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Map of the planned Turkish Stream (Wikipedia). Russia’s Gazprom has begun constructing the first stage of the Turkish Stream pipeline that will run gas from southern Russia across the Black Sea to Turkey, Reuters reported on Sunday.Switzerland’s Allseas Group S.A has begun laying pipes on the Russian shore of Black Sea. The pipeline will when completed by the end of 2019 allow the state-owned Gazprom company to send gas direct to southern Europe through the Turkish Stream while bypassing Ukraine.The Turkish Stream intergovernmental agreement was signed in October 2016 after having been halted for almost a year following the shootdown...

The Democrats Don’t Have a Foreign Policy, They Have A Trump Policy Not just treasonous, stupid. May 10, 2018 Daniel Greenfield Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism. Quick, what’s the Dem position on Syria? What about China? Don’t bother. There was once a time when Democrats could discuss Syria, North Korea, the South China Sea, economic tensions in the European Union and the future of Africa. But that was before Trump. Democrats don’t have a foreign policy anymore. They have a Trump...

An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badie, to life in prison in a retrial on accusations of inciting street violence, his lawyer said, according to AFP. Four other leaders of the group were sentenced to life in prison as well, said defense lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud. He named the others as Mohamed el-Beltagi, Essam el-Erian, Safwat Higazi and El-Husseini Antar. “We will appeal the sentences within 60 days,” the lawyer told AFP, adding that four other people were sentenced to jail terms of between 10 and 15 years. The accusations date back to...

Ongoing rocket sirens in southern Israel since 19:00 pm Wednesday. IDF spokesperson reports over 70 rockets launched during the evening, most of which landed in open territory and 11 of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. 15 Israelis have been injured from the rocket launches and many families are spending the night in the home shelters. Hamas in a statement: “We are delivering on our promise. The resistance accepted the responsibility to even the playing field with the enemy and it is succeeding in doing so.”

A public university is paying a radical 89-year-old linguist hundreds of thousands of dollars to teach his famously leftist brand of politics, according to records obtained by Judicial after a months-long battle with the taxpayer-funded institution. Judicial Watch launched an investigation after the University of Arizona (UA), located in Tucson with an enrollment of about 40,000, announced that it hired Noam Chomsky to teach a general education course for undergraduates titled “What is Politics?” In the announcement UA describes Chomsky as a “world-renowned linguist” and one of the “most cited scholars in modern history.” The reality is that Chomsky is...

In announcing the imposition of the sanctions against Iran promised back in May, President Trump tweeted on Tuesday: “The Iran sanctions have officially been cast. These are among the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November they will ratchet up to yet another level. Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States. I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!” On Monday the president explained why he was imposing the sanctions, and asking other nations to cooperate: “We urge all nations to take such steps to make clear that the Iranian regime faces...

A senior Hamas official said in an interview with the Turkish news agency Anadol that an agreement would be reached between Israel and Hamas by the end of the month. The official said that the agreement would be for five years and would include, inter alia, the halting of arson attacks, the return of dead bodies and the establishment of a port and an airport in the Sinai Peninsula. The official's statement comes after London's Asharq Al-Awsat claimed on Monday that Hamas had agreed to a "gradual ceasefire" in exchange for Israel reopening the Kerem Shalom crossing. Last week, Maariv...

The Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, assassinated a top Syrian rocket scientist on Saturday using a car bomb, the New York Times first reported Tuesday. The scientist, Aziz Asbar, led a confidential unit known as “Sector 4” at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center developing cutting edge missile technology designed to further Syria’s efforts to initiate the long range bombing of Israeli cities. Asbar was killed along with his driver near the research center, which lies in the town of Masyaf and has long been believed to host chemical weapons development. The center has twice been the target of Israeli...

The Trump administration announced Monday the reimposition of sanctions on Iran that were lifted as part of a nuclear agreement with the country. The sanctions will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and follow through on the order President Trump gave when he withdrew from the nuclear pact in May. "The United States is fully committed to enforcing all of our sanctions, and we will work closely with nations conducting business with Iran to ensure complete compliance. Individuals or entities that fail to wind down activities with Iran risk severe consequences," Trump said in a statement Monday. "The JCPOA, a...

President Trump is set to reimpose several sanctions against Iran, following his decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. On Monday, the Trump administration is expected to announce the first wave of sanctions targeting Iranian automobile exports, trade and resources needed for nuclear development. The president pulled out of the deal back in May and gave a grace-period for U.S. allies to make prep for the fallout like cutting ties with Iranian businesses. The administration threatened to punish any country still making deals with the Islamic republic when the sanctions take effect.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday that the leaders of the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel were isolated in their hostility to Iran. "Today, the entire world has declared they are not in line with US policies against Iran," Zarif said

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' office claimed that White House Adviser Jared Kushner's reported efforts to limit UNRWA activities are "a continuation of the subversive plots to eliminate the Palestinian problem." A statement from Abbas' office emphasized the need to "oppose" and "foil" the US plan. It is believed that US President Donald Trump's proposed peace plan will remove the question of PA "refugees" from the negotiating table. The peace plan, the contents of which have not yet been revealed, was by the PA as "aiming to eliminate the Palestinian problem and negate all of the Palestinian nation's legitimate...

The timing of the exercise is unusual, as it appears to be similar in scale and nature to a drill that ordinarily happens later in the autumn. It comes just days before the U.S. reimposes sanctions on Tehran after its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several dozen boats were out training early Thursday morning. The vessels are mostly small attack boats, and there have been no interactions with U.S. ships in the area, the official added, according to AFP. In a statement, Captain Bill Urban, the military's Central Command spokesman, said...

Full Title: 'Death to the dictator!' Violence on streets of Iran as police use tear gas on furious protesters, including chador-clad women, demonstrating against 'corrupt regime' ruining the country while waging ideological war abroad Protests have broken out in a number of cities against Iranian regime this week Comes after the dramatic drop of Iran's currency and other economic problems 'The nation is forced to beg while the leader lives like God,' protesters chanted 'Death to the dictator!' Violence on streets of Iran as police use tear gas on furious protesters, including chador-clad women, demonstrating against 'corrupt regime' ruining the...

Iran's currency is continuing its downward spiral as increased American sanctions loom, hitting a new low on the thriving black market exchange. The Iranian rial fell to 112,000 to the dollar on Sunday, from 98,000 to $1 on Saturday. The government-set exchange rate was 44,070 to the dollar, compared to 35,186 on Jan. 1. The Iranian rial has been declining steadily for years but the drop has accelerated in recent months after the U.S. decision to pull out of the nuclear deal with Iran in May and announcement of increased sanctions beginning next month.

Russia cannot compel Iranian forces to quit Syria, Moscow's ambassador to Tel Aviv said on Monday, rebuffing Israel's long-standing demand that it should work to ensure their total withdrawal from the country. "They are playing a very, very important role in our common and joint effort to eliminate terrorists in Syria," Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov told Israel's Channel 10 television in an interview. "That is why, for this period of time, we see as non-realistic any demands to expel any foreign troops from the entirety of the Syrian Arab Republic," he said. "We can talk with our Iranian partners very frankly...

The hundred-some billion dollars that President Obama sent to Iran apparently has come and gone, leaving the Iranian economy once again desperate to avoid collapse.  The pallets containing more than a billion dollars in hard currency have funded terror groups, and the rest of the haul apparently has gone to pay for debts, spending, and graft, leaving the real economy gasping for air, unable to generate hard currency yet dependent on imports. Steve Hanke reports at Forbes: Iran's rial plunged from 98,000 IRR/USD on Saturday to 112,000 IRR/USD on Sunday on Tehran's Ferdowsi Street.  That stunning 12.5% one-day plunge has pushed the...

Iran By Alan Peters, Contributing Editor TheClerics Lash Back as Iranians Question Their Legitimacy VIGOROUS ATTACKS ON THE CREDIBILITY and legitimacy of the clerical leadership in Iran have continued to mount since the February 20, 2004, Majlis (Parliament) elections which, despite the removal of so-called “reformists” from the ballot, still failed to attract a meaningful voter turn-out. The elections showed the extent of electoral fraud to which the clerics were forced to turn, highlighting their tenuous hold on power. There are now signs that the underpinnings of the clerics will be attacked still further, especially as evidence is now available...

A court in Egypt sentenced 75 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death for their involvement in a protest against the military coup in 2013. The sentencing of 660 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood will be announced...

The Obama administration approved a $200,000 grant to a group in Sudan with ties to Al Qaeda even though it had been designated a terrorist-financing organization by the U.S. years earlier, a conservative think tank revealed this week. Further, an agency official acknowledged the prior administration allowed taxpayer money to flow to the group even after its designation was discovered. The 2014 grant to the Islamic Relief Agency, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, was revealed by Sam Westrop of the Middle East Forum in a story for the National Review. “More stunningly, government officials specifically authorized the release...