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4 ThingsWestern Democracies Need to Understand to Stop Hostile Kremlin Meddling:

Governments should use the free press to their advantage by openly investigating disinformation campaigns.

By Jakub Janda • 05/11/17

In 2015, I started the Kremlin Watch Program at a think-tank in Prague. My team analyzes Russian influence and disinformation operations, and we have helped the Czech government tailor a national strategy. We publish papers, propose strategies, and have been invited to consult in 16 countries—mostly European—so far. These are four lessons I have learned from my experience.#1. Putin’s regime wants to call itself a superpower and to be respected as such.Apart from having nuclear weapons and large territory, Russia has nothing thatmakes it anything more than a regional dictatorship with living standards of adeveloping country. Freedom of speech in Russia is worse than in Zimbabwe, political opponents are shot or poisoned, journalists are assassinated, history is systematically falsified, and most major media outlets are controlled by the regime. Putin suppresses domestic opposition—from both political groups and independent media—because he has failed to deliver solid living standards for ordinary Russians over the course of the 17 years he has ruled.Russia has a lower GDP than Italy, and its average wages are lower thanRomania’s.

On the international stage, there isn’t much to respect Russia for—apart from its status of a doping superpower; its occupation of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova; and its covering up for bloody dictators like Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Western leftists need to wake up from their naïve dream of Russia being a  champion of socialist ideals, and Western rightists should recognize that Russia is not a champion of conservative values; it suppresses individual freedoms and has the highest abortion rate in the world.

Putin’s regime kills and bullies to get respected. Democracies need to denounce this paradigm. It worked at the end of 1980s, and it will work again if we stop buying into the Soviet dictatorship’s fear game.

White House, Oval Office. Donald Trump between Russian Foreign Minister
Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Kislyak (May 2017).
#2. Moscow is still dangerous. Knowing it is militarily inferior to NATO, Russia uses cowards’ weapons: disinformation operations and political subversion. There are countries that had no problem selling parts of their sovereignty to Moscow. For example, the Kremlin practically owns a majority of the Serbian national energy supply.
Or it openly pays Marine Le Pen for her presidency bid. The fact that she received major campaign donations from a bloody foreign dictator who occupies territories of European countries didn’t discredit her in the eyes of the French public.

Then, there are politicians who turned a blind eye to the Kremlin’s activities—and now they are surprised. Democrats in the United States have long ignored Kremlin influence operations, until it hit them hard in the fall of 2016—a fate similar to the French left’s.
Conservatives in the U.K. have held hawkish positions on Russia’s aggressive steps in Eastern Europe, but they basically tolerated harboring Russian dirty money in London.

“Monsieur Poutine, j’ai encore besoin d’argent… ! ». Front National presidential
candidate Marina Le Pen in Moscow (May 2017).
#3. Disinformation operations are a real and urgent threat to democracies
worldwide. Once the political leadership recognizes this, the security apparatus gets the green light to develop detailed policy measures to protect the country. That’s what’s happening now in Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland, but the Baltic states have known this for decades. Moreover, once the government starts addressing this threat publicly, the media will make it a national issue. TV shows will elaborate on what disinformation look like, and major outlets will assign top investigators to research Kremlin proxy financing of local extremists or disinformation outlets. This autoimmune response needs to be launched by the government. Otherwise, only several isolated think tanks and patriotic journalists will dig into the subject, as is currently the case Slovakia, Hungary and France.

#4. We need to be resolute in defending our own countries. The word “sovereignty” has been hijacked by the far-right to kick against the EU. We need to take it back. What else is an assault on your sovereignty then Russia orchestrating an assassination attempt on a prime minister, as it did in Montenegro? How many thousands of Ukrainians need to die while defending their own territory from Kremlin-commanded terrorists, before the U. S. provides them with Javelins to make Ukraine a Russian-tank-free zone? How
long will it take European intelligence agencies to declare hostile disinformation outlets a national security threat and until their financing and personnel will be investigated and made public, a proven Estonian counterintelligence practice? How long will it take Western governments to start taking Kremlin clandestine money in the West as leverage to make Putin’s regime get out of Ukraine and stop hostile meddling into domestic affairs of our democracies? How long will it take the top EU security and foreign policy official, Federica Mogherini, before she starts taking Russian disinformation campaigns seriously? What else must Russia do before Germans understand that voluntarily increasing dependence on  Kremlin energies by Nord Stream 2 is not a rational thing, no matter how many former chancellors can Putin buy to work on his behalf? What else is sovereignty than citizens having the right to decide their leaders in fair elections free of
hostile foreign interference, including hacks of candidates that Moscow doesn’t like?

Jakub Janda is Head of Kremlin Watch Program and Deputy Director at the European Values Think-Tank based in Prague. He specializes in response of democratic states to hostile disinformation and influence operations. In 2016, he was tasked by Czech security and intelligence institutions to consult on “Influence of Foreign Powers” chapter within Audit of National Security conducted by the Czech government. Follow him on Twitter @_jakubjanda

https://www.stopfake.org/en/2017/11/

https://www.stopfake.org/en/tag/kremlin-watch-monitor/

the edited version

Lebanon's Sunni Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, Flees To Saudi Arabia:

[What The Hell Is Going On?]

[It has just been announced that The United States has been rebuffed by the Iraqi Government to it's demands that Iranian forces be removed from Iraqi territory as it prepares to impose economic sanctions on Tehran.

Also, now, coincidentally (!) CNN is starting to promote separation of the Kurdish region from the rest of Iraq.

I can only add with some sadness that the involvement of Iran was a direct result of the United States dismantling the Ba'athist military and civilian structure after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. So the present chaos in the Arabian peninsula and the new reality (of a Shia majority in Iraq) is a direct result of U.S. incompetence after the complete collapse of the country following it's administration by the United States. But don't expect your mainstream media to ever tell you this sad truth.

PE]

Saudi Arabia:

On The Brink of Collapse or, as a Stopgap, A War With Iran

There is a real crisis in both Lebanese-Saudi and in Saudi-Iranian relations.

I told you many years ago that, and I quote myself 'the Saudis have no backbone......all of their fighting and dying is done by foreigners – Christians – Americans and British forces – mainstream and contracted.'

I also told you that they are hoping to replace these by Pakistan supplied and trained Salafist and Waahabist contracted forces in the future – to do the fighting and dying in the Yemen.

For years, when the United States was a stable democracy (which it is not today under Donald Trump) the State Department and other branches of government have tried to persuade the Saudis that it was in their own interests – and in the interests of regional stability – that they transform a feudal monarchy into a modern democracy.  All diplomatic efforts by the U.S. State Department met with rebuff.

Saudi was so important to the stability of the Gulf and to Christendom that nobody wanted (had the political courage) to force the issue on the reluctant Saudis, least they take offence and tilt towards China or even worse, towards Moscow.

Iran, The New Power Broker In the Arabian Peninsula – To The Alarm Of Israel

[Yet Is Has been failed U.S. - Israeli Foreign and Domestic Policies Which Have Brought About This Crisis]

We have now reached the situation I informed you was just around the corner over one year ago:

Iran is on the verge of major victories – in Syria and in Iraq.

(The West, through it's stupidity, handed over Iraq on a silver platter to Iran.)

It is also poised to have a major long-term military presence in Yemen which the Saudis alone will find impossible to militarily defeat in the longer-term.

Israel Was the Islamic State's Silent Backer

[If They Could Reach The Golan Heights, Israel 'Humanitarian Support' Was There To Assist ISIS Fighters]

The Christian Lebanese government, together with Israel, were covert supporters of the Islamic State.

I warned that this would come to no good – but was, as usual, laughed at.

It appeared that the Islamic State was on the verge of a major victory.

Indeed, at one point I was very partial to seeing how co-existence might be possible and was even ready to travel to Syria to research a book about the Islamic State. The objective of the book was to see the world 'through the eyes of ISIL' not to analyze the historical grievances but look at how they viewed Islam and their conception of a Caliphate. My contacts suggested that it was safe. Everything that was happening was suggesting otherwise. This was at a time before ISIL/ISIS atrocities were being reported.

The Mainstream Media Stayed Silent Whilst The Yazidis, Kurds and Syrian Christians Were Being Massacred By ISIS

For over two years, CNN, Fox and all the mainstream media were staying silent – because Syria and Iraq were suffering and nobody really cared. The position only changed when Western (Christian) politicians realised that, like dominoes in South East Asia, the situation was getting out of control.

At one point it appeared that Muqtadar al-Sadr would be defeated and Reuters falsely reported that he had fled to the safety of Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon.

I checked my source and told you (my readers) that, that very weekend he was supposed to have 'fled to Lebanon', as with Archbishop Makarios III, being both a spiritual leader and military commander, that very weekend, he was visiting the Holy City of Najaf to both encourage the Mahdi Army and those Iraqi force commanders desperately fighting to prevent Baghdad from being taken by ISIS and praying for victory.

The atrocities against Shias -civilians and captured prisoners of war by ISIS were disgraceful – by any standards. This was also at a time when the mainstream media and every politician and clerical leader across Christendom – including The Pope -were staying silent about the atrocities of ISIS/ISIL/The Islamic State. Such is politics.

The British government, at that time, was taking a more longer-term view and many with foreign-relations expertise in branches of government could see the very real dangers ahead – but were not listened to by their political masters – similar to that what was happening in the United States.

(There was one European politician, an MEP, estranged from his wife and whose girlfriend was being maintained with Israeli money from Brussels (he had long been compromised – like the British Cabinet Minister Priti Patel – by the Israelis.)

His views reflected that of most British politicians at that time (except Jeremy Corbyn, the now Leader of the British Labour Party.Corbyn was, at that time, not Leader of the Opposition Party and was a relatively unknown politician on the international stage.)

I asked this unnamed MEP about the fate of the Coptic Christians, The Syrian Christians and the persecuted Yazidis; about Priests and Nuns (you know the ones - who were being murdered, sold as slaves in the marketplace, burned – nay roasted - alive – and tortured to death by the most sadistic imaginable means) and I will never forget his reaction to my question about accepting refugees for humanitarian reasons:

''I'm a great friend of the Christians and the Lebanese but will not support a single one being granted refugee status in Europe'' he said with as much contempt for the question as an answer for it.

I have paraphrased his words to remember the essence of his thoughts.

They reflect a society which has lost all sense of a Christian compass and has sold it's very soul to Satan. He reflected the views of the majority of British politicians - whilst Christians were being slaughtered in their thousands - and while they all looked the other way hoping it would all be over by the time they reacted.
Such is politics.

Well now the tables are turned. Iran, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, The Mahdi Army, The PKK (Kurdish Forces), Hezbollah and the Syrian Army are all on the verges of major victories in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Iranian forces and Hezbollah are pressing the advance into the Yemen.

This is coupled with the fact that we have as President of the United States, someone who has placed control of the intelligence agencies and the military in the hands of highly inexperienced individuals placed in office on the basis of their extremist politics and not their abilities to defend the interests of the United States from it's superpower rivals.

Saudi Arabia's survival, as a Wahhabi and Salafist country (Kingdom) is now in the hands of the Israelis, the Americans and to a lesser extent the British.

Saad Hariri

Saad Hariri (a Saudi passport-holder) had to flee because when the extent of his cooperation with Saudi Arabia ISIS/ISIL and Israel – and the 'betrayal' of Christian communities in Syria - becomes evident, his position in Lebanon will be, in any case, untenable.

It is a sad situation – and a very dangerous one - because Russia will be the ultimate beneficiary of political turmoil and war in the Gulf.

What America desperately needs at this critical time is a President and administration who will prevent the world from sliding into wars both in South East Asia (North Korea) The Middle East (Iran) and in the Arabian Peninsula. This will not happen. Expect the first major war against Iran.

This will be a huge miscalculation. Perhaps Saudi Arabia will also appeal to it's friend the Egyptians to provide the 'canon fodder' to fight the Iranians and Hezbollah. I do not see a single Gulf country having the backbone to fight against professional and seasoned forces from the Mahdi Army, Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah – fresh from their victories over the Islamic State fighters. I have stated that, whilst retribution must be exacted for the terrible crimes committed against civilians and prisoners of war by ISIS, I respect their bravery in preferring to die fighting than facing retribution as captured war criminals responsible for the most heinous of crimes since the second world war – excluding Vietnam and Cambodia's Pol Pot.

….''When the Ace Falls From His Suit''....

The Israelis, through their misguided foreign policy adventures and covert support for ISIS/ISIL, have played no small part in the downfall of Saad Hariri , and have maybe even set the trigger for a new Middle East War.

It's a mess of a situation – and there is no seasoned political leadership in Washington to deal with any of these critical looming crises - of global significance.

Quite the opposite, because Trump has no personal experience of war and gets his information from either Fox News or Hollywood War Movies or Conspiracy Theorists, the future (for the immediate world) looks very bleak indeed.

I've seen his appointments to date – Pompeo at the CIA, Mattis in the Military and their 'fringe' thinking about combat operations and intelligence are more akin to what the conspiracy theorists want than to 'realpolitik'.

This is at a time when the Russian Federation has one of the most experienced and globally savvy political leadership of any time in it's recent history. It's professional armed forces have secured a major victory in Syria – having effectively liberated the country from ISIS/ISIL. Because of this the status of President Putin and The Russian Federation is almost at a 'god-like' level amongst ordinary Arabs (I monitor Arab channels) – especially Shias - across the Arab world. [I was just going to say that his status was 'very high' but that would have been a lie  -more akin to your mainstream media.]

Unless new leadership emerges in Washington, Russia is now poised to have major footholds in the Persian Gulf and across the Arabian Peninsula.

And this is all because of political incompetence in Washington – both before Trump and now during his incumbent 'leadership' of the 'democratic' world (if you will now still call it that.)

So the losers, through sheer incompetence, are the United States and Great Britain. The winners are undoubtedly Iran, Hezbollah and the Russian Federation.

Luckily for the Russian Federation, this balance of power re-alignment in the Middle East and North Africa is occurring at a historic moment when it also has it's own Manchurian Candidate firmly ensconced in Washington D.C.

©Patrick Emek, November 2017

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saad_Hariri

http://operationtelic.co.uk/?tag=muqtadar-al-sadr

the edited version

Lebanon's Sunni Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, Flees To Saudi Arabia:

[What The Hell Is Going On?]

[It has just been announced that The United States has been rebuffed by the Iraqi Government to it's demands that Iranian forces be removed from Iraqi territory as it prepares to impose economic sanctions on Tehran.

Also, now, coincidentally (!) CNN is starting to promote separation of the Kurdish region from the rest of Iraq.

I can only add with some sadness that the involvement of Iran was a direct result of the United States dismantling the Ba'athist military and civilian structure after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. So the present chaos in the Arabian peninsula and the new reality (of a Shia majority in Iraq) is a direct result of U.S. incompetence after the complete collapse of the country following it's administration by the United States. But don't expect your mainstream media to ever tell you this sad truth.

PE]

Saudi Arabia:

On The Brink of Collapse or, as a Stopgap, A War With Iran

There is a real crisis in both Lebanese-Saudi and in Saudi-Iranian relations.

I told you many years ago that, and I quote myself 'the Saudis have no backbone......all of their fighting and dying is done by foreigners – Christians – Americans and British forces – mainstream and contracted.'

I also told you that they are hoping to replace these by Pakistan supplied and trained Salafist and Waahabist contracted forces in the future – to do the fighting and dying in the Yemen.

For years, when the United States was a stable democracy (which it is not today under Donald Trump) the State Department and other branches of government have tried to persuade the Saudis that it was in their own interests – and in the interests of regional stability – that they transform a feudal monarchy into a modern democracy.  All diplomatic efforts by the U.S. State Department met with rebuff.

Saudi was so important to the stability of the Gulf and to Christendom that nobody wanted (had the political courage) to force the issue on the reluctant Saudis, least they take offence and tilt towards China or even worse, towards Moscow.

Iran, The New Power Broker In the Arabian Peninsula – To The Alarm Of Israel

[Yet Is Has been failed U.S. - Israeli Foreign and Domestic Policies Which Have Brought About This Crisis]

We have now reached the situation I informed you was just around the corner over one year ago:

Iran is on the verge of major victories – in Syria and in Iraq.

(The West, through it's stupidity, handed over Iraq on a silver platter to Iran.)

It is also poised to have a major long-term military presence in Yemen which the Saudis alone will find impossible to militarily defeat in the longer-term.

Israel Was the Islamic State's Silent Backer

[If They Could Reach The Golan Heights, Israel 'Humanitarian Support' Was There To Assist ISIS Fighters]

The Christian Lebanese government, together with Israel, were covert supporters of the Islamic State.

I warned that this would come to no good – but was, as usual, laughed at.

It appeared that the Islamic State was on the verge of a major victory.

Indeed, at one point I was very partial to seeing how co-existence might be possible and was even ready to travel to Syria to research a book about the Islamic State. The objective of the book was to see the world 'through the eyes of ISIL' not to analyze the historical grievances but look at how they viewed Islam and their conception of a Caliphate. My contacts suggested that it was safe. Everything that was happening was suggesting otherwise. This was at a time before ISIL/ISIS atrocities were being reported.

The Mainstream Media Stayed Silent Whilst The Yazidis, Kurds and Syrian Christians Were Being Massacred By ISIS

For over two years, CNN, Fox and all the mainstream media were staying silent – because Syria and Iraq were suffering and nobody really cared. The position only changed when Western (Christian) politicians realised that, like dominoes in South East Asia, the situation was getting out of control.

At one point it appeared that Muqtadar al-Sadr would be defeated and Reuters falsely reported that he had fled to the safety of Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon.

I checked my source and told you (my readers) that, that very weekend he was supposed to have 'fled to Lebanon', as with Archbishop Makarios III, being both a spiritual leader and military commander, that very weekend, he was visiting the Holy City of Najaf to both encourage the Mahdi Army and those Iraqi force commanders desperately fighting to prevent Baghdad from being taken by ISIS and praying for victory.

The atrocities against Shias - civilians and captured prisoners of war - by ISIS were disgraceful – by any standards. This was also at a time when the mainstream media and every politician and clerical leader across Christendom – including The Pope -were staying silent about the atrocities of ISIS/ISIL/The Islamic State. Such is politics.

The British government, at that time, was taking a more longer-term view and many with foreign-relations expertise in branches of government could see the very real dangers ahead – but were not listened to by their political masters – similar to that what was happening in the United States.

(There was one European politician, an MEP, estranged from his wife and whose girlfriend was being maintained with Israeli money from Brussels (he had long been compromised – like the British Cabinet Minister Priti Patel – by the Israelis.) 

His views reflected that of most British politicians at that time (except Jeremy Corbyn, the now Leader of the British Labour Party.Corbyn was, at that time, not Leader of the Opposition Party and was a relatively unknown politician on the international stage.)

I asked this unnamed MEP about the fate of the Coptic Christians, The Syrian Christians and the persecuted Yazidis; about Priests and Nuns (you know the ones - who were being murdered, sold as slaves in the marketplace, burned – nay roasted - alive – and tortured to death by the most sadistic imaginable means) and I will never forget his reaction to my question about accepting refugees for humanitarian reasons:

''I'm a great friend of the Christians and the Lebanese but will not support a single one being granted refugee status in Europe'' he said with as much contempt for the question as an answer for it.

I have paraphrased his words to remember the essence of his thoughts.

They reflect a society which has lost all sense of a Christian compass and has sold it's very soul to Satan. He reflected the views of the majority of British politicians - whilst Christians were being slaughtered in their thousands - and while they all looked the other way hoping it would all be over by the time they reacted.
Such is politics.

Well now the tables are turned. Iran, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, The Mahdi Army, The PKK (Kurdish Forces), Hezbollah and the Syrian Army are all on the verges of major victories in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Iranian forces and Hezbollah are pressing the advance into the Yemen.

This is coupled with the fact that we have as President of the United States, someone who has placed control of the intelligence agencies and the military in the hands of highly inexperienced individuals placed in office on the basis of their extremist politics and not their abilities to defend the interests of the United States from it's superpower rivals.

Saudi Arabia's survival, as a Wahhabi and Salafist country (Kingdom) is now in the hands of the Israelis, the Americans and to a lesser extent the British.

Saad Hariri

Saad Hariri (a Saudi passport-holder) had to flee because when the extent of his cooperation with Saudi Arabia ISIS/ISIL and Israel – and the 'betrayal' of Christian communities in Syria - becomes evident, his position in Lebanon will be, in any case, untenable.

It is a sad situation – and a very dangerous one - because Russia will be the ultimate beneficiary of political turmoil and war in the Gulf.

What America desperately needs at this critical time is a President and administration who will prevent the world from sliding into wars both in South East Asia (North Korea) The Middle East (Iran) and in the Arabian Peninsula. This will not happen. Expect the first major war against Iran.

This will be a huge miscalculation. Perhaps Saudi Arabia will also appeal to it's friend the Egyptians to provide the 'canon fodder' to fight the Iranians and Hezbollah. I do not see a single Gulf country having the backbone to fight against professional and seasoned forces from the Mahdi Army, Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah – fresh from their victories over the Islamic State fighters. I have stated that, whilst retribution must be exacted for the terrible crimes committed against civilians and prisoners of war by ISIS, I respect their bravery in preferring to die fighting than facing retribution as captured war criminals responsible for the most heinous of crimes since the second world war – excluding Vietnam and Cambodia's Pol Pot.

….''When the Ace Falls From His Suit''....

The Israelis, through their misguided foreign policy adventures and covert support for ISIS/ISIL, have played no small part in the downfall of Saad Hariri , and have maybe even set the trigger for a new Middle East War.

It's a mess of a situation – and there is no seasoned political leadership in Washington to deal with any of these critical looming crises - of global significance.

Quite the opposite, because Trump has no personal experience of war and gets his information from either Fox News or Hollywood War Movies or Conspiracy Theorists, the future (for the immediate world) looks very bleak indeed.

I've seen his appointments to date – Pompeo at the CIA, Mattis in the Military and their 'fringe' thinking about combat operations and intelligence are more akin to what the conspiracy theorists want than to 'realpolitik'.

This is at a time when the Russian Federation has one of the most experienced and globally savvy political leadership of any time in it's recent history. It's professional armed forces have secured a major victory in Syria – having effectively liberated the country from ISIS/ISIL. Because of this the status of President Putin and The Russian Federation is almost at a 'god-like' level amongst ordinary Arabs (I monitor Arab channels) – especially Shias - across the Arab world. [I was just going to say that his status was 'very high' but that would have been a lie  - more akin to your mainstream media.]

Unless new leadership emerges in Washington, Russia is now poised to have major footholds in the Persian Gulf and across the Arabian Peninsula.

And this is all because of political incompetence in Washington – both before Trump and now during his incumbent 'leadership' of the 'democratic' world (if you will now still call it that.)

So the losers, through sheer incompetence, are the United States and Great Britain. The winners are undoubtedly Iran, Hezbollah and the Russian Federation.

Luckily for the Russian Federation, this balance of power re-alignment in the Middle East and North Africa is occurring at a historic moment when it also has it's own Manchurian Candidate firmly ensconced in Washington D.C.

©Patrick Emek, November 2017

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saad_Hariri

http://operationtelic.co.uk/?tag=muqtadar-al-sadr

the edited version

Lebanon's Sunni Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, Flees To Saudi Arabia:

[What The Hell Is Going On?]

[It has just been announced that The United States has been rebuffed by the Iraqi Government to it's demands that Iranian forces be removed from Iraqi territory as it prepares to impose economic sanctions on Tehran.

Also, now, coincidentally (!) CNN is starting to promote separation of the Kurdish region from the rest of Iraq.

I can only add with some sadness that the involvement of Iran was a direct result of the United States dismantling the Ba'athist military and civilian structure after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. So the present chaos in the Arabian peninsula and the new reality (of a Shia majority in Iraq) is a direct result of U.S. incompetence after the complete collapse of the country following it's administration by the United States. But don't expect your mainstream media to ever tell you this sad truth.

PE]

Saudi Arabia:

On The Brink of Collapse or, as a Stopgap, A War With Iran

There is a real crisis in both Lebanese-Saudi and in Saudi-Iranian relations.

I told you many years ago that, and I quote myself 'the Saudis have no backbone......all of their fighting and dying is done by foreigners – Christians – Americans and British forces – mainstream and contracted.'

I also told you that they are hoping to replace these by Pakistan supplied and trained Salafist and Waahabist contracted forces in the future – to do the fighting and dying in the Yemen.

For years, when the United States was a stable democracy (which it is not today under Donald Trump) the State Department and other branches of government have tried to persuade the Saudis that it was in their own interests – and in the interests of regional stability – that they transform a feudal monarchy into a modern democracy.  All diplomatic efforts by the U.S. State Department met with rebuff.

Saudi was so important to the stability of the Gulf and to Christendom that nobody wanted (had the political courage) to force the issue on the reluctant Saudis, least they take offence and tilt towards China or even worse, towards Moscow.

Iran, The New Power Broker In the Arabian Peninsula – To The Alarm Of Israel

[Yet Is Has been failed U.S. - Israeli Foreign and Domestic Policies Which Have Brought About This Crisis]

We have now reached the situation I informed you was just around the corner over one year ago:

Iran is on the verge of major victories – in Syria and in Iraq.

(The West, through it's stupidity, handed over Iraq on a silver platter to Iran.)

It is also poised to have a major long-term military presence in Yemen which the Saudis alone will find impossible to militarily defeat in the longer-term.

Israel Was the Islamic State's Silent Backer

[If They Could Reach The Golan Heights, Israel 'Humanitarian Support' Was There To Assist ISIS Fighters]

The Christian Lebanese government, together with Israel, were covert supporters of the Islamic State.

I warned that this would come to no good – but was, as usual, laughed at.

It appeared that the Islamic State was on the verge of a major victory.

Indeed, at one point I was very partial to seeing how co-existence might be possible and was even ready to travel to Syria to research a book about the Islamic State. The objective of the book was to see the world 'through the eyes of ISIL' not to analyze the historical grievances but look at how they viewed Islam and their conception of a Caliphate. My contacts suggested that it was safe.  Everything that was happening was suggesting otherwise. This was at a time before ISIL/ISIS atrocities were being reported.

The Mainstream Media Stayed Silent Whilst The Yazidis, Kurds and Syrian Christians Were Being Massacred By ISIS

For over two years, CNN, Fox and all the mainstream media were staying silent – because Syria and Iraq were suffering and nobody really cared. The position only changed when Western (Christian) politicians realised that, like dominoes in South East Asia, the situation was getting out of control.

At one point it appeared that Muqtadar al-Sadr would be defeated and Reuters falsely reported that he had fled to the safety of Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon.

I checked my source and told you (my readers) that, that very weekend he was supposed to have 'fled to Lebanon', as with Archbishop Makarios III, being both a spiritual leader and military commander, that very weekend, he was visiting the Holy City of Najaf to both encourage the Mahdi Army and those Iraqi force commanders desperately fighting to prevent Baghdad from being taken by ISIS and praying for victory.

The atrocities against Shias -civilians and captured prisoners of war by ISIS were disgraceful – by any standards. This was also at a time when the mainstream media and every politician and clerical leader across Christendom – including The Pope -were staying silent about the atrocities of ISIS/ISIL/The Islamic State. Such is politics.

The British government, at that time, was taking a more longer-term view and many with foreign-relations expertise in branches of government could see the very real dangers ahead – but were not listened to by their political masters – similar to that what was happening in the United States.

(There was one European politician, an MEP, estranged from his wife and whose girlfriend was being maintained with Israeli money from Brussels (he had long been compromised – like the British Cabinet Minister Priti Patel – by the Israelis.) 

His views reflected that of most British politicians at that time (except Jeremy Corbyn, the now Leader of the British Labour Party.  Corbyn was, at that time, not Leader of the Opposition Party and was a relatively unknown politician on the international stage.)

I asked this unnamed MEP about the fate of the Coptic Christians, The Syrian Christians and the persecuted Yazidis; about Priests and Nuns (you know the ones - who were being murdered, sold as slaves in the marketplace, burned – nay roasted - alive – and tortured to death by the most sadistic imaginable means) and I will never forget his reaction to my question about accepting refugees for humanitarian reasons:

'I'm a great friend of the Christians and the Lebanese but will not support a single one being granted refugee status in Europe'' he said with as much contempt for the question as an answer for it.

I have paraphrased his words to remember the essence of his thoughts.

They reflect a society which has lost all sense of a Christian compass and has sold it's very soul to Satan. He reflected the views of the majority of British politicians - whilst Christians were being slaughtered in their thousands - and while they all looked the other way hoping it would all be over by the time they reacted.. Such is politics.

Well now the tables are turned. Iran, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, The Mahdi Army, The PKK (Kurdish Forces), Hezbollah and the Syrian Army are all on the verges of major victories in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Iranian forces and Hezbollah are pressing the advance into the Yemen.

This is coupled with the fact that we have as President of the United States, someone who has placed control of the intelligence agencies and the military in the hands of highly inexperienced individuals placed in office on the basis of their extremist politics and not their abilities to defend the interests of the United States from it's superpower rivals.

Saudi Arabia's survival, as a Wahhabi and Salafist country (Kingdom) is now in the hands of the Israelis, the Americans and to a lesser extent the British.

Saad Hariri

Saad Hariri (a Saudi passport-holder) had to flee because when the extent of his cooperation with Saudi Arabia ISIS/ISIL and Israel – and the 'betrayal' of Christian communities in Syria - becomes evident, his position in Lebanon will be, in any case, untenable.

It is a sad situation – and a very dangerous one - because Russia will be the ultimate beneficiary of political turmoil and war in the Gulf.

What America desperately needs at this critical time is a President and administration who will prevent the world from sliding into wars both in South East Asia (North Korea) The Middle East (Iran) and in the Arabian Peninsula. This will not happen. Expect the first major war against Iran.

This will be a huge miscalculation. Perhaps Saudi Arabia will also appeal to it's friend the Egyptians to provide the 'canon fodder' to fight the Iranians and Hezbollah. I do not see a single Gulf country having the backbone to fight against professional and seasoned forces from the Mahdi Army, Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah – fresh from their victories over the Islamic State fighters. I have stated that, whilst retribution must be exacted for the terrible crimes committed against civilians and prisoners of war by ISIS, I respect their bravery in preferring to die fighting than facing retribution as captured war criminals responsible for the most heinous of crimes since the second world war – excluding Vietnam and Cambodia's Pol Pot.

….''When the Ace Falls From His Suit''....

The Israelis, through their misguided foreign policy adventures and covert support for ISIS/ISIL, have played no small part in the downfall of Saad Hariri , and have maybe even set the trigger for a new Middle East War.

It's a mess of a situation – and there is no seasoned political leadership in Washington to deal with any of these critical looming crises - of global significance.

Quite the opposite, because Trump has no personal experience of war and gets his information from either Fox News or Hollywood War Movies or Conspiracy Theorists, the future (for the immediate world) looks very bleak indeed.

I've seen his appointments to date – Pompeo at the CIA, Mattis in the Military and their 'fringe' thinking about combat operations and intelligence are more akin to what the conspiracy theorists want than to 'realpolitik'.

This is at a time when the Russian Federation has one of the most experienced and globally savvy political leadership of any time in it's recent history. It's professional armed forces have secured a major victory in Syria – having effectively liberated the country from ISIS/ISIL. Because of this the status of President Putin and The Russian Federation is almost at a 'god-like' level amongst ordinary Arabs (I monitor Arab channels) – especially Shias - across the Arab world. [I was just going to say that his status was 'very high' but that would have been a lie  -more akin to your mainstream media.]

Unless new leadership emerges in Washington, Russia is now poised to have major footholds in the Persian Gulf and across the Arabian Peninsula.

And this is all because of political incompetence in Washington – both before Trump and now during his incumbent 'leadership' of the 'democratic' world (if you will now still call it that.)

So the losers, through sheer incompetence, are the United States and Great Britain. The winners are undoubtedly Iran, Hezbollah and the Russian Federation.

Luckily for the Russian Federation, this balance of power re-alignment in the Middle East and North Africa is occurring at a historic moment when it also has it's own Manchurian Candidate firmly ensconced in Washington D.C.

©Patrick Emek, November 2017

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saad_Hariri


http://operationtelic.co.uk/?tag=muqtadar-al-sadr

the edited version

Lebanon's Sunni Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, Flees To Saudi Arabia:

[What The Hell Is Going On?]

[It has just been announced that The United States has been rebuffed by the Iraqi Government to it's demands that Iranian forces be removed from Iraqi territory as it prepares to impose economic sanctions on Tehran.

Also, now, coincidentally (!) CNN is starting to promote separation of the Kurdish region from the rest of Iraq.

I can only add with some sadness that the involvement of Iran was a direct result of the United States dismantling the Ba'athist military and civilian structure after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. So the present chaos in the Arabian peninsula and the new reality (of a Shia majority in Iraq) is a direct result of U.S. incompetence after the complete collapse of the country following it's administration by the United States. But don't expect your mainstream media to ever tell you this sad truth.

PE]

Saudi Arabia:

On The Brink of Collapse or, as a Stopgap, A War With Iran

There is a real crisis in both Lebanese-Saudi and in Saudi-Iranian relations.

I told you many years ago that, and I quote myself 'the Saudis have no backbone......all of their fighting and dying is done by foreigners – Christians – Americans and British forces – mainstream and contracted.'

I also told you that they are hoping to replace these by Pakistan supplied and trained Salafist and Waahabist contracted forces in the future – to do the fighting and dying in the Yemen.

For years, when the United States was a stable democracy (which it is not today under Donald Trump) the State Department and other branches of government have tried to persuade the Saudis that it was in their own interests – and in the interests of regional stability – that they transform a feudal monarchy into a modern democracy.  All diplomatic efforts by the U.S. State Department met with rebuff.

Saudi was so important to the stability of the Gulf and to Christendom that nobody wanted (had the political courage) to force the issue on the reluctant Saudis, least they take offence and tilt towards China or even worse, towards Moscow.

Iran, The New Power Broker In the Arabian Peninsula – To The Alarm Of Israel

[Yet Is Has been failed U.S. - Israeli Foreign and Domestic Policies Which Have Brought About This Crisis]

We have now reached the situation I informed you was just around the corner over one year ago:

Iran is on the verge of major victories – in Syria and in Iraq.

(The West, through it's stupidity, handed over Iraq on a silver platter to Iran.)

It is also poised to have a major long-term military presence in Yemen which the Saudis alone will find impossible to militarily defeat in the longer-term.

Israel Was the Islamic State's Silent Backer

[If They Could Reach The Golan Heights, Israel 'Humanitarian Support' Was There To Assist ISIS Fighters]

The Christian Lebanese government, together with Israel, were covert supporters of the Islamic State.

I warned that this would come to no good – but was, as usual, laughed at.

It appeared that the Islamic State was on the verge of a major victory.

Indeed, at one point I was very partial to seeing how co-existence might be possible and was even ready to travel to Syria to research a book about the Islamic State. The objective of the book was to see the world 'through the eyes of ISIL' not to analyze the historical grievances but look at how they viewed Islam and their conception of a Caliphate. My contacts suggested that it was safe. Everything that was happening was suggesting otherwise. This was at a time before ISIL/ISIS atrocities were being reported.

The Mainstream Media Stayed Silent Whilst The Yazidis, Kurds and Syrian Christians Were Being Massacred By ISIS

For over two years, CNN, Fox and all the mainstream media were staying silent – because Syria and Iraq were suffering and nobody really cared. The position only changed when Western (Christian) politicians realised that, like dominoes in South East Asia, the situation was getting out of control.

At one point it appeared that Muqtadar al-Sadr would be defeated and Reuters falsely reported that he had fled to the safety of Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon.

I checked my source and told you (my readers) that, that very weekend he was supposed to have 'fled to Lebanon', as with Archbishop Makarios III, being both a spiritual leader and military commander, that very weekend, he was visiting the Holy City of Najaf to both encourage the Mahdi Army and those Iraqi force commanders desperately fighting to prevent Baghdad from being taken by ISIS and praying for victory.

The atrocities against Shias - civilians and captured prisoners of war by ISIS were disgraceful – by any standards. This was also at a time when the mainstream media and every politician and clerical leader across Christendom – including The Pope -were staying silent about the atrocities of ISIS/ISIL/The Islamic State. Such is politics.

The British government, at that time, was taking a more longer-term view and many with foreign-relations expertise in branches of government could see the very real dangers ahead – but were not listened to by their political masters – similar to that what was happening in the United States.

(There was one European politician, an MEP, estranged from his wife and whose girlfriend was being maintained with Israeli money from Brussels (he had long been compromised – like the British Cabinet Minister Priti Patel – by the Israelis.) 

His views reflected that of most British politicians at that time (except Jeremy Corbyn, the now Leader of the British Labour Party. Corbyn was, at that time, not Leader of the Opposition Party and was a relatively unknown politician on the international stage.)

I asked this unnamed MEP about the fate of the Coptic Christians, The Syrian Christians and the persecuted Yazidis; about Priests and Nuns (you know the ones - who were being murdered, sold as slaves in the marketplace, burned – nay roasted - alive – and tortured to death by the most sadistic imaginable means) and I will never forget his reaction to my question about accepting refugees for humanitarian reasons:

''I'm a great friend of the Christians and the Lebanese but will not support a single one being granted refugee status in Europe'' he said with as much contempt for the question as an answer for it.

I have paraphrased his words to remember the essence of his thoughts.

They reflect a society which has lost all sense of a Christian compass and has sold it's very soul to Satan. He reflected the views of the majority of British politicians - whilst Christians were being slaughtered in their thousands - and while they all looked the other way hoping it would all be over by the time they reacted.
Such is politics.

Well now the tables are turned. Iran, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, The Mahdi Army, The PKK (Kurdish Forces), Hezbollah and the Syrian Army are all on the verges of major victories in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Iranian forces and Hezbollah are pressing the advance into the Yemen.

This is coupled with the fact that we have as President of the United States, someone who has placed control of the intelligence agencies and the military in the hands of highly inexperienced individuals placed in office on the basis of their extremist politics and not their abilities to defend the interests of the United States from it's superpower rivals.

Saudi Arabia's survival, as a Wahhabi and Salafist country (Kingdom) is now in the hands of the Israelis, the Americans and to a lesser extent the British.

Saad Hariri

Saad Hariri (a Saudi passport-holder) had to flee because when the extent of his cooperation with Saudi Arabia ISIS/ISIL and Israel – and the 'betrayal' of Christian communities in Syria - becomes evident, his position in Lebanon will be, in any case, untenable.

It is a sad situation – and a very dangerous one - because Russia will be the ultimate beneficiary of political turmoil and war in the Gulf.

What America desperately needs at this critical time is a President and administration who will prevent the world from sliding into wars both in South East Asia (North Korea) The Middle East (Iran) and in the Arabian Peninsula. This will not happen. Expect the first major war against Iran.

This will be a huge miscalculation. Perhaps Saudi Arabia will also appeal to it's friend the Egyptians to provide the 'canon fodder' to fight the Iranians and Hezbollah. I do not see a single Gulf country having the backbone to fight against professional and seasoned forces from the Mahdi Army, Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah – fresh from their victories over the Islamic State fighters. I have stated that, whilst retribution must be exacted for the terrible crimes committed against civilians and prisoners of war by ISIS, I respect their bravery in preferring to die fighting than facing retribution as captured war criminals responsible for the most heinous of crimes since the second world war – excluding Vietnam and Cambodia's Pol Pot.

….''When the Ace Falls From His Suit''....

The Israelis, through their misguided foreign policy adventures and covert support for ISIS/ISIL, have played no small part in the downfall of Saad Hariri , and have maybe even set the trigger for a new Middle East War.

It's a mess of a situation – and there is no seasoned political leadership in Washington to deal with any of these critical looming crises - of global significance.

Quite the opposite, because Trump has no personal experience of war and gets his information from either Fox News or Hollywood War Movies or Conspiracy Theorists, the future (for the immediate world) looks very bleak indeed.

I've seen his appointments to date – Pompeo at the CIA, Mattis in the Military and their 'fringe' thinking about combat operations and intelligence are more akin to what the conspiracy theorists want than to 'realpolitik'.

This is at a time when the Russian Federation has one of the most experienced and globally savvy political leadership of an time in it's recent history. It's professional armed forces have secured a major victory in Syria – having effectively liberated the country from ISIS/ISIL. Because of this the status of President Putin and The Russian Federation is almost at a 'god-like' level amongst ordinary Arabs (I monitor Arab channels) – especially Shias - across the Arab world. [I was just going to say that his status was 'very high' but that would have been a lie  -more akin to your mainstream media.]

Unless new leadership emerges in Washington, Russia is now poised to have major footholds in the Persian Gulf and across the Arabian Peninsula.

And this is all because of political incompetence in Washington – both before Trump and now during his incumbent 'leadership' of the 'democratic' world (if you will now still call it that.)

So the losers, through sheer incompetence, are the United States and Great Britain. The winners are undoubtedly Iran, Hezbollah and the Russian Federation.

Luckily for the Russian Federation, this balance of power re-alignment in the Middle East and North Africa is occurring at a historic moment when it also has it's own Manchurian Candidate firmly ensconced in Washington D.C.

©Patrick Emek, November 2017

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saad_Hariri

http://operationtelic.co.uk/?tag=muqtadar-al-sadr

A View Of Politics From The United Kingdom:

The 'Swamp' On The Other Side Of the Pond

Hard-Ball Politics, 'Gutter-Seeking' Scandal-Obsessed Politicians and Political Correctness Are 'Orders Of The Day' ('L'ordre du jour')

In The Anglo-Saxon-Speaking  World 

Do we not have fun in poking gibes at our political elites? It is a national sport and pursued nowhere with more gusto than in the UK, where by tradition we like to cut people down to size, and stamp on hubris. Where are the Churchills and the Cromwells, the iron men or the Iron Lady, of our past? No more do we expect to behold the spectacle of Colossi stalking our corridors of power. The present motley crew (according to some) who crawl those hallowed precincts in the Palace of Westminster, so the argument goes, call more to mind the ‘beetle men’ envisaged by George Orwell. Those creepy-crawlies in human form, the reader may recall, were of a type best adapted to come to the fore in his dystopia of 1984. If not actual insects, most would agree that we are governed nowadays by Pygmies. And how we like to sneer at them! Notable exceptions of course are around. But…Whose fault is it that we have this supposedly lowered level of leadership? Insidious undercurrents of opinion create a climate of reference. They affect the subconscious geist. Whether we be pinko or blue-o, we should recognize as objective fact the notion that the cut-glass accent is as passé as the playing fields of Eton. Our badges of honor, these days, are a background of deprivation against which we have struggled to make something of ourselves, unaided by the chance of privilege. In some ways that may be to the good; but not all. There is a baby in the bathwater. He is not yet ‘thrown out’ but he is gasping and he wears mottled expression and …how long is he for this world?
Time and again, the types and characters who in the past would have been the standard bearers of our country are now lost to the public weal. Whether they be public school educated patriots who are not trying for the political heights, or whether they try but are rejected by selection committees concerned not to antagonize Vox Populi, we now vaunt to the hilltops those types who in the past would have hardly had a look-in to the magic circle of power unless they were of exceptional ability. What counts today in the selection of our leaders is the class system in reverse, writ large.Why then do we look down on those we have set up to lead us?It is an oddity of history that in assessing the reasons why the French Revolution descended into The Terror and then miscued into the installing of an Emperor, historians do not rate as significant the intake of the Parliaments of the early 1790s. Non-entities all, those delegates were. Their virtue was that they were ‘The Common Man’ drawn from all parts of France. Against that backcloth, a man of Robespierre’s ‘provincial’ mind could swell in proportion. The point can be argued back and forth; it can be said that the 'Aristos' of that day also were too effete, insular or selfish. Either way, the point is that the emergence of a type of man to set the then French system to rights was not encouraged.Our country surely has not lost its native talent, still less its newly imported talent. There is a statistical constant, it can be said, of talent. But those who have the ability to make headway are that much the less likely to gravitate to the old Commanding Heights of our nation. Voters do not respect holders of power; the leaders are there to be pilloried. The ambitious and clever man or woman very often is deterred from seeking to enter that ‘hot kitchen’. The world of IT or business offers the flower of our nation the greater scope, or so they could be forgiven for thinking.How many good people have we lost through this geist? How many people who were trained and educated in a boarding school system that was designed to produce leaders of men no longer are up for a life of public service? We have the politicians we ask for. Why whinge?

Adam Eagleton, December 2017