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…)

Well this adds a new twist to the Democrat platform of transparency.  For ObamaCare congress was told “you have to pass the bill to find out what is in the bill”.
Now, however, it appears the Democrat position has evolved. 
For Iran: ‘you have to approve the Iranian Nuclear Deal, and you’ll never find out what’s in the deal you are approving’.  
WASHINGTON DC – The only Obama administration official to view confidential “side deals” between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) admitted Wednesday she and her team have only seen rough drafts.
“I didn’t see the final documents. I saw the provisional documents, as did my experts,” said Wendy Sherman, a lead U.S. negotiator for the deal, said Wednesday at a Senate Banking Committee hearing.
Sherman, under secretary of State for political affairs, said she was only allowed to see the confidential deals “in the middle of the negotiation” when the IAEA “wanted to go over with some of our experts the technical details.” (more…)

What this article outlines is, in fact, the termination clause within the Iranian nuclear deal. A full analysis shows how the language used to craft the deal gives Iran the easy out, ‘the-exit-ramp’ as soon as the sanctions are lifted.

WASHINGTON DC – Last Tuesday, a 159-page PDF of the Iran nuclear agreement dropped into my inbox. Scrolling down to page 19, I checked out Paragraph 36. I suggest you do the same.

Plenty of provisions in the Vienna agreement will get attention in the coming weeks, but Paragraph 36 may be the most important of all.

Paragraph 36 tells us when and how the agreement might end. Both friend and foe have touted this deal as “historic” and promised (or moaned) that its provisions will stay in place for the long term. But in practice, this is not a ten-year agreement or a fifteen-year agreement or an eternal agreement. Paragraph 36 tells us the truth: Any party—be it Iran or a future U.S. president—can essentially ditch the Iran nuclear deal with 35 days’ notice. (more…)

If, like many of us, you are deep in the weeds in your understanding of the issues around Benghazi, the 2010 Arab Spring (Tunis, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen), or the CIA operation “Zero Footprint” in Libya and the follow-up operation in Syria, you will enjoy this interview with former Panetta/Petraeus replacement Mike Morell.
Or, if you have a cursory understanding of events, this interview might spur you toward further research.  “The Benghazi Brief” – Regardless of your current level of understanding behind events of the past 7+ years, this interview is well constructed.
Bret Baier has done his homework, and in a refreshing and surprising manner you can see how Baier is able to cut through the distracting ‘talking points’ (no pun intended), and draw out the reality of what lies behind Morell and his foundational motives.

(more…)

JERUSALEM, Israel – Police said a woman wanted to light up a cigarette and when a man refused, she lit up his car instead.
According to KTLA, the woman was arrested Wednesday after setting fire to the man’s gas pump. And the fiery exchange was all caught on video. You can see the woman approach the man filling up his car at the gas station.

Police said the woman approached him and asked for a cigarette and when he refused, she pulled a lighter from her pocket and ignited the gas pump in his car, according to KTTV. (read more)

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton was the only full frontal conservative candidate in 2014 that never backed down from his principles or advocacy.   Despite the pressure from the professional establishment to moderate himself to the middle, Cotton choose to remain true to his beliefs.
He also won his election by the widest margin of any candidate in the Senate races.
Today, another example of his wolverine blood.
This guy is fierce.
Senator Cotton says Iran should not be trusted, and any sanctions relief must first be preceded by a change in behavior and verification.  Iran does not like that idea:

If we have an agreement on the 30th of June, within a few days after that, there will be a resolution before the UN Security Council under Article 41 of Chapter 7 which will be mandatory for all member states whether Senator Cotton likes it or not.
~ Javad Zarif (Iranian Foreign Minister)

Full Backstory HERE – As Cotton Responds:

Hey @JZarif, I hear you called me out today. If you’re so confident, let’s debate the Constitution. 1/4

— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) April 29, 2015

(more…)

The deal is what we say it is, until it isn’t what it’s not; and then it becomes something the Iranians say it is.

Gotcha.

To push their ridiculous Iran narrative, the White House puts this graphic out via Twitter.

Worth sharing: Here's how the #IranDeal would shut down Iran's pathway to a nuclear weapon → http://t.co/BWuabs0TNz pic.twitter.com/8aYQi2KEgq

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) April 8, 2015

A not so subtle and snarky swipe at Benjamin Netanyahu who spoke before the U.N. with this image: (more…)

(USA TODAY) The first thing one needs to know about the nuclear deal with Iran is that it is not, in fact, a deal. You might be confused about this point, given that so many news outlets refers to a “deal” that doesn’t exist.

In fairness, many do so simply for expediency’s sake. The various parties to the talks did come away with an agreement, but it was an agreement to haggle more about what a deal might look like. We don’t have a good word for such things, so people use “deal” as a placeholder.

But in any other realm of life, if you left a negotiation where things stand in Lausanne, Switzerland, you wouldn’t think you had a deal. The known disagreements are profound and the room for further disagreements vast. (more…)

Over the weekend, as part of the administration’s full court press to support the construct of a deal with Iran, President Obama gave an interview to NPR. In the interview President Obama was asked about the deals’ critics and specifically Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin who shared that any agreement with Iran should be reversed by the next president.

President Obama responded by ridiculing Walker, and saying he should “bone up on foreign policy”:

(Via CBS) […]  “The president was asked in an NPR News interview about Walker’s recent comments promising to reject any Iran deal Mr. Obama reaches on his first day as president.

(more…)