Dangerous/Sketchy – An Inspector General investigation into a military recruitment program for non-Americans with foreign language skills has resulted in a dangerous level of foreign infiltration by potential terrorists.  Some of the dangerous recruits, potentially terrorists, are now “missing” and “unaccounted for”.

“The program has been replete with problems, to include foreign infiltration.”

(Via Fox News) Defense Department investigators have discovered “potential security risks” in a Pentagon program that has enrolled more than 10,000 foreign-born individuals into the U.S. armed forces since 2009, Fox News has learned exclusively, with sources on Capitol Hill and at the Pentagon expressing alarm over “foreign infiltration” and enrollees now unaccounted for.

After more than a year of investigation, the Pentagon’s inspector general recently issued a report – its contents still classified but its existence disclosed here for the first time – identifying serious problems with Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI), a DOD program that provides immigrants and non-immigrant aliens with an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for military service.

Defense Department officials said the program is still active but acknowledged that new applications have been suspended.
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Today Secretary of State Rex Tillerson highlighted events over the past six months.  T-Rex takes another stroll around the globe discussing regional policy, specific state policy, and ongoing challenges.  Secretary Tillerson then takes questions from the media at the conclusion of his remarks.
Very informative. Very well worth watching (T-Rex Begins at 03:40):

Reports surface today that President Trump has cancelled the 2012/2013 covert CIA program giving weapons to ISIS and al-Qaeda in Syria.  [Washington Post Link]

Various news organizations frame the issue as cancelling the program to “arm the moderate opposition to Bashir Assad”.  However, those news reports are entirely false.

We know the Obama administration was arming ISIS as part of the larger Syria strategy because Secretary of State John Kerry went on record admitting the Obama Syrian strategy was actually to arm ISIS and extremist Islamic groups (al-Nusra) against Assad.
We also know Secretary Kerry was being truthful in that media-hidden, albeit recorded, admission because CTH specifically tracked and investigated the CIA weapons shipments as an accidential outcome of the finalized Benghazi Briefing material in 2013/2014.
The Washington Post might be claiming today that President Trump is discontinuing a covert CIA plan that armed “moderates”.  But we know, if Trump is actually canceling this program, the actual recipients of the covert weapons plan were ISIS, al-Qaeda and al-Nusra in Syria – By their own damned admissions.
There simply is no doubt of that truth.   The Washington Post is lying, and despite their earnest efforts we can actually prove their framework is a substantive and factual falsehood.    Here’s some of the proof, including Kerry’s recorded admission:
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been keeping an exhaustive schedule for the past week and especially in the past few days.  In the ongoing diplomatic effort against mid-east terror networks, the GCC/Trump coalition have kept up pressure against Qatar.
Kuwait is acting as the primary mediator between Qatar and the rest of the Gulf States; T-Rex conducted three days of shuttle diplomacy in an effort to assist and reassert the position of the Trump administration.  Tillerson traveled to Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and back to Qatar with extensive meetings within each nation.
It would take a bazillion words to explain all the nuances, shifts, agreements and diplomatic ongoing efforts.  However, to keep it simple we boiled it down to the current, most consequential, outcome within this graphic:
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The Trump directed Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS is known shortly as the acronym “D-ISIS”.
Though the media never reported on it much, you might remember immediately after taking office President Trump announced an immediate call for an international summit in Washington DC specifically purposed to readdress the Global Coalition and give the alliance specific focus toward the international defeat of ISIS.
In response to that call by President Trump, 68 nations traveled to Washington DC in late March to join together in an agreement of approach to eliminate ISIS.  Led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, that summit was the formation of the 2017 “D-ISIS” strategy. All 68 nations signed on to the united effort; everyone was on the same page.  Again, the media coverage was scant to non-existent.
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There are people on all sides of the political continuum entirely missing the reason for President Trump to threaten Bashir Assad publicly.   Key word to understanding the Trump motive is: “publicly“.

President Trump, according to all high-brow punditry, is breaking diplomatic and national security norms by announcing the threat of punishment publicly instead of directly to Assad via a back-channel like Russia.  However, that approach appears entirely by design; not by some arbitrary dispatch or happenstance breech of security protocol.

Here’s the big picture.

♦ FIRST – Who benefits from the U.S. attacking, weakening or taking out Assad?

Four primary groups:

• #1) Assad’s political opposition.
• #2) Islamic Extremist groups (ISIS, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra et al) ie. The Muslim Brotherhood.
• #3) Turkey and Recep Erdogan; and
• #4) John McCain, Evan McMullin, Adam Kinzinger, the industrial war complex and neo-cons etc.

♦ SECOND – President Trump doesn’t want to engage in Syria beyond the elimination of ISIS (al-Qaeda, al-Nusra) etc.  Trump’s announced strategy is to defeat the Islamic extremists, ISIS; and then work on a regional governorship type structure toward a diplomatic internal political solution (Rex Tillerson).

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(VIA STATE DEPT) Qatar has begun its careful review and consideration of a series of requests presented by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

While some of the elements will be very difficult for Qatar to meet, there are significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution.

A productive next step would be for each of the countries to sit together and continue this conversation. We believe our allies and partners are stronger when they are working together towards one goal which we all agree is stopping terrorism and countering extremism.

Each country involved has something to contribute to that effort. A lowering of rhetoric would also help ease the tension. The United States will continue to stay in close contact with all parties and will continue to support the mediation efforts of the Emir of Kuwait.

~ U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

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“The core allies were certainly encouraged by the clear narrative by President Trump in Riyadh, and thus decided to address the Qatar-Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] problem. The speech changed the narrative.” ~ Walid Phares

According to a Fox News Exclusive report, the President Trump administration is considering a Camp-David style Arab peace summit.   Those who have followed the administration’s structural activity all year will see this as a natural progression of events within the alliance formed by President Trump and the Mid-East coalition.

The four major allies within the growing alliance, Egypt, Saudi, UAE and Bahrain, as well as other moderates supportive of the larger objectives to restore stability, are currently engaged in a campaign to change the outlook of Qatar and stop their support for the Muslim Brotherhood.  A peace summit around their united efforts, with the support of President Trump, would follow a logical path.

The media will go bananas at the thought of such a consequential accomplishment.

(Via Fox News) President Trump is considering calling a Camp David-style summit to address growing tensions among long-established U.S. allies in the Arab world and renew his call for those nations to confront the “crisis of Islamic extremism,” Fox News has learned.

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The latest development, in the ongoing Arab state GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) initiative to stem the destabilizing behavior of Qatar, is a list of demands presented to Qatar. If you have followed the regional issues for the past few years you’ll quickly identify how each of the demands cuts to the core of the destabilizing issues.

Included in the demands:  ♦Shut down al-Jazeera, ♦stop cooperating with Iran and ♦expel Turkish military provocateurs (Erdogan).  The binding thread that connects each of these demands is the effort to stop Qatar from supporting/assisting the Muslim Brotherhood.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kuwait has given Qatar a list of demands from Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations that includes shutting down Al-Jazeera and cutting diplomatic ties to Iran.

That’s according to a list obtained by The Associated Press from one of the countries involved in the dispute. The document says Qatar has 10 days to comply with all demands.

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The media is finally beginning to catch on to the larger picture:  ♦Jared Kushner is in Israel continuing talks toward a Israeli/Arab peace deal. ♦ Secretary Rex Tillerson is continuing to leverage Qatar away from funding the Muslim Brotherhood terror networks.  ♦President Trump is working through King Salman and today contacting newly elevated Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman:

President Donald J. Trump spoke today with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia to congratulate him on his recent elevation. The President and the Crown Prince committed to close cooperation to advance our shared goals of security, stability, and prosperity across the Middle East and beyond.

The two leaders discussed the priority of cutting off all support for terrorists and extremists, as well as how to resolve the ongoing dispute with Qatar. They discussed efforts to achieve a lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. And they discussed ways to further deepen economic cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia. (link)

Those of you who have been following along already know this is all carefully planned.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump called Saudi Arabia’s new crown prince Wednesday as the U.S. stepped up efforts to mediate a crisis between Qatar and America’s closest regional allies.

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