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.

(more…)

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.

.

[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.

(more…)

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis was in Israel earlier today where he participated in a joint press conference with Israeli Defense Minister Liberman.

(more…)

During a press conference yesterday with Italian President Gentiloni, President Trump was asked about the future U.S. role Libya.

QUESTION:  President Trump, do you see a role for your administration in helping stabilizing Libya?  And do you agree that stabilizing Libya means combating terrorism and ISIS?

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  “I do not see a role in Libya.  I think the United States has right now enough roles.  We’re in a role everywhere.  So I do not see that.  I do see a role in getting rid of ISIS.  We’re being very effective in that regard.  We are doing a job, with respect to ISIS, that has not been done anywhere near the numbers that we’re producing right now.  It’s a very effective force we have.  We have no choice.  It’s a horrible thing to say, but we have no choice.  And we are effectively ridding the world of ISIS.  I see that as a primary role, and that’s what we’re going to do, whether it’s in Iraq or in Libya or anywhere else.  And that role will come to an end at a certain point, and we’ll be able to go back home and rebuild our country, which is what I want to do.”

[Transcript]

(more…)

Media are reporting that at least one police officer had been killed and at least two others seriously wounded by two Kalashnikov-wielding gunmen on the Champs Elysees in central Paris tonight.

French authorities have stated the incident was probably a ‘terrorist act’ and the famous venue was on lockdown by 9pm as heavily armed officers flooded the area. Another individual – believed to be the killer – was killed, according to police sources.

Reports suggest ‘at least’ two shooters were involved in the attack which took place as presidential candidates took part in a TV debate nearby before Sunday’s election.

(more…)

No event is happening in a vacuum.  It is critical to emphasize this basic point when evaluating the foreign policy of President Trump and his administration.  There is a very well planned multidimensional construct within the sequencing of individual events which shows a policy thread weaving throughout.

The challenging aspect for most of the current U.S. electorate, and specifically those who follow politics closely, is the Trump administration’s position to not publicly espouse targeted and strategic policy objectives.

This deliberate yet not publicly promoted approach is a paradigm shift for those who reference modern diplomatic politics through the prism of past doctrines and their public advancement.  The Trump foreign policy approach is a planned, deliberate, consequential, and intentionally quiet undertaking.

That LOOK !

The Trumpian approach is becoming increasingly easier to see. However, it is not the typical approach customary amid politicians who use momentary events to elevate the appearance of their self-importance.

Quite the contrary, with the Trump team each action and participant provides visible dots, but the administration intentionally does not connect those dots for the media or the consuming public – or trumpet their importance.

The Administrations’ focus is on the ultimate outcome each individual event brings to the aggregate conclusion. ie. ‘the goal’; and not on the individual elements as they are assembled.

(more…)

Captured suspect Kori Ali Muhammad is an Islamic activist within the “Black Lives Matter” movement.

(Via Associated Press) […]  Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer says the suspect in a shooting that killed three people in downtown Fresno told police he hates white people and shouted “God is great” in Arabic before the killings.

All three victims in Tuesday’s killings were white. The police chief says they were shot minutes apart in close proximity in areas around downtown.

Thirty-nine-year-old Kori Ali Muhammad was arrested shortly afterward. He was already wanted for a separate killing from last week, in which a Motel 6 security guard in Fresno was gunned down.

(more…)

During a February interview which broadcast just before the Superbowl, President Trump recalled riding with former President Barack Obama to the Inauguration on Jan. 20 when he asked Obama to list the three greatest issues America was facing.

[…] “I asked him what you think our biggest problem is and he told me,” Trump said, recalling the limousine ride to the U.S. Capitol with Obama.

“I can’t tell you,” Trump said after O’Reilly interrupted to ask about specifics. “But it’s a problem, its a military problem with a certain place. No, it’s not China. But it is – he did mention, cause I did ask him what would you say our number one, two, three problems are and the number one problem that he felt – I was a little bit surprised, but I fully understand.” (link)

Almost every mainstream political pundit and political observer believes the concerning country within that conversation was North Korea. Indeed, if you were to evaluate the comment in isolation, against the backdrop of world media headlines, N-Korea seemingly becomes a natural conclusion.

However, CTH does not believe North Korea was the country of concern. President Obama viewed and acted upon all foreign affairs through the prism of ideological belief. Every action taken by the Obama administration was in furtherance of an ideological world-view that was personal to the small circle of like-minded fellow travelers.

(more…)

Turkish President Recep Erdogan is quick to declare victory today, albeit by a narrow margin, as a national referendum to consolidate power passes during a national vote.

[…]  The 18 constitutional amendments that will come into effect after the next election, scheduled for 2019, will abolish the office of the prime minister and hand sweeping executive powers to the president. –link–

Having watched the Erdogan objectives play out over the past six to eight years the approach he has taken has been highly effective.

Erdogan essentially imported a base of support consisting of mostly Muslim Brotherhood political supporters to aid his desire to transform Turkey from a secular nation into a more Islamic dictatorial endeavor.

He may never fully achieve the goal of recreating the Ottoman Empire, but that doesn’t mean there is going to be anything less than toxic turmoil ahead for Turkey and the EU as his endeavors continue to be successful.

A decade or two from now when our children look back upon the period from 2010 to 2020 there will be a rather obvious similarity between the rise of Erdogan to power and the rise of Libya’s Muamar Qaddafi.

Both power-hungry nuts utilized immigration to construct their objectives, and both were national gatekeepers. Qaddafi held power over Europe via the North African migration gate, and Erdogan gaining power over Europe through the use of the Mid-East gate.

(more…)