A Syrian opposition site reports that the Syrian air force forbade Iranian-backed Shi’ite factions from storing ammunition in its bases. I guess the Syrians don’t want to be targeted by the IDF.
www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-Syrian-Air-Force-bars-Iran-from-using-its-bases-558539
Members of the UN have expressed dismay over Syria becoming president of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva.
A crowd at a high school softball championship game burst into song after the announcer said they wouldn’t be playing the national anthem Friday in In Fresno, California.
— Read on www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5776669/Sports-stadium-sings-National-Anthem-capella-announcer-Memorial-day-weekend.html
Watch the Israel-bashing, MS-13-coddling, Kim Jong-un–hugging Democrats evaporate into oblivion.
— Read on www.nationalreview.com/2018/05/gop-mideterm-2018-election-prospects-positive/
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his commitment to “complete” denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and to a planned meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Sunday.
In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump signaled that preparations for a June 12 summit with Kim were going ahead, despite having called the meeting off last week.
Moon and Kim agreed at a surprise meeting on Saturday that the possible North Korea-U.S. summit must be held, Moon told a news conference in Seoul.
“Chairman Kim and I have agreed that the June 12 summit should be held successfully, and that our quest for the Korean peninsula’s denuclearization and a perpetual peace regime should not be halted,” Moon said.
Between 1995 and 2005 there were numerous reports and statements that Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, had issued a Fatwa–religious decree–that nuclear weapons were forbidden–haram! This is part of the text from his official Fatwa page, conveniently translated by the Iranians for English-language readers.
We believe that besides nuclear weapons, other types of weapons of mass destruction such as chemical and biological weapons also pose a serious threat to humanity. The Iranian nation which is itself a victim of chemical weapons feels more than any other nation the danger that is caused by the production and stockpiling of such weapons and is prepared to make use of all its facilities to counter such threats. We consider the use of such weapons as haraam and believe that it is everyone’s duty to make efforts to secure humanity against this great disaster.
http://farsi.khamenei.ir/treatise-content?id=228#2790
Here is another citation, stating the same thing, from the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
“The Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued the Fatwa that the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam and that the Islamic Republic of Iran shall never acquire these weapons. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who took office just recently, in his inaugural address reiterated that his government is against weapons of mass destruction and will only pursue nuclear activities in the peaceful domain. The leadership of Iran has pledged at the highest level that Iran will remain a non-nuclear-weapon state party to the NPT and has placed the entire scope of its nuclear activities under IAEA safeguards and additional protocol, in addition to undertaking voluntary transparency measures with the agency that have even gone beyond the requirements of the agency’s safeguard system.
https://web.archive.org/web/20130810154009/http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=302258
If we assume that Iran’s Supreme Leader (and BMW distributor) is an honest religious leader, whose Fatwas reflect statements of the truth, then there was no need for any diplomatic agreement with Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. If the development of such weapons was haram, then there was no need to constrain Iranian weaponized nuclear development. No agreement reached between Iran and assorted other states could possibly have more importance than a Fatwa from Shia Islam’s Supreme Leader! So why bother trying to negotiate JCPOA?
That effort only makes sense if you believe that Khamenei is also Iran’s Supreme Liar! And, apparently, that is what George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama, and John Kerry believed!
It’s interesting that now that Trump has withdrawn from JCPOA, the Iranians are threatening the world with a resumption of a nuclear program that, at the time, they claimed did not exist because it was judged haram by a Fatwa from the Supreme Leader.
In other words, Trump’s action to withdraw should only worry you if you are convinced that Iran’s Supreme Leader is also a big-time liar, who Fatwas cannot even be trusted to be true. So why cut a deal with this guy? If his Fatwas are examples of blatant dishonesty, why trust him to live up to any other promise he’s made?
Yes, you’ve read all the stories about the Iranians pressuring the Europeans to turn their backs on the US and support Iran. But what has gotten less press are the actions of the Saudis, who have even greater levels of trade with Europe than Iran, to convince the Europeans NOT to bend over backward for the Iranians. These two articles focus on the particularly poor Saudi-German relationship.
It is soooo hard on Euroweenies when they have to make difficult choices.
Obviously, not all Swedes love their refugee neighbors.
Christian Democrats leader Ebba Busch Thor has proposed paying immigrant families a total of SEK 160,000 ($18,500) to leave Sweden. The cost of letting them stay would be much higher, she argued.
The Christian Democrats, who have fared badly in a series of recent opinion polls leading up to the general election slated for this autumn, having even fallen below the four-percent barrier in some, have come up with a series of proposal pertaining to the immigration question to attract the fleeing voters, the news outlet Samtiden reported.
The party aims to contradict the official narrative of recent decades that immigration is largely beneficial for a Swedish society that cannot survive without immigrants. The Christian Democrats, however, are prepared to pay off immigrants who have had their asylum applications rejected to make them more eager to leave the country. Otherwise, the party pointed out, a “shadow society” may emerge in Sweden.
A whole family of immigrants can thus be offered as much as SEK 160,000 ($18,500) to leave Sweden. An individual adult, however, may get as much as SEK 60,000 ($7,000).
While some found the proposal strange, as these people technically do not even have the right to be in the country, the Christian Democrats motivate their proposal that it is much more expensive to let the immigrants stay.
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201805261064833973-sweden-christian-democrats-migrants/
THE ABYSS BECKONS! 