The Soros Working Group Spreadsheet

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Soros working group spread sheet.

This is quite the research product and will demonstrate just how pervasive chaos and activism really is. Asra Nomani of the Wall Street Journal performed intensive investigations and her work was published by the WSJ with the title ‘George Soros’s March on Washington. Now the question becomes, does this information get some cultivation by the FBI, the IRS or the Justice Department to see what laws were broken or consequence should apply? No answer at this point.

But let’s check out just one of the Soros organizations shall we? Not only is money spread around in grant form but people are too….sheesh

Anti government, anti Trump activism is here to stay. It is political insurgency…maybe even terrorism. At least those like Senator Paul and Congresman Scalise are victims of physical harm. Hillary, what about that civility thing again?

How about Ultra Violet?

Kat Barr

Chief Operating Officer

Kat is the Chief Operating Officer at UltraViolet, overseeing the organization’s internal strategy and operations. Prior to UltraViolet, Kat worked as a Campaign Director at MoveOn.org, running efforts around health care reform, women’s rights, civil liberties, and LGBTQ equality. In addition, she helped launch MoveOn’s first text message organizing program and played a role in recruiting progressives interested in running for office. Before MoveOn, Kat was the Communications Director and then the Director of Political Outreach at Rock the Vote, where she helped increase young voter turnout to record levels in 2006 and 2008. After nine years in DC, Kat relocated to Colorado, where she lives with her husband and two dogs in a beautiful small town in the Rocky Mountains. Aside from work, most of her time is spent mountain biking, doing yoga, volunteering with a local dog rescue, and taking hundreds of photographs of the amazing local wilderness.

Emma Boorboor

Deputy Organizing Director

Emma Boorboor is the Deputy Organizing Director at UltraViolet. She works closely with the Chief Campaigns Officer to manage the day to day operations of UV’s campaigns team. Emma also leads UltraViolet’s campaigns related to ending violence against women.

Prior to joining the team, Emma ran national and state level campaigns for voting rights and campaign finance reform with U.S. PIRG. She has been hooked on organizing since her first job as a field organizer with Green Corps, the Field School for Environmental Organizing. She currently lives in Philadelphia where she enjoys lots of live music and biking around the city.

Lindsay Budzynski

Executive Administrator

Lindsay is the Executive Administrator at UltraViolet. She is a long-time clinic escort  and serves on the board of directors of Chicago Abortion Fund. Prior to joining the UV team she spent over eight years in fund administration. In her free time Lindsay can be found working in her art studio, hassling her cats, and poking around flea markets.

Nita Chaudhary

Co-Founder

Nita Chaudhary is a co-founder of UltraViolet. Before founding UltraViolet, Nita was the National Campaigns and Organizing Director at MoveOn.org Political Action. As a part of that role she oversaw and managed MoveOn’s national campaigns department, including the organization’s work on health care reform, the economy and Social Security, and she supervised MoveOn’s team of Campaign Directors. During her tenure at MoveOn, Nita oversaw the fundraising program for the 2008 election, and led some of the organization’s largest campaigns including MoveOn’s work to end the Iraq war, protect constitutional liberties, and address climate change. Prior to that she was the Democratic National Committee’s first Director of Online during the 2004 cycle. She started her career at People for the American Way where she held several positions, including Media Research Analyst, Web Editor, and Online Organizer. Nita’s a native New Yorker who loves the Yankees, the Knicks and cooking Indian food.

Anathea Chino

Advancement Director

Anathea Chino is the Advancement Director at UltraViolet and leads the development team for the organization. Anathea has more than 13 years of experience in politics and fundraising at the state and national level. In Washington, D.C., she served as an Investment Advisor at Democracy Alliance and prior to that, she was the Development Director at NARAL New Mexico and a Regional Field Director for the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Party of New Mexico. Anathea currently serves on the Board of Directors and Advisory Boards of Inclusv, Americans for Indian Opportunity, and PowerPac+. She is also a co-founder of Indigenous Women Rise and a senior advisor to a Women Donors Network-funded reflective democracy project called Advance Native Political Leaders. She was also a founding board member and President of Emerge New Mexico. Anathea is an enrolled tribal member of Acoma Pueblo, NM and divides her time between Texas and New Mexico.

Pam Bradshaw Fujii

Senior Grant Writer

Pam is the Senior Grant Writer at UltraViolet. Prior to joining the team at UV, she was the Grant Writer at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Pam has a decade of experience working in human rights and social justice, where she’s done everything from fundraising to video advocacy to media relations. Pam holds a MA in Media Studies from The New School and a BA in English Literature and Film Studies from Mount Holyoke College. If Pam could be anywhere, you’d find her by the ocean with her partner, their spirited toddler and teenage dachshund.

Natalie Green

Communications Manager and Spokesperson

Natalie Green is the Communications Manager and Spokesperson at UltraViolet. Prior to joining UltraViolet, Natalie was a campaigner at Change.org where she worked with petition starters to develop national campaigns around police accountability, human rights, and political prisoners. Natalie previously worked on digital rights and technology policy issues at Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute.

Natalie is a New Jersey native and currently lives in Washington DC.

Susan Hildebrand

National Field Director

Susan Hildebrand is the National Field Director at UltraViolet. Prior to joining the team they acted as a consultant to Thoughtwork Inc. where they worked with developers and organizers to build tech for campaigns. Susan cut their teeth in online to offline organizing as a National Field Organizer at MoveOn.org where they built teams of activists across the Midwest to take action on issues from the election to fair taxes to stopping the foreclosure crisis. They have a B.A. in Political Science from Grinnell College and are a graduate of Green Corps: The Field School for Environmental Organizing. Outside of work, Susan enjoys rock climbing and circus arts. They are based in Chicago.

Pilar Martinez

Director of Finance

Pilar Martinez is the Director of Finance at UltraViolet, managing daily accounting functions and staff.  Pilar has more than 23 years of progressive experience in finance and management, including 20 years in the non-profit sector.  She has been with Media Matters for America since 2008 and is the Chief Financial Officer.  Prior to Media Matters for America, Pilar worked as the Finance and Administrative Director at the Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP), served as the Controller at the National Park Foundation, and worked as the Revenue Accountant at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.  Her accounting educational background includes M.A. from George Washington University, B.A. from Strayer University, and A.A.S from Northern Virginia Community College.

Kathy Plate

Senior Online Communications Director

Kathy is the Senior Online Communications Director at Ultraviolet. Prior to joining the team, she was Digital Strategies Director at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. While at the Task Force, Kathy grew and strengthened the organization’s online presence around issues including marriage equality, workplace discrimination, and access to healthcare. Kathy helped revolutionize online participation with the organization’s largest annual event, the National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change by introducing livestreaming, developing a conference mobile app and facilitating more robust conversations on social media. Kathy previously managed online communications for Alliance for Justice, where she worked to engage progressives in the fight for a fair judiciary. She currently lives in Southern California where she loves to take advantage of the mountain biking, rock climbing, and hiking opportunities.

Ryan Rastegar

Associate Field Director

Ryan is the Associate Field Director at UltraViolet. He engages, trains, and mobilizes UltraViolet members to take offline action on our most pressing campaigns. Throughout his career, Ryan has worked on many different progressive issues – climate change, ecological restoration, eliminating nuclear weapons, LGBTQ rights, and more – always with a concentration on grassroots organizing and mobilization. He has dedicated his professional life to helping individuals to realize their political might and training them to take collective action in ways that shifts the balance of power from the very few to many. He also sits on the advisory board of UnKoch My Campus, a national campaign to end the Koch Brothers’ unethical corporate influence within academia, where he provides mentorship and strategic digital organizing guidance. He got his start as a field organizer in Green Corps in 2008 and has been organizing ever since.

Karin Roland

Chief Campaigns Officer

Karin Roland is the Chief Campaigns Officer at UltraViolet, a powerful and rapidly growing community of people who work to expand women’s rights. She oversees campaigns and programs on issues including economic security, preventing violence against women, and women’s reproductive rights and access to health care.

Previously, Karin spent a decade working in progressive politics and campaigns. She helped fight the Iraq war and advocate for the Affordable Care Act at MoveOn.org, campaigned for marriage equality in Maine, and used online tools to help Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) make her Congressional office transparent and responsive, among other endeavors. Throughout her career, she has focused on using digital media and tools to advance progressive causes.

Audine Tayag

Campaign Director

Audine is a Campaign Director at UltraViolet. Audine leads campaigns related to economic security and immigration.

Prior to joining the team, she worked for the Alliance for Citizenship in its 2013 and 2014 Comprehensive Immigration Reform campaign. As a Communications Organizer for the Alliance, she helped organizers build a year’s worth of online and offline actions and worked on high-profile campaign, “Fast for Families: A Call for Immigration Reform and Citizenship.” Audine currently lives in Los Angeles where she also spends her time organizing for Filipino migrant rights.

Shaunna Thomas

Co-Founder & Executive Director

Shaunna Thomas is co-founder and Executive Director of UltraViolet. Shaunna has had a fifteen year career in progressive organizing, building progressive infrastructure projects and winning critical policy fights at the national level. Shaunna has appeared numerous times on network and cable TV including NBC, MSNBC, CNN, and CNBC as a political commentator. Before founding UltraViolet, Shaunna was the Executive Director of the P Street Project, a 501c4 nonprofit dedicated to organizing progressive members of Congress and connecting federal legislative strategy with online grassroots mobilization efforts. Prior to that, Shaunna was the COO of Progressive Congress, a nonprofit supporting the policy and organizing work of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Shaunna was introduced to organizing and advocacy through the 2004 presidential election, which inspired the next five years of her work at Young People For, a Project of People For the American Way Foundation dedicated to identifying, engaging and empowering the next generation of progressive leaders. Shaunna–originally from Los Angeles–is a resident of Washington, D.C.

Melody Varjavand

Senior Accountant

Melody has over 13 years of progressive experience in finance and accounting, including over 6 years in the non-profit sector. She has worked as an auditor in public accounting, and has worked on the accounting teams of Planned Parenthood of Illinois and the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. She has successfully led initiatives to develop financial processes and improve financial reporting to end users. Melody is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and is a CPA. In her free time, she enjoys seeking out great restaurants, biking, crafting, and travel, with a goal of visiting all the national parks someday.

Holly Witherington

Director of Human Resources & Organizational Development

Holly oversees organizational operations at UltraViolet, with a primary focus on human resources, organizational culture, and staff training and development.

Prior to working at UltraViolet, Holly worked at MoveOn.org as a lead organizer on the field team. She managed staff and created programs that trained MoveOn members across the country as organizers and helped them build council structures to carry out various strategies in the field. Before MoveOn, Holly was an internal organizer with the Service Employees International Union in San Francisco, CA and Portland, OR. Holly began her organizing career in New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina, working with communities living on the fence line of oil refineries and chemical plants.

 

 

Items SecState Pompeo Manages in Dealing with N Korea

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All is not so copacetic with North Korea. The United States has many channels of intelligence regarding North Korea and dealing with Kim Jung Un with many of the moving parts requires diplomatic artistry.
Below are but two examples and the prediction of a second summit between the United States and North Korea being noted, the logistics is a chess game.
Pompeo Meets North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un | One-News
FireEye has released a report stating the tools and techniques used by the group, “We believe APT38’s financial motivation, unique toolset, and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) observed during their carefully executed operations are distinct enough to be tracked separately from other North Korean cyber activity. There are many overlapping characteristics with other operations, known as “Lazarus” and the actor we call TEMP.Hermit; however, we believe separating this group will provide defenders with a more focused understanding of the adversary and allow them to prioritize resources and enable defense.”
In their official blog, the company further explained the distinction of the group from any other hackers out there. Foremost, the malware tools used overlap or are similar indicating the similar developer behind the scenes.
The general pattern used by APT38 was observed to be this way –
  • First, the information is gathered by targeting third-party vendors to understand the mechanics of their transactions.
  • Then, initial compromise takes place followed by internal reconnaissance, pivot to victim servers used for swift transactions.
  • After this, finally, the funds are transferred or stolen.
  • This group does not stop just there but it removes all the evidence that might help the authorities trace them back or know the exact way or methodology of the fraud.
FireEye addressed the threat the group poses to its targeted sector by stating, “APT38 is unique in that it is not afraid to aggressively destroy evidence or victim networks as part of its operations. This attitude toward destruction is probably a result of the group trying to not only cover its tracks but also to provide cover for money laundering operations.” The full 32 page report is here.
Meanwhile:

The U.S. Treasury Department last week sanctioned a Turkish company, two Turkish individuals, and a North Korean individual for violating UN sanctions on Pyongyang. These sanctions came just before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s fourth trip to North Korea in preparation for an anticipated second Trump-Kim summit.

Treasury targeted the Turkey-based company SIA Falcon International Group; the company’s chief executive officer, Huseyin Sahin; the company’s general manager, Erhan Culha; and North Korea’s economic and commercial counselor in Mongolia, Ri Song Un. The sanctions were issued pursuant to Executive Order 13551, which restricts trade in arms and luxury goods with North Korea. UN Security Council Resolution 1718 from 2006 also prohibits member states from conducting such trade.

In a press release, Treasury noted that SIA Falcon operates in Latvia. In February 2018, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) named ABLV Bank of Latvia an institution of primary money laundering concern. FinCEN noted that ABLV “institutionalized money laundering as a pillar of the bank’s business practices” and conducted illicit financial transactions for North Korean procurement or export of ballistic missiles. Treasury did not confirm, however, that SIA Falcon’s Latvian branch office used ABLV’s bank services.

Treasury’s latest sanctions came the same day as The Rodong Sinmun, a North Korean state-run newspaper, published an article lambasting U.S. sanctions policy. Just days earlier, North Korea’s foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho, implored the UN Security Council to lift sanctions in response to Pyongyang’s moves to freeze missile and nuclear testing and to destroy the Punggye-ri test facility. However, until North Korea agrees to denuclearization and a full declaration of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, facilities, and capabilities, Washington has confirmed it will not ease sanctions pressure

After Secretary Pompeo’s latest trip to North Korea, Pyongyang’s media outlets suggested U.S.-North Korea relations are improving. Of course, these latest designations, as well as ongoing U.S. diplomatic efforts to ensure international compliance with UN sanctions, could stir further tensions. Despite these risks, the sanctions send a useful message to Pyongyang that the Trump administration will not back down until the Kim regime meets its core demands. Hat tip FDD.

Google Doc Notes Tech Media Censorship

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The Good Censor – GOOGLE LEAK by on Scribd

   The other cyber war…censorship.

Primer:

Google should refuse to develop a censored search engine for China, Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday while criticizing the Communist regime.

“Google should immediately end development of the ‘Dragonfly’ app that will strengthen Communist Party censorship and compromise the privacy of Chinese customers,” Pence said at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.

Pence’s recommendation came amid a broad criticism of China’s domestic repression and international aggression. But his turn towards Google attests to how U.S. leaders also see Beijing’s relationship with American institutions as a source of unwarranted strength for Chinese leaders, even as President Trump takes a more confrontational posture towards the rising Asian power. More here.

 

Summary background on the 85 page document authored by Google and published by Breitbart:

Leaked Google documents suggest the tech giant wants increased censorship of the internet and believes other internet firms should police debate online.

The 85-page paper, leaked by a Google employee, claims that cyber harassment, racism and people venting their frustrations are ‘eroding’ free speech online.

It says that the ability to post anonymously has ’empowered’ online commenters to express their views ‘recklessly’ and ‘with abandon’.

Censoring the internet could make comment sections safer and more civil for everyone, the report concludes.

The report reads: ‘When they’re angry, people vent their frustrations.

‘But whereas people used to tell friends and family about bad experiences, the internet now provides a limitless audience for our gripes.’

Anonymity of users is also earmarked as a potential danger online, claiming that people were more likely to share abhorrent or radical views due to the lack of accountability.

Racism, hate speech, trolling and harassment are also mentioned in the extensive report, which was leaked to Breitbart.

It adds: ‘Although people have long been racist, sexist and hateful in many other ways, they weren’t empowered by the internet to recklessly express their views with abandon.’

Groups which were once minority have been emboldened to discuss their radical views online as the internet provides them with a safe space to communicate, the report suggests.

In response to the leak, Google insisted the document was not company policy, though it admitted the research was something being considered by top bosses.

Internet rights advocates said that censoring online debate risks hampering free speech and creating an environment in which the views of some groups are not tolerated by big technology firms.

Of harassment, Google says: ‘From petty name-calling to more threatening behaviour, harassment is an unwelcome component of life online for all too many users.’

It goes on to suggest that Google should monitor the tone of what is said as opposed to the content, and that the firm should not adopt a political standpoint in arguments.

‘Shifting with the times’, depending on the mood around censorship, is also not ruled out.

***

Google intends to launch a controversial censored version of its Search app for China by July 2019.

‘Dragonfly’ is a rumoured effort inside Google to develop a search engine for China that would censor certain terms and news outlets, among other things.

Outside of high-profile leaks, few details have emerged on what the search engine entails as Google has kept tight-lipped on the project.

A former Google employee warned in August of the web giant’s ‘disturbing’ plans in a letter to the US’s senate’s commerce committee.

Jack Poulson said the proposed Dragonfly website was ‘tailored to the censorship and surveillance demands of the Chinese government’.

In his letter he also claimed that discussion of the plans among Google employees had been ‘increasingly stifled’.

Mr Poulson was a senior research scientist at Google until he resigned last month in protest at the Dragonfly proposals. Read more here from DailyMail.

United States Withdraws from the Treaty of Amity/Iran

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In part:

The International Court of Justice at the United Nations has issued an “order” Tuesday demanding that the United States lift sanctions against Iran re-imposed after the Trump administration decided to pull out of a nuclear proliferation treaty inked with Iran during the Obama years.

Iran apparently requested that the ICJ force the United States to rescind measures banning the sale and transport of certain “humanitarian goods” to the region, including medical supplies, emergency food, and mechanical and airplane parts.

The Hauge, agreeing with the Iranians, issued the “blow” to the Trump White House Tuesday.

“The court finds unanimously that … the United States of America … shall remove by means of its choosing any impediments arising from the measures announced on 8 May to the free exportation to Iran of medicines and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities” chief judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said, according to the Times of India.

Yusuf added that if the United States does not lift the ban on airplane parts, there is a “potential to endanger civil aviation safety in Iran and the lives of its users.”

Why else would Iran need mechanical items?

The ICJ based its ruling on a 1955 agreement between Iran and the United States to provide certain necessary items as part of an international aid deal. Neither country recognizes the Eisenhower-era treaty; the two countries dropped diplomatic ties in the Carter administration, when Iran took a number of American diplomats hostage.

None AP

*** The United States response to this order?

WASHINGTON (AP) — In response to a U.N. court order that the U.S. lift sanctions on Iran, the Trump administration said Wednesday it was terminating a decades-old treaty affirming friendly relations between the two countries. The largely symbolic gesture highlights deteriorating relations between Washington and Tehran.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the 1955 Treaty of Amity was long overdue and followed Iran “groundlessly” bringing a complaint with the International Court of Justice challenging U.S. sanctions on the basis that they were a violation of the pact.

Meanwhile, national security adviser John Bolton said the administration also was pulling out of an amendment to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that Iran or others, notably the Palestinians, could use to sue the U.S. at The Hague-based tribunal. Bolton told reporters at the White House that the provision violates U.S. sovereignty.

“The United States will not sit idly by as baseless politicized claims are brought against us,” Bolton said. He cited a case brought to the court by the “so-called state of Palestine” challenging the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the main reason for withdrawing.

Bolton, who last month unleashed a torrent of criticism against the International Criminal Court, noted that previous Republican administrations had pulled out of various international agreements and bodies over “politicized cases.” He said the administration would review all accords that might subject the U.S. to prosecution by international courts or panels.

Earlier, Pompeo denounced the Iranian case before the U.N. court as “meritless” and said the Treaty of Amity was meaningless and absurd.

“The Iranians have been ignoring it for an awfully long time, we ought to have pulled out of it decades ago,” he told reporters at the State Department.

The little-known treaty with Iran was among numerous such ones signed in the wake of World War II as the Truman and Eisenhower administrations tried to assemble a coalition of nations to counter the Soviet Union. Like many of the treaties, this one was aimed at encouraging closer economic relations and regulating diplomatic and consular ties.

Its first article reads: “There shall be firm and enduring peace and sincere friendship between the United States of America and Iran.”

The treaty survived the 1979 overthrow of the Shah in Iran’s Islamic revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis that crippled American-Iranian relations for decades.

But amid a broader push to assert U.S. sovereignty in the international arena and after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal this year, the administration determined that the court case made the treaty irrelevant.

Pompeo said the ruling was a “useful point for us to demonstrate the absolute absurdity” of the treaty.

The court case is legally binding, but Pompeo said the administration would proceed with sanctions enforcement with existing exceptions for humanitarian and flight safety transactions.

“The United States has been actively engaged on these issues without regard to any proceeding before the ICJ,” he said.

At the same time, he criticized the ruling.

“We’re disappointed that the court failed to recognize that it has no jurisdiction to issue any order relating to these sanctions measures with the United States.”

The ruling said Washington must “remove, by means of its choosing, any impediments arising from” the re-imposition of sanctions to the export to Iran of medicine and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities and spare parts and equipment necessary to ensure the safety of civil aviation.

It said the exceptions mentioned by Pompeo “are not adequate to address fully the humanitarian and safety concerns” raised by Iran.

The first set of sanctions that had been eased under the terms of the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration was reimposed in August. A second, more sweeping set of sanctions, is set to be reimposed in early November.

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, praised the court ruling, saying on Twitter that it was “another failure for sanctions-addicted” U.S. and a “victory for rule of law.” He said it was imperative for other countries ’to collectively counter malign US unilateralism” and he accused the U.S. of being an “outlaw regime.”

The court said the case will continue and the U.S. can still challenge its jurisdiction but no date has been set for further hearings.

Syrian FM Calls for Volunteer Return of Refugees

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Syria’s Foreign Minister, Walid al-Moualem, told the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday that the country was ready for the voluntary return of refugees who fled during the conflict.

“We welcome any assistance with reconstruction from those countries that were not part of the aggression on Syria,” said al-Moualem, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister.

“The countries that offer only conditional assistance or continue to support terrorism, they are neither invited nor welcome to help.”

He said the conditions were fine for them to return, and he blamed “some western countries” for “spreading irrational fears” that prompted refugees to stay away.

“We have called upon the international community and humanitarian organizations to facilitate these returns,” he said. “They are politicizing what should be a purely humanitarian issue.”

The United States and the European Union have warned that there will be no reconstruction aid for Syria until there is a political agreement between Assad and the opposition to end the war.

UN diplomats say a recent agreement between Russia and Turkey to set up a buffer zone in the last major rebel stronghold of Idlib has created an opportunity to press ahead with political talks.

The Russian-Turkish deal averted a large-scale assault by Russian-backed Syrian forces on the province, where three million people live.

Moualem however stressed that the agreement had “clear deadlines” and expressed hope that military action will target jihadists including fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, who “will be eradicated.”

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura is hoping to soon convene the first meetings of a new committee comprised of government and opposition members to draft a post-war constitution for Syria and pave the way to elections.

Moualem laid out conditions for the Syrian government’s participation in the committee, saying the panel’s work should be restricted “to reviewing the articles of the current constitution,” and warned against interference.

Syria calls on US, French, Turkish forces to withdraw immediately

Syria’s foreign minister also denounced US, French and Turkish forces operating in his country as “occupying forces” and demanded that they leave immediately.

Moualem said the foreign forces were on Syrian soil illegally, under the pretext of fighting terrorism, and “will be dealt with accordingly.”

“They must withdraw immediately and without any conditions,” he told the assembly.

Meanwhile, as we don’t know the real number of Syrian refugees in the United States, it is estimated to be in the 20-30,000 range. But then there is the matter of Iran…. the fear of return remains. What is there to go to after 7 years of civil war?

Resettled refugee: 'I want to go back to Syria' - CNN Video

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired six ballistic missiles into eastern Syria on Monday. The strike — whose efficacy is debatable — was in response to a Sept. 22 terrorist attack on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran. Both the Islamic State, or ISIS, and a local Arab resistance group took responsibility for the attack.

Why it matters: The missile strike — allegedly coupled with bombardments from unmanned aerial vehicles — targeted the town of Hajin, near the Iraqi border. Likely because of the proximity of the strike to U.S. and coalition forces in the region fighting ISIS, a U.S. military official reportedly called the strikes, “reckless, unsafe and escalatory.” According to the spokesperson for the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, Iran also did not issue advance warning.

The background: This is the second time Iran has fired ballistic missiles at ISIS positions in Syria. In June 2017, Iran fired six short-range ballistic missiles — the same types, in fact — in response to terror attacks in Tehran. In the past year and a half, Iran has used ballistic missiles on at least three occasions to project force abroad, with Iranian Kurdish dissidents in Iraq serving as the target last month. Prior to this recent uptick, the last time Iran fired ballistic missiles outside of its territory was in 2001.

Counting all reported flight tests and military operations, Iran has launched as many as 39 ballistic missiles since agreeing to the nuclear deal in July 2015.

What’s next: A high-ranking Iranian military official claimed the missile strikes were only the “first phase” of Tehran’s broader response to the attacks. Despite pointing a finger at the U.S. and its regional partners, Iran has thus far chosen to target only ISIS.

The bottom line: In addition to displaying Iran’s missile capabilities and confidence in its missile force, these strikes indicate that Iran’s threshold for the use of ballistic missiles in military operations against foreign targets is decreasing. This means ballistic missiles will likely play a greater role in Iran’s engagements in the Middle East, making it harder to contain and deter Tehran in the region. Hat tip.