A New Military Power Rises in the Mideast, Courtesy of One Man

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Martyrs’ Day is a new addition to the United Arab Emirates calendar this November, wedged between the Islamic holy days and the Dubai Shopping Festival.

Many nations commemorate their fallen soldiers, but the U.A.E. has always been different. The glittering towers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are monuments to an alternative Middle East, standing above the fray, where investors can forget the region’s conflicts and make money. If that’s now changing, it’s largely the work of one man.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of the U.A.E.’s capital Abu Dhabi and the de-facto national leader, controls 6 percent of the world’s oil and its second-richest wealth fund. At 54, young for an Arab leader, he’s trusted by Washington and feted in Moscow. And he’s spent three decades beefing up his small nation’s military, making him one of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s best customers.

Sheikh Mohamed has always been security conscious. As a young prince in the air force in 1990, when U.S. troops were massing in the Persian Gulf to fight Saddam Hussein, he drove through the sand dunes to meet an American general for lunch, stashing a rifle under the front seat, just in case he got shot at. Now, to Gulf leaders, the neighborhood looks more dangerous than ever, with Islamic State taking root and Iran rising — and the crown prince wants his country to have more weapons . . .

From the Switzerland of the Persian Gulf to its Sparta, is how one Western official describes the transformation. It’s one full of risks, because the U.A.E.’s business model has largely worked — turning it from a $50 billion economy in 1990 to the Arab world’s second-largest after Saudi Arabia, with output of $400 billion last year. (Read more from “A New Military Power Rises in the Mideast, Courtesy of One Man” HERE)

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Turkey Shoots Down Russian Jet, Tensions Escalate in Volatile Region

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One of the world’s most volatile regions was roiled further Tuesday when Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border. Turkey said it hit the plane after it repeatedly violated Turkey’s airspace and ignored 10 warnings.

One of the two pilots was killed in the air by fire from the ground, according to Russia’s state-run news agency RIA Novosti. The fate of the second pilot wasn’t disclosed.

Meanwhile, a Russian marine was killed on Tuesday during an operation to rescue the two pilots, who were flying an Su-24 warplane, according to RIA Novosti.

Turkey and Russia exchanged bellicose language after the downing of the plane, raising fears in the international community that the brutal Syrian conflict could spiral into something much wider.

The Russian plane was warned numerous times beforehand and was subsequently dealt with because it “did not answer our warning,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday. (Read more from “Turkey Shoots Down Russian Jet” HERE)

150 on Flight From Mexico Skip Customs, Leave JFK

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Airline and security officials at Kennedy Airport let 150 passengers arriving from an international flight leave the airport without going through customs, the Daily News has learned . . .

When the plane landed, passengers walked out of the airport without having their passports or bags checked by Customs and Border Protection, sources told The News.

A source familiar with the matter said passengers disembarking the plane “just followed” a gate agent. The security snafu came just two days after ISIS released a video threatening New York City with a terrorist attack . . .

American Airlines contacted the passengers and directed them to return to JFK for customs processing. An official told The News on Sunday that 144 passengers had returned to the airport and gone through customs. The six that remain are all U.S. citizens, the official said.

The TSA, which screens passengers before they fly, declined comment, while the Port Authority said that the clearing of arriving international travelers is a federal responsibility. The airlines, it said, direct travelers to security areas. (Read more from “150 on Flight From Mexico Skip Customs, Leave JFK” HERE)

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You’ll Never Believe Who’s Really Behind the Paris Massacre According to Iran-Produced Video

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A video titled “Who Was Behind the Paris Attacks,” released by the office of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, alleges that the US and its allies were the real perpetrators behind the jihadist massacre in Paris that killed 132 people.

The US and allies, claimed the video, created ISIS and provided them with weapons in order to further their own interests, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported. Khamenei’s website also published a cartoon titled “Big Brother Goofed!”, showing Uncle Sam flinging an ISIS boomerang at Syria and the boomerang returning to strike France.

These missives follow the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s claim that France is paying the price for using ISIS terrorism to promote its own interests, MEMRI reported.

Regime officials further berated the West for only expressing shock when Sunni ISIS terrorism strikes their home, while failing to sympathize when the victims are in Syria, Iraq, and other places around the world.

Iranian daily Kayhan, which is affiliated with Supreme Leader Khamenei, published an editorial that claimed Edward Snowden’s revelations prove that the CIA and the Mossad were involved in establishing ISIS. (Read more from “You’ll Never Believe Who’s Really Behind the Paris Massacre According to Iran-Produced Video” HERE)

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Belgium Police Arrest 16, Paris Fugitive Still at Large

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Belgian prosecutors announced early Monday that police had detained 16 people in 22 raids but that Paris fugitive Salah Abdeslam was not among them. Despite the raids, authorities maintained their highest terror alert in the capital for a third straight day.

The raids capped a tense day with hundreds of troops patrolling and authorities hunting for one or more suspected militants, the Belgian government chose Sunday to keep the capital on the highest state of alert into the start of the workweek to prevent a Paris-style attack.

Citing a “serious and imminent” threat, Prime Minister Charles Michel announced that schools and universities in Brussels will be closed Monday, with the subway remaining shut down, preventing a return to normal in the city that is also home to the European Union’s main institutions. (Read more from “Belgium Police Arrest 16, Paris Fugitive Still at Large” HERE)

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American Voters More Fearful After Paris Attacks

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One week after the terrorist attacks in Paris, Diane Lochocki drove with her boyfriend from New York to the New Hampshire State House. Ben Carson was filing for the presidential primary, and Lochocki, 78, wanted to see him. It was time for a new president, one who actually took the threat of radical Islam seriously.

“Terrorists are insidious people,” Lochocki said. “Your neighbor could be one and you wouldn’t know. I feel we should close our borders until we get the rest of the world under control. If that’s inhumane, then I’m inhumane. You think what you want.”

The attacks that killed 130 and injured more than 350 in France’s capital Nov. 13 changed the 2016 contest for president — by changing what voters worried about. Across the country, among both Republicans and Democrats, have come pronouncements of anger and fear not seen after the terrorist attacks in London or Madrid — or even, in some ways, after Sept. 11, 2001. Suspicion of Muslims and intolerance of refugees have exploded; so has criticism of President Obama’s handling of the terror threat.

A Suffolk University-Boston Globe poll Saturday confirmed it, with 42 percent of likely voters in New Hampshire’s upcoming GOP primary calling terrorism and national security the country’s most important issues. Before Paris, they’d worried most about the economy.

In more than two dozen interviews over the weekend in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Alabama, voters offered some clues as to why Paris has altered the consciousness so dramatically. They described feeling more afraid of the Islamic State, more horrified by the imagery of beheadings and other atrocities. They are uncomforted by Obama’s leadership. And with the pain of the Iraq war still weighing on the nation, they are even listening to the people who say the United States must send troops to the Middle East to fight the Islamic State. (Read more from “American Voters More Fearful After Paris Attacks” HERE)

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Beijing Vows Justice as ISIS Kills Chinese, Norwegian Hostages

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Beijing has vowed to bring ISIS to justice after the group said it had executed two hostages, a Chinese and a Norwegian.

ISIS said it had killed the two men, identified as Chinese national Fan Jinghui and Norwegian citizen Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad in its English-language online magazine Dabiq.

President Xi Jinping “strongly condemned” ISIS for the killing of Fan, the first known Chinese national to be killed by the group, and the country’s foreign ministry said the Chinese government would “definitely hold the perpetrators accountable.”

But how to respond to Fan’s “cold-blooded and violent” death presents a dilemma for China, which has stayed on the sidelines in the fight against ISIS and has a long-held principle of noninterference in other countries’ affairs. [Editor’s note: this is laughable; China economically leverages nations all over the globe. Ask any Ecuadorean, for instance, as to whether they believe China interferes in their domestic affairs]

To date, Beijing has been vague on the question of what it will contribute to the global fight against ISIS and has declined to explicitly offer its support for airstrikes being conducted against the group in Syria. (Read more from “Beijing Vows Justice as ISIS Kills Chinese, Norwegian Hostages” HERE)

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Major Car Rental Bars Israeli Executive From Renting

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On Saturday evening, Dov Bergwerk arrived at the Avis branch on West 76th Street and Broadway. Accompanied by his wife Ruth, the Bergwerks were planning to join friends for dinner in Westchester. Mr. Bergwerk, a senior vice president and general corporate counsel at the Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva, got out his driver’s license, reservation number and “Wizard” loyalty card – he’s rented from Avis dozens of times before – and anticipated the usual smooth transition into a nondescript mid-sized sedan . . .

A reservation agent named Angelline declined to honor Mr. Bergwerk’s reservation, saying that it was company policy not to recognize Israeli documents. Stunned, Mr. Bergwerk explained that he had rented from Avis many times, including a car from that very same office on Thursday, November 19 – only two days earlier.

Mr. Bergwerk asked Angelline to access the profile attached to his Wizard card, which shows that he is an executive at a giant multinational company who has no regulatory issues and has rented from Avis, including at that very branch, many times without incident. She refused. They argued.

Eventually, a manager was called. Shamoura took the side of her reservation agent, also refusing to honor Mr. Bergwerk’s reservation or recognize his documents. Stunned and stranded on a Saturday night in New York, Mr. Bergwerk called the Avis main number and got through to customer service. The representative confirmed to him that the Israeli license was an acceptable form of ID and also mentioned that he could show his passport to ameliorate any ID concerns the on-site employees had. Mr. Bergwerk put the customer service representative on the phone with Shamoura, the branch manager, and at this point the story evolved. She now claimed that she was declining to rent the Bergwerks a car not because of the insufficient documents but because Mr. Bergwerk had “argued about the way I was being treated in front of other customers,” according to Mr. Bergwerk . . .

The Observer asked Mr. Bergwerk if he felt that, in the heart of Manhattan’s progressive activist community, he was being singled out for being an Israeli. (Read more from “Major Car Rental Bars Israeli Executive From Renting” HERE)

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New ISIS Video Threatens Attack on White House

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The Dijla branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) released a new video depicting unidentified jihadists celebrating the recent attacks on Paris and vowing the attacks would “conclude with the so-called White House.”

In the video – titled “Paris Before Rome” — militants warn French President Francois Hollande, U.S. President Barack Obama “and those who follow in his footsteps” to expect more strikes . . .

“We began with you, and we shall conclude with the so-called White House. We shall turn it even blacker than our fire by the will of Allah,” a militants says in the video. “Better still … we shall blow it up just like we blew up the idols on this good land.”

The video surfaced one day after another ISIS video that makes reference to Times Square. In what appeared to be a threat directed at the U.S., Times Square was shown along with New York City taxis and several Midtown locations, interspersed with what appeared to be a man preparing an explosive device and strapping it to himself . . .

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department is warning that St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Milan’s cathedral and La Scala opera house, as well as “general venues” like churches, synagogues, restaurants, theaters and hotels have been identified as “potential targets” in those two cities for terrorist attacks. (Read more from “New ISIS Video Threatens Attack on White House” HERE)

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France’s Most-Wanted Man

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Salah Abdeslam — the only one of the suspected Paris attackers known to have survived — is still at large and still very much at the center of a mystery.

Nine days after the terror attacks that killed 130 people, a clearer picture is emerging of his movements — and it seems Abdeslam fled the city late on the night of November 13 in a state of panic.

Information from sources close to the investigation draw a picture of a man on the run, and how that run began. On the evening of the attacks, Abdeslam, 26, was thought to have been the driver of a black Renaut Clio that dropped off three suicide bombers near the Stade de France . . .

Four days later, last Tuesday, the Clio was found abandoned in the Place Albert Kahn in Paris’ 18th arrondissement. It appeared to have been parked hurriedly on a pedestrian crossing.

This is where the mystery begins. Was Abdeslam meant to carry out a separate attack? Or join the men who had already burst into the Bataclan theater? Or return to Brussels, where he lived, to plan another attack? (Read more from “France’s Most-Wanted Man” HERE)

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