Marco Rubio, Lebanon, and The World Watches

Life is about patterns and circles. Patterns of behavior, and the social circles prompting that behavior.   

 By Rich Kozlovich

The EU is a mess in every aspect of their governance.  Their embrace of open immigration is destroying Europe ethnically and culturally.  They're embrace of Anthropogenic Climate Change policies and solutions is destroying them economically.  They choose leaders who are total nitwits following even worse nitwits like Henry Kissinger, and his acolyte from the globalist, open immigration, Marxist oriented World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab who thinks China's communist system represents the world's prefect government.

The Four Jokers of the Apocalypse: Carney, Starmer, Macron, and Merz - Net-zero communism, online censorship, Christian persecution, and endless war — these are all pillars of the globalist, “progressive,” anti-Western apocalypse that Carney, Starmer, Macron, and Merz continue to unleash.  The “Build Back Better”-“Green New Deal”-“Net-Zero”-“Great Reset”-“Climate Change” program will make it impossible for people to own anything.  “Protect the children” controls over the Internet will make it impossible for people to exchange information freely and anonymously.

There are people who are great friends.  The kind who when push come to shove, you want them on you side because they won't back down, the won't walk away, and they won't stab you in the back.  When discussing involvement of the EU and the UN in Middle East affairs this article by Bonnie Glick clarifies just how worthless both the UN and the EU are as friends.  

She goes on to note that for 40 years the UN and the international community supported fiction over fact, delusion over reality, ignoring the unending violations of agreements by Hezbollah for decades.  Oh sure, they would wag their fingers but while they were wagging their fingers "Hezbollah built one of the largest terrorist arsenals in the world within sight of observation posts manned by peacekeepers from the feckless UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)."

Every ceasefire and every demand for de-escalation were opportunities for Hezbollah to expand it's "military infrastructure" concealing "the reality that Iran-backed Hezbollah was becoming stronger, more sophisticated, and more deeply embedded inside Lebanese society."  They willing accepted Lebanon's bankruptcy as a state, and demanded Israel continue to trust all the failed mechanisms they put into place to assure peace. 

Well, Marco Rubio has brought Israel, Lebanon and the United States together signing a new agreement to bring stability to Lebanon.  This deal will require commitment from the Lebanese military, which is in my view a big risk, Israel and America, but it's doable.  The big benefit? They're pretty much kicking the UN and the international community (the EU) to the curb. That's a good start for any kind of a deal anywhere regarding anything.  Purging the stupid, incompetent and corrupt is a really good start. 

1.  EU Hides Taliban Travel to Brussels Over “Security Concerns”
2.  Palestinian Man Arrested on Suspicion of Planning Attacks in Europe
3.  EU Sanctions Israel, Welcomes Taliban
4.  Europe’s Suicide Pact: Citizens Double-Victimised by Savage Migrants AND a Traitor State That Protects the Butchers
5.  Europe 2.0, Beyond Brussels: The End of the European Union as We Know It
6. Europe Capitulates, Sees Iranian Hormuz Fee Collection as “Inevitable”
7. Europe’s Bureaucratization of Parenting 
8. More Than 100 UNRWA Staff Reportedly Helped Hamas Carry Out Oct. 7 Attack

Then reality strikes, but.... will it matter? They destroyed Europe, and now I hope they don't plan on moving to America. We already have enough of our own leftists who abandoned the states they destroyed and are now destroying the states they moved to. 

1. Why Are Europeans Leaving Their Own Countries?  'The mask is off': European Union 'hates Europeans,' say activists trying to save continent's culture from Muslim invasion
2.  It Looks Like Europe's Parliament Has Finally Had Enough of Illegal Immigration
3.  EU Parliament Passes Major Deportation Reforms, Including Third Country Return Hubs

One final point. Marco Rubio is looking better and better all the time. 

Update, 8/7/26:  Lebanon Can Negotiate with Israel - But It Cannot Control Hezbollah - Israeli forces struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Wednesday and Thursday, after the killing of two IDF reserve soldiers in the area of Majdal Zun on Wednesday. The two, Major Harel Birenstock from Gush Etzion and Master Sergeant Tamir Vaknin of Eilat, died when a Hezbollah explosive device detonated in an abandoned house they were searching. Four other soldiers were severely wounded......

Doesn't Anyone Read History Books Any Longer?

By Rich Kozlovich

This article,  Rubio unveils 'framework for lasting peace' between Israel and Lebanon, appeared on the World Net Daily news site with Marco Rubio having "unveiled a U.S. plan for an end to the military hostilities between Lebanon and Israel." calling this plan a "framework for lasting peace and security." 

Let me think.... when has the last time a ceasefire was honored by Hezbollah?  Oh yeah, I remember, never!

Rubio says this will "put in place a framework for lasting peace and security. And that's what these two nations deserve".  Really?  This agreement requires both Israel's IDF to leave Southern Lebanon turning that over to the Lebanese military, and Hezbollah has agreed to embrace a cease fire.  

Does anyone besides me think that falls under the category of , "you just can't make this stuff up"?

Rubio goes on the say:

"The people of Lebanon have suffered tremendously now for decades, as a result of outside interference in their affair, of countries trying to use the country as a launchpad for attacks. And this is not what the people of Lebanon want and that's not what they deserve."

 "What they deserve to have is what they once had, and of which there is recent history of. And that is a prosperous and peaceful country, a diverse country where people of different backgrounds are able to live and go co-exist side by side, and in many ways was the envy of the region and of the world."

Okay, since Rubio is aware that Lebanon was at one time a peaceful, prosperous nation (which was once called the "Riviera of the Middle East", and it's capital, Beirut, called the Paris of the Middle East), one should ask..... what changed?  Lebanon was a Christian nation, and they allowed massive migration of Muslims into their country.  Result?  A never ending disastrous "forever war" between Muslims and everyone else.   As for the Lebanese military taking control.... That'll be the day. 

"Lebanon is a fractured society", and is incapable of making substantial changes, as they have no ability to enforce anything.  The world knows there is in no way the Lebanese government and military can control Hezbollah.  

1. They were incapable of dismantling Hezbollah's missile manufacturing plants in years past. 
2. They can't control the economy with eighty percent of their nation living beneath the poverty line. 
3. The nation is broken up into four primary groups, Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims, Druze Muslims, all of which hate each other, and Christians who all of them hate, and, a scattering of others.  

In 2020 Hilal Khashan writing for Geopolitical Futures (subscription site only) noted just how all this came about saying:

The First Lebanese Republic (1943-1975) collapsed because of social injustice and armed Palestinian presence. The Second Republic (1989-2019) collapsed because of rampant corruption and Hezbollah’s political domination. The Third Republic is on hold pending the fate of Hezbollah and restructuring of the Lebanese political system. For the past century, the Lebanese demonstrated an inability to solve their problems. It does not look like they have become more capable today. 

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt believes there is a major international struggle for the Middle East, and Lebanon lies beyond the ability of the Lebanese people to control. He advised his coreligionists to keep their heads low until the storm is over.

The Druze are an offshoot of Islam, and they're aware of the government's inability to protect them from the other sects of Islam, and they're scared of Hezbollah, and yet, we're to believe this "agreement" is the framework for lasting peace and security."  

The patterns of life repeat over and over again.  Here's what happened in 2018, Obama’s Shadow Looms Over US Lebanon Policy, and truthfully, I have no doubt Hezbollah continues to infest the power institutions of Lebanon, including their military, and they have no intention of honoring any agreement that will forestall their efforts to attack Israel.  To believe otherwise is historically, intellectually and realistically irrational.  Rubio can't possibly believe what he's saying!

News and Views

By Rich Kozlovich

I've not posted much about the two debates because the national consensus is clear.  Both Trump and Vance won, hands down,  even with the help of a corrupt, antagonistic, and lying media promoting a leftist agenda, both Kamala and Walz looked like dimwits.

Ford has lost billions on their ridiculous electric vehicles agenda, and so what do they do? Double down on stupid.  It's mind boggling. The same people who are working to destroy the world's energy production, are the same people telling us to convert to electric vehicles. How in the world did that stupid gene become so ubiquitous? Answer, it was always been there, but mostly dormant, all that was needed to fan that ember of stupidity into flame was a thoroughly corrupted system of education. And it's here, and maybe ... just maybe....  it's a good time to look at eliminating tenure in academia.

• My 

But it gets better all the time.   It turns out if the world is going to embrace AI and quantum computing, and it is, then and in order to do that the energy needs are going to be ....MASSIVE....!  Far beyond what we're producing now, and so far beyond what all these idiotic "alternative" environmentally destructive energy schemes are capable of producing.  

These expensive alternative energy programs are at best unreliable, and so unreliable that traditional power plants have to be built and maintained and running on stand by in order to supply power when these stupid green sources fail to work, such as when the sun stops shining in the winter and the wind stops blowing in the summer. In order to have ‘alternative’ energy we have to pay for energy we aren’t using in order to pay for energy we don’t need. How stupid can we get?

Solution?  Traditional energy production ramped way up, and nuclear.  And guess who's all on board with that.  Mister (globalism is beautiful, all leftism is good and pure, reduce the world's population, eat bugs to save the world from global warming himself) Bill Gates.  Remarkable! 

FEMA is a DEI disaster, the left loves hurricane Helene, and while the people in these states are suffering terribly, the left loves it because conditions are so bad all these Republican strongholds may not:

 

"be able to cast their ballots".  Due to... "FEMA's arrogance and interference....... reportedly one director in North Carolina who was denying aid was beaten by locals frustrated by his conduct. In some other communities, local sheriffs threatened to arrest FEMA workers if they hindered rescue and aid work."  ...........FEMA blew out its budget to pay for illegals, now it's using its remaining resources to block aid from private citizens October 3, 2024 by Monica Showalter They're from the government and they're here to help themselves........  Axelrod gloats that North Carolina's Hurricane Helene victims in pro-Trump areas may be unable to vote.

 

Given their incompetence, and their corruption, and massive waste of America tax dollars I think we need to ask if it's time to abolish FEMA?

 

Biden wants to give millions to Lebanon, and billions to Ukraine, which is being stolen hand over fist, and then says he's out of money to give to Americans "who remain stranded, homeless, powerless, and without access to necessities like food and water.".........."Are American lives not as important to the Democrats as the lives of illegal aliens? Apparently not, in the eyes of the Democrats. Make no mistake about it, siege and starvation are tools of warfare. And the Democrats are, by calculation, waging war against the dying citizens of western North Carolina."......

But the real fault for this hurricane is global warming, right?  Well, since the world stopped warming over 25 years ago, it isn't global warming any longer, it's climate change, which encompasses everything and anything.  And we know it's true because the media says so. Or then again.....is it possible they're lying?  

However, I now think we all should give CNN a round of applause.   In spite of all their lies and corruption, (if lies and corruption defined being a predator, they'd be an apex predator)  they've apparently decided it would be financially better for them to have less viewers than they do now, which has been steadily shrinking.  So, they've now decided you will have to pay a monthly fee of $3.99 to watch them spout their lies.  What could possibly go wrong?  I wonder if anyone there remembers just how successful their pay for view CNN+ streaming service worked for them?  For those who don't know, it failed.

Let's try and get this right.  Anthropogenic Global Warming is one of the greatest scientific frauds ever perpetrated on humanity, and if the media embraces it, you know it's a lie. This link will take you to my global warming commentaries.

Helene was a monster storm destroying homes, power infrastructure, bridges, destroying whole towns, killing over 200 people with untold numbers still missing, through out Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.  The estimated cost? Over three hundred billion dollars.  But not to worry, America is going to provide $157 Million in humanitarian aid to people affected by  the crisis in Lebanon.   And who are these people in Lebanon?  

(Remember the people displaced there are Hezb'allah who started the war, not the Christians, Druze, and Sunni Moslems whose communities Israel did not target and who remain safely in place.)

As for those Americans devastated by Helene, Kamala  says:

“… the federal relief and assistance that we have been providing has included FEMA providing $750 for folks who need immediate needs being met, such as food, baby formula, and the like.  And you can apply now.”  

Wow, a whole $750 bucks from the Obama/Biden/Kamala/Walz/Mayorkas cabal, while Dolly Parton is personally donating a million dollars for hurricane Helene relief efforts.  Why's FEMA out of money?  Because they lavished their funds on illegal migrants.  The agency Mayorkas claimed two months ago was totally prepared for such and event.  

Who really is Kamala's base?  Let's try this: Those who are mentally disturbed, amoral, immoral, dependent on government in some way, along with those who are ignorant and stupid. What could possibly go wrong?  A lot!  If there was any doubt America's military leadership has been corrupted by Obama resulting in a military that's incapable of defending the nation, we now have over 200 retired Generals and Admirals endorsing Trump and address why they feel that's necessary. 

Talking more about doubling down on stupid, there's always, Liz Chaney, who the Democrats now love, along with her father, the man they vilified as a real life Darth Vader for decades, and now believe these two misfits are going to rally a massive number of Republicans against Trump.  "What a time to be alive."   

Well Liz, enjoy the limelight.  The Republicans hate you, and the Democrats are laughing at you, and when the election is over, no matter how it turns out, no one will want you around them, because your legacy will be a Benedict Arnold legacy, right along with your dad.  I often wonder what her mother thinks, since she's been silent over all this.   Liz is now campaigning with Kamala, and I know the real reason for that.   It's a competition to see who can be crowned the most unlikable person in America.   I'm just surprised George Conway isn't on the stage with them.  George Conway claims Trump is another Hitler and a cancer on American life, and  Caroline Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani's daughter says Trump as a disease’.   Does anyone beside me think that falls under the category of being justifiably certifiable?

Then we have Democrats, masters at projection, accusing Trump of election interference, which is like Stalin accusing someone of being inhumane.   

"That is the ultimate danger of a Harris/Walz administration. Starting from deep in the well of corruption, how much lower will they go? The answer: as low as necessary to destroy the republic and replace it with “our democracy.” 

"As the venerable saying goes, you can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out."

Finally, we just gotta see the humor in this.  Mexico's new President, Claudia Sheinbaum who is defined in one word, leftist, and appears with the approval of the drug cartels, has been sworn in what's being called a ‘Satanic’ Inauguration Ceremony.   A nation awash in murder, child sex trafficking, illegal drugs, much of which goes on with the corrupt acceptance of government officials, is now wanting to sue America gun makers for ten billion dollars.  Yep, all that corruption is the fault of American gun makers.    

It's not only time for a border wall, it's time we totally shut down immigration, deport all the illegals, most of them to Mexico who allowed them to cross their country into America, and end the North American Trade agreement putting massive tariffs on anything coming from Mexico, or even cutting Mexico out of the picture entirely. 

Israel Strikes Back: Is the Middle East on Cusp of War?

Israeli Air Force strikes Beirut, but the real culprit behind the turmoil escapes consequences.

 

 By Dave Patterson | Jul 31, 2024 @ Liberty Nation News, Tags: Articles, Military Affairs, Opinion

Israel executed an air strike in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, against a Hezbollah leader identified as directing the missile strike, killing a dozen children in the Jerusalem-controlled Golan Heights on Saturday, July 27. The missile killing the children was one of an estimated 30 weapons fired from Lebanon into Israel. Israel Defense Force (IDF) officials said the missile that killed the youngsters was an Iranian Falzq-1, and Hezbollah is the Iranian proxy terrorist group possessing that type of missile.

Then, on July 31, the political leader of the terrorist group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in the Iranian capital, Tehran. Presumably, this was the next step in Israel’s retaliation, though this has not been confirmed.

Israel Has a Practice of Targeted Airstrikes

The IDF attack on Beirut was the second since the airstrike in January that took out a senior Hamas leader, Saleh al-Arouri, and followed the Israeli practice of targeted airstrikes to eliminate specific enemy leadership. Israel’s retaliation targeted Hezbollah commander “Fuad Shukr, also known as Hajj Mohsin, who is a senior advisor to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah,” Fox News reported.

According to The New York Times:

“The Israeli strike, at about 7:40 p.m. on Tuesday, marked the second time that Israel had struck Beirut since Hezbollah and Israel started fighting on Oct. 8, and the first time that Israel hit a Hezbollah figure in the Lebanese capital … More than 90 minutes after the strike in Beirut, three Israeli officials said it was still not clear whether Mr. Shukr had survived … The strike hit in the vicinity of Hezbollah’s Shura Council, the group’s central decision-making authority, according to Lebanon’s state-run news agency.”

As has been the case since the beginning of the Middle East hostilities, when Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel, the US strategy has been to keep the crisis from becoming a larger war. Nonetheless, “Our support for Israel’s security remains ironclad and it’s unwavering against all Iran-backed threats, including those from Hezbollah,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told the journalists at a White House press conference on July 29. “At the same time, we believe that there is still time and space for a diplomatic solution.”

Searching for a “diplomatic solution” has been the Biden administration’s constant refrain, without any demonstrable success for the last nine months. The hostilities continue to widen. Iranian proxy militias have resumed missile attacks on US military outposts, the Iran-supplied Houthi terrorist rebels continue to attack merchant shipping in the Red Sea, and Hezbollah has rained Iranian missiles down on Israel for more than half a year. Where is the slightest diplomatic success?

Meanwhile, Israel keeps its focus squarely on its most immediate goal, defeating Hamas. To that end, early reports from Tehran reveal the IDF demonstrated its reach with an airstrike Wednesday in the Iranian capital by identifying, targeting, and killing Hamas’s key political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in what the Associated Press called a “shock assassination.” Israel vowed to kill Haniyeh and every Hamas chief responsible for last year’s Oct. 7 assault on the southern Israel kibbutzim. It seems when Israel puts you on its hit list, you should be afraid – very afraid.

According to the AP, Haniyeh had just “attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president in Tehran – and only hours after Israel targeted a top commander in Iran’s ally Hezbollah.” The reality and the symbolism should not be lost on the mullahs. Israel has no misperceptions about who the culprit behind the terrorist violence in the region is. The US will no doubt wring its diplomatic hands and worry such decisive action by Israel will result in a regional war with a larger confrontation between Iran and Israel. If the ineffective missile and drone raid on Israel was any indication of what Iran has, the IDF will weather this storm.

Now, the latest wrinkle in Israel’s defense of its homeland is a threat from another neighbor. “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday appeared to threaten to invade Israel in support of the Palestinians and to put an end to the nearly 10-month-old war Israel is fighting against Hamas in Gaza,” The Times of Israel reported. The inartful but direct response to the Turkish leader from Israel came in an X posting from Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who said of the Turkish president’s threat: “Erdogan follows in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatens to attack Israel. Just let him remember what happened there and how it ended.”

Turkish President’s Comments Not Helpful

Erdogan injecting himself into an already tense situation was not helpful. The Turkish president walks a narrow line between being a participating member of the NATO alliance and a Middle Eastern nation with significant regional equities. His bravado, in this case, is misplaced. If Erdogan ever made good on his threat to invade Israel, it would indeed create an out-of-control regional conflict. Too many bilateral agreements, defense pacts, and alliances among the Middle East and Gulf nations would be sorely tested.

Unfortunately, as hostilities rage around Israel, the real catalyst for all of the conflict — Iran — is let off the hook. Why does the Biden administration not hold the number one sponsor of terrorism in the world responsible? Biden and his team have treated Tehran with kid gloves for too long. Iran must be held accountable, and the Israelis seem to be the only ones who get it.

The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.

Read More From Dave Patterson

Lebanon’s Place in the Middle East

The government in Beirut is entirely unable to manage its country’s problems.

By Hilal Khashan July 21, 2020

This year is Lebanon’s 100th anniversary. What should be an auspicious occasion is instead marked by the most severe economic crisis in the country’s history. Poverty grows every day as the middle class disappears, and citizens have publicly vented their frustrations over what they see as an out of touch ruling class. Arab Gulf countries have yet to come to their aid as they have in the past, arguing that helping Lebanon helps Hezbollah, Iran’s most reliable regional proxy group. The government’s failure to deal with deteriorating social conditions has revived demands for disarming Hezbollah and reestablishing Lebanon’s neutrality. The Maronite Church is leading the drive to extricate Lebanon from the conflicts of the region, strengthen the machinery of the state, and empower the national army. Supported by the Vatican, the local representative of its Caritas humanitarian charity has warned the international community that Lebanon is rapidly disintegrating........To Read More...

Obama's Shadow Looms Over US Lebanon Policy

While Treasury and Justice Departments break free of the Swamp. 

February 26, 2018  Ari Lieberman  1 

 

Early this week, Lebanon’s top army commander, Joseph Aoun, threatened to “confront any Israeli aggression, whatever that costs.” Aoun was referring to Lebanon’s contrived maritime and land border disputes with Israel. Aoun further noted that the Lebanese Armed Forces “would not spare any method” in challenging Israel. With those words, Aoun signed the LAF’s death warrant. The dispute, which was provoked by Hezbollah and Iran, centers on a triangular area of sea of around 330 square miles that falls squarely within Israel’s maritime borders. Hezbollah also opposes the construction of a land barrier that Israel is building on its side of the border to prevent infiltration.

 

Aoun’s bellicose tone echoes that of Hezbollah, which has been offering similar rhetoric in recent weeks with increasing shrill and frequency. Hezbollah, which operates as Iran’s mercenary army, has in recent years slowly subsumed Lebanese state institutions, including Lebanon’s army, like a cancerous, flesh-eating malignancy........To Read More......