The Global Map, 2017

Ben Shapiro/ Townhall Columnist
 

Barack Obama pledged to radically transform America when he took office. He didn't stop at America. President Obama's greatest legacy may be the radical reshaping of the global map.

Fast forward three years. Here's where we stand.

Given Europe's failure to stand up to Russian aggression in Crimea, Russia's borders have expanded to include Eastern Ukraine, northern Kazakhstan and larger portions of Moldova. As of 2014, Russia had consolidated its hold on Transnistria, the Eastern region of Moldova, which is heavily Russian; Russia had annexed Crimea; Russia had placed troops inside Eastern Ukraine.

But it didn't stop there. Russia began squeezing Georgia again, and pro-Russian regimes are consolidating their power in Kazakhstan and Belarus. Belarus asked the Russian government to place 15 warplanes inside the country in 2014; Kazakhstan got into a tiff with Russia over comments Putin made unsubtly suggesting a possible invasion of the country, then complied with Putin's demands when the West did nothing.
 
Thus far, Putin has not invaded any NATO countries. But that could change, given the high Russian population in Latvia and Estonia.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, Jordan's kingdom has fallen, replaced by a radical Islamist regime. That Palestinian Arab regime has attempted to consolidate its power by forming an alliance with Hamas in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. In Lebanon, the Iranians and Syrians have effectively annexed southern Lebanon. Israel's only quiet border is now its southern border with Egypt.

In Syria, Bashar Assad has retained a measure of power by essentially conceding territory to ISIS in the eastern part of the country; after a halfhearted intervention against ISIS, the international community went quiet as ISIS formed its sought-after caliphate in eastern Syria and northern Iraq. In response, Iran essentially invaded southern Iraq, and Turkey launched covert action against the Kurds in order to prevent the formation of a broader Kurdistan encompassing parts of Turkish territory.

With the withdrawal of the United States and its allies from Afghanistan, Pakistan has once again made its presence felt. The Taliban have effectively taken control of large swaths of territory, with the help of the Pakistani regime, which has shifted leadership but not position with regard to radical Islam.

In the most stunning international move, China has threatened full-scale annexation of Taiwan, barring access to the South China Sea from Western countries and cutting off Taiwan's trade routes.

The West has refused to leverage China, fearing financial retaliation. China has made similar moves against the Philippines.

Come 2017, this will be President Obama's legacy: a world of redrawn borders, all to the benefit of some of the worst regimes on the planet. When America retreats from the world, its enemies expand.

The Jihadists' Eternal Plan

Michelle Malkin / Townhall Columnist

 

Here's the first and last rule of Islamic jihad: If at first you don't succeed, plot, plot again.

 

9/11 wasn't the first. 9/11 won't be the last. It's not "fear-mongering" to face reality. These head-chopping, throat-slitting, bloodthirsty hijackers -- of planes, freedom and civilization -- have conspired for decades to inflict modern mass murder on the West. Their homicidal mission is spectacular destruction in the name of the Koran.

Never forget: Eternal Muslim hatred of infidels didn't start with George W. Bush. Or George Herbert Walker Bush. Or Ronald Reagan. Or the creation of Gitmo. Or the birth of Israel. Or the Twin Towers. Or the Khobar Towers. Or Lockerbie. Or the U.S.S. Cole. Or Fort Hood. Or the Beirut Marine barracks bombings. Or the bombings of the U.S. embassy in Africa, the bombing of U.S. military headquarters in Riyadh and the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi.

Allah's animals can't stop. They won't stop. Sura 9:5, the verse of the sword, commands them to "slay the idolators wherever you find them, and take them, and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush." No "pagan" throat is safe: American soldiers, worldly journalists, innocent schoolgirls, Jewish teenage boys and Christian missionaries alike are all targets of Sura 47's call to "smite the necks" of the unbelievers.

Now our impuissant president sees fit, after two laggard terms in office, to unveil a "plan" for "degrading and ultimately destroying" the Muslim terrorists of ISIS.

Pffft.

To call the Obama administration's trifling gestures a "bump in the road" to Islamic domination would be an overstatement of astronomic proportions. The bloodless words of the White House are rhetorical pebbles.

“Palestinian” President Abbas Refuses Egypt Sisi’s Offer of Creation of “Palestinian” State FIVE Times the Size of Gaza

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs

Further proof that this has nothing to do with land and everything to do with Islamic Jew-hatred and the destruction of the Jewish state.

Islamic Jew-hatred is an Islamic religious mandate. The very existence of Israel is deeply offensive to any devout Muslim.

Where are the blaring headlines? Where is the NY TImes and and all the other two state fraudsters?

“Egypt’s Sisi Offered Abbas Creation of Palestinian State in Sinai Peninsula,” By Jack Moore, IBTimes, September 8, 2014

Egyptian President General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has offered Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas the chance to create a Palestinian state in the Sinai Peninsula, according to local Israeli media.

The offer to the Palestinian President which, reports say Abbas has denied, would have seen 1,600 square kilometres of the Sinai Peninsula given to the Palestinian Authority, creating a Palestinian state five times the size of Gaza.

According to IDF Radio, the offer would see Abbas relinquish demands that Israel return to the 1967 borders.

In the new and enlarged Gaza, the territory would be demilitarised and Palestinian refugees, many who were unable to return to their towns after the creation of Israel, would have been able to settle there.

As part of the proposal, Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank would have been autonomous and continued to be under Palestinian Authority control.

Sisi allegedly said to Abbas in the meeting: “You are now 80 years old, if you don’t...

Read the whole entry »

     

• Email to a friend • Article Search •

Lameness Of Congress’ Post-Election Session Could Hinge On Results

by McClatchy-Tribune / Personal Liberty Digest

THINKSTOCK

WASHINGTON (MCT) — There’s no “fiscal cliff” or global financial crisis for this year’s post-election lame-duck session, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy.

Lawmakers will be faced with a couple of old favorites: another extension of government funding and the menagerie of lapsed tax breaks that comprise the “extenders” package. A continuing resolution that will need to be adopted before Sept. 30 is widely expected to run until about Dec. 11. And just about everyone in Washington has a favorite bill they’d like to get across the desk after the most do-nothingest Congress ever.

But should the election winds blow in favor of Republicans on both sides of the Rotunda, they would likely be eager to punt to 2015, when a GOP-led Senate could work together with its House counterparts on advancing an agenda designed to blunt the effects of the last two years of President Barack Obama’s administration.

Regardless of which party has the gavels in 2015, the lame duck will be the last chance for a handful of retiring Democratic chairmen to advance their priorities. Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) is the most likely to get a big bill signed into law. For 53 straight years, the annual defense authorization bill has overcome partisan stalemate.

Lawmakers in both parties said the election results would be crucial in deciding just how close to Christmas Congress will work.

“If it’s kind of a split decision in November and let’s say we narrowly hold the Senate, which I think is a reasonable probability, might as well have a lame duck and get it out of the way before next year,” said Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.). “So, I really think the outcome of the elections will help shape just how much of any substance is addressed in a lame duck.

“I do not anticipate, however, that a lame duck, given the contour of this Congress, is going to be overly productive. I think you’re going to see the same kind of glacial, turgid, response to pressing national issues that we have seen throughout the 113th,” Connolly said.

“Generally that pressure to really get a whole bunch of stuff done that you haven’t been able to get done in the previous almost two years, you know, happens only in sort of cataclysmic elections,” Connolly said.

The lame duck also could give new life to a host of stalled, fairly noncontroversial bills. Take, for instance, bipartisan energy efficiency legislation championed by Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. The bill itself has broad support, but it flopped repeatedly in the 113th Congress as part of the much broader feud about amendments.

And then there is the hot-button issue of immigration — with President Barack Obama vowing to take executive action after the elections even as Congress is wrapping up its work.

Speaking before Congress left town for the August recess, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Republicans would want a quick session if the elections go their way.

“I hope there’s not one and I wonder if, and I emphasize if, the Republicans got the majority, if we did it at all I think it would be incredibly short because we’re not going to pass stuff when they, when we’re going to be in the majority,” he said.

While McCain’s legislative logic makes sense, there’s another piece of the puzzle: pending nominations. There remains a backlog of executive branch nominations, particularly within the diplomatic corps.

If Democrats lose control of the Senate, there will be a huge incentive to push through as many nominations as possible before Republicans take over.

With a Republican majority led by Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Obama would have to come hat-in-hand to confirm his picks.

Even if Democrats don’t lose the Senate, clearing nominations while they hold a larger majority would remain a priority. And unless Democrats go “nuclear” again to tweak the rules, rules at the beginning of the next Congress are set to give the minority more power to delay nominations.

There’s also a real chance the lame-duck session could begin with a period of suspended animation, with party organizational activities and decision-making about the agenda frozen by a potential Dec. 6 runoff in Louisiana, if neither incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary L. Landrieu nor a Republican challenger clears the 50 percent threshold on Election Day in November.

In such a scenario, it would be no surprise to see the Senate slogging through those nominations.

Op-ed:
Obama's Strategy I'm Sure Will Just Be More of the Same 
By: Diane Sori

"Terrorism in many places around the world is not necessarily a direct threat to us or something that we have to wade into.”
- Barack HUSSEIN Obama's words when it was pointed out to him that ISIS was NO JV team

Tonight in prime time President Obama (still gag on that six years later) will address the nation about what he intends to do about ISIS...at least that's what we are led to believe he will do. But true to form we all know that whatever Obama says will be words twisted in such a way as to cover for his faux-pas of last week when he said, "we don't have a strategy yet" in regards to what we...meaning him...intends to do about ISIS...as he tries to stop his continuing to fall poll numbers. And by his constantly calling them ISIL instead of ISIS...done purposely as a nod to his muslim brethren...we know exactly what his true plans are...as in to do NOTHING of true substance at all.

But the fact is that Obama has lost all credibility on all things Middle East...NOT that he ever had much to begin with...and NO matter what he says tonight he has slim to NO chance of persuading 'We the People' that he now knows what he’s doing...what he's leading our country into doing...in regards to the Middle East. And if truth be told Obama really does NOT care either way as he chose sides in this battle long ago when he wrote on page 261 of the paperback edition of 'The Audacity of Hope,'"I will stand with the muslims if political winds shift in an ugly direction"...words that have come back to haunt him time and time again.

And yesterday Obama told congressional leaders that he "has the authority needed to take action" against ISIS...his version of action that is...with or without the much needed Congressional approval...violating the Constitution yet again. And folks, again, he simply does NOT care.

And here, based on the musings coming out of DC, is what I think Obama is planning as his joke of a strategy to combat the barbarians known as ISIS...first, to continue his "limited engagement" bombing raids...second, to arm and train the Free Syrian Army to help them 'supposedly' fight ISIS in Syria...and third, to train what's left of the Iraqi forces to be more forceful against ISIS' army of sorts. And of course he will puff himself up by claiming how well the ongoing air strikes in Iraq have been against ISIS...NEVER mentioning how limited in scope their actual effectiveness has been.

Now let's go through each one...first, Obama's "limited engagement" bombing raids while effective on a small scale have NOT stopped ISIS' forward march as NOT enough of their 'army' has been killed in this Obama's targeted 'do NOT kill too many of my brethren' raids. What's needed to stop ISIS is to 'shock and awe'...to carpet bomb Iraq from one end to the other...and collateral damage be damned, because in this battle those you think of as friends turn out to be NOTHING but the enemy in disguise.

And speaking of an enemy in disguise...number two is the Free Syrian Army... whom I believe Obama will propose arming...and who are NOT what they claim to be. Coming off a PR campaign to make them appear as the 'good guys,' the Free Syrian Army is anything but as it's from them that ISIS sprang for ISIS started as NOTHING more than a group of ultra-extremists within said Free Syrian Army ranks. And these ranks are in reality the creation of U.S. intelligence and its covert war on Syria for it was the CIA, on Obama's orders, who armed these extremists in order to help aid them in overthrowing Bashir al-Assad's government.

And Obama's saying that only so-called ‘moderate rebels' were being armed... which like I said the Free Syrian Army is anything but...is a LIE...as it's a fact that many of those weapons ended up in the hands of ISIS for at that time the two groups were still united as one. And while the two factions have now broken into two distinct groups, the Free Syrian Army continues to support ISIS from the shadows by freely giving them arms and weapons or simply by nodding and then looking away when they march in and take them. And some of the weapons ISIS takes and then uses in their blood lust campaign continue to be U.S. weapons... weapons including M79 rockets and M16 assault rifles...U.S. weapons that continued to be supplied to the Free Syrian Army via Saudi Arabia.

So while Obama, I believe, will say that we must continue to arm the Free Syrian Army what in reality he is saying...what in reality he is actually doing if he gets his way...is 'aiding and abetting' the enemy while hoping to pull the wool of America's eyes by saber rattling and placating with one hand and keeping his fingers crossed behind his back with the other.

And lastly, number three on my list of what I believe Obama will bloviate NOTHING of substance about is his wanting to train what's left of the Iraqi forces...to train them against an enemy even al-Qaeda fears. But pray tell how does one train a defeated army...a defeated army of his own doing...when the very one who left them like lambs to the slaughter by announcing when our troops would pull out... allowed the salivating wolf called ISIS to just wait it out at their door. And how does one train the Iraqi army with but a few specialists brought in when Obama has said over and over that he does NOT plan to send American troops back to Iraq without first garnering support from a coalition of allies. And how does one train the Iraqi army when America's supposed leader has called for a stable government as a precondition for increased U.S. military activity...and the Iraqi government remains anything but stable.

So what I believe will be Obama's strategy to combat ISIS will be NOTHING of the sort...for he will just regurgitate the same old...same old...anything but effective counter terrorism strategies he's always used...repackaged failed strategies that he's had America engage in over the six years of his failed presidency...a failed presidency that does NOTHING but 'aid and abet' the enemy...and it will be a strategy...a plot...that is calculatingly designed to have us lose to those barbarians out to kill us all.

So let's see tonight if I'm right, but for America's sake let's actually pray I'm wrong.