Syria threatening dissidents around the globe

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Assad regime has been threatening (and worse) Syrian dissidents even outside Syria (Hat Tip: Weekly Standard). Syrian embassy staffers are tracking and photographing antiregime protesters and sending reports back home, Syrian activists and U.S. officials say. Syrian diplomats, including the ambassador to the U.S., have fanned out to Arab diaspora

Obama: 'Apologize to Turkey or else'

On Wednesday, I reported that the Netanyahu government had decided that it would not apologize to Turkey over the Mavi Marmara incident. There were two different versions of the story. One, linked in the post above, claimed that Secretary of State Clinton had demanded that Israel apologize to Turkey, and that Israel had refused. The second version portrayed Clinton as having requested or

Obama and Clinton trash US interests

In an earlier post, I linked a New York Times article that had this quote from Hillary Clinton: “It’s not going to be any news if the United States says Assad needs to go,” Mrs. Clinton said at the National Defense University. “O.K., fine, what’s next? If Turkey says it, if King Abdullah says it, if other people say it, there is no way the Assad regime can ignore it.” Barry Rubin analyzes this

Rick Perry and Islam

Daniel Greenfield has a lengthy analysis of Texas Governor Rick Perry's record on dealing with Islam and Muslims in his home state. He raises some valid concerns, but he also raises some concerns which I found irrelevant.

For instance, he worries that under Texas' Halal law (see signing above), which he admits is similar to Kosher laws in many states, militant Islamists may get to decide...

Not on the same page? Not even reading the same book!

Mort Klein comes out and says it: Obama and Israel are not on the same page. I recommend that you read the whole thing, but here's a bit toward end as a teaser. One of my most revealing experiences was a meeting I attended, along with 40 other Jewish leaders, with President Obama at the White House in March. The president told us, according to my notes: “You must speak to your Israeli friends

Is there policy behind this madness?

Earlier this week, the Defense Ministry announced approval of the construction of 277 new housing units at the center of the city of Ariel in Samaria. 100 of those units are for Jews who were expelled from the Jewish town of Netzarim (you know - the one Ariel Sharon once compared to Tel Aviv) in 2005 and still have no place to live six years later and won't for another two years at best. Of

Obama tries to scrub Bush White House and State Department references to 'Jerusalem, Israel'

Our friends the Zivotofsky's (yes, of course Mrs. Carl and I know them) are sure making life miserable for the Obama administration.

You will recall that last week I reported that the White House had scrubbed clean references on its own website to "Jerusalem, Israel," in preparation for the Supreme Court hearing in Zivotofsky v. Clinton. Now, Omri Ceren reports in Commentary that the White House

No wonder Honduras opposes US interests

Last week, I blogged an article that claimed that the reason why Honduran President Porfrio Lobo has decided to support 'Palestinian statehood' at the UN last month has more to do with the Honduran business community than it has to do with the Obama administration's support for former President Manuel Zelaya, a protege of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Here's the other side of the story. But

'Deeply troubling'

That didn't take long. On Monday, I reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak had approved the construction of 277 homes in the city of Ariel in the Samaria region (population 20,000+). Of those homes, 100 are meant for Jews who were expelled from their homes in Gaza six years ago who still don't have a permanent place to live.

And by the end of the day on Monday, the Obama administration

Your tax dollars at work: Hamas agrees to accept US money

On Friday, I reported that Hamas had stopped the work of US NGO's that were providing it with money, because they refused to submit to a Hamas audit of their operations. Now, Hamas has decided to be satisfied with its lot in life. They have agreed to let the US salve its guilt over the terror group's plight by generously agreeing to accept American aid money without auditing the books. The

OMG: An indication of the state of the US economy after the S&P credit downgrade

This is what it's come to in the US.

Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: Shy Guy).



Heh.

Will a Democrat challenge Obama?

Usually an incumbent US President is virtually automatic as a nominee for reelection. In fact, the last incumbent President who faced a challenge was - you guessed it - Jimmy Carter.

Will Barack Hussein Obama face a challenge? Seven out of ten Democrats still want to see him nominated - but that's a decline of 11% since June. Despite the decline, history is on Obama's side. "In 1994, only 57%

Obama's iftar: Islamists secretly invited, moderates out

The Obama White House published an incomplete list of the invitees to the President's iftar dinner last Wednesday night, omitting representatives of Islamist groups who were invited. The White House also did not invite any representatives of moderate Muslim groups (Hat Tip: Atlas Shrugs). “It was a squeaky clean list,” said Durriya Badani, director of the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, an annual

Israel to Turkey: Double or nothing?

A report indicates that Israel has offered to pay $100,000 per dead terrorist in 'compensation' to Turkey - rather than the $50,000 demanded - in exchange for Turkey accepting a Israel's 'regrets' for the incident (Hat Tip: Joshua I). ‘‘Ankara demands apologies and compensation of $50 thousand to each of victims’ families. Israel, however, has another solution – Tel-Aviv will express its

No media bias in the US

There's no media bias in the US. None at all.

More than just stupidity?

This is the first live post of the weekend. If you followed me on Twitter, you would know already that the reason for this is that I took the wrong computer to the hospital on Saturday night.

You will recall that this past week I covered the story of the White House 'cleansing' its web site from references to Jerusalem, Israel.

I treated that story as yet another instance of the rank amateurism

Obama competing with Carter

Here's Barack Hussein Obama competing with Jimmy Carter on yet another front. Confidence among U.S. consumers plunged in August to the lowest level since May 1980, adding to concern that weak employment gains and volatility in the stock market will prompt households to retrench.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment slumped to 54.9 from 63.7 the prior

Caroline Glick blasts the neocons but Obama is worse

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

This post is being written on Friday afternoon. Posting may be sporadic again tonight as I am spending the night as the companion to my friend's son and son-in-law (two different friends have a son and a daughter who married each other), who is in isolation in Hadassah Hospital after having a bone marrow transplant this past week.

Please pray for Moshe

Jimmy Carter redeemed?

From the American Spectator: For over thirty years a wounded Jimmy Carter has roamed the world speaking ill of whomever the sitting president might be and occasionally making it difficult for that president to make policy. Obama has already surpassed him, speaking ill of America as a whole while being president. In Strasbourg, France, on April 3, 2009, he said, "Instead of celebrating our dynamic

WaPo demands that Obama lead or something

The Washington Post (no, you won't see this from the New York Times) is demanding that the Obama administration step up and lead the charge to get Bashar al-Assad to stop murdering his own people and quit. It is therefore worrying that the international response, though improving, remains inconsistent. Turkey is the leading example: Its prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has condemned Mr.