Tag Archives: Hillary Clinton

Oct 9 2023

Stop Pretending – It’s Not the “Fungibility,” It’s the Location of the $6 Billion Returned to Iran


Posted originally on the CTH on October 8, 2023 | Sundance

You want to go deep weeds, let’s go deep weeds.  Almost all of the conversations about the $6 billion given back to Iran have focused on the fungible aspect of money.  While true, that focus misses the key and essential point, where the money was delivered.

The captured $6 billion was held in a South Korean bank, the result of sanctions violations.  What the Biden/Blinken crew did, was move the money from South Korea to a bank in Qatar.

Now, many people may not at first understand the nature of how that makes such a significant difference.  The lack of understanding is the result of people not fully grasping what Qatar does in the Middle East.   Qatar is the financial center for Islamic extremist operations.  Qatar is the banking center for the Muslim Brotherhood.  The Brotherhood is the political umbrella for a host of Islamic extremist groups.

Qatar is well known to CTH readers and those who follow the deep weeds of geopolitics.  Qatar has historically been the financial center and funding mechanism of the Muslim Brotherhood.  In many ways Qatar is to the U.S. State Dept, CIA and political elements of the Intelligence Community in the Middle East, as Ukraine is to those same entities in Europe.

We have outlined the long history of Qatar as it pertains to a myriad of U.S. interests.

EXAMPLES: •When the Obama/Clinton State Dept wanted to fund the covert weapons to the Benghazi rebels, they used Qatar. •When President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expelled the radical leaders of The Brotherhood from Egypt, they went to Qatar.  •When President Donald Trump asked the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to confront radical Islamic extremism, the Arab nations confronted Qatar.  •When Qatar was forced to expel the five most radical leaders of The Brotherhood, they went to Turkey.  [Turkish President Recep Erdogan is aligned in common principle with The Brotherhood.]  •When the U.S. released captured Islamic extremists from Gitmo (al-Qaeda in Afghanistan), they were transferred to Qatar.  •When the Taliban took back control over Afghanistan, the al-Qaeda leaders from Qatar went back to Afghanistan.

Qatar is aligned with the Obama/Biden worldview of all things political.  The Obama/Biden worldview is not opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood.  As a consequence, the Obama/Biden worldview is in alignment with the Palestinian Authority.  In essence, in many ways of laundering money, Qatar is an Arabic version of Ukraine.

Without Qatar radical Islamic extremism could not exist.  Without Qatar the Muslim Brotherhood, the political arm of Islamic extremism, could not exist.  Qatar is the bank for all operational terrorist groups.

Now, I’m going to pull this next segment from Wikipedia, because even in the manipulated data you can clearly see the issues I am outlining.

[Wikipedia] The 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis was a diplomatic incident in the Middle East that began on 5 June 2017 when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic relations with Qatar and banned Qatar-registered planes and ships from utilising their airspace, land and sea routes, along with Saudi Arabia blocking Qatar’s only land crossing, as a de facto blockade. The crisis ended in January 2021 [after Biden inauguration]. 

The Saudi-led coalition cited Qatar’s alleged support for terrorism as the main reason for their actions, alleging that Qatar had violated a 2014 agreement with the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), of which Qatar is a member.[8] Saudi Arabia and other countries have criticized Al Jazeera and Qatar’s relations with Iran. Qatar explained that it had provided assistance to some opposition groups, including Islamist groups (such as the Muslim Brotherhood), but consistently negated aiding militant groups linked to al-Qaeda or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).  [SOURCE]

You can clearly see the issue that exists with Qatar.  It’s not accidental the Arab states and the Gulf Cooperation Council boycotted Qatar during the Trump administration (2017), and the boycott ended when Biden took office in 2021.

Joe Biden and Anthony Blinken sending the $6 Billion in sanctioned Iranian money to Qatar, is essentially like making a deposit into a bank that funds Islamic extremism, including Hamas.  The transfer gave Iran a $6 billion line of credit – or, put another way, was essentially a deposit into an Iranian escrow account.  Qatar can give Iran money, money from the nation state of Qatar, while still holding the $6 billion transferred from Biden/Blinken on their books.

Okay, you still with me?

It gets more interesting, because the Iranian-Hamas (Palestinian) angle against Israel now overlaps with the Obama/Biden worldview.

The Obama administration first created the public-private partnership with Twitter and Facebook to support the “Arab Spring” uprising.

As a consequence, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was the first elected official to be taken out by former President Obama’s deployment of Twitter as a community activist tool for revolution in 2011. In direct and consequential ways, Egypt was the BETA test for a process that surfaced a decade later in the United States during the 2020 election.

Using and influencing social media was a tool created by the Obama state department, as noted years ago in Mic.Com:

[…] In countries like Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen, rising action plans such as protests made up of thousands, have been organized through social media such Facebook and Twitter. “We use Facebook to schedule the protests” an Arab Spring activist from Egypt announced “and [we use] Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world.” The role that technology has taken in allowing the distribution of public information such as the kinds stated by the aforementioned activist, had been essential in establishing the democratic movement that has helped guide abused civilians to overthrow their oppressor. (link)

(NationalPulse) The most popular Twitter hashtags in the Arab region in the first three months of this year were “Egypt”, “Jan25”, “Libya”, “Bahrain” and “protest”.

Nearly 9 in 10 Egyptians and Tunisians surveyed in March said they were using Facebook to organise protests or spread awareness about them. All but one of the protests called for on Facebook ended up coming to life on the streets.

These and other findings from the newly released second edition of the Arab Social Media Report by the Dubai School of Government give empirical heft to the conventional wisdom that Facebook and Twitter abetted if not enabled the historic region-wide uprisings of early 2011. (link)

Fast forward to 2020, and those same elements deployed against the Egyptian government were deployed in the United States in a coordinated public-private partnership with Twitter, Facebook and social media.

[The U.S. government control over these social media platforms is ultimately what lies at the heart of Twitter File #8 release.]

But wait, it goes much deeper… much more purposefully deeper.

The ideological interests behind the 2010/ ’11 “Arab Spring” uprising were the same ideological interests behind the 2020 “Black Lives Matter” protests/uprising.  Not merely similar people, but the exact same people.

The exact same group of U.S. people who were promoting the Mid-East Arab Spring in 2010/’11, are the same people who promoted the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.   The same politicians, the same media voices, the same newspapers, the same social media activists. Almost every participant, and their support for the uprising ’10 -vs- ’20 was identical, including the platforms deployed.

In the background of the Arab Spring, the root control organization was The Muslim Brotherhood.  Considering all of the connective similarities, and considering the U.S. advocates for the brotherhood were the same voices advocating for BLM, the BLM movement as an extension of the same overarching ideology becomes clear.

It is not an esoteric intellectual exercise to compare the two movements, because we were not only talking about a similar level of protest, but we also saw an identical set of actions in both groups.  Not only were the advocates the same voices, but the behavior also to remove and destroy common cultural connection/heritage was the same.

The Brotherhood is essentially the umbrella organization for a multitude of Islamic factions.  In essence, the Muslim Brotherhood represents political Islam. Similarly, if you look at the structure of Black Lives Matter, they too represent an umbrella-type structure for a network of individual political grievance groups.

Both groups, the Muslim Brotherhood and Black Lives Matter, represent a cultural revolution by the results of their activity.

In this next section, I am going to show the alignment between Black Lives Matter and the Brotherhood.  It is not accidental that BLM supports the Palestinian terrorist network represented by Hamas.

♦ In 2010, the Brotherhood had al-Qaeda and militant factions within ISIS.  In 2020, BLM had the New Black Panthers and militant factions within Antifa.

♦ In 2010, the Brotherhood tore down statues and symbols they identified as culturally oppressive to their political views.  In 2020, BLM tore down statues and symbols they identified as oppressive to their political views.

♦ In 2010, the Brotherhood burned books, destroyed history and removed their cultural opposition by force.  In 2020, BLM promoted burning books, destroying history and cancelling their cultural opposition by force.

♦ In 2010, the Brotherhood used social media to organize their political activity, and Big Tech facilitated by setting up local networks for protest.  In 2020, BLM used social media to organize their political media, and Big Tech facilitated by deploying all local networks to assist.

♦ In 2010, the Brotherhood attacked the police and framed their Islamist movement as oppressed by law enforcement.  In 2020, BLM attacked the police and framed their movement as oppressed by law enforcement.

♦ In 2010, the Brotherhood destroyed the notions of secularism and viciously attacked any form of Christianity, including burning churches. In 2020, BLM advocated against secularism and viciously attacked Christianity – including the burning of churches, while conspicuously never criticizing any element of Islam.

♦ In 2010, the Brotherhood was very strategic as they hoodwinked moderate Islamic supporters into voting them into power.  Once in power, they removed all of the institutional systems, government offices, judges, constitutional balances, local elections, and anything that would impede their ultimate stranglehold on power.  Sharia Law replaced common legislative law.   As a result, the ordinary population was brutalized, property was taken by force; businesses were taken by force and the Islamic regime now controlled every element of their lives.

In 2020, the approach of the BLM movement appeared very strategic, as they also hoodwinked a multitude of supporters, voters and even corporations, by defining their victim class and role.  Donations to the BLM group funded Joe Biden.  Much like the 2010 Brotherhood approach, grievances were made personal.   Bonds between families and friends are severed by force and demands to adhere to the movement’s ideology.  Now look at the severity of what policies are being advanced.

♦ In 2010, despite the visibility of the radical elements of Islam, Egyptian candidate Mohammed Morsi ran on a platform for change as a moderate.  He was supported by Obama, Clinton and the social media messaging deployed by the U.S. government.  Once he achieved victory Morsi governed as a hardline leftist.

In 2020, despite the visibility of the radical leftists (BLM, Antifa), U.S. candidate Joe Biden ran on a platform for change as a moderate.  He was supported by Obama, James Clyburn and the social media messaging deployed by the U.S. government.  Once he achieved victory Biden governed as a hardline leftist.

These strategic political similarities are not coincidental.

The Obama/Biden network and the BLM network are in sync.  Both networks support the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran and the Palestinian position in the Middle East.  This is why they moved the $6 billion to Qatar.  This is also why those same aligned voices want the U.S. border wide open to infiltration.

Oh, and one last thing….  As soon as we outlined all these connections, the nation of Qatar blocked access to CTH. 

Things making sense now? 

Oct 9 2023

Sunday Talks – Shameless Anthony Blinken Says U.S. Not Sure of American Casualties or Hostages, Says Administration Does Not Know Hamas Motive


Posted originally on the CTH October 8, 2023 | Sundance 

This guy is beyond shameless.  After coordinating an appeasement policy toward Iran that included the return of $6 billion in sanctioned money, the current occupant of the Secretary of State’s office, Anthony Blinken, says the administration is unsure of the Hamas motive attacking Israel.  This might sound like a crazy thing to say, until you realize it is a necessary pretending game in order to maintain the policy for preferring a two-state solution.

If Blinken or Biden were to admit that Hamas has a fundamental purpose to kill the people of Israel, they would have to admit there’s no possibility of the Palestinians and Israeli’s cohabitating the same landscape; thus, their ‘two-state’ solution would be moot.  So, they must maintain the flawed premise and pretend not to know the motivations of Hamas.  It really is a shameless exhibition in ideology, as advanced. WATCH:

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We now go to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who joins us from the State Department here in Washington. Good to have you with us. Mr. Secretary, I know you have been working–

SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN: Thanks Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN:  Straight through on this. Can you answer the question yet of whether the Hamas assault is over? Are there more attacks to come?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: The assault isn’t over. there continued to be- to be very active fighting around Gaza. At the same time, we’ve seen more quiet in other parts of Israel, but there is intense fighting going on. But to put this in perspective, this is the worst attack on Israel since the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago, 1973. But there’s a big difference. That was a conflict between countries, between armies. This is a massive terrorist assault on Israel, with terrorists going into Israeli homes going into Israeli towns gunning down civilians in their homes, on the streets, grabbing people, men, women, children, and taking them into Gaza. a Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair, women and children all being dragged into- into Gaza, you can imagine what this is what this is doing in Israel to Israelis, and it should be something that revolts the entire world.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And what about Americans? There are a lot throughout the region, how many Americans are among the hostages, and among the dead?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So, Margaret, we’ve got reports that several Americans are among the dead, we’re working very actively to verify those reports. At the same time, the reports of Americans being taken hostage there, too. We’re working to get the facts and to find out if those reports are accurate.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you don’t know if there are hostages or not.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: We can’t confirm- we can’t confirm that in this moment. But we’re very actively working to see if we can confirm the reports that we’ve had.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Israel’s Prime Minister is promising a sustained campaign, do you have a sense of how he defines the end goal?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Margaret, these are- these are early days. And President Biden was on the phone immediately with Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday to offer our full support to offer our assistance. And we’ve been on the phones across the region and around the world, to make sure that Israel has the support it needs. And also to make sure that countries are using the influence they have to get Hamas to back off, to back down and also to try to make sure that conflict doesn’t erupt elsewhere. And the President was very clear and very stark in his warning to others not to take advantage of the situation. Look, these are, these are early days, Israel has to first and foremost ensure the security of its people in Israel. And then it’s determined to take steps to try to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. And there are a lot of hard decisions that it has to make in the, in the days ahead. But the main thing is to make sure that to the best of its ability, it puts in place the measures so that this doesn’t happen again.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But you know why I’m asking you because this conflict could broaden out into surrounding countries beyond Lebanon. Has the United States asked Israel not to strike Iran?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: We- the only things we’ve said to Israel are that we’re here, we’ve got your back, we want to make sure that you have the support that you need, we want to make sure that you have the assistance that you need. At the same time I was on the phone yesterday, and many others were on the phones yesterday with counterparts from Egypt, from Saudi Arabia, from Jordan, from Qatar, from the United Arab Emirates, from Turkey, Lebanon, and many European countries as well, to make sure that first of all people have heard very clearly what the President said about others and other places not taking advantage of the situation. And to use the influence that they have with different groups to make sure that- that they don’t do that precisely so that we don’t have a broadening of this conflict to- to other places, Lebanon and the- Israel’s northern border. The West Bank, I spoke to President Abbas as well and Palestinian security forces. Right now we’re doing their job in trying to make sure that things keep-keep calm, or Iran taking trying to use this in other places. So we’ve been very clear about that. And we’re also using every tool that we have at our disposal, and our diplomacy, to make sure that others are doing the same thing.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But the door is open for Israel to expand this, to take the fight to potentially sponsors of Hamas, like Iran?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Israel is focused entirely on Gaza, and on securing its citizens, a number of whom remain under direct threat right now in Israel-proper. And as I said, trying to do what’s necessary to have accountability. And to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. That is Israel’s focus.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Is there a sense that this was an attempt to take advantage of the West’s focus on Ukraine?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: No, I don’t see- I don’t see that. I think, look, we don’t we’ll have to see As we learn more what the- what the motivations were and what they are. But here’s one thing that’s, it’s clear, we’ve been actively working on trying to help Israel and Saudi Arabia normalize their relations, as well as Israel broadening its relationships with many other countries in the region, and beyond very hard work, and not clear that we could get there. But if we could, it would really change the prospects of the entire region far into the future. Now, who’s opposed to that? Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran. So I think that speaks volumes. And there really two paths before the region, there’s the path of greater integration, greater stability, including critically making sure that Israelis and Palestinians resolve their differences. Or there’s the path of terror that Hamas is engaged on, that has not improved the lives of a single person. On the contrary, it’s destroyed lives, including Palestinian lives.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But let me press you on that because you’re suggesting this may have been a strategic choice. But then I look at conditions having been deteriorating for Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza for a while now, the right wing coalition in Israel. In fact, the CIA director, Bill Burns has publicly warned of his concern and US intelligence concern about the risk of instability in this region. Jordan’s King has been warning about the risk of extremism. Did the Netanyahu government underestimate that risk? Why were they so vulnerable?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, first, let’s be absolutely clear that there is no equivalence between the differences that exist between Israelis and Palestinians, and the actions of the Israeli government in that regard. And these absolutely heinous acts of terrorism that we’ve seen, directed at Israeli men, women and children, none. Now, we have been concerned about the risks of of instability for- for many, many months between Israelis and Palestinians, it’s exactly why we’ve been working so hard in Aqabah, in Sharm El-Sheikh, to bring them together, to get both sides to commit not to take steps that would actually increase the risks of instability or conflict. And we were working hard on that and making progress on that. It’s also why we’ve said from day one that even as we’re working toward normalization, between Israel and Saudi Arabia, that can’t be a substitute for resolving the differences between Israelis and Palestinians. We think the best way to resolve it remains a two-state solution, and one that assures that Palestinians and Israelis, alike, know equal measures of democracy of opportunity, of dignity in their lives. That’s why we’ve been very focused on- on that track as well.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yep. But that has not been a priority between the parties themselves, but- as you know. Gaza, and I’m explaining this to our audience, because I know you know how concentrated the population is within such a small area and every time we have a conflict like this, it raises the question of what the humanitarian impact will be. If this is a prolonged attack, what kind of humanitarian crisis are you expecting here and impact on civilians?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well we’ve seen this, unfortunately, repeat itself. Although, the magnitude, the scale of what Hamas did here is something we haven’t seen before. But in- in prior instances, those who have suffered along with the victims of terrorism are civilians, including in Gaza, and whatever Israel does, in Gaza. As always, we look to it to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, something of course, that Hamas doesn’t do on the contrary. Not only does it not seek to avoid them, it deliberately targets civilians. It’s gunning down Israelis in the streets in their homes, and as I said, dragging them across the border in Gaza. So there’s absolutely no- no comparison. But we look to Israel as always, to apply the highest standards when it comes to avoiding civilian casualties and anything it may do in Gaza.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Before I let you go, I want to ask you about something that matters a lot to Americans at home in terms of the migrant crisis. You announced Venezuela has agreed to accept back deported migrants who cross unlawfully into the United States. When will that begin? And how big of an impact will it have?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, it’s one of the many steps that we’ve taken to make sure that migration, to the best of our ability, is safe, humane, and orderly. And we’ve been working on this intensively going back to the beginning of the administration, but in particular since the- the Summit of the Americas where we got countries throughout our hemisphere to take on greater shared responsibility for the challenge of managing migration, historic proportions. We have not seen this kind of migration around the world, or in our own hemisphere ever before: 100 billion people on the move around the world, more than 20 million in our own hemisphere. So countries are doing a variety of things, including taking back their own citizens who are didn’t have the right to come into the United States. We’ve done that with a number of countries, Venezuela is one of them. We’re also setting up- and we’ve already established these offices in different countries where people can go to determine whether they have the legal right to come to the United States to get a labor visa, to be reunited with their family. But they can do that in their own countries without coming to the border. So through these steps, and many, many others, we’re working to stem the flow of people to the border, make sure that we have more legal pathways for people to come here, lawfully., and at the same time, make sure that we have a safe, orderly, and humane migration process.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But when do those flights start? The deportation flights?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So, I can’t give you a precise date. But that will be happening, I think, very, very soon. And at the same time, we’re doing that with a number of other countries in the region. We’re also looking at countries to strengthen their own asylum processes to support them so that people can if they’re- if they’re leaving their countries of origin, can go and stay in these other countries in the hemisphere. There’s another thing that’s important here, Kristen, which is that, excuse me, Margaret, which is that, you know, ultimately, we have to make sure that conditions in these countries are such that people have the opportunity to stay at home, or to look out for themselves, to look out for their families. And that goes to the kinds of investments that we’ve also been making; that takes time to take hold. In the meantime, we’re taking all of these steps to make sure that, again, the flow to our border is something that’s controllable, and that people find other ways to determine whether they can come to the United States lawfully then coming to the border.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. Secretary, thank you for your time this morning.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thanks Margaret, good to be with you.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Face the Nation will be back in one minute.

[End Transcript]

Oct 9 2023

Pentagon Deploys Aircraft Carrier Fleet to Eastern Mediterranean, Was Already Nearby


Posted originally on the CTH on October 8, 2023 | Sundance

Following reports of U.S. casualties and hostages taken in Israel, the U.S. Aircraft Carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), as well as the other Ships in Carrier Strike Group 12 which includes Ticonderoga-Class Cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60), as well as Arleigh Burke-Class Destroyers USS Ramage (DDG-61), USS McFaul (DDG-74), and USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116), are reportedly heading towards the Eastern Mediterranean.

(Military) – […] Along with the Ford the U.S. is sending the cruiser USS Normandy, destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt and the U.S. is augmenting Air Force F-35, F-15, F-16, and A-10 fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.

“The U.S. maintains ready forces globally to further reinforce this deterrence posture if required,” Austin said in a statement.

In addition, the Biden administration “will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions. The first security assistance will begin moving today and arriving in the coming days,” Austin said.

The Norfolk, Virginia-based carrier strike group was already in the Mediterranean. Last week it was conducting naval exercises with Italy in the Ionian Sea. The carrier is in its first full deployment. (read more)

The White House released this rather obtuse sounding statement about a call between Pudding Brain and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

WHITE HOUSE – President Biden spoke this morning with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel.  The President again expressed deep sympathy for all those missing, wounded, and killed, and pledged his full support for the Government and people of Israel in the face of an unprecedented and appalling assault by Hamas terrorists.  They discussed the taking of hostages by Hamas terrorists, including entire families, the elderly, and young children.  The President emphasized that there is no justification whatsoever for terrorism, and all countries must stand united in the face of such brutal atrocities.   

President Biden updated the Prime Minister on the intensive diplomatic engagement undertaken by the United States over the last 24 hours in support of Israel.  The President also conveyed that additional assistance for the Israeli Defense Forces is now on its way to Israel with more to follow over the coming days.  The leaders also discussed ongoing efforts to ensure that no enemies of Israel believe they can or should seek advantage from the current situation.  

The two leaders committed to stay in regular contact over the coming days. (read more)

There’s “no justification for terrorism”, and they are going to keep in “regular contact.”

Wow, such strength!  /sarc

We really need President Trump back in office.  I mean, seriously. Can you imagine a terrorist organization or nation taking an American hostage while President Trump is in office?   Not only would he unleash the hounds of hell upon them, but he’d also bankrupt any entity who even thought about coming to the defense of a terrorist.

Oct 9 2023

Sunday Talks – Ambassador Michael Herzog Confirms Americans Were Taken as Hostages by Hamas, Death Toll Surpasses 600


Posted originally on the CTH on October 8, 2023 | Sundance

Appearing on CBS, Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., tells “Face the Nation” that after the unprecedented attack in Gaza that left at least 600 dead, “we have to destroy the Hamas war machine.” “This is war,” he said.  Additionally, Ambassador Herzog confirms that Americans were taken as hostages back into Gaza.   WATCH:

MARGARET BRENNAN: Are there Americans among those hostages?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: I understand there are, but I don’t have details.

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog. Mr. Ambassador, first, I want to offer you our condolences.

AMBASSADOR MICHAEL HERZOG: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We know that your Prime Minister is promising a sustained campaign. Do you have any sense of how Israel will define success?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: Well, Israel is at war. Yesterday, we were attacked by a terror organization. They infiltrated Israeli territory and killed hundreds of Israelis. At least 600 were butchered yesterday, including whole families, elderly, women, children, babies were taken out of the mothers laps and murdered. This is war and we have to fight that war and win it. We have to destroy the Hamas war machine. You know, in war- back in war- we have to fight it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: How is it that Hamas managed to take Israeli Defense Forces by surprise? Did they shut down communications?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: Well, it was a surprise attack. There was definitely an element of surprise. But I think we’ll have enough time to investigate that once we conclude that war in victory.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You said you want to destroy the Hamas war machine. Hamas is armed and funded by Iran. The Biden administration says they don’t have evidence that Iran was linked to this particular attack. Does Israel have evidence they were?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: Well, we suspect Iranian hands behind the scenes, as you know Hamas and Iran are closely tied. Iran provides material support, funding, weapons to Hamas. They are tied in what they call the Axis of Resistance, of course, resistance to the existence of the State of Israel. They are part of the same coalition. So, as far as we are concerned, this is an Iranian led coalition and we suspect that Iran is involved.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Does that mean Israel will take the fight to Iran?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: I’m not going to say what exactly Israel is going to do. But I will just say that whoever strikes Israel, we’ll strike back.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Sir, this is just stunning to see what has happened in the past few hours. But there are questions within Israel, as you know about how such a strong military was taken by surprise. There has been a massive expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank area, and with that a buildup of forces to protect them. The former ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, has publicly raised the question of whether that’s why the border towns over and around Gaza were left unprotected. Were they? Was that a factor?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: Well, I don’t buy that argument. I think that analogy is irrelevant to the current situation. Yes, it was a surprise attack, but I don’t think it has much to do with the fact that the IDF was preoccupied in the West Bank. They prepared a surprise attack, they reached the border fence, they came with paragliders, and through the sea. And as I said, there will be sufficient time after the war to investigate what exactly happened. Right now, we are at war and we have to fight that war and win it. We are attacked by a terror organization funded by Iran. And that’s where we are right now.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But you have said that perhaps Hamas miscalculated by looking at all the domestic problems Israel has within its own politics right now. Do you–

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: –Absolutely.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think that that was actually, though, a factor when it comes to military readiness? Did it leave your forces vulnerable?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: They may have- maybe they were under the impression that given the internal debate in Israel, that Israel is weakened so that they can provoke us. They thought so, I think they’re definitely mistaken. You have to know Israelis to understand that when Israel is under attack, Israelis close ranks and they fight together. And there is no opposition coalition right now in Israel. There’s no debate. All reservists are volunteering. We- our embassy is flooded with phone calls from people who want to go back to Israel and fight Hamas. So in that sense, I think it was a gross miscalculation on their part.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But did it impact readiness? Because there were concerns of, you know, your reservists having objections, political objections, and refusing to serve.

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: No, it did not impact readiness, I think Israel is strong. As I said, Israelis are closing ranks right now and we will fight back.

MARGARET BRENNAN: In- back in 2006, you had a soldier taken captive and held in Gaza. It took over five years to get him back. And Israel did so in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. At what cost is Israel prepared to get these new hostages out?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: I think it’s premature to discuss that. I think we- we just attacked yesterday. We understand that there are probably dozens of kidnapped Israelis and others in the hands of Hamas. We’ll have to deal with it in due time. The whole issue of hostages is a very sensitive issue. I think you know it from your situation, the US, and we- we’ve had experience in that in the past. It’s a very complicated situation. But I think it’s premature to discuss any deals or prices or whatever. Right now we are at war.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Are there Americans among those hostages?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: I understand there are, but I don’t have details.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You don’t know the numbers or ability to retain them?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: No.

MARGARET BRENNAN: What is it that Israel and your Prime Minister is asking of the American President right now?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: So, it was a very good phone call between President Biden and our Prime Minister yesterday. The U.S. administration sounded a very strong voice of support for Israel, from the nation for the terror attack and support for Israel’s right to self defense. We are in discussions with the administration about the situation and about our needs. I want to take the opportunity to thank the administration for the solid support of Israel and its rise to self defense.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And before I let you go, how is Israel going to allow some of those Palestinian civilians who are trapped within Gaza to escape so that they aren’t victims of these strikes?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: Well, the fact of the matter is that Hamas uses civilians as human shields.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

[End Transcript]

Oct 9 2023

Slowly at First, Then All at Once


Posted originally on the CTH on October 8, 2023 | Sundance

….. Have you ever boiled milk?

Many people are struggling to understand the extent of the radicalization that is currently taking place inside our nation.  Fewer still are willing to accept that all the datapoints in the continuum lead us to a very specific place.

For the intents of this outline, consider the attack against Israel by Hamas as one element of a destructive story that will not remain isolated as a war in the Middle East. Gaza is to the transit of terrorists into Israel, as Mexico is a transit hub into the United States.

On September 22, 2023, the Dept of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) dropped the latest statistics on illegal alien apprehensions at the U.S. southern border.  [DATA HERE] As a current surge is underway, the August apprehension rate was 304,162, the highest of any month so far on record.

[Press release here]  Since Joe Biden took office, over 7.5 million illegal aliens have been encountered and released into the United States. Of that number, 5.18 million were single adult males.  This is a wholesale invasion of illegal aliens on a scale never before fathomed.  The people behind Joe Biden have purposefully created this crisis, and it is getting worse.

We are beginning to see the crime rate increase in proportion to the import of 5+ million young adult males culturally prone to violence.   We are only now on the cusp of what is to come.  There will be intense increases in the types of crimes, and specifically young females will be the most vulnerable victims.  Rapes, sexual assaults, robberies, carjackings and home invasions will increase….

….Slowly at first, then all at once.

How can I be so certain?  It’s not a complex understanding.

We have all witnessed specific datapoints reflecting how the radical left, essentially Marxists and communists, took full control of the Democrat party.  For all intents and purposes, the ideology they carry is the same outlook and worldview of the people behind Barack Obama.  Those same people are currently exploiting Joe Biden as the single-term disposable option to radically compromise our nation.  The open borders are one part of that dynamic.

Inside the institutions there are facilitators for this process.  One example surfaced in November of 2021, and few people paid any attention to it.

Inside a report, issued by the Dept of Justice Office of Inspector General (DOJ-OIG), the summary of the OIG finding was that someone inside the DOJ Civil Rights Division, someone in charge of the secretive internal agency known as the Community Relations Service (CRS), gave access to the computer database of Main Justice to employment applicants for the CRS. [OIG Report Link]

We have tracked the CRS activity for years {Example Go Deep}.  The core ideology of the CRS is virtually unknown to the public.  The activists who apply for employment positions inside the CRS have one ideological outlook in support of radical elements like NAACP, Black Lives Matter, ANTIFA, and other social justice causes.  There is no other ideology in the agency of the CRS. Advancement of radical race-based agenda is their mission within the DOJ.  That reality is well beyond dispute.

As a consequence, anyone applying for a job with CRS would have a very specific purpose.  The motive for CRS leadership, to give a CRS applicant access to the Main Justice database potentially exploiting the entire federal Department of Justice, can only be looked upon as purposeful.  Think of this “misconduct” like giving BLM, Antifa, ShareBlue, NAACP or the radical elements of the DNC access to the Dept of Justice files:  [September 8, 2021]

“The Community Relations Service (CRS), a component of the Department of Justice (DOJ), serves as “America’s Peacemaker” for communities in conflict by mediating disputes and enhancing community capacity to independently prevent and resolve future conflicts.” (read more)

Now think about this in very non-pretending terms.  If you anticipated community crisis as a result of a cultural shift from the introduction of a violent virus upon the host, it would make sense to control the institution used as a 911 service for when that violent outburst is triggered.  Pre-seeding the CRS with a specific ideological intention helps the institution of the DOJ defer responsibility when all hell breaks loose.

The hell breaking loose part is not a matter of if, but when.  We are in the slow beginning phase right now, but it will escalate quickly.  Slowly at first, then all at once. That’s the design of extremism when seeded as a change mechanism.  This is also why there is so much leftist agitation and emphasis on keeping the DOJ, FBI and all other federal law enforcement agencies focused on the wrong threat.  This is the cultural aspect, the politically correct aspect, and it is part of the design.

Starting in 2009, all of the systems of federal government were now under the control of the people who previously fought against the systems of federal government.  Everything since is an outcome of that inflection point; that’s why everything flipped.

All of it, and I do mean every scintilla of the thing; every single granular detail and example you can put in front of me can be traced back to that moment when the activists were no longer outside government railing against the corrupt system they hated.

Starting in January of 2009, the activists took power over the United States government, and every outside institution, including media, necessarily and ideologically followed that inversion.

Starting in 2009, the systems and institutions of the U.S government now came under the control of the radical activists.

In the eight years that followed, the mission of every institution was changed.  Government was weaponized on behalf of the leftist activists who now took control of it.  Everything thereafter is a consequence of this change.

When I use the word “suddenly”, it is only for understanding the inflections point that came as a consequence.  In actuality, the severity of change inside each institution took place over several years.  That’s why the intensity of the weaponized and corrupt systems became worse over time.

As each institution was infiltrated, to become more aligned with the mindset of the activists, the institutions became more radical in their targeting and weaponization.

Simultaneously, the politicians on the left aligned with the mindset of the radical activists.  The Black Lives Matter, Dream Defenders and ANTIFA extremists are part of the leftist political apparatus; just like the leftists view the Palestinians.   As the Muslim Brotherhood is to militant Islam, so too is the Democrat Party to domestic terrorists in the United States.

You can wax philosophically about the intent of a demographic change to the benefit of one political party, I’m not going to debate that issue.  However, the immediate issue for you, your family and your community, is not who they vote for.

The immediate issue, the one you should be first to prepare for, is your physical safety when the “slowly” changes to “all at once.”

Have you ever boiled milk?

Oct 8 2023

A Very Somber Assessment by Caroline Glick From Israel


Posted originally on the CTH on October 8, 2023 | Sundance

Caroline Glick provides a somber rundown of what has happened in Israel, and starting at 06:00 of the video below, shares some pragmatic thoughts on the meaning of the war and the only way that it can end with Israel and its people safe.

Given the nature of what has been happening in Israeli politics, and the coordination Saturday in the Hamas attack, as Mrs. Glick aptly notes, all prior metrics for a regional Israeli control and defend policy has failed.

In very somber tones, Caroline Glick deconstructs the pretending model and cuts to the heart of the issue.  Regardless of diplomatic costs, the strategic killing of every element of Hamas must begin immediately, with extreme prejudice and without regard for collateral damage. WATCH (Prompted):

.

(Via Daily Mail) –  The Hamas gunmen who launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel have taken babies and elderly women hostage, according to former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Bennett revealed the sickening details of the ongoing assault in an interview with CNN on Saturday night, as running gun battles continued in the streets of Israel more than 24 hours after the assault began. (more)

Oct 8 2023

Victor Davis Hanson Discusses Elevated Picture of Hamas Attack Against Israel


Posted originally on the CTH on October 7, 2023 | Sundance 

Victor Davis Hanson is a man not known for short-term thinking.  Indeed, while his analysis does not always contain the same scope of datapoints reviewed here, his opinions are generally rooted in accepting things as they are, not as he would pretend them to be.

Recently during an interview with Tucker Carlson, as he contrasts the targeting of President Donald Trump, VDH was far more distraught than previously noted in his analysis. He increasingly sees our American options for a peaceful approach to retain our constitutional republic, diminishing.

Today, VDH takes the overall geopolitical landscape and outlines his thoughts below on the Hamas terror attack against the nation state of Israel.  Victor Davis Hanson:

A 50th Anniversary War?

Why did Hamas stage a long-planned, carefully executed and multifaceted attack on Israeli towns, soldiers, and civilians—one designed to instill terror by executing noncombatants, taking hostages, and desecrating the bodies of the dead?

And how were the killers able to enter Israeli proper in enough numbers to kill what could be hundreds and perhaps eventually wound what could be thousands?

a) Ostensibly, radical Palestinians wanted to stop any rumored rapprochement between the Gulf monarchies—the traditional source of much of their cash—and Israel, by forcing the issue of Arab solidarity in times of “war”, especially through waging a gruesome attack aimed at civilians and encompassing executions and hostage taking. Iran likely was the driving force to prompt the war—given its greatest fear is a Sunni Arab-Israeli rapprochement.

b) Arab forces have had only success against Israel through surprise attacks during Israeli holidays, as in the Yom Kippur War (i.e., was it any accident that the present attack began 50-years almost to the day after the October 6, 1973 beginning of the Yom Kippur War?). And so they struck again this Saturday during Simchat Torah, coming at the end of a weeklong Jewish celebration of Sukkot—in hopes that others will join in as happened in 1973. (So much for the Arab warnings not for Westerners to conduct war during Ramadan).

c) Hamas may have reckoned that recent Israeli turmoil and mass leftist street protests over proposed reforms of the Israeli Supreme Court had led to permanent internal divisions and thus a climate of domestic distraction if not an erosion of deterrence.

But, more importantly, in a larger sense the Biden administration has contributed both to the notion that Hamas was a legitimate Middle East player, and to the perception that the U.S. was backing away from its traditional support for Israel—to the delight of Hamas—based on the following inexplicable policies:

1) In February Secretary of State Blinken had bragged that not only had the Biden administration resumed massive aid to the PLA cancelled by Trump, but cumulatively had transferred $1 billion—even as Palestinian authorities bragged that they would continue to pay bounties to the families of “martyrs” (i.e., those killed while conducting terrorists attacks against Israel).

And millions of American dollars also went into Gaza, run by Hamas—despite the Biden administration’s efforts to keep mostly quiet the resumption of such inexplicable support. In this regard, note the current shameful State-Department (“U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs”) website news release that was posted after today’s attack. It ended with this quite embarrassing, morally equivalent admonition:

“We urged all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. Terror and violence solve nothing.”

“All sides?” “Refrain from retaliatory attacks?”

So Israel is the moral equivalent of terrorists executing civilians and brutalizing their corpses? And the IDF then is not supposed to retaliate against these killers?

This Biden State Department insanity cannot stand. So expect some apparatchik to take down this Munich-like posting as soon as possible.

2) The Biden administration had recently released some $6 billion to Iran through a prison swap deal that saw South Korea hand over embargoed Iranian money to Qatar—despite Tehran’s increased anti-Israeli rhetoric and its loud brag about the escalation. We should assume money for rockets (Hamas claims they have launched 5,000, and have received 100,000 of them via the Damascus airport) and weapons in general for Hamas were supplied by Iran, which again is likely the chief catalyst for this surprise attack.

3) Almost immediately, after his inauguration Biden mobilized to resume the bankrupt Iran deal. And in unhinged fashion he appointed the anti-Israeli bigot, pro-Iranian journalist Robert Malley as America’s chief negotiator. Note that Malley is now under FBI investigation for security breaches, involving disclosing classified U.S. documents and also for allegedly helping pro-Iranian activists and propagandists land influential billets inside the U.S. government.

In short, there was a general Hamas and Iranian perception that the Biden administration had resumed the discredited Obama madness of empowering Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas. This discredited agenda was to “balance” the power of Israel and the moderate Arab Gulf governments to achieve “creative tension”, exacerbated by Biden’s loathing of the government of Benjamín Netanyahu (who has been snubbed by Biden and never invited for an official visit).

Note as well that the Biden administration has siphoned off key weapons and munitions from stockpiles inside Israel to transfer them to Ukraine. The so-called “War Reserve Ammunition—Israel” is all but depleted of just the sorts of weapons needed in the present crisis.

In this regard is there not a pattern here?

Upon the ascension of Biden and his woke military agendas, we saw the following: the complete humiliation of the U.S. in Kabul in its most shameful flight in 50 years and greatest abandonment of equipment in its history; followed by Vladimir Putin’s opportunistic invasion of Ukraine; followed by China’s new belligerence and escalating threats to Taiwan; followed by Turkey’s new de facto alliance with Russia and recent drone encounter with the U.S. air force in Syria; followed by the Hamas/Iranian inspired attack on Israel—with more to come unfortunately.

And will Biden finally get the message from the attacks on the Ukraine and Israeli borders, that borders matter and we too are being invaded, with the encouragement of the Mexican government and to the advantage of the cartels whose fentanyl exports kills 100,000 Americans a year?

What to expect in Israel?

Expect the following: the usual Hamas/terrorist selling and/or execution of Israeli hostages, the use of Israeli hostages as “human shields” in Gaza, the bargaining/sale of the remains of Israeli dead, occasional killings of Jews inside Israel by Arabs who falsely believe there will be a winning Middle East-wide existential war against Israel. And finally, a devastating Israeli counter-response that will eventually earn a U.S. rebuke.

What should the U.S. instead do?

It should quit talking to Iran and restore full sanctions against it. It should cut off all aid immediately to all the Palestinians. It should undertake a 1973-like massive arms lift of key munitions to Israel and warn Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and others in the Middle East not to intervene or else, given that Israel will need several weeks to deal with Hamas and Gaza. And if it shows any hesitation or weakness, other terrorist groups will opportunistically jump in.” (link)

**ahem**

Oct 7 2023

Ukrainian Nazis


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Oct 7, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Oct 7 2023

Hillary Clinton, “maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the MAGA cult members”


Posted originally on the CTH on October 6, 2023 | Sundance

In multiple reference points throughout the annals of history, you will find numerous quotes and citations from various governmental and civic leaders as they began to devalue/dehumanize specific segments of people – prior to the phase of purging, the final solution.

It is a very specific type of dangerous psychology, a sociopath condition, that cannot allow people to exist who do not conform to the mindset or worldview of the speaker.  It is not a type of messaging to be tossed into the bucket of “she really didn’t mean that.”  Yes, actually yes, she did. She means every word of it.  WATCH:

“[President Trump is] now defending himself in civil actions and criminal actions, and when do they break with him? You know, because at some point … maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members. But something needs to happen.”

Keep in mind, during COVID-19 various ‘western’ governments set up quarantine camps and isolation camps where people were forcibly removed from their homes and taken to facilities against their will.   We roll our eyes at these comments by Hillary Clinton, yet we would be well advised to consider the coldness of the potential.   History may not always repeat, but it certainly rhymes.

Oct 3 2023

RFK Jr. Internal Polling Revealed – In a 3-way Race, Robert Kennedy Jr. Takes Away the Trump Lead Over Biden


Posted originally on the CTH on October 2, 2023 | Sundance

The truth has no agenda, and it certainly doesn’t care about your feelings. Remember that, because it is the core of this assembly.

RFK Jr. recently spoke of internal polling showing that his third-party independent run would pull more votes from Trump than Joe Biden.  Many people refused to believe the statement and demanded to see the polling.  Well, here it is:

[SOURCE]

You will notice the Joe Biden percentage of voters (38%) doesn’t change when Robert Kennedy Jr. is added to the equation as a third-party independent candidate.  However, the Trump support drops from 40% to 38%, essentially wiping out the lead that President Trump would hold in a general election over Joe Biden.

Given the intellectually honest assessment that RFK Jr., as an independent run, could never win the general election, it may annoy some people to accept his decision to run as an independent only carries one motive – to reduce the Trump vote.  However, as much as you may not want to accept that reality, the data is clear – and it makes sense.

Many right-leaning or politically homeless Trump voters have spent a great deal of time celebrating the positions of RFK Jr. and projecting a positive opinion toward him.  After thinking positively about him for so long, having to accept that RFK Jr. may not be as decent, honorable and/or altruistic in his intentions can be a painful admission.  I get it; but the reality of the situation doesn’t change.

At CTH we accept things as they are, not as we would wish them to be.  Cognitive dissonance is not appreciated here, and the reality is that RFK Jr. has a large following of supporters within the MAGA-hood.  He has been talked-up for almost a year.

RFK Jr is one of the most popular people on Rumble, and all of the content containing him is very well viewed and received.  It factually makes sense that some of Trump’s support would transfer to RFK Jr. given the nature of the political climate in the United States.  I’m sure that once Trump’s team review their own independent data, we will likely see a shift in tone from Trump toward RFK Jr.

Here’s the bitter pill to swallow.  RFK Jr. has already admitted that if he changes from Dem to Indy, he will hurt Trump more than Biden.   So, if RFK Jr. does actually change from Dem to Indy, his intention is to pull from Trump’s support and assist Biden.  That’s the reality of the situation.

The truth of the thing doesn’t care about how difficult it is for you to accept the thing.  Nor do I.

I accept that RFK Jr. is going to try and support Joe Biden by pulling votes away from Donald Trump.  After all, he is a Kennedy.

RFK Jr. is not an ally regardless of how many invested voices continue to claim he is or remain unwilling to reverse course.