By Barry Rubin

Consider five factors that had no effect on the very warm reception given by President Barack Obama to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan:

–While the U.S. government has pressured Erdogan not to visit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Erdogan announced in the White House Rose Garden that he would do so. An alleged U.S. ally says publicly in front of Obama while being hosted by him that he is going to defy the United States.

This is not some routine matter. With previous presidents, if an ally was going to do something like that he would say nothing at the time and then months later would subvert U.S. policy. Or better yet the foreign leader would not do so. To announce defiance in such a way is a serious sign of how little respect Middle East leaders have for Obama — and U.S. policy nowadays — and how little Obama will do about it.

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The war in Afghanistan may be winding down. But the Pentagon’s chief of irregular warfare still sees a war against al-Qaida that will last decades, all over the world — a prospect that prompted astonishment and constitutional debate in the Senate. …

- Wired.com, 5/16/2013

Two Islamist brothers terrorized Boston for days in April. Just a few days ago Fazliddin Kurbanov was charged in Boise, Idaho with “conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists,” according to the Idaho Statesman. The FBI itself said that:

… The Idaho indictment alleges in count one that between August 2012 and May 2013, Kurbanov knowingly conspired with unnamed co-conspirators to provide material support and resources to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a designated foreign terrorist organization. The indictment alleges that the material support and resources included himself, computer software and money.

In count two, the indictment further alleges that the defendant conspired to provide material support and resources, including himself, to terrorists knowing that the material support was to be used in preparation for and in carrying out an offense involving the use of a weapon of mass destruction. …

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U.S. Representative Mike Kelly, representing the 3rd congressional district of Pennsylvania, left Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller speechless as he testified before the House Ways and Means Committee today. You should watch the exchange between Miller and Kelly below — though Miller sat there with his mouth agape, obviously on the verge of diarrhea, probably realizing the gravity of the words levelled against him by Kelly, who did most of the talking. Kelly spoke the hard cold truth about the egregious nature of the obviously politically-motivated IRS witchhunt. Here’s a great synopsis from the Houston Chronicle of the IRS’s Orwellian and very anti-American activities:

… How would you feel if that scrutiny were being triggered by some wacky word association game made up by the agency and including seemingly harmless words such as “Tea Party” and “Patriot,” “Constitution” and “good government” in a list of suspicious words and phrases?

You’d feel like Big Brother was watching, and you’d be right. What is being revealed about IRS targeting of conservative groups over a period of two years because of words like those mentioned above is Orwellian. For those unfamiliar with the term, it derives from the British writer’s classic work “1984,” in which a character known as “Big Brother” tracked the thought processes of ordinary citizens through a system of omnipresent government surveillance. …

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President Obama is already trying to sweep another one of his scandals under the rug, the IRS debacle, in which that agency “used inappropriate criteria that identified for review tea party and other organizations applying for tax-exempt status based upon their names or policy positions.” This is a huge scandal, with many major ramifications for free speech and other aspects of our constitutional rights. The President stood before the American people for “a mere four minutes” yesterday and fired the acting director of the IRS, a guy who already had decided to step down before the scandal broke, and who is by some accounts “well respected at the agency” and “a very smart, capable guy.” After another of Obama’s scandals, his betrayal of the Associated Press, one would think the media would see right through the President’s obvious attempt to find a quick scapegoat for the IRS debacle. But the Washington Post is already seemingly defending the President. So let’s start with Obama’s attack on the free press:

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The mere thought of granting amnesty to 11 – 20 million illegal immigrants should frighten any common sense American citizen. Amnesty means that wannabe tyrants like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Michael Bloomberg, and Barack Obama will achieve their “dream of a permanent Democratic majority” in the U.S. The entire political, cultural, social, and economic landscape created by our Founding Fathers will be destroyed by amnesty. Concerned citizens must engage in the democratic process to stop the current immigration “reform” madness. This article provides them with all the tools they need to do so by clicking here. Please take action NOW or read on before doing so. NOW is the time to act as:

… opponents are gearing up to flood Congress with calls condemning any legislation that allows illegal immigrants to gain legal status or citizenship.

The same tactic helped defeat immigration reform the last time lawmakers considered passing bills in 2006 and especially 2007, when a flood of angry calls shut down the switchboard in Congress. …

Most of you are the descendents of immigrants who came to this great nation legally, who built decent lives by living according to decent values, and passed those values unto you. Your ancestors assimilated. Most of you were raised to believe that the American dream is the chance — the opportunity — to achieve your full potential by working hard, being honest, treating people as you would have them treat you, believing in the common sense law of the land (based on the Constitution), having core values, and having faith, all to build a better life for yourself, your family, your friends, your community, your nation, and even the whole world. Your conscientious legal citizenship — your patriotism — is about to be thrown in the trash.

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By Barry Rubin

In his speech at Ohio State University, President Barack Obama used the word “together” four times. Yet each time he defined the collective endeavor of Americans as merely that of promoting more government. Thus, while trying to turn American history and even the Constitution into precedents for his goals and policies, Obama actually reverses reality, undermining not only the conservative vision of America but also the historic liberal one.

Normally, a president would speak of the vast array of efforts made “together” to refer — or at least include — non-government activities. That means the actions of voluntarily formed communities, organizations, corporations, charities, religious groups, and trade unions. It is the freedom, energy, and enthusiasm to form such groups that marks American society as unusual in the world.

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By Barry Rubin

The film “Casablanca” was an alarm bell for America back in 1941. I thought about an exchange from that script in regard to Boston:

Major Strasser: Are you one of those people who cannot imagine the Germans in your beloved Paris?

Rick: It’s not particularly my beloved Paris.

Heinz: Can you imagine us in London?

Rick: Ask me when you get there.

Major Strasser: How about New York?

Rick: Well there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn’t advise you to try to invade.

But wait! They got to New York back in 2001. And have been back there about 18 times since then. They got to Washington DC that same year.

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by Gary Gerofsky

This is the speech that Obama ought to make to Israelis during his visit to their country:

Prime Minister Netanyahu, Knesset members, the people of Israel and the Jewish people worldwide: It is an honor and privilege to be here today in Jerusalem, Israel, the undivided capital of Israel and the land of the Jewish people from the time before the establishment of the first temple of Solomon, destroyed by the Babylonians, followed by the second temple which Antiochus desecrated, Pompey looted and the Romans destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem. Throughout history invaders and superpowers have attempted to extinguish the Jewish people and their symbols. Today is no different as we have an empire of Islamists using whatever means they can to wipe out all traces of Israel and Judaism. They too will not succeed.

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by Alexander H. Joffe*

Why exactly is President Obama going to Israel? A variety of theories have been advanced as to why he is making the trip now and what might be accomplished.

Some have suggested that Obama needs to reassure Israel, to hold their hands and tell them that the US-Israeli relationship is special. This suggests that Obama cares about Israeli feelings, at least in the sense that positive sentiments advance policy goals, and that Israelis might be thus comforted by his presence. But the record of bad relations between Obama and Netanyahu is too long, and the fact that Obama is on record saying that Israelis don’t know what is best for them, whereas he does, has mitigated whatever good vibrations he might spread now.

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… It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

- Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863

At the time, President Lincoln was speaking in the context of the horrors of the American Civil War. But his words are most appropriate at a time when Americans face great societal, economic, and political problems, be it health care, the national debt, and/or “gun control.” In some ways, our country is divided. It doesn’t have to be so. If people get involved with the democratic process, they can surely bring about astonishing changes for the betterment of our great nation. With a little effort, Americans can have “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” We just proved it New Mexico.

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by Daniel Pipes*

Comes the news that Frederick Cohn, the Jewish defense lawyer for Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, asked Brooklyn-based federal judge Eric Vitaliano to exclude Jews from the jury. Shehadeh is charged with three counts of making false statements in connection with his attempts to join jihadis in Pakistan. “Your Honor” Cohn explained in February, “I’m not wild about having Jews on the jury in this case. Given that there’s going to be inflammatory testimony about Jews and Zionism, I think it would be hard for Jews to cast aside any innate antipathy. The American Jewish community is heavily aligned with Israel and Zionism.”

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by Daniel Pipes*

Terrorism broadly takes two forms: against random individuals who happen to be at a market place or on a bus at the wrong time; or against specific individuals because of who they are. The latter in turn divides into two: against broad categories of people (the military, Jews, people who wear eyeglasses) and against specific public figures, either individuals or institutions. In effect, these last are assassinations (defined by Merriam-Webster as “to murder (a usually prominent person) by sudden or secret attack often for political reasons”).

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by Daniel Pipes*

In the near-century that the United States has been a great power, it has developed some original and sophisticated foreign policy tools. Examples include the Marshall Plan, special forces, and satellite imaging. At the same time, the country’s naiveté remains firmly in place. For example, the notion persists that government staff are “particularly qualified to [handle a problem] because they knew nothing about it.” (For details, see my analysis at “American Know-Nothing Diplomacy.”)

The persistent belief that training and equipping foreign troops imbues them with American political and ethical values, making them allies of the United States, offers another sign of innocence. Some examples of this delusional policy in recent decades:

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by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi*

Writing on his blog ‘Karl reMarks‘, the prominent Lebanese blogger and Twitter user Karl Sharro complained of the ‘decline of narrative’ in ‘Middle East expertise’, lamenting the dominance of a ‘cold analytical approach’ towards events in the volatile region and the role of foreign powers therein. But is the concept of narrative and grand theory actually useful here?

Consider the question of U.S. policy towards the region throughout the course of the Arab Spring. One narrative that has emerged among certain commentators — mainly on the Western political left like Patrick Cockburn — is that the U.S. is aligning itself with Sunni forces — including those of an Islamist nature — in opposition to a perceived ‘Shi’ite crescent’ of power in the region.

As is often the case, this narrative bases itself on elements of truth. The U.S. shares the concern of the Sunni Arab Gulf monarchies about Iranian influence in the wider region. The most egregious case of alignment is in Bahrain, where Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have all deployed troops to assist the monarchy in suppressing protests.

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by Raymond Stock*

“You know, when it comes to Egypt, I think, had it not been for the leadership we showed, you might have seen a different outcome there.” — President Barack Obama, “60 Minutes,” January 27, 2013

With President Mohamed Mursi’s proclamation of a “new republic” on December 26, after the passage of a Constitution that turns Egypt into an Islamist-ruled, pseudo-democratic state, the “January 25^th Revolution” came to a predictably disastrous (if still unstable) terminus. As momentous for world history as the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran (should it hold), it represents the formal—if not the final—victory for the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in its 84-year struggle for power in the land of its birth. Indeed, 2012 will likely be remembered as the year that Islamists made the greatest gains in their quest for a new caliphate in the region. And without a drastic change of course by Washington, 2013 might surpass it by far in progress toward the same, seemingly inexorable end.

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