The Saudi people and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are very proud of what they were able to accomplish during this historic visit by President Donald Trump to the summit of a united Arab coalition. (Summit Production Video):

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The entire region should be proud.

Despite the popular western dismissive media narrative, the summit was a resounding success. Beyond the royal pageantry, we can only imagine the internal anxiety if our beloved America was defined by the abhorrent behavior of the Westboro Baptist Church.

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President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump join President Fattah al-Sisi (Egypt) and Saudi King Salman to participate in the inauguration of The Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology.  [two videos below]  ‘Hearts and Memes’?

Essentially the center appears to be a Saudi data hub for monitoring multiple media and social media platforms, detecting extremist sentiments and countering the concerning rhetoric with positive social media messaging. In the U.S. we have the NSA cyber command monitoring system, a ‘big brother’ per se’.  The Saudi version appears to be a non military enterprise which might be considered ‘Big Allah’.

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Given First Lady Melania’s interests in combating social media bullying, this Saudi enterprise and exhibit was likely interesting.

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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson holds a press briefing in Saudi Arabia at the conclusion of President Trump’s speech at the Arab Islamic American Summit:

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More than any other Arab leader Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has led the way in confronting Islamic terrorism.

It was President al-Sisi who exiled the Muslim Brotherhood and formed a coalition of Arab nations to confront the extremist elements promoting violence.

President al-Sisi’s call to confront extremism was joined by King Abdullah III (Jordan) in 2014; and that eventually led to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States uniting and forming an anti-extremism Arab coalition. [Backstory Here]

President al-Sisi delivered a 2015 New Year speech to the the most influential Islamic scholars and faith leaders calling upon internal reform to confront the radical elements within the Muslim faith. Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz honored President al-Sisi for his efforts at creating a stable coalition for peace just prior to his death a few weeks later in late January 2015.

After taking power in 2015 Saudi King Salman took up the cause for al-Sisi’s peace coalition, and that was the beginning of a series of events that culminated in this 2017 Arab Islamic American Summit.  If regional peace is achieved, history will show how significant Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was in that result.

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[TRANSCRIPT] I want to thank King Salman for his extraordinary words, and the magnificent Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting today’s summit. I am honored to be received by such gracious hosts. I have always heard about the splendor of your country and the kindness of your citizens, but words do not do justice to the grandeur of this remarkable place and the incredible hospitality you have shown us from the moment we arrived.

You also hosted me in the treasured home of King Abdulaziz, the founder of the Kingdom who united your great people. Working alongside another beloved leader – American President Franklin Roosevelt – King Abdulaziz began the enduring partnership between our two countries. King Salman: your father would be so proud to see that you are continuing his legacy – and just as he opened the first chapter in our partnership, today we begin a new chapter that will bring lasting benefits to our citizens.

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In January of 2015 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi began a journey of peace by asking the holiest and most influential Islamic Scholars in the Arab world to join him in stepping away from the noise of extremist voices and engaging in long-term introspective review of their Islamic faith.  President al-Sisi called for a religious revolution to focus Islam toward a future of peace.  The engaged Dar al-Iftaa scholarly audience erupted in applause.

President al-Sisi stood up, resolute, spoke of large truths with bold leadership, and took great risk upon himself.  After the speech a coalition of like-minded voices began to grow in number and consequence.   That moment became the pebble dropped in the shoe of the Arab leadership of consequence – the emphasis shifted toward peace.

That influential speech, and more importantly the leadership of all joining member states, including the praise of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia before his untimely death, paved the way forward toward this upcoming weekend.   King Abdullah’s successor, his brother King Salman, is now positioned to put his own footprint in history.

All of the necessary elements, many of them taking years to organize, are aligned in common purpose for this specific moment in time.

More than a dozen heads of state from Arab and Islamic nations have been invited by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to attend the conference with President Trump including: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Egypt), King Abdullah III (Jordan), Muhammad Fuad Masum (Iraq), Mamnoon Hussain (Pakistan) and all six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE).  All are expected to be in attendance.

We are living in one of those rare moments when we are fortunate enough to see the building blocks of historic enterprise being erected while we watch.  The results of these next several days will shape how our children view the landscape of the middle east in all the years to come.

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Important Stuff – Watch how the actual (non fake) news cycle from the administration rolls out in coordination with President Trump’s trip to the mid-east.  There’s a larger, coordinated, geopolitical strategy message being sent to the world by the peace coalition President Trump has assembled over the past four months…

WASHINGTON DC – Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is crediting changes in tactics ordered by President Trump for increasing the pressure on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and leaving the beleaguered fighters with no avenue of escape.

“He directed a tactical shift from shoving ISIS out of safe locations in an attrition fight to surrounding the enemy in their strongholds so we can annihilate ISIS,” Mattis said Friday during a Pentagon briefing on the counter-ISIS campaign. (more…)

Today President Trump met with NATO member and Muslim Brotherhood supporter, President Recep Erdogan, prior to heading overseas for meetings with anti-Brotherhood Mid-East alliance.  “The Joint Arab Intervention Force”.

The motive for Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan to travel to the White House today was obvious, anxiety.

A very specific foreboding type of anxiety, because President Trump is about to embark on an international trip filled with multilateral meetings attended by a coalition of people who regard President Erdogan as a nemesis to peace.

If you only absorbed the Western media headlines for the past five years you would be entirely missing the interpersonal dynamic that began immediately following the start of President Obama’s second term.  A framework of understanding that highlights the intentional policy of Obama, and how the region shifted into hunker down mode in an effort to outlast the Obama interventionist doctrine.

Within this less discussed reality we also find domestic motives to undermine President Trump’s upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  Both the severe left and the militaristic right have vested interests in blocking a successful Trump peace doctrine.

President Obama’s ideological left and Senator McCain’s ideological right both prefer the big cat cages remain wide open allowing blood lust extremists to create convenient chaos.  Unfortunately, Russia (Putin) and Syria (Assad) also carry a self-preservation interest within this complex and extremist dynamic.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will join President Trump at an “Arab, Islamic, and American Conference” in Saudi Arabia this coming Sunday.

More than a dozen heads of state from Arab and Islamic nations have been invited to attend the conference with President Trump including: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Egypt), King Abdullah III (Jordan), Muhammad Fuad Masum (Iraq), Mamnoon Hussain (Pakistan) and all six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE), are expected to be in attendance. (more…)

(Via Reuters) The head of Islamic State in Afghanistan, Abdul Hasib, was killed in an operation on April 27 conducted jointly by Afghan and U.S. Special Forces in the eastern province of Nangarhar, U.S. and Afghan officials said on Sunday.

Hasib, appointed last year after his predecessor Hafiz Saeed Khan died in a U.S. drone strike, is believed to have ordered a series of high profile attacks including one in March 8 on the main military hospital in Kabul, a statement said.

Last month, a Pentagon spokesman said Hasib had probably been killed during the raid by U.S. and Afghan special forces in Nangarhar during which two U.S. army Rangers were killed, but prior to Sunday’s announcement there had been no confirmation.

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Earlier today President Trump welcomed President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority to the White House.  Abbas represents the final member of a building peace alliance including PM Netanyahu (Israel), President al-Sisi (Egypt), King Abdullah (Jordan) and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

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[Transcript] 12:15 P.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. Today I am pleased to welcome President Abbas to the White House for his first visit to Washington in quite a while.

Almost 24 years ago, it was on these grounds that President Abbas stood with a courageous peacemaker, then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Here at the White House, President Abbas signed a Declaration of Principles — very important — which laid the foundation for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

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