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ISIS-killer King Abdullah II of Jordan, that's who! And as is the case with current Canadian -and Australian- leadership,  King Abdullah II of Jordan also appears to have a far better grip on dealing with challenges to US security/interests these days than clueless-and-of-dubious-agenda Obama regime ever will. Perhaps this is not a surprise: even though there's been some bumps in the relationship (i.e. backing Saddam Hussein 2x), ever since the 6-Day War Jordan has become known as one of the most stable US allies in the Middle East, running a moderate Islamic government that doesn't care much for extremists,...

The Obama administration earlier this year turned down a request from Jordan for Predator spy drones that would help it locate targets in the war against the Islamic State. The refusal, disclosed by a House Armed Services Committee, member, is gaining importance today since Jordan has emerged as a critical player in a U.S.-led coalition to destroy the terror group. On Tuesday, the Islamic State released a video of its execution by fire of a capture Jordanian pilot. Jordan retaliated on Thursdaywith F-16 air strikes on the Syrian town of Raqqa and is vowing a relentless war against the Islamic...

Jordan confirmed on Wednesday that “The Jordanian King Abdullah II will participate personally on Thursday in conducting air strikes against the shelters of the terrorist ISIL organization to revenge the execution of the Jordanian pilot Maath al-Kassasba by the ISIL.” Media outlets reported the King Abdullah II as saying “The war against ISIL will not end and we will fight them in their shelters.”

Members of the House Armed Services Committee met with Jordan's King Abdullah Tuesday not long after news broke that ISIS had burned to death a Jordanian pilot captured in the fight against the terrorist group. In a private session with lawmakers, the king showed an extraordinary measure of anger — anger which he expressed by citing American movie icon Clint Eastwood.

President Obama will forego a visit to the Taj Mahal during his visit to India in order to travel to Saudi Arabia for King Abdullah’s funeral, the White House announced early Saturday morning. Vice President Biden was initially scheduled to lead the U.S. delegation, but he will instead now remain in Washington and Obama will add the stop onto his return from India, where the president is embarking on a three-day trip to foster economic ties with the nation. “President Obama and the First Lady will travel to Riyadh on Tuesday, January 27 in order to pay respects to King...

NBC’s chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel said on Friday that President Barack Obama‘s statement on the passing of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud was ironic and just an attempt at being polite because in reality, the late king “could not stand” President Obama. According to Engel, Saudi Arabia was against the “democratization” that the U.S. encouraged with its support for the Arab Spring and its opposition to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. “One of the big ironies here is that President Obama, in his statement, said how close he was to King Abdullah — King Abdullah did

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102292477

Afted Islamic extremism with “Zionist extremism” in remarks on Monday regarding the fight against terrorism. He made the comments during a meeting with Jordan’s president and members of the Lower House’s Democratic Gathering Bloc. While saying that there was a civil war taking place between moderate and extremist camps within Islam, the Jordanian monarch added that at the same time, “there is Zionist extremism,” and that “stakeholders should acknowledge there is extremism in all camps,” The Jordan Times reported...

SMILED as soon as he heard the most famous war cry of Islam, “bismillah al-rahman al-rahim,” Arabic for “in the name of Allah the most gracious, the most merciful.” Watch Obama smile as soon as Bergdahl gives the most famous Muslim expression, the “Bismillah” or the “Basmallah”: ... The “basmallah” is the Islamic expression for victory and only indicates that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s father is a Muslim. Think that the man is acting as “Muslim” for a stealth operation to rescue his son who is already in good hands in Germany? And what is with the long beard and trimmed...

I didn’t set out to become Twitter famous in Saudi Arabia. As a senior White House reporter for POLITICO, I’ve traveled all over the country and the world with President Barack Obama, touching down in Air Force One on one unremarkable tarmac after another to record his arrival. I seldom find them noteworthy — and, as an infrequent tweeter, rarely ever share-worthy. But Riyadh was different. A stunning display of Saudi guards awaited Obama at the airport Friday in perfect formation, swords in hand and scarves on their head. So I did something I don’t normally do: I tweeted the...

Homaidan al-Turki was convicted in 2006 on charges related to having an underage slave whom he sexually molested. Al-Turki resided in Colorado and his now serving out his prison sentence in that state. Since his conviction, there has been a very strong effort from Saudi Arabia to have him released. ... A judge has now ruled that al-Turki isn’t going anywhere (that is if you don’t count his being moved from a State Correctional facility to a federal one). ... al-Turki has never really been completely cleared in the murder of Executive Director for Colorado’s Department of Corrections. Clements was...

A 58-year-old airport worker was charged Friday with allegedly planning a suicide bombing at a passenger terminal at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport in Kansas. The suspect, Terry Lee Loewen, an avionics technician who lives in Wichita, was arrested earlier in the day as he attempted to use his security pass to drive a vehicle that he thought contained explosives onto the tarmac at the airport, law enforcement officials said at a news conference in Wichita. In fact, the car contained only dummy explosives. U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Loewen spent months developing a plan to drive a carload of explosives...

The office of the Colorado Governor’s office, headed by Democrat John Hickenlooper, may be on the brink of a major scandal involving attempts to release a Saudi prisoner. Homaidan al-Turki was convicted in 2006 for keeping a sex slave locked up in his residence. He repeatedly molested her over a period of years. You might remember that earlier this year, the Executive Director for Colorado’s prisons, Tom Clements, denied a request to release al-Turki and have him sent back to Saudi Arabia. Eight days later, Clements was shot dead shortly after opening his front door on March 19, 2013. ......

The strange thing about the crackup in U.S.-Saudi relations is that it has been on the way for more than two years, like a slow-motion car wreck, but nobody in Riyadh or Washington has done anything to avert it. Snip//follow on to freep Red Badger//

Full title: EXCLUSIVE: Deputy of banned suicide-bomb-endorsing cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi had White House meeting with National Security Council staff --------------------------------------- The UK and U.S. have banned Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who leads the anti-Israel International Union of Muslim Scholars. The Obama administration invited that group's VP, Abdallah bin Bayyah, to a private meeting on the day it announced support for Syria's rebelsThe organization ended its December 2012 board meeting by calling for the end of Israel and the return of its lands to the PalestiniansHours after MailOnline began inquiring with the National Security Council about its meeting with bin Bayyah, the cleric's...

A ‘terrorist cell’ believed to be linked to Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah and housing weapons intended to attack Israeli and Western targets has been discovered in a compound in northern Nigeria, the country’s security services said on Thursday. Nigeria's security services said Thursday they had discovered a home in the northern city of Kano where Lebanese nationals had stored weapons intended to attack Israeli and Western targets in Nigeria. The Kano state intelligence chief, Bassey Etang, and a separate military statement described the compound as hosting a "terrorist cell" tied to the powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. No evidence was...

Note: Photos included. SNIPPET: "A new chapter opens in the saga of IRGC activity in Peru, as Soheil Assad leads a march conducted under the rubric of "odio al sistema capitalista e imperialista"."

US President Barack Obama has pledged to Jordan an additional $200m (£131m) to help deal with the growing number of Syrian refugees in the country. After talks in Amman, Mr Obama said the funds - if backed by Congress - would help provide more humanitarian aid. Some 450,000 Syrians have fled to neighbouring Jordan since the unrest began in 2011, putting huge pressure on the Jordanian authorities. Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah ruled out closing Jordan's border with Syria. President Obama said he would ask Congress to provide additional funds as "budget support" to help the Syrian refugees. He said this...

Unless the US clarifies its position regarding King Abdullah and reiterates its full backing for his regime, the Muslim fundamentalists are likely to step up there efforts to create anarchy and lawlessness in the kingdom. . . . . . Deputy State Department Spokesman Mark Toner managed to create panic [and anger] in the Royal Palace in Amman when he stated that there was "thirst for change" in Jordan and that the Jordanian people had "economic, political concerns," as well as "aspirations."

Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood has given King Abdullah II notice that he has until October to bow to their demand to transform the Hashemite Kingdom into a constitutional monarchy or face "Arab Spring" style street pressure for his abdication. Middle East sources report that Israeli and Saudi intelligence watchers are becoming increasingly concerned about the approaching climax of the conflict in Amman between Islamists and the throne. For Israel, an upheaval in Jordan bodes the tightening of the Islamist noose around its borders – Egypt and Libya to the south and Syria to the north, with unpredictable consequences with regard to...