US-India Could Be World’s Next Great Global Partnership

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump will meet for the first time on Monday. Their conversation will set the tone for future U.S.-India relations.

Currently, U.S.-India relations are on a positive trajectory, and this meeting gives Trump the opportunity to reaffirm that.

The Heritage Foundation has laid out some top priorities for the head of states’ conversation:

The United States’ previous policy toward India has centered on the country remaining strong.

A strong India provides for more regional stability and in turn strengthens U.S.-India relations. Trump has the opportunity to affirm the need for India’s continued growth and stability in today’s meeting. He and Modi also have the opportunity to discuss expanding the strategic relationship to include Japan and Australia.

In 2007, foreign officials from each respective country met to discuss a future quadrilateral partnership. Trump and Modi can reopen this possibility.

Issues of U.S.-India trade relations and investment along with security issues in Afghanistan and Pakistan are also priorities for the conversation.

Finally, Trump and Modi can discuss the United States and India’s abilities for further cooperation on cybersecurity and defense.

A strong U.S.-India relationship is vital for not only America’s international interests, but also for the stability of the region. Trump and Modi have the opportunity to continue and expand on this positive relationship with their meeting Monday and relationship going forward. (For more from the author of “US-India Could Be World’s Next Great Global Partnership” please click HERE)

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TRUMP WARNS ASSAD: White House Says Syria Potentially Prepping Another Chemical Attack

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The Trump administration said late Monday that it had discovered evidence that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad could be planning another chemical weapons attack.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement that “The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children.”

Spicer added that the activities resembled preparations for an April chemical weapons attack that was blamed on Damascus.

“As we have previously stated, the United States is in Syria to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria,” Spicer concluded. “If, however, Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.”

The White House did not detail what prompted the warning. Several State Department officials typically involved in coordinating such announcements told the Associated Press they were caught completely off guard by the warning, which didn’t appear to be discussed in advance with other national security agencies. (Read more from “TRUMP WARNS ASSAD: White House Says Syria Potentially Prepping Another Chemical Attack” HERE)

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Study: Islamic Extremists, Leftists Most Threaten European Jews

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A comprehensive study released this month, titled “Antisemitic violence in Europe,” provides insight into the the continent’s growing anti-Semitism problem and the perpetrators of anti-Jewish attacks in France, the UK, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Russia.

The University of Oslo Center for Research on Extremism finds that Islamic extremists, followed by left-wing extremists, are the most common perpetrators of anti-Semitic crimes, according to a survey conducted among the countries’ Jewish populations.

Respondents in France, Sweden, Germany, and the UK “most often perceived the perpetrator(s)” of an anti-Semitic attack to be “someone with a Muslim extremist view.”

The study quashed the theory promulgated by some “anti-Zionists” that somehow anti-Semitic violence is caused by Israel and its occasional clashes with its Arab neighbors. The university study found that there is no “direct causal link” between Arab-Israeli feuds and the rise of European violence against Jews, but it sometimes acts as an enabler of violence for individuals who already hold extremist views.

The climate of anti-Semitism in European countries has forced Jews there to flee to Israel and America. Last year, 5,000 Jews left France for Israel. When surveyed, one-third of European Jews said they were considering leaving Europe.

As the Jewish population in Europe continues to decline, Muslim populations continue to surge. This is largely due to two factors: Islamic migration into Europe, and the fact that Muslim families have over three children per couple. In 2015, some 1.3 million migrants arrived in Europe from the Middle East and North Africa.

An ADL global survey found that 74 percent of individuals in North Africa and the Middle East hold anti-Semitic attitudes. A Pew global attitudes survey found similar results. In Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Pakistan, and the Palestinian territories, less than five percent of those surveyed had “favorable views” of Jewish people. (For more from the author of “Study: Islamic Extremists, Leftists Most Threaten European Jews” please click HERE)

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Corker Threatens Gulf Allies on Behalf of Terror-Friendly Qatar

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On Monday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., threatened to choke off arms sales to U.S. Gulf allies because they are pressuring Qatar on terror financing. In a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Corker promised to shut down all arms sales to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) if it does not immediately “resolve the current dispute” with Qatar.

Corker has a long history of supporting initiatives for Qatar. His latest action on behalf of the oil-rich nation follows a disturbing pattern of carrying water for Doha.

Several Middle Eastern nations have decided to boycott the nation of Qatar, highlighting its worrisome support for terrorist organizations. They have released 13 mandates for Qatar, which call for the country to stop its close relationships with the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaida, among other jihadi outfits. The Arab nations are also demanding that Turkish and Iranian influences be removed from the region and that Qatar shut down its Al Jazeera media network. The demands are very much in line with protecting American interests and putting pressure on U.S. adversaries.

And President Trump appears to support the initiative, as he recently labeled Qatar “a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”

When in a series of tweets, the president accurately described Qatar as a state funder of terror, Corker seemingly mocked Trump to reporters, shaking his head and asking: “The president?”

It appears that Corker is not acting out of concern for more advanced armaments entering the Middle East (he recently approved a $100 billion-plus arms deal with Saudi Arabia), but seemingly as an activist for Qatari interests. The Tennessee senator has in the past lobbied Obama officials for arms sales to the Gulf state.

Last year, Corker personally lobbied Obama national security adviser Susan Rice on the merits of selling 72 F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft to Qatar.

Al-Monitor reports that Corker “urged her” to let a proposed arms sale through and dismissed concerns that the massive fighter jet deal could upset Israel’s regional Qualitative Military Edge (QME).

“I want the administration to bring forth the Qatar sales, and I’ve met with the White House toward that end,” Corker told Al-Monitor in March, 2016. “I support it and hope that they’re going to be forthcoming.”

In January 2016, he publicly pushed for Qatar’s fighter jets, asking the White House to accelerate sales to Doha.

In early June, Corker told Al Jazeera (the Qatar-controlled media network) that the U.S. should not encourage the embargo of Qatar. “We have got to deal with all of the people in the region,” Corker said. “We have got some assets in Qatar that I visited not too long ago that are very important to us.”

Corker is infamously known in Republican circles as being the man who delivered a mechanism for President Obama to approve the Iran nuclear deal without the consent of Congress. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Corker authored the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015. His bill torched the treaty provision in the Constitution, allowing for President Obama to forge an agreement with the world’s foremost terror sponsor. The Treaty Clause, found in Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution, requires that two-thirds of Senate support for any treaties made by the president with foreign nations. (For more from the author of “Corker Threatens Gulf Allies on Behalf of Terror-Friendly Qatar” please click HERE)

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Report: CNN Imposing New Rules on Russia Coverage After Another Botched Story

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Higher-ups at CNN are cracking down after another botched story regarding President Trump and Russia.

The network retracted and deleted a story late last week that claimed Anthony Scaramucci, who served on Trump’s transition team, was under FBI investigation for a meeting he had with a Russian executive. That story, which was based off of one unnamed congressional source, was false.

“No one should publish any content involving Russia without coming to me and Jason,” CNNMoney executive editor Rich Barbieri said in an email obtained by BuzzFeed. “This applies to social, video, editorial, and MoneyStream. No exceptions.” The “Jason” referred to in the email is a vice president at CNN, according to BuzzFeed. (Read more from “Report: CNN Imposing New Rules on Russia Coverage After Another Botched Story” HERE)

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‘We Have a Problem’: ISIS in Afghanistan ‘Not Getting Better’ as US Mulls Thousands More Troops

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The Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan continues to thrive despite several U.S. and Afghan military efforts to annihilate the group, Pentagon Chief Spokeswoman Dana White told Voice of America Wednesday.

ISIS in Afghanistan has morphed from a nascent band of militants in 2015 to a full-fledged threat in the eastern province of Nangarhar. The group controls a relatively small amount of territory but has used it to launch multiple complex attacks on the capital city of Kabul, killing hundreds with its brutal tactics.

Several U.S. troops have died in Nangarhar province in recent months on missions targeting the terrorist group. The U.S. considered defeat of the insurgents such a priority it dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal on ISIS’s cave network, killing approximately 100 fighters.

“It’s not getting better in Afghanistan in terms of ISIS. We have a problem, and we have to defeat them and we have to be focused on that problem,” White declared. White’s statement contradicts the Pentagon’s recent report on the state of war in Afghanistan which claims that the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) recent efforts as well as “pressure from the Taliban, and a lack of support from the local populace have diminished ISIS-K’s influence and caused it to decline in size, capability, and ability to hold territory.”

The report however admits that ISIS in Afghanistan “remains a threat to security in Afghanistan and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and a threat to U.S. and coalition forces, and ISIS-K retains the ability to conduct high-profile attacks in urban centers.” (Read more from “‘We Have a Problem’: ISIS in Afghanistan ‘Not Getting Better’ as US Mulls Thousands More Troops” HERE)

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Suicide Bomber Blows Himself up as Saudis Foil Mecca Plot

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A suicide bomber blew himself up near the Grand Mosque in Mecca as police disrupted a plot to target the holiest site in Islam just as the fasting month of Ramadan ends, Saudi security forces said Saturday.

The Interior Ministry said it launched a raid around Jiddah, as well as two areas in Mecca itself, including the Ajyad Al-Masafi neighborhood, located near the Grand Mosque.

There, police said they engaged in a shootout at a three-story house with a suicide bomber, who blew himself up and caused the building to collapse. He was killed, while the blast wounded six foreigners and five members of security forces, according to the Interior Ministry’s statement. Five others were arrested, including a woman, it said. (Read more from “Suicide Bomber Blows Himself up as Saudis Foil Mecca Plot” HERE)

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These Afghan Army Uniforms Cost American Taxpayers $28 Million ‘in the Name of Fashion’

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The Pentagon is under fire for spending nearly $28 million procuring camouflage uniforms for the Afghan army, gear suited for environments so rare they account for just 2 percent of Afghanistan’s countryside, according to a new watchdog report.

The Defense Department organization overseeing efforts to train and equip Afghan forces supervised selection and design of the new proprietary woodland camouflage pattern without proper testing and assessment, according to the report published Wednesday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

For years, Afghan conventional forces and elite commandos have fielded the U.S. Army’s woodland pattern utility uniforms. In 2007, the Afghan Defense Ministry embarked on a quest to design new uniforms to counter efforts by the Taliban and militants battling government forces to counterfeit the clothing.

The new uniform was designed in similar fashion to the current uniform worn by the U.S. Army, called the Army Combat Uniform, but at a much higher cost, the inspector general determined.

According to the report, the HyperStealth’s Spec4ce Forest camouflage pattern was chosen by the then-Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak — because he liked what he saw while browsing a website. (Read more from “These Afghan Army Uniforms Cost American Taxpayers $28 Million ‘in the Name of Fashion'” HERE)

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Would-Be Bomber in Brussels Moroccan, Shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’

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The quick shooting of an attacker who tried to detonate a nail bomb and shouted “Allahu akbar” at a Brussels train station averted fatalities, officials said Wednesday, as Belgium increased security measures around the country.

The attacker was a 36-year-old Moroccan national not known to authorities for being involved in terror activities, federal magistrate Eric Van der Sypt told reporters. He declined to say if the man had a criminal record.

The man charged soldiers at Brussels Central Station on Tuesday after his suitcase, containing nails and gas canisters, failed to fully explode, Van der Sypt said. It was a lucky escape for several travelers nearby. (Read more from “Would-Be Bomber in Brussels Moroccan, Shouted ‘Allahu Akbar'” HERE)

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Three Men Get ‘Married’ in Colombia and There Is No Slippery Slope

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In 2016, same-sex “marriage” was legalized in Colombia. One year later, the courts have now recognized a polyamorous “family” of three men. And there is no slippery slope.

As reported by the Daily Mail:

Actor Victor Hugo Prada and his two partners, sports instructor John Alejandro Rodriguez and journalist Manuel Jose Bermudez, have signed legal papers with a solicitor in the city of Medellin, establishing them as a family unit with inheritance rights.

“We wanted to validate our household … and our rights, because we had no solid legal basis establishing us as a family,” said one of the men, Prada, in a video published by Colombian media on Monday.

Here in the States, the Associated Press notes that “More courts [are] allowing 3 parents of 1 child.” An example would be when a lesbian couple has a child with the help of another man, all three of whom become parents.

And there is no slippery slope.

From Biblical Marriage to ‘Ze’ and ‘Zir’ in 9 Years

When candidate Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, he knew that he could not reveal his true sentiments about gay “marriage.” According to David Axelrod, he knew it would hurt his election chances. So he clearly and decisively declared that marriage was the union of a man and a woman. He said this was his Christian conviction.

Today, a Republican congressman is shot in cold blood and liberal news commentators suggest that we can’t forget his record at a time like this. After all, he wanted to pass a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

And there is no slippery slope.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Human Rights Campaign felt the need to remove “transgender” from its campaign to pass ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Today, in New York City, you can be fined up to $250,000 for failing to accept the stated identity of a trans employee. And Canada has just passed Bill C-16, which requires it citizens to use whatever gender pronouns a person chooses. For instance, “Refer to me as ze and zir rather than he or her.”

As the National Post explains:

Failure to use a person’s pronoun of choice — “ze,” “zir,” “they” or any one of a multitude of other potential non-words — will land you in hot water with the commission. That, in turn, can lead to orders for correction, apology, Soviet-like “re-education,” fines and, in cases of continued non-compliance, incarceration for contempt of court.

And there is no slippery slope.

When Society Affirms the Slope

In recent years, the media has pushed polygamy, polyamory, and even consensual adult incest, with public opinion gradually shifting towards more acceptance of these lifestyles and acts. (For documentation, see here.)

And there is no slippery slope. Or perhaps the slippery slope isn’t so bad after all?

That was actually the conclusion of a number of liberal students who challenged a talk I gave at a local, secular university.

I was asked to speak on the subject of God and Sex. I addressed the question, “Are biblical standards of sexual purity destructive or constructive, helpful or harmful, binding or liberating?” In the lecture, I explained how everything reproduces after its kind. I also explained that we have to look at the trajectory of an idea or action or behavior. Where will it ultimately lead?

When it was time for Q & A, several students began to challenge my talk, claiming that there was no such thing as a slippery slope.

I asked them if they believed in the concepts of “love is love” and “I have the right to marry the one I love.” They all said yes, no matter how far it went. Three people? Four? Two adult brothers? And should the government be obligated to recognize all these relationships?

They answered in the affirmative to all my questions, concluding, “Well, I guess there is a slippery slope, but it’s not wrong.”

And that is where our society is heading. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to deny the reality of the slippery slope. The logical next step is to affirm it. (For more from the author of “Three Men Get ‘Married’ in Colombia and There Is No Slippery Slope” please click HERE)

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