Make a New Friend in Tehran or Havana

Posted on June 8, 2015June 8, 2015 by Denise Simon

There are no country borders, the world is transnational and a simple phone call will create a wider address book for new friends, just step inside.

What about stable internet connections or a translator? Is there a Taliban fighter, a Shiite militia fighter, a Soviet loyalist or a Castro brother on the other end?

The concept was created by Amar Bakshi, Special Assistant to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice. Mr. Bakshi, spoke from Washington, shared his insights on how Muslim youth can use the tools of new media, from the internet and Facebook to text messaging, to enhance dialogue among diverse populations around the world.

Golden shipping container transports Americans to parts unknown

Washington (AFP) – Step inside a gold-painted shipping container in downtown Washington, midway between the White House and the Capitol, and, for 20 minutes, you can make a new friend in Afghanistan, Cuba or Iran.

“What would make today a good day for you?” is the ice-breaking question that visitors to the Portals project are invited to use to strike up a transnational conversation via a sometimes shaky Internet video link.

Situated in the Ronald Reagan Building’s Woodrow Wilson Plaza off Pennsylvania Avenue, Portals encourages one-on-one contact between typical Americans and folks in Herat, Havana and Tehran.

“Now I have a friend in Cuba and he has a friend in the United States,” said Niloofar Jebelli, 23, as she emerged Friday from her virtual meet-up with a counterpart in Havana.

“This was amazing because I don’t know anyone from Cuba who is in Cuba now,” the graduate student and Portals volunteer from Maryland told AFP. “I’m so happy this is happening.”

Portals creator Amar Bakshi launched the project last year with an impressive $60,000 raised through a Kickstarter crowdfunding appeal.

His goal is to have gilded 20-foot shipping containers everywhere, harnessing real-time Internet video technology to help strangers in two distant places to become acquaintances.

“When you enter one, you feel as though you are in the same room as someone in another container,” said Bakshi, whose diverse CV includes stints in journalism, law school and the Obama administration.

“The goal is to place these all over the world and sort of build the community center of the 21st century,” he told AFP.

The Washington container debuted at George Washington University in April, with its counterpart set up at Hariwa University in Afghanistan’s third-largest city.

In lieu of containers, participants in Havana and Tehran currently step into video chat boxes in a hotel and an art gallery respectively.

Setting up in Havana was particularly challenging because of Cuba’s sore lack of video-capable bandwidth, said Michelle Moghtader, another member of the Portals team.

“It’s just hard to find reliable Internet” on the Communist-ruled Caribbean island that the United States is only now starting to re-establish diplomatic relations with, she told AFP.

And in security-obsessed Washington, Bakshi said the container had to be screened for explosives before it could open its doors in a courtyard surrounded by federal government offices and a farmers’ market.

Over the ether from Tehran, 24-year-old photographer Mahsa Biglow said Friday that Portals has made her see how the US media has shaped Americans’ frequently negative image of her country.

“I found that American people …. don’t know anything about Iran,” she told AFP after concluding a live-stream chat. “It opens their eyes, I guess.”

Portals remains open at its current Washington location until June 21. Would-be participants can reserve a time slot at www.sharedstudios.com, which also has instructions for building your own Portal.

“The Portal will continue in (Washington) D.C. after June 22,” states the website. “We’re just not sure where yet!”

Relying on the U.S. for an Iraq Strategy is Suicidal

Posted on June 8, 2015June 8, 2015 by Denise Simon

The US does not yet have a “complete strategy” for helping Iraq regain territory from Islamic State (IS), President Barack Obama has said.

He said the Pentagon was reviewing ways to help Iraq train and equip its forces.

Mr Obama also said a full commitment to the process was needed by the Iraqis themselves. Much more here.

Meanwhile, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are blaming the White House for the fall of Ramadi. ‘In May 2015, despite airstrikes by the U.S.-led international coalition, the Islamic State (ISIS) won another strategic victory when it captured the city of Al-Ramadi, the capital of Al-Anbar governorate, which is home to a Sunni majority. Articles in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are both members of the anti-ISIS coalition, expressed fear and concern regarding the fall of Al-Ramadi and ISIS’s advance towards the Saudi and Jordanian borders.‘

‘Al-Quds Al-Arabi’: The Fall Of Al-Ramadi Has Proven That Continuing To Rely On The U.S. Is Suicidal and Former ‘Al-Sharq Al-Awsat’ Editor: U.S. Has Given Iran Free Reign In Iraq

Iran is taking over Assad’s fight in crucial parts of Syria

Iranian commanders overseeing the Assad regime’s fighting efforts on the frontlines south of Idlib have reportedly executed three Syrian army officers.

London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi said that the three officers were Sunnis who were among the regime troops that withdrew from the Mahmbel and Bsanqoul checkpoints following rebel advances in the southern Idlib province area on Saturday.

The three officers, who were also accompanied by several soldiers, were accused deserting their duty and “betraying the homeland,” the daily reported Sunday.

According to the report, none of the other Syrian officers or soldiers present at the time were able to prevent the execution as “officers responsible for military operations in the Jourin area are under the command of Iranian officers.”

A Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander told the paper that “the regime has handed over the operations room to Iranian officers and leadership.”

“The recent execution has caused a state of fear and terror among remaining regime troops,” the FSA commander added, saying he expected “more defections and more field executions.”

syria map

There are still Sunni soldiers and officers bearing arms in the ranks of the regime’s army who will receive humiliating treatment during the coming period.”

Activists in the Latakia region also spoke to the paper about the impact the Iranian takeover of the operations room has had on morale among regime troops.

“Morale is very low among regime soldiers; in fact, it has become non-existent since the Iranian officers took over the operations room,” according to an activist identifying himself as Abu Said.

“Syrian officers, among them Alawites, have become secondary members, whose tasks can sometimes be reduced to handing out tea and coffee.”

Iran Navy commander REUTERS/Fars News/Hamed JafarnejadIranian officers have imposed strict rule in the Syrian army, and morale is suffering.

Iranian command

The reported handover of power to Iranian officers follows the visit Revolutionary Guards Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani paid to the Jourin area in late

May, after which he announced that a “surprise” was in the works in Syria.

The Iraqi Kurdish Bas News outlet on Monday reported that major command changes have been conducted on the Latakia-Hama-Idlib front following Soleimani’s trip.

A Hama-based media activist said that the Syrian regime’s chief of operations in the area, General Jamal Younis, had been removed from his post and replaced by an Iranian general known only by his moniker Iffari, who set up his headquarters in Jourin.

Sarmad Khalil, an activist and member of the Hama Media Center, said in press statements that the IRGC’s military operations command is located in Hama Airbase.

Rebel-IRGC lines stretch from military checkpoints in the town of Maharda, north of Hama, through the towns of Helfaya, Tel al-Nasiriyah and Rohbet Khattab to Taybet al-Imam and the international highway connecting the Hama and Aleppo provinces, according to the activist.

The IRGC has also established a military base on Zein al-Abideen Mountain north of Hama city, Khalil said.

A top pro-Assad daily in Lebanon said last week that Iran has deployed troops into northwest Syria in preparation for a counterattack in Idlib.

“During the last [few] days, and through a joint Syrian-Iranian-Iraqi decision, more than 20,000 Iranian, Iraqi, and Lebanese fighters have poured into the area,” As-Safir reported in a dramatic article published Tuesday.

ISIS Islamic State Iraq Syria control Reuters

The report said that the new troops had been sent to the regime’s front lines in the northern Hama province village of Jourin and areas in the southern part of the Idlib province, which rebels seized last week following months of sweeping advances.

AFP later reported that thousands of Iraqi and Iranian fighters have been deployed to Syria in a bid to secure the capital and recapture the Idlib province’s Jisr al-Shughur, which lies on a highway leading into the regime’s coastal stronghold of Latakia.

Egypt Turns to Russia Due to WH Snub

Posted on June 8, 2015June 8, 2015 by Denise Simon

The Obama administration has been digging up reasons to snub Egypt. Egypt has turned to Russia for military assistance and cooperation.

What is revealing is the document John Kerry signed on May 15, 2015 against supporting Egypt’s military power and the justification. The 6 page document is found here.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia and Egypt are holding their first ever joint naval exercise, Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday, strengthening the ties between two states which were once Cold War allies.

The eight-day drills off the Mediterranean Egyptian port of Alexandria, beginning today, will include supply and communication at sea, search operations, all forms of defence at sea and firing exercises.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry delivered words of encouragement Friday for Egypt’s efforts to attract greater foreign investment but no new military assistance as demanded by the country’s president.

Kerry’s hands are tied because the Obama administration is undecided about whether to affirm Egypt’s progress on democracy and human rights or issue a national security waiver. It must do one or other under the 2015 federal budget to unblock hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid for Egypt.

In the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, America’s top diplomat said investment was needed to restore confidence in Egypt and provide stability for the region.

“This part of the world is blessed with a stunning amount of commercial potential,” Kerry said at an American Chamber of Commerce event. He said the U.S., whose companies invested $2 billion in Egypt last year, stood ready to help.

Kerry attended an Egyptian economic conference later Friday and met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who has been clamoring for U.S. tanks, planes and other materiel held up since the military’s 2013 takeover of the government.

El-Sissi said earlier this week the logjam was creating the impression that the U.S. isn’t standing by the Egyptians as they battle the Islamic State and other extremists. The country’s need for weapons and equipment is “dire,” he told Fox News.

Kerry had hoped to announce on his three-day trip to Egypt the delivery of F16 fighter jets, according to U.S. officials, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly on internal deliberations and demanded anonymity.

But no path forward has emerged from multiple White House discussions in recent weeks over funds which were suspended 21 months ago when el-Sissi, then military chief, overthrew Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The U.S. has been providing hundreds of millions in counterterrorism assistance to its ally, which isn’t stalled as a result of the coup. Egypt says it needs the money to face growing threats from extremists creeping over the border from lawless Libya or operating in the Sinai Peninsula, and the U.S. sees the funds as critical for stability in the volatile Middle East.

But Washington cannot provide almost half of its $1.5 billion annual aid package — along with assistance held up from previous years — until it does one of two things. It must certify advances by el-Sissi’s government on democracy, human rights and rule of law, or tell Congress the assistance should go through because it is in America’s national security interest.

The administration has reservations about both options.

It doesn’t want to endorse a post-coup Egyptian crackdown on political opponents that started with hundreds killed in street clashes and thousands jailed. There have since been mass trials and death sentences.

The administration is likewise uncomfortable with a national security declaration that would recall the decades of American support for Egypt’s former autocrat Hosni Mubarak despite his government’s obvious shortcomings.

Officials said the focus of Kerry’s trip wasn’t on military matters but rather the investment conference. Top executives from General Electric, Microsoft and other U.S. companies attended.

Egypt’s economy was rocked after Arab Spring protesters chased Mubarak from power in 2011. El-Sissi has sought to make the county more conducive for investment and is reforming Egypt’s tax code, among other efforts to spur renewed economic vitality.

Kerry also met Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

From Egypt, he will travel to Switzerland Sunday for another round of nuclear talks with Iran. Negotiators hope to reach a framework deal by month’s end.

Welfare Funding Jihad Terror

Posted on June 8, 2015June 8, 2015 by Denise Simon

Countries that are too generous with welfare and social programs dole out millions of dollars to people that filed fraudulent applications all without so much as any investigation or concern by agencies. Does anyone care outside of the taxpayers themselves? Where is the outrage?

Thousands of Brits have traveled to Iraq and Syria to join ISIS. Money for travel and weapons for the jihadis comes from tax dollars. Australia, a country that has the most fighters in ISIS has the same issue and has worked to stop some welfare payments.

On the American home front, it is no different. Islamic Relief Worldwide, the same charity connected to the mayor of Baltimore, continues to fund terrorism, so why would they be able to keep their IRS tax-exempt status?

Yet when it comes to entitlement programs in the United States funding jihad, the cases number in the thousands. A sting operation in Alabama called Operation T-bone found 17 suspects using EBT cards to send money to Yemen, where the Houthis, an Iranian militia has taken control of the country. In Minnesota, two Somalia men used their college grant money to travel to the Middle East to join militant groups.

One of the more well known terrorists, the Tsarnaev brothers, otherwise known as the Boston bombers did the same thing.

‘The family of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the two brothers accused in the Boston Marathon bomb attacks, received food stamps and welfare when the brothers were growing up, according to a letter from the state Department of Transitional Assistance that was obtained by the Globe.

In the letter, sent Thursday to the chairman of the House Post Audit and Oversight Committee, the department outlined the benefits that the brothers had received through their parents, Anzor and Zubeidat, as well as benefits Tamerlan Tsarnaev later received as a member of his wife’s household.

Anzor and Zubeidat received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, commonly known as food stamps, from October 2002 to November 2004, when Dzhokhar would have been about 8 to 10 years old and Tamerlan 15 to 17. The family also received them from August 2009 to December 2011, according to the letter.

Anzor was also a Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children grantee from January 2003 to March 2003, and again from August 2009 to June 2010.’

In 2014, there was yet another case of EBT fraud and synthetic marijuana in Davie, Florida where citizens themselves were the whistleblowers as the investigations found the money was going overseas to fund terrorism.

In Baltimore, 9 separate retailers and $7 million in food-stamp network has done the same thing.

The indictments allege that the defendants exchanged EBT benefits for cash, in violation of the food stamp program rules. The indictments allege that the defendants typically paid half the value of the EBT benefits in cash. To avoid detection, the defendants often debited the funds from the card in multiple transactions over a period of hours or days. As a result of unlawful cash transactions, the defendants obtained more than $6,898,000 in EBT deposits for transactions in which the stores did not provide food.

According to the indictments, the defendants listed below owned and/or operated stores in Baltimore that were authorized to accept SNAP. The defendants received instruction regarding the requirements and regulations of the food stamp program, including that only eligible food items could be exchanged for EBT benefits and that a retailer may never exchange EBT benefits for cash or non-food items.

Abdullah Aljaradi, age 51, of Baltimore: Second Obama Express and D&M Deli and Grocery, 901 Harlem Avenue, Suite A and B, respectively. From October 2010 through July 2013, Aljaradi allegedly obtained more than $2 million in payments for food sales that never occurred.
Dae Cho, age 66, and Hyung Cho, age 40, both of Catonsville: K&S Food Market, 3910 W. Belvedere Avenue. From November 2010 through July 2013, Dae Cho and her son Hyung Cho allegedly obtained more than $1.4 million in in payments for food sales that never occurred.
Abdo Mohamed Nagi, age 54, of Baltimore: New York Deli and Grocery 1207 West Baltimore Street. From February 2011 through May 2013, Nagi allegedly obtained more than $1.2 million in payments for food sales that never occurred.

None of this is new, cases were common going back to 2004, yet with ten years hence, why have this continued? The FBI and government agencies have the tools to track the fraud, money laundering and terror support structures. Where is the outrage?

CFR and Robina Foundation Behind Globalization

Posted on June 7, 2015June 7, 2015 by Denise Simon

All foreign policy is coordinated between the U.S. State Department and the United Nations. We cannot know all the details and methods, yet below a summary of a major donor and power of influence is but one of many when it comes to the globalization of America and loss of sovereignty. All government agencies are subservient to the White House and the State Department.

“International Institutions and Global Governance Program

World Order in the 21st Century

A New Initiative of the Council on Foreign Relations

“The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has launched a comprehensive five-year program on international institutions and global governance. The purpose of this cross-cutting initiative is to explore the institutional requirements for world order in the twenty-first century. The undertaking recognizes that the architecture of global governance—largely reflecting the world as it existed in 1945—has not kept pace with fundamental changes in the international system, including but not limited to globalization. Existing multilateral arrangements thus provide an inadequate foundation for addressing today’s most pressing threats and opportunities and for advancing U.S. national and broader global interests. The program seeks to identify critical weaknesses in current frameworks for multilateral cooperation; propose specific reforms tailored to new global circumstances; and promote constructive U.S. leadership in building the capacities of existing organizations and in sponsoring new, more effective regional and global institutions and partnerships. This program is made possible by a generous grant from the Robina Foundation.”

The Board members of Robina are chilling. One such board member is SUSAN V. BERRESFORD, formerly of the Ford Foundation. Remember Stanley Ann Dunham, Obama’s mother worked at the Ford Foundation.

The mission of the Council of Foreign Relations in paid cooperation with the Robina Foundation, reads as such:

The International Institutions and Global Governance (IIGG) Program at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is supported by a generous grant from the Robina Foundation. It aims to identify the institutional requirements for effective multilateral cooperation in the twenty-first century. The program is motivated by recognition that the architecture of global governance-largely reflecting the world as it existed in 1945-has not kept pace with fundamental changes in the international system. These shifts include the spread of transnational challenges, the rise of new powers, and the mounting influence of nonstate actors. Existing multilateral arrangements thus provide an inadequate foundation for addressing many of today’s most pressing threats and opportunities and for advancing U.S. national and broader global interests.

Given these trends, U.S. policymakers and other interested actors require rigorous, independent analysis of current structures of multilateral cooperation, and of the promises and pitfalls of alternative institutional arrangements. The IIGG program meets these needs by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of existing multilateral institutions and proposing reforms tailored to new international circumstances.

Robina Foundation Awards CFR $10.3 Million Grant

to Expand Global Governance Program

January 20, 2012

The Robina Foundation has awarded the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) a five-year, $10.3 million grant to expand its activities on international cooperation. This award is one of the largest operating grants in CFR’s history and will support its International Institutions and Global Governance (IIGG) Program.

The IIGG Program was founded in 2008 with a generous grant from Robina with the recognition that existing multilateral arrangements are inadequate to address the transnational challenges facing the United States. The program and its scholars’ work focuses on the institutional requirements needed for effective cooperation in the twenty-first century. “The Robina Foundation’s generous commitment to IIGG will allow CFR to deepen and strengthen its work examining multilateral institutions, and what they can do to enhance the world’s ability to contend with the most pressing global issues,” says CFR President Richard N. Haass.

In its first three years, the IIGG Program has tracked and mapped the landscape of international organizations through its multimedia interactive, the Global Governance Monitor. IIGG has also produced over twenty reports on priorities for institutional reform, and provided policymakers with concrete recommendations for more effective management of the world’s most pressing problems.

From Hillary Clinton herself, she reveals that the Council of Foreign Relations not only provides the government policy but CFR also controls most often media relating to foreign policy.