Shot Through the Heart: Pakistan Bans Valentine’s Day Because It’s Not Islamic

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Valentine’s Day has been banned from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The nation’s high court in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital city, ruled Monday that the country’s citizens must refrain from celebrating the holiday “with immediate effect.”

A citizen petition made its way to the superior court one day before the holiday commences. Abdul Waheed, who drafted the document, claimed Valentine’s Day is “against the teachings of Islam and should be banned immediately,” CNN reports. The court concurred with Waheed, claiming the holiday clashes with Muslim life. The Islamabad High Court ruled that the festivities are actually a “cover” to spread “immorality, nudity, and indecency… which is against our rich traditions and values.”

Valentine’s Day has become increasingly popular among Pakistani youth and has acted as a boon for florists and business owners. However, Islamist leaders feel the society at large has been placed under direct attack with the embrace of the Western holiday, and print and electronic media in the country have been warned about promoting the holiday’s events and activities.

In February 2016, Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain added his voice to the masses calling for the ban. Hussain stated, “Valentine’s Day has no connection to our culture and it should be avoided.”

Jamaat-e-Islami, a hardline Islamist group with millions of followers, has led the effort to protect Pakistan against parts of the country that “wants to impose Western values and culture on our youth by celebrating Valentine’s day,” according to an anti-Valentine’s Day resolution passed last year in Peshawar. “There is no place in our culture and in our civilization for such an unnecessary and rude day, which aims to spread vulgarity and indecency amongst the youth,” the resolution continued.

Pakistan’s Islamic traditions have created an environment that is extremely hostile to religious freedom and basic human rights. For example, identifying or being revealed as a homosexual in Pakistan can result in long-term imprisonment, and the state is also notorious for discriminating against religious minorities.

Pakistan does not have anything remotely resembling free speech. Criticizing Islam or Muhammad can result in punishments ranging from a harsh fine to a death sentence. The majority of Pakistanis support the state’s blasphemy laws. (For more from the author of “Shot Through the Heart: Pakistan Bans Valentine’s Day Because It’s Not Islamic” please click HERE)

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North Korea Tests a Missile, and Donald Trump

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Pyongyang launched another ballistic missile on Saturday, raising tensions and pushing itself to the top of the Trump administration’s policy agenda.

Preliminary reports indicate the missile flew approximately 300 miles, but it is unclear what the missile type was or whether the launch was a success of failure. But, it doesn’t appear to have been the initial test flight of an intercontinental ballistic missile that Pyongyang had vowed to launch “anywhere, anytime.”

Last year, North Korea conducted two nuclear tests and 24 ballistic missile tests, its most extensive year of testing. Pyongyang had not tested a missile since October, leading to speculation that the regime’s restraint was to not give the advantage to conservative candidates during a forthcoming South Korean presidential election or to wait until the Trump administration had completed its North Korea policy review.

In 2009, North Korea conducted a long-range missile test and a nuclear test as the Obama administration was formulating its own policy toward Pyongyang.

During my meetings in Seoul this week, all senior U.S. and South Korean officials expected a missile launch wouldn’t occur for several more months. It is unclear why Pyongyang abandoned its testing hiatus or chose to do so while President Donald Trump was hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In any case, the launch will undermine those in the U.S. and South Korea advocating resumption of long-stalled negotiations to curb North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

The increasing North Korean threat has aggravated long-standing allied concerns of U.S. abandonment exacerbated by perceptions of diminished U.S. military capabilities and resolve during the Obama administration and comments made by Trump during the campaign suggesting conditionality of U.S. troop presence in Asia.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ trip to Seoul and Tokyo last week assuaged much of the allied concerns, though as one senior South Korea official commented, “the concerns are gone, but anxiety remains.”

In recent months, there have been growing South Korean fears of a decoupled alliance in which the U.S. “wouldn’t trade Los Angeles for Seoul” once North Korea demonstrates an unambiguous capability to threaten the continental U.S. with nuclear ICBMs.

This has led to greater advocacy in South Korea for a range of military options, including the reintroduction of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons that were withdrawn in the 1990s, development of an indigenous South Korean nuclear program, and greater reliance on preemption strategies.

The Trump administration should build on the positive momentum generated from its recent affirmation of its “ironclad commitment” to defend South Korea and Japan by closely coordinating on an allied response.

The launch is yet another violation of United Nations resolutions prohibiting any North Korean launch using ballistic missile technology and the allies should press Beijing for further restrictions on North Korea financial activity, most notably coal exports to China.

Given Chinese foot-dragging on fully implementing required U.N. resolution sanctions, the Trump administration should go beyond the timid incrementalism of the Obama administration by more vigorously enforcing U.S. laws against North Korean transgressions.

While President Barack Obama talked a good game on sanctions, his administration pulled its punches, sanctioning a limited number of entities while holding other actions in abeyance until the next North Korean provocation. Obama’s most significant actions against the regime last year were the result of requirements contained in Congress’ North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act.

The Trump administration should use the extensive authorities already contained in existing legislation and executive orders to impose targeted financial measures against a broader array of North Korean entities. Just as importantly, the U.S. should end its self-imposed restraint against third-party sanctions against Chinese entities facilitating North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

Washington should also consult with Seoul to accelerate the planned deployment of the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) ballistic missile defense system to South Korea.

Both governments have agreed to the deployment but it is not scheduled to occur until later this year. North Korea’s resumption of missile tests shows the need to more quickly augment allied defenses.

The U.S. and South Korea should continue the planned annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises which begin in early March. Washington should reassure our allies by including U.S. strategic assets, such as B-52 and B-2 bombers as well as dual-capable aircraft and nuclear naval vessels.

However, the allies should tone down public messaging about “decapitation attacks” and preemptive strikes that are potentially destabilizing and could lead either side to misinterpret the other’s intentions, fueling tension and raising the risk of miscalculation.

Responding to the growing North Korean nuclear and missile threats is like a military version of playing “whack-a-mole.” Unlike the arcade game, however, in the real world there is the very real danger that the mole will whack back. (For more from the author of “North Korea Tests a Missile, and Donald Trump” please click HERE)

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New Terror Sanctions Would Strike at the Heart of Iran’s War Machine

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President Donald Trump’s administration is mulling designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, Reuters reports.

The IRGC is one military force of the Islamic Republic of Iran which reports directly to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. The IRGC is charged with training and arming terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, and deploying troops to places like Syria or Iraq.

Trump’s order would not immediately designate the IRGC a terrorist organization, but would instead instruct the Department of State to review current policy. The Department of the Treasury in 2007 sanctioned elements of the IRGC “entities and individuals engaged in or supporting proliferation and terrorism.”

Trump’s order would likely rile Iran’s current ruling elite, further increasing tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Increased sanctions on Iran could even lead to Iran pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal.

Trump also sanctioned Iran Friday for conducting missile tests in violation of United Nations sanctions in late January. Trump has repeatedly blamed the Obama administration for failing to curb Iran’s increasingly aggressive ballistic missile tests and nefarious activity after the signing of the 2015 nuclear deal. IRGC terrorist designation would also fit with National Security Advisor Mike Flynn’s warning that Iran is “on notice.” (Read more from “New Terror Sanctions Would Strike at the Heart of Iran’s War Machine” HERE)

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Another Putin Critic Mysteriously Poisoned — When Will Trump Speak Out?

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Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., a high-profile Russian critic of President Vladimir Putin, has fallen extremely ill for the second time in two years under mysterious circumstances. He appears to have been poisoned by an unknown substance, his wife said this week, per Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

This is the second time that an advanced toxin has allegedly entered his system. In 2015, Kara-Murza was rushed to the hospital with major organ failure. He recovered enough to be discharged, but with permanent nerve damage. However, this time, he has again suffered sudden organ failure and has been placed in a medically induced coma.

Only 35 years old, Kara-Murzo has been active in reformist politics in Russia as a member of the People’s Freedom Party. In the past few years, he has become an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin’s policies.

In 2014, he highlighted the Kremlin’s return, under Putin, to the “Soviet practice” of taking away citizenship from political dissidents. That same year, in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, he exposed Putin’s post-Olympics crackdown on political opposition groups.

Kara-Murzo is known for his close ties to members of the U.S. Congress, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The Russian opposition leader has lobbied for sanctions against Russian state-media and senior officials under Putin. He was also a strong proponent of the Magnitsky Act sanctions, a 2012 bipartisan bill that sought to punish Russian leaders who were deemed responsible for the killing of Russian lawyer and whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.

Vladimir Kara-Murza is far from the first Kremlin critic to fall ill under mysterious circumstances. Numerous opponents of Vladimir Putin have suddenly become extremely ill and/or were killed by rare forms of poison. Many suspect that Putin has tasked the FSB, the successor spy agency to the Soviet-era KGB, with carrying out the assassinations.

Kara-Murza was also a long-time adviser and friend to Boris Nemtsov, another prominent Putin critic who was assassinated in February 2015.

The news of another prominent Putin critic falling extremely ill under mysterious circumstances comes on the heels of President Donald Trump refusing to condemn the authoritarian Russian president. In a recent interview with Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, which aired on Super Bowl Sunday, Trump refused to label Putin as a “killer.”

“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think — our country’s so innocent?” Trump said.

Throughout his presidential campaign and subsequent move to the nation’s highest office, Pres. Trump has time and time again refused to condemn Putin’s barbarity. Will Vladimir Kara-Murza’s case force Trump to finally speak out and condemn the human rights abuses perpetrated by Putin? Or, will the president again remain silent on the Russian leader’s tyrannical behavior? (For more from the author of “Another Putin Critic Mysteriously Poisoned — When Will Trump Speak Out?” please click HERE)

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Liberal MSM Stoops to New Low, Using Persecuted Syrian Christians as Political Props

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This week, a Syrian Christian family was united with its loved ones in New York City after initially being denied entry to the U.S. due to President Donald Trump’s travel moratorium.

Tuesday morning, mainstream media outlets and liberal social justice organizations reported on the heartfelt family reunion, gleefully and conveniently overlooking the sheer hypocrisy of their past failure to cover the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East.

According to CNN, members of the Asali family had been waiting nearly 15 years to join their relatives in America. But when they finally made it to their initial destination of Philadelphia, one day after Trump issued a completely legal executive order temporarily barring immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, the Asalis were sent back to Doha, Qatar.

Sarmad Assali, a U.S. citizen (who spells her surname differently than her Syrian family members), filed a lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union in protest. And after a federal judge issued a temporary injunction against Trump’s executive order, the Asalis were able to return to the United States.

Now, the same media outlets and social justice groups that called Trump’s executive order a “Muslim ban,” and lamented the “discriminatory” nature of prioritizing persecuted religious minorities, are celebrating these Christian immigrants. Why, exactly, are they doing this now?

Not because they really care about the Asalis, but because the family serves as the perfect way for them to push their anti-Trump agenda.

See? This family got screwed over, too. And they’re Christians! Not the even anti-Muslim conservative bigots can support Trump now.

“The thrust is, the low influx of persecuted minorities facing genocide was one of the media’s best-kept secrets during the Obama administration,” said Conservative Review’s Nate Madden, who has written extensively on the plight of religious minorities in the Middle East. “Now that Trump has instituted a travel suspension that has provisions for them, they manage to find the compassion button.”

Indeed, religious leaders like Archbishop Bashar Warda, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Erbil in Iraq, have long begged the U.S. government and media to shed light and assist on the deadly struggles their people face.

In an interview with Crux magazine earlier this month, Archbishop Warda shared his thoughts on President Trump’s highly contested travel moratorium.

“Christians and other minorities have been largely ignored by the American government before now, so even if this step had a bumpy start and required clarification, we in Iraq appreciate that an American administration understands that we are here and wants to help the minorities here who have suffered so much,” Warda said.

“I do not understand why some Americans are now upset that the many minority communities that faced a horrible genocide will finally get a degree of priority in some manner,” he added.

For many Middle Eastern Christians, Trump’s executive order wasn’t a punishment imposed by a racist foreign tyrant, but a much-welcomed policy change that, in the long run, would benefit the truly destitute.

But of course, we have yet to hear this perspective from the liberal mainstream media, and we’re not likely to any time soon. (For more from the author of “Liberal MSM Stoops to New Low, Using Persecuted Syrian Christians as Political Props” please click HERE)

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This Muslim Country Has Had Its Very Own ‘Muslim Ban’ Since 2011

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The Middle East country of Kuwait issued its own “Muslim ban” in 2011, citing the “instability” from several terror hotbeds in the Middle East.

The revelation follows President Donald Trump’s executive order that placed a temporary suspension on visa issuances from the countries of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan. The presidential decision has faced extremely heavy scrutiny from across the political spectrum, with opponents claiming it to be inhumane, unconstitutional, and un-American.

The executive order’s proponents say the temporary ban is necessary to protect the country from national security threats, reminding it only affects a tiny portion of Muslim-majority nations.

Kuwait — where Islam is the state religion and 80 percent of the population is Muslim — has had a supposed “Muslim ban” in place since 2011 to stop visa issuances to citizens of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. According to a report in Al Alaraby, individuals from these countries “will not be [AK1] able to obtain visit, tourism or trade” visas. Additionally, “Passport holders from the countries will no lot be allowed to enter the Gulf state while the blanket ban is in place and have been told not to apply to visas,” the report adds.

Kuwait has seen several incidents where foreigners attempted, and succeeded, at executing terrorist attacks. The most deadly occurred in June 2015, when an Islamic State suicide bomber detonated his vest at a Shia mosque in Kuwait City, killing 27 and injuring 227 people.

The five countries listed in the Kuwait visa ban are known breeding grounds for Islamic militants.

War-ravaged Syria and Iraq are home to ISIS, al Qaeda, and several Iran-backed jihadi militia groups. In 2011, when the civil war in Syria first erupted, Kuwait issued a visa ban for all Syrians.

Afghanistan and Pakistan is home to al Qaeda, ISIS,Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and dozens more Sunni terror groups.

And Iran is the world’s foremost state sponsor of terror, according to a 2016 report by the Obama State Department.

After this so-called “Muslim ban,” will Kuwait face international blowback of its own from prioritizing its national security? Will this have any effect on the perception of Pres. Trump’s executive order? (For more from the author of “This Muslim Country Has Had Its Very Own ‘Muslim Ban’ Since 2011” please click HERE)

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Survival of the Evilest: We Must Reimpose Sanctions on the Islamist Sudanese Government

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Former President Obama lifted sanctions on the Islamist Sudanese government on January 13, 2017. The Islamist Sudanese government had long survived even with the sanctions in place. Don’t dismiss the genius behind its longevity by believing — as many have — that things have changed; that the influence of the hardliners, radical Islamists, has diminished during the past 20 years. The hardliners remain deep inside the government, still trying to build a global Caliphate and incite jihad.

Sudan’s Leaders

The leaders of Sudan are all hardliners who were committed to building a global Caliphate long before ISIS. They play a game of “Change the Face.” It’s a Darwinian dance to alter the regime’s appearance and fool the outside world while pursuing their agenda to bring Sharia and Arabization to all of Sudan and then to the entire African continent.

The late former Sudan Prime Minister, Hassan al Turabi, was a Change the Face expert. Turabi looked like a jolly old uncle, but the tiny Sorbonne-educated Muslim Brotherhood leader not only oversaw the forced Islamization and Arabization of the south, he managed the murahaleen, Arab militias that raided villages in South Sudan and the Nuba Mountains, burning crops and livestock, killing men and taking women and children into slavery. They were forerunners of the Janjaweed (devils on horseback), responsible for the Darfur genocide.

Turabi accepted Bibles from naïve American pastors and nodded winsomely when they gushed that they were both “people of the Book”! He charmed the brains out of many Western visitors, but his Islamic ideology never changed. How could it? He was the founder of the Popular Arab and Islamic Congress, working for the globalization of radical Islam, and of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Sudanese branch.

Another Change the Face expert was Sudan’s previous foreign minister (architect of the jihad in Darfur and the Nuba Mountains) Ali Karti. Karti washed the blood of black Africans off his hands, put on a tailored suit and attended the National Prayer Breakfast. He charmed members of Congress with his sincerity and some invited him to their districts to spread his message of desiring peace and unity for Sudan, not having a clue what it actually means. (In these cases “peace” means Islam, which literally means submission. “Unity” means Arabization — all of Sudan’s hundreds of indigenous black African people groups to deny their own cultural heritage, language and customs, and embrace Arabization.)

Part of the Strategy

Change the Face and the related “Charm Offensive” are part of the overall strategy that has kept the Islamist Republic going in spite of unspeakable atrocities, persecuting Christians and other religious minorities, and perpetrating five genocidal jihads.

The genocide waged on southern Sudan (now Republic of South Sudan) and the Nuba Mountains/Blue Nile region resulted in the death of over 2.5 million people, with some 5 million displaced. The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement brought the South’s misery to a standstill and the Nuba Mountains/Blue Nile region achieved a ceasefire arranged by the first U.S. Sudan Special Envoy, former Senator Reverend John Danforth.

But in 2011, the Sudan government began another genocidal attack on Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile State that is still going on. Nuba Christians have been particularly targeted, the Bishop of the region revealed in his 2011 testimony to the House of Representatives. And Khartoum has supported insurrectionists in the South, trying to destroy the new nation.

The Case for Sanctions

Most people have lost track of “saving Darfur.” They may be surprised to know that Darfur still needs saving. Sudan scholar Eric Reeves says 600,000 have died and some 2.8 million displaced in that genocide.

Untold numbers of women have been raped, including those violated in the Sudan Army’s mass rape of hundreds of girls and women. In addition, a recent report from Amnesty International documents the Sudan government’s use of chemical weapons more than 30 times in the past year against one town.

Shouldn’t this be enough for the Sudan Islamist regime to merit sanctioning? But there’s more. Sudan is the global jihad incubator. It plays host to numerous jihadi groups throughout the country. And it’s more than just a “host.”

Darfur is occupied by terrorist groups spreading from Sudan to Mali. The Darfur Sudan United Movement’s General Abakar Abdallah and activist Jerry Gordon write in FrontPage Magazine:

New terrorist groups continually arrive in Darfur from Libya through Dongola, in North Sudan … These terrorist groups … are believed to include Boko Haram and ISIS jihadis. Villagers who have encountered them reported they are a mixture of Arabs and Africans. The latter look like Nigerians … They possess ISIS flags and wear the Kodomul (black turban). They are moving on Toyota pickup trucks similar to those used by ‘Peace Forces’. The Sudan regime pretends that these ‘Peace Forces’ are combating illegal immigrants. In reality they are helping bring in terrorists and Chadian rebels from Libya to Darfur.

But additionally, the Khartoum regime continues training jihadists in its own terror camps that the United States has been warned about since the 1990s. And Khartoum is sending trained jihadists all over the world, disguised as refugees or as wealthy Sudanese citizens.

This Darwinian survivor-regime stores up treasure for itself, making one deal after another while its people suffer. In addition to contracts with France for 16 million tons of gold in eastern Sudan, the regime recently announced a deal for 97 million tons of gold and silver in the Red Sea Minerals Project, to begin in the year 2020.

Global jihad will be well financed!

Khartoum also has agreements with Arab nations to provide farm land in Nubia, Beja land (Eastern Sudan), Darfur and elsewhere, displacing the indigenous people and stealing their land. The regime intends to change the demography of the country to erase its African identity.

Survival of the Evilest

What can defeat the survival of the evilest? The unified opposition of Sudan’s marginalized people from Nubia, Darfur, Beja Land, Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile State — the anti-jihad, anti-Caliphate, pro-secular democracy, pro-freedom and equality Sudanese — could put together a New Sudan. But they can only do this if the United States and others do not stand in their way under the illusion that the Khartoum regime are Islamists they can “work with.”

Then Sudan could change its face one last time. But this time, to the face of a secular democracy that would ensure religious freedom and equality for all Sudanese. Sudan would then face the United States as a real intelligence partner and a genuine ally in the war against global jihad. (For more from the author of “Survival of the Evilest: We Must Reimpose Sanctions on the Islamist Sudanese Government” please click HERE)

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It’s Time to Reel in the Obama-Appointed Ambassador Who Meddled in Macedonian Politics

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Macedonia has a population smaller than Queens and is roughly the size of Vermont. It is stuck in the southern Balkans, wedged between a hostile Greece and sometimes revanchist Albania and Bulgaria. It is not the center of the universe.

So why are some members of Congress having to ask our Macedonian ambassador, Jess Baily, to explain reports that he’s been acting as the bullying sovereign of the country, shoehorning political parties into forming a “red-green” coalition between leftist and Islamic-based parties?

And is it true, they also want to know, that the ambassador is siphoning off government money to groups founded by the left-wing billionaire activist George Soros?

Members of both the House and the Senate sent their letters to our ambassador in Skopje, that nation’s capital, on Jan. 17 and gave him two weeks to reply. President Barack Obama’s appointee hasn’t responded yet, though after I called the State Department and the embassy to inquire, the State Department did reach out to at least one congressman to tell him a response was being drafted.

But things have gotten so bad that congressional hearings and congressional delegations to the small Balkan country are being contemplated. Members of Congress have also reached out to the new Trump administration to inquire into the matter.

Tony Perkins, the president of the pro-traditional values Family Research Council, has also taken a keen interest in the matter. He wrote this week:

While the U.S. goals for Macedonia include benign statements on investing in democracy, the State Department began favoring partnerships with Soros’ long litany of organizations in 2012. These organizations are anything but democratic. Instead, they are pushing progressive, violent, and radical ideals throughout Europe.”

Under pressure, State Department spokesman Mark Toner on Thursday issued a statement backing the ambassador.

“Ambassador Baily and his team have been working in partnership with Macedonian authorities as well as with civil society to advance U.S. policy and U.S. goals. The Department of State has full confidence in our embassy and ambassador in Macedonia,” said Toner.

The questions from Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J, Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., Randy Hultgren, R-Ill., Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, from the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, were very similar.

They were also tough, so it’s not easy to see why the State Department and the embassy are dragging things outs.

“Unfortunately, we have heard credible reports that, over the past two years, the U.S. Mission to Macedonia has actively intervened in the party politics of Macedonia, as well as in the shaping of its media environment and civil society, in a manner that consistently favors the parties, media, and civil society groups of the center-left over those of the center-right,” begins the House letter.

They also seek to know whether the embassy under Baily has given preference to leftist media outlets over conservative ones in the disbursement of U.S. aid.

Both letters also ask if it was true that our embassy “selected the Open Society Foundation as the major implementer of USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) projects in Macedonia?”

The Open Society Foundation is a Soros creation that promotes the billionaire’s progressive ideology worldwide. Macedonian critics charge that since 2012, or two years before Baily’s appointment, USAID has been allocating most of its assistance to the Open Society Institute and nongovernmental organizations run or controlled by Soros. They put the figure at $5 million.

Conservative Macedonian political commentator Cvetin Chilimanov told me by telephone from Skopje Friday that Baily’s aim was to form a coalition government between the former communist Social Democratic Union and two ethnic Albanian parties, one of which, the Besa Movement, has a strong Islamic component and receives backing from Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

In other words, the ambassador is trying to shut out the strongly pro-American, pro-capitalist VMRO-DPMNE coalition, which actually won the most votes in the Dec. 11 elections.

This is an approach many in Skopje hope will change now that another team is in charge in Washington. (For more from the author of “It’s Time to Reel in the Obama-Appointed Ambassador Who Meddled in Macedonian Politics” please click HERE)

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Warmongering Iran Threatens to Unleash ‘Martyrdom’ Operations on America

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An influential Iranian leader has threatened to unleash thousands of “martyrdom” operations by loyal allies of the Tehran regime already inside the United States. The move comes as President Donald Trump has put Iran “on notice” for its illegal ballistic missile tests and escalating anti-American activities.

Hassan Abbasi, an Iranian political theorist who has been dubbed “the [Henry] Kissinger of Islam,” made the remarks Thursday, claiming that Iran doesn’t need a nuclear bomb because of such loyalists ready for suicide operations, according to author, and Gatestone Institute chairman, Amir Taheri.

Abbasi is a high-ranking officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which is tasked with exporting Iran’s Caliphatist revolutionary ideology worldwide. He is also the head of a premier Iranian think tank affiliated with the IRGC called the Center for Borderless Security Doctrinal Analysis.

Additionally, National Review has described Hassan Abbasi as a “theoretician” for Iranian dictator and Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In the past, he has designated America as part of an alliance of “sworn enemies of God and Muslims.”

Iran’s escalating rhetoric follows the White House administration change — and its corresponding change in tone on Iran.

Pres. Trump warned the Tehran regime Thursday morning: “Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile. Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them!”

He added in another Tweet: “Iran was on its last legs and ready to collapse until the U.S. came along and gave it a life-line in the form of the Iran Deal: $150 billion.”

Additionally, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn put Iran “on notice” on Wednesday, condemning the regime’s ballistic missile test and sponsorship of terrorism.

Flynn said in a statement:

“Recent Iranian actions, including a provocative ballistic missile launch and an attack against a Saudi naval vessel conducted by Iran-supported Houthi militants, underscore what should have been clear to the international community all along about Iran’s destabilizing behavior across the Middle East.”

The Iran-backed Houthis committed a deadly strike on a Saudi warship in the Red Sea earlier this week, utilizing “suicide boats” to hit their target. The Iran-backed militants have been accused of targeting U.S. vessels as well.

“As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice,” Flynn concluded his statement.

Iran has described its offensive ballistic missile program as an “inalienable and absolute” right of the country, and claims its tests do not violate sanctions or the nuclear deal signed with the Obama administration and world powers. (For more from the author of “Warmongering Iran Threatens to Unleash ‘Martyrdom’ Operations on America” please click HERE)

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‘EFFECTIVE’ RESPONSE: Mattis Warns North Korea Against Nuclear Weapons Attack on US, Allies

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In an explicit warning to North Korea, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Friday said any use of nuclear weapons by the North on the United States or its allies would be met with what he called an “effective and overwhelming” response . . .

“North Korea continues to launch missiles, develop its nuclear weapons program, and engage in threatening rhetoric and behavior,” Mattis said with Han standing at his side and U.S. and South Korean flags at their backs.

“We stand with our peace-loving Republic of Korea ally to maintain stability on the peninsula and in the region,” he added. “America’s commitments to defending our allies and to upholding our extended deterrence guarantees remain ironclad: Any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming.” (Read more from “‘EFFECTIVE’ RESPONSE: Mattis Warns North Korea Against Nuclear Weapons Attack on US, Allies” HERE)

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