It was two weeks ago when we alerted readers to Egypt’s Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah visiting Moscow – so it should come as no surprise to see Vladimir Putin now extending his influence into Syria.

President Obama has created an intentional leadership vacuum in the mid-east.
Intentional by design.
The two most stable forces within the region, Egypt and Jordan, have been ignored by President Obama for several years.  President Obama willingly allowing Turkey’s Recep Erdogan free reign on what takes place inside Syria, while Erdogan simultaneously provides a safe-haven for the Muslim Brotherhood.  The current events are not disconnected from this empirical truth.

WASHINGTON — Russia has sent a military advance team to Syria and is taking other steps the United States fears may signal that President Vladimir V. Putin is planning to vastly expand his military support for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, administration officials said Friday.

The Russian moves, including the recent transport of prefabricated housing units for hundreds of people to a Syrian airfield and the delivery of a portable air traffic control station there, are another complicating factor in Secretary of State John Kerry’s repeated efforts to enlist Mr. Putin’s support for a diplomatic solution to the bloody conflict in Syria.

(more…)

Remember this moment years from now when everyone wonders why Russia has replaced the U.S. in the sphere of influence.  Egyptian President Fattah el-Sisi met with King Abdullah II of Jordan during a scheduled visit to Moscow.  Both President el-Sisi and King Abdullah have been blocked from visits to the White House.

EGYPT – According to Egyptian presidency spokesperson Alaa Youssef, the two Arab leaders discussed counter-terrorism strategies and acknowledged the importance of regional and international alliances in combatting threats posed by extremist and terrorist organisations in the Middle East. El-Sisi and Abdullah II also acknowledged the importance of military cooperation between their own countries and across the wider Arab world.

[…]  Regarding Libya, the two leaders renewed their support to the elected Libyan government and the national Libyan army, while advocating a political solution in the country. The heads of state also agreed on the importance of supporting the Iraqi government in its efforts to achieve stability and unity in the country. (more…)

Excellent Op-ed in USA Today by Glenn Reynolds: “See something, do something” (excerpt) […]  Stone was cut by the attacker behind his neck, and his thumb was nearly sliced off as the man was wrestled to the ground by the Americans. Sadler said: “The gunman pulls out a box cutter and slices Spencer a few times.” He added that the attacker “never said a word.”
To Americans who remember Sept. 11, 2001, this kind of response — even down to the “let’s go” — echoes the story of Todd Beamer and the passengers of Flight 93. It’s the right response, of course, to terrorists who threaten innocents.
As Brad Todd wrote days after 9/11, it was the response of ordinary Americans on this flight that meant a repeat of the attacks was much less likely: “Just 109 minutes after a new form of terrorism — the most deadly yet invented — came into use, it was rendered, if not obsolete, at least decidedly less effective. … United Flight 93 did not hit a building. It did not kill anyone on the ground. … Why? Because it had informed Americans on board who’d had 109 minutes to come up with a counteraction. And the next time a hijacker full of hate pulls the same stunt with a single knife, he’ll get the same treatment and meet the same result as those on United Flight 93. Dead, yes. Murderous, yes. But successful? No.” (read more)

God put protective angels on that train.  Spencer Stone (U.S. Air Force), Alek Skarlatos (U.S. National Guard), Anthony Sadler (Pittsburg, CA) and Chris Norman (British Businessman). 

Amazing heroism… U.S. Air Force Spencer Stone charged a terrorist with a fully loaded AK-47, tackled him and suffered a severe cut to the back of the neck.  All of them are heroes. The terrorist, named in reports as Ayoub el-Qahzzani, had at least nine full magazines of ammunition holding almost 300 rounds.

FRANCE – A US solider who foiled a terrorist attack on a French-bound train was knifed in the neck while disarming the crazed gunman.

Spencer Stone (circled above), who is part of the U.S. Air Force, spotted the 26-year-old Moroccan acting suspiciously and heard him trying to arm his weapon in the toilet of the high speed train between Amsterdam and Paris. (more…)

The event took place near the Syria Turkey border.

[…]  “Through binoculars the soldiers could see that the crowd were terrified and many were in tears.”
A man and a young boy were dragged out in front of the crowd and were made to kneel down.
“They were both wearing blindfolds and looked terrified.
“A tall bearded man emerged and drew a long knife. (more…)

President Obama’s ISIS combat strategy involved training, equipping and mobilizing what the administration called “Syrian Moderates”.   The overall ‘strategy’ has been an abject failure as the U.S. has been unable to assemble more than a few handfuls of forces who are willing to engage in such a tenuous plan.  However, today the plan, as poor in concept as designed, suffered a remarkable set-back. 

BAGHDAD — The commander of a group of Syrian fighters trained by the United States has been kidnapped by Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, his group said in a statement Thursday.

The commander, Nadeem Hassan, and seven of his fighters were taken by the Nusra Front, a rival of the Islamic State in Syria, as they were returning from a meeting in Turkey.

A contingent of 54 fighters from Mr. Hassan’s group, known as Division 30, are the only ones who have graduated from a Pentagon program to train Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State in Syria. One the fighters taken with Mr. Hassan was his deputy, Farhan Al-Jasem, who commands the fighters who graduated from the American training program. (more…)

This is stoppage #60, in the past year, for those of us keeping count.

FLORIDA – A Florida man has been charged in an alleged backpack bomb plot he planned to carry out on a public beach in Key West to show his support for the Islamic State militant group, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.

Harlem Suarez, also known as Almlak Benitez, 23, of Key West, was arrested on Monday as part of an FBI sting operation and charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, the department said.

According to the criminal complaint, the FBI was alerted to Facebook posts made by Suarez in April of this year in which he expressed his support for Islamic State.

An FBI informant then made contact with Suarez, who told the informant that he wanted to carry out an attack in the United States. (more…)

This is not a spoof.  This is an actual picture of a current military recruitment center:

One story here, and another HERE

I doubt there’s a more apropos picture of Obama’s America. (more…)

Turkish President Recep Erdogan is the ultimate ‘wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing’ when it comes to hiding his Muslim Brotherhood affiliation from western media.   The majority of the media, is essentially complicit and willfully blind in allowing his transparent disguise to remain unexposed.

The Muslim Brotherhood is ISIS.  Period.  Trying to parse distinctions is like trying to separate the Occupy Wall Street affiliates from the Anarchists’ amid the Democrats.

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish jets struck camps belonging to Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, authorities said Saturday, the first strike since a 2013 peace deal as Ankara also bombed ISIS positions in Syria.

The strikes in Iraq targeted the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, whose affiliates have been effective in battling ISIS. The strikes further complicate the U.S.-led war against the extremists, which has relied on Kurdish forces making gains in both Iraq and Syria. (more…)

https://youtu.be/iaHe9PBnFdA