The Islamic State’s (ISIS) rise to become a dominant threat to the entire known universe was an intelligence failure that, according to Obama, Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has already taken responsibility for.  I wonder if Mr. Clapper is aware of that.
It’s not his administration to blame, oh, no – no – no – NO! NEVER !
It’s those pesky “others” who didn’t do their job and cause problems for the administration’s magnanimous excellence.

If anyone has sources in Turkey, or knowledge of current dynamics in Turkey, or insight we would really like to hear from you.
The intents, inclinations, sympathies and motivations of Recep Erdogan are brutally obvious. What’s lesser known is how far the underpinning of Turkish politics is willing to allow his ideology to advance. After all, Erdogan is one man – leading one party – and there are opposition forces within Turkey which could, if pressured, become a danger to him.

Our current working theory, given known players, ideology and research into actual behaviors, is this:
The ISIS trade for the 49 Turkish hostages was made without payment. So what would the Quid-pro-quo involve?
Given all of the sympathies and tendencies two things are obvious. Erdogan is essentially more adverse to Bashir Assad then he is to ISIS, and ISIS is politically savvy – far more so than al-Qaeda was, and more in line with the political expertise of The Brotherhood (founded in 1928).
Given that, would the quid pro quo involve an acceptance of, and unwillingness to stop (per se’), the ISIS driven exodus of Kurdish refugees upon the nation of Turkey? If so, how far -and how many refugees- would Turkey allow ISIS to drive into the border region, before Turkey would view the inbound masses as a risk to the societal constructs and domestic objectives of Erdogan? (more…)

Many people who have followed the Ferguson protests have noted a very involved element of radical Islam appearing just below the surface.
One of the more visible primary agitators is “Umar Lee”, aka Bret Lee.  Recently Bret Lee has begun severely ramping up the cries for carnage and blood, as the weeks have progressed he appears to have become increasingly unstable.

Both  Pam Geller and Charles Johnson have also noticed the increasing vitriol:

Umar Lee is a notorious and unstable character. In 2013 he left Islam and then he returned. An agitator and notorious jihadist. Apparently the violence appealed to him – for the same reason the Ferguson [violence] does.
Islamic supremacists have been working feverishly to marry Ferguson to the Islamic supremacists’ jihad.  (link)

Despite his calls for violence, and his recent arrests, or perhaps because of them, Mr. Lee has gained the sympathy of Alderman Antonio French who was recently trying to get Umar Lee out of police custody. (more…)

Yah’Keem Yisrael converted to Islam in 2011 yet the media continue to say “recent convert”.  Four years does not a “recent convert” make…  He was photographed inside the Islamic Mosque in Oklahoma City last month (August 7th)

(Via Truth Revolt) On Friday morning, police in Moore, Oklahoma released the identity of the suspect in the brutal beheading of a woman at her workplace: Alton Nolen, who now goes by Jah’Keem Yisrael. Nolen is a convert to Islam, and local press reports that he had attempted to convert other employees at Vaughan Foods, where the murder took place.
Yisrael is a graduate of Idabel High School in nearby Idabel, Oklahoma, about four hours southeast from Moore where the attack occurred. Nolen was a football player and, by available accounts, not a religious person at the time. A teammate, speaking to Truth Revolt, describes him as “normal” and “a good football player, but not great.”
Local newspaper McCurtain Gazette reports (no online edition is available):

A classmate of Nolen’s, who didn’t wish to be identified, told this newspaper that he spoke to a close family member of Nolen’s today.
He told this newspaper that according to the family member, Nolen was telling coworkers Thursday of an Islamic teaching that said women should be stoned for an offense, and that an argument followed the mark, Nolen was later fired and returned later Thursday, when he beheaded Colleen Hufford, the family member said.

One former resident recalls exclusively for Truth Revolt that only one Muslim family was living in Idabel at the time. The source says the family “owned and operated a pizza shop and started the local soccer league.” (more…)

The U.K Parliament has voted to join the U.S. led coalition to eliminate NI-ISIS, but only in Iraq. The attacking of ISIS behind the sovereign territorial lines of the Syrian state was not a part of the U.K referendum request put forth by Prime Minister David Cameron.
Unlike President Obama – David Cameron understands the problematic approach of attacking an entity within Syria -without the approval of the Syrian government- as illegal. Indeed, by all international definitions, the incursions into Syria are both illegal and unauthorized.

…”I do believe there is a strong case for us to do more in Syria but I did not want to bring a motion to the house today which there wasnt consensus for”…  (David Cameron 9/26/14)

It is impossible to remain lawfully consistent against unauthorized Russian incursions into Ukraine, and simultaneously carryout the same activity into Syria. There is no structural context in U.S. or International Law which would permit such activity. Yet, Obama does it anyway.  [Prediction – Syria will be Libya 2.0]

UK Via Fox News – British lawmakers voted Friday to join the U.S.-led coalition and launch airstrikes on Islamic State group militants as early as this weekend in northern Iraq, but the motion did not endorse airstrikes in Syria. (more…)

Having recently given safe haven to the leadership of Muslim Brotherhood terrorists exiled from Qatar, Turkey’s President Erdogan delivered a speech at the United Nations in defense of the Sunni extremists ISIS and The Brotherhood – while simultaneously attacking Egypt and Fattah El-Sisi.

Let there be no doubt the NATO member Turkey is not only willing to stand on the sidelines, but is, in actuality, supporting the Sunni extremists with direct support (financial and military).  Erdogan is also supporting with non-action, such as refusing to allow coalition forces to use NATO bases in Turkey.   The reasoning is not complex Erdogan is supporting his ideological ally ISIS against his arch nemesis, Syria’s Bashir Assad.
To deflect attention away from his actual support of ISIS Erdogan chooses another target for his attack.
Defending his friend, jailed and former Egyptian President – Muslim Brotherhood leader – Mohammed Morsi, President Erdogan removed the sheep’s cloak, yet most of the western media avoid peering into the dark eyes of the wolf laying underneath.
Perhaps the media avoid because it is too brutal a reality to admit, or perhaps because Western media suffers from a severe case of willful blindness, you will find few news outlets actually getting to the heart of the reasoning for Turkey’s unwillingness to support the removal of The Islamic State of Iraq and Syrian, ISIS.
Erdogan supports the overall ISIS objective. President Erdogan hates Bashir Assad beyond all else; and the Sunni ISIS methods, while concerning, are, in his mind, effective. (more…)

I would like to thank the only other website/blog -I have found- wise enough to connect the dots, and brave enough to talk about them.
Before doing so I must share a daily prayer we have repeated for two years:

Father please afford Your strength and protection; guide our naked journey; sharpen our insight; strengthen our influence; accept our willingness; be confident in our faith; afford us the ability of unguarded vision; and deliver us to the highest place where we may look over the horizon.
Guide us there to see, and remove our fear and nervousness so that we may accept and bear witness – Amen.

From a position of faith we have traced all the connections we can find, and we are now beginning to notice we are not alone.
There are others who have followed their own journey, from separate directions, and are destined to arrive at the same overlook.

SEE HERE

EGYPT – In his speech to the United Nations on Wednesday, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said that the world has begun to understand the reality of the extremism that Egyptians revolted against last year.

“The world has started to grasp the reality and understand why Egyptians revolted against extremism that wanted to break the unity of the nation,” said El-Sisi.
At the beginning of his speech, El-Sisi saluted UN officials and also Egyptian expats who came from different cities to the UN headquarters to “say that a new Egypt is coming.”
El-Sisi said that since his election last June, he and other Egyptians have been working to build “a civil democratic state” by following the roadmap announced last year by different political forces soon after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
He also stressed the need for an inclusive state that respects the law, the judiciary and human rights. (more…)

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron does an effective job  describing the danger of “extremism“, not just “violent extremism“, all extremism.  (Cameron Speech Here)
However, anyone interested in actually following, researching and analyzing international action, against radical Islamist extremism, must also note that Egypt’s President Fatah El-Sisi is about two years ahead in confronting the extremist ideology.

Almost everything both Obama and Cameron have stated in the past month can be viewed curiously against their unwillingness to hold such public views while El-Sisi was pushing back against extremism, and doing something about it.
Readers and visitors to the Treehouse community know full well we have watched Egypt intently.  We continue to share that no international leader has done more to confront ALL the tentacles of radicalism than El-Sisi.
Yet he has also been the recipient of marginalization – at best, and admonishment – at worst, as he has carries out a challenging mission to provide secular stability not only to Egypt, but also to the entire region.
When David Cameron says “all extremism” must be confronted, he need to look no further than Egypt to see it confronted not only on the streets but also in politics, in the media, and within the places of worship where hatred is the tenet that fuels the congregation.
Both Cameron and Obama correctly identify and define extremism yet fail to acknowledge the root.   Extremism stems from a culture of hatred, that culture exists because the West will not confront it.   El-Sisi confronts the culture of hatred head-on.
El-Sisi is by no means perfect, nor is Egypt as a whole; however, the intellectual and cultural center of the Middle-East is once again rising like a Phoenix thanks -in no small part- to the grit and policy of one principled man. A man thoroughly committed to the stability of his nation, and to the broader, predominantly Muslim, nations surrounding it.
(more…)

Trying to Manage/Police A Cultural Safari Park

Notes:
•  Johnson unable to understand residents who find more pride in destroying community than living in it. A culture of community pride is non-existent amid a significant portion of the residents and those view a greater value, greater personal credibility, in destroying it.
•  No outside agitators, these are Ferguson residents.
•  Mike Brown “shrine” was recorded burning for 11 minutes and could have easily been initially put out with simple cup of water. The person recording did not want to put it out and then went door to door saying the police started it. (more…)