9:20 p.m.
French President Emmanuel Macron (click here) says France will decide in
the coming days with the U.S. and Britain how to respond to a suspected
chemical weapons attack in Syria.
Macron said Tuesday he wants a “strong and joint response”
to the attack in the Syrian town of Douma on Saturday, which Syrian activists
and rescuers say killed 40 people. The U.S. and its allies accuse the Syrian
government, which denies responsibility....
The Summit of Americas is only held every 4 years.
April 11, 2018
Washington: President Donald Trump (click here) has cancelled plans to travel to
South America later this week, choosing to stay in the United States to manage
the US response to Syria's apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders
said that Trump will not attend the 8th Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru or
travel to Bogota, Colombia as planned, remaining in the United States to
"oversee the American response to Syria and to monitor developments around
the world"….
All this and the White House staffing is a revolving door.
April 10, 2018
By Mark Landler
All this and the White House staffing is a revolving door.
April 10, 2018
By Mark Landler
Washington — The Trump administration’s (click here) shake-up of its national security ranks widened on Tuesday, with the ouster of Thomas P. Bossert as Mr. Trump’s chief adviser on homeland security.
Mr. Bossert is the first major casualty of John R. Bolton, the president’s new national security adviser, according to current and former officials. They said Mr. Bolton, who took office on Monday, fired him and moved some of his duties directly under the National Security Council.
While Mr. Bolton was expected to clean house at the National Security Council, Mr. Bossert’s ouster came as a surprise — at least to him. On Sunday, he defended Mr. Trump’s immigration policies on the ABC program “This Week,” then traveled to a conference in Sea Island, Ga., where he gave a spirited defense of the way the White House makes policy....
Additionally, there better not be any escalation of the Syrian Civil War until the UN Security Council has decided there is ethnic cleansing. President Trump needs to resist any attempt to kill at will until all the facts are known.
The UN Security Council has inspectors that can carry out detailed reports, however, with the infrastructure in Syria mostly rubble, there is no real safety for these inspectors. However, there does not need to be inspectors on the ground to determine the extent there is ethnic cleansing occurring in Syria. Trump need not carry any out either.
With Bolton now in the administration there will be war chant after war chant and the sound needs to become mute in order to hear the voices of knowledge and not hate.
Russia is picking sides. Israel has a right to defend itself. The wind from Douma can very well be carried to neighboring countries.
President Putin should step back from his support of Assad to realize there are other issues that carry as much brevity. It is one thing to end Daesh entirely, it is another to carry out a veiled attack for the purpose of ethnic cleansing.
Chemical weapons are illegal. They cannot be used. Israel acted in the only way it could given the issues at hand. The attack strategy with chemical weapons needed to end immediately, not when the global leaders stated it was proper to end it. Israel did the right thing in Syria. Assad needs to take responsibility for Israel's attack.
April 10, 2018
By Seth J. Frantzman
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (click here) spoke to President Donald Trump Last Wednesday in the wake of the US leader’s comments about withdrawing from Syria. Israel was concerned about changes to US policy, according to reports.
Netanyahu has also enjoyed amicable relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin – relations which have now been strained by Russian claims that Israel struck Syria early Monday without warning Moscow. The prime minister now faces one of his greatest challenges as he has to walk a fine line between Washington’s threats to strike Syria and Russia’s interests in Damascus....
President Putin is correct to condemn the killing in Gaza. The people who died were unarmed and seeking to be recognized.
April 9, 2018
Moscow — Russia on Monday (click here) condemned “unacceptable” and “indiscriminate” fire by the Israeli army in clashes that have left some 30 Palestinians dead in the Gaza strip.
“Considering that the indiscriminate use of force against the civilian population is absolutely unacceptable, we once again call upon the Palestinians and Israelis to refrain from steps that will exacerbate this dangerous tension,” Moscow’s foreign ministry said in a statement....
Not all issues with Israel have the same answer.
When it comes to John Bolton, Israel's leadership or any other country should not misread his appointment. Bolton is there as a stagehand for Trump's election in 2020 no different than any of the other celebrities that now line the halls of the Oval Office.
Bolton and all the recent changes in personnel are only there long enough to win elections and then they will be replaced by people Trump has not become tired of. John Bolton will rant on and on about an invasion into Syria, the destabilization of Iraq and any other country that he decides he can instill fear in the American VOTER over and over.
My concern is the chronic turnover of staff and that lack of continuity to USA national security. The issues Trump has with his administration are real and he continues to treat them as if they are minor compared to his chronic attacks by his former women lovers.
Israel is a good country, full of good people. With Netanyahu as Prime Minister though, the IDF is always at the ready. There should have been a calm acceptance of the demonstrators at the Gaza border and in roads made with its leadership. Prime Minister Netanyahu did not make a good decision regarding young and impassioned Palestinians who obviously challenged their own leadership to bring the demonstration.
The Prime Minister sees things differently and we need to hope the people of Israel see his shortcomings to end tensions between them and the Palestinians. The Palestinians went back to knife attacks as soon as the demonstrations turned in to deaths and wounded.
...The Kremlin angrily protested that it had not been told in advance of the attack even though Russian military advisers could have been present at the base. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, described that as “a cause for concern for us.”...
Israel acted in emergency to the potential of chemical weapons effecting the people. I have to state that was a prudent attack. If there were Russians at the base it would be tragic, but, at the same time what is President Putin doing with Russians at an airbase where chemical weapons were deployed? I am pleased there were no Russians effected by Israel's strategic methods in an area of the world where things can happen quickly.
Obviously, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the IDF don't have to worry about long range missiles near as much as Russia does. In Israel, Katyusha rockets are the norm and immediate steps save lives. So, in this instance I think the region can congratulate Israel of it's quick actions to end any potential attacks with chemical weapons in Syria. Israel saved lives with their response. I do not doubt that.
The real and most legitimate question is, why does President Assad continue to deploy chemical weapons when it is ILLEGAL to do so?
Palestinian men (click here) wave their national flags as smoke billows from tires burned by Gazans at the Israel-Gaza border during a protest, east of Gaza City in the Gaza Strip, on April 6, 2018.
Palestinians burned tires, regardless of the toxic air it created, to protect from any bullets coming from Israel. They were undeterred and the worst weapon they had were rubber tires. The march should have meant something.
Not everyone in Russia is Israel's enemy. There are some Russians fighting antisemitism.
March 27, 2016
MK Ksenia Svetlova (Zionist Union) (click here) responded to the Russian publication that claimed "the Jews" are responsible for deaths of dozens of people following a fire in a Kemerovo, Siberia cinema on Sunday.
"The extent of the terrible disaster in which 64 people were burned, of whom 40 were children, is impossible to absorb. In one day, the lives of entire families were destroyed.
"The anti-Semitism that is thriving in Russia is nothing new. But using the disaster as a personal interest to pass an antisemitic agenda shows the level of hatred towards us. For example: 'The Jewish people murdered children as a sacrifice for Passover', and 'This is a Jewish murder' have no place in the twenty-first century," Svetlova said.
On her Twitter account Svetlova posted a picture of Russian blogger Alexi Storostenko, with a superimposed quote from him translated into Hebrew: "The children's burning in Kemerovo is only a part of the great Zionist plan. We're 'gentile flesh' to them, and Russian children are the Passover sacrifice."
After calling usage of the disaster to pass a personal agenda a hatred-level indicator, Svetlova continued: "Where is the government to condemn these terrible statements? Why doesn't 'such' a Zionist Prime Minister demand that Putin act to denounce antisemitism from his people?
I agree with her. Are Jewish people in Russia not Russian? War and killing at Ukraine's border is for the nationalist cause of "...the Russian people....". Jewish Russians deserve to be defended as well. It would seem as though war agendas for Russia is based in expanding it's borders and not much more.
"The Jewish people are here to stay. We faced so many difficulties and we will beat antisemitism as well," Svetlova asserted....
The UN Security Council has inspectors that can carry out detailed reports, however, with the infrastructure in Syria mostly rubble, there is no real safety for these inspectors. However, there does not need to be inspectors on the ground to determine the extent there is ethnic cleansing occurring in Syria. Trump need not carry any out either.
With Bolton now in the administration there will be war chant after war chant and the sound needs to become mute in order to hear the voices of knowledge and not hate.
Russia is picking sides. Israel has a right to defend itself. The wind from Douma can very well be carried to neighboring countries.
President Putin should step back from his support of Assad to realize there are other issues that carry as much brevity. It is one thing to end Daesh entirely, it is another to carry out a veiled attack for the purpose of ethnic cleansing.Chemical weapons are illegal. They cannot be used. Israel acted in the only way it could given the issues at hand. The attack strategy with chemical weapons needed to end immediately, not when the global leaders stated it was proper to end it. Israel did the right thing in Syria. Assad needs to take responsibility for Israel's attack.
April 10, 2018
By Seth J. Frantzman
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (click here) spoke to President Donald Trump Last Wednesday in the wake of the US leader’s comments about withdrawing from Syria. Israel was concerned about changes to US policy, according to reports.
Netanyahu has also enjoyed amicable relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin – relations which have now been strained by Russian claims that Israel struck Syria early Monday without warning Moscow. The prime minister now faces one of his greatest challenges as he has to walk a fine line between Washington’s threats to strike Syria and Russia’s interests in Damascus....
President Putin is correct to condemn the killing in Gaza. The people who died were unarmed and seeking to be recognized.
April 9, 2018
Moscow — Russia on Monday (click here) condemned “unacceptable” and “indiscriminate” fire by the Israeli army in clashes that have left some 30 Palestinians dead in the Gaza strip.
“Considering that the indiscriminate use of force against the civilian population is absolutely unacceptable, we once again call upon the Palestinians and Israelis to refrain from steps that will exacerbate this dangerous tension,” Moscow’s foreign ministry said in a statement....
Not all issues with Israel have the same answer.
When it comes to John Bolton, Israel's leadership or any other country should not misread his appointment. Bolton is there as a stagehand for Trump's election in 2020 no different than any of the other celebrities that now line the halls of the Oval Office.
Bolton and all the recent changes in personnel are only there long enough to win elections and then they will be replaced by people Trump has not become tired of. John Bolton will rant on and on about an invasion into Syria, the destabilization of Iraq and any other country that he decides he can instill fear in the American VOTER over and over.
My concern is the chronic turnover of staff and that lack of continuity to USA national security. The issues Trump has with his administration are real and he continues to treat them as if they are minor compared to his chronic attacks by his former women lovers.
Israel is a good country, full of good people. With Netanyahu as Prime Minister though, the IDF is always at the ready. There should have been a calm acceptance of the demonstrators at the Gaza border and in roads made with its leadership. Prime Minister Netanyahu did not make a good decision regarding young and impassioned Palestinians who obviously challenged their own leadership to bring the demonstration.
The Prime Minister sees things differently and we need to hope the people of Israel see his shortcomings to end tensions between them and the Palestinians. The Palestinians went back to knife attacks as soon as the demonstrations turned in to deaths and wounded.
...The Kremlin angrily protested that it had not been told in advance of the attack even though Russian military advisers could have been present at the base. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, described that as “a cause for concern for us.”...
Israel acted in emergency to the potential of chemical weapons effecting the people. I have to state that was a prudent attack. If there were Russians at the base it would be tragic, but, at the same time what is President Putin doing with Russians at an airbase where chemical weapons were deployed? I am pleased there were no Russians effected by Israel's strategic methods in an area of the world where things can happen quickly.
Obviously, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the IDF don't have to worry about long range missiles near as much as Russia does. In Israel, Katyusha rockets are the norm and immediate steps save lives. So, in this instance I think the region can congratulate Israel of it's quick actions to end any potential attacks with chemical weapons in Syria. Israel saved lives with their response. I do not doubt that.
The real and most legitimate question is, why does President Assad continue to deploy chemical weapons when it is ILLEGAL to do so?
Palestinians burned tires, regardless of the toxic air it created, to protect from any bullets coming from Israel. They were undeterred and the worst weapon they had were rubber tires. The march should have meant something.
Not everyone in Russia is Israel's enemy. There are some Russians fighting antisemitism.
MK Ksenia Svetlova (Zionist Union) (click here) responded to the Russian publication that claimed "the Jews" are responsible for deaths of dozens of people following a fire in a Kemerovo, Siberia cinema on Sunday.
"The extent of the terrible disaster in which 64 people were burned, of whom 40 were children, is impossible to absorb. In one day, the lives of entire families were destroyed.
"The anti-Semitism that is thriving in Russia is nothing new. But using the disaster as a personal interest to pass an antisemitic agenda shows the level of hatred towards us. For example: 'The Jewish people murdered children as a sacrifice for Passover', and 'This is a Jewish murder' have no place in the twenty-first century," Svetlova said.
On her Twitter account Svetlova posted a picture of Russian blogger Alexi Storostenko, with a superimposed quote from him translated into Hebrew: "The children's burning in Kemerovo is only a part of the great Zionist plan. We're 'gentile flesh' to them, and Russian children are the Passover sacrifice."
After calling usage of the disaster to pass a personal agenda a hatred-level indicator, Svetlova continued: "Where is the government to condemn these terrible statements? Why doesn't 'such' a Zionist Prime Minister demand that Putin act to denounce antisemitism from his people?
I agree with her. Are Jewish people in Russia not Russian? War and killing at Ukraine's border is for the nationalist cause of "...the Russian people....". Jewish Russians deserve to be defended as well. It would seem as though war agendas for Russia is based in expanding it's borders and not much more.
"The Jewish people are here to stay. We faced so many difficulties and we will beat antisemitism as well," Svetlova asserted....
