“America stands with President al-Sisi and all the Egyptian people today, and always, as we fight to defeat this common enemy.  America also makes clear to its friends, allies, and partners that the treasured and historic Christian Communities of the Middle East must be defended and protected.”

~ U.S. President Donald J Trump

Following the terrorist attack against Coptic Christians in Egypt, Egyptian military jets attacked Islamic extremist positions in eastern Libya.  The officials said the warplanes on Friday targeted the headquarters of the Shura Council in the city of Darna, where local militias are known to be linked to al-Qaida, not the Islamic State group.

The retaliatory bombings were aimed at terrorist outposts, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stated: “any form of state-sponsored terrorism should be punished. Anyone who attacks Egypt, whether they’re from inside or outside Egypt’s borders, will be punished.”  According to Egyptian TV six “terrorist” camps were struck by the sortie.

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26 people have been killed and 25 wounded after masked gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Coptic Christians in central Egypt. The terrorist attack happened in Minya province, about 220km (140 miles) south of the capital city of Cairo. The bus was headed to the Monastery of St Samuel.

The bus was ambushed by masked men in three 4 wheel drive vehicles. An immediate response by Egyptian military and security forces is underway, while units of the police special forces closed all exits to Minya.

According to Egyptian media – the terrorists had driven from the Western Desert to a nearby location of the attacked bus then walked to ambush the bus, where they sprayed the bus with gunfire indiscriminately. During the terrorists exit, they found another group in another bus, which they stopped, killed everyone aboard and fled.

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The Manchester Bomber is one of Hillary Clinton’s Libyan “Rebels”

Islamic State fighters landed in Libya back in November of 2014, and began work establishing training camps in the Libyan city of Derna before launching a terror offensive which included an attack on a Libyan hotel, attacks on oil field workers, and the execution of 21 Copts in a graphic video which made international headlines.

In early through mid-2015 several extremist jihadist elements in Libya swore allegiance to Bakar al-Baghdadi.  A man named Abdelhakim Belhadj took the position as head of ISIS in Libya. Abdelhakim Belhadj was critical in forming “Libya Dawn”, essentially a group of Islamic militia forces (LIFG or Libyan Islamic Fighting Groups) who fought under various banners such as Ansar al-Sharia (al-Qaeda in Libya) and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Today the links emerge between the Manchester bomber, Salman Abedi (22), and these extremist forces within Libya.  It appears the bombing attack against the Manchester concert venue was directed and coordinated by the family of Abedi and their close contacts within Libya including his father Ramadan Abedi who was arrested earlier today.

Important top-lines:

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The Saudi people and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are very proud of what they were able to accomplish during this historic visit by President Donald Trump to the summit of a united Arab coalition. (Summit Production Video):

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The entire region should be proud.

Despite the popular western dismissive media narrative, the summit was a resounding success. Beyond the royal pageantry, we can only imagine the internal anxiety if our beloved America was defined by the abhorrent behavior of the Westboro Baptist Church.

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More than any other Arab leader Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has led the way in confronting Islamic terrorism.

It was President al-Sisi who exiled the Muslim Brotherhood and formed a coalition of Arab nations to confront the extremist elements promoting violence.

President al-Sisi’s call to confront extremism was joined by King Abdullah III (Jordan) in 2014; and that eventually led to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States uniting and forming an anti-extremism Arab coalition. [Backstory Here]

President al-Sisi delivered a 2015 New Year speech to the the most influential Islamic scholars and faith leaders calling upon internal reform to confront the radical elements within the Muslim faith. Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz honored President al-Sisi for his efforts at creating a stable coalition for peace just prior to his death a few weeks later in late January 2015.

After taking power in 2015 Saudi King Salman took up the cause for al-Sisi’s peace coalition, and that was the beginning of a series of events that culminated in this 2017 Arab Islamic American Summit.  If regional peace is achieved, history will show how significant Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was in that result.

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In January of 2015 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi began a journey of peace by asking the holiest and most influential Islamic Scholars in the Arab world to join him in stepping away from the noise of extremist voices and engaging in long-term introspective review of their Islamic faith.  President al-Sisi called for a religious revolution to focus Islam toward a future of peace.  The engaged Dar al-Iftaa scholarly audience erupted in applause.

President al-Sisi stood up, resolute, spoke of large truths with bold leadership, and took great risk upon himself.  After the speech a coalition of like-minded voices began to grow in number and consequence.   That moment became the pebble dropped in the shoe of the Arab leadership of consequence – the emphasis shifted toward peace.

That influential speech, and more importantly the leadership of all joining member states, including the praise of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia before his untimely death, paved the way forward toward this upcoming weekend.   King Abdullah’s successor, his brother King Salman, is now positioned to put his own footprint in history.

All of the necessary elements, many of them taking years to organize, are aligned in common purpose for this specific moment in time.

More than a dozen heads of state from Arab and Islamic nations have been invited by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to attend the conference with President Trump including: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Egypt), King Abdullah III (Jordan), Muhammad Fuad Masum (Iraq), Mamnoon Hussain (Pakistan) and all six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE).  All are expected to be in attendance.

We are living in one of those rare moments when we are fortunate enough to see the building blocks of historic enterprise being erected while we watch.  The results of these next several days will shape how our children view the landscape of the middle east in all the years to come.

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Important Stuff – Watch how the actual (non fake) news cycle from the administration rolls out in coordination with President Trump’s trip to the mid-east.  There’s a larger, coordinated, geopolitical strategy message being sent to the world by the peace coalition President Trump has assembled over the past four months…

WASHINGTON DC – Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is crediting changes in tactics ordered by President Trump for increasing the pressure on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and leaving the beleaguered fighters with no avenue of escape.

“He directed a tactical shift from shoving ISIS out of safe locations in an attrition fight to surrounding the enemy in their strongholds so we can annihilate ISIS,” Mattis said Friday during a Pentagon briefing on the counter-ISIS campaign. (more…)

Today President Trump met with NATO member and Muslim Brotherhood supporter, President Recep Erdogan, prior to heading overseas for meetings with anti-Brotherhood Mid-East alliance.  “The Joint Arab Intervention Force”.

The motive for Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan to travel to the White House today was obvious, anxiety.

A very specific foreboding type of anxiety, because President Trump is about to embark on an international trip filled with multilateral meetings attended by a coalition of people who regard President Erdogan as a nemesis to peace.

If you only absorbed the Western media headlines for the past five years you would be entirely missing the interpersonal dynamic that began immediately following the start of President Obama’s second term.  A framework of understanding that highlights the intentional policy of Obama, and how the region shifted into hunker down mode in an effort to outlast the Obama interventionist doctrine.

Within this less discussed reality we also find domestic motives to undermine President Trump’s upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  Both the severe left and the militaristic right have vested interests in blocking a successful Trump peace doctrine.

President Obama’s ideological left and Senator McCain’s ideological right both prefer the big cat cages remain wide open allowing blood lust extremists to create convenient chaos.  Unfortunately, Russia (Putin) and Syria (Assad) also carry a self-preservation interest within this complex and extremist dynamic.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will join President Trump at an “Arab, Islamic, and American Conference” in Saudi Arabia this coming Sunday.

More than a dozen heads of state from Arab and Islamic nations have been invited to attend the conference with President Trump including: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Egypt), King Abdullah III (Jordan), Muhammad Fuad Masum (Iraq), Mamnoon Hussain (Pakistan) and all six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE), are expected to be in attendance. (more…)

Against the backdrop of President Trump assembling the mid-east alliance group, and with the previous diplomatic outline of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in mind, the travel schedule is not necessarily a surprise.

WHITE HOUSE – President Trump has accepted the invitation of King Salman bin Abd Al-Aziz, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia later this month. The visit will reaffirm the strong partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia and allow the leaders to discuss issues of strategic concern, including efforts to defeat terrorist groups and discredit radical ideologies.

President Trump has also accepted the invitation of President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Israel, where he will further strengthen the United States-Israel partnership. The leaders will discuss a range of regional issues, including the need to counter the threats posed by Iran and its proxies, and by ISIS and other terrorist groups. They will also discuss ways to advance a genuine and lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

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We are entirely clear-eyed as to the scope of the challenge. No-one amid our association is naive to the seemingly impossible scale against the backdrop of history.  It may be that their task is impossible. Yet, if they do not try then how will we know it can’t be done? And if they do not try, it most certainly won’t be done…

There is absolutely no doubt of the work that has been going on for months, quietly, mostly under the radar.  National media are completely deficient for not covering the ongoing events and the diplomacy that has been taking place all year.

We have a front row seat to what President Trump has been assembling, and I would never bet against the ability of President Trump and the people now aligned in consequence.

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The Diplomatic Timeline below:

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