Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was the first mid-east head of state to call for the formation of an alliance against extremism.  That alliance gained massive momentum with the election of President Trump:

WHITE HOUSE:

President Donald J. Trump spoke today with President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt to offer condolences to the people of Egypt after the heinous attack on worshippers in Egypt’s North Sinai province. President Trump condemned the attack and reiterated that the United States will continue to stand with Egypt in the face of terrorism. The international community cannot tolerate barbaric terrorist groups and must strengthen its efforts to defeat terrorism and extremism in all its forms.

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Against the backdrop of the first border opening between Egypt’s northern Sinai and Gaza; and against the ongoing efforts by the al-Sisi led coalition to move toward peace between Arabs and Israelis; the extremists strike back today with a horrific terrorist attack against the Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, west of El Arish, the main city in North Sinai.

(Reuters) CAIRO – Militants killed more than 230 people at a mosque in North Sinai on Friday, detonating a bomb and gunning down worshippers in the deadliest such attack of Egypt’s modern history, state media and witnesses said.

Worshippers were finishing Friday prayers at the mosque when a bomb exploded, witnesses said. Around 40 gunmen set up positions outside the mosque with jeeps and opened fire from different directions as people tried to escape.

”Four groups of armed men attacked the worshippers inside the mosque after Friday noon prayers. Two groups were firing at ambulances to deter them, said Mohamed, a witness.

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Holy Cats… things are moving exponentially fast now…
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is now disclosing the nature of his resignation, and why he left Lebanon to spend time in Saudi Arabia.  It appears the Saudi and regional partners provided evidence that Iran and Hezbollah were planning an assassination targeting Hariri and his family.
Saad Hariri traveled to France for a meeting with French President Emanuel Macron.
Yesterday President Trump and President Macron had a phone conversation where they agreed on the need for continued cooperation and partnership with regional allies, namely Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Gulf States and coalition members to confront the destabilizing efforts of Iran and Hezbollah:

JEDDAH: US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday agreed on the need to partner with allies to respond to the destabilization activities of Hezbollah and Iran in the region.
The two leaders’ telephone conversation came in the aftermath of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s resignation, which he announced during a recent trip to Saudi Arabia.
“Both presidents agreed on the need to work with allies to counter Hizballah’s and Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region,” a statement from the White House said.

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It was massively unreported in 2014 when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took control of the Gaza Sinai border and began removing the Hamas Terror tunnels.  As we watched the local media reporting, it was almost unbelievable how western media were ignoring the events. (example)
A full one-third of all homes on the Gaza border with Egypt contained Hamas tunnels used to smuggle weapons.  One of the discovered tunnels was 1.5 miles long (link).  In order to deal with the scale of the issue, al-Sisi ordered the removal of houses to facilitate an almost mile-wide buffer zone.   During the effort massive tunnels were discovered that the terrorist network Hamas was using to smuggle weapons.

It was al-Sisi’s efforts on that border that eventually forced the terms of a 2014 ceasefire between Hamas/Palestinian Authority and Israel.  By forcing Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to speak with one voice President al-Sisi changed the paradigm of willful blindness supporting terrorism.
Since 2014/2015 the border area has been secured by Egypt and no weapons have been able to flow into Gaza.  The inability of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas to fuel further terror created the space for the Palestinian Authority to extend it’s influence.
Eventually, absent their ability to fuel terrorist activity, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood diminished in influence; later granting the PA with unified governing authority.  The “big squeeze” paid off.
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If you haven’t followed the entirety of how the “Freedom Alliance” was assembled in the very early months shortly after the election of President Donald Trump, it’s hard to understand the scope of what is taking place in the middle-east.
The nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), led by Saudi Arabia, are on the cusp of transforming themselves into a modern and engaged era. The goals of the GCC allies, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) are to remove the influence agents who have supported extremism, the Muslim Brotherhood, and stimulated and/or enabled crisis for personal and ideological gains.
Because of the financial reach within the parties involved, the downstream consequences are being felt within the political bodies of most nations including our own. Specifically within Washington DC’s deep-state institutions, career politicians on foreign affairs committees, and within the upper and lower tiers of the aggregate U.S. State Dept.  A great realignment is taking place.

Caption: There will come a time when you will need to choose a side. Think wisely…

French President Emmanuel Macron said today he will make an unexpected trip to Saudi Arabia after leaving the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to see Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discuss crises in Lebanon, Yemen and the wider region.  This happens simultaneous to the UAE announcing they too are examining bank accounts for their own officials, officers and leaders within their nation.

DUBAI (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron is making a previously unscheduled trip to Saudi Arabia on Thursday to see Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, notably over Lebanon and Yemen.

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Saudi Arabia has made more arrests, expanded the ongoing corruption investigation, and frozen hundreds more bank accounts in the ongoing efforts of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman toward reform efforts in the kingdom.

U.S. President Trump stands solidly behind the efforts of King Salman and the Crown Prince while the U.S. State Department, full of Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers and containing multiple indulgent beneficiaries of much of the prior corrupt Saudi spending, is aligned with Deep State against the new approach by the Kingdom.
According to Reuters reports the number of domestic bank accounts frozen as a result of the purge is over 1,700 and rising, up from 1,200 reported on Tuesday.

[…] Anti-corruption authorities have also frozen the bank accounts of Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, one of the most senior members of the ruling Al Saud, and some of his immediate family members, the sources added.

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Major developments happening in Saudi Arabia including the arrest of former King Abdallah chief of staff, prince Al Walid Bin Talal, and heads of the main three Saudi owned television stations.  Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Trump ally) leads the way:

Eleven princes, four sitting ministers and ‘tens’ of former ministers have been arrested on orders from the new anti-corruption committee headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday evening according to sources. (LINK)

NOTE: It’s important to understand the use of the word “corruption” as it pertains to the domestic consumption of news in KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).  In these examples, “corruption” is expressed as self-interested financial corruption as in: ‘activity against the people’.  However, within KSA politics, adverse political action targeted against the state is framed as ‘corruption’ through internal broadcast.

President Trump, May 2017: “Drive Them Out” … “Our goal is a coalition of nations who share the aim of stamping out extremism and providing our children a hopeful future that does honor to God.”

I’ll outline some recent actions we’ve been tracking that will highlight today’s events, and yet encapsulate some larger issues.  It is critically important to remember, KSA is in a state of realignment away from extremism –REMINDER– and President Trump has committed his support to the reform agents King Salman, and more importantly, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the future leader of Saudi Arabia.   You can easily connect-the-dots.
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Earlier today the FBI sent out an alert seeking to locate Mukhammadzoir Kadirov a 32-year-old Uzbekistan national, for questioning in relationship to yesterday’s terrorist attack in New York City.
Kadirov has been located, however the FBI is still seeking any assistance from anyone who might know him, his activity, or be able to provide further information:

NEW YORK – The FBI is no longer seeking a second man in connection with the lower Manhattan truck assault that killed eight people, authorities said Wednesday.
The announcement came less than 90 minutes after the FBI released a wanted poster for Mukhammadzoir Kadirov, a 32-year-old Uzbekistan national.
“We have found him and I’ll leave it at that,” said William Sweeney, head of the New York FBI office.

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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivered remarks today together with his Belgian counterpart against the backdrop of yesterday’s New York City terrorist attack.

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[Transcript] SECRETARY TILLERSON: Good morning, all. I want to welcome Deputy Prime Minister Reynders of Belgium to the State Department. It’s a pleasure to have you here.
FOREIGN MINISTER REYNDERS: Thank you.
SECRETARY TILLERSON: I do want to make a comment on yesterday’s events in New York City. Of course, we extend our condolences to the families and loved ones of all the victims. This has turned out to be – have been an international event in terms of the victims themselves. We now know we have one Belgian citizen who died in the attack yesterday and five Argentinian citizens, and we have additional Belgian citizens that were injured as well.
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Three Pakistani brothers (Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan), along with their family members, managed the congressional IT (Information Technology) for members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
An investigation in 2016 showed they accessed congressional computer networks without permission, transferred the content, and jaw-droppingly did much of their work while physically located in Pakistan.

Using their virtually unlimited access the Awan’s compromised the computer network of around 80 congressional offices, and the U.S. taxpayers paid them millions of dollars in the process. If the underlying ramifications were not so serious, this would seem almost too unbelievable for a Hollywood script. Imran Awan was arrested at Dulles International Airport fleeing the country with a bag full of cash.
Now, a reasonable person might think the House of Representatives would be interested to find out just how much of their sensitive and potentially classified information was compromised. A reasonable person might think that, but then again congress is generally devoid of reasonable people.
To showcase the insufferable idiocy of congress, you might find the latest development eye-opening from the perspective of why DC is so structurally dysfunctional.
In an “unofficial” or technically “informal” congressional hearing (video below), Representative Scott Perry, Rep Jim Jordan, Rep Ron Desantis, Rep Louie Gomert and Rep Steve King, meet with Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton and journalist Luke Rosiak (Daily Caller) to discuss why congress is not investigating the issue.
Yes, that would be congress holding an informal hearing to ask citizens why congress is not conducting an investigation.
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