Sea Change In The Middle East

America’s view of the Middle East today is shaped by our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the rise and reach of ISIS, a grinding conflict in Syria, the region as a source of wider ranging terrorism and staggering outflows of refugees that are changing the political calculus in Europe. The images that characterize and shape American involvement there are of arid landscapes and rubble from wanton destruction, our soldiers and marines in desert camouflage and videos of surgical airstrikes.  However, the image of the beginning of our involvement in the Middle East is a rarely viewed February 1945 photo of President Franklin Roosevelt meeting with Saudi King Abdul Aziz aboard the USS Quincy in the Suez Canal.  As our strategic role in the Middle East began with a meeting on the water so, too, are consequential changes there taking place at sea – the domain in which the U.S. has enjoyed unfettered access and dominance for over seventy years.   Assuming continued uncontested American maritime dominance in that vital region is a grave strategic misstep – key Asian powers have turned to the sea, they understand fully what is at stake, and they have come to play.

U.S. Position in the Middle East Continues to Decline

While President Barack Obama and his would-be successor Hillary Clinton try to convince the American people that everything is fine in regards to the U.S. position in the world and the security of the nation; foreign adversaries are celebrating what they see as the country’s decline. For example, an August 18 editorial in Global Times, the official media outlet of China’s ruling Communist Party, proclaimed “US suffers new setback in Middle East.” The column hailed its axis partner Russia for basing long-range bombers in Iran to attack targets in Syria in support of the regime of Bashar Assad. It is official Washington policy to remove Assad from power to end Syria’s civil war, but Russian and Iranian military intervention has thwarted the half-hearted, slow-motion effort of the Obama administration to aid the Sunni rebels. “More sadly for Washington” continues the Chinese editorial, “Iraq also consented to the passing-through of Russian military aircraft under some symbolic limits.” This is not surprising given that U.S. policy has allowed Baghdad to become a Shiite satrap of Iran. Though this error goes back to the Bush administration, Obama’s withdrawal of all American troops in 2011 allowed the Iraq regime to openly embrace Tehran.

New German Paper Signals Dramatic Military Shift

Germany officially casts off postwar military restraint and promises to help ‘in shaping the global order.’

Germany has gone through a radical transformation in how it views its military. In May 2010, German President Horst Köhler said that “a country of our size needs to be aware that … military deployment, too, is necessary if we are to protect our interests such as ensuring free-trade routes or preventing regional instabilities.” At that time, the idea that Germany would use its army to protect economic interests was so controversial that he was forced to resign.

Exclusive: Russian Premier Remains Defiant on Bombing of Syrian Rebels

Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev during a meeting with the Bavarian state premier in Munich on Feb. 13, 2016

 

Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev tells TIME that the peace deal won’t stop the war in Syria

Russia has no plans to stop its bombing campaign against rebel positions in Syria until Moscow’s allies in Damascus can achieve peace on favorable terms, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev tells TIME in an exclusive interview. As for the targets of the Syrian regime’s ongoing offensive around Aleppo and other cities, he said that rebels “who run around with automatic weapons” should be fair game — not only the terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria.

A Strong German Leader Is Imminent

Keep a close watch on Europe. Events are pointing to a dramatic change that will shock the world.

Strong leaders are rising on the world scene today in several nations, including Russia, China and Iran. But what about Europe? And what about Germany?

Germany is one of the top exporters of military armaments in the world, and the third largest exporter of goods. Its economy dominates the European Union. But Germany has no strong leader. Lately, many critics have pointed this out as Russia and radical Islam have gone on the attack against Europe.

Has America Been Influenced by Communism?

 

Many today ridicule prior generations’ concern over Communist infiltration. But current trends are bringing that concern back into focus.

Imagine the United States allying with Russia. If you were alive when Nazi Germany was rampaging across Europe during World War ii, you didn’t have to imagine it. You saw it: The world’s greatest capitalist nation forged a “strange alliance” with the world’s greatest Communist state, the Soviet Union.

When this happened, a peculiar phenomenon surged across America: a wave of popular emotional fervor for the Soviets.

Influential men and media fawned over Joseph Stalin. President Franklin Roosevelt released Communist Party-U.S.A. leader Earl Browder from prison to promote “national unity” between American Communists and the general public.

Yet even during this trying and confusing time, one strong voice cried out a warning against not only the imminent fascist threat from Germany, but the less-understood Communist threat from the Soviet Union.

Unprecedented: Germany to Send Troops to Iraq

 

A status quo Germany has maintained for almost 60 years is changing in response to modern-day security challenges.

Ever since World War ii, Germany’s military missions abroad have been executed under a United Nations or nato mandate—until now.

The crisis in Iraq is compelling the German government to implement drastic changes in its military policy on foreign deployment. The German cabinet agreed Wednesday to send over 100 troops to Irbil, in northern Iraq, to train Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. If finalized, the plan would be Germany’s first major military deployment without any authorization from the United Nations or nato.

Germany’s Rise … and Rise to Power!

Both the German public and the general public have been victim of a masterful public relations campaign, aided and abetted by an Anglo-Saxon mass media terribly ignorant of true history, which has convinced the world at large of two great lies—that Germany is now a model, peaceful democratic nation, and that it is simply not capable of raising a powerful military force to be a threat, yet again, to world peace.

Yet German power can no longer be hidden. Even certain German politicians are beginning to express concerns at the scope of the nation’s weapons industry.