FBI Randomly Releases Trump Real Estate Investigation Records From the 1970s

The FBI on Wednesday released nearly 400 pages of records from an investigation it conducted on Donald Trump’s family real estate company in the early 1970s.

The documents consist of interview notes, handwritten statements and FBI reports compiled during the bureau’s investigation, which occurred between 1972 and 1974.

The FBI’s investigation centered on allegations that the Trump Management Company, which was owned by Trump’s father, Fred, discriminated against applicants for apartment rentals based on their race.

The federal lawsuit was widely reported during the presidential campaign with Democrats using the case to argue that Trump, an executive with the company at the time, is racist. The Justice Department settled with Trump Management in 1975 with the company admitting no wrongdoing but agreeing to provide more rentals to minority applicants.

The timing of the document dump is sure to raise questions given an ongoing battle between federal agencies and the Trump administration over leaks of classified information to the media.

(Read more from “FBI Randomly Releases Trump Real Estate Investigation Records From the 1970s” HERE)

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Special Ops Chief: US Troops Have Killed 60,000 ISIS Militants the Past Two Years

U.S. military forces have killed 60,000 Islamic State militants over the past two years, according to a U.S. Special Operations Commander.

On Tuesday, while speaking at a defense conference near Washington D.C., Army Gen. Raymond Thomas said the figure is substantially higher than the one reported at the end of last year – when U.S. officials said they had killed 50,000 ISIS fighters.

“I’m not into morbid body count, but that matters,” Thomas said at the National Defense Industrial Association’s annual Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict conference, according to the Military Times. “So when folks ask, do you need more aggressive [measures], do you need better [rules of engagement], I would tell you that we’re being pretty darn prolific right now.”

But Defense Department Spokesman Christopher Sherwood told Fox News that death tolls are not a proper measure of “effectiveness” in the fight against ISIS.

“References to enemy killed are estimates, not precise figures,” Sherwood told Fox News via email. “While the number of enemy killed is one measure of military success, the [U.S. military] coalition does not use this as a measure of effectiveness in the campaign to defeat ISIS.” (Read more from “Special Ops Chief: US Troops Have Killed 60,000 ISIS Militants the Past Two Years” HERE)

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10th Circuit Trumps the Ten Commandments

We already know the courts treat our Constitution as unconstitutional. Laws pertaining to our history, traditions, founding values, national sovereignty, marriage, and immigration are all unconstitutional. And the ideals that are authentically unconstitutional … well … they are enshrined into the highest levels of the Constitution.

In case you thought this sentiment is unique to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, think again. It is the majority view in most circuits.

Here is example #30,000,000 why the lower courts are irremediably broken — with every Democrat appointee and half the GOP appointees signing onto some of the most radical views imaginable.

Last November, we reported that a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit forced the city of Bloomfield, New Mexico to uproot its monument of the Ten Commandments from the grounds of its city hall. In one of the most absurd displays of judicial supremacy, the court gave standing to random citizens to sue against an inanimate object that creates absolutely no redressable grievance of an injury in fact.

In addition, the court flipped the Establishment Clause on its head. The judges of the district and circuit courts — including GOP appointees — took a clause designed to protect states from the federal government mandating adoption of a particular religion and bastardized its interpretation to mean the eradication of all religious symbols from a local government in ISIS-like fashion.

Last week, the full en banc panel of the 10th Circuit refused to hear an appeal, thus allowing the unconstitutional power grab to stand. The court rejected the request for a full-panel review by a vote of 8-2. Neil Gorsuch, current nominee for Supreme Court, did not participate in the vote. Once again, every Democrat appointee signed onto this craziness, and only two of the four GOP-appointed judges would have reheard the case. This is another demonstration of why the lower courts are irremediably broken.

The two dissenting judges, Timothy Tymkovich and Paul Kelly, issued a scholarly rebuke of their colleagues and schooled them on the true origins and meaning of the Establishment Clause. As Judge Tymkovich points out, “The Establishment Clause was about keeping the national government from exercising power over churches,” not the other way around, and certainly not to eradicate religious expression from the public square:

This distinction between religion generally and the church specifically also makes sense in light of the historical practices of the First Congress. On the same day the House of Representatives voted to “make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” it then proposed a resolution requesting President George Washington to set aside a “day of public humiliation and prayer” in his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation.

This took place on September 25, 1789. President Washington issued the proclamation on October 3 to be observed on November 26 that same year. What was the nature of this public day of prayer? To beseech God “to pardon our national and other transgressions” and “to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue.” And this was at the federal level. Now these same courts say states can’t even display replicas that existed since our founding on public property.

Fun fact: Just four days prior to President Washington’s October proclamation, the House passed the final version of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which created the entire structure and jurisdiction of the federal judiciary.

No less a figure than John Marshall himself said (Durousseau v. United States, 1810) that implicit in this bill was the exercising of Article III, Section 2, which grants the judiciary only the jurisdiction provided to it by Congress and that this bill placed a “negative on the exercise of such appellate power as is not comprehended within it [the bill].”

So let’s get this straight: In the same week that Congress granted the judiciary its jurisdiction, it also passed the Bill of Rights — including the Establishment Clause — and called for a national day of prayer.

This day of prayer and thanksgiving to God, in the words of the great Roger Sherman, was to replicate through the celebration of the Constitution, “the solemn thanksgivings and rejoicings which took place in the time of Solomon, after the building of the Temple,” a “precedent in holy writ” he thought “worthy of Christian imitation on the present occasion.” Yet the judiciary is now saying the Constitution is reason to eradicate God’s name from our country and that they have jurisdiction to do so!

In fact, as I’ve noted before, the only true violation of the Establishment Clause is the requirement of the sexual identity religion to force individual business owners to actually service their religion in contravention to the conscience rights of the owner.

It is truly hard to conceive a nightmare scenario in which the Constitution and our history would be contorted in a more dramatic fashion than what the courts are doing today. Yet this is the logical outcome of a generation of law students who have been indoctrinated into a belief system that replaces the house of worship for the courtroom and an entertainment industry that glorifies the legal profession.

This is a lawsuit that should be rejected by 100 percent of Republican and Democrat appointees, irrespective of their personal religious or political beliefs. It upends our Constitution, tradition, and history and rules our heritage illegal. Yet every Democrat and half the Republicans backhandedly overruled our foundation. You tell me this system is salvageable?! (And if past history is any indication, don’t expect Chief Justice Roberts to grant an appeal to defendants.)

Where is Congress? Where is the outrage and use of numerous tools to block implementation of these sort of misconceived decisions or to strip the courts of their jurisdiction? What about a simple resolution of disapproval? Instead, the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (F, 40%) has propagated the dictates of the 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not criticize a judge. It’s just a shame those very same judges already abolished the first Ten Commandments. (For more from the author of “10th Circuit Trumps the Ten Commandments” please click HERE)

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A New Dawn for the Middle East? Trump Promises Closer and Stronger US-Israel Relations

THE WHITE HOUSE — President Donald Trump committed to a strong U.S.-Israel partnership Wednesday in his first meeting as president with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Unlike his predecessors, the president said he was willing to embrace a variety of solutions for the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Still, President Trump insisted that America would not define parameters for a peace deal between the state of Israel and the Palestinian people. Contrary to the rigid two-state solution demands of the Obama administration and past presidents, Trump said he would review all available options for peace.

“I’m looking at two state and one state. And I like the one that both parties like. I can live with either one,” Trump said at the joint press conference with Netanyahu.

Netanyahu agreed, claiming that policymakers need to get away from “labels” and get down to “substance” in negotiations.

Critics of the two-state solution note that it would essentially empower the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza and the terror-supporting Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. Other solutions for peace bring more countries and disputed territories into the fold, allowing for other actors to have a stake in the fate of the Palestinians.

Trump asked Netanyahu to “hold back on settlements a little bit,” referencing Israeli building projects in disputed territories. However, he did not suggest that the “settlements” in any way infringed upon a peace deal. Obama not only demanded Israel stop building settlements, he and his officials blamed the housing projects for the lack of peace in the entire region.

Netanyahu said he was looking forward to working with America to stop global jihadist movements.

“Under your leadership, I believe we can reverse the rising tide of radical Islam … Israel stands with you and I stand with you,” the Israeli prime minister said.

The two leaders agreed that one of the biggest obstacles to peace was the Palestinians’ practice of resorting to hatred and incitement. Both Netanyahu and Trump touched upon the fact that Palestinians are taught from an early age to not recognize Israel’s existence.

“The Palestinians have to get rid of some of the hate that they’re taught at a young age. They’re taught tremendous hate. I’ve seen what they’re taught,” Trump commented. Netanyahu added: “They continue to call for Israel’s destruction inside their schools, inside their mosques, inside their textbooks. You have to read it to believe it.”

The president did not commit to moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israel’s capital. He did say, however, he was looking “very, very strongly” into the matter.

By and large, Trump and Netanyahu started things off on the right foot. The two leaders openly stated a deep appreciation for the other’s humanity and accomplishments. Netanyahu defended Trump from a hostile question insinuating that his November election victory was to blame for the rise of anti-Semitism worldwide. Trump welcomed his “friend” in Netanyahu and promised to uphold the “unbreakable bond” between the two nations. (For more from the author of “A New Dawn for the Middle East? Trump Promises Closer and Stronger US-Israel Relations” please click HERE)

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The Freedom Caucus Just Showed the GOP What a REAL Backbone Looks Like

The House Freedom Caucus demonstrated what it is to have a political backbone on Monday evening. After a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence, Freedom Caucus members told reporters that they will not support any Obamacare repeal short of the 2015 plan that would have gutted the Medicaid expansion, some Obamacare taxes, the Obamacare subsidies, and the individual and employer mandates.

“‘If it’s less than the 2015 [bill], we oppose it,'” Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C. (A, 94%) said after the meeting, according to The Huffington Post.

Not even 24 hours later, the caucus’ red line was undercut by House leadership, with Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. (F, 51%) declaring that the House would continue to pursue a “step by step” approach to repeal — a far cry from the “root and branch” rallying cry Republican leaders used during the Obama years.

As Freedom Caucus ink slinger Matt Fuller reported at The Huffington Post, “Now that conservatives are demanding the repeal meet the 2015 standard, it could be even more difficult for GOP leaders to find coalitions in the House and Senate.” Hence, a “root and branch” Republican leadership cave from repealing Obamacare “root and branch” to now a “step by step” approach.

Fuller thinks that the hard line the Freedom Caucus is taking will kill the repeal effort. And, knowing Republicans, he’s probably right.

But it’s the right thing for the Freedom Caucus to draw the line somewhere, and it’s not even that provocative of a line. As Conservative Review reported at the time, the 2015 Obamacare repeal would have still left 82 percent of Obamacare intact, including most of the taxes and provisions like the Medicare payroll tax, limits to Heath Flexible Spending Accounts, and an annual fee on health insurance providers.

So to the extent that Republicans shrink away from a substantive Obamacare repeal, it’s not on the Freedom Caucus’ name and shoulders. It’s the problem of party leadership and moderate Republicans growing skittish about following through on something they promised the American people they would do if granted the power.

Referring to skittish Republicans who already voted for something similar in 2015, Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho (A, 93%) told Fuller: “They voted for it already, so, be consistent.”

Exactly. (For more from the author of “The Freedom Caucus Just Showed the GOP What a REAL Backbone Looks Like” please click HERE)

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The Truth About Sanctuary Cities and Crime Rates

If restricting local law enforcement from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer requests is supposed to make communities safer, as some immigration advocates and law enforcement officials suggest, I’d like to hear them reconcile their beliefs with the actions of Texas’ Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez.

Hernandez, sworn in as the newly elected head of the Travis County Sheriff’s Department last month, almost immediately adopted an anti-cooperation policy prohibiting her department from honoring nearly all ICE detainer requests.

“The public must be confident that local law enforcement is focused on local public safety, not on federal immigration enforcement,” Hernandez said.

Detainer requests are notices sent by ICE to local jurisdictions informing them of its desire to take physical custody of an individual in local custody.

The sheriff’s new policy stipulated that only four exempted crimes—murder, capital murder, aggravated sexual assault, and human trafficking—would be grounds for her department to honor an ICE detainer.

Unfortunately for the alleged victim of Hugo Javier Gallardo-Gonzalez and the community at large, accusations of repeatedly sexually abusing a child did not meet the criminal standard for ICE cooperation set by the sheriff.

Gallardo-Gonzalez was arrested this past Sunday, accused of sexually assaulting his girlfriend’s young daughter beginning in 2014. The abuse is alleged to have continued for over a year.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement submitted a detainer request to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office in order to take custody of Gallardo-Gonzalez, but their request was denied.

Gallardo-Gonzalez subsequently made bail the next day and is now waiting to be released once outfitted with a GPS monitor.

The decision by Hernandez to deny the ICE detainer request was reckless and borders on malfeasance.

Whose well-being is served by the decision to dismiss this ICE detainer request and release into the public an individual accused of a particularly heinous crime? Is the public safer as a result? Is the community of illegal individuals safer?

The answers to those questions seem clear enough. No one, save perhaps the accused man, is better off for the decision by the sheriff to deny assistance to ICE.

But this reality doesn’t conform to the narrative repeated by many that suggest law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities hurts public safety and erodes police and community relations.

Mayor Javier Gonzales of Santa Fe, New Mexico, argued only months ago that sanctuary cities have no impact on crime, stating, “Study after study have shown that sanctuary cities do not lead to an increase in crime because of the presence of people that are undocumented.”

But a 2014 draft study conducted by ICE doesn’t support the mayor’s notion that sanctuary cities have no impact on crime.

The study found that during the observation time frame (January 2014 to August 2014), 8,145 individuals were released from jail after arrest due to their respective jurisdictions declining an immigration detainer request from ICE.

Of the 8,145 individuals released, 1,867 were subsequently re-arrested a total of 4,298 times and accumulated a staggering 7,491 charges.

So much for the argument that sanctuary cities have no impact on crime.

The notion that local law enforcement cooperation with ICE will somehow also destroy police and community relations—specifically relations between the police and communities of illegal immigrants—is tenuous.

No community of decent people—citizens, illegal immigrants, or otherwise—wants to live in a society beset by violence and social dysfunction. Stripping local law enforcement of the ability to merely cooperate with their federal counterparts on issues as plain as the removal of a dangerous criminal jeopardizes the safety of all law-abiding individuals.

Hernandez and her refusal to cooperate with ICE on the removal of an individual accused of sexual assault against a child demonstrates the absurdity of those devoted to a dogmatic faith in sanctuary cities. Clarity and perspective should rule the day, especially when public safety is at stake. (For more from the author of “The Truth About Sanctuary Cities and Crime Rates” please click HERE)

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Lawmakers Are Using Congressional Review Act to Dismantle Obama Regulations

In the four weeks since President Donald Trump was inaugurated, congressional lawmakers have moved to address some of the 22,700 regulations adopted under President Barack Obama.

“There has not been nearly as much attention paid to this issue as there should have been,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. “I think President [Ronald] Reagan focused on this and I think President Trump is focusing more on this issue than any other president since Reagan.”

The tool Congress is using to undo these regulations is known as the Congressional Review Act, which allows it to repeal executive branch regulations.

Three resolutions disapproving of Obama-era regulations have been adopted by both the House and Senate since Trump’s inauguration and 24 more have been introduced in the House, according to James Gattuso, a senior research fellow who studies regulatory policy at The Heritage Foundation.

On Wednesday, the Senate adopted a resolution by a margin of 57-43 disapproving a regulation finalized during Obama’s last weeks in office that would “prevent some Americans with disabilities from purchasing or possessing firearms based on their decision to seek Social Security benefits.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a prepared floor statement on Wednesday that this resolution of disapproval included 32 bipartisan co-sponsors in the Senate and was supported by a myriad of civil rights groups and disability organizations.

“Repealing this regulation will ensure that disabled citizens’ Second Amendment rights are protected,” Grassley’s statement said. “Those rights will no longer be able to be revoked without a hearing and without due process. It will take more than the personal opinion of a bureaucrat.”

Paul Larkin, a senior legal research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal in an email that “Congress is moving expeditiously to invalidate rules that never should have been adopted.”

“This will lift the burdens felt by the average person from needless rules,” Larkin added.

The Congressional Review Act also prevents agencies from creating similar rules with similar language.

“ … Once Congress passes a joint resolution of disapproval and the president signs it into law, the rule is nullified and the agency cannot adopt a ‘substantially similar’ rule absent an intervening act of Congress,” Larkin wrote in a commentary article.

Passed in 1996 in concert with the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act and then-Speaker Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America reform agenda, the Congressional Review Act, according to the Congressional Research Service, “is an oversight tool that Congress may use to overturn a rule issued by a federal agency.”

Until this year, the Congressional Review Act had been used successfully only once in 2001 to repeal a regulation created during the Clinton administration pertaining to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

However, with a Republican House, Senate, and White House, conservative lawmakers have the votes needed to adopt the joint resolutions of disapproval for each regulation and a president who will sign them.

On Tuesday, Trump signed a resolution reversing “[a] costly regulation that threatened to put domestic extraction companies and their employees at an unfair disadvantage,” according to the Office of the Press Secretary.

Repealing the domestic extraction regulation that Trump signed Tuesday “could save American businesses as much as $600 million annually,” according to the office.

Lee, the Utah senator, said the Congressional Review Act will help reverse the financial burden of regulations.

“During the final months of President Obama’s presidency, during what some refer to as the ‘midnight period,’ unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch were very busy and they issued a flurry of regulations,” Lee said. “ And, it is significant that those regulations will impose … billion[s] [of dollars] … in compliance costs on the American people.”

Rachel Bovard, director of policy services at The Heritage Foundation, said the Congressional Review Act undoes regulations that harm American free enterprise.

“The successful use of the [Congressional Review Act] is not only good for the balance of powers, it’s good for American businesses, our economy, and a positive development for any American seeking to live their life with minimal government intrusion,” Bovard said in an email to The Daily Signal.

Trump is also expected to sign another joint resolution of disapproval, which undoes a rule “that would establish onerous requirements for coal mining operations, and impose significant compliance burdens on America’s coal production.”

Bovard said the Congressional Review Act is the ideal tool to bring accountability back to governing.

“The use of the Congressional Review Act is a welcome act by Congress to assert itself as a co-equal branch of government,” Bovard said. “Unelected bureaucrats should not write laws—and it’s up to Congress, through the use of the CRA, to disprove regulations that were not written as Congress intended.”

Gattuso said the timing for repealing regulations imposed by Obama is ripe for leaders in Congress.

“After 20 years of almost complete disuse, the stars have aligned to make the [Congressional Review Act] the vehicle of choice by members of Congress wanting to roll back recent Obama regulations,” Gattuso said in an email to The Daily Signal. (For more from the author of “Lawmakers Are Using Congressional Review Act to Dismantle Obama Regulations” please click HERE)

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Proponents of ‘Diversity’ Tried to Force My Religious Group off Campus

Recent news about U.S. colleges has not been flattering. We’ve seen a tidal wave of stories from campus protests and violent riots, to sexual assault and purported millennial “safe spaces.”

But obscured by the attention-grabbing headlines is the reality that many students are actively engaged in campus communities that foster cultural and intellectual diversity, encourage innovative thinking, and create opportunities for enriching and helping others in their campus communities and around the world.

I know, because that’s part of my story.

As a student at Missouri State University, I was first a member, then a leader, of Chi Alpha—a student Christian organization devoted to supporting students of faith and promoting campus diversity and community service.

As one of the most engaged students on campus, the best part of my college experience was seeing the huge variety of student groups—faith-based or otherwise—working, sometimes together and sometimes independently, to promote and act on shared values that were important to each groups’ members.

More than any class assignment, the interaction with students and interest groups allowed me to see that all groups on campus, even those with diametrically opposing viewpoints, can flourish under the same university banner.

Yet politicians and campus administrators in some states are trying to push certain groups off campus for daring to be distinct. Religious groups that require their student leaders (not general members) to actually believe and uphold the groups’ beliefs and mission are being accused of bigotry and kicked off campus.

In a puzzling irony, this aggressive ideology only sacrifices true campus diversity and academic freedom in the name of ambiguous and subjective political correctness.

My participation and leadership in Chi Alpha showed me the true value of campus diversity. While Chi Alpha is religious in nature, I interacted and became friends with students who chose to be a part of Chi Alpha for a safe and uplifting social environment.

Some joined Chi Alpha to participate in our shared ethos of community service and humanitarian efforts, like our partnership with feedONE, feeding starving children worldwide. Other students valued our work promoting campus diversity.

I personally led multiple service trips, like taking Chi Alpha students to work with the homeless in Milwaukee, the widowed and orphaned on a New Mexico Navajo reservation, and neglected elementary school children in Kenya.

For all of us, our shared Christian faith fostered a commitment to each other and to caring for others no matter who they are or where they come from.

Schools Are Squelching, Not Empowering, Student Choice

Whether motivated by faith or not, all students should be free to join their own groups to express shared values. But faith-based groups are especially being targeted. Two recent examples come to mind.

Just last year at Southeast Missouri State University, virtually every religious student group on campus was discriminated against because the groups required their leaders to share their faith (to essentially practice what they preach) while other campus groups like fraternities and sororities were allowed to continue selecting both leaders and members based on the groups’ mission or purpose.

Only after months of lobbying (and months of academic distractions) were religious students at the university able to regain equality with the other campus groups.

And two years ago, my fellow Chi Alpha student leader, Bianca Travis, had her entire Chi Alpha chapter a California State University campus.

Despite 40 years of service within the Cal State community, including assisting the school with international students, helping campus police hand out free water during major student activities, and fundraising to address issues like human trafficking, Travis and her friends were singled out, denied the ability to function equally alongside other student organizations, and literally locked out of their meeting space.

All this because they required their leaders (again, not their students) to uphold the group’s mission and purpose.

These are just two examples. Similar problems are going on in Florida, Indiana, Maine, New York, and Washington. All across the country, religious organizations are being scrutinized and investigated for a leadership philosophy that almost all groups with student leaders share.

The only difference is that the religious nature of these groups make it easier for misinformed, misguided administrators to yell “foul play.”

Let Students Freely Engage

A true commitment to academic freedom, diversity, and intellectual engagement (objectives that all colleges and universities say they desire) requires giving students and groups the ability to operate freely as they add value to their campuses by sharing their unique perspectives—religious or secular.

The world is a complex place. Forcing certain groups off campus and thus shielding students from ideas in college won’t help students adequately prepare for the increasingly diverse world ahead of them.

All student groups—even those who require their leaders to uphold their mission to adequately function—must have an equal place at the table.

True academic freedom and diversity cannot exist otherwise. (For more from the author of “Proponents of ‘Diversity’ Tried to Force My Religious Group off Campus” please click HERE)

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Moscow Issues Its First Nuclear Challenge to Trump

Almost right out of the gate, the Trump administration is facing its first arms control challenge from Moscow.

Russia has reportedly deployed its new cruise missile in an apparent violation of the Reagan-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, in effect since 1988.

The treaty prohibits the possession of ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. Russia’s ground-launched SSC-8 cruise missile has been under development and testing for several years.

Russia initially violated the treaty by testing the missile during Barack Obama’s presidency. Despite becoming aware of this apparent violation, the Obama administration did not take any forceful action to bring Russia back into compliance with the treaty, merely sending President Vladimir Putin a letter of concern in July of 2014.

The Obama administration was less than forthcoming in discussing challenges that the treaty violation poses for the United States and its allies. The State Department’s annual compliance reports prior to July 2014 wrongly led Americans to believe there was no reason for concern over the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, even though the missile has reportedly been tested as early as 2008.

The Trump administration must do better.

The missile range limit of 500 kilometers is significant for U.S. allies in Europe situated close to the Russian borders and to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave that borders Poland and Lithuania. The presence of Russian intermediate-range missiles would considerably complicate any U.S. efforts to defend its allies in the Baltics and Central and Eastern Europe should Russia decide to violate their territorial integrity.

Such a scenario is not as far-fetched as it might seem. Russia has a recent history of violating other nations’ sovereignty and territorial integrity. It also periodically issues nuclear threats against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies and conducts military exercises that simulate nuclear strikes against Poland.

Gen. Philip Breedlove, commander of Supreme Allied Command Europe and of U.S. European Command, said NATO allies are “concerned” over the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty issue and argued that violations “can’t go unanswered.”

For its part, Russia accuses the United States of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty violations. But Russian accusations are baseless. U.S. missile defense systems do not violate the treaty because the treaty itself contains an exception for them.

Neither do U.S. drones violate the treaty, as they are simply not mentioned by the treaty at all.

The Trump administration has a range of options to respond to the Russian treaty violations. Purely diplomatic measures to address the violation first begun during the Obama administration may not be sufficient.

Historically, arms control tends to limit how the United States learns about military systems and their interactions in a broader context. This is why terminating the treaty is a viable option.

Currently, Moscow is doing whatever it deems necessary to its strategic interest regardless of the treaty, while the United States continues to abide by it. The administration should not ponder any future arms control initiatives and nuclear weapons reduction agreements at least until this issue is resolved. (For more from the author of “Moscow Issues Its First Nuclear Challenge to Trump” please click HERE)

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Iran Defeats U.S. Navy in Defiant Animated Film

A full-length animated film depicting an armed confrontation between Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the U.S. Navy is soon to open in Iranian cinemas, amid rising tensions over President Donald Trump’s hardening rhetoric against Tehran.

The director of the “Battle of Persian Gulf II”, Farhad Azima, said that it was a remarkable coincidence that the release of the film – four years in the making – coincided with a “warmongering” president sitting in the White House.

“I hope that the film shows Trump how American soldiers will face a humiliating defeat if they attack Iran,” Azima told Reuters in a telephone interview from the city of Mashhad in eastern Iran.

The 88-minute animation opens with the U.S. Army attacking an Iranian nuclear reactor, and the U.S. Navy in the Gulf hitting strategic locations across the county.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a powerful branch of the Iranian military, retaliates with full force, raining ballistic missiles on the U.S. warships. (Read more from “Iran Defeats U.S. Navy in Defiant Animated Film” HERE)

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