Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the US for its historic decision to pull out of UNESCO and ordered Israel to also withdraw from the organization.
After the US historically decided to pull out of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the decision and ordered the Foreign Affairs Ministry to prepare for an Israeli withdrawal from the organization as well.
“It’s a brave and moral decision,” Netanyahu posted on his Facebook page. “UNESCO has turned into the theater of the absurd and instead of preserving history, it distorts it.” The latest date for the withdrawal to come into effect is the end of 2018.
UNESCO Photo credit: Serge Attal/ Flash 90/ Channel 2 News
“This decision was not taken lightly,” Heather Nauert, a spokesperson for the State Department, said in a statement. “And reflects US concerns with mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO.”
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman also congratulated the US decision: “This was an important moral and ethical move from our great ally towards an anti-Semitic and politically biased organization.”
“The government is committed to continued UK membership of UNESCO and to working with other member states in support of its important work,” A spokesperson of British Prime Minister Theresa May stated. “The US relationship with UNESCO is a matter for them.”
Beginning on Halloween night, the Obama Foundation will begin a series of one-day training sessions and also will host a summit aimed at promoting civic engagement among students and young adults, officials said Wednesday.
BEGINNING ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT, THE OBAMA FOUNDATION WILL BEGIN A SERIES OF ONE-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS AND ALSO WILL HOST A SUMMIT AIMED AT PROMOTING CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AMONG STUDENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS, OFFICIALS SAID WEDNESDAY.
EDITOR’S NOTE: After being exposed as nothing more than a shell corporation for Hillary to sell State Department influence and favors, the Clinton Foundation was forced to close its door amidst heavy scrutiny during the 2016 Presidential campaign. Not be be outdone, Michelle and Barack Obama now have their own foundation and are launching their first-ever “summit” on the high holy day of Satanism, Halloween night. I know it sounds like a story from The Onion, but guess what? It’s not.
In a video, former President Barack Obama said the programming, along with the creation of a fellowship program and the incorporation of his My Brother’s Keeper Alliance into the foundation, is his way of grooming the next generation to “change the world.”
“We’re bringing together hundreds of leaders from all around the world for a hands-on exchange of ideas in my hometown,” Obama says in the video, which was posted to the foundation’s website and emailed to followers Wednesday morning.
“The summit will be a place to gather and learn from one another, and then go back to your communities to lead others in the hard work of change. And it will also help guide our foundation as we continue to design programs that will connect and support the next generation of young leaders here in the United States and around the globe.”
The announcement comes just one day before the foundation’s top brass will meet with the public for the first time to discuss how the Obama Presidential Center will look and what it will offer.
“We’re going to be focusing like a laser beam on this idea of active citizenship, to give people, organizations and communities the skills and the tools that they need to actively engage in positive change,” foundation CEO David Simas said.
On Thursday, Kensington Palace announced that Prince Harry will visit Chicago on Oct. 31 for the inaugural summit of the Obama Foundation. The visit means a reunion with his pal and fellow champion of veterans, former First Lady Michelle Obama.
During the Chicago visit, Harry will discuss the power of youth leadership to lead change at a local and global level. In particular, he’ll address his work with the Full Effect project, an initiative in Nottingham in the U.K. that aims to open up opportunities for young people.
President Trump delivered a fire-breathing denunciation of the Iranian government, saying it financed terrorist groups, imprisoned Americans, plotted attacks on troops, and fomented civil wars in Iraq, Yemen and Syria. “Given the regime’s murderous past and present,” he said, “we should not take lightly its sinister vision for the future.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP ON FRIDAY MADE GOOD ON A LONG-RUNNING THREAT TO DISAVOW THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL THAT WAS NEGOTIATED BY HIS PREDECESSOR, BARACK OBAMA. BUT HE STOPPED SHORT OF UNRAVELING THE ACCORD OR EVEN REWRITING IT, AS THE DEAL’S DEFENDERS HAD ONCE FEARED.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is why tens of millions of American patriots voted for Donald Trump in 2016. To undo the Islam-friendly actions of Barack Obama and to take steps to truly keep our nation safer and more secure. Trump’s speech fired on all 8 cylinders today, issuing a blistering denunciation of Iran’s pro-terror policies and aspirations. The snowflakes will be highly triggered today, so look for a run on skinny jeans, Starbucks and safe spaces. #MAGA
In a speech that mixed searing criticism of Iran with more measured action, President Trump declared his intention not to certify Iran’s compliance with the agreement. Doing so essentially kicks to Congress a decision about whether to reimpose sanctions on Iran, which would blow up the agreement.
“We will not continue down a path whose inevitable result is more violence, more chaos and Iran’s nuclear breakout,” Mr. Trump declared at the White House, as he laid out a broader strategy for confronting Iran.
The president derided the deal as “one of the worst and most one-sided transaction the United States has ever entered into.” But he added, “What’s done is done, and that’s why we are where we are.”
MR. TRUMP SAID HE WOULD ASK CONGRESS TO ESTABLISH “TRIGGER POINTS,” WHICH COULD PROMPT THE UNITED STATES TO REIMPOSE SANCTIONS ON IRAN IF IT CROSSES THRESHOLDS SET BY CONGRESS.
“In the event we are not able to reach a solution working with Congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated,” Mr. Trump said.
Those could include continued ballistic missile launches by Iran, a refusal to extend the duration of constraints on its nuclear fuel production, or a conclusion by the United States’ intelligence agencies that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in less than a year.
Mr. Trump delivered a fire-breathing denunciation of the Iranian government, saying it financed terrorist groups, imprisoned Americans, plotted attacks on troops, and fomented civil wars in Iraq, Yemen and Syria. “Given the regime’s murderous past and present,” he said, “we should not take lightly its sinister vision for the future.” source
The Boy Scouts of America announced plans on Wednesday to broadly accept girls, marking a historic shift for the century-old organization and setting off a debate about where girls better learn how to be leaders. The Boy Scouts, which has seen dwindling membership numbers in recent decades, said that its programs could nurture girls as well as boys, and that the switch would make life easier for busy parents, who might prefer to shuttle children to a single organization regardless of gender.
ON WEDNESDAY, THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA ANNOUNCED IT WILL SOON ALLOW GIRLS TO JOIN THE ORGANIZATION AS CUB SCOUTS AND EARN THE RANK OF EAGLE SCOUT, MARKING A SIGNIFICANT POLICY SHIFT IN THE ORGANIZATION’S OVER 100-YEAR HISTORY.
EDITOR’S NOTE: When I was a kid in the Boy Scouts, there were codes of honor and conduct that all scouts were required to adhere to. One main qualification of being a boy scout is you had to be a boy. But in the snowflake age in which we now find ourselves, people seem hopelessly confused about the most basic of matters. Like should men wearing a dress be allowed to use the same bathroom as little girls do, or should gay scout leaders be alone with young boys on overnight camping trips. Boy scouts used to be required to be “morally straight“. I don’t know if Liberalism is ranked as a mental disorder, but it certainly should be. Liberalism ruins everything it touches.
The Boy Scouts of America announced plans on Wednesday to broadly accept girls, marking a historic shift for the century-old organization and setting off a debate about where girls better learn how to be leaders.
The Boy Scouts, which has seen dwindling membership numbers in recent decades, said that its programs could nurture girls as well as boys, and that the switch would make life easier for busy parents, who might prefer to shuttle children to a single organization regardless of gender.
“I’ve seen nothing that develops leadership skills and discipline like this organization,” said Randall Stephenson, the group’s national board chairman. “It is time to make these outstanding leadership development programs available to girls.”
The decision was celebrated by many women, but criticized by the Girl Scouts, which said that girls flourish in all-female groups.
“We’ve had 105 years of supporting girls and a girl-only safe space,” said Lisa Margosian, chief customer officer for the Girl Scouts, who added that the organization felt “blindsided” by the announcement. “So much of a girl’s life is a life where she is in a coed environment, and we have so much research and data that suggests that girls really thrive in an environment where they can experiment, take risk and stretch themselves in the company of other girls.”
For families involved in scouting, the announcement led to a scramble of questioning phone calls and frantic Facebook discussions as parents and scout leaders wrestled with tentative plans for the transition. Next year, girls will be allowed into the Cub Scouts program, which had been limited to young boys. A program for older girls is expected to be available in 2019, giving them a path to earn the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout.
The Boy Scouts has offered girls limited access to some programs before, but it has never before welcomed them into its core Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts programs. And the introduction of girls still does not mean that Boy Scouts’ gatherings will necessarily include both genders. The smallest groups of Cub Scouts will continue to be single sex.
MICHAEL VER DUIN, A THIRD-GENERATION EAGLE SCOUT AND TROOP LEADER IN GRAND HAVEN, MICH., SAID HE WAS “SUPER EXCITED” FOR THE CHANGE — AN OPPORTUNITY, IN HIS VIEW, FOR GIRLS TO HAVE THE SAME CHOICES AS BOYS.
“The closest I’ve had to a negative comment is ‘I know there will be some who do not welcome this,’ ” he said. “The two biggest things I see as a challenge to explain to parents are, ‘What kind of problems are you going to have if you had boys and girls on the same camping outing?’ and ‘Do boys need time to be boys and girls need time to be girls?’ ”
Others were deeply skeptical. Joseph Carballo, 70, has been with the Boy Scouts for 30 years, most of that time as a scoutmaster of Troop 65, in the Bronx. His two sons, both Eagle Scouts and now in their 30s and 40s, have been with the organization since the 1990s. “And we all have the same view: no girls,” he said.
“Boys and girls should have separate organizations for activities,” Mr. Carballo explained, as his troops entered the cafeteria of St. Helena’s Church for their Wednesday night meeting. “There is an organization for girls. It’s called the Girl Scouts.” (His granddaughter, he pointed out, is a member.)
For the Boy Scouts, the change is also a chance to boost its sagging membership. The group says it has 2.3 million members between the ages of 7 and 21 and nearly a million volunteers throughout the United States and its territories. At its peak in the 1970s, the organization, incorporated in 1910, was closer to five million members.
The Boy Scouts has significantly loosened its membership requirements in recent years, but not without lengthy debates among its leaders and members. In January, the organization announced it would accept transgender members. In 2013, the group lifted a ban on openly gay members, and in 2015, it stopped barring gay Scout leaders.
In April, the Boy Scouts began exploring the possibility of opening more widely to girls after receiving inquiries from its members, a spokeswoman for the Boy Scouts, Effie Delimarkos, said. She said the group collected input from families over the summer and, on Wednesday, its directors unanimously voted to allow the expansion. source
So why are the media insistent that Paddock was getting rich by playing video poker? I don’t know what happened — and, apparently, neither do the cops — but it’s kind of odd that we keep being told things that aren’t true about the Las Vegas massacre, from the basic timeline to this weird insistence that Paddock made a good living at gambling.
NOW THE MEDIA ARE JUST TAUNTING US WITH THEIR TALL TALES ABOUT STEPHEN PADDOCK, THE ALLEGED LAS VEGAS SHOOTER. REPUTEDLY SERIOUS NEWS ORGANIZATIONS ARE CLAIMING THAT HE MADE A LIVING PLAYING VIDEO POKER. THAT’S LIKE CLAIMING SOMEONE MADE A LIVING SMOKING CRACK.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The mystery of exactly who Stephen Paddock was is straight out of the classic conspiracy handbook. No provable source of income, yet he had access to seemingly endless piles of money. A world traveller who loved visiting, of all places, the Middle East. Pulls off a highly-complicated mass shooting that, when examined on paper, is right in line with how ISIS plans attacks. And then there is the event itself. They say he was a “lone wolf”, yet a woman walked through the crowd warning people of danger. To my mind, Stephen Paddock sounds just a like a black ops CIA agent who was killed by his other team members so they could have a fall guy to blame it on. One thing is for sure so far, though. Nothing coming from either the fake news media or the government is even remotely close to true. I’m actually waiting for the “warren report” to tell me about another “magic bullet”. That’s how much this whole thing stinks.
The media are either doing PR for the gambling industry or they don’t want anyone considering the possibility that Paddock was using gambling to launder money.
NBC News reports, with a straight face: “Las Vegas gunman earned millions as a gambler.” A Los Angeles Times article is headlined, “In the solitary world of video poker, Stephen Paddock knew how to win.” The story says that Paddock’s gambling “was at least a steady income over a period of years.”
I DON’T KNOW ALL THE INS AND OUTS OF PADDOCK’S LIFE, BUT THAT’S A LIE.
How do reporters imagine casino owners make a living? Any ideas on how all those glorious lobbies, lights, pools, and fountains are paid for? How do they think Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn became billionaires if gambling is a winning proposition for people like Paddock — and therefore, by definition, a losing proposition for the casinos?
The media think about money the way Democrats do. They have absolutely no conception of where it originates. Those casino owners sure are generous! reporters think to themselves. Economist Thomas Sowell is always ridiculing journalists for not understanding basic economics. It turns out, they don’t understand the spreadsheet of a lemonade stand.
The New York Times explained that the “top” video poker machines pay out 99.17 percent. That’s great that Paddock was only losing cents on the dollar (if true), but it’s still losing. The Times quickly explained that he could have more than made up his losses with all the “comps” — the free rooms, meals and “50-year-old port that costs $500 a glass,” as his brother Eric said.
DOES ANYONE BELIEVE THE BROTHER IS TELLING THE TRUTH? I SURE DON’T:
Gamblers who are beating the house are not given $500 glasses of port. Refer to the profit/loss spreadsheet. And yet, according to his brother, Paddock was treated like royalty by the casinos. Which means he was losing.
Apart from outright theft, the only way to have an advantage over the casino is by card-counting. That’s not cheating and it doesn’t guarantee a win. It merely allows the gambler to make a more educated guess as each card is played, thereby tilting the odds ever so slightly in his favor. Still, if the casinos suspect a customer is counting cards, he will be promptly escorted off the premises.
THE MYSTERIES SWIRLING AROUND THE ’32ND FLOOR’ GROW DEEPER BY THE MINUTE:
Listen to the voiceover guy almost sensually utter the words “32nd floor” in the same velvety-tones they used to mention the “grassy knoll” in. The whole thing is dripping in phoniness.
And counting cards only helps with blackjack. Paddock’s game of choice was VIDEO POKER. That’s a computer! It’s programmed to ensure the house wins. Not all the time, but at least often enough to make casino owners multi-billionaires. Anyone who plays video poker over an extended period of time will absolutely, 100 percent, by basic logic, end up a net loser.
So why are the media insistent that Paddock was getting rich by playing video poker?
I don’t know what happened — and, apparently, neither do the cops — but it’s kind of odd that we keep being told things that aren’t true about the Las Vegas massacre, from the basic timeline to this weird insistence that Paddock made a good living at gambling.
The most likely explanation is that the reporters and investigators are incompetent nitwits. But the changing facts from law enforcement and preposterous lies from the press aren’t doing a lot to tamp down alternative theories of the crime.
AMONG THE QUESTIONS NOT BEING ASKED BY OUR WILDLY INCURIOUS MEDIA:
Why would Paddock unload 200 rounds into the hallway at a security guard who was checking on someone else’s room before beginning his massacre?
How can it possibly take eight days to figure out when the alleged shooter checked into the hotel?
Why was Paddock wearing gloves if he was about to commit suicide?
Have any other solitary mass shooters ever had girlfriends?
If Paddock wasn’t making money on video poker — and he wasn’t — why would he be cycling millions of dollars through a casino, turning every dollar into, at best, 99 cents?
Maybe Paddock enjoyed video poker. But if the allegedly serious media are going to keep telling us he was making a living doing it, they’re just begging us to say that losing a percent or two on millions of dollars doesn’t make sense as an investment strategy, but it does make sense as a money laundering operation.
And the probable illicit business requiring money to be laundered that leaps out at us in Paddock’s case is illegal gun sales. If true, it would not only explain the arsenal in his hotel room, but also raises the possibility of either an accomplice or different perpetrator altogether.
If this were a movie script, a terrorist would go to Paddock’s room on the pretense of buying guns, kill Paddock, commit the massacre, put his gunshot residue-covered gloves on Paddock’s dead hands and slip out of the room when the coast was clear.
According to the all-new timeline given by the Las Vegas police — pending a third revision — this is at least possible. The hallway was empty, except for a bleeding security guard down by the elevators, for at least two minutes after the shooting stopped. The stairwell was clear for more than half an hour. It also explains the gloves.
There’s no evidence for any of this, but on the other hand, there’s no evidence for the version the media are giving us. At least the movie script version doesn’t require us to pretend that Paddock was making “millions” from video poker. source
During an interview to a Russian media outlet, the North Korean Foreign Minister launched an additional threat towards the US stating that Pyongyang’s nuclear program will never be a topic for discussion. “We’re almost at a state of equal power with the US,” the minister said.
Trump and Kim Jong-un Photo Credit: Reuters/Channel 2 News
The North Korean Foreign Minister continues exchanging blows with the US launching yet another threat today (Wednesday) towards Washington. The minister provided an interview to a Russian media outlet criticizing and threatening the Trump administration.
“In his aggressive and crazy statement at the UN, Trump lit the war fuse against us,” the minister stated. “We need to compare the result with a hail of fire, not with words.”
During the interview, the North Korean Foreign Minister said that Pyongyang’s nuclear program promises peace and security within the region. “Our nuclear program will never be a topic for discussion, not as long as the US plans on crushing North Korea,” the minister added. “We’re almost at a state of equal power with the US.”
Amid the tensions surrounding the Iran nuclear deal and North Korea’s missile launches, US President Donald Trump said that he wanted a tenfold increase his country’s nuclear arsenal during a meeting with high-ranking national security officials last summer. According to three US officials present in the room, Trump’s remarks were made in response to a briefing he was shown detailing the decrease in nuclear weapons production within the US since the 1960s.
Kurds in Iraq rally for independence (Photo: SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
The U.S. is still poking the eyes of the Kurds in Iraq for their referendum on independence, with the State Department declaring that the Kurds’ vote is “illegitimate” and that America opposes an independent state for the Kurds.
“The vote and the results lack legitimacy and we continue to support a united, federal, democratic and prosperous Iraq,” said U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders defended the Trump Administration’s position using the absurd defense that a unified Iraq can “push back on Iran.”
Question: How has that worked since out since 2003?
The U.S. already took a position closer to that of Iran, Turkey, Qatar and various Islamists by expressing its staunch opposition to the Kurdish referendum, which was merely an expression of the desire for independence and not even a formal declaration of statehood.
Then, as the pro-American Kurds celebrated in the streets and enjoyed casting ballots in a region where many cannot, the U.S. State Department rubbed salt in the wound by expressing its “great disappointment” when it could have said nothing or moved on. Iran’s propaganda outlets were happy to broadcast the U.S.’ comments.
And now—even after the referendum has already happened with 93% of Iraqi Kurds voting in favor of independence—we’re telling three million Kurds who cast ballots that their emotional and historical actions are “illegitimate.”
This doesn’t make any sense. In fact, it’s stupid.
Israel, on the other hand, is openly supporting Kurdish statehood. Not just the referendum, but actual statehood.
The U.S., meanwhile, is incoherently endorsing eventual Palestinian statehood while actively opposing the very principle of Kurdish statehood.
This is the biggest difference of opinion between the U.S. and Israel since the Obama Administration’s nuclear deal with Iran and blaming of Israel for the Middle East peace process’ failure.
In fact, the Trump Administration is blaming the Kurds for undermining the war on ISIS just like the Obama Administration blamed Israel for undermining the war on terrorism.
As our Kurdish affairs analyst Zach Huff pointed out, the argument that the Kurdish referendum jeopardized progress against ISIS has no basis in the reality on the ground.
“The only territory still held by ISIS and bordering Iraqi Kurdistan is the Hawija pocket, which the [Kurdish] Peshmerga are set to liberate as early as this month. ISIS’s abilities to wage offensive operations was eradicated long ago. Perhaps ISIS is now just a convenient excuse,” he wrote.
As mentioned by Huff, what’s more damaging to the fight against ISIS is that “America’s $22 million in direct aid to the Iraqi Kurdish forces runs dry this month, while cash, arms and humanitarian aid still flows to Baghdad and the Iranian-backed Islamist proxies with which it operates in tandem. It is unknown when or if additional American aid for the Kurds will arrive.”
The other argument for the State Department’s position is that the U.S. needs Turkey, Iraq and Qatar because of our military presences there, such as the Incirlik air base in Turkey and the Al-Udeid air base in Qatar.
Those who take that position have it backwards. The existence of those bases should make them cater to us because we are protecting them, not the other way around.
The perceived dependency upon those bases only makes it more urgent for us to relocate our bases to an independent Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria and the United Arab Emirates, which is offering itself as an alternative to Qatar.
The leader of the Kurdistan National Assembly in Syria told the Clarion Project that the West “need[s] to promote the values that they preach and practice. When they do that, the only solution is the Kurds, who can stop the Shia Crescent and prevent the Neo-Ottoman Empire from forming.”
Siding with Kurdistan also makes economic sense. Its economy is growing and it is often referred to as the “next Dubai.” Analysts are upbeat about its prospects next year. Those who visit there, as I did earlier this year, can feel the sense of excitement and opportunity, that of a confident, modern population eager to wow the world with its success in a region where the news fuels perpetual pessimism.
Iraqi Kurdistan is described as “one of the most pro-American places on the planet.”
Their vision—one spoken with passion and out in the open—is to have an independent state so they can ally with the West, enjoy peace with Israel and stand against Islamism and the regimes in Iran, Turkey and Syria. The words “secular democracy” roll off the tongues of average, young Kurds unlike American peers where such vocabulary is only confined to the intellectuals in political science clubs.
Polling shows that 75% of Kurds believe Iraq would be better of it did more to separate religion and politics (only 22% disagreed). Only 11% of Kurds agree that the government should only have laws derived from Sharia.
An independent Kurdistan is the best prospect for a Muslim-majority country in the region that opposes Islamism and secular authoritarians who usually end up supporting Islamist terrorists and extremist propaganda anyway.
The Kurds have shown that they are happy to be a bold, combative yet responsible voice in the Islamist and anti-Western wilderness.
The Kurdish Regional Government even went so far as to tell Al-Azhar, “Do not lecture us on coexistence. We are the leaders in this field.”
“Why would it be halal for you, the Arabs, to have more than 20 countries and haram for us, the Kurds, whose population is more than 40 million to have a state? What would this do to your position?” the KRG said.
The best example of the Kurds’ boldness and modernism is the issue of peace with Israel, publicly rejecting the main jihadist narrative calling for its destruction and demonization.
Unlike Arab states who secretly cooperate with Israel while publicly bashing Jews and the “Zionist conspiracy against Islam,” the Kurds are openly friendly to Israel and proudof their historical ties with Jews.
You’ll hear this sentiment on the streets and from Kurdish officials. Last year, the Kurds boasted of holding Iraq’s first Holocaust Remembrance Day to combat the region’s pervasive Holocaust denial.
As Aki Peritz writes in the Huffington Post, President Barazani of Iraqi Kurdistan has publicly welcomed the opening of an Israeli consulate in his region and said, “Establishing relations with between the Kurds and Israel is not a crime.”
The second-most influential Kurdish leader, former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, infuriated Iraqi leaders by shaking the hand of the Israeli Defense Minister in 2008. He refused to apologize or resign as they demanded.
The Kurdish Foreign Minister relishes in how Kurdistan has been described as a “second Israel,” decrying how “this island of democracy [Israel] was seen as a germ.”
“We have no problems with Israel. They have not harmed us. We can’t be hating them because Arabs hate them,” Falah Mustafa Bakir said.
The peace between stateless Kurds and Israel is even stronger than that of the states of Egypt and Jordan. As explained by Seth Franzman, an expert in Israel who travels often to Iraqi Kurdistan, “There is warmth on the street level.”
If for no other reason, President Trump should endorse Kurdish independence because of the direction of the political winds.
Democrats like New York Senator Chuck Schumer and Alan Dershowitz agree with conservative Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) who has introduced a bill to endorse Kurdish statehood. Conservative Reps. Steve King (R-IA) and Ralph Lee Abraham (R-LA) have signed on as cosponsors. Libertarian Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) endorsed a Kurdish state back in 2015.
A time of choosing is coming for the United States. Israel has chosen the side of the Kurds. The Iranian Supreme Leader is saying that Iran, Turkey and Iraq must jointly act against the Kurds.
If the U.S. doesn’t want to endorse immediate independence for Iraqi Kurdistan, then it can at least make it an official objective of U.S. policy as it has with the Palestinians. And the State Department certainly doesn’t have to keep unnecessarily jabbing the Kurds over the referendum.
As Zach Huff wrote, “In Kurdistan—America’s staunchest regional ally alongside Israel—this deep respect for America and President Trump is beginning to fray. The Kurdish babies and businesses named after President Trump is a trend that likely ended” after the U.S. condemned the referendum.
The Trump Administration’s declination to embrace Kurdish aspirations for statehood is its biggest strategic blunder so far and, very possibly, of the rest of its time in office.
UNESCO Photo credit: Serge Attal/ Flash 90/ Channel 2 News
