Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts

20250508

Trump’s Islamist Concessions: Israel’s Quandry in a Misaligned World

President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign promises to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program and support Israel’s destruction of Hamas are faltering, selling out Israel and alienating his pro-Israel voter base. 

By conceding on military pressure against Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Trump places the onus on Israel to defy his stated policy through unilateral strikes or sabotage, risking global condemnation in a world where U.S. policy misaligns with actors like Qatar and Iran. 

President Donald Trump's incoming Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff at a Trump campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, New York, October 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci); Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a government meeting in Nahariya on December 3, 2024. (Maayan Toaf/GPO); Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani attends a meeting in Egypt's new administrative capital on November 27, 2024. (Khaled Desouki/AFP/ Times of Israel)
A $5.5 billion Trump-branded golf resort deal in Qatar, tied to envoy Steve Witkoff’s $623 million Qatari connections, fuels ethical concerns amid a collapsed Gaza ceasefire. 

A U.S. ceasefire with Iran-backed Houthis, wielding suspected hypersonic missiles, fails to halt their attacks on Israel, emboldening proxies like Hamas, which intensifies Israel’s ground war in Gaza as a by-product. 

As Chinese President Xi Jinping aligns with Vladimir Putin, bolstering Iran through CCP-backed conflicts, Trump’s potential restraint of Israel against Iran and Hamas undermines Israel’s security in increasing U.S. policy alignment with Qatar and Iran.

Gaza Ceasefire Collapses, Ground War as By-Product
Trump pledged to eliminate Hamas, responsible for the October 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 and took 251 hostages. A January 15, 2025, ceasefire, brokered by Qatar and Egypt with Witkoff, forced the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to withdraw from Gaza strongholds, exchanging 33 hostages (eight believed dead) for 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, many terrorism-linked (Israel National News). It collapsed on March 18, 2025, with Operation Might and Sword targeting Hamas’s regrouping (Times of Israel).

On May 4, Israel launched Operation Gideon’s Chariots to seize Gaza, displace 2.3 million residents to a southern “secure zone,” and free 59 hostages. The IDF mobilized approximately 60,000 reservists to bolster three divisions and secure fronts like Lebanon (The Jerusalem Post, May 5). Far-right leaders like Bezalel Smotrich demand permanent occupation (Israel Hayom). A nine-week aid blockade and ground operations, a by-product of Iran’s emboldened proxies like Hamas, have led to 87 IDF casualties since March (Israel National News). Hostage families fear for captives’ safety (Times of Israel).

Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and the US president's son, looks over the proposed plan ahead of the signing ceremony with Qatar's Diar and Dar Global in Doha on April 30, 2025. (Karim Jaafar/AFP/Times of Israel)
Qatar’s Influence and Ethical Concerns

The $5.5 billion Simaisma golf resort deal, announced April 30, 2025, with Qatar’s Qatari Diar and Saudi-backed Dar Global, features an 18-hole golf course, 3,600 villas, 3,000 apartments, a 400-room hotel, and a waterfront promenade (Trump Organization press release).

Eric Trump praised it, but Witkoff’s $623 million Qatari ties from a 2016 hotel sale raise conflict-of-interest concerns, given Qatar’s Hamas mediation role (Israel Hayom). X posts criticize: “Trump profits from Qatar while Israel fights” (
@TimesofIsrael
, May 2). This deal highlights U.S. policy misalignment, favoring Gulf interests over Israel’s security (America First Policy Institute, April 28).

Iran Concession: Forcing Israel’s Nuclear Defiance

Trump’s pledge to “defang” Iran’s nuclear program, a cornerstone of his pro-Israel stance, has been abandoned. After exiting the 2015 nuclear deal, he now tolerates 3.67% uranium enrichment, per Witkoff’s Oman talks (Washington Times, April). This concession, forsaking military threats, forces Israel to defy Trump’s stated policy by planning unilateral strikes or sabotage against Iran’s nuclear facilities, risking global demonization (Israel National News, May 7). Israel’s potential operations—precision airstrikes or covert sabotage—face Iran’s fortified defenses, including underground sites like Natanz, per Israel Hayom. The America First Policy Institute (April 28) warns such action could isolate Israel, with U.S. policy misaligned toward actors like Iran and Qatar, undermining Israel’s security (Newsweek, January 12). This sell-out emboldens Iran’s proxies, fueling Hamas’s Gaza resilience as a by-product.

The concession’s drivers include:

  • Practical Strategy: Trump prioritizes Gulf deals like Simaisma to avoid Middle East conflicts, per X posts noting his Qatar focus.
  • Deep-State Influence: State Department diplomats push Iran engagement to counter China, aligning with Witkoff’s diplomacy (Israel Hayom; Modern Diplomacy, February 15).
  • Isolationist Voices: Tucker Carlson’s “America First” rhetoric, critiquing Israel aid on Fox, influences Trump’s base, urging U.S. disengagement (Washington Times).
Houthi Ceasefire and Hypersonic Missiles

On May 6, 2025, Trump halted U.S. bombings of Iran-backed Houthis, claiming they “capitulated,” but failed to require them to stop attacking Israel (Washington Times). The Houthis, targeting Red Sea shipping and Israel, likely use hypersonic missiles supplied by Iran, with speculation of Chinese technology transfers given Beijing’s ties to Tehran (Israel National News, May 7). This ceasefire exposes Israel, with X posts decrying: “Trump’s Houthi deal empowers Iran’s proxies” (@Juliana_Ahavah, May 7). It strengthens Hamas in Gaza, a by-product of Iran’s unchecked influence (Newsweek, January 12).

Global Tensions: China, Russia, and CCP Allies

As Chinese President Xi Jinping aligns with Vladimir Putin, bolstering Iran through CCP-backed conflicts, Trump’s potential restraint of Israel against Iran and Hamas aligns U.S. policy with actors like Qatar and Iran, undermining Israel’s security. Xi’s May 6, 2025, meeting with Putin coincides with Pakistan’s clashes with India and North Korea’s missile launches into the Sea of Japan on May 5, 2025 (Wall Street Journal). China’s potential role in Houthi missile supplies underscores its support for Iran (Israel National News). Trump’s Gulf focus ignores these threats, leaving Israel to counter Iran’s nuclear ambitions and proxies alone.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, speaks alongside US President Donald Trump during a meeting in the
Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images via Times of Israel)

Restraining Israel: A Double Challenge

20230706

How N. America's and French politicians' kowing to China and Iran will harm our liberty, economy, and safety

Writer, Guy Milliere, explains his criticism of French and
American pacifism towards Communist China and Iran
French socio-political writer, Prof. Guy Milliere, assesses that our world is in a unique type of war - involving military, ideological, and economic aspects - with China posing the biggest threat.  Democracy Broadcasting interviewed Prof. Milliere at the American Freedom Alliance's "World War III- The Early Years" Conference this spring in Los Angeles.

Here, Prof. Milliere explains how free trade with China has made the West economically dependent on China, which seeks to conquer the world through taking advantage of the West. Additionally, Prof. Milliere warns of the Biden administration's policy towards the Middle East, which he describes as a betrayal of Israel, is potentially making that region Chinese and in the control of Iran. Overall, Milliere suggests that China, not Russia, is currently the main threat to the US. 

 

In the video's first 5 minutes, Guy Milliere discusses his view that the world is currently in a unique type of war that involves many aspects - military, ideological, and economic. Economic warfare is mainly directed towards China, which he believes wants to conquer the world by taking advantage of the West. Milliere argues that it was a mistake to establish free trade with China, as it has made the West economically dependent on China. China's dominance in various businesses and the theft of intellectual property from several countries make it difficult for the West to sever ties with China. Milliere raises concern about China's involvement with the World Health Organization, suggesting that the pandemic was used by China as a biological weapon to make the rest of the world more dependent, and it worked.

In the next 5 minutes of the conversation, Prof. Milliere argues that Russia is not as much threat for war against the US because it is unable to create a world war and that the main threat is China. He suggests that China depends on trade and stopping or cutting trade with China will have a huge problem. He also warns of the Biden administration's policy towards the Middle East, stating that the Middle East is changing, and the administration is creating a very bad situation that could make the region Chinese and in the hands of Iran, potentially causing a threat to Israel. Milliere describes this as a betrayal of Israel, but he also notes that the Democratic party has become a Leftist party with an anti-Semitic strain which has shifted US policy (and attitudes) against Israel and towards the Islamist Iranian power behind Palestinian nationalism.

20161030

Did Clinton sell Islamists American policy and secrets? 'Democracy needs new strategies against political Islam '- Amb. John Bolton

The mainstream media has done nothing to seriously vet the connection between the Clintons and Saudi Arabia, and the key role Huma Abedin plays in the life and work of Hillary Clinton. Abedin not only lived in Saudi Arabia from the time she was two years old, but her mother, Saleha, currently lives in Saudi Arabia, runs the radical-Muslim, Journal for Muslim Minority Affairs (where Huma served as Assistant Editor for 12-years until Hillary brought her into the State Department (why?), and promotes Shariah law. - Lee Stranahan Breitbart.com 18 Jan 2016 
Al-Qaeda financier Abdullah Omar Naseef, Hillary Clinton, Saleha Abedin, daughter Huma (Photo: Walid Shoebat)
Saudi Arabia and Qatar Bankroll Islamic State and The Clinton Foundation How Hillary welcomed money from those she knew to be funding jihadist killers. by Joseph Klein, Frontpage Magazine, Oct. 13, 2016 
The governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and groups aligned with them, have not only been major funders of ISIS and other jihadist organizations, as she indicated, but they also have been big funders of the Clinton Foundation for years. Hillary has had no trouble taking money for her foundation from regimes that fund terrorists, oppress women, execute or imprison gays and apostates, and severely punish the exercise of free speech. 
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contributed between $10 million and $25 million to the Clinton Foundation through June 2016, according to the Clinton Foundation’s own website (which only reports in ranges of total contributions). Wealthy individuals with close ties to the Saudi royal family have donated millions more. For example, Nasser al-Rashid, a multibillionaire adviser to the Saudi royal family, has donated between $1 million and $5 million.
A group calling itself Friends of Saudi Arabia also contributed between $1 million and $5 million. The National Review described the group as “a thinly veiled public-relations organ of the repressive Saudi regime.” National Review quoted a critique of Friends of Saudi Arabia by Ali Alyami, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia: “These are Saudi apologists. The country depends on propaganda. . . . When I saw the name ‘Friends of Saudi Arabia,’ I knew exactly what they were going to do and who was paying them. I just wrote them off.”
Although the Friends of Saudi Arabia group was trying to create a false positive image to American audiences of conditions for women in Saudi Arabia, which in fact are amongst the most repressive in the world, Hillary Clinton did not write the Saudi propaganda group off as long as the money kept flowing into her foundation’s coffers. As Alyami observed, “Our government and our people are for sale, and the Saudis know how to buy.”
Former US Amb. to the UN John Bolton addressed conference on Islam and Western Civilization held around Labor Day by the American Freedom Alliance in Los Angeles. The conference presented experts on contending with Islam's cultural and political expansionary nature- and whether it can co-exist within free societies.

Amb. Bolton spoke with A.F.A. Exec. Dir, Karen Siegemund about the West's recognition of Islamism as a political threat to Western Civilization and moderate Muslims everywhere.


Bolton told Dr. Karen Siegemund, "I think Donald Trump has delineated a clear path to defeat radical Islam before it inflicts any more damage on us."

Amb. Bolton called the Democrats' Iran JCPOA more than just a nuclear proliferation problem, but problematic as Democrats granted Iran cash-for-hostages which they now exploit in antagonizing a mollified America with conventional and terrorist hostilities. 

Amb. Bolton addressed his keynote overview of the current picture of Islamist imperialist aggression around the globe. He remarked (in this DemoCast.TV embedded video):
"I'd like to talk a little bit about the threat that radical-Islam and political-Islam, more broadly, pose to the United States and its friends in Europe and elsewhere around the world. I think it's important that we try to say at the outset every time this subject comes up- that we are talking about politics and ideology here. This is not a question of religion.  
And those who say that 'when you talk about radical-Islam you're insulting Muslims all over the world' are simply engaged in propaganda. It's actually Muslims themselves who have felt the worst effects of Islamic terrorism and who suffer under its rule in places as diverse as Iran and the Caliphate that ISIS now holds."



Amb. Bolton gave this example of Muslims trying to resist the Islamist expansion.

"(Jordan's) King Abdullah and other political leaders in the Middle East have said, 'This is a civil war within Islam. It's a struggle for how the religion is perceived around the world. You think of Gen. al-Sisi in Egypt who was courageous enough a couple of years ago to join the Coptic Christians and the Coptic Pope in their celebration of Christmas- and to say that "We are all Egyptians together" thus, among other reasons, putting a target on his back from the Muslim Brotherhood. So I think that this is a critical distinction to make. And one that those who don't want to have a clear understanding of radical-Islam are quick to try and obscure."



20150702

Israeli Amb. Michael Oren "Ally" book tour video - revealing the secrets behind the spin

Former Israeli Amb. to US Michael Oren at Nixon Library July 2, '15
In his revealing auto-biography, "Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide," American-born Michael Oren discusses his experience becoming appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to work with the Obama administration as Israel's ambassador to the U.S. 


Recorded before an audience at L.A.'s Museum of Tolerance, in a speech and conversation with David Suissa of the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles. July 1, 2015.



Above, Amb. Oren fields a broad range of questions from the audience (in two segments).

David Bernstein in the Washington Post refers to "How Israel Got Taken" a review of the book by Michael Doran in Mosaic Magazine. Doran claims that "Netanyahu undertook, at American insistence, an unprecedented settlement freeze, became the first Likud prime minister to endorse the establishment of a Palestinian state, and refrained from engaging in military action against Iran. He might have added that Netanyahu released hundreds of terrorist murderers to further John Kerry’s misbegotten “peace process.” While Netanyahu hasn’t always behaved well, even when he did the White House’s bidding he was met solely with contempt, more contempt than the Obama Administration has shown for any other foreign leader. That would be okay, if one really trusted Obama on the one issue key to Israeli security (and, in my opinion, key to the security of the entire Middle East and therefore to American security), preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons."

United Against Nuclear Iran group has published this public service political advertisement:

20150327

John Bolton: U.N. is irrelevant to Iran deal (which Obama would ignore violations of)

Amb. John Bolton says Obama/Kerry Iran deal which Netanyahu publicly exposed through Congress would be a free-hand for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

A U.N. Vote Is Irrelevant to the Iran Deal


The Security Council can’t stop the U.S. from using force to protect itself from anyone’s nuclear weapons.


JOHN BOLTON in Wall St. Journal March 16 

Press reports that President Obama will enlist the U.N. Security Council to bless his imminent nuclear agreement with Iran have unleashed considerable controversy. Many worry council action would bind the U.S. to the deal, circumventing congressional scrutiny. Moreover, Iran may see U.N. action as protecting it from a subsequent change in U.S. policy.

There is no need for worry. The Security Council can do nothing to limit America’s freedom to break from this agreement or take whatever action it deems necessary to protect itself.


First, even the U.N. will require Iran to comply with any commitments made to the Security Council’s five permanent members and Germany. Bureaucracy-loving diplomats and Secretariat personnel will probably create a council committee to monitor Iran’s performance, but neither the U.S. nor any other U.N. member must accept the committee’s judgment that Iran is in compliance when it has contrary information. Washington can act on what it knows, whether or not it discloses the extent of its knowledge.



Members of the U.N. Security Council
Members of the U.N. Security Council (Photo: Reuters)
Given Iran’s dismal performance in living up to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and existing resolutions requiring that it cease all uranium-enrichment-related activity, Tehran will almost certainly begin violating the deal before the ink is dry. Security Council committees will be bystanders, and the U.S., Israel and others threatened by a nuclear-capable Iran will rely on their own intelligence to detect Iranian cheating.

The gravest danger during Mr. Obama’s remaining two years is that the White House and State Department will ignore, play down or suppress information that Iran is breaking the deal. Ignoring palpable treaty violations is built into the DNA of many arms-control theologians, and this administration will insist that the bureaucracy follows the party line that Iran is complying. 

(Amb. Bolton address to PJTN in Nashville, Feb. 23, 15)

Congressional committees (intelligence, armed services, and foreign affairs) will have a critical role in overseeing White House efforts to minimize dangerous Iranian behavior.
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