Iran
May 12, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Alisa Flatow was murdered in 1995 by an Iranian sponsored suicide bomber who plowed his car into a public bus near the Israeli settlement of Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip. Seven Israeli soldiers were killed along with Alisa. They were all under age 21. Fifty-two passengers were wounded in the attack. Alisa was remembered by her friend Alan Mitrani in a moving letter posted here at Brandeis University’s memorial
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May 12, 2023 — Scott Johnson
John and I started Power Line 21 years ago this coming Memorial Day weekend to support the United States and Israel in the war on terrorism. The United States has made great progress in the war. We don’t worry much about terrorist attacks on the United States nowadays. Osama bin Laden is pushing up daisies. China has become our principal national security preoccupation. In the case of Israel, Iran has
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March 27, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracy’s Andrea Stricker tuned in to Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley’s testimony before the House Appropriations Committee this past Thursday. Stricker quotes Milley stating that the United States “remains committed, as a matter of policy, that Iran will not have a fielded nuclear weapon.” Stricker observes that this statement, as well as a similar comment by Milley last September, suggests the Biden administration is
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March 26, 2023 — Scott Johnson
On Friday in Ottawa President Biden held a joint press conference with Prime Minister Trudeau. The White House has posted the transcript here. Before getting to what he referred to as “today’s business,” Biden struggled to read a written statement. Reading the script he had been handed, he vowed to “act forcefully[.]” Yet he projected nothing but infirmity and weakness (cough, cough). He qualified that statement with this reservation: “The
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January 29, 2023 — Steven Hayward
This week’s geopolitical news should raise a lot of questions about what is going on, and whether the “strategists” in the Biden Administration have any clue what they are doing. So we’re going to send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine—eventually (because it will take months to get them deployed). This decision is apparently thought necessary to get Germany to send 200 of its smaller and simpler Leopard tanks. Abrams are
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December 28, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Once and future Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Bibi: My Story was published in mid-October. Mosaic’s Jonathan Silver has just posted the last of Netanyahu’s series of book-plugging podcasts with American hosts here on Stitcher and elsewhere on other platforms. Recorded on December 22, this one is slightly different from the rest: Rather than focus on his early life as depicted in the memoir, or on the current international and
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December 15, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Cliff Sims was the Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Strategy and Communications in the Trump administration. He was an eyewitness to the “Russian disinformation” fraud, and a participant. He told the story in a series of tweets: Want to know what it's like to deal with some journalists who "cover" the Intel and NatSec communities at the highest level, but actually serve more like mouthpieces of the permanent security
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December 4, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Michael Ramirez’s daily editorial cartoon of this past Friday (below) comments on the pathetic response of the Biden administration to the insanely brave protests inside the Chinese and Iranian regimes. He titles it “A deafening silence.” (Subscribe to Michael’s Substack site here.) The New York Post reports “Biden snubs question on China protests amid son Hunter’s biz ties.” The related New York Post editorial is headlined “White House offers mere
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November 28, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The big stories of the past few days share a theme in common: • Protests of China’s insane Covid regime have broken out around China. I followed them on Twitter over the weekend (as in the tweet below, for example). People of Beijing are protesting near Sitong Bridge, shouting: “We want freedom, we want freedom!” pic.twitter.com/O12i58jVjr — Xiyue Wang (@XiyueWang9) November 28, 2022 • However, traditional news outlets with reporters
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November 22, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I admire the bravery and support the cause of the Iranian players competing in the FIFA World Cup competition in Doha, Qatar. The AP reports: “Iran’s players didn’t sing their national anthem and didn’t celebrate their goals.” Their silence speaks. The players are putting themselves on the line for a cause that is a matter of life, death, and basic human rights back home. It’s not exactly akin to taking
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November 18, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The Iranian regime is one of the world’s most truly evil, yet it is treated with kid gloves. Most recently, this November 16 Reuters story caught my attention. Michael Holden reports from London: Iran’s intelligence services have made at least 10 attempts to kidnap or even kill British nationals or individuals based in the United Kingdom regarded by Tehran as a threat, the head of Britain’s domestic spy agency said
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November 14, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Dan Senor has just posted a one-hour podcast with once and future Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (below). The interview is occasioned by the publication of Netanyahu’s memoir Bibi: My Story. They also take up Netanyahu’s prescient A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (2000). Senor is the knowledgeable co-author of Start-Up Nation and the interview takes up the subject of Senor’s book while ranging beyond the
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October 16, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I write to commend Mohammed Khalid Alyahya’s Tablet column “How to lose friends and influence over people.” The headline works a twist on Dale Carnegie’s best-selling How To Win Friends and Influence People. It’s the granddaddy of self-help books and the advice remains worthy. Alyahya writes: “As a Saudi who loves the United States, and believes deeply that our two countries need each other, the only word that comes to
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October 9, 2022 — Scott Johnson
How can an American do anything but intensely admire and vocally support the resistance of Iranians to their brutal regime? Someone really ought to ask President Biden and his foreign policy gurus about it. The folks at MEMRI have caught and translated a truth blast that was inserted into a broadcast on state-run television via an inspired hack (tweet below). The Guardian provides this summary along with the video: A
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September 14, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Those who are doing their best to sell us out to Iran with another wrap on the JCPOA have given up for the time being. The AFP/Times of Israel story puts it this way: “Europe: ‘Serious doubts’ Iran wants nuke deal; program ‘way beyond’ civilian purpose.” The subhead cites a joint statement saying that France, Germany and the United Kingdom have reached the “limit of flexibility” while Tehran escalates its
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September 11, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Albania has announced another cyberattack by the Iranian regime, this time on one of its border systems. The AP reports the story here. The AP story quotes a statement released by Albania’s Interior Ministry as well as Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Twitter feed. As I understand the translation of Rama’s tweet below, the system is back up and running: “The systems of the border points have been in operation since
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September 10, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I noted in “The supremacy of Albania” that President Biden’s national security team had vowed to “take further action to hold Iran accountable for actions that threaten the security of a U.S. ally and set a troubling precedent for cyberspace.” The “troubling precedent” was Iran’s massive cyberattack on Albania government systems as spelled out in Prime Minister Rama’s statement. Yesterday the United States Treasury announced what I take to be
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