Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: Saturday Feb 23

 by A. Joseph Lynch and Dr. David Pence

WEEKLY BRIEF

    Hoax Upon Hoax. From Selma to Sodom. From Jackie Robinson to  Jussie Smollet
In the discussion of religion sex and politics in America there is no greater hoax than the hijacking of the moral capital of the American Christian movement against racism by the media promotion of homosexuality as a positive good. The Fox TV drama Empire with homosexual director Lee Daniels and rising star Jussie Smollett were major propagandists trying to breakdown the "black community's homophobia". CNN commentator Van Jones astutely informed his white listeners that Smollett was "the Jackie Robinson" of integrating likable gay characters into African-American popular culture. This of course aims to eradicate traditional black masculinity and the black Christian Church in favor of the modern Democratic Party's bizarre alliance of older political white feminists, younger light skin gay male media stars, and rich male predators in the background.

Charles Barkley had some advice for the light skin fellow who didn't really know the neighborhood or certain basics in the life of crime. "America, first rule in crime: Don't write a check." "Don't hire two black guys" to pretend they are lynching you. If the theme is MAGA country violence, get out of Chicago and go "to   Liam Neeson's neighborhood."  Hilarious!  (Add: Another dissection of Smollett  by Victor Davis Hanson) Devastating!

 Christianity and nationalism are two great communal identities that draw black and white men together as matured brothers and fathers. It was the Christian nationalism of America that embraced Jews as free citizens from the beginning and black men as citizens after a horrible civil war. What a despicable hoax to blame the red hats who seek to share the brotherhood of an interracial multi religious TERRITORIAL NATIONAL CITIZENSHIP  for this self mutilation by a confused young male not fully black nor indelibly homosexual. Young Smollett should get his due but let's agree he was socialized by an inverted culture: upside down about God the Father, the interracial brotherhood of the American nation and the sanctity of married sexual love. Adults should discipline not scapegoat our latest confused young male emerging in full media glare from the twisted ruins of the Sexual Revolution we bequeathed him. The sexual revolution has been a disaster for black Americans lionizing sexual degeneracy for males and widespread abortion by black mothers. This ain't no freedom train and Jussie Smollett is nobody's Jackie Robinson.  

I. POPE FRANCIS & THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

THE FACE-TO-FACE PATRIARCHAL FRATERNITY OF SYNODAL CATHOLICISM. SODOMY IS A SACRILEGE AGAINST THE PRIESTLY SYNOD NOT MARRIAGE: The public truthful brotherhoods of an honest monastery, a presbytery under a real bishop, a Bishops' Conference where bishops stand up and speak truthfully about how many bishops should resign, a College of Cardinals cleaned of homosexuals, a synod of bishops under an honest Pope--these are the masculine fraternal forms the Pope is setting up for new leaders and shepherds to emerge. Listen to victims who come before you-Do not dismiss them!! That is the major institutional point of the gathering of 100 bishops in Rome Feb 21-24, 2019. Pray together, repent together, listen to the abused, let fathers emerge!  Instead of complaining about the Pope it would be helpful if some bishops would speak honestly about the massive infiltration of the priesthood by homosexuals, active and psychological, and a strategy for cleansing the priestly temple. Why did the bishops stop being protectors and fathers? Because they became desacralized and inbred by the narcissism of a homosexual dominated group-think. Father-faithful fraternity must replace this homosexual clericalism.    This has to happen diocese by diocese, monastery by monastery, bishops' conference by bishops' conference.  Before that we must emphasize the whole-the communion, the apostolic fraternity which will eventually turn out Judas. Before Lincoln turned on slavery, he had to secure the unity of the Union! Let us understand the paths of governance are different than the cries of protest and outrage. (21 procedural points)

The Pope has "notorious homosexuals" close to him--this is true. They must go--not him. Expose and exorcize. This is a demonic war amidst the sacral caste--there will be many misfirings before we get traction in the right direction. What is very clear is that Pope Francis and Cardinal Parolin were much more successful in ridding the priesthood of Mr McCarrick than Pope Benedict and Archbishop Vigano.  They are building the face to face brotherhoods which will expel the smiling faces with viper hearts.  It was Italian media criticism of the ineffectual role of Vigano as American papal nuncio in relation to McCarrick that drove Vigano to his publishing alliance with anti Francis Italian journalist Marco Tosatti. (Tosatti reveals Vigano's real motivations in an interview with Taylor Marshall-another good man gone mad with Francis frenzy).  Coupled with Vigano's exposition of the homosexual rot throughout the Vatican States of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI was his call for the resignation of Pope Francis for elevating the role of  McCarrick after Benedict era sanctions. While Vigano's Vatican expose was long overdue and very helpful, his assessment of McCarrick's new status and influence under Francis was wildly off base. Francis has a lot of very bad advisors especially related to North America.  Many are deeply embedded in the "lavender parish"  but McCarrick was not one of them. Cardinal Ouelette's letter to Vigano is a Pope Francis approved refutation of the Accuser. Pope Francis knew McCarrick was corrupt long before Vigano told him. That's why he asked Vigano "What do you think of McCarrick?"  Frederic Martel gets this wrong also in saying Francis was not too upset by McCarrick abusing adult male seminarians. That is preposterous for anyone who knows how Pope Francis dealt with the founder of the IVE Argentine religious order which had deep ties to McCarrick.
 Pope Francis acted too slowly for all the white media rich American Catholics who despise the Argentine and his southern ways. He acted much more definitively than any of his Western approved predecessors but such details are not part of the anti Francis narrative.  Let us quit shooting at the Father. Let us expose and exorcize the real enemies within that Archbishop Vigano and homosexual activist Frederic Martel have so helpfully exposed. Why isn't homosexuality being talked about at the Conference? Two disappointing duplicitous answers. Cupich  and Scicluna .  But let us remember. This week started with the irrevocable laicization of the American Episcopacy's homo in chief. It was a great way to begin a worldwide conference of Shepherds intermixed with wolves and hirelings. One big wolf down, now root out his pack and don't ask the Pope to do the investigation for you.

POPE FRANCIS AS LINCOLN:UNDERSTANDING THE CHAIR OF PETER: A Feb 22 Reflection.


A LETTER TO AN ASPIRING PRIEST: Really beautiful by Thomas White O.P. whom we have reviewed before. A comparative review of his book on Catholicism and deLubac's. His essay on Lumen Gentium and a reflection on the "People of God" as humanity, the Jews and the Church.

CANON LAWYER ED PETERS: Excellent distinction of sexual sins by consecrated persons especially the acts against nature - in terms of SACRILEGE.

HOMOSEXUAL PRIESTS, NOT PEDOPHILIA, IS THE PROBLEM: The role of McCarrick in reframing the issue.

GAY PRIESTS WHINING: Not pretty, not new.

THE PAPACY, DIPLOMACY, AND VENEZUELA: Good analysis.

THE VATICAN AS SODOM: An Excerpt from new blockbuster book on homosexuality in Vatican. The best reporters on the deep seated homosexuality in the clergy will be homosexual priests or accomplices who are part of the "parish".  We must let them talk. Let them tell their stories of "suffering in the closet" and encourage them to tell names.  This is no time to silence the likes of James Martin.  The duplicity is killing us - the homosexuals will agree on that so lets end the duplicity. They think there are so many of them that the Church cannot live without them. Encourage that thought as they come out to show their numbers.

After we have plenty of names and tearful narcissist confessions and exposes, the apostolic fishermen can announce that "By the Act" any priest who has committed sodomy shall be defrocked. The McCarrick example is an excellent start. That is the right punishment. Now we have to agree how severe a crime is sodomy by a Catholic priest. ...or is it only a defrocking crime if it is with a "minor"?

REVIEW IN AMERICA: Good summary of author's take on JPII,  Benedict, and Francis.  It rings true to me(dp). Also the most manipulative of all the actors was Cardinal Angelo Sodano. That also seems true from many converging stories. Sodano was always an enemy of Pope Francis. Archbishop Vigano covered for conservative homosexual Nienstedt. We know his story well from Minneapolis.  Burke covered for Apuron in Guam. Apuron was truly despicable and the fact that he and Nienstedt are still saying Mass should be credited with those heroes of correct doctrine-Vigano and Burke.    These findings  go with Martel narrative as well. The fact that the mob who wants Pope Francis to resign are still loyal followers of Archbishop Vigano and Cardinal Burke is evidence against their "in the know" reputations. The author of this book is absolutely right that  many of these revelations could only be written from "inside the parish". He is very wrong about his assumption that Pope Francis did not care about McCarick's homosexual acts with seminarians. That is part of the author's wish list not the pope's agenda. The very few pages I have read so far have a deep ring of truth (like most of Archbishop Vigano's statements about Vatican culture under JPII and Benedict). Turn on the lights--the party's not over yet but a huge change is brewing.

II PRESIDENT TRUMP & AMERICA

JD VANCE AND TUCKER CARLSON: On the working class people who don't go to college, serve in the military, want single earner families. Absolutely terrific.

REVIEW OF JOHN JUDIS BOOK ON NATIONALISM: Judas is a left liberal but he sees the nation as the only communal force that can protect workers from the predation and inequality of global capitalism. Very interesting argument. His book is called The Nationalist Revival: Trade Immigration and the Revolt against Globalization 

EUROPEAN/BRITISH ALLIES AND US INTERVENTION IN LIBYA: Two of the most disastrous regime change interventions by the US in the last 15 years were in  Libya and Syria. Iraq has a functioning government that represents its Shiite citizens much better than Saddam Hussein who waged the bloodiest war of the last three decades in his assault on Iran. Libya is a failed state and the US backed rebellion in Syria has left Assad in power, thousands dead and millions refugees. The Libyan intervention was orchestrated by European allies who frankly were much stronger personalities than the Obama "women to the front" foreign policy establishment. How would Hillary ever be president if she didn't make war and peace decisions in foreign policy? So there she was way over her head. The diplomat grownups swamped her. The linked article reminds us it is our allies who get us in trouble--especially those most fluent in English. Meanwhile the intervention that established a standing national government in Iraq  may now have to acknowledge the sovereignty of that government and recognize its desire to be an ally to Iran not a base for attacks.

FREEDOM FOR HOMOSEXUALS AS AN INTERNATIONAL CAUSE: A Trump initiative.  Coupled with our alliance with the salafist Saudis, we can only pray these incoherent contradictory impulses may collide. One reason for this initiative was that an earlier vote in the UN against the death penalty was opposed by the US and then construed as a call to execute homosexuals. 

THE MUELLER CASE : Roger Stone, Wikileaks and Paul Manafort--there will be enough here for the anti-Trump forces. Here we see the the outline of the Mueller argument. A very believable interview with FBI Andrew McCabe. He could not fathom a US President developing a relationship with Vladimir Putin. He felt Trump must be compromised so he worked to get an investigation set up that would survive his own firing. There were many career diplomats who felt similar feelings about President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev meetings. They didn't think Reagan was compromised but too senile and gullible in the interaction. McCabe could not believe what he was seeing and for a moment (after the Comey firing) he was in charge. He thought he was saving the country by establishing a mechanism to bring down President Trump who he thought was giving aid to our enemy. He opened a counterintelligence investigation against Trump and he told the "gang of eight" the bipartisan representatives of both parties that this was happening. No-one objected. The counter intelligence investigation was not primarily asking if Russia interfered with the election but if Trump was somehow compromised or in league with the Russians. The Steele Dossier which was a major source multiple times of information was not so much about Russian attempts to influence voters (interfere with the election). It was an attempt to paint Trump as a seriously compromised candidate who would have to do the Russians' bidding if he became President.

A TIMELINE

July 5, 2016  James Comey exonerates Hillary Clinton
June 2016 Christopher Steele ex M16 British agent(worked the Russia desk) with deep fear of implications of Trump presidency for US- Russia- British relations is hired by GPS to do opposition research on Donald Trump.   June 20 first detailed report by Steele to GPS. Within a month says Carter Page meeting with Russians.
July and October 2016  Steele meets with different FBI in London and Rome to tell about Trump findings. He speaks as a fellow defender of the West against that old and clever foe now compromising  rump. Passes "Russian dossier" to old FBI colleague
Oct 2016 US Intelligence agencies say Russians interfering and sowing discord in US elections in favor of Jill Stein, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.  This confirmed by DNI (Clapper head) in Jan 2017
Oct 21, 2016   FBI gets FISA approval to wiretap Cater Page in Trump campaign as "foreign agent"
                        Trump not warned that "foreigners" had infiltrated his campaign.
Nov-Dec 2016 (after election)  John McCain receives the "Russian dossier" from ex British
                                                  ambassador and gives to FBI head.
Jan 20,2017 Trump inaugurated
Feb 8 Sessions confirmed Atty General
Mar 3, 2017 Session recuses himself from Russia investigation
Mar 20, 2017 FBI director Comey tells House Intelligent Committee there is a continued investigation of Trump-Russian connections
April 25, 2017 Rosenstein approved 94-6 in Senate as Deputy Atty General with power over Russian investigation because he saw "no reason to recuse himself". He had assured Senator Schumer he would appoint special prosecutor if necessary.

May 9, 2017 Comey fired

May 10-17 2017  McCabe--Trump meeting about Comey. It didn't go well. "Next day" McCabe meets with FBI investigators of Russia-Flynn-etc.  (ADDENDUM ADDED--more evidence in this May period McCabe led FBI reaches out again to Christopher Steele) Two investigations opened by McCabe: a)was firing of Comey an obstruction of Justice  and b)counterintelligence investigation opened to ask if there is an inappropriate relation of President with Russia. (From Feb 2019 Scott Pelley interview. Pelley: " Are you saying the President is in league with Russia?" McCabe: I am saying the FBI had reason to investigate that." The counter intelligence investigation was not limited to election meddling as much as the intention of the President to forge a new relation with "our most fearsome enemy"(Russia).)  Multiple Discussions with McCabe and Rosenstein and FBI General Counsel James Baker. Rod Rosenstein was troubled by Trump request for mention of Russia probe in firing Comey. He didn't want that in the firing explanation because he thought it would implicate himself(Rosenstein) in trying to stop the Russian investigation.  Trump was clear that Russian witch hunt was a ruse and had asked those investigations be wrapped up. Trump had no problem saying he wanted his FBI man to stop following the planted documents of British intelligence and Democratic Party opposition research. This seemed like obstruction of justice to McCabe hiding Trump's purported special relationship with the Russians. 

May 17 2017 Rosenstein as acting Attorney General appoints Mueller as special counsel to investigate "any links and/or  coordination between  Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign." This was to insure "a full investigation of the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 Presidential election."  The letter about election interference could cover proving Trump in league with the Russians without specifically saying it.

March 16, 2018 McCabe fired one day before retirement
Feb 2019 Interview with McCabe described by interviewer Scott Pelley as "a Republican" though McCabe wife received millions from DNC  running for office as Democrat. Note McCabe animus to Trump for calling his wife a "loser"(Trump denies this) .    Compelling interview.

Steele was hired in June 2016  by GPS. By June 20, the first explosive memo was in and within 50 days 7 more would be produced.
                                 

McCabe Timeline Clinton Email Investigation

March 2015 Clinton private server becomes publicly known
May 2015 McCabe wife announces for state senate of Virginia
                  She receives $500-700, 000 from Gov McCauliffe PAC. He is a close Clinton ally.
Nov 2015  She loses close race
July 2015 formal FBI investigation of Clinton emails ensues--McCabe not involved.
Feb 2016 McCabe appointed by Comey as Deputy Director of FBI and thus is in charge of Clinton email investigation. He does not consider recusal for Clinton investigations.
June 2016 Bill Clinton meets with Loretta Lynch-Atty General compromising her. She says she will accept whatever FBI says in Clinton case.
July 5 2016 Comey statement to press--"careless but no charges" against Clinton
Sept 28 2016 McCabe gets news of more emails found on Anthony Weiner computer
Oct 28            McCabe tells Comey about Weiner emails. Comey immediately reopens investigation.
Nov 1 McCabe recuses himself from any more Clinton investigations
Nov 6 2016 Comey says no new classified emails found on Weiner laptop. Peter Strzok helps sift through them.
Nov 8 2016 Trump wins election

III. THE NATIONS

IN AFRICA THE CHINESE MEET THE CHRISTIANS: A peculiar aspect of the China Africa story. They came to build infrastructure . They leave with social capital.

FIVE SPANISH MEN FOR GOD, SPAIN AND TRADITION: A report from Spain by Rod Dreher. The kindling is there for a fire. It would be very helpful if Mr Dreher would see that one of the elements missing in his Benedict Option is what was central to Saint Benedict. The patron saint of Europe was about men forming fraternity in a local place devoted to a cosmic religious reality. Dreher's excellent report shows us once again it is not the "West"  we are trying to save. It is Christendom that is being revived and the many swords of Christendom are going to be carried by NATIONALISTS. That is true in Catholic Spain, Orthodox Russia, and Protestant America.

SUNNI JIHAD GOES LOCAL: An important trend by Hassan Hassan.

EURASIAN ALLIANCE OF RUSSIA AND CHINA: Revisiting the geopolitical thesis of Halford  MacKinder and applying it to the post Cold War mistakes of baby boomer Presidents. Russia is the Eurasian land nation. We need them as our allies. Candidate Trump understood this instinctually. President Trump has never been allowed to reformulate our alliances in terms of the the two great nations of Eurasia-Russia and China. He was stopped by the FBI's Andrew McCabe who saw Russia as our greatest enemy  and by Britain's Christopher Steele who saw how a Russian US alliance would set the sun on British influence in a world dominated by the Anglo West.  {AOA on Mahon, MacKinder and Spykman as Geostrategic Thinkers}

Mackinder's Map

MEN WHO ACT: The rise of autocrats.

IV CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

ADAM AND EVE: Mitochondrial Eve and one Y - interesting review.

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: Saturday Feb 16

 by A. Joseph Lynch and Dr. David Pence

WEEKLY BRIEF
Pope Francis and President Trump: Great Triumphs but Daggers at their Throats 
Pope Francis and President Trump are establishing a framework for brotherhood and agreement among the religions and nations of our planet earth. They are both sons of Christianity-- a religious movement to draw men and nations into brotherhood under the Father through his Son Jesus Christ. The Pope holds the Petrine office of an Apostolic Catholic Church which for 2000 years has given a living sacramental institutional form to brotherhood in the episcopacy and priesthood. The President is the the commander of chief of the most deadly force ever assembled in Christendom. His nation is a territorial covenant of God believing, scripture reading, hard working, gun toting men who were forged together as Americans on a new continent. America is a nation conceived and born within the Protestant Reformation. That 500 year project is an ongoing effort of Christian men to devise an ecclesial and civic polity that  gives glory to God and liberty to men.
Pope Francis has put forth a peace plan with Islam built on the recognition of God and the fraternity of all men, nations and religions. The freedom for men to worship that one God is one important note in the musical score; but individual liberty is not the first principle in their theological formulation.  Pope Francis has been the clearest papal expression of the Missionary Spirit of Vatican Two. He has elicited the synodal spirit and practice among bishops who must carry the gospel to the nations at  Christendom's periphery. He has opened a path to China and said an open door Mass in the UAE. But a knife is at his throat. The infiltration of the Catholic priesthood by sodomites in practice and psychology has broken their capacity for the wide trust fraternity needed to build a civilization of love.  They have desacralized the Eucharistic Liturgy. Their widespread abominations have compromised the most fundamental diplomacy of the Catholic pontiff and his priests -to be the Eucharistic bridge which binds Heaven and Earth. The Sacred Mass of the Son offering himself to the Father (the Catholic axis mundi) is defiled by the sodomite priest pretender who has desecrated the father-son-brotherhood relation. The Apostles and Bishops are the living foundation stones of the interpersonal communion of the Church. Getting their brotherly love rightly ordered is no small element of Catholic life. The Pope  must face this internal crisis by a purification of the priesthood expelling by the act any cleric who has committed any act of sodomy since his ordination. Brotherhood cannot live side by side with incest. The sacred cult cannot be kept ritually holy amidst this bodily pollution of the men who are meant to be a sign of the love of the Father for the Son. These men are not Peter who sinned, confessed and came back. Their sins can be forgiven--but their defilement of the sacred must be punished by separating them from the sacral office.
{Back to America} President Trump has put forth a bold renewal of international relations based on respect for the nations. From Asia to Europe to South America, the old paradigm of capitalism vs socialism is being bypassed. Religion and nations are the binding forces of social organization. Free markets are tools to employ to create wealth. This new paradigm is emerging. The experts are the last to know.  The return to biblical nationalism is utterly American. It is so simple, but it took  a self confident genius to see it--a man raised in a church headed by Norman Vincent Peale and  a home led by a loving father and mother. The first baby boomer president without serious daddy issues is acting like a patriarch and lots of people hate him just for that. Donald Trump is the Muhammed Ali of American politics.
President Trump has been stopped from reformulating the agreements of nations in the post cold war world. He was opposed by the British foreign policy establishment and betrayed by the treachery of his own security agencies.   Foreign English speaking allies and our own deep state MUCH MORE THAN THE HAPLESS HILLARY CLINTON  have stopped our country under an elected President from forming a  new alliance with Christian Russia. Meanwhile, President Trump has been tragically misled by our Israeli ally and our Saudi Arabian enemy to scapegoat the Shiite nation of Iran. As nationalists, Americans want strong nation states to keep peace within their territorial boundaries. As a hated outsider, Israel wants to be surrounded by weak, warring and failed states so her neighbors cannot unite to exterminate her. She is our ally but her foreign policy is diametrically opposed to ours. Like Eisenhower before him, President  Trump must chasten our ally to safeguard her. It is hard for him to imagine such a thing when he is surrounded in his own government by so many working to undermine his policies. Netanyahu is one of the few men in public life that Trump feels he can really trust. We want a strong Iraq, a strong Syria, a strong Turkey and a strong Iran to control the jihadists in their respective territories.  When President Trump gets more real allies in his government, he will be able to better tell his Israeli allies where their interests and ours are not identical. The problem for Israel is not coming to grips with the mythical state of Palestine but finally making peace with the very real nation of Iran.
 The Shiite nation of Iran like the Turkish Sunni nation of Turkey are great bulwarks against the anti nation ideology of salafist jihadists who war against states in southern Russia, in western China, in the southern Philippines, in northern Nigeria and on the shores of Somalia. The 911 attack on New York, the beheadings of Coptic Christians on the shore of the Mediterranean, and  the dismembering of the Washington Post's Jamal Khashoggi were all plots hatched in the cauldrons of the "queen bee Wahhabi clerics of Saudi Arabia. " 1.6 billion Muslims are not the enemy--a million Saudi Wahhabists are. Strong intact nation-states in the Mideast are the best defense against the caliphate-ummah strategy of the Wahhabis. Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Syria and yes, Israel are the national alternatives to the bloody "get rid of borders" program of ISIS and all other manifestations of the jihad-salafists .
A group of mature Democratic and Republican Senators are needed to make alliances with President Trump to stop the adolescent anti father hatred directed against our president. At the same time American statesmen must reverse Trump's pathological hatred against Iran and his misunderstanding of the greatest national achievement of the Obama presidency. President Obama stood against "the blob" -- the misguided foreign policy establishment-- that Trump has also resisted.  President Obama stood against the Saudis and the Israeli Prime Minister who was disgracefully given the legislative chambers of our government to undermine a sitting President.
 Without Nixon going to China, President Reagan never could have ended the Cold War with Gorbachev. Without Obama leading the way in talking with Iran, President Trump would never be able to turn and see the Saudis for who they are and what they have done. Trump has not benefited from his predecessor's bold move because like the media that hates him, the President is blinded by his animus toward his countryman, Barack Obama.
{Back to the Catholic Church}, A group of  bishops or a singular truth teller must help deepen and extend the synodal public fraternity initiatives of Pope Francis while correcting his mistaken notion that homosexuality in an all male priesthood is simply a "sin below the belt" or a violation of the sixth commandment. The sweeping Francis initiative for synodal governance with a reunified Eastern and Latin Church  and respectful fraternal engagement with the Confucian and Islamic civilizations, where so much of God's humanity live, depends on the Catholic Church maintaining the authority of a priestly consecrated masculine fraternity. The homosexual degradation of so many of our priests constitute profound sins against fatherhood, filiation and fraternity. These are not "below the belt"  errors of the pelvis but a twisting of the masculine ecclesial soul. That masculine corporate soul is needed to be a healthy and muscular template for the nations. May free men love our Holy Father in the Church and our civic father in the nation. May we love them well enough to support their initiatives while correcting their gravest errors. We must spare our fathers the daggers at their throats. 

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

CARDINAL SPELLMAN: A lynchpin in the homosexual priest network in America that gave us the sex abuse scandal.

THE 21 COPTIC MARTYRS ON THE NORTHERN COAST OF LIBYA LOOKING ACROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN TO ROME: Remembering them.

THIS VIDEO WAS "A BLOOD MESSAGE SENT TO THE NATION OF THE CROSS" FEBRUARY 15, 2015
WE MUST REPLY AS THE  NATIONS OF THE CROSS - RUSSIA, THE US, & BRAZIL FOR STARTERS

II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

% Forest by State

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ORDER TO WITHDRAW FROM SYRIA: Getting hold of military command.

THE CAPTIVE NATIONS OF EASTERN EUROPE SHOW THE PATH TO FREEDOM: While Macron of France holds meetings to extend gay rights, Orban's Hungary looks at serious family subsidies for mothers at home.

THE MOST DANGEROUS DEMOCRAT IS AN ACTUAL BLACK MAN: Why Corey Booker is the strongest candidate by far for the Democrats.

III. THE NATIONS

HATS OFF TO A REGULATED FREE MARKET! NEITHER SOCIALISM NOR GLOBALIST CAPITALISM. LONG LIVE ECONOMIC NATIONALISM AND FREE ENTERPRISE:

Chinese living in extreme poverty. 1990: 755.8 million 2015: 10 million (World Bank)

Indonesians living in extreme poverty. 1998: 137 million 2017: 15 million (World Bank)

Pakistanis living in extreme poverty. 1990: 63.4 million 2015: 7.7 million (World Bank)

DISCREDITING QATAR - A UK STRATEGIST SHOWS: The dirty world of espionage, fake news, and false flags. The Saudis and now Israelis want the US to join in an anti-Qatar movement. Qatar is a much more reasonable Sunni ally in the Gulf than Saudi Arabia and they are not trying to overthrow every Shiite body politic that emerges in the region.

CHINA IS A GREAT CIVILIZATION. YES IT WILL BE A MIGHTY PLAYER IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: That does not make them our sworn enemy worthy of a new Cold War.

MATTEO SALVINI: of Italy. A potential leader of the nation.

SEE IRAN AS A NATION: They revolted against a soulless western technocracy - so should we.

NIGERIA: Profile of election and country. No depth but a good description of Africa's biggest country at the Muslim-Christian faultline.

AS ISIS LOSES A TERRITORIAL BASE: Salafist-jihadism is alive and well. A good critique of an "overly kinetic" approach to killing groups of terrorists without taking on their main ideological thrust.  That ideology is a desire to change the nature of Sunni governance from bordered states to a single caliphate representing the worldwide muslim community-the ummah.
There is no  discussion in this monograph that the US present policy of singling out Shiite nation-states or Shiite fighting groups deprives us of our most natural allies. There is no word that the clerical epicenter of Salafist-jihadism is the US principal "ally" -Saudi Arabia. The writer is from the AEI and it is possible that such bold counterarguments to the Israeli-Saudi-US axis would be a death blow to her being published. There is an interesting section on not labeling the Muslim Brotherhood as an irredeemable Salafist-jihadist group. That will anger some people in a think tank that has never drawn lines clearly in this religious battle. This article is a major step in the right direction. As the great Singaporean Prime Minister  Lee Kuan Yew (1923-2015) said in his 2003 interview with Fareed Zakaria, "In killing terroists, you only kill the worker bees. The queen bees are the preachers who preach a deviant form of Islam in the schools and Islamic centers, who twist and capture the m ind of the young."  He knew very well that the center of the deviant preachers is Saudi Arabia. 

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IS FREEDOM FROM A BLOODBATH IN SOME COUNTRIES: A Report from the CHURCH IN NEED on religious freedom around the world. Article.
 Report released every two years.

GORBACHEV ON HISTORIC KRUSHCHEV 1956 SPEECH REPUDIATING STALIN:
The two greatest reformers of the 20th century in Russia were the writer and the man he writes about. AOA on Krushchev speech and true believer Mao's disdain for the Russian peasant leader.

IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

ABORTION AND BLACK PEOPLE: The shocking numbers. In New York City more black babies are aborted than live births. In the US for every 100 pregnancies by black women, 47 end in abortion; for white women it is 16 of 100.

LORD MAKE ME AN INSTRUMENT OF THY WRATH: Paternal, civic, and ecclesial offices often require punishment to the wrongdoer in the name of justice

ON DARWIN: This article asks why Darwin spawned so much racism.The author is not honest enough to answer the question but he does introduce James Watson, another proponent of  biological materialism who flirted with racism. The author is curious enough to ask the right question and resourceful enough to introduce a lot of key players. Worth the time to explore the confusion that culminated with atheist Western Science giving us the major bloodletting ideologies of our age--  Marxism and the Nazis.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A WOMAN: Reflections on the ladies in white suit.

ATTENTION STRUCTURES - CENTRIPETAL ATTENTION STRUCTURES IN PRIMATES FOCUS ON DOMINANT MALE. ACENTRIC ATTENTION STRUCTURES FOCUS ON THE ENVIRONMENT: The anti-father hyper focus by liberals on President Trump and by Catholic conservatives on Pope Francis deprives both groups of looking outward and thinking about their group in terms of the rest of the world. Centripetal attention structures are usually good for group cohesion because they allow a common authority to define group action. Centripetal attention without filial piety is a recipe for disaster. The leader has to have an acentric focus leading his group within the larger environment. The amazing Pope Francis went to periphery and said a large open stadium Mass in the UAE. The amazing President Trump has gone abroad  to talk with North Korean and Chinese leaders face to face while trying to get the same opportunity for a true breakthrough with Russia's Putin. 

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: Saturday Feb 9

by A. Joseph Lynch and Dr. David Pence

THE WEEKLY BRIEF

Pope Francis offers Mass on the Arabian peninsula Feb 5.2019 

135,000 of the million Catholics in UAE attend--almost all manual laborers 

The unprecedented public celebration of the Eucharist-the first Papal mass and
 the largest public Christian ritual in UAE history  

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

THE POPE IN THE UAE: Bishop welcomes him-this momentous day. Social practices in the UAE like working females in public and freedom of worship for non Muslims show the stark contrast of the Wahhabi UAE and the Wahhabi Saudis. The Qatar Wahhabis who are more like UAE call this deep difference the Wahhabi of the Sea and the Wahhabi of the Sand. (Zenit Catholic News on significance of the day).

The Conference on Human Fraternity also emphasized the importance of national citizenship. The first panel was all female. This shows that any serious discussion of an anthropology of agreement will recognize sexual distinctions in social roles. There was no discussion of integrating women into male roles but about finding the proper contributory role of women. This is truly a discussion of the anthropology of accord. (ed: Politics as fraternity-Latin American thinkers remind us that liberty and equality were accompanied by a third musketeer-fraternity)

The mutual critique of atheistic modernity by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar, was reminiscent of  Benedict XVI talk at Regensburg.  Human fraternity rests on a theocentric anthropology (The signed document).  This is a radical departure from the Social Darwinism  and atheistic anarchy that underlies the   "foreign policy realism "  of so many Western thinkers.

Muslims and Catholics share this God centered worldview while the Enlightenment West is wedded to individualism & materialism.  Along with this crucial theocentric reconfiguration is the public celebration on the Arabian peninsula of the Sacrifice of the Mass. No big deal to the modernists --just symbolic ritual. But for one million Catholics in the UAE (total population 9 mill) the ability to call down the Spirit and incarnate the Body of Christ to give glory and praise to the Father is what makes life worth living. To be free to worship in the country where they work is like having an oxygen tank for a deep sea diver.  135-180,000 Catholics and 4000 Muslims attended. May God be praised.
The capitalist vs communist paradigm is passing. Theocentric nations and religions must organize international relations before the individualists and materialists who traffic globalism engulf us in more wars without end. Pope Francis has a clear strategy of fraternity as the basis of relations with the two great civilizations the Church has been estranged from-China  and the Muslim world. (Francis unique approach to Muslims.)
A WARNING:This event will not go unanswered by Wahhabi Salafists of the Saudi, al Qaeda, ISIS variety. Remember the great offense that Osama bin Laden was avenging on 911 was the harboring of infidel troops on the Saudi Holy Land. Now the UAE monarch has allowed the high priest of the Crusaders to come in the middle of the Land of Islam and publicly offer the great Trinitarian Tribute of the Mass. The secularists may dismiss this act--salafist jihadists won't.
 

The Catholic Liturgy (this picture not in UAE)

    

                                       

The Muslim Council of Elders

There is an anthropological dimension to Fraternity that Muslims understand far better than the Atheist West. It usually culminates in a council of male elders. The Pope meets in this forum much more readily than Angela Merkel. The Council of Bishops under the Pope at Vatican II and now the regular Synods of Bishops are analogues of the male elders.  A Muslim council of elders is never looking for gender equity but always seeking true communal representation.
The Social Justice that begins with the duty man owes God (religion) is a very different social justice than the ideology beginning and culminating in the autonomous individual. The Catholic-Muslim dialogue-a common word between us and you-- is possible because we both submit to God and order public life around hierarchical male groups.

THE CONVERSION OF AMERICA BY EUCHARISTIC ADORATION: by Fr John Hardin on website Roman Catholic Man by Fr. Richard Heilman of Wisconsin.

II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

STATE OF THE UNION: President Trump gave a sensational State of the Union followed by his talk at the National Prayer Breakfast quoting FDR's D-Day prayer.  All great American projects should begin in prayer. He began his talk by saying this is an event to praise "the glory of God and the power of prayer." Here is a telling interview with a charismatic pastor who wrote God and President Trump.

AMAZON'S BEZOS, THE WASHINGTON  POST,  EXTORTION AND THE SAUDIS: Breaking the tie of Israel and America to MbS of Saudi Arabia would reorder the Mideast away from Sunni jihadism toward the acknowledgment of national actors - Israel, Iran, Iraq and Syria to start and probably two Yemens - Shiite North and Sunni South. If it takes all this new intrigue to get journalists to focus on the truly malignant force in US politics - Saudi Arabia - then embarrassing pictures of Mr. Bezos are a small price to pay. Most stories so far are a mixture of the tawdry and the usual contorted attempts to "pin it on Trump or at least his evil influence" but there are more interesting angles to be explored.    AMI( National Enquirer) executive David Pecker has real financial ties to the Saudis and published the gaudy monograph of MbS to accompany his last visit to the US. The Saudi role in 911, the prolongation of the Iraq war by targeting Shiites as apostate Muslims, the instigating and arming for civil war in Syria, the arming of al Qaeda in the war against the Shiite Houthis in Yemen and the campaign for war against Iran are all far bigger stories of malignant Saudi behavior than the Khashoggi murder. But apparently it is the Post's coverage of Khashoggi that is making Bezos a target (that is his take).  If this is what it takes to turn the spotlight of American media on the nefarious role that the Saudis have played in shaping American foreign policy  for half a century--it is well worth it. The Washington Post is a talented pool of journalists. If they could break through the hate Trump psychosis, the Saudi story has a lot more history, relevance and content than Russia buying facebook time during elections..( ed: Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2013 for 250 million. Within this linked article is another  link to an interesting interview with him.)

III. A CULTURE OF LIFE IS A CULTURE OF PROTECTION

SUPER BOWL 2019

How many roads must a man walk down before they call him a man?" BobDylan

Los Angeles Cheerleaders add two males to squad in 2018

It's been a long...long time coming but I know a change is gonna come. Sam Cooke

                                                                

Martin Luther King Assassinated during this Memphis Sanitation Workers strike 1968

The Meaning of the Movement He Died For.

THE SUPER BOWL: The 2019 Super Bowl was a defensive struggle in which the best coached and most disciplined team emerged with victory. The young losing coach was incisive and magnanimous in defeat. The winning team spoke of the brotherhood of football and the love and loyalty that animated their efforts. Multiple commercials during the event celebrated female empowerment and social justice brand gender confusion. It was rank propaganda often featuring NFL head Roger Goodell as a Social Justice Warrior. He appears to be running for office. If he thinks he has access to the male vote he should pause. We dummies in the heartland understand how the reality on the field of patriarchal fraternity is exactly the opposite of the fantasy world of his advertisers and the propaganda of his public service announcements. The Christian interracial movement of brotherhood is not the father of the atheist drive to obliterate sexual differences and masculine identity. The ethic of masculine sports was hijacked during commercials but the masculine communal work ethic is still alive and well on the playing field. And while the frenzied emptiness of the half time show matched the commercials, the opening civic liturgy struck a different chord. The twin sisters from Atlanta sang the national prayer that gives meaning to the world of American football in their opening spiritual - "America, America, God shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea." 

THE REAL STORY OF NATHAN PHILLIPS AND NICK SANDMAN: 15-minute video.

GUIDE TO THE MANOSPHERE: A brief, if somewhat salty, description of the secular men's movements that followed the rise of modern feminism. Three groups are described in this video: MRA's (men's rights activists), MGTOW's (men going their own way), and the Neo-Masculinity Movement. The speaker calls himself Coach Red Pill (the "red pill" is a reference to a pill used in the film The Matrix to wake people up from the illusion of the Matrix to see ugly world in which we really live). We may describe these groups, respectively, as dominated by anger, disengagement, and pagan-hedonism. There's plenty of toxic masculinity to be found here; what is still needed is consecrated masculinity.

IV. THE NATIONS

A DISCUSSION AT BROOKINGS INSTITUTE ON THE GEOPOLITICAL STATE OF THE MIDEAST: The whole discussion. Some selected insights:

NATAN SACHS: So the shorthand, I’d say, is four-plus-two. Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, plus the United States and Russia. And, if we include Egypt, which still wants to be a major player, and in some cases such as Gaza still is, perhaps it’s four-plus-two-plus-one.

On the UAE's outsized role

BRUCE RIEDEL: Perhaps we could change the dynamic to four-plus-two-plus-one-plus-a-half, with the half being Abu Dhabi. I mean that in two ways. One, it is all about Abu Dhabi, it’s not about the UAE. Dubai has strikingly different foreign policy views than Abu Dhabi. Dubai wants to be to Iran what Hong Kong or Singapore are to China. Abu Dhabi has an antagonistic relationship with Iran. And the other reason it’s a half is that as wealthy as Abu Dhabi is, it’s a city-state. And it has all the weaknesses of being a city-state. The Pentagon likes to call it the “Sparta of the Middle East.” They think that is a compliment. I would remind people, Sparta produced nothing, and today is a field in the Peloponnese.

But Abu Dhabi has outsized influence. It now controls more ports in the Horn of Africa and Yemen than any other country. The forces it’s arrayed in Yemen are the real ground forces, not the Saudis anymore. It’s become what Qatar was about 10 years ago when Hamad bin Jassim was the half and conspired to be the whole in influencing the region. Now we really have Mohammed bin Zayed.

JEFFREY FELTMAN: The United Arab Emirates play a very significant role in defining the politics of the Persian Gulf. Their strategic goals are counter-revolution, counter-Muslim Brotherhood, protection of the Emirati government system, and crucially, stability in Saudi Arabia. The United Arab Emirates have become extremely concerned about the stability of Saudi Arabia, see Mohammed bin Salman as the key to Saudi stability, and have invested in his success. The participation of the United Arab Emirates in the Yemen war is largely because of Saudi Arabia. As I understand it, the diplomacy of the Horn of Africa was mostly done by Abu Dhabi, but the ceremony was in Saudi Arabia. This shows the influence of Abu Dhabi but also shows that Abu Dhabi wants to play up the stability and leadership role of Saudi Arabia. It’s worth thinking about the relationship between Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown price of Abu Dhabi, and Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. The fight with Qatar was born more in Abu Dhabi than in Riyadh, and it was used to help elevate Mohammed bin Salman into his current position perhaps earlier than might have otherwise happened. It became a tool by which Mohammed bin Salman became crown prince because his predecessor Muhammad bin Nayef was accused of being too pro-Qatar, too indulgent of Qatar’s Muslim Brotherhood sympathies. I think Mohammed bin Salman probably feels a certain loyalty to Mohammed bin Zayed over how he became crown prince and why.

Iraq

BRUCE RIEDEL: Let’s not forget about Iraq, which has significant deposits of oil and natural gas, and a population that’s large enough to be significant. If you were to ask, “what is the power that is going to break this four-plus-two-plus-one structure and emerge and become another power?,” it’s almost certainly the Iraqis. They will come back at some point.

US role in Mideast

BRUCE RIEDEL: I am struck by a paradox. America’s military footprint in the Middle East today is more widespread than it’s ever been before. We now have American troops in Turkey, Iraq, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Egypt, and every Gulf state. Iran and Lebanon are the only two countries I can think of in the region where is there is no American troop presence. This reinforces a point that Martin made earlier, which is that Americans are tired of it, understandably. We look to be in an ever-growing quagmire with no end in sight, involved in civil wars that no one expects to end anytime soon, and we’re in the crossfire in all of them.

JEffREY FELTMAN: The fight within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) against Qatar is an example of declining U.S. influence. Those of us that worked in the government remember the many times that we would bring together the six GCC countries for various meetings, usually with an anti-Iran focus. And it was clear that there were differences between Doha and Abu Dhabi, and between Doha and Riyadh even then. But somehow we were able to manage this. That no longer seems to be the case. The United States has not been able to help the GCC overcome this ideological difference between the Muslim Brotherhood-Qatar crowd and the anti-Muslim  Brotherhood-UAE-Saudi Arabia crowd.

BRUCE RIEDEL: The Iran example points to another odd thing. Since 1979, no Middle Eastern country has taken oil off the market. Only the United States has taken oil off the market. It’s been American sanctions against Iraq, Libya, and Iran, and now Iran again, that have reduced oil on the market. It isn’t the region that’s a threat to the market. If you look at the historical record of the last quarter century, it’s the United States of America that’s a threat to the market.

Saudi Arabia

BRUCE RIEDEL: I think there are four principal Saudi objectives. The first is to counter Iran. The Saudis see Iran as their principal threat in the region, and they rapidly go from countering Iran to countering Shi’ism. This is rooted deeply in Wahhabi ideology. There’s virtually no difference in their minds between the two.

The second is counter-revolution, and by that I mean countering moves toward democratic political reforms in the region, which Saudi Arabia is adamantly against. Saudi Arabia makes no secret it is an absolute monarchy and has no intention of ever becoming a democratic state. 

The third is counterterrorism. Here there’s a paradox of course. Saudi Arabia is determined to fight terrorist groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State, which target Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is also, because of its Wahhabi ideology, often the petri dish in which radical Islamic ideas flourish, particularly in the Muslim communities in Europe. 

The fourth is to counter Israel. Although here I think there are more signs of confusion within the Kingdom than we’ve seen heretofore.

I make two overall comments about this. From the Saudi standpoint, many of these issues overlap. A good example is the intervention in Bahrain in 2011, which was undertaken to counter Iran, counter democratic reforms, counter Shi’ism, and, since anyone who is espousing all of those things must be a terrorist, to counter terrorism as well. They only lacked an Israeli angle. And I’m sure if they tried, they could have found one.

The other thing I would say is that when you look at issue number one—countering Iran—the sorry story for the Saudis is that they’re losing, and losing badly. Lebanon and Syria were essentially lost to the Iranians in the 1980s, and the Syrian civil war has just moved them even further out of the Saudi orbit. Iraq was lost by the disastrous decision of the George W. Bush administration to intervene and then to foolishly hold elections, which guaranteed a Shiite takeover, at least from the Saudi standpoint. Yemen is a more complicated story, but the bottom line there is that the Saudis have gotten themselves into a quagmire that costs them billions of dollars a month, and costs the Iranians, at most, a couple of million dollars a month. If anyone was to look at this as a corporate entity, they would say this is a disastrous decision for you to make. 

Which gets me to my last point. Saudi Arabia may have more aspirations for regional leadership today than it has ever had. Witness that they just signed a peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea in Saudi Arabia, and brought in Djibouti as well. The prime minister of Pakistan made his first foreign visit to Saudi Arabia, and President Trump made his first foreign visit to Saudi Arabia. Yet while the Saudis are definitely very active diplomatically, questions about the stability of the Kingdom are higher now that they’ve been in 50 years. And there is a very serious question about what the line of succession is going to produce, and whether it will be disrupted by some kind of internal political upheaval. It is very fascinating that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has spent the last four months sleeping every night on a yacht off Jeddah in the Red Sea because he doesn’t feel safe sleeping on the ground. 

Let’s turn to Turkey. It seems to me that a central and surely driving concern of Turkish engagement in the Middle East is its internal politics, including the role of President Erdogan and a repositioning of Turkish domestic politics toward Islam. 

KEMAL KIRISCI: First of all, it’s Erdogan’s strategy, not Turkey’s. The easiest way to capture his strategic perspective is reflected by two different hand gestures he frequently employs. From about 2012 to about nine or ten months ago, Erdogan’s strategic perspective on the Middle East was symbolized by the four-finger Rabia salute, denoting solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood. From this you can deduce the poor relations with Egypt, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, the close relations with Qatar, and Turkey’s ambiguous, confusing policies over Libya. 

But during the run up to the presidential elections in June 2018 he raised his other hand too in a four-finger salute, denoting “one state, one nation, one flag, one language.” This is Turkish nationalism pure and simple. And that helped him win the elections with 52 percent of the vote by receiving a substantial part of the nationalist votes. So his strategic perspective now is a very confusing and conflicting one because voices captured by the nationalist four finger hand sign are openly telling him that he has to build bridges with Bashar Assad and pre-empt the emergence of a Kurdish autonomous entity in northern Syria and ensure the return of at least some of the 3.5 million Syrian refugees. And that a huge economy like Egypt cannot be ignored. And to get on with Israel and the United States. So in a nutshell, I think we’re seeing a tug of war in Turkey’s strategic perspectives between two very separate constituencies that have coalesced under these two hand gestures.

After the accession of King Salman to the Saudi throne, Turkey developed close relations with Muhammad bin Nayef and managed to sustain a collaborative relationship against all odds. However, once Mohammed bin Salman successfully maneuvered himself into the position of crown prince in July 2017, the picture began to change dramatically and the Saudi-Turkish relationship became increasingly strained. This coincided with an escalating crisis between the two sides when Saudi Arabia together with Bahrain, the UAE, and Egypt severed all ties with Qatar and imposed an economic blockade over Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood and its refusal to terminate its ties with Iran. In response, Turkey sent additional troops to its small military base in Qatar as a deterrent against a possible Saudi military intervention, which would seek the overthrown of Tamim al Thani, the emir of Qatar. Turkey further deepened its ties with Qatar establishing a new food logistic line via Iran, enabling it to withstand the blockade. Yet, what aggravated matters for Erdogan most were Mohammed bin Salman’s policies toward Israel, his willingness to entertain Trump’s Middle East peace plan with Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, his close relationship with Jared Kushner, and his decision to pledge $100 million to help with reconstruction in northeastern parts of Syria controlled by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds.  The murder of Khashoggi thus became a golden opportunity for Erdogan to embark on an ambitious project and seek a change in the line of succession to the Saudi throne by discrediting the legitimacy of the crown prince. The whole Khashoggi affair has benefitted Erdogan domestically as well as internationally, even though it is not evident that he succeeded in achieving his ambition to see Mohammed bin Salman removed from power. Yet, throughout the saga, Erdogan kept King Salman out of the scandal and showed deference by referring to him as the custodian of the holy mosques. This suggests that for the time being Erdo??an is likely to continue to seek a pragmatic relationship with Saudi Arabia, especially at a time when Turkey is going through economic difficulties and needs Saudi finance and trade. However, the presence of Mohammed bin Salman at the helm of Saudi foreign policy will ensure that both sides remain locked in a major rivalry as far as the future of Middle East geopolitics is concerned.


What are Israel’s strategic objectives in the region? 

NATAN SACHS: I think there are just three strategic interests, and then a fourth outcome of them. The first strategic interest is itself often described as threefold: Iran, Iran, and Iran. This is the Israeli focus on countering Iran and Iranian influence in a variety of different realms. The nuclear realm, which still underlies a lot of what Israel thinks about, and is in some ways the only existential threat that the Israelis, especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, identify on the horizon. Countering Hezbollah, Iran’s main proxy, as Suzanne described it, and the main conventional military threat that the Israelis identify—it’s not the Egyptian military or the Syrian military, as in the past--Hezbollah is the one the planners are really concerned about. Israel’s military planners are actively preparing to counter Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal or an attack targeting the Galilee. The third realm of Iranian influence is Syria and Iran’s military presence there. This is another major concern for the Israelis. As a byproduct, Israel has invested in its relationship with Russia, now a very important focal point and an important Israeli interest, as we saw recently in the headlines.

Speaking of Russia

ANGELA STENT: Russia’s return to the Middle East after the withdrawal from the region that followed the Soviet collapse is one of Putin’s major foreign policy achievements. Unlike in Soviet times, Russian policy is pragmatic and non-ideological, which gives it considerable flexibility. Russia has ties with all the major regional players, irrespective of their internal politics. Indeed, Russia is the only major power that talks to the Shiite states, the Sunni states, and to Israel. It has been able to establish cooperative ties with the region’s main protagonists and antagonists: Israel and the Palestinians; Israel and Iran; Iran and Saudi Arabia; Turkey and the Kurds; both Libyan governments; and Hamas and Hezbollah. Putin has taken advantage of the U.S. ambivalence about its future role in the region to re-assert Russia’s influence there. Indeed, Russia has begun to replace the United States as the go-to player in this fractured region. Its intervention in Syria and support for Assad have enabled Putin to achieve one of his major goals—Russia’s return to the global board of directors. Russia is in the Middle East for the long haul. It is seeking to convert its decisive role in Syria—ensuring that Assad prevailed and stayed in power—to a broader role of regional power broker. But there is also a domestic element here. Russia has an ongoing problem with radicalization and jihadism amongst its Muslim population—20 million and growing. The Kremlin viewed the Arab Spring, particularly what happened in Libya, as a dangerous precedent for what could happen elsewhere—including in Russia. Putin has given the figure of 4,000 people who have gone from Russia to fight with ISIS. Russia wants to ensure that these jihadists do not return home and it seeks to minimize the ability of foreign terrorist groups to radicalize Russian citizens.

Since Putin came to power, Russia has developed close ties with two countries that were shunned in the Soviet times—Israel and Saudi Arabia. In the Israeli case, the driving factors are Iran and domestic politics. Netanyahu depends on Russia to restrain Hezbollah’s activities in the Golan Heights and 1.4 million Israeli citizens come from the former Soviet space and retain links with Russia and its neighbors. In the Saudi case, the driving factors are Iran and oil. Like the Israelis, the Saudis seek Russian help in containing Iran. And the two countries are cooperating on restricting oil production to maintain higher prices. Both Israel and Saudi Arabia—like the Trump administration—- hope that Russia will curtail Iran’s role in Syria once the war is over. But that overestimates Russia’s influence over Iran. Russia will remain in Syria once the war is over and is actively seeking Western help in its reconstruction. But Putin has said that Iran will remain in Syria. However, the Russian-Iranian relationship could become more conflictual once the war is over.

QATAR WILL HOST THE WORLD SOCCER FINALS: To warm up they took the Asian Cup against all odds. They won most of their games in Abu Dhabi, UAE where their fans could not come to follow them because of the blockade. The UAE fans during the semifinals were rude and disgraceful throwing shoes at players after they scored points. See discussion above about the different roles Qatar and UAE play in Mideast affairs and also the huge cultural difference between Dubai of the UAE  and Abu Dhabi of the UAE.

A TERRORISM CONFERENCE: Brookings Institute John Allen concludes with a call not to invade Iran because the overwhelming cause of worldwide terrorism is jihadist Sunni. He also implies Syria and other real states should be supported not overthrown if we desire peace. Bruce Reidel showed the destabilizing effect of the Saudi under Muhammad bin Salman.  The think tank conversation is improving.

IN YEMEN: US ARMS SOLD TO SAUDIS ARE IN HANDS OF AL QAEDA AND A FEW ARE WITH HOUTHIS: The arms are in hands of Al Qaeda because they are willing to fight the Shiites so the Saudi Arm Merchants give the guns to the men who will use them.  The Houthis only get US arms when they take them from defeated enemies  in battle. From the beginning of MbS war against Shiite Houthis , the journalists who knew Yemen (see Gregory Johnsen analysis) reported this will only help Al Qaeda.

WHO ARE THE HOUTHIS? UNDERSTANDING YEMEN: Excellent short history by Bruce Reidel.

ABOUT VENEZUELA: The worldwide leftists are stuck in a failing paradigm.

CHINA AND THE TECH WAR;  THE THOUGHT OF XI JINPING: 5G is the new Sputnik. Good explanation of the party state nationalism of Xi Jinping.

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: Saturday Feb 2

by A. Joseph Lynch and Dr. David Pence

                                                                   

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

TRANSLATED  BOOK ON ANNIBALE BUGNINI - REFORMER OF THE LITURGY: Written by Yves Chiron reviewed by Conor Dugan.

US Dioceses Filing Bankruptcy Jan 2019

THE PSYCHOLOGIST WHOM POPE FRANCIS USES FOR PRIESTS/BISHOPS SUSPECTED OF HOMOSEXUAL MISBEHAVIOR: Excerpt from NCRegister's Edward Pentin reporting in an article about Vatican knowledge of Argentine Bishop Zanchetta:

Father Arana’s Involvement

But a further question has emerged concerning reports that the Pope sent Bishop Zanchetta to Jesuit Father German Arana in 2017. Francis has sent at least three bishops with psychiatric problems to Father Arana, who is based in Madrid, for counseling.

They include Chilean Bishop Juan Barros, who resigned last year as bishop of the Diocese of Osorno following accusations of covering up for notorious abuser Father Fernando Karadima, and Honduran Bishop Juan José Pineda Fasquelle, who resigned last year as auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa following allegations of sexually abusing seminarians and financial misconduct.

Father Arana is the Pope’s “psychologist and Jesuit adviser,” an informed source told the Register. “He sends to him all those who have problems, especially with homosexuality.”

{Ed: A defining trait of a virile culture is the clarity and strength of its prohibitions - the taboos that guard the sacred. The failing therapeutic culture is characterized by a proclivity to medicalize both sin and crime.}

ON THE POPE AND BISHOPS: Not getting it done by William Kilpatrick.

POPE FRANCIS ON PLANE FROM PANAMA (JAN 28, 2019): "I tell young people what they have to do in life they have to do by walking and using the three languages: head, heart and hands. Three harmonious languages, so that they do what they feel and what they think, think what they feel and what they do, feel what they think and what they do. I don’t know how to take stock of the [papal] mission. With all this I go to prayer and stay there before the Lord, sometimes I fall asleep, but I entrust him with the things I have lived in the mission and ask him to confirm in faith through me. This is how I conceive the pope’s mission and how I live it."

ON CELIBACY: For the Latin rite, I am reminded of a phrase of St. Paul VI: “I prefer to give my life before changing the law of celibacy.” This came to me and I want to say it because it is a courageous phrase. In a moment more difficult than this — it was in the years 1968-1970. Personally, I think that celibacy is a gift to the Church. Secondly, I would say that I do not agree with permitting optional celibacy, no. There remains only some possibility for very far places. I think of the Pacific islands, when there is a pastoral necessity, the pastor should think of the faithful.

A FEMALE REPORTER ASKS FOR MERCY IN UNDERSTANDING THE SUFFERING OF WOMEN WHO HAVE ABORTIONS: Pope Francis: "The message of mercy is for everyone. Also for the human person who is in gestation. It is for everyone. After this failure, there is mercy as well. But a difficult mercy because the problem is not in giving forgiveness. The problem is to accompany a woman who has become aware of (what it means to have had) an abortion. These are terrible tragedies. Once I heard a doctor talking about a theory that a cell of the newly conceived fetus goes to the marrow of the mother and there is also a physical memory. This is a theory, but to say, a woman when she thinks about what she did… but I tell you the truth, you have to be in the confessional and you have to give comfort there, you can’t say anything. That is why I have opened up the power (for priests) to absolve abortion out of mercy, because many times, but always, they have to meet with their child. I advise many times when they call, they have this anguish: “Your child is in heaven, talk to him. Sing to him the lullaby that you have not sung… you have not been able to sing to him”. And there is a way for the mother to reconcile with her child. With God there is already forgiveness, God always forgives. But mercy also, that you elaborate this. The tragedy of abortion, to understand it well, one must be in a confessional. Terrible."

WHICH SIDE IN VENEZUELA? I support in this moment all of the Venezuelan people – it is a people that is suffering – including those who are one side and the other. All of the people are suffering. If I entered to say, “listen to these countries,” or “listen to these others who say this,” I would be putting myself in a role I don’t know. It would be a pastoral imprudence on my side, and it would do damage. peaceful solution. What is it that scares me? The shedding of blood. And there I also ask greatness to help, to those who can help and resolve the problem.

ON IMMIGRATION: Then, the words that I use to express myself… is to receive, to have a heart willing to receive, to welcome, to accompany, to help grow and integrate. And I also say: the ruler must use prudence because prudence is the ruler’s most proper virtue. I said that in my last flight. With these words, yes. It is a tough equation. It comes to my mind the example of Sweden, a country that back in the 1970’s has received many, many immigrants due to a situation of dictatorship in Latin American countries and managed to integrate all the people who migrated. But the Swedish have said a few years ago that they should take this process more slowly so they can finish it, and this is the prudence of the rulers.

But it is true that it’s important to think realistically. Then there’s another important aspect, something we should all consider: one way of helping migrants is to offer help to the countries where they come from.

A NOBLE NATION LOVING LIFE: I thank you so much for you work. I would just like to say a thing about Panama. I felt a new feeling. I know Latin America but not Panama. And this word came to me: Panama is a noble nation. I found nobility. This I wish to say, and I want to say another thing that I said when I came back from Colombia, speaking of the experience in Cartagena and the other cities, a thing that we don’t see in Europe, that is, the pride, in this case of the Panamanians. You lift up the children and they say to you, “this is my victory,” “this is my future,” “this is my pride.” This in the midst of the demographic winter we’re living in Europe. In Italy, below zero. It has to make us think. What is my pride? Tourism? The villa (home)? The dog? Or lifting up a child? Thanks! Pray for me, I need it.

II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND THE NATIONS

WHY TRUMP WON: The Somewheres vs the Anywheres. A 5-minute video on populist conservatism and why Trump won by ex-Prime Minister of Canada on Prager U.

WILLIE AND KAMALA - ITS NOT EASY TO GET TO THE TOP IF YOU ARE A WOMAN: 84 y/o Willie Brown remembers launching Kamala - so what?

THREAT ASSESSMENT - THIS IS NOT A NATIONALIST ASSESSMENT OF OUR THREATS OR OUR SOLUTIONS:

Christopher Wray of FBI; Gina Haspel of CIA; Dan Coats, DNI.

The Threat Assessment Report and the oral testimony of the principle security officers to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Jan 2, 2019, was depressingly incoherent in strategy, embarrassingly incomplete in substance but clearly anti-Trumpian in tone. The fable continues that Russia is a threat to our elections (CIA). The yellow peril of China is introduced as our greatest long term threat (FBI). Iran is not building nukes (CIA) and North Korea is not stopping its nuclear program. ISIS was touted as a huge worldwide organization with thousands of fighters left in Iraq and Syria. There was no distinction between the religious ideology of Salafist Wahhabism which can mutate anywhere and the ISIS territorial model of a caliphate which has been crushed. The religious illiteracy which has plagued our response to 9/11 from the beginning persists. There was not a word in the little paragraph on Saudi Arabia suggesting that the Saudi-Wahhabi control of Mecca and Medina may be the primary source of the Hanbali Salafist ideology which motivates worldwide jihadists.

The major threats outlined included (written summary document ) a major ideological battle with China modeling an authoritarian capitalist model vs democracy, human rights and the rule of law. They reported Russia and China are "more aligned than anytime since the 1950's."  They said nations will exploit the weakening of western institutions and growing tendency of nations to support "isolationism." They noted that our foes will exploit the questioning of "liberal democracy". The greatest threat to religious liberty appeared to be the Chinese in relation to the Muslim Uyghurs. Climate change remained a threat. And while defining ISIS as a major international actor the report said it was necessary to redirect resources from the "worldwide threat of terrorism" to work against the larger actors (Russia and China?) who threaten us. There was no indication that both of those countries have significant threats from Islamic jihadists and could be co belligerents with us.

Their threat assessment in the "Western Hemisphere" did not mention the pivotal multinational coalition declaring the Maduro election in Venezuela illegal. There is not a word about illegal immigration. Anti US autocrats were seen as threats but the largest country in South America - Brazil WAS NOT MENTIONED. The significance of a newly elected religious nationalist who is friendly to the US (and especially to President Trump) didn't make a big impression on these strategic thinkers. The writers of  the document seem well versed in the bromides of American media and western intelligence agencies. They seem divorced from the physical reality of nations and the life and death significance of religion. This is a real problem which one man cannot fix alone.

Comey, Brennan and Clapper are gone. The deep state remains. It is not all powerful - it is ever present in its careerism but incestuously small in its grasp of events. There seems no comprehension that the Trump nationalist agenda of meeting with leaders of large influential nation-men  can  break up the most dangerous scenario of all: Russia and China leading African nations allied with Sunni Turkey and Shiite Iran vs the globalist West led ideologically by feminist Sweden and militarily by a dispirited NATO. If Haspel, Coats, and Wray are now considered "the adults in the room", the baby boomer project of first coarsening, then feminizing, and finally infantilizing American public discourse has been completed.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY OF FEDERALIST GETS THIS STORY RIGHT: The most important threat to the US is the deepening alliance of Russia and China. Unlike the exhausted policies of the Security establishment, President Trump has a nationalist approach to this strategic catastrophe including a true reset with Russia. President Trump has reversed the disastrous trade policies with China. He seeks honest competition but not enmity with China.

TRUMP VS SPY CHIEFS - WHO IS RIGHT? Pat Buchanan.

FREE TRADE WITH CHINA: The Brits used it in the 1800's to sell Opium to China. 10% of Chinese males were addicted in 1900. The drug flow now comes from the other direction with Fentanyl from China.

UAE AND THE LADY SPY - IS IT SPYING IF THEY ARE OUR "ALLIES?" The real world of espionage isn't that Russian.

III. THE NATIONS

ON CHINA - NOTES FROM WASHINGTON POST ISHAAN THAROOR: DAVOS, Switzerland — On Wednesday in Davos, there was a telling moment involving a senior Chinese official. At a panel on how “global orders fail,” Fang Xinghai, the vice chairman of the Chinese government’s main securities regulator, offered his assessment of the state of politics in the West.

“You have to realize that democracy is not working very well,” Fang said. “You need political reforms in your countries.” He added that he meant this “with sincerity.” Fang’s remarks drew collegial chuckles from the Davos crowd but left behind a lingering unease. On one hand, it’s not unusual for an emissary of authoritarian Beijing to deflect criticism by pointing out the weaknesses of political systems elsewhere. On the other hand, it seemed blindingly obvious that Fang was right.   ...

Yet at Davos, China seemed far more an opportunity than a boogeyman. No major conversation on trade, climate change or new technologies seemed worth having without reference to Chinese perspectives or practices. ...

“This year, China is really the country everyone is talking about,” Karin von Hippel, the head of the Royal United Services Institute in London, told Today’s WorldView. “China is a growing power and is obviously a threat in some ways, but at the same time, it’s so big and will be so powerful that we can’t treat China as an enemy. We all have to figure out ways to work with it.”

FROM KISHORE MAHBUBANI AT HARPERS MAGAZINE: What China Threat? How the United States and China can avoid war. “However, if China is to be America’s number-one strategic priority, as it should be, the obvious question is whether America can be as strategically disciplined as China and give up its futile wars in the Islamic world and its unnecessary vilification of Russia.”

WHILE THE US ARMS THE SAUDIS, CHINA BUILDS INFRASTRUCTURE IN AFRICA: Railroads and Rapid Transit projects in Ethiopia and Kenya.

EUROPEAN INTELLECTUALS LAMENT THE DISINTEGRATION OF EUROPE - 30 JOIN IN MANIFESTO: "Abstractions such as "soul" or "identity" often only exist in the minds of demagogues". "European patriots" urged to fight for Europe against nationalism.

THE WEST HAS BECOME GENDER EQUALITY AND FEMINISM - SWEDEN LEADS THE WAY: Sweden's Feminist Foreign Policy. This is the nonsense that has kept the US from a nationalist foreign policy which would make alliances with the nations who dominate their respective regions: Russia, China, India, Japan, Turkey and Brazil.

IN PHILIPPINES, A CATHOLIC CHURCH BOMBED BY ISLAMIC SUNNI JIHADISTS. IN NEW YORK INFANTICIDE IS LEGALIZED: Be glad that Duterte is President and not Cardinal Dolan whose response to Gov. Cuomo signing the ghoulish New York abortion law is that excommunication would be inappropriate. We need protectors in authority in every nation and diocese. Duterte will respond to the Church murder as an authority. Dolan won't. The Cathedral Attack is probably a response to a new initiative in establishing a new partially autonomous Muslim majority district. The terrorists do not really want Muslims in charge of the regional government -they would put an end to the anarchic Salafists who oppose established civic authorities in favor of a caliphate. President Duterte is a strong supporter of the autonomous district for the Muslim majority area.

REFERENDUM FOR BANGSAMORO AUTONOMOUS REGION OVERWHELMINGLY YES:
The Philippines have a population of 100 million. 10% are Muslim and half live in the southern section of the island of Mindanao and 3 adjacent islands. Those regions have voted for self rule as the BAR. President Duterte is from the Mindanao Island and has relatives on both sides of the long Moro conflict that has claimed 6,000 lives in the last 20 years. The so-called madman president has made more progress on this inter-religious boundary than all of his more respectable predecessors. Muslims in the Philippines belong to the Shafii School of Sunni Islam and are not ideologically jihadist.

The Catholic Philippines and their Muslim Neighbors-Indonesia (250mill) and Malaya (30mill)

Philippines 100 million (10 million Muslim)

WAHHABISM OF THE SEA VS. WAHHABISM OF THE SAND: Religious-political differences between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. More on Qatar - hedging their bets.

SAUDI RADICALIZATION OF SUNNIS IN INDIA: Good overview.

A COMMON WORD BETWEEN US AND YOU: In October 2016, 38 Muslim scholars joined by 138 scholars a year later published a statement suggesting that love of God and love of neighbor should provide the basis of dialogue between Muslims and Christians. The Common Word project is very similar to the "concentric circles" approach of the Catholic Church which Vatican II presented to Christians, monotheists, religious men and all men of good will for the unity of mankind.

MADURO AND HIS MILITARY IN VENEZUELA: If they stick together... by Pat Buchanan. (ED -We think it is more likely that ambitious military men will see the writing on the wall and possibly take a base or a city as a move against the legitimacy of Maduro. The Church should establish sanctuary to help tip the balance. The more the balance is tipped and Maduro sees he needs an exit, the greater chance to reduce bloodshed.)

IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

THE ANDA - MONGOL SWORN BROTHERS: Genghis Khan(reigned 1206-1227) said: "Man's greatest good fortune is to chase and defeat his enemy, seize his total possessions, leave his married women weeping and wailing, [and] ride his [horse]." Taking many men's wives, fully 8% (16 million) of men living today within the realm of his empire are his descendants. What made his conquests possible was the anda oath taking between warring Mongol tribes. The anda, once taken, ritually made men brothers under the rule of their leader, Genghis Khan. This ritual overcame tribal barriers, bound men together and to their commander, and helped establish a military brotherhood of over 1.2 million men. Texts of the anda ritual refer to the brotherhood oath binding the men together for life by establishing bonds of brotherly love between them. Through this oath the Mongols came to rule over nine million square miles.

BRYAN SINGER: Bohemian Rhapsody is up for an Oscar. Director Bryan Singer is why Christ never opposed Capital Punishment. A profile from The Atlantic.

VINCE LOMBARDI - QUOTES BY AND ABOUT: The leader lives for the group...

RENE GIRARD AND COVINGTON BY DREHER AND BARON: Dreher; Baron. Rene Girard is primarily known for his theories on mimetic desire and group scapegoating. In these links though the most interesting Girardian ideas discussed by Dreher are about the anti-Christ imitating Christ-taking some Christian trait and "doing it better than Christ". That is a trenchant portrayal of our victim culture, our open borders madness, and diversity's fascination with the "Other." Most leftist faults are extremes of Christian thought. Girard again very helpfully sees they soon become the "alternate totalitarians." Chesterton said "the modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad." He thought there were no more dangerous ideologues than those who separated the virtues - such as truth seeking or pity - and unleashed them to wreck havoc in isolation.

Girard is a French intellectual who later in life found that the "anthropological message of
Christianity was true". Hence he became a Christian. He is a Frenchman born in 1923 but died in America in 2015. What his role was as a male of fighting age in the liberation of Paris in August of 1944 is not clear. He spent most of his post-WWII life in the US. What is clear is that his "great religious insight" is that Christianity is a religion of nonviolence. Reducing Christianity to nonviolence sounds very much like the face of a modern pacifist, anti-Christ. There is in Girard no serious theory of building the kingdom, the authoritative role of Church or nation, and the necessity of physically and spiritually defeating and exorcizing the Devil. Girard is a great favorite of Bishop Robert Barron. Bishop Barron is very nonviolent, very nice, and often perceptive. However he is seriously "masculine anthropology challenged" (a new term for a widespread reality). The discussion of Girard was triggered by the scapegoating of the Covington Catholic boys. Bishop Barron thought the internet went demonic though he says, "my intention is not to adjudicate the matter which remains at best ambiguous, even in regard to the basic facts." It is easier to call the internet demonic than stand face-to-face against a liar. The bishop decries an electronic system while Nicholas Sandmann is face-to-face real life with the liar. An aggressor grown-up, a teenage male, and a nonviolent bishop unwilling to defend the teen from the aggressive adult: have we seen this movie before?

MICHAEL SEAN WINTERS ON BISHOP BARRON: An unflattering not entirely fair profile but enough truth to read. Learn about Bishop Barron and Mr. Winters.

FROM MINNEAPOLIS: Newly elected Representative, Ilhan Omar, has now taken down her contribution to the dialogue. This is not misunderstanding the first video. It is utter fabrication.