The one constant in an ever changing universe continues to be that anyone in governmental leadership, who is insufferably horrible at their job, will always get promoted.
Today the White House announces that top State Department spokesperson, Jen Psaki, has been promoted to top communications job in the White House.   Hashtag diplomacy comes to the White House.

However, simultaneously it is also reported that Marie Harf will not take Psaki’s job. Apparently, Harf failed her test run miserably this past weekend when she was on tour promoting the “Jobs for Jihadi’s” program talking points.
What was supposed to be an opportunity for Harf to show how she could handle the job of selling Secretary of State John Kerry’s grand paradigm shift, instead ended up creating a week of ridicule for Kerry and his boss, President Obama. (more…)

Dear Mr. President, I just read the prose someone typed into your teleprompter which included:

 …”we must address the grievances that terrorists exploit”..

AFTER reading your 20 minute Harf-like highly nuanced pontifications, I was left with only one resounding and reoccurring thought – that I would respectfully like to bring to your attention…

….You can’t coexist with a group whose ‘legitimate grievance’ is that you’re still alive !…

#BREAKING Turkey, US sign deal to train Syria rebels, officials say

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 19, 2015

Two days ago reports began to hit the media about the U.S. providing “Moderate Syrian Rebels” with equipment and technology to enable them to call in air strikes. The Wall Street Journal reported:

WASHINGTON—The U.S. has decided to provide pickup trucks equipped with machine guns and radios for calling in U.S. airstrikes to some moderate Syrian rebels, defense officials said. But the scope of any bombing hasn’t been worked out—a reflection of the complexities of the battlefield in Syria.

Military officials point to U.S. airstrikes, called in by Kurdish fighters, that helped drive Islamic State fighters from the city of Kobani as the model for the new campaign. (link)

The term “moderate” has been a source of contention amid those who have followed the ideology of the Syrian uprising since the fighting began around August/Sept of 2011.
When Syria first erupted there was a general sense of opposition to the leadership of Bashir Assad. However, as time progressed more and more severe jihadists flocked to Syria from battlefields in surrounding nations.
Eventually this power struggle led to the rise of the most powerful among them forming what is now known as ISIS. (more…)

Putting former Harvard University Professor Ashton Carter in charge of the U.S. Military for the last two years of President Obama’s tenure will show what happens when a person with ZERO military experience becomes Defense Secretary.

Carter is an academic policy wonk of the same mindset and world view as Samantha Power (now UN Ambassador and wife of former Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein). That comparative will become more evident as the next two years progress. There is nothing about Aston Carter, nor his individual opinion of the military, which would lend a person to believe there is any inherent qualification which would benefit the Defense Department.
To the contrary, Carter should be fully anticipated to weaken the Military, through policy, in the same way that Samantha Power has influenced foreign policy to diminish U.S. influence globally. He begins the process immediately with a decision to have a civilian, non-military, spokesperson represent the public face of the Pentagon. (more…)

Perhaps it’s just my cynical nature when it comes to the Obama Administration having researched their Machiavellian tendencies over the past six years. – However, someone, someone inside, someone very close to President Obama, has just set him up for a crow eating dinner.
This is no accident, mistake or ideological oversight.  Parts of this are a set-up.
President Obama supposedly penned an Op-Ed today through the LA Times. But I doubt seriously, having read the limited attributable writing of Barack Obama personally, it was actually the brain synapses of President Obama who constructed the literary words.
Obama does not write well, nor does he express his own opinions in writing well – his op-eds while attending Harvard affirm my opinion.
That said, whoever did write this on his behalf set him up for a massive fall. Within the first few paragraphs of the article itself you find this seemingly innocuous admission. Innocuous until you realize the scope of the inferred reversal: (more…)

Marie Harf joined Chris Matthews on MSNBC yesterday to advance an ideology we have actually heard before. When discussing radical Islam, and more specifically ISIS, according to Harf:

“We’re killing a lot of them and we’re going to keep killing more of them. So are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians. They’re in this fight with us. But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war. We need in the medium to longer term to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs”.

Now pause for a moment, turn your head at a 25° angle, cross your eyes, pretend she is in direct eye contact with yourself…. and ask the obvious:  “Dear Ms. Harf, if that be true – then why in sam kittens is President Obama asking for AN AUTHORIZATION OF MILITARY FORCE” ? {{Mic Drop}} (more…)

The White House released a statement yesterday regarding the brutal murder of the Coptic Christians in Egypt. Within the statement itself you’ll note the absence of the word “Christian” which continues the administration’s avoidance narrative:

WHITE HOUSE – The United States condemns the despicable and cowardly murder of twenty-one Egyptian citizens in Libya by ISIL-affiliated terrorists.  We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and our support to the Egyptian government and people as they grieve for their fellow citizens.  ISIL’s barbarity knows no bounds.  It is unconstrained by faith, sect, or ethnicity.  This wanton killing of innocents is just the most recent of the many vicious acts perpetrated by ISIL-affiliated terrorists against the people of the region, including the murders of dozens of Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai, which only further galvanizes the international community to unite against ISIL.

(more…)

If it seems like you are seeing an uptick in activity insistent upon you not reconciling six years of our research effort into U.S. activity regarding Mid-East affairs; I can assure you it is because you are….

If you saw the Mediterranean filled with the blood of the Coptic martyrs coinciding simultaneously with the Israel’s call for the return of the Jews to Zion; I can assure you it is because you did….
Now....
(Via Counter Jihad) If it seems that Islamic State (IS) atrocities are descending to ever-more horrific levels of barbarity, then the message is getting through as intended.
As Congress begins to consider the President’s proposed new Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), it would be well to understand just how desperately IS has been trying to lure Western ground forces into the land of Al-Sham.
The amputations, beheadings, crucifixions, immolations, and sex slavery – perpetrated in meticulous emulation of the Life of Muhammad and obedience to Islamic Law (shariah) – were from the beginning carefully calculated to ‘strike terror into the hearts of the enemy’ (Q 8:12, 8:60), while also eliciting an emotional reaction that would drive the U.S. recklessly to send its military back to the region’s battlefields. (more…)

Sometimes the timing of things, important things, just, well, take care of themselves…

WASHINGTON DC – Sen. John McCain said Sunday he opposes any ISIL war resolution that puts limits on the power of the president, saying on “Meet the Press” that such restrictions were “unconstitutional.”

“To restrain him in our authorization of him taking military action, I think, frankly, is unconstitutional and eventually leads to 535 commanders in chief,” the Arizona Republican told host Chuck Todd. (more…)

I’m sure there will be more from Egypt’s Fattah al-Sisi in the next few days, he is not a person prone to knee-jerk emotional responses to crisis. Research into al-Sisi, and following him for several years, shows he thinks carefully, calls for counsel, takes immediate advice and then makes a strong decision and sticks with it.
That said, as you read this I must point out something in this Reuters example which highlights the bias inherent in Western media that slips past unless you have followed the nuances and details of any event/story. Check out this statement:

[…] “The beheadings could stiffen Sisi’s resolve in dealing with security threats from militants thriving in neighboring Libya’s chaos who want to topple his U.S.-backed government“.

“U.S. backed government“, who does Reuters think they’re kidding?
The Obama administration openly disparages al-Sisi, talks negatively about him, spoke angrily against the removal of Muslim Brotherhood’s Morsi and didn’t even call Sisi to congratulate him on his overwhelming election victory. But Reuters says “U.S. backed”, because NOW it fits the narrative a strong Obama needs, unreal. I digress. (more…)