The new Iran deal: “Un cuchillo en la espalda de Israel”

The new Iran deal is a perfect storm, or the kind of event that will have huge unintended consequences.

Let’s look at the elements of this perfect storm:

1) The Obama administration is desperately looking for any kind of legacy.  President Obama is trying to look consequential on the world scene.   Why did he stab Israel?

2) The Europeans are desperately looking to do business with Iran.  The Europeans have always been reluctant warriors in this game.  The European economies desperately need business and they will do business with anyone.

3) Iran is jumping on the opportunity to get a deal that buys them for more time.  In other words, they want time and we just gave it to them.

What does our best friend in the neighborhood say about this deal?   They don’t like it at all:

“Israeli leaders denounced the interim Iranian nuclear pact signed by the United States and five world powers as a “historic mistake” that does little to reverse Iran’s nuclear ambitions and instead makes the world a more dangerous place.”

I hope that I’m dead wrong. However, it looks to me like North Korea 1994 all over again!

P.S.  What about the pastor imprisoned in Iran?  Did we forget him?  I guess so!

“Obama que malo baila Usted”

Beny More would agree with me.  He’d be joining me today singing  “Obama que malo baila Usted”.  What a pathetic performance by President Obama at the UN.

President Obama headed to the UN this week desperately hoping to make history.  He was determined to make something happen by shaking the hand of the new Iranian “moderate”, or the new kid in town who recently posted an Op-Ed over at The Washington Post.  He left town without a handshake and his speech was “all mush“, specially the line about the world being more stable than it was 5 years ago.

The humiliation was total and complete.  It  ended when “the Iranian moderate” refused to shake President Obama’s hand.  Here is an account of the week’s events:

“For days before the U.N. conclave, White House aides had broadcast the President’s desire to shake Mr. Rouhani’s hand. By Monday, the press was overflowing with leaked accounts of where and how it would happen. Having thus turned down the lights and turned up the mood music, it made the snub that followed especially potent. What the Administration is trying to spin as a function of complex Iranian politics was, in blunt fact, an expression of lordly contempt for what Iranian leaders consider to be an overeager suitor from an unworthy nation.” (WSJ)

Another bad day for the “si se puede” gang who bought into the idea that Obama would change the world with a speech and a smile.

We learned again that Iran does not like us.  They don’t our like our leaders, whether our president is a Texas Cowboy or “a self proclaimed enlightened liberal” who promised to meet unconditionally with our enemies when he was a candidate.

Again, they don’t like us and have no serious plan to change their nuclear plans.  They are just buying time, as the leader of Israel warned us.

Another waste of time at the UN and don’t forget that we pay 22% of the dues.

We repeat:  They are not going to shake our hand because we want to shake theirs!   My guess is that they are laughing in Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea.

What’s next?  When will Raul Castro proclaim himself  “a moderate”, write an Op-Ed and get the story going about shaking hands with President Obama?

You can hear CANTO TALK here.

An Iranian Madrassa for Recruiting Hispanic Students

A few days ago Alberto pointed out a report that officials here in the U.S. are not paying enough attention to Iran’s growing relationship with Cuba and Latin America. And we already know groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah have been in South and Central America and Mexico for several years now, training radical groups in those areas, and even the Mexican drug cartels … not to mention reports of OTMs crossing the border into the U.S..

Now comes this from the Washington Post

The Mexican law student was surprised by how easy it was to get into Iran two years ago. By merely asking questions about Islam at a party, he managed to pique the interest of Iran’s top diplomat in Mexico. Months later, he had a plane ticket and a scholarship to a mysterious school in Iran as a guest of the Islamic Republic.

Next came the start of classes and a second surprise: There were dozens of others just like him.

“There were 25 or 30 of us in my class, all from Latin America,” recalled the student, who was just 19 when he arrived at the small institute that styled itself an Iranian madrassa for Hispanics. “I met Colombians, Venezuelans, multiple Argentines.” Many were new Muslim converts, he said, and all were subject to an immersion course, in perfect Spanish, in what he described as “anti-Americanism and Islam.”

The student, whose first name is Carlos but who spoke on the condition that his full name not be used, left for home only three months later. But his brief Iranian adventure provides a window into an unusual outreach program by Iran, one that targets young adults from countries south of the U.S. border. In recent years, the program has brought hundreds of Latin Americans to Iran for intensive Spanish-language instruction in Iranian religion and culture, much of it supervised by a man who is wanted internationally on terrorism charges, according to U.S. officials and experts.

They describe the program as part of a larger effort by Iran to expand its influence in the Western Hemisphere by building a network of supporters and allies in America’s backyard. The initiative includes not only the recruitment of foreign students for special study inside Iran, but also direct outreach to Latin countries through the construction of mosques and cultural centers and, beginning last year, a new cable TV network that broadcasts Iranian programming in Spanish.

Regional experts say such “soft power” initiatives are mainly political, intended in particular to strengthen Tehran’s foothold in countries such as Venezuela and Ecuador, which share similar anti-American views. But in some cases, Iranian officials have sought to enlist Latin Americans for espionage and even hacking operations targeting U.S. computer systems, according to U.S. and Latin American law-enforcement and intelligence officials.

A report issued in May by an Argentine prosecutor cited evidence of “local clandestine intelligence networks” organized by Iran in several South American countries. The document accused Tehran of using religious and cultural programs as cover to create a “capability to provide logistic, economic and operative support to terrorist attacks decided by the Islamic regime.”

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BREAKING: Iran Frees Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani from Jail

pastor

Photo from ACLJ’s Jay Sekulow on Facebook:

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani greets his family as he leaves prison after 1,062 days in Iranian jail

God watch over Youcef Nadarkhani and his family, as we have seen the practice of street justice override the authorities and courts in that part of the world.

Youcef Nadarkhani, the Iranian pastor who captured the hearts of millions as he stood firm in his faith while facing execution, has been acquitted of apostasy.

Two organizations that have closely been monitoring the case and have sources in Iran reported Saturday that Nadarkhani, who went on trial early Saturday, has been released from prison and is at home with his family.

“Thank you to everyone that has supported me with your prayers,” Nadarkhani said, according to Present Truth Ministries.

Though acquitted of apostasy, the Iranian pastor was found guilty of evangelizing Muslims. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment but was released because he already served this time.

“We give thanks to God for His deliverance and the answer to our prayers,” Jason DeMars, founder of Present Truth Ministries, said in a statement.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide also confirmed the pastor’s release.

[…]

Nadarkhani, pastor in a network of house churches, was arrested on Oct. 13, 2009, after protesting the government’s decision to force all children, including his own Christian children, to read the Quran.

He was initially charged for protesting but the charges were later changed to apostasy and evangelism to Muslims. In 2010, he was sentenced to death and the ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court of Iran last year.

According to Islamic Sharia Law, an apostate has three days to recant. The Christian pastor had refused to recant his faith.

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