And you thought I was crazy! In July of 2015, I became convinced that Israel and the Arab League had made peace at the end of 2008. I based my supposition on Israeli arms sales to Arab nations that began in 2009. Israel sold incredibly advanced technology to countries that don’t even recognize her. This…
Avoiding the mistakes that western powers made in the Middle East
December 28, 2015
I urge everyone to take some time and watch videos put out by the Syrian Democratic Forces (QSD). Although the QSD are fighters, they’re also a political movement that was created in the hopes of avoiding the many blunders that the West has committed in the Middle East since forever. It appears that the greatest…
Arab League and Israeli plan for the Middle East goes forward
December 22, 2015
In June of this year, Saudi Arabia announced a seven-point plan for the Middle East. It’s incredibly risky and ambitious. The Saudis must always be taken seriously, so I knew that they’d thought this out. I couldn’t determine how in the world the Arab League would keep the region from going up in flames the…
Paper tiger revealed in Syria, say Israelis. Guess who?
December 20, 2015
I always loved the phrase “paper tiger.” The communist Chinese invented it to describe the US. My mother was a great fan of folded paper doodads. This is the sort of thing she did. In July of this year, I became convinced that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the Iranian nuclear deal—was an international…
Adrift no longer. Without even knowing it, I arrived
December 17, 2015
I never knew what to do with my life. In very real ways, I never had a life. Some forms of trauma are impossible to “get over.” The closest I came to having a career was the ten years I spent as a music journalist in Los Angeles. It didn’t pay anything, but my parents…
Islamic anti-terrorism coalition deeply confuses the “experts”
December 16, 2015
What’s the best way to win a war? The answer: Make it impossible for your enemies to know what’s really happening. Yesterday Saudi Arabia announced the formation of an Islamic coalition to fight terrorism. Today some people are gloating that it’s “already collapsed.” Saudi Arabia’s coalition of Islamic countries against terrorism is starting to look like…
Quiet professionals save us while we disgrace ourselves
December 14, 2015
The British have described the operation to kill Mohammed Emwazi, the Islamic State terrorist known as Jihadi John. This level of openness is unusual; special-operations units tend to be very quiet. The reason we’re hearing about this is twofold: psychological warfare, and also the Islamic State is under ferocious assault. It likely won’t be around…
Syrian Democratic Forces: Possibly the people we’ve needed
December 13, 2015
On October 11, 2015, a new Syrian rebel alliance was announced: the Syrian Democratic Forces. A Kurdish militia in northern Syria has joined forces with Arab rebels, and their new alliance has been promised fresh weapon supplies by the United States for an assault on Islamic State forces in Raqqa, a spokesman said on Monday….
Big news from Syria, Sinai, and Iran
November 4, 2015
When there’s big news, back pain must be put aside. First, we have this. The British government has suspended all flights between the UK and the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after US and UK officials said they believe the Russian plane that crashed over the Sinai peninsula may have been brought down by an…