This is The Prophecy. The Prophecy is much more than seeing into the future. For The Prophecy sees without the limits of time. For The Prophecy sees what is, what was, and what always shall be.
to shake,Two great rocks for a long time will make war, And then Arethusa will color a new river red.(And then areth USA will color a new river red.) Earth-shaking fire from the center of the earth.Will cause the towers around the
to shake,Two great rocks for a long time will make war
There is recent scientific evidence from drill core sampling in
Manhattan, that the southern peninsula is overlapped by several
tectonic plates. Drill core sampling has been taken from regions south of Canal Street including the Trade Towers’ site. Of particular concern is that similar core samples have been found across the East River in Brooklyn. There are also multiple
New York City has sustained earthquakes along these plates.For there are “two great rocks” or tectonic plates that shear across Manhattan in a northwestern pattern. And these plates “for a longtime will make war”, for they have been shearing against one other for millions of years. And on January 3 of 2010, when they makewar with each other one last time, the sixth seal shall be opened, and all will know that the end is near.And then Arethusa will color a new river red.
Arethusa is a Greek mythological figure, a beautiful huntress and afollower of the goddess Artemis. And like Artemis, Arethusa would have nothing to do with me; rather she loved to run and hunt in the forest. But one day after an exhausting hunt, she came to a clear crystal stream and went in it to take a swim. She felt something from beneath her, and frightened she scampered out of the water. A voice came from the water, “Why are you leaving fair maiden?” She ran into the forest to escape, for the voice was from Alpheus, the god of the river. For he had fallen in love with her and became a human to give chase after her. Arethusa in exhaustion called out to Artemis for help, and the goddess hid her by changing her into a spring.But not into an ordinary spring, but an underground channel that traveled under the ocean from Greece to Sicily. But Alpheus being the god of the river, converted back into water and plunged downthe same channel after Arethusa. And thus Arethusa was captured by Artemis, and their waters would mingle together forever. And of great concern is that core samples found in train tunnels beneath the Hudson River are identical to those taken from
southern Manhattan. Furthermore, several fault lines from the 2001 earthquakes were discovered in the Queen’s Tunnel Complex,
drawn up in 1874 was discovered, showing a maze of underground waterways and lakes. For Manhattan was once a marshland and labyrinth of underground streams. Thus when the sixth seal is broken, thesubways of the New Cityshall be flooded be Arethusa:the waters from the underground streams and the waters from the sea. And Arethusa shall be broken into two. And then Arethusa will color a new river red.And then areth USA will color a new river red.
For Arethusa broken into two is areth USA. For areth (αρετη) is the Greek word for values. But the values of the USA are not based on morality, but on materialism and on wealth. Thus when the sixth seal is opened, Wall Street and our economy shall crash and “arethUSA”, the values of our economy shall fall “into the red.” “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (Revelation 6:15-17)
Photo: WION News | A limited-scale exchange between such nations as India and Pakistan could have catastrophic consequences for global food supplies and trigger mass death worldwide.
LUND, Sweden, 4 April 2023 (IDN) — If nuclear war does break out between India and Pakistan, they will only have themselves to blame. Since the early 1970s they have been walking along the unmarked path that leads to nuclear holocaust and enough people both within and without have told them how to turn back. Even today if Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were as serious as they say they are about avoiding nuclear war they could sit down for two hours and sort the whole thing out. It is not that complicated.
The late Mahbub ul Haq, at one time Pakistan’s minister of finance and one of the most creative minds to have come out of a land that has produced more than its fair share of brilliant heads, suggested the creation of a UN trusteeship to last 10 or 15 years over both Indian-held and Pakistan-held Kashmir. “Why not withdraw armed forces from inside Kashmir to near the border belt, withdraw all administrative machinery, open the border between the two parts of Kashmir and give the Kashmiris themselves a chance for self-government and peaceful development?”
Yet if Pakistan and India have only themselves to blame for today’s decisions or non-decisions, historians will doubtless extend the culpability in many directions. To the British first and foremost, who divided India and left without resolving the issue of the Moslem state of Kashmir inside a predominantly Hindu India. There was not much point in spilling 250,000 lives in the pursuit of partition if that problem couldn’t have been solved at the same time.
To India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who repeatedly miscalculated by refusing to take seriously Mohammed Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League. At one time Jinnah would have worked to keep India whole as long as there was an important place for Muslims and the League. And again, to Nehru for promising the Kashmiris a referendum on independence which 75 years later India has still not delivered on.
In more recent times, much responsibility needs to be heaped on the shoulders of that most pacific inclined of all American presidents, Jimmy Carter. At that time when India’s prime minister was the near pacifist, Morarji Desai, it could have been possible to persuade India to renounce its quest for nuclear weapons if Washington had used a little more carrot and a bit less stick, in its attempt to pressure India to sign a safeguards agreement on the use of spent nuclear fuel.
The quid pro quo would have been for America to step up the pace in negotiating a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and to honour its promise implicit in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to get rid of its nuclear weapons at a faster pace. Such a compromise would have served the world well; a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would not only have slowed the American-Soviet arms race, but it would also have made the Indian and Pakistan nuclear bombs much more difficult to develop.
Carter compounded his earlier errors by allowing himself to be thrown off course by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Carter put his telescope to his blind eye and ignored what Pakistan’s nuclear establishment was up to in return for forging an anti-Soviet partnership to arm the mujahideen. For years after, under Carter and then under Ronald Reagan, the White House went through an annual ritual of giving assurances that all was well in Pakistan’s nuclear laboratories. It was not only an ill-conceived policy it was an unnecessary one.
But the blame goes further back than Carter, to Richard Nixon. It was he and Henry Kissinger, with their grand notions of realpolitik, who favoured the ploy of a nuclear-armed China to play off against the Soviet Union. Nixon made it abundantly clear that he gave so much time and attention to China and so little to India because the former was nuclear armed, and the latter was not. Alas, it took the big bang of India’s first open nuclear bomb test to penetrate where all the good journalism, books and wise diplomatic missives—that have argued that it was democratic India that has the best long run future of all the big Asian countries—had failed to reach.
Blame China too. It was Chinese scientific and material aid that made the Pakistani nuclear bomb possible. China was more aware of India’s future potential than was America yet, like so many decisions made by the big powers, it was a policy that has totally backfired as India develops a stockpile of nuclear missiles more aimed at China than at Pakistan.
The western powers including Russia are now paying in anxiety for the many years of living out a Faustian bargain between their foreign and economic policies on the one hand and their nuclear proliferation commitments on the other. For reasons of financial self-interest, many western countries until relatively recently failed to police their high technology exports rigorously enough.
The ability to build stocks of plutonium or enriched uranium and construct a bomb slipped through to countries as diverse as Israel, Iraq, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Argentina, and South Africa (although the latter three of their own volition decided to forgo their nuclear weapons).
*Jonathan Power was for 17 years a foreign affairs columnist and commentator for the International Herald Tribune, now the New York Times. He has also written dozens of columns for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times. He is the European who has appeared most on the opinion pages of these papers. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Photo: WION News | A limited-scale exchange between such nations as India and Pakistan could have catastrophic consequences for global food supplies and trigger mass death worldwide.
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A tornado struck Missouri on Wednesday morning, causing an unknown number of injuries, as severe thunderstorms packing the threat of more hail and tornadoes were forecast across parts of the Midwest and South.
The storms threatened a region that includes portions of the country still reeling from deadly weekend weather. The Storm Prediction Center said up to 40 million people from Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit to Memphis, Tennessee, were at risk for storms later Wednesday, with the greatest threat from lower Michigan, across the middle to lower Ohio River valley and into the mid-South.
Storms were moving Wednesday morning across the Ozarks in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, prompting tornado warnings. The National Weather Service said a tornado struck in Bollinger County in southeastern Missouri on Wednesday morning, causing an unknown number of injuries.
“A tornado definitely touched down, there is damage to homes, we know that, there have been people injured, we don’t know the extent” or if there are fatalities, said meteorologist Justin Gibbs with the weather service in Paducah, Kentucky.
Gibbs said it appears initially that the tornado was on the ground for 15-20 miles in the area about 90 miles south of St. Louis. He said the weather service will send a survey team to the area later Wednesday to assess the damage and determine the strength of the tornado.Play Video
Video above: How to prepare for a tornado
The Missouri State Highway Patrol had earlier reported suspected tornado damage with a widespread debris field and some injuries in Bolinger County in the state’s southeast near the communities of Grassy and Marble Hill. Sgt. Clark Parrott of the Missouri State Highway Patrol told KFVS-TV it was not immediately clear how many were injured.
Messages seeking more details on the overnight damage were left by The Associated Press with Missouri Highway Patrol and Bollinger County Sheriff’s office Wednesday morning.
The storms come after severe weather and possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 32 people days ago, meaning more potential misery for those whose homes were destroyed in Arkansas, Iowa and Illinois.
The fierce storms started last Friday and continued into the weekend spawned deadly tornadoes in 11 states as the system plodded through Arkansas and onto the South, Midwest and Northeast.
Schools in Little Rock canceled Wednesday’s classes because the storms were expected to move through the metro during morning rush hour, KFVS-TV reported.Play Video
Video above: Eyewitness captures the moment Illinois tornado surrounded their house
At least two tornadoes were confirmed Tuesday in Illinois as storms targeted the state and eastern Iowa and southwest Wisconsin before nightfall.
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings in Iowa and Illinois on Tuesday evening and said a confirmed twister was spotted southwest of Chicago near Bryant, Illinois. Officials said another tornado touched down Tuesday morning in the western Illinois community of Colona. Local news reports showed wind damage to some businesses there.
Earlier Tuesday, strong thunderstorms swept through the Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois with winds up to 90 mph and baseball-size hail. No injuries were reported, but trees were downed and some businesses were damaged in Moline, Illinois.
Northern Illinois, from Moline to Chicago, saw 75-80 mph winds and hail 2 to 3 inches in diameter Tuesday afternoon, National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Baker said. The agency received reports of semi trucks tipped over by winds in Lee County, about 95 miles west of Chicago.
The same conditions that fueled those storms – an area of low pressure combined with strong southerly winds – were setting up the severe weather Tuesday into early Wednesday, said Ryan Bunker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
Those conditions, which typically include dry air from the West going up over the Rockies and crashing into warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, are what make the U.S. so prone to tornadoes and other severe storms.
Dramatic temperature changes were taking place, with Tuesday highs of 74 F in Des Moines and 86 F in Kansas City plunging overnight to 40 F or colder overnight. In Little Rock, Arkansas, Tuesday’s high of 89 F tied the record for the date set in 1880.
___
Associated Press writers Trisha Ahmed in St. Paul, Minnesota; Margery A. Beck in Omaha, Nebraska; Claire Savage in Chicago; Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington; and Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia, contributed to this report.
For the first time in U.S. history, a former president surrendered to law enforcement and was placed under arrest.
Donald Trump’s arraignment Tuesday thrust the U.S. criminal justice system into dramatically new territory, testing the durability of courtroom rules and legal procedures that apply to all Americans – this time, the 45th chief executive of the nation.
Here are takeaways from Trump’s arrest.
34 counts
In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 felony counts for falsifying New York business records through a “catch and kill” scheme designed to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity before the 2016 election.
The crux of the case centers on $130,000 in hush money payments that Trump’s then-fixer Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors also outlined a $30,000 payment to a former Trump Tower doorman “who claimed to have a story about a child Trump had out of wedlock.”
And they referenced a separate $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal to silence her about an alleged affair prior to the 2016 election. Prosecutors said the latter two payments were facilitated by American Media Inc., whicht owns and operates the National Enquirer tabloid.
Flanked by attorneys, former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in the courtroom for his arraignment proceeding at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 4, 2023, in New York City.
There’s no state law that prohibits hush money payments. But Bragg said Trump falsified business records by concealing monthly reimbursement payments he made to Cohen as checks for legal services.
By itself, falsifying business records is a misdemeanor under New York law. Bragg charged Trump with more serious felony counts by arguing the records were falsified to cover up other crimes.
“Why did Donald Trump repeatedly make these false statements?” Bragg said. “The evidence will show that he did so to cover up crimes relating to the 2016 election.”
Although the indictment doesn’t specify which additional crimes, Bragg said Trump violated New York election law and federal campaign finance law.
“This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election and it should be dropped immediately,” he said.
Romney, other Trump critics skeptical of Bragg’s case
Even some of Trump’s biggest critics were quick to question whether Bragg presented enough new information to warrant the charges.
“I believe President Trump’s character and conduct make him unfit for office,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who voted to remove Trump from office during the ex-president’s second impeachment trial, said in a statement.
“Even so, I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda.”
WASHINGTON, DC – Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) speaks to reporters in the Senate subway on his way to a vote at the U.S. Capitol March 14, 2023.
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security advisor-turned-critic, questioned whether Trump’s hush payments represented a campaign contribution or expenditure under federal law.
“Speaking as someone who very strongly does not want Donald Trump to get the Republican presidential nomination, I’m extraordinarily distressed by this document,” Bolton said in an interview on CNN. “I think this is even weaker than I feared it would be. And I think it’s easily subject to being quickly dismissed.”
All eyes on Alvin Bragg
Bragg will arguably be as much the center of attention in this case as Trump.
“We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct,” he said, defending bringing the case forward at a news conference after Trump appeared in court.
The district attorney said a “trail of money and lies exposes a pattern” that violates New York’s basic and fundamental business laws.
For Republicans, Bragg will be a lightning rod for their assertions that this case is at best a campaign promise and at worse a political persecution.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg discuss charges filed against former President Donald Trump on April 4, 2023 in New York City.
During the 2021 campaign for Manhattan district attorney, for instance, Bragg reportedly reminded voters that he sued the Trump administration “more than a hundred times” in his old job as assistant New York attorney general.
Democrats, meanwhile, have largely emphasized how the justice system needs to play out without prejudice or favor.
Protesters display a banner criticizing former President Donald Trump outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York City on April 4, 2023.
Among them were two polarizing Republican lawmakers, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia, and George Santos, of New York, who joined the pro-Trump side that was waving flags and blowing whistles.
“The government has been weaponized against him,” Greene said. “I’m here to protest and use my voice to take a stand. Every American should take a stand.”
Later, Greene compared Trump to Jesus and Nelson Mandela in an interview with Right Side Broadcasting.
“Get your hateful rhetoric out of New York City,” Bowman said via Twitter. “Democracy is all about love.”
The White House keeps quiet
Tuesday’s circus-like atmosphere provided a striking split screen: a former president under arrest and the current president, Joe Biden, trying his best to act like he’s not paying attention.
As Trump walked out of his vehicle to surrender at the Manhattan courthouse, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was in the middle of a press briefing, declining to comment to question after question about the Trump case.
President Joe Biden walks to speak to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville, N.C., Tuesday, March 28, 2023, en route to Washington.
“Obviously he (Biden) will catch part of the news when he has a moment to catch up on the news of the day,” Jean-Pierre said at her daily briefing. “But this is not his focus for today.”
Jean-Pierre cited the ongoing nature of the case in declining comment. Biden ignored questions shouted by reporters about Trump’s case after declining comment last week.
Anything Biden says could be used by Republicans to reinforce their case of a politically biased government and justice system.
But Biden’s strategy of silence will be tested if Biden formally announces a 2024 reelection bid, which he’s widely expected to do. If Biden remains silent, then Trump’s claims of a rigged justice system – almost certain to ramp up heading into 2024 – would go unchallenged by the likely Democratic standard-bearer.
How long can Biden stay quiet on such a significant case – especially one with direct implications on his own political future?
No mugshot, but Trump fakes one to raise money
Heading into the proceedings, it was unclear whether Trump would be held to the same standards as other defendants by getting fingerprinted and photographed for a mug shot.
In the end, Trump was required to provide fingerprints but was not subjected to a mug shot or handcuffs. A person familiar with the matter said the decision was ultimately made by Bragg’s office.
Former President Donald Trump arrives at court, Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in New York.
That didn’t stop the Trump campaign from creating its own Trump mug shot to raise money, however.
Within minutes of the former president being processed his 2024 campaign team put out its own “mugshot” with a picture of Trump over a “not guilty” banner in a fundraising email.
Trump has used his indictment to rally Republicans, with even some of his potential Republican opponents accusing law enforcement of being weaponized against Trump.
Campaign officials said Trump had $10 million in donations since the indictment last week.
The judge also did not order a gag order, meaning the former president can speak freely about the case without concern about repercussions in court.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison and Phillip M. Bailey @phillipmbailey
He was followed in the polls by Iran-backed Shia militia leader Hadi Al Amiri, while incumbent Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, initially predicted to win re-election, trails in third.
Published 11:45 AM ET Mon, 14 May 2018 Updated 9:54 AM ET Tue, 15 May 2018 CNBC.com
HAIDAR HAMDANI | AFP | Getty Images
Iraqi Shiite cleric and leader Moqtada al-Sadr (C-L) shows his ink-stained index finger and holds a national flag while surrounded by people outside a polling station in the central holy city of Najaf on May 12, 2018 as the country votes in the first parliamentary election since declaring victory over the Islamic State (IS) group.
More than 91 percent of Iraq’s votes have been tallied after polls closed over the weekend in Iraq’s first election since defeating the Islamic State (ISIS) late last year. And they reveal a shock win for firebrand Iraqi cleric Moqtada al Sadr, who wasn’t even running for prime minister, along with his coalition allies, the Iraqi Communist Party. He was followed by Iran-backed Shia militia leader Hadi Al Amiri, while incumbent Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, initially predicted to win re-election, trailed in third. Voter turnout was a low 44.5 percent, indicating widespread voter apathy and pessimism, observers said.
Reports show that Sadr’s “Sairoon” alliance won more than 1.3 million votes, translating to 54 seats in the country’s 329-seat parliament, taking the greatest share among a broad and fractured array of parties.
A win for Sadr, the populist Shia leader known for his anti-American campaigns and his populist appeal to Iraq’s young and poor, could dramatically change Iraq’s political landscape and its relationship with external powers like the U.S. and Iran. In addition to pushing for the removal of U.S. troops from Iraq, Sadr is avidly opposed to Iranian influence in his country. That influence has grown significantly thanks to the pivotal role played by Iran-backed militias in driving out ISIS. The influential cleric, who has millions of religious followers, cannot become prime minister as he did not run for the position himself — but his electoral success means he will likely have a key role in deciding who does.
Powerful charisma
Sadr has spearheaded a number of political movements in Iraq, gaining infamy for directing attacks on U.S. troops in the wake of the 2003 Iraq invasion. His charismatic sermons have drawn hundreds of thousands into the streets over a range of causes. More recently, he’s led campaigns and protests against corruption within the Shia-led government as well as against Iranian influence, and pledged to overcome sectarianism by leading a secular coalition that includes Iraq’s communists. Sadr in 2003 created the Mahdi Army, which executed the first major armed confrontation against U.S. forces in Iraq led by the Shia community — and it posed such a threat that U.S. forces were instructed to kill or capture him. The group, which numbered up to 10,000, was also accused of carrying out atrocities against Iraq’s Sunnis. It was disbanded in 2008, but re-mobilized in 2014 to fight ISIS. The cleric owes much of his religious following to the legacy of his father, an influential Iraqi ayatollah murdered in the 1990s for opposing former President Saddam Hussein, and has spent much of his career championing Shia causes.
AHMAD AL-RUBAYE | AFP | Getty Images
But in the last year, he’s undergone something of a reinvention: he has reached out to Sunni Gulf neighbors, most notably in 2017 visits to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) powers typically shunned Iraq’s Shia, but are now making headway in the country through investment and economic aid, seen partially as an attempt to counter arch-rival Iran’s entrenched influence in the country. Ahead of the election, Sadr pledged a commitment to abandon sectarianism by forming a coalition with secular Sunnis and Iraq’s Communist Party, who have as a result seen their best election performance ever. “Sadr‘s strong showing suggests that he maintains a relatively loyal following and that his nationalist, cross-sectarian platform was effective at mobilizing voters in challenging conditions,” said Ryan Turner, a senior risk analyst at London-based PGI Group. He has also stopped advocating violence, said Renad Mansour, an Iraq researcher and fellow at U.K. policy institute Chatham House. “He passed the use of violence for his political agenda,” Mansour said. “But say if the U.S. come back and occupy Iraq, I imagine that this would change.”
Possible kingmaker
Because of the fractured nature of Iraqi politics, no candidate or bloc has won an outright majority. The winners of the most seats must negotiate a coalition government within 90 days, during which a long complex process of compromise will have to unfold. Winning the greatest share of votes does not directly translate to leading the government. “Depending on the final tallies and political jockeying, Sadr may find himself in a position to play kingmaker, which could see Abadi reappointed prime minister,” Turner said, referring to the current prime minister, who was widely praised for leading the fight against ISIS and for balancing relationships across sects and external powers. But to do so, Sadr would likely have to outmaneuver Iran, which would prefer to see Amiri — the candidate who finished second place — assume the premiership. Tehran wields much of its influence by pushing its preferred policies through Iranian-backed candidates and political players like Amiri. A major objective of Iran’s is to push the U.S. out of Iraq, where some 5,000 troops still remain.
Department of Defense photo
U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to Bravo Troop, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, maneuver through a hallway as part of squad level training at Camp Taji, Iraq.
The extent to which the reforms Sadr has championed can take place will be determined by these fractured politics, said Mansour. “So far Sadr has been a very vocal voice demanding change — the question becomes whether he’ll actually be able to maneuver around the system that Iraq is, which is one where power is so diffuse among different entities that it’s hard for one group to have complete control. But I think he certainly will try and be more dramatic about it.” Labeled one of the most corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International, Iraq is still mired in poverty and dysfunction following its bloody, three-year battle against ISIS. Officials estimate they’ll need at least $100 billion to rebuild the country’s destroyed homes, businesses and infrastructure, and improvised explosive devices and landmines remain scattered throughout the country. The composition of the new government will be crucial in determining how Iraq moves forward. “It’s not clear that Sadr‘s rising political influence will undermine Iraq’s recent progress,” Turner said, noting that despite the cleric’s past, he has cooperated with Abadi and backed changes intended to reduce corruption. “Much will depend on what happens next, and whether Sadr is able to quickly form a governing coalition or Iraq enters a period of prolonged deadlock as after the 2010 election.”Natasha TurakCorrespondent, CNBC
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it does. The Biden administration is working on a plan that would make the world a far more dangerous place.
March 19, 2022 10:09pm
It’s a plot with three steps, all terrible and each arguably worse than the previous one.
Step One is the determination to make a new sweetheart nuclear deal with Iran. There is no good reason, only the fetish to undo everything Donald Trump did.
Step Two in the budding disaster is that the White House is letting the butcher of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, broker the talks between America and Iran. As I noted last week, on one hand, Putin is a war criminal raining death and destruction on millions of civilians, and on the other hand, we trust him to make an ironclad deal that blocks the mad mullahs from getting the ultimate weapons of mass destruction.
Oh, and in consideration of Putin’s efforts for world peace, any construction work Russia does in Iran related to the nuke deal would be exempt from sanctions imposed over Ukraine. As Biden would say, no joke.
If this sounds absolutely insane, get a load of Step Three. The Biden bots are actively considering, as a bonus to the mullahs, removing the terrorist designation of their main military group, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Recall that Trump droned the longtime commander of the Guards’ elite Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was responsible for killing and maiming thousands of American soldiers in Iraq. Soleimani had spread terror in the region for decades, yet Biden said during the 2020 campaign he would not have ordered the hit.
Under the Iran deal, the dangerous Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps force will no longer be designated as terrorists.
His objection is probably relevant to the fact that Iran added the demand about removing the terror label. They figured they were pushing on an open door with the appeaser in chief.
Reports say all the group must do is pledge to make nice and stop killing Iran’s enemies across the Middle East and a separate agreement will lift the sanctions blocking its financing, travel, etc., as if it’s the Chamber of Commerce.
The whole notion is so far off the charts that the Jewish News Syndicate reports that Israeli leaders, already unhappy about the prospect of any deal with Iran, initially refused to believe the White House would even consider giving a free pass to the Revolutionary Guards.
Iranians still honor Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi Cmdr. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis two years after former President Donald Trump ordered their assassinations.
Convinced the proposal is real, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid issued a furious statement denouncing the group as “responsible for attacks on American civilians and American forces throughout the Middle East” and said it was “behind plans to assassinate senior American government officials.”
Bennett and Lapid continued: “The IRGC were involved in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians; they destroyed Lebanon and they are brutally oppressing Iranian civilians. They kill Jews because they are Jews, Christians because they are Christians, and Muslims because they refuse to surrender to them.”
Former American diplomats who have advised both Democrats and Republicans in the region agreed the idea stinks.
Dennis Ross tweeted that the concept “makes us look naive” and, citing the group’s recent rocket attacks in Iraq that nearly struck an American consulate, added: “For the IRGC, which admitted this week to firing rockets into Erbil, to promise to de-escalate regionally is about as credible as Putin saying Russia would not invade Ukraine.”
Iran claimed responsibility for firing ballistic missiles near the US consulate in Erbil, Iraq, in response to an Israeli strike on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Syria.
Ambassador Martin Indyk tweeted that removing the Guards from the terror list would be seen as a “betrayal” by many US allies who suffered from their brutal terrorism.
Nonetheless, it looks as if Biden wants to give the terrorists a pass in exchange for a vague promise. The White House has said no decision has been reached, which probably means it has but officials won’t defend it publicly until the agreement is signed.
There is one potential roadblock to all the madness, and that is the Senate. Because the entire package is new, Senate approval is required.
Many people believe it should be considered a formal treaty, which would require two-thirds support. Instead, Democrats are likely to try to use an end run similar to the one they used in 2015 to get the first deal through.
After a GOP-led filibuster effort failed, 58 to 42, the pact was deemed approved through what one critic called “brilliant political subterfuge.” That critic, Eric R. Mandel, director of the Middle East Political Information Network, writes in The Hill: “So, let’s recap: Forty-two senators were able to bind America to an agreement that should have required the votes of 66 senators for a treaty.”
If the Senate lets anything like that happen again, it will prove that Biden’s love of extremely bad ideas is contagious.
[1/5] Palestinian gunmen attend the funeral of a Palestinian, who was killed by Israeli troops during a raid, in Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, April 3,2023. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta12345
RAMALLAH, West Bank/GAZA, April 3 (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed two Palestinian gunmen during a clash in the occupied West Bank on Monday, militant factions and medics said, and shot down a drone over the Gaza Strip that the ruling Islamist group Hamas claimed as part of its arsenal.
Tensions have been running high as Muslims mark the Ramadan holy fast month during a surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence.
The latest shootings happened during a raid by the Israeli military in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
The Lion’s Den, a coalition of Palestinian gunmen in Nablus, said one of its members was killed while battling the incursion. A second slain gunman was claimed by the Fatah faction.
The military said its soldiers shot several gunmen after coming under fire in Nablus. There were no Israeli casualties.
During the raid, the Israeli military detained two people suspected of assisting a Palestinian who carried out a March 25 drive-by shooting that wounded two troops, the military said. The car used was also seized, it said.
In Ramallah, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, accused Israel of trying to “drag the region into a cycle of violence and instability”.
Over Gaza, the southern coastal enclave, an Israeli warplane shot down a unidentified flying object, the military said. The object had not crossed into nor threatened Israel, it added.
Gaza residents heard explosions overhead.
Hamas said one of its “Shehab” drones, while on a training flight, had been shot down by Israel’s air force. Hamas said it responded by firing anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli planes. The military confirmed that, saying no planes were hit.
In a 2021 statement, Hamas described the Shehab, which is around the size of a model aircraft, as an explosives-bearing suicide drone.
Around 90 Palestinians, including gunmen and civilians, have been killed by Israeli forces in 2023, the Palestinian health ministry said. Fifteen Israelis and a Ukrainian have died in Palestinian attacks, Israel’s foreign ministry said.
Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Conor Humphries, Hugh Lawson and Frank Jack Daniel
The Prophecy Blog 