Monday (11/13/2017) Iran nervous about Saudi next move

Iran is taking quite seriously Saudi Arabia’s accusing it of an act of war for supplying Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels with a missile aimed at the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The Saudis also warned Lebanon,, dominated by Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, that “the coming developments will definitely be astonishing.”

The Iranian regime became upset when its own hard-line Kayhan daily confirmed the Saudi charges by boasting “Ansar-Allah’s missile fires at Riyadh, the next target, Dubai.” The mullahs punished Kayhan for its true but indiscrete revelation by suspending its publication for two days.

Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick hails the Saudi shakeup ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. She notes that

“There can be little doubt that there was coordination between the Saudi regime and the Trump administration regarding Saturday’s [internal Saudi purge] actions. The timing of the administration’s release last week of most of the files US special forces seized during their 2011 raid of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan was likely not a coincidence.

“The files, which the Obama administration refused to release, make clear that Obama’s two chief pretensions – that al-Qaida was a spent force by the time US forces killed bin Laden, and that Iran was interested in moderating its behavior were both untrue. The documents showed that al-Qaida’s operations remained a significant worldwide threat to US interests.

“And perhaps more significantly, they showed that Iran was al-Qaida’s chief state sponsor. Much of al-Qaida’s leadership, including bin Laden’s sons, operated from Iran. The notion – touted by Obama and his administration – that Shi’ite Iranians and Sunni terrorists from al-Qaida and other groups were incapable of cooperating was demonstrated to be an utter fiction by the documents.”

Angelo Codevilla concludes his four-part series on terrorism and the Euro-American ruling class’s failures by stressing how disarmed the West has become by denying state sponsorship of terrorism, playing down its Islamic background, and expanding Islamic immigration, despite the cultural incompatibilities.

The British royal family not only has bowed out of honoring Israel’s existence and the centennial of the Balfour Agreement, but an anti-Semitic letter that Prince Charles wrote in 1986 has come to light.

For the first time, Prince Charles was permitted to stand in for his mother, Queen Elizabeth, in laying the memorial wreath on Remembrance Day Sunday, the UK equivalent of the US holiday of Armistice Day / Veterans Day. There is speculation that the queen may soon cede her throne to her sometimes batty son.

The Times of India reports that

“India, US, Japan and Australia gave a thumbs up for a ‘free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region’ after the first officials’ meeting on the sidelines of the Asean summit in Manila on Sunday, resurrecting the ‘quadrilateral’ [alliance] from the ashes….

“While all four members deny any connection of the quadrilateral to China, there is absolutely no doubt that the precipitous rise in Chinese power has led these four countries to balance that rise and perhaps contest the new hegemon.”

But South Korea has shocked the U.S. and its Pacific allies by capitulating to Chinese demands (see last Friday’s Founders Broadsheet) and, in so doing, undercutting critical alliance defenses. Why should the US station troops in South Korea to defend it in the face of such cowardly behavior?

A City Journal article on the topic “Misunderstanding Asia” casts light on Korean psychology and its latent hostility to outsiders, including Americans.

Click here to go to yesterday’s Founders Broadsheet.

hat tip: Nicomachus