as Führer (supreme leader) of the German people. Although he was already called Führer by members of the Nazi Party and popularly by the German public, Hitler’s actual government title at this time was simply Reich Chancellor of Germany.
However, there were still a handful of influential old-time conservatives in Germany who hoped for a return of the monarchy or perhaps some kind of non-Nazi nationalist government after Hindenburg’s death. Although they loathed democracy, they also loathed the excesses of the Hitler regime. These were proud men from the 1800s reared in the days of princes and kings and ancient honor codes. And they knew their beloved Fatherland was now in the hands of murderous fanatics such as Himmler and Heydrich who cared nothing about their old-fashioned notions.
[…]
The law was technically illegal since it violated provisions of the German constitution concerning presidential succession as well as the Enabling Act of 1933 which forbade Hitler from altering the presidency. But that didn’t matter much anymore. Nobody raised any objections. Hitler himself was becoming the law.
Immediately following the announcement of the new Führer law, the German Officer Corps and every individual soldier in the German Army was made to swear a brand new oath of allegiance:
“I swear by God this sacred oath: I will render unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler, the Führer of the German Reich and people, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and will be ready as a brave soldier to risk my life at any time for this oath.”
President Hindenburg had been warned before he died that something diabolical was taking place. Again, according to The History Place:
Meanwhile, an old comrade of Hitler’s sent a telegram to President Hindenburg regarding his new chancellor. Former General Erich Ludendorff had once supported Hitler and had even participated in the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923.
“By appointing Hitler Chancellor of the Reich you have handed over our sacred German Fatherland to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. I prophesy to you this evil man will plunge our Reich into the abyss and will inflict immeasurable woe on our nation. Future generations will curse you in your grave for this action,” the telegram from Ludendorff stated.
Within weeks, Hitler would be absolute dictator of Germany and would set in motion a chain of events resulting in the Second World War and the eventual deaths of nearly 50 million humans through that war and through deliberate extermination.
To begin, Hitler would see the German democratic republic go down in flames, literally. In February 1933, the Nazis hatched a plan to burn the Reichstag building and end democracy once and for all.
That was a fateful warning. Germany did go down in flames along with much of the world.
Before he committed suicide, Hitler orchestrated the death and cremation of more than 6 million Jews as part of his Final Solution to rid the world of Jewish people. Everywhere German boots hit the ground, Jewish people were targeted for extermination. If Germany had won the war, Jewish people around the world would have been hunted down and killed in the most gruesome ways possible.
There were many opportunities to stop Hitler dead in his tracks, but European peaceniks ruled the day until Winston Churchill finally stood firm. It was too late to prevent World War II, because Hitler was hell-bent on creating the Thousand-Year Reich. Hitler would allow nothing and nobody to stand in his way.
Am I giving Erdoğan too much credit?
Is Erdoğan really a diabolical monster like Hitler?
Could history be repeating itself in Turkey today?
Will the Turkish people allow it to happen?
The world watched while Hitler set forces in motion that would engulf the planet. Will it happen again?
As King Solomon said, “That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.”(Ecclesiastes 1: 9)
In other words, history repeats itself.
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The Guardian: The Observer view on Turkey and the Middle Eastern struggles for power—If all goes to plan, Turkey will call new elections this week, opening the way for the ruling party to make another claim on majority power. Such a move, widely predicted by officials, would come two months after the last poll, in which Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK party lost much of its lustre. At home, the Kurds got under Erdogan’s guard, with the pro-Kurdish HDP party getting more than 10% of the national vote, crossing a threshold that made it both a force in national politics and a major irritant to the Turkish leader. Elsewhere in the region, the result has been even more profound. Within a month, Turkey had reopened a front with the Kurdish separatist movement, the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), with whom a truce had mostly held for more than two years. It also invited the US to use one of its air bases to launch attacks on the Islamic State terror group across the border in Syria – a move it had refused, despite two years of pleas from its ally. At the same time, Turkish jets started bombing PKK positions in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Syrian Kurdish militia, the YPG that, under the cover of US jets, had done much of the ground fighting against Isis. And to cap it off, Turkey declared the Kurds to be an even bigger threat than Isis, whose rampage across the centre of the Arab world is now incontestably a huge threat to regional stability and a direct challenge to the global order.
Uzay Bulut: Turkey’s Racism Problem— Turkey’s authorities keep saying that the Turkish “security” forces do what they do — arrest or kill Kurds — only when Kurds carry out “terrorist” activities, or only when the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attacks targets in Turkey. Nothing, however, could be farther from the truth. Turkey’s attacks against Kurds have always been intense, even when the PKK declared unilateral ceasefires. Regarding 2014, when there were no clashes between the Turkish military and the PKK, Faysal Sariyildiz, a Kurdish MP for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), said, “During the last year, regarding the Kurdish issue, 3,490 people have been taken into custody, 880 people have been arrested and 25 people have been killed with police bullets.”
Burak Bekdil: Turkey’s Multiple Wars— To avoid fighting multiple enemies at multiple fronts is an old military strategy. Particularly in the last five years, Turkey’s Islamist rulers have chosen to do the opposite. First, they deliberately polarized the society along pious-secular Muslim lines in order to reinforce their conservative voter base. In 2013, they brutally suppressed millions of demonstrators who took to the streets to protest the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). They accused Israel and the West (including Western media, a German airline and even “intergalactic forces”) of masterminding the protests.
Tzipi Hotovely: On Iran, Israel Is America’s True Friend—As the country with the most at stake, Israel favors a diplomatic solution with Iran more than anyone. But this does not mean that any diplomatic outcome is satisfactory. The initial positions of the international community – which were largely conceded – suggest what an acceptable deal might look like. Such an agreement would insist on the complete suspension of enrichment and dismantlement of related infrastructure, and on Iran’s acceptance of ‘anytime-anywhere’ inspections of all of its nuclear and military facilities, to reliably verify this suspension. If Iran were not led by an aggressive regime inspired by a violent ideology, openly committed to eliminating Israel, heavily invested in fomenting insurrection throughout the Middle East and revealed to be pursuing military know-how relevant only to the use of nuclear weapons, its nuclear program could be assessed like that of other countries. But it is all of those things. No one concludes from criminals’ unrepentant wrongdoing that law-enforcement authorities should just acquiesce to their criminal conduct. This is especially true when dealing with a brutal regime that has a proven track record of disdain for the common principles to which law-abiding countries adhere. Iran’s openly belligerent attitude towards the U.S. should serve as a wake-up call to any with doubts regarding the true mentality of this regime. If the threat posed by this deal weren’t genuine, Israel would have no interest in serving as an isolated voice of dissent. But we would be remiss in not doing everything possible to respectfully alert the U.S. to the very real perils inherent in it. That is what true friendship is about.
DEBKAfile: Russia and US woo Saudis to help save Assad – albeit putting Israel and Jordan in danger from S. Syria— Building on the nuclear accord signed in Vienna last month, the Obama administration has been in close communion with Moscow and Tehran on regional moves to save the Assad regime, as the key to their next regional policies, including a united front against the Islamic State.. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partners are being assiduously wooed to join the new alignment being set up for this purpose. The live wire in getting them all together is Omani Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah, the secret broker who brought Iran and the United States to the negotiating table for a nuclear accord. This was first reported in the last DEBKA Weekly. Wednesday, Aug. 7, Obama threw out his first hint on this development: “The window has opened a crack for us to get a political resolution in Syria, partly because both Russia and Iran, I think, recognize that the trend lines are not good for Assad,” he said. “Neither of those patrons are particularly sentimental; they don’t seem concerned about the humanitarian disaster that’s been wrought by Assad and this conflict over the last several years, but they are concerned about the potential collapse of the Syrian state. And that means, I think, the prospect of more serious discussions than we’ve had in the past.” The US president then affirmed more strongly in a CNN interview Sunday, Aug. 9: “Is there the possibility that having begun conversations around this narrow issue [the nuclear accord with Iran] that you start getting some broader discussions about Syria, for example, and the ability of all the parties involved to try to arrive at a political transition that keeps the country intact and does not further fuel the growth of ISIL and other terrorist organizations? I think that’s possible,” Obama said. “But I don’t think it happens immediately.”
Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall: The Nuclear Deal: No Pause in Iran’s Vow to Destroy Israel—Ayatollah Khomeini’s founding vision – that the eradication of Zionism is an inevitable precondition for redeeming contemporary Islam – still guides Iran’s current religious, political and military establishment. Today, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei bears the torch and is the chief agitator for the extermination of Israel, spreading this message worldwide over social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, in books, and addressing various audiences in English, Arabic and Persian. The Iranian religious, political, intellectual and military elite support and repeat Khamenei’s messages. When negotiating with Western powers, Iran sugar-coats its belligerent ideology, presenting it as the “Iranian Peace Plan.” As part of this peace plan, Iran calls for “a just and permanent solution of the Palestinian question,” which in practice means the elimination of the Jewish state. On July 25, 2015, Facebook pages and websites associated with the Revolutionary Guards reported the statement of commander Mohammad Ali Jafari: “Once the Supreme Leader orders all forces to start jihad, we can reduce Israel to dust within 24 hours. Our missiles have been eager to be launched for years.” Hojatoleslam Ali Shirazi, Khamenei’s representative in Iran’s Al-Quds Force, said on Feb. 26, 2015: “We shall not rest until the banner of Islam flies over the White House. This is the wish of the Islamic Community.” Mohsen Rafighdoost, one of the founders of the Revolutionary Guards, declared at a press conference on Jan. 21, 2015: “The countdown to the annihilation of Israel has begun….Now, we wish to be in the frontline of the fight for liberating Jerusalem.”
Joseph I. Lieberman—Congress Should Step Up to Block the Iran Agreement:
- I was a member of the Senate when, between 2009 and 2012, Congress developed a series of bills that dramatically increased pressure on Tehran for its illicit nuclear activities, including adopting a measure in late 2011 that effectively banned Iran from selling oil – its economic lifeblood – on international markets. In every case, senior Obama administration officials worked to block congressional efforts, warning that they were unnecessary, counterproductive and even dangerous.
- In fact, it was only because of the sanctions adopted by Congress, and ultimately signed by President Obama, that sufficient economic pressure was put on the Iranian government that its leaders came to the negotiating table. Our allies and partners did not always welcome new restrictions on doing business in Tehran, but in the end, they decided it was more important to do business in the United States.
- The same drama played out just a few months ago, as Congress debated whether it should review the nuclear agreement. Here, too, the White House insisted that requiring legislative review and approval of a nuclear agreement with Iran was obstructive and damaging. But when it was clear that a strong bipartisan coalition was converging around the idea, the administration withdrew its opposition and the president signed the legislation.
- If a bipartisan supermajority does in fact begin to cohere in criticism of the undeniable loopholes and inadequacies of the agreement, it is likely the administration will adjust its position. The best chance for a better deal, in other words, is overwhelming bipartisan pressure from Capitol Hill about the need for one.
- The Obama administration claims that this is the best agreement possible because Iran will go no further. That conclusion overlooks two truths: First, the Iranians are historically capable of adjusting positions they have claimed were immovable to new political realities, and, second, Iran, because of its depleted economy, needs an agreement much more than we do. Congress has the power now to act on these two realities.
Amir Taheri: Do the Iranian People Support the Deal?—Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his patron, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, built their entire careers on “Death to America” slogans. Rouhani and his “moderate” ministers still have to walk on an American flag as they enter their offices every day. As far as I can gauge public opinion, the majority of Iranians have a good opinion of America and a bad opinion of the “deal.” This is, perhaps, why the Rafsanjani faction, of which Rouhani is part, is trying to avoid the issue being debated even in their own ersatz parliament. This is also why Iranian papers critical of the deal are closed down or publicly warned. President Obama should conduct his own enquiries to gauge Iranian public opinion. He might well find out that he is making an alliance with a faction that does not represent majority opinion in Iran.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Delegation heads to Egypt to discuss long-term truce between Hamas and Israel—A senior Hamas delegation is preparing to head to Egypt for talks on a possible long-term truce between the Islamist movement and Israel, sources in the Gaza Strip revealed on Sunday. The sources said that the delegation, which would be headed by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, is also expected to visit Qatar and Turkey. They said that it was not clear yet whether the Egyptian authorities had given permission to the Hamas officials to enter Egypt through the Rafah border crossing.
Andrew Korybko: US-Iran Relations: Towards a Polar Reorientation In the Middle East?— Political developments are moving extraordinarily fast in the Mideast nowadays, with Russian and American diplomacy being the primary catalysts. Moscow has teamed up with Tehran to kick-start a new round of Syrian reconciliation talks, and it’s working with Riyadh in an effort to get the latter to agree to its inclusive (Syrian-government-incorporating) anti-ISIL initiative and hopefully withdraw its support for terrorists in the country. As involves the US, Washington just struck a monumental deal with Tehran that paves the way for a rapprochement between the two sides, which of course has scared Riyadh to no end and somewhat motivated its cautious redirection towards Russia. No matter how complicated the larger situation appears, however, it’s unmistakable that two main trends have emerged – Russia and Saudi Arabia are getting closer with one another at the same time that the US and Iran are doing the same. This makes for a very peculiar state of affairs at the moment that needs a thorough and clarifying elaboration, a categorical comparison of its two main components, and a forecast for its evolution in order to help make sense of it all.
Tovah Lazaroff: Former chief of staff: Ariel Sharon designed Gaza disengagement to save West Bank settlements—Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pulled out of Gaza in 2005 to save the settlement blocs and to improve Israel’s security, said Dov Weisglass, a close confidante of Sharon and his former chief of staff. Weisglass spoke at a half-day seminar to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Gaza Disengagement that was held at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya. Weisglass attempted to explain how it was that Ariel Sharon, known as the father of the settlement movement, decided in 2003 to pull out of Gaza, a move that led to the destruction of 21 settlements there. At the time Sharon held a stormy meeting with the settler leaders in which he explained to them that the dream of a Greater Israel, in which Israel held on to all of the West Bank and Gaza was no longer possible.
SnyderTalk Comment: “Former US President George W. Bush promised Sharon that the settlement blocs would be included within Israel’s final borders after revealing the Gaza disengagement plan, says Dov Weisglass.”
Pulling out of Gaza was a gargantuan mistake for several reasons. First and foremost, Gaza is part of the Promised Land. No one has the right to trade it for any reason. Second, withdrawal from Gaza did not increase security. In fact, it made Israel less secure. That is an irrefutable fact. Third, the U.S. bears some of the blame for encouraging Sharon to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza.
I have told my friends in Israel many times not to rely on the U.S. for support because political winds change and support can evaporate in a heartbeat. One election can do it. Thanks to Barack Obama, most Israelis know that. The political left in Israel still doesn’t get it.
This is the bottom line: the State of Israel must learn to rely on Yahweh. I think they are moving in His direction, but they still have a long way to go.
Yahweh help your people learn to lean on You.
Uri Savir: Rethinking the Middle East’s nuclear balance— The fierce debate on the Iran deal focuses on the near future, a decade at best. In any realistic analysis of Middle Eastern resources and ambitions, it is likely that the leading regional powers — Iran, Saudi Arabia or even Egypt and Turkey — may, in the long term, acquire or develop nuclear weapons. The No. 1 challenge for the Middle East may then be to create a regional system where the use of nonconventional weapons is phased out. According to an Israeli nuclear expert with extensive firsthand experience on these matters, who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “It may be time for Israel to think in new terms of the existence of nuclear weapons in the hands of Arab and other Muslim countries. With time, a system of mutual nuclear deterrence, backed by the United States, may become necessary. The US should formally guarantee Israel’s strategic edge in the region. In parallel, Washington should aspire for a regional security agreement which would include regional coordination over prohibiting the use of nonconventional weapons — nuclear, chemical and biological — or for that matter, conventional weapons.” The expert added that talks to this effect took place within the Arms Control and Regional Security working group in the mid-1990s, which was one of five multilateral working groups established as part of the Madrid Conference process.
Newsmachete: What if it was Israel?— When Hamas launched its latest war against Israel last year, Arabs by the millions marched in Europe and other places. Jews were attacked on the streets of Paris and other cities because, apologists told us, Arabs were angry that Israel was firing back at its Gaza attackers, and hitting some civilians in the process. (Hamas purposely placed its rocket launchers in civilian neighborhoods to maximize civilian casualties on both sides.) Not only Arabs, but European governments got involved, calling for Israel to exercise “restraint”, as if there were a way to be restrained in the face of thousands of rocket attacks.
Shoshana Bryen—Looking Ahead at Middle East “Peace”:
- The U.S. has provided approximately $5 billion to the Palestinians in bilateral aid since the mid-1990s and about $540 million this year. The EU added more than €500 million ($558 million), making it the largest single-year donor. Why should Palestinian Authority (PA) not have to pay the bill for its own savage behavior? And why is the U.S. so determined to protect it?
- According to the deputy head of UNRWA, the organization needs $101 million in order to open schools on time. Why does the Hamas government not pay for its own children to go to school? And why does the Hamas government not pay for the repair of its own people’s houses? UNRWA and the U.S. government seem to believe that the PA and Hamas cannot be expected to spend their own funds — or donated funds — on the needs of their own people. Hamas can therefore use all its funds to make war.
- As long as Hamas and the PA are permitted both to spend sponsors’ money on terrorism and warfare while escaping responsibility for the needs of their people, and as long as Iran is a key donor — with all the temptations, means and opportunity to “wipe Israel,” as it repeatedly threatens to do — the idea of a U.S.-led “peace process” is fantasy.
Times of Israel: Dermer: Israel ‘not eager’ to battle Obama on Iran deal, but has no choice—Israel’s ambassador to the United States said in a television interview aired Saturday that Jerusalem was not in any way eager to go up against Washington on the contentious Iranian nuclear agreement reached last month, but felt it had no choice. There is no question that it is the most important relationship in the world, and we are not eager in any way to have to be at odds on the most important policy priority of the president of the United States. That’s a big deal,” Ron Dermer told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. “But… the survival of the state of Israel is also a big deal, and we believe that this deal threatens the survival of Israel,” Dermer said. The Israeli envoy said that Israel has been arguing against the deal to US President Barack Obama for a long time, and was now aiming to make its case with US congressmen and senators “who will ultimately decide the fate of this deal.” “We are telling them that this is a bad deal that endangers Israel’s security,” Dermer said.
Yair Rosenberg: Taking the Low Road: The White House’s Scorched Earth Sell of the Iran Deal— President Obama will almost assuredly be able to implement his recently-concluded nuclear deal with Iran. Despite significant congressional opposition, there simply don’t appear to be enough votes to capsize the accord. As Greg Sargent recently noted in The Washington Post, even if both houses manage to pass a motion of disapproval, there is little chance that critics will be able to muster the two-thirds majority necessary to override Obama’s inevitable veto. For this reason, even staunch opponents of the deal like Republican Senator Marco Rubio admit that Congress likely won’t be able to kill it. In other words, the White House has this in the bag. But you wouldn’t know it from their rhetoric. Rather than coast to victory on the congressional math while applying some well-placed political pressure behind the scenes, the Obama administration and its allies have waged a scorched-earth campaign against anyone who dares to question the wisdom of the deal.
Elder of Ziyon: How the Ayatollah Duped the Forward (and How the New York Times Plays Along)— There you go! A reporter who was accompanied by Iranian agents everywhere he went found no evidence of extremism! “Though I had to work with a government fixer and translator, I decided which people I wanted to interview and what I would ask them,” Mr. [Larry] Cohler-Esses wrote in the first of two articles from his July reporting trip. The bigger news is that the Forward reporter was duped because he didn’t do his homework. In this section that the NYT also highlighted, Cohler-Esses writes: During the course of my conversations with several senior ayatollahs and prominent political and government officials, it became clear that there is high-placed dissent to the official line against Israel. No one had anything warm to say about the Jewish state. But pressed as to whether it was Israel’s policies or its very existence to which they objected, several were adamant: It’s Israel’s policies. Others, notwithstanding their ideological objection to a Jewish state, made it clear they would accept a two-state solution to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians if the Palestinians were to negotiate one and approve it in a referendum.
Douglas Murray—The New Racists: Jew Hate:
- If you had thought that the only qualification needed is to excel at your chosen art form and then see if you can gather audiences, you were wrong. That is not enough anymore — certainly not if you are Jewish.
- The treatment of the reggae star Matisyahu is something new. For Matisyahu is not an Israeli — he is an American. For a while, only Israeli Jews were made pariahs among the nations because of an unresolved border dispute involving their country. Now it is Jews born anywhere else in the world who can be targeted in the same way. They are singling out Jews — Jews and only Jews.
- Habima performers were insulted and vilified while on stage at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, trying to perform “The Merchant of Venice.” None of the protesters seemed to see the irony of vilifying Jews on stage during that of all plays.
- Spain has its own border issues. Perhaps Spanish performers should henceforth be quizzed about their political attitudes before they are allowed to perform abroad? Maybe the rest of the world should demand that all artists from Spain sign a statement or make a video supporting Catalan independence if they are to be allowed to perform in public?
- Only one country and one geopolitical question is addressed in this way. Turkish artists are nowhere in the world asked to condemn their country’s illegal occupation of Northern Cyprus — an occupation, lasting more than four decades, of half an EU member state.
- Their singling out of Jews, wherever they are from, makes their racist motivation abundantly clear. If the Rototom Sunsplash festival wants to take part in this racist BDS fever then it is them — and not Jews — whom the world must make into pariahs.
Tasnim-Iran: Iran: Nuclear Deal Gives Us More Power to Support Allies—Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, said Saturday: “The Islamic Republic of Iran will always support the current (Resistance Front) and of course, with the nuclear agreement, it will have more power to side with its friends in the region.”
Assaf Uni: What’s Behind the Surge in Israelis Seeking EU Citizenship?— Last year, Hadas Kedar dug through the drawers in her parents’ apartment, looking for proof of her family’s life in Hungary during the 1920s. Eventually, she found several birth certificates and elementary school diplomas, put them in a folder, then sketched out a family tree and brought the paperwork to the Hungarian Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. Like thousands of Israelis, Kedar, a 50-year-old artist, is hoping to acquire European citizenship. Yet her application is unique—and symbolic: She is related to Theodor Herzl, the Hungarian-born journalist who was the founding father of the Jewish state. In July, not long before the country was set to commemorate the 111th anniversary of Herzl’s death, I visited Kedar at her apartment, situated near Herzl Street in central Tel Aviv. As we sat in her living room, overlooking the beach, Kedar showed me a highlighted copy of Herzl’s published diary. She cherishes the text and doesn’t see a contradiction between Herzl’s ideas and her desire for EU citizenship. “His words were misused,” she says. “His vision was taken over by right-wing political parties.” An ardent liberal and supporter of a Palestinian state, Kedar made her decision out of frustration: The Israeli occupation seems firmly entrenched, the peace process irrevocably stalled. And in the near future, she and many others expect Israel to fight another war with radical Islamists in the region. “I wanted to open up options for me and my sons,” she says. “I am not sure Herzl would have liked to be in Israel himself these days.”
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British MP called ‘Zionist scumbag’ after criticizing party leadership candidate
Iran׳s Al Quds Force builds forward command near Israeli border, but war isn’t on the horizon
Nuts and Bolts of the Iran deal. Is it really bad?
Trump: Israel was sold out by Kerry and Obama
SnyderTalk Comment: That’s a fact.
Ambassador Shapiro visits USS Porter in Haifa after US-Israel naval exercise
PA accuses Israel of carrying out ‘field executions’ on Palestinian youth
Kuwaiti news reports: Seized weapons were smuggled in from Iran
Middle Israel: Modern Orthodox rebels with a cause
‘Hamas opposed to ending ceasefire with Israel even if hunger-striker Allan dies’
MK Michaeli: Belarus visa deal will boost human trafficking in Israel
Hebrew University ranks 67 in world, first in Israel
Video emerges of Thailand bomb attack that kills 12
Analysis: Why Western Muslims leave a pleasurable life for jihad
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Terror Victim’s Mother: Time for Death Penalty is Now
Khamenei: Deal or No Deal, Iran Will ‘Shut’ US Out
Terrorist’s Lawyer Refuses Offer of Release Abroad
Shabak Agent’s New Book on the Rabin Assassination
Police at Protest: PLO Flag OK, Israeli Flag No
Mengistu’s Family Confronts Terrorists’ Relatives
Stabbing Attack Thwarted in Samaria
Israel Nabs Rocket Materials Smuggled to Gaza
Hevron Arab Charged with Running Over Soldier
Video: IDF Kills Iran-Sponsored Golan Terrorists
As World Watches: Syrian Regime Bombs Market
Iran: Even if Congress Defeats Deal, We Won
Fatah Claims Hamas Agreed to Long-Term Ceasefire
‘UN Won’t Stop ISIS if it Beheads All Libyans’
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Turkish-Israeli detente contingent on Gaza ceasefire, official says
Khamenei: Fate of nuclear deal unclear, US wants to use it ‘to penetrate’ Iran
Trump: Iran deal will lead to ‘nuclear holocaust’
The IDF as leader of the Palestinian Authority?
Ex-Shin Bet chief calls for West Bank road segregation
At least 12 reported killed as bomb rocks central Bangkok
Thai minister: bomb targeted ‘foreigners’ to damage tourism
State to consider freeing hunger-striker if he leaves country
Family of Israeli held in Gaza stages protest outside prison
Fiberglass said destined for Gaza rockets intercepted at Egypt border
IDF plans for possible Syria operation as jihadist, Hezbollah threats mount
Palestinians Stab Israeli Soldier, Policeman
Despite professed turnaround, Israel’s new UN envoy Danon doomed to ineffectuality
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Pakistan’s Punjab province home minister killed in terror attack
Asif condemns Attock attack, asks people to keep vigilant eye on suspects
Suicide attacks, clashes kill 17 troops near Fallujah city: Iraq officials
AT&T Inc helped US NSA in spying on Internet traffic: New York Times
The Note: The World According To Trump
Carson: Anything against the survival of Israel is anti-Semitic
John Kasich clinches major Southern endorsement: Why that matters
Protests in Brazil to impeach president
Coalition to decide on same-sex marriage vote within fortnight, says Tony Abbott
Matisyahu concert canceled due to pressure from anti-Israel group
Republican presidential hopefuls split on sending ground troops toMiddle East
Notable Mississippians join chorus to change state flag
Greek government seen calling confidence vote
Syrian air force hits crowded market near Damascus, kills and injures hundreds
Egypt’s al-Sisi imposes strict anti-terrorism laws
Cambridge academic warns climate change will cause global food shortage
SnyderTalk Comment: I’m always amused when I read an alarmist report about what some academic has said about climate change. This article is a good example.
Last week, the PGA Championship was held at Whistling Straits on the banks of Lake Michigan. The golf course winds its way around more than 2 miles of shoreline. Lake Michigan is so close that you can feel the mist in the air on a windy day.
The Great Lakes are newcomers on the global scene. Depending on who you believe, the Great Lakes were formed between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. That’s yesterday on the geologic time scale.
Since they came into existence, the Great Lakes’ shorelines have never been static, so building a golf course on Lake Michigan is risky. At some point, the entire golf course will be inundated with water while at other times it will be a long hike from the lake. When either of those things happens, you can bet that a group of academics will explain that global warming or global cooling is the culprit depending on the politically correct perspective at the time.
It’s naïve to believe that anyone can build anything on any shoreline anywhere and expect that the shoreline will remain fixed. For Whistling Straits, the good news is that the Great Lakes change so slowly that it probably won’t matter for a very long time. The bad news is that eventually the lake will shrink dramatically and change the complexion of the course.
It doesn’t matter what mankind does. Those changes are caused by natural phenomena over which man has no control.
I mentioned that global cooling will eventually be blamed for changes in the Great Lakes. Today, that sounds idiotic, but in 1972 global cooling was the rage. Alarmists then were writing about global food shortages and shorelines shrinking across the planet because of global cooling. Twenty years later, global warming became the fad. Alarmists started writing about food shortages and sea levels rising and threatening to wipe out entire cities and islands in the oceans.
This is the point: global warming and global cooling have become alternating politically correct fads, but the truth is that they occur in cycles that are as old as Earth itself. There never have been fixed shorelines anywhere. The only thing we know for certain is that things change. You can bet on that, and mankind is not responsible for it.
The video below gives you a good idea about changes in the Great Lakes over time. The Ice Ages discussed in the video will return. They always do, and so will global warming cycles. Human lives are so short that we can’t see the cycles during our lifetimes. All we see is gradual change. It’s so gradual that it’s barely detectible during a human lifespan. It’s barely noticeable over several generations.
Occasionally, rapid shifts in climate occur, but that takes place in a nanosecond in geologic time. Man doesn’t cause that, either. They are infrequent natural occurrences that are caused by things like asteroids striking Earth.
I’m reminded of something that P.T. Barnum said, because it applies to people who buy into either the global warming or the global cooling arguments of envirowackos: “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
Regrettably, envirowackos have strong opinions and they vote. In my novel Stand!, I call them the envirogestapo. They are real, and they can be dangerous.
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Erdogan signals cross-border operation in northern Iraq
Turkey wants lessons in democracy? Africa has an answer for it—in Tunisia
Iran submits nuclear activity information to UN watchdog
The startup scene in Israel is going bonkers, and the Chinese are swooping in
SnyderTalk Comment: That’s dangerous because China is not Israel’s ally. That’s not likely to change.
Tianjin blast: How many ‘extremely profound’ lessons does China need?
Chinese paper promises there will be no Tianjin blast cover-up. Why nobody believes them.
US Warns China Over Covert Agents Seeking Fugitive Expatriates
Obama Administration Warns Beijing About Chinese Agents Operating in US
‘Iran Behind Terror Attacks Launched Against Israel From Syrian Border’
Iran still closed to US influence after nuclear deal: Khamenei
Russia, Iran say future of Assad a matter for Syrians
Iranian video games simulate military strikes on Israel
Israeli Think Tank Says Iranian Desire to Destroy Jewish State is Part of Regime’s ‘Founding Vision’
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Email Distribution List:
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Exodus 19
7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which Yahweh had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that Yahweh has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to Yahweh. 9 Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.” Then Moses told the words of the people to Yahweh.
SnyderTalk Comment: Read His Name is Yahweh.
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His Name is Yahweh explains why the Name of God, Yahweh, is so important. It’s available in eBook format and in paperback. It’s also available for free in PDF format.
- God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This [Yahweh] is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3: 15)
- “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)
- “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘Yahweh our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)
- Yeshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8: 58)
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Whose Name protects you?—Jim Hutchens
Click here to download the entire audio presentation for free and with no strings attached. Share it as often as you want.
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Blessings in the Book of Revelation is a book that you need to read, especially now. There are blessings throughout the Scriptures but Revelation is the only book in the Bible actually containing a specific blessing for reading it. It’s repeated twice, once at the beginning and again at the end. This is the reason that I believe Revelation should be the first step toward studying biblical prophecy. Though not easy to do, Revelation can be broken down and understood by anyone, not just the academic elite. So, Revelation’s blessings are for everyone. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
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Other Books by Neil Snyder
- Stand! is a suspense novel that exposes the lies, corruption, and greed underlying the theory that man-made CO2 emissions are responsible for global warming. Professor Wes Carlyle and Karen Sterling, his research collaborator, carefully scan the audience for their would-be attacker—a member of the enviro-gestapo who has been following them for days. Wes spots his man in the back of the room leaning against the wall. Suddenly, another man in the audience steps forward and moves toward Karen at a menacing pace. With a vicious stroke, he swings a billy club at her head. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- What Will You Do with the Rest of Your Life? deals with a question that every Christian has to consider: what should I do with my life? Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- Falsely Accused is a true story about a young woman who was accused of committing a double homicide. It’s about a travesty of justice, and it reveals Yahweh intervening in the life of a believer to rescue her from danger in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Everyone will enjoy the book, but young people in particular need to read it because the mistakes made that led to the problem could have been avoided. They were the kinds of mistakes that young people are prone to make. As they say, forewarned is forearmed. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
See “His Name is Yahweh”.
