Photo, left:  His Excellency Yousef Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States of America.  Op-ed from today's Wall Street Journal:
One Year After the Iran Nuclear Deal  Don’t be fooled. The Iran we have long known—hostile, expansionist, violent—is alive and well.  Saturday marked one year since the framework agreement for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—the nuclear deal with Iran—was announced. At the time, President Obama said this agreement would make “the world safer.” And perhaps it has, but only in the short term and only when it comes to Iran’s nuclear-weapons proliferation.
Sadly, behind all the talk of change, the Iran we have long known—hostile, expansionist, violent—is alive and well, and as dangerous as ever. We wish it were otherwise. In the United Arab Emirates, we are seeking ways to coexist with Iran. Perhaps no country has more to gain from normalized relations with Tehran. Reducing tensions across the less than 100-mile-wide Arabian Gulf could help restore full trade ties, energy cooperation and cultural exchanges, and start a process to resolve a 45-year territorial dispute.
Since the nuclear deal, however, Iran has only doubled down on its posturing and provocations. In October, November and again in early March, Iran conducted ballistic-missile tests in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
In December, Iran fired rockets dangerously close to a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz, just weeks before it detained a group of American sailors. In February, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan visited Moscow for talks to purchase more than $8 billion in Russian fighter jets, planes and helicopters.
In Yemen, where peace talks now hold some real promise, Iran’s disruptive interference only grows worse. Last week, the French navy seized a large cache of weapons on its way from Iran to support the Houthis in their rebellion against the U.N.-backed legitimate Yemeni government. In late February, the Australian navy intercepted a ship off the coast of Oman with thousands of AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. And last month, a senior Iranian military official said Tehran was ready to send military “advisers” to assist the Houthis.
The interference doesn’t stop there. Since the beginning of the year, Tehran and its proxies have increased their efforts to provide armor-piercing explosive devices to Shiite cells in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. A former Iranian general and close adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for Iran to annex all of Bahrain. And in Syria, Iran continues to deploy Hezbollah militias and its own Iranian Revolutionary Guard to prop up Syria’s Bashar Assad.
These are all clear reminders that Iran remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism—a persistent threat not only to the region but to the U.S. as well. “Death to America” has always been more than an ugly catchphrase; it has been Iranian policy. Iran has orchestrated countless terrorist attacks against Americans: from the Marine barracks in Beirut to Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. During the Afghanistan war, Iran paid Taliban fighters $1,000 for each American they killed.
In Iraq, Iran supplied the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that killed or maimed thousands of U.S. soldiers. And in recent weeks seven Iranian hackers were indicted in a U.S. federal court for a cyberattack against U.S. banks and critical infrastructure.
As Henry Kissinger once said, Iran can be either a country or a cause. Today “Iran the cause” is showing little of the same kind of pragmatism and moderation in its regional policies and behavior as it did in the nuclear talks. Last week, Mr. Khamenei insisted ballistic missiles were key to the Islamic Republic’s future. “Those who say the future is in negotiations, not in missiles, are either ignorant or traitors,” he said.
It is now clear that one year since the framework for the deal was agreed upon, Iran sees it as an opportunity to increase hostilities in the region. But instead of accepting this as an unfortunate reality, the international community must intensify its actions to check Iran’s strategic ambitions.
It is time to shine a bright light on Iran’s hostile acts across the region. At the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Riyadh later this month, the U.S., the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman should reach an agreement on a common mechanism to monitor, expose and curb Iran’s aggression. This should include specific measures to block its support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah units in Syria and Lebanon, and Iranian-linked terrorist cells in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
If the carrots of engagement aren’t working, we must not be afraid to bring back the sticks. Recent half measures against Iran’s violations of the ballistic-missile ban are not enough. If the aggression continues, the U.S. and the global community should make clear that Iran will face the full range of sanctions and other steps still available under U.N. resolutions and in the nuclear deal itself.
Iran’s destabilizing behavior in the region must stop. Until it does, our hope for a new Iran should not cloud the reality that the old Iran is very much still with us—as dangerous and as disruptive as ever.
Mr. Otaiba is the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the U.S.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/one-year-after-the-iran-nuclear-deal-1459721502
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, The Great Voice of the Great Lakes
 
Hour One
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 1, Block A:  Thomas Joscelyn, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies & Senior Editor of The Long War Journal;  in re: Abu Firas al Souri: core al Q member, joined in the 80s, began in the 70s.  Explained ops in Marxist terms.    Don’t have a nationalist agenda. He bickered with other jihadist leaders and became a divisive figure.  US may have removed someone who was a problem to Syrian jihadists . . .  / Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook confirmed today that the US targeted Abu Firas al Suri, a veteran al Qaeda leader, in an airstrike in Syria. Within hours of the bombing yesterday, jihadists on social media claimed that Abu Firas had perished. Separately, Cook confirmed that Hassan Ali Dhoore, a dual-hatted al Qaeda and Shabaab leader, was killed in an airstrike in Somalia on Mar. 31.
Two presidents of Gitmo, one determined in 2010 to have been too dangerous to be released – one of 48 ‘forever detainees forever’” – and sent to Senegal.  Senegal?  Easy to leave and return to the fight.
US transfers 2 Guantanamo detainees to the Republic of Senegal  .  The US government announced the transfer of two Libyans from Guantanamo to the Republic of Senegal. Both of the men were allegedly members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and worked for al Qaeda prior to their detention. JTF-GTMO found both to be "high" risks. President Obama's Guantanamo Review Task Force previously deemed one of them "too dangerous" to transfer.
“So the US did in one and released two.”
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 1, Block B:    Thomas Joscelyn, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies & Senior Editor of The Long War Journal;  in re: Aleppo offensive:  al Q pools resources of those who’d been supplied by the West, take the munitions to take over new territory – time and time again.  They always have new gear, that matches nicely – new helmets and camo – looks a lot like US stuff (incl a US Humvee; probably from Iraq).   They mfr their own arms.  Recall that Nusrah grew out of al Q in Iraq. / Al Nusrah Front claims to have captured a small village near the Talat al-'Iss hill in the Aleppo province. Three suicide bombers were used to pave the way for the jihadists. The battle is part of Al Nusrah's attempt to regain in the initiative in the war against Bashar al Assad and his allies. A Syrian regime source has told the press that the hill is a strategic location.
Bonnie Prince Jihadi living in Pakistan  US Treasury Department: Charity run by Scottish-born jihadist an al Qaeda ‘front organization’  The Treasury Department has added the Scottish-born James Alexander McLintock to the US government's list of specially designated global terrorists. McLintock's charity, Al Rahmah Welfare Organization (RWO), is allegedly a "front organization for al Qaeda" that has been used to fund al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Social media sites associated with McLintock and RWO have documented their operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and elsewhere.
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 1, Block C: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com & Daily Beast; in re: Subprime Housing Risks Raise Red Flags in China  China’s efforts to tackle a glut of vacant housing by spurring home lending have triggered a bigger problem: A surge in risky subprime-style loans that is generating alarm.   . . . whenever subprime comes up you're headed for catastrophe. Making it easy to borrow so you can get the money to buy an apartment to keep real estate values elevated – it's about a fifth of the Chinese economy, but they're creating bubble in the Tier One cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzen), whereas in the rest, it's all a huge bubble and no one’s buying. 
The Panama Papers – Intl Consortium of Investigative Journalists – got 11,000 records from _ Fonseca.  Sneaky investments: Xi’s relative, and Li Peng’s relative, among many many others who keep their illegal offshore wealth in Panama and elsewhere.  Thief leaders use brothers, children, parents, near family members.  Using the “Essential Facilities Doctrine (100 years old) requiring people to license – China using it to steal IP from Western companies.  Chinese govt is predatory, rapacious, will reap hundreds of billions of dollars in the short run, then come a cropper when the Chinese economy genuinely needs IT development. China is currently going in the wrong direction; no way to deal with China at present.  Not yet wiling to challenge a carrier battle group.  US needs to make China run away from Scarboro Shoal, which h China stole from the Philippines.  There’ll be a big war in Asia eventually, and the US may have to be involved in it. 
Also:  http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/the-panama-papers-how-the-worlds-rich-and-famous-hide-their-money-offshore.  On one particular point, the Republican frontrunner is right:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2016/04/03/more-ammo-for-trump-china-to-seize-foreign-tech/#7cddbd5949a5
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 1, Block D: Jed Babbin, American Spectator, in re: nuclear weapons proliferate in the wake of Pres Obama’s Iran deal.  North Korea might be deterred somehow, but at some point Iran will decide it's in its own interest to use nuclear weapons and will do so, China has limited control over North Korea, and have lost the control they need of the govt. Can only send fuel and food; all North Koreans but a privileged few are starving to death. 
 
Hour Two
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:  John Fund, NRO; and David Drucker, Senior Congressional correspondent, Washington Examiner; in re:  Ted Cruz. Wisconsin: it's heart is with Scott Walker; Trump is the non-Scott Walker, who attacked Scott Walker – the governor with an 84% approval rating. Very odd.  Can’t blame staff for that sort of error unless you actually speak with staff, whereas Trump is isolate and speaks only with Cory and one or maybe two others.  But why the heqq would he go speak with the Washington Post?  And Maureen Dowd, and “massive recession”?  He’s used to getting credit for raising an important point even if unartfully , but . . . His campaign didn’t do normal research for Wisconsin – he doesn't believe he needs to ; he beats up on a-everybody, but in this state it's caught up with him. Ted Cruz always thought he could be along the last men standing if he consolidated his supporters among Evangelicals and others. He’s revealing humor and putting forth his family.  Does he know he should never ever campaign without his wife, Heidi?  We could get her elected president. . . . What does Gov Kasich do?  Enjoy the ride and see what happens; he thinks neither Trump nor Cruz will get nominated; and although he’ll never breathe these words, there’s always the vice -presidency. 
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 2, Block B: John Fund, NRO; and David Drucker, Senior Congressional correspondent, Washington Examiner; in re:  de Blasio says he’s backing Hillary but his children are backing Bernie. Andrew Cuomo wants to be close to Hillary to be able to knife her.  Al Sharpton is hiding so he doesn't accidentally back a loser. Hillary could possibly lose her home state, New York.  Or suppose she wins the state but loses New York City (40% of the vote)? Note that she’s looked down and out before but come up again. As important as New Y ork is, it's small compared to the FBI.  The superdelegates give her a cushion – but are intent on winning in November. If the FBI surfaces, she’s looking at more trouble with superdelegates.  Twenty years ago James Comey ran the Whitewater investigation; read his report.  She hasn't yet even been interviewed.  . . . There’ll be a report before the Democratic convention.  . . . The gov of Wisconsin is a very good campaigner. 
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 2, Block C:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:  Iran has troops in the region as a predator. Pres Obama says that Iran has not followed “the spirit of the deal.”  WSJ has a lengthy op-ed from UAE ambassador [His Excellency Yousef Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States of America] on Iran: a surrogate war ‘twixt the Gulfies and Iran?  This is the one0year anniversary of he framework agreement; he writes of Iran destabilizing and aggressive deeds – missiles, ship boarding, Hezbollah support, IRGC in Syria, attacks on various local government.  . . . Dollarization: today Treasury officials denied that the reports  that Iran is getting licenses for offshore dollar deals; Congress grew wroth.  The ambassador’s last graf; Iran’s destabilizing actions must stop; currently is as dangerous  and disruptive as ever. Firewall around the JCPOA: about nukes, only, not the other dangerous activities. All the regional leaders and citizens understand; how does the Washington leadership miss this?  The whole region saw that what Iran did with US sailors was deeply shameful to the US.  What does this Administration think it's appeasement policy will accomplish?  There’s no historical precedent for such a regime changing for he better; feeding the beast only makes it more aggressive.   Khamenei said: “Diplomacy is not our future; missiles are our future.”   The US should be organizing al the regional powers to defend against and oppose Iran’s predation. Sixty per cent of Americans are un happy with the Iran deal.  
•       Israel Says Mideast Arms Proliferation Imperils Its Military Edge - Dan Williams
Israel's neighbors are buying arms on a scale that threatens its regional military superiority, deputy Israeli air force chief Brig.-Gen. Tal Kelman said Sunday. In order to perpetuate Israel's qualitative military edge - a guarantee that it gets more advanced U.S. weapons than Arab states get - Israel says it needs to bulk up its armed forces, not just upgrade their technologies, to keep ahead of potential foes.
    "There are countries here which have plans that are being actualized for arms deals in the hundreds of billions of dollars, for the most advanced Western weaponry and the most advanced Eastern weaponry," Kelman said. "There is a very great danger here, because today's enemy can be tomorrow's friend, and today's friend could be tomorrow's enemy."  (Reuters)
•       At Least 22 Members of Terror Network Behind Brussels, Paris Attacks Still at Large - Matthew Dalton
At least 22 radical Islamists from Europe linked to the terror network behind the Brussels and Paris attacks are suspected to be still at large. Many have been involved in previous Islamic State plots, officials say, and almost all have spent months or years fighting in Syria.
    "We see many plots and several cells that we now know are part of the same network," said Jean-Charles Brisard, president of the Center for the Analysis of Terrorism in Paris. "They're already here."  (Wall Street Journal)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
•       UN Censors Israeli Exhibition Featuring Zionism and Jerusalem - Danielle Ziri
The UN disqualified 3 out of 13 displays at an exhibition initiated by Israel's Permanent Mission to the UN that opened at UN headquarters on Monday, including one about Jerusalem, another about Israeli Arabs and a third about Zionism. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon demanded on Sunday that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reverse the decision.
    "The UN must reverse this outrageous decision and apologize to the Jewish people," Danon said. "Zionism and Jerusalem are the foundation stones and the moral basis upon which the State of Israel was founded. We will not allow the UN to censor the fact that Jerusalem is Israel's eternal capital."  (Jerusalem Post)
    See also Photos from Israel's UN Exhibit - Itamar Eichner (Ynet News)
•       Woman Stabbed by Israeli Arab in Central Israel - Rotem Elizera
An Israeli Arab woman stabbed an Israeli woman at the Rosh HaAyin industrial area on Sunday before being subdued by a security guard. In a later incident Sunday, a Palestinian who pulled a knife on Israeli border policemen stationed at Tapuach junction in the West Bank was arrested without injuries. (Ynet News)
•       Drop in Palestinian Terrorism Recorded in March - Yaakov Lappin
March saw 6 shootings, stabbings, and vehicle rammings, compared to 56 in February, 45 in January, and 40 in December, according to IDF data. At the same time, the number of firebombing and rock throwing incidents remained largely constant. There were 220 cases of rock throwing in March and 23 firebomb attacks. (Jerusalem Post)
    See also The Six-Month Intifada: Israel's Casualties
Since October 1, 2015, 34 people - Israeli soldiers and civilians, as well as foreign nationals and Palestinians - have been killed in stabbing, car-ramming and shooting attacks. Here are their faces. (Ha'aretz)
Israel Returns Full Electric Power to Jericho Despite Debt
The Israel Electric Corporation has restored full power supply to the Palestinian city of Jericho in the West Bank after reducing the supply over an outstanding debt of $450 million owed by the Palestinian Jerusalem District Electricity Company and the Palestinian Authority, officials said Sunday. (AFP-Times of Israel)
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 2, Block D:   Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: The Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, in Jerusalem taking pix with Netanyahu.   Many codels travelling; he’s been there before – “it's probably safer there than here, in view of the way the Republican nominations are going.” A 17-min propaganda film that ‘s a comprehensive lie about tunnels.  Abbas says his agents search children for knives in schools, found 70 knives in one school.  The number of stabbing has radically diminished as a result of better intell.  Also, te terrorists were dying but not much political benefit to PA.   ISIS in Golan? Yes: front groups – Yarmuk Martyrs’ Brigade – along the Syrian Golan, and have increased activities in both Sinai and Golan.  Israel carefully monitors its borders. In Sinai, the Egyptian army has pretty good intell; Hamas actually pulled out of Sinai under pressure, but ISIS is very strong there.  In Jerusalem: 50,000 Chinese visiting this year, and 50,000 Indians coming in the year. 
Bad news from Nagorno-Karabakh: a proxy war between Turkey and Russia.  A drone flew over and was shot down?
Hour Three
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 3, Block A:   Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board & host of Opinion Journal on WSJ Video; in re:   http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/04/04/trump-behind-in-wisconsin-loses-some-of-the-self-confidence-in-appeal-to-voters/ ; and this:   Trump's delegate counter is unusually unicornish: http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-path-to-clinching-nomination-ahead-of-gop-convention-narrowing-1459778776
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 3, Block B:  Harry Siegel, New York Daily News and Daily Beast; in re:  http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/harry-siegel-clinton-sanders-cuomo-de-blasio-n-y-article-1.2585718  As a voter, It’s pretty cool to have New York matter, for once, in both parties’ Presidential primaries. The way the Big Two have rigged their contests, the nominees are supposed to have been decided well before the first vote gets cast here, so only New York’s big-dollar donors count.
Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Bill de Blasio, Andrew Cuomo and N.Y.’s Democratic soul   As a voter, it’s pretty cool to have New York matter, for once, in both parties’ Presidential primaries. The way the Big Two have rigged their contests, the nominees are supposed to have been decided well before the first vote gets cast here, so only New York’s big-dollar donors count.
But voters nationally have been speaking up with a vengeance this year, and the parties themselves are tottering as Donald Trump, a Republican of convenience, and Bernie Sanders, a socialist who openly says he’s running as a Democrat to get media exposure, have shaped the national political conversation. Setting aside the Trump-triggered collapse of the GOP and the sorry state of the party in New York for other columns, there’s been a far more civil Civil War — about who is, and who ain’t a worthy Democrat — playing out here. Right now, it has Sanders, a former Brooklyn boy, pouring resources into the state Clinton represented for eight years in the U.S. Senate.  . The fight for the soul of the party in New York though, one that foreshadowed the one happening nationally now, has been boiling over since Bill de Blasio beat Republican Joe Lhota by 49 points in the city’s 2013 mayoral election. An original member of the Working Families Party that’s now modeling itself as a Tea Party of the left, de Blasio vowed to “turn the page” on 20 years of non-Democratic mayors in the overwhelmingly Democratic city and to deliver universal pre-K funded by a state tax hike on the rich.
The tax part put huge pressure on his fellow Democrat, Gov. Cuomo, who had no interest in doing that going into his his own re-election bid the following year. Despite making New York the first big state to pass a gay marriage bill, despite winning a strong gun-control law after Sandy Hook, Cuomo was already facing rising anger from the left.
Many felt betrayed by his triangulating — you could even say Clintonian — approach to governing, often using his liberal wins on social issues to buy political space to cut deals with the Republicans outside the city who control the state Senate to cap property taxes and keep spending down.  . . .
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 3, Block C:   Petro Shakarian, Russia Direct, in re:
•       Moscow needs to consider new alternatives in Nagorno-Karabakh, 2 April 2016
•       Will Russia cancel its 1921 friendship treaty with Turkey?, 17 February 2016
•       Russia and the Kurds: Playing the Kurdish card against Turkey, 9 December 2015
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 3, Block D:  Petro Shakarian, Russia Direct, Nagorno-Karabakh.
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From Tuesday's EastWestAccord.com:  Caucasus and Russia scholar Pietro A. Shakarian was interviewed last night on The John Batchelor Show about recent developments in Nagorno-Karabakh.  In their discussion, Shakarian and Batchelor unpack the issue from a historical and geopolitical perspective.  Issues discussed include the traumatic legacy of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, the Nagorno-Karabakh issue within the context of the Russo-Turkish regional conflict, and Iran’s perception of the recent hostilities.
..  ..  ..  
Hour Four
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 4, Block A:  The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Pacific War Trilogy) by Ian W. Toll   Part I of III  (segment 1 of 12)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Conquering-Tide-Pacific-1942-1944/dp/039308064...
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 4, Block B:  The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Pacific War Trilogy) by Ian W. Toll   Part I of III  (segment 2 of 12)
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 4, Block C: The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Pacific War Trilogy) by Ian W. Toll   Part I of III  (segment 3 of 12)
Monday 4 April 2016 / Hour 4, Block D:   The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Pacific War Trilogy) by Ian W. Toll   Part I of III  (segment 4 of 12)
..  ..  ..