Executive Summary Just as 87 senators have written a letter urging President Obama to apply more pressure to Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas regarding Israeli peace talks.
Madman Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the U.N. with some wild accusations that the U.S. government was behind terror attacks on its own people. The terror attack "noise" spiked high — suggesting another terror attack on Western targets is imminent. And economists are saying that the U.S. economy has reached a destructive tipping point … Are these the prophetic consequences of America's turning away from the laws and precepts of God? Inside the White House By Bill Koenig
Don Babwin with the Associated Press stated, "In Washington, Emanuel's departure, though expected by the political world for days now, is still an unquestioned loss for Obama. The president has counted on Emanuel's intensity, discipline and congressional relationships to keep the White House focused and aggressive. The job comes with nearly unrivaled pressure and power."
The White House ran very smoothly during Emanuel's time as White House Chief of Staff. His experience with the Clinton White House and his relationships on Capitol Hill served him well. This will be a significant loss for Obama. This could also have an effect on Israel: Despite Rahm's hard line, he was a strong supporter of Israel on the inside despite what has been speculated.
On Wednesday, I attended "The Future of U.S. Power in the Middle East" at the Council of Foreign Relations here in Washington. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate (I-Conn.), gave the presentation.
Lieberman is arguably Israel's best friend in Congress. The following information will give you a very good perspective on the situation with Iran and the challenges the United States is facing with Iran and the Middle East.
For full transcript, click here
Here are the key points from Lieberman's message:
Iran is neither "Islamic" nor a "republic" but a crude military dictatorship.
The United States has never been more engaged and invested across the Middle East than we are right now.
It is difficult to imagine a day in the life of an American President in which the Middle East does not figure prominently.
The developments in the Middle East have a direct impact on the physical safety and economic security of our own nation and its citizens.
Heightened Uneasiness from America's Middle East Allies - There is heightened uneasiness about the future of American power in the Middle East. Behind closed doors, one hears an unmistakable uncertainty about our resolve and staying power. Reflect just how indispensable and integral American leadership has become in the Middle East.
- The global financial crisis and our national fiscal deficit have aroused fears in the Middle East.
- There are anxieties from the mismanagement of the early years in postwar Iraq and the inability of successive administrations to secure the comprehensive regional peace that we have repeatedly tried to achieve.
- I believe that the major geopolitical driver for the heightened anxiety about America's staying power in the Middle East is the Islamic Republic of Iran — more specifically, its determined push to become the dominant power in the region and tilt the balance of governance there towards Islamist extremism — and whether the United States has the will to stop that push.
The Iranian Regime's Pursuit of a Nuclear Weapons Capability - The Iranian regime's pursuit of nuclear weapons capability cannot be separated from its long-term campaign of unconventional warfare stretching back decades — to destabilize the region and remake it in its own Islamist extremist image.
- Through use of the IRGC Qods Force and its terrorist proxies, the Iranian regime has sought to neutralize the conventional military advantages of the United States and its allies and overturn the balance of power.
- If Iran succeeds in acquiring nuclear weapons capability, it would severely destabilize the Middle East, a region whose stability has been an important long-term American national and economic security goal.
- It would also damage America's ability to sustain the commitments we have made in the Middle East.
- A nuclear Iran could drive other states in the region to seek to acquire their own atomic arsenals. And, have no doubt: the more nuclear-proliferated the Middle East becomes, the greater the odds that nuclear weapons will fall into the hands of terrorists who will try to use them against the U.S.
Stopping Iran Is the Single Most Important Test of American Power - That is why the single most important test of American power in the Middle East today is whether we succeed or fail in stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability.
- I am a strong supporter of the Obama Administration's dual-track approach of engagement and pressure in response to the Iranian challenge.
- That means aggressive and creative enforcement of existing sanctions against Iran. It means American penalties against companies that continue to invest in Iran's energy sector or sell refined petroleum to Iran.
- While the revival of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has put the Iranian regime on the defensive, particularly since the legitimate leadership of the Palestinian Authority told Teheran earlier this month to stop interfering in their internal affairs.
- And it means that the Administration must make use of the powerful new authority granted to it by the congressional sanctions legislation, to cut off from the U.S. financial system any foreign bank that continues to do business with the IRGC, its front companies, or other illicit Iranian actors.
Iran's Consolidation of Power - My personal concern is that the current leaders of Iran—particularly the IRGC hardliners who have consolidated power in the wake of last year's election—are incapable of compromise on the nuclear program, no matter how much pressure is put on them, because opposition to America and the West is so integral to their very identity.
- Our best hope to resolve this confrontation is not for the regime to change its behavior, but for the regime itself to be changed. I am not naïve about how difficult this may be, but supporting such a change is surely the policy our national values require and the one that the people of Iran deserve.
- This should include much more robust engagement and support for opposition forces inside Iran, both by the United States and like-minded democratic nations around the world.
- The Obama Administration missed an important opportunity in the wake of last year's election in Iran.
Military Option - If a nuclear Iran is as unacceptable as we all say it is, we must be prepared to do whatever is necessary to prevent the unacceptable.
- It is time for us to take steps that make clear that if diplomatic and economic strategies continue to fail to change Iran's nuclear policies, a military strike is not just a remote possibility in the abstract but a real and credible alternative policy that we and our allies are ready to exercise.
- Some have suggested that we should simply learn to live with a nuclear Iran and pledge to contain it. In my judgment, that would be a grave mistake.
- Having tried and failed to stop Iran's nuclear breakout, our country would be a poor position to contain its consequences.
U.S. Responsible for Military Response with Iran, not Israel - I also believe it would be a failure of U.S. leadership if this situation reaches the point where the Israelis decide to attempt a unilateral strike on Iran. If military action must come, the United States is in the strongest position to confront Iran and manage the regional consequences. This is not a responsibility we should outsource.
We can and should coordinate with our many allies who share our interest in stopping a nuclear Iran, but we cannot delegate our global responsibilities to them.
So, yes, American power faces great challenges and dangerous enemies today. But we must also remember that American power is capable of achieving great things — sometimes seemingly impossible things.
His Hope — U.S. Political Will
This is the alternative future we must also summon the imagination to envision, and the political will to help bring into being: - A Middle East in which a democratic Iran assumes its rightful place as a regional power and as the modern heir of one of the world's great civilizations — an engine of prosperity and innovation that benefits its own citizens and the entire planet.
- A Middle East in which Islamist extremism no longer inspires violence or loyalty but joins other failed and inhumane ideologies on the ash heap of history.
- A Middle East in which Israel and its Arab and Persian neighbors live in peace with each other as fellow democracies that respect the human rights of their citizens — and in a region where the notion of going to war against each other becomes as unthinkable and absurd as it seems today to French and German teens.
Koenig's Perspective:
I gave Eye to Eye to Sen. Lieberman at this meeting. There were many people around him after he spoke, so I positioned myself to be in his path of departure.
I placed the book in his hand as he was walking toward me; he looked at the book cover, and then looked at me smiling. I said, "God bless you." He said very sincerely, "God bless you."
What is Iran going to do in response to U.S. actions and international sanctions? Forty percent of the world's oil flows through the Persian Gulf. The U.S. military buildup in and around the Persian Gulf is at an all-time high.
Earlier this month, Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi said that, Iran has developed an urgent plan to confront the gasoline sanction pressures and gained self-sufficiency. Iran this past week said it is halting gasoline imports in response. Disinformation?
Summary: The United States' personal and economic security is on the line, and the Middle East countries are concerned about the U.S. commitment to the region. The problem is that we have a military regime in Iran, Arab nations fear a nuclear Iran in the Shiite vs. Sunni conflict, a grave enemy of Israel, hopes of a regime change in Iran (which seems remote) and a country that has a very significant final-day role (Ezekiel 38-39).
The Israeli Settlement Freeze Debacle: More Freeze or Is War Coming? (Bill Koenig)
In early 2009, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton supported a freeze of all settlement construction — including in East Jerusalem and in the settlements to address natural growth. Clinton pushed hard for a total freeze, and Rahm Emanuel favored the immediate discussions on the status of Jerusalem.
Netanyahu finally complied and agreed to a 10-month freeze in November 2009, which ended Sept. 26.
Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu members of Netanyahu's coalition said no more settlement freezes.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told the U.N. General Assembly this week that a peace deal is not possible now — and suggested land swaps with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu and the Labor Party's Ehud Barak said Lieberman's policy was not Israel's official policy.
George Mitchell headed to Israel to meet with Netanyahu and Abbas on continuing talks and to persuade Israel to extend the freeze.
Rumor had it that Obama has offered a two-month freeze, with no more pressure on Israel beyond the two-month extensions. The White House has now denied that.
Arab League chief said no peace talks if Israel starts building: Amr Moussa says Israel must extend the West Bank building freeze on territory that Palestinians want for a future state.
The Arab League foreign ministers, who were expected to meet in Cairo on Oct. 4 to decide whether Abbas should continue with the negotiations, opted to delay the meeting for an additional two days to give the U.S. Administration a chance to persuade the Israeli government to extend the settlement freeze.
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, at a crucial time in the peace talks, stepped down today to work on his campaign race for mayor of Chicago.
If Israel agrees to a two-month freeze extension nothing will change. The same contentious issues for the past 19 years will be the same ones going forward — Jerusalem, refugees, and the settlements. However, this time we are moving much closer and quicker to a very serious period with potential military consequences.
The Perils of Diplomatic Theater (Caroline Glick)
For full article, click here
The current flurry of diplomatic activity is deeply disturbing. It isn't simply that the Obama Administration has strong-armed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu into participating in diplomatic theater with the PLO whose successful completion will leave Israel weaker and less defensible. It isn't merely that the newest "peace process" diverts our leadership's attention away from Iran and its nuclear weapons program.
The most disturbing aspect of the latest round of the diplomatic kabuki is that Israel's leader and Israel's staunch friends in the U.S. are enthusiastically participating in this dangerous project.
Koenig's perspective: Diplomatic theater has lead to great expectations — with the focus on Israeli settlers while the Palestinians have never offered anything in return.
Did Bibi blow it? – Middle East Web (Ami Isseroff)
For full article, click here
Excerpt:
Everyone with sense wants the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks to succeed. But this is the Middle East. If people had any sense, there would never have been an Israeli-Arab conflict to begin with.
Let's face it. The renewed direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are (or were?) really a show put on for the benefit of Europeans and Americans. Whoever appeared(s) to break off the talks first was (or is) obviously going to lose.
Neither Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu nor Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is ready or politically able to make the concessions that are needed for peace. - Netanyahu can't withdraw from any settlements. He is hemmed in not only by his coalition, which could be replaced, but also by his own Likud party, which would replace him as its leader.
- Abbas cannot concede either the Palestinian demand for return of the refugees to Israel, or his insistent demand for every square meter of east Jerusalem.
In all probability, Abbas cannot recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people, a minimal condition for peace. If Abbas made those concessions, his own Fatah leadership would probably show him the door.
As it is, Hamas extremists continue to attack the peace process both verbally and with West Bank terror attacks, which underscore the fact that Abbas and the Palestinian Authority don't even control their own territory.
There are over 500,000 Jews, about 10% of Israel's Jewish population, in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority insists that none of the settlers can live in a Palestinian state and also insists it will make peace only if all this territory is incorporated in Palestinian state. Even if they did not object, it is rather difficult to relocate 500,000 people, and politically a non-starter. - Netanyahu cannot accept these demands, and Abbas knows it. For his part, Netanyahu is quietly demanding an Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley, and he must know that the Palestinians will never agree to that, either.
Koenig's perspective: The article is very well thought out. There is no peace deal in the making. But, some day there will be a solution. Only the God of Israel knows the timing.
Israeli Ambassador on a Nuclear Iran: 'No Way' (Michael Oren)
For more of the article, click here
AUDIO: Listen to the entire conversation with Ambassador Oren on iTunes
This past weekend, Israel's 10-month moratorium on West Bank settlement construction ended, jeopardizing the recently resumed peace talks with the Palestinians. Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren discussed the progress of the talks, the nuclear threat from Iran, and other issues on Tuesday with USA Today's editorial board. The following Q&A is adapted from that session and edited for length and clarity.
Q: With the end of the settlement moratorium, and the threat by Palestinians to walk away from the negotiating table, where do the peace talks stand?
A: Everyone's interested in where we go from here and whether the talks will be resumed next week. It's a very easy answer: "I don't know."
Q: What steps are you taking to try to keep the talks going?
A: We are in close contact with the (Obama) administration, exploring ways in which we could devise things that could keep the Palestinians at the table, through various confidence-building measures … I personally am optimistic, but I can't say that my optimism is shared by everybody. I just feel like the process has gained some sort of inexorable momentum and that if we can get over this hurdle, I think we can move swiftly.
Q: If you can get by the dispute over the settlements, then what would happen?
A: The obvious issue would be the border issue (regarding boundaries in a two-state solution). But the border issue is almost a subcategory of the security issue. Our security issues are for the demilitarization of the Palestinian state, that it won't have missiles that it can fire into our cities. Also, we're concerned about the ability of the Palestinian state to sign treaties with Iran, treaties with hostile enemies. We want defensible borders, but we also understand the need for a viable Palestinian state.
Q: Do you want that for the West Bank or for Gaza as well?
A: We are proceeding under the assumption that some day Gaza will be part of this deal. Right now, it's not part of this deal because it's under Hamas. So when President Obama talks about a contiguous Palestinian state, that has two meanings. One, it means there being no settlement blocks dividing the Palestinian state, but also that there be some kind of connection between West Bank and Gaza.
Q: That's been the strategy for a while. Do you see any sign that it would cause people in Gaza to dispose of the Hamas government?
A: No, not yet. Hamas has now been reinforced politically by Turkey, it continues to receive immense support from Iran, and Iran is perceived in the region as the country that's standing up to the West, standing up to Israel. They had a lot of popularity in the Arab street.
Q: Let's shift to the issue of Iran. How far is Iran from building a nuclear weapon?
A: The head of the CIA said within a year. The Iranian nuclear program has had delays, but it is progressing. We have seen that the sanctions have had some bite. The Iranian regime has begun to squirm, but we have not seen that the sanctions have brought about a change in their nuclear program.
Q: Can a nuclear Iran be contained through the mutually assured destruction strategy?
A: No. For numerous reasons. The Cold War model of mutually assured destruction was based on an assumption of cost-and-benefit rational calculations. We were pretty sure back then that the Soviets knew that if they took Washington, the United States would take Moscow. We don't know if any of those calculations hold in Iran.
The second reason is the threat that Iran will create a nuclear device and put it on top of one of the missiles it already has that can reach any city in the Middle East and now some cities in Western Europe within a decade. That's just the beginning of the threat.
The more immediate threat is that Iran, once it acquires military nuclear capabilities, will pass on those nuclear capabilities to Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist groups. So mutually assured destruction has nothing to do with that.
Thirdly, once Iran acquires nuclear military capabilities, the entire balance of power of the Middle East shifts toward Tehran. Moderate governments will be overthrown. The ability of anybody to deal with a terrorist threat will be immensely reduced. It will trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. And you think the Cold War was rough with a bipolar nuclear world? Imagine a multipolar Middle Eastern nuclear world.
Q: Are you saying there is no way Israel is prepared to live with a nuclear Iran?
A: In no way should anybody be prepared to live (with a nuclear Iran). Israel's not alone in it.
———
Former Air Force Officers: UFOs Tampered With Nuclear Missiles
http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/former-air-force-officers-ufos-tampered-with-nuclear-missiles/19647296
Koenig's perspective: The enemy is going to do a lot of strange hyper-surreal things in the days ahead. We are hearing about very strange phenomena from the past, new ones today and many more that will come in the future. I won't be spending much time on this subject, but we will occasionally post articles on these types of events.
These men were very credible, conservative and concerned. They were military officers — an Air Force Academy graduate and engineer types. I attended the meeting and talked to a few of them. They saw events that had a huge impact on them at the facilities they were assigned to.
Articles on the Stuxnet Virus from this week:
There has been a lot of talk in the past ten days over the Stuxnet virus that is wreaking havoc on computers.
Tehran officials say that the Stuxnet computer virus infected 30,000 computers in the Islamic Republic. Computer experts estimate that the worm originated in the U.S., Israel, the UK, France or Germany.
Iran nuke plant to start with 2-month delay (Ynet)
Click here for article
Could Iran retaliate for apparent cyber attack? (Ynet)
Click here for article
Iran: Computer worm didn't cause serious damage (Ynet)
Click here for the article
Millions of computers hit by virus across China (Jakarta Globe)
Click here for article
Did the Stuxnet worm kill India's INSAT-4B satellite? (Forbes)
Click here for the article
An alarmed Iran asks for outside help to stop rampaging Stuxnet malworm (Debka)
Click here for the article
In a computer worm, a possible biblical clue (CNBC)
Click here for the article
Stuxnet 'cyber superweapon' moves to China (AP)
Click here for the article
Computer virus could paralyse Hong Kong (RTHK)
Click here for the article News Briefs Peace Talks
Eighty-seven U.S. senators have already signed on to a letter calling on President Barack Obama to publicly pressure Abbas to continue with the direct peace talks begun Sept. 1 in Washington … The letter said that Abbas should not threaten to leave the talks because of the expiration of the moratorium on Israeli settlements.
The letter stated that "Neither side should make threats to leave just as the talks are getting started," a thinly veiled reference to Abbas's multiple statements that he would leave the talks if the moratorium was not extended.
The letter further stated, "Following the brutal murder of four innocent Israeli civilians by Hamas militants at the start of the negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not abandon the talks." (Foreign Policy)
Terror Talk
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made some crazy statements recently, including that the United States is perpetraing terrorism on its own people and blaming Islam … What Ahmadinejad knows is that there will always be a political place for what Michel Foucault called "the sovereign enterprise of Unreason."
This is an enterprise whose domain encompasses the politics of identity, of religious zeal, of race or class or national resentment, of victimization, of cheek and self-assertion. It is the politics that uses conspiracy theory because it offends.
It is politics as a revolt against empiricism, logic, utility, pragmatism. People to whom this kind of politics appeals in some way, large or small are Ahmadinejad's constituency. They may be irrational; he isn't crazy. (Bret Stephens, The Wall Street Journal)
In an effort to foil a suspected terrorist plot against European targets, the CIA has ramped up missile strikes against militants in Pakistan's tribal regions … Current and former officials say the strikes, launched from unmanned drone aircraft, represent a rare use of the CIA's drone campaign to preempt a possible attack on the West.
The CIA has launched at least 20 drone strikes so far this month, the highest monthly total in six years, in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, a lawless region neighboring Afghanistan. Separately, Pakistan on Monday protested NATO helicopter strikes that killed more than 70 militants, saying the attacks breached its air space. NATO said it attacked in self defense. Unlike the CIA drone strikes, manned attacks are rare in the region. (The Wall Street Journal)
Capitol Hill
House Minority Leader John Boehner threw his full support behind California Republican Congressman Darrell Issa's plan to bombard the Obama administration with subpoenas if Republicans take back the House in November … Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Committee, has said he'll double the size of his staff if he becomes chairman of the committee next year.
Boehner said, "I think Congress has an appropriate role under the Constitution to provide oversight of the executive branch. And I would pledge that it's going to happen."
A Chairman Issa would prove a huge headache for Obama, much like Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) was as the committee's chairman during the Clinton Administration. Burton issued 1,052 subpoenas to the White House and other Democrats from 1997 to 2002. (Politico)
Economy
Co-authors Glenn Hubbard and Peter Navarro warn in their new book Seeds of Destruction, "America is very close to a destructive tipping point" … They further write, "We must change how we conduct our politics and economics … or we will inevitably go the way of all once-great nations and suffer an irreversible decline."
Hubbard says, "If Bush was a big spender, President Obama is "taking it to a whole other level." In short, Hubbard believes Obama inherited a mess but has made it worse with nearly every one of his major policy initiatives and general governing philosophy. (Yahoo Finance) Connecting the Dots — The prophetic Consequences of False Religion and Religious Adultery By Bill Wilson, KIN Senior Analyst
Ever since an August poll saying that 18 percent of Americans believe the man who occupies the Oval Office is a Muslim, the president has been touting his religion. That same poll indicated that only 34 perceived believed that he is a Christian.
A McClatchy article rightly points out that until that poll, he rarely attended church and rarely spoke about faith; but after the poll, he gathered up his family and visited a church for the first time in five months. McClatchy reports that White House aides say there is no deliberate strategy being employed to counter the impression that the president is a Muslim, but observers maintain that something is afoot.
As a former political consultant, what is afoot is the pending doom of Nov. 2 — the elections. And despite all the attempts to favor Islam by this White House, the harsh reality is sinking in that America's national identity is still Christian.
In a June 2007 speech, the senator said, "Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation. At least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers."
As president, he repeated the theme during a June 4, 2009, news conference in Turkey, saying, "One of the great strengths of the United States is … we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation." This is such an obvious example of pandering.
Jesus said in Matthew 24:4, "Take heed that no man deceive you." The polls indicate Americans will no longer accept that their president favors Islam and rejects Christian principles. So like any shrewd politician, the president sees the handwriting on the wall and begins a campaign to convince all the sheep that he is really a man of God.
Jesus also said in Matthew 7:21, "Not every one that saith unto me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven." In verse 23, He continues, "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
Those who profess Christianity in name, yet do not do the will of the Father have their own reward. Stealing money, coveting, spilling innocent blood, denying God in the public square, promoting ungodly acts — while many of these people, like the president, may not be directly committing the iniquity, they are administering policies that allow, foster and implement iniquity.
And if they are in a position of leadership, whether over a nation or a church, there are consequences for all they oversee. When you hear the president consistently and intentionally omitting the words "endowed by our Creator" in conjunction with quoting the Declaration of Independence on inalienable rights, is it no coincidence that terror threats increase?
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