Military Dominance Under Obama, Lost

Posted on May 25, 2015May 25, 2015 by Denise Simon

Just about every country across the globe relies on the United States military for defense, support and technology. Yet under the current sequestration which was concocted by the Obama White House, the United States and NATO’s competitive edge is no longer a possibility or probability as compared to Russia and China.

The Air Force’s continued budgetary constraints are limiting its ability to maintain dominance over competitors such as China and Russia, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall said Sept. 17.“Today, the predominance that our military has enjoyed for decades confronts powerful enemies,” Kendall said at the Air Force Association’s annual conference at National Harbor, Maryland. Kendall was pinch-hitting for Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, who could not make it to the keynote address. Rather than deliver his own speech, Kendall read from Hagel’s prepared remarks.

The Air Force is tasked with being the greatest air power in the world, he said, but is being asked to maintain its edge with fewer resources. And the reason it has fewer resources is the current budget environment, he said.

The Obama White House predicted that the conflict with Islamic State, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Iraq and Syria will bleed into the next administration, but at what cost and why?

At issue in Washington today is the The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which has passed the Senate. The dispute is this legislation required security clearance to gain access to the language and most have not read the framework while the entire bill is not fully written much less accessible. Another why? Well maybe it has something to do with China. One must ask could Barack Obama be setting the table for a future conflict with China and or Russia all while sequestration is destroying our military dominance and readiness?

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is now being touted as the answer to U.S. security concerns with the People’s Republic of China. This is just the latest argument from TPP proponents to advance fast track trade negotiating authority in Congress and to ease passage for the TPP under expedited and preferential procedures. Unfortunately, this argument just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Over the last several years China has assumed an increasingly aggressive role in Asia. Its posture challenges the interests of many of its neighbors; Japan, for example, has scrambled jets repeatedly as China has tested the perimeters of its defense and confronted fishing and other vessels. China has challenged the maritime interests of other nations in the South and East China Seas. China has laid claim to small land masses as a way of expanding its territorial interests and is shoring up small reefs with airstrips and outposts to counter the interests of others in the region. China has tried to establish offshore oil rigs in waters claimed by Vietnam and is directly countering the interests of other nations in the region.

The following is a May 21, 2015 letter from Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and ranking member Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter asking the Pentagon not to invite the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy to the international Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises in 2016 due primarily to China’s extensive reclamation efforts in contested areas in the South China Sea. Letter is found here.

There is no doubt that not only is there no defined campaign strategy to deal with ISIS in Syria and Iraq, but looking ahead there is no strategy to deal with China and Russia.

Iran says ‘Obama has not done a DAMN THING to confront ISIS’, even accusing Obama of being ‘an accomplice in the plot’

“Obama has not done a damn thing so far to confront ISIS; doesn’t that show that there is no will in America to confront it?”

This is what Qassem Suleimani said about U.S. President Obama, who has become the laughing-stock throughout the Muslim world, even accusing Obama as “being an accomplice in the plot”.

Suleimani is no small fry. He could only advance to his stature as result of Obama’s exit strategy in Iraq to become the head of Iran’s Quds Force as well as Iran’s appointee, to manage Iran’s external affairs (specifically in Iraq), which made him the most powerful operative in the Middle East. The U.S. has no say so in Iraq and Suleimani is flexing his muscle to tell the world that Iran is now roosting in Iraq.

In Iran, the daily newspaper Javan, which is seen as close to the Revolutionary Guard, quoted Soleimani as saying the U.S. didn’t do a “damn thing” to stop the extremists’ advance on Ramadi.

ISIS Adheres to Sun Tzu

Posted on May 22, 2015May 22, 2015 by Denise Simon

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

This week, very few documents taken from Abbottabad, Pakistan during the bin Ladin raid have been released. Yet of those published, it was clear that Usama bin Ladin studied his enemy and carefully planned all terror operations.

Islamic State, ISIS is doing the very same thing and what is more they published what they know, telling the enemy in advance of their knowledge and predicted targets.

In both cases, these terror groups know their enemy after careful and continued study. The United States under Barack Obama continues to fall short of being a student in the Art of War and refuses to both offer a strategy or refine it in cases of al Qaeda and Islamic State.

SPECIAL – ISIS Praises Texas Jihadists in New Issue of Dabiq, the Jihadi Group’s Official Magazine

Not surprisingly, the ninth issue of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) digital English-language magazine, Dabiq, heaped praise on Nadir Soofi and Elton Simpson – the two radicalized Muslims and Phoenix, Arizona roommates killed in a May 3 firefight in Garland, Texas for their attempt to storm into the Curtis Culwell Civic Center in Garland, Texas with long guns to kill as many attendees of the Stop Islamization of America and the American Freedom Defense Initiative where a contest for the best cartoon of Prophet Muhammad was being held.

Homeland Security Today reported early on that evidence quickly was unearthed tying the two shooters – especially Simpson — to radical Islamist social media – including a suspected ISIS member in Syria.

On March 29, American ISIS operative with the alias Abu Khalid Al Amriki claimed on Twitter he was in contact with ISIS supporters in the US and that one of them was prepared to carry out an operation.

Only minutes before and after their attempted attack was thwarted — when law enforcement shot both men dead — Abu Hussain Al Britani appears to have had foreknowledge of the attack. He tweeted from his “AbuHussainAlBritani” Twitter account just before the attack that, “The knives have been sharpened; soon we will come to your streets with death and slaughter! #QaribanQariba [soon, soon].”

Almost immediately after the shooting, the two were praised by ISIS and other jihadists via social media for their martyrdom in defending the sanctity of Prophet Muhammad.

In a news bulletin by the Islamic State’s official radio station, Al Byyan, which broadcasts out of Mosul, the Islamist jihad organization claimed responsibility or the attack by Simpson and Soofi.

Since the attack in which both men were killed, federal investigators have found there was substantive advance notice of what the two avowed jihadists intended to do on various social media postings.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which monitors jihadi social media sites, pointed out that, “Abu Khalid Al Amriki, upon learning of the attack on Twitter, praised the attempt and threatened more to come. He tweeted, ‘This one should hit the front page! Dawlah [ISIS] is in America! Allahu Akbar … How much do you love the Prophet? I’m sure the brothers earned their spot next to the messenger of Allah … The drawn Sword on the one that Insults the messenger of Allah. Let this be a wakeup call for all cartoonists. We are coming for you.’”

MEMRI said, “Online ISIS supporters immediately reacted to the Texas attack by praising the perpetrators and elevating them to the rank of martyrs in the cause of jihad. For example, ISIS supporter ‘Australi Witness,’ who recently called for targeting Australian cartoonists, tweeted: ‘May Allah reward the Garland Mujahedeen with a seat right next to the Prophet in Jannah [heaven].’”

“Two of the Caliphate’s soldiers attacked an exhibition in the American [town of] Garland, Texas” which “staged a competition of cartoons that were insulting to the Prophet Muhammad,” the broadcast stated. “The brothers opened fire on the exhibition, and as a result one of the police officers in charge of protecting the exhibition was injured. The brothers were killed in the exchange of fire. We pray Allah to accept them in the highest paradise.”

In concluding, the ISIS broadcast said, “We say to the protector of the Cross, America, that what is coming will be more bitter and calamitous. The soldiers of the Islamic State will show you what will harm you, Allah willing. Tomorrow draws near.”

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Today reported, ISIS, jihadist groups may have inspired “hundreds, maybe thousands” in the US, and that directed attacks in the US are believed planned by ISIS followers.

According to MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM), the foreword of the current issue of Dabiq “glorifies the attack by Soofi and Simpson, noting, ‘Their determination to support the cause of Allah and punish those who insult the Prophet (sallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) should serve as inspiration to those residing in the lands of the crusaders who are still hesitant to perform their duty.’”

The writer of the foreward goes on to state that, “Those men who have read the countless ayat and ahadith on the virtues of jihad and have made sincere dua [prayer] to Allah asking Him for shahadah [martyrdom] but have yet to act, should consider that Allah will not grant them their dua until they take a step towards this noble duty.”

The foreward further noted that it is also possible to achieve martyrdom even without emigrating to Islamic lands. It said, “Many of those who attained shahādah fighting the crusaders in their own lands had first taken steps to make hijrah to the lands of jihād. These preparatory steps were enough to demonstrate their sincerity, so they were granted shahādah without facing the difficulties of hijrah” [emigrating to Islamic lands].”

Continuing, the article stated that, “As the crusaders continue to reveal their intense hatred and animosity towards Islam through their relentless bombing and drone campaigns on the Islamic State, a new breed of crusader continues shedding light on the extent of their hatred towards the religion of truth. This breed of crusader aims to do nothing more than to anger the Muslims by mocking and ridiculing the best of creation, the Prophet Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdillāh (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam), under the pretext of defending the idol of ‘freedom of speech.’”

“Yet, such brazen attacks on the honor of the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam), rather than deterring or disheartening the Muslims, serve as further incitement, spurring them into confronting the forces of kufr with whatever means they have available. Such was the case with Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, two brave men who took it upon themselves to remind the enemies of Allah and His Messenger (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam)

that as long as they choose to wage war on Islam, they would have no peace and security, would not be able to walk their own streets without looking over their shoulders, and would not be able to make public appearances without being surrounding by a legion of bodyguards and security personnel,” stated the forward to the latest issue of ISIS’s magazine.

“The two lions of the Khilāfah arrived at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas three weeks ago during a convention that featured a competition to draw the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) in an attempt to mock and ridicule him,” the article stated, noting that, “The two mujāhidīn came armed and ready to wage war, ignited a gun battle with the policemen guarding the center, and attained a noble shahādah in pursuit of vengeance for the honor of our beloved Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam).”

“Their determination to support the cause of Allah and punish those who insult the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) should serve as inspiration to those residing in the lands of the crusaders who are still hesitant to perform their duty,” the article. Those men who have read the countless āyāt and ahādīth on the virtues of jihād and have made sincere du’ā’ to Allah asking Him for shahādah but have yet to act, should consider that Allah will not grant them their du’ā’ until they take a step towards this noble duty,” the article continued, adding, “{And if they had intended to go forth, they would have prepared for it [some] preparation. But Allah disliked their being sent, so He kept them back, and they were told, ‘Remain [behind] with those who remain’} [At-Tawbah: 46].”

Dabiq’s glorification of the Texas attack further stated that, “Many of those who attained shahādah fighting the crusaders in their own lands had first taken steps to make hijrah to the lands of jihād. These preparatory steps were enough to demonstrate their sincerity, so they were granted shahādah without facing the difficulties of hijrah.”

“As for those who continue to suffer from the disease of being indifferent towards the obligations of hijrah, jihād and bay’ah,” the article continued, “so much so that they see nothing wrong with residing amongst, and paying taxes to, the very crusaders who belittle the Sharī’ah on their news and entertainment programs, who arm the secularists and Rawāfid in Muslim lands, who imprison and torture Muslim men and women, and on top of all who burn the Qur’an and mock the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam), then let them prepare their flimsy excuses for the angels of death {Indeed, those whom the angels take [in death] while wronging themselves – [the angels] will say, ‘In what [condition] were you?’ They will say, ‘We were oppressed in the land.’ The angels will say, ‘Was not the earth of Allah spacious [enough] for you to emigrate therein?’ For those, their refuge is Hell – and evil it is as a destination} [AnNisā’: 97].”

“The hypocrites will sit back, the true men will step forward, and the kuffār will have no peace and no security … May Allah accept our two brothers amongst the leaders of the shuhadā’ in Jannah.”

ISIS Bombs Mosque in Saudi, 20 Killed

Posted on May 22, 2015May 22, 2015 by Denise Simon

20 people killed after suicide bomber strikes Shia mosque

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, US-based monitoring group SITE tweeted. The militant group identified the suicide bomber as Abu ’Ammar al-Najdi, SITE said. The claim could not be independently verified. The bombing in al-Qadeeh in Qatif province was the first to target Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia since November, when gunmen killed at least eight people in an attack during a Shia religious anniversary celebration, also in the east. Activist Naseema al-Sada told the Associated Press the suicide bomber attacked worshippers as they were commemorating the birth of Imam Husayn ibn Ali, a revered figure among Shias. Lebanon’s Al-Manar television channel, run by the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah, carried still, blurry pictures of pools of blood inside what appeared to be the mosque where the attack took place. It also showed still images of bodies stretched out on red carpets, covered with sheets.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia on Friday. Local media reports said the bombing had killed at least 21 people during midday prayers.

It appeared to be the first official claim of an attack inside the kingdom by the Islamic State, which has seized control of much of Syria and Iraq.

The group attributed the attack to a new unit, the Najd Province, named for the central region of Saudi Arabia around Riyadh. But it was unclear whether the attack was planned by Islamic State leaders, initiated independently by a Saudi sympathizer, or merely claimed opportunistically after the fact.

The attack was a sign that Saudi Arabia’s intervention in the sectarian conflict in Yemen may be escalating tensions at home.

Members of the Shiite minority in Saudi Arabia, who make up about 15 percent of the population and live mainly in the Eastern Province, have long complained of insults and discrimination by Saudi Arabia’s Sunni majority and its clerical establishment.

During Saudi Arabia’s two-month air campaign against the Houthi movement in Yemen, which practices a form of Shiite Islam and receives backing from Saudi Arabia’s regional rival, Iran, imams at Sunni mosques and commentators in Saudi news media have frequently rallied the public around the war, in part by repeatedly denouncing Shiites as dangerous infidels.

The Saudi Arabian news media has portrayed the Houthis as proxies of Shiite-led Iran and characterized the Yemen campaign as a vital defense against an Iranian incursion.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia’s participation in the American-led military campaign in Iraq and Syria against the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State has raised fears of a backlash from its sympathizers at home. Thousands of Saudis have traveled to join the Islamic State, which follows a puritanical school of Islam that scholars say is similar to that of Saudi Arabia.

Leaders of the Islamic State have called with increasing vehemence for their supporters to carry out attacks in the kingdom, accusing its rulers of hypocrisy. Saudi Arabia’s rulers and clerics deny any similarity between their understanding of Islam and that of the Islamic State.

Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, a spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry, said in an interview Friday night that investigators were examining DNA samples and other evidence to establish the identity of the bomber.

General Turki said the kingdom was already on guard for attempts by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, to establish itself in Saudi Arabia. He noted that Saudi officials had blamed the Islamic State for an attack on Shiites in the same area last fall, although the group did not claim responsibility.

Saudi Arabia also announced last month that it had arrested 65 people accused of “forming a terrorist organization related to ISIS, and their goal was to carry out terrorist attacks and enflame sectarian conflict,” the general said. He insisted that such attempts would fail “because Saudi citizens are unified.”

A group of Islamic State supporters released a video late last year that they said showed the group’s fighters killing a Danish man, Thomas Hoepner, who was shot while driving in Riyadh. The claim did not appear to come from the Islamic State’s leaders, and could not be confirmed.

Saudi Interior Ministry officials said in interviews this week that they had seen an increase in violence by Sunni extremists, including three separate attacks near the capital, Riyadh, that killed a total of three police officers and injured two others.

But sectarian conflict and violence have been a longstanding issue in the Eastern Province, which contains much of the country’s oil but lags far behind other regions in economic development. The last major outburst came six months ago, when gunmen killed eight people in the Shiite village of Dalwa, in the Al Ahsa region of the Eastern Province, at the end of the Shiite holiday of Ashura. That was the sectarian attack that Saudi officials attributed to the Islamic State.

The bombing on Friday took place in the town of Al Qudaih, near Qatif, the regional center. The area has been the site of sectarian tensions and of calls for democratic reform in the aftermath of the Arab Spring revolts four years ago, including sporadic, Shiite-dominated street protests.

Saudi Arabia, in response, has jailed at least two prominent Shiite clerics who have called for political overhauls such as adopting a constitutional monarchy. Last year, one firebrand cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was sentenced to death for his role in leading street protests in Qatif, and his sentence set off new protests around the region.

In what appeared to be an attempt to tamp down tensions after the attack on Friday, state television broadcast a telephone call from Saudi Arabia’s senior religious authority, the grand mufti, Abdulaziz al-Asheikh, who called the attack a “painful” and “criminal” act against the “sons of the homeland.”

But on social media, some Saudis rushed to blame Iran for the bombing, asserting that it might have been carried out to provoke Shiites in Saudi Arabia to turn against the kingdom.

“Iran won’t hesitate in scarifying Shia, to create a war between Sunni and Shia,” Luftallah Khoja, a prominent Saudi religious scholar, said in a Twitter message. He blamed Iran for creating the Islamic State, as well.

A number of Saudis said they were refusing to donate blood for Shiites who were injured in the bombing. “I wish to donate, but I am afraid I would donate and a Shia would take it, and he does not deserve even my spit,” one Saudi posted online. “You donate to infidels?” another wrote.

Jafar al-Shayeb, head of the Qatif Municipal Council and a Shiite community leader, blamed the “sectarian discourse” that has spread through Saudi Arabia since the start of the air campaign in Yemen. “People feel like this is a direct result of the atmosphere that is turning everybody against each other through speeches and media and social media,” he said. “It will lead young people to sacrifice themselves and kill others in this region, and people are very angry about it.”

Frederic Wehrey, an analyst who follows Saudi Arabia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, argued that the tension might persist even after the Yemen campaign. “Sectarianism, once you have unleashed it, you can’t bottle back it up,” he said. “It afflicts people every day.”

Lessons Taught on College Campuses

Posted on May 21, 2015May 21, 2015 by Denise Simon

The anti-Semites across the United States and hundreds in our own federal government refuse to recognize Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel. That leaves Israel as the only country in the world without a capitol. Even the U.S. State Department historically has never had an embassy in Jerusalem, but rather in Tel Aviv. In fact, Jerusalem is the most disputed city across the globe. Yet real history versus revisionist history proves there should be no dispute.

Yet, in American there is an educational system being challenged in all 50 states called CommonCore and with good reason. So, what do you know about the lessons your child is being taught?

Here is a hint, Hamas is a terror organization.

PROF’S ‘WHOSE JERUSALEM?’ COMMON CORE LESSON TEACHES STUDENTS TO SUPPORT HAMAS

A “Whose Jerusalem?” workshop created by a Boston University professor that’s been taught in many high schools in recent years and was added to the Common Core-approved national curriculum has come under fire by critics who contend it whitewashes terrorism, promotes an anti-Israel and anti-American political agenda, and encourages young people to sympathize with Hamas.

Americans for Peace and Tolerance released an expose video April 23 that aims to prove “Whose Jerusalem?” fails “to meet the basic rules of evidence and logic and attempt[s] to indoctrinate students, especially Jewish students, against the state of Israel.”

The workshop teaches that Hamas – a U.S.-designated terrorist group – and Fatah are political parties that support “more peaceful means than intifada,” among other lessons. The group argues the lesson abandons “academic integrity” and enlists students as political activists for an ideological cause.

“Despite its bias and serious flaws, the … workshop is Common Core compliant,” APT president Charles Jacobs said.

The workshop’s curriculum, designed for students in middle and high schools, requires students play the parts of Arab, Israeli, or American leaders to negotiate a “BATNA” (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) for the division of Jerusalem using the materials provided by the workshop.

According to Americans for Peace and Tolerance’s video, the workshop also includes exercises that asks instructors to have Jewish students empathize with Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group that calls for the death of all Jews in its founding charter.

Boston University Profesor Carl Hobert, who developed the workshop, has defined “Whose Jerusalem?” as “educational civil disobedience” guided by a hands-on approach. Included in APT’s video is a clip of Hobert speaking to an audience about the simulations done in his workshop on the Arab-Israeli conflict. When describing the roles students play in the simulation he says:

“When a student goes, I am devoutly Jewish and I’ve got family members in Israel. I would like to be a member of Likud Party. Guess what we make that student? A member of Hamas.”

In APT’s video, Hobert is also quoted saying that students learn through the workshop that Hamas and Fatah are political parties that support “more peaceful means than intifada.” APT uses the lesson plan’s paperwork to show students are taught to equate these “political parties” with Israel’s democratically elected parties, such as Likud and Labor.
The workshop also suggests an equivalence between the use of military drones by the United States and terrorist suicide bombing. APT’s video shows Hobert telling students that drones “kill people who are supposedly terrorists.” He asks, “Isn’t that a form of terrorism?”
Hobert did openly admit in an interview with Al-Jazeera that through these exercises students will learn to “put pressure on our government to create a Palestinian state.”

Noam Chomsky of MIT and Denis Sullivan of Northeastern, both outspoken critics of Israel and America, assisted Hobert in the creation of the course, according to APT. Hobert even brought Chomsky, who is described in BU Today as his “friend and longtime inspiration,” to speak about the Middle East at Boston University in 2009.
Hobert did not respond to repeated requests for comment from The College Fix.
Stand With Us released a statement May 7 thanking APT for exposing the bias in the workshop.
“Under the guise of ‘global education’ and ‘conflict resolution,’ it distorts facts about the Arab-Israeli conflict, promotes an anti-Israel political agenda, and encourages sympathy for terrorist groups,” the nonprofit stated. “It is shameful that Boston University would sponsor a program that degrades academic standards, misinforms students, and gives its imprimatur to indoctrination masquerading as scholarship.”
Zionist Organization of America’s Northeast Campus Coordinator Zach Stern said he is also worried about the impact this course will have on students’ understanding of the Middle East.
“This workshop is very troubling,” Stern told The College Fix. “Why pretend that Hamas and the PA are reasonable actors when both openly call for the genocide of the Jewish people and the destruction of the Jewish state? This workshop seems to ignore the actual facts; and its impossible to solve anything without recognizing the facts.”

But Hobert described the workshop as simply “a conflict resolution case study used in middle and high schools around the U.S.” It was created with state and federal education dollars, and is an approved Common Core State Standards-based curriculum workshop, his professor profile notes.
Already the controversial “Whose Jerusalem?” is conducted in many high schools. It is offered through the nonprofit “Axis of Hope,” which operates out of the Boston University Global Literary Institute and works with at least 25 high schools in various states and three foreign schools, according to the nonprofit’s website.

APT’s Jacobs noted “at a time of growing anti-Semitism on U.S. college campuses, it is very disturbing [Boston University] would permit or promote such biased educational materials in the classroom.”
Axis of Hope describes itself as a nonprofit “dedicated to developing in young adults an understanding of alternative, non-violent approaches to resolving complex conflicts locally, nationally and internationally.”

Hillary Fails with Myanmar, 1000’s Coming Here

Posted on May 21, 2015May 21, 2015 by Denise Simon

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have visited Burma (Myanmar), Hillary in 2011 and Barack in 2014. Clearly, this country is not a diplomatic achievement for either of them.

The U.S. has not had any contact or relations with Myanmar in 50 years.

The promise of a free and democratic Myanmar is rapidly receding as sectarian violence escalates and the government backslides on a number of past reforms. That’s causing genuine alarm on Capitol Hill among lawmakers from both parties. The House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed a resolution this week calling on Myanmar’s government to respect the human rights of all minority groups in the country and end the persecution of the Rohingya people, an essentially stateless and largely Muslim ethnic group that has been singled out by both Rakhine Buddhists and the government of Myanmar.

“As the government of Burma transitions from decades-long military rule to a civilian government, it is important to hold them accountable for persistent human rights abuses,” New York Congressman Eliot Engel, the most senior Democrat on the House panel, said Tuesday.
What happens in Myanmar has implications for Clinton as she prepares for a potential presidential bid for the White House in 2016. Until now, the Myanmar portfolio has been widely viewed as the “one clear-cut triumph” of her tenure as secretary of state — a tenure in danger of being viewed as underwhelming and overly cautious when compared to that of her successor, John Kerry, who has taken on the Gordian knot of the Mideast peace process.

Now, as the civilian regime that replaced Myanmar’s military junta embraces increasingly brutal tactics against Muslim minority populations, the jewel in the crown of Clinton’s tenure risks vanishing into thin air. “Things have gone from bad to worse,” said Tom Andrews, president of United to End Genocide, a group that monitors violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the country.

Since Oct. 1, the U.S. has resettled more than 1,000 Rohingya

(WASHINGTON) — The United States is willing to take in Rohingya refugees as part of international efforts to cope with Southeast Asia’s stranded boat people, the State Department said Wednesday.

Spokeswoman Marie Harf said that the U.S. is prepared to take a leading role in any multicountry effort, organized by the United Nations refugee agency, to resettle the most vulnerable refugees.

BANGKOK (AP) — The decision by Indonesia and Malaysia to give temporary shelter to thousands of migrants stranded at sea appears to have defused a potential Southeast Asian humanitarian catastrophe, but the root causes of the crisis remain. Here’s a look at still-unanswered questions surrounding the Rohingya Muslim migrants who are persecuted at home in Myanmar and have found scant welcome anywhere else.
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A FIRST STEP, BUT WHAT’S NEXT?
The Indonesian-Malaysian offer to shelter migrants for up to a year was hailed as a breakthrough, and marks a major reversal after navies from the two countries and Thailand pushed boatloads of desperate migrants away. But it is just the first of many steps needed to solve the crisis. Groups such as the International Organization of Migration say time is running out for vessels still at sea and call for countries to urgently launch operations to find and rescue drifting boats believed to be crammed with people in need of food, water and medical treatment.
HOW MANY MIGRANTS ARE THERE?
Nobody knows, but the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR estimated as of Thursday that more than 3,000 could still be at sea.
“Having said that, there could be more that we don’t know about,” Bangkok-based UNHCR spokeswoman Vivian Tan said.
When the crisis first came to international attention early this month, aid agencies estimated 6,000 or more migrants were abandoned on boats after a regional crackdown on human trafficking prompted smugglers to flee. Since then more than 3,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis have landed in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
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HOW MANY BOATS ARE AT SEA?
This is another mystery. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak tweeted Thursday that he had ordered the navy and coast guard to comb the sea to look for stranded migrants, becoming the first country to announce it will actively search for refugees instead of waiting for them to wash up on the region’s shores. Navy chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar said it has deployed four vessels, and three helicopters and three other vessels are on standby. Thailand and Indonesia have not announced any similar operations to search their sections of the Andaman Sea. The countries have also expressed concerns that offering temporary shelter could encourage an exodus of even more refugees.
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WHAT HAPPENS IN A YEAR?
Malaysia and Indonesia have made clear that their offer to house migrants is temporary. Both said their hospitality expires in one year. It is unclear what happens after that. Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said his government is ready to shelter Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar, while Bangladeshis would be sent back home. “A year is (the) maximum,” he said. “There should be international cooperation.” Malaysia has set the same time limit, saying in a joint statement that the international community must take responsibility for repatriating or resettling the migrants in third countries within that period.
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“THE ROOT CAUSE” AND THE R-WORD
Southeast Asian governments say the key to solving the migrant crisis is addressing the “the root cause” — which is code for Myanmar. The Rohingya Muslim minority has been boarding rickety boats to escape Myanmar for years due to state-sanctioned discrimination in the predominantly Buddhist country where they are openly despised. They are denied citizenship, have limited access to education and medical care and cannot practice their religion freely. The Rohingya have faced repeated outbreaks of violence, the latest of which have been occurring since 2012, with hundreds killed and 140,000 displaced. So they try to flee abroad, most hoping to reach Muslim-majority Malaysia in search of jobs and security. Myanmar has said it does not want to be blamed for the problem but agreed Thursday to join regional talks on the crisis to be held in Bangkok next week. Observers are eager to see how the countries will discuss the issue, given the Myanmar government’s distaste for the word “Rohingya,” which is taboo in Myanmar, where they are referred to as Bengalis — migrants from neighboring Bangladesh — even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.