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Ruth King

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The Foreign Press Association’s Unlimited Bias by Bassam Tawil

By on August 4th, 2017

The truth is that in nearly most Arab and Muslim countries, there is no such thing as a “Foreign Press Association.” That is because Arab and Islamic dictatorships do not allow such organizations to operate in their countries.

The second question that comes to mind in light of the Foreign Press Association’s opposition to Israel’s security measures is: What exactly are the foreign journalists demanding from Israel? That Israeli authorities allow them to run around freely while Palestinian rioters are hurling stones and firebombs at police officers? Are the journalists saying that Israelis have no right to safeguard their own lives?

Outrageously, the FPA is nearly stone-deaf when it comes to wrongdoing by Palestinians. Where is the outcry of the organization when a Palestinian journalist is arrested or assaulted by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank or Hamas in the Gaza Strip? Where is the outcry over PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s recent decision to block more than 20 news websites?

The Foreign Press Association (FPA), an organization representing hundreds of foreign journalists who work for various media outlets in Israel, is upset. What seems to be the problem? In their view, recent Israeli security measures in Jerusalem are preventing reporters from doing their jobs. The FPA’s position, expressed in at least two statements during the past three weeks, came in response to Israeli security measures enforced in the city after Muslim terrorists murdered two police officers at the Temple Mount on July 14.

Earlier this week, the FPA, which has often served as a platform for airing anti-Israeli sentiments, went farther by filing a petition to Israel’s High Court of Justice challenging the actions and behavior of the Israeli security forces toward journalists during Palestinian riots in protest against the installation of metal detectors and cameras at the entrances to the Temple Mount. The petition demanded that the Israeli security forces stop restricting journalists’ entry to the Temple Mount compound. It also complained of verbal and physical abuse against journalists by the police.

The FPA protest should come as no surprise to those familiar with the anti-Israel agenda of its leadership. This organization has a long record of black-and-white thinking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — and somehow, the Israelis always come out in the wrong.

While the FPA is teeming with self-proclaimed “open-minded” journalists, their minds seem closed to facts surrounding Palestinian violence. Funny how enlightened folks — generally ready to side with the underdog — become suspiciously overcome by intellectual darkness when the underdog might be an Israel trying to manage Palestinian terror in the most humane manner possible.

Surprise or no surprise, the latest FPA onslaught against Israel serves as a reminder that many of the foreign journalists have no shame in advancing an anti-Israel agenda.

The journalists so distraught over Israel’s recent security measures are the very ones who refuse to enter Syria out of fear of being beheaded by ISIS. These are the journalists who have stopped traveling to Iraq, fearing for their lives. Many of these journalists, particularly the women among them, will not report in Egypt, lest they be raped, let alone targeted by a terror group.

These journalists, when they travel to most Arab and Islamic countries, are assigned government “minders” who accompany them, openly and covertly, 24/7. They will wait in vain to receive a visa to enter Iran or Saudi Arabia — or be made to wait and beg for months before receiving it.

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The Military Options for North Korea by John R. Bolton

By on August 4th, 2017

North Korea test-launched on Friday its first ballistic missile potentially capable of hitting America’s East Coast. It thereby proved the failure of 25 years of U.S. nonproliferation policy. A single-minded rogue state can pocket diplomatic concessions and withstand sustained economic sanctions to build deliverable nuclear weapons. It is past time for Washington to bury this ineffective “carrots and sticks” approach.

America’s policy makers, especially those who still support the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, should take careful note. If Tehran’s long collusion with Pyongyang on ballistic missiles is even partly mirrored in the nuclear field, the Iranian threat is nearly as imminent as North Korea’s. Whatever the extent of their collaboration thus far, Iran could undoubtedly use its now-unfrozen assets and cash from oil-investment deals to buy nuclear hardware from North Korea, one of the world’s poorest nations.

One lesson from Pyongyang’s steady nuclear ascent is to avoid making the same mistake with other proliferators, who are carefully studying its successes. Statecraft should mean grasping the implications of incipient threats and resolving them before they become manifest. With North Korea and Iran, the U.S. has effectively done the opposite. Proliferators happily exploit America’s weakness and its short attention span. They exploit negotiations to gain the most precious asset: time to resolve the complex scientific and technological hurdles to making deliverable nuclear weapons.

Now that North Korea possesses them, the U.S. has few realistic options. More talks and sanctions will fail as they have for 25 years. I have argued previously that the only durable diplomatic solution is to persuade China that reunifying the two Koreas is in its national interest as well as America’s, thus ending the nuclear threat by ending the bizarre North Korean regime. Although the negotiations would be arduous and should have commenced years ago, American determination could still yield results.

Absent a successful diplomatic play, what’s left is unpalatable military options. But many say, even while admitting America’s vulnerability to North Korean missiles, that using force to neutralize the threat would be too dangerous. The only option, this argument goes, is to accept a nuclear North Korea and attempt to contain and deter it.

The people saying this are largely the same ones who argued that “carrots and sticks” would prevent Pyongyang from getting nuclear weapons. They are prepared to leave Americans as nuclear hostages of the Kim family dictatorship. This is unacceptable. Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has it right. “What’s unimaginable to me,” he said last month at the Aspen Security Forum, “is allowing a capability that would allow a nuclear weapon to land in Denver.” So what are the military options, knowing that the U.S. must plan for the worst?

First, Washington could pre-emptively strike at Pyongyang’s known nuclear facilities, ballistic-missile factories and launch sites, and submarine bases. There are innumerable variations, starting at the low end with sabotage, cyberattacks and general disruption. The high end could involve using air- and sea-based power to eliminate the entire program as American analysts understand it.

Second, the U.S. could wait until a missile is poised for launch toward America, and then destroy it. This would provide more time but at the cost of increased risk. Intelligence is never perfect. A North Korean missile could be in flight to a city near you before the military can respond.

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The Imperative of Critical Infrastructure Protection – Cyber and Physical (articles/blogs by Chuck Brooks)

By on August 4th, 2017

In my writings (and speeches) over the past few years, I have communicated the imperative for protecting critical infrastructure against the threat of both cyber and physical attacks. Below is a short compendium of several articles I composed on the topics. Thanks for reading and sharing!

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Emerging focus on cyber-threats to energy infrastructure

by Chuck Brooks in the Federal Times https://www.federaltimes.com/management/2016/10/18/emerging-focus-on-cyberthreats-to-energy-infrastructure/

Recently, the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security hosted an exercise simulating attacks on the power grid and government computer networks. Participants included law enforcement, first responders, and private sector representatives engaged in health and security.

The exercise centered on how the state would react if hackers were able to take down Kentucky’s energy grid while simultaneously engaged in the exfiltration of information from government computer networks. The goal was to provide a gap model and develop best practices that can be utilized by other states and by the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Also last week, InfraGard of the National Capital Region announced a partnership between the FBI and the private sector to protect critical infrastructure and provide a comprehensive effort to recognize and support National Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month. The initiative supports the DHS’ National Protection and Programs Directorate’s (NPPD) Office of Infrastructure Protection mission to raise awareness around critical infrastructure protection during the month of November. The energy sector has been a key area of attention for the NPPD.

And perhaps the most concerning of news activity was the announcement by head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency Director Yukiya Amano, that a nuclear power plant in Germany was hit by a “disruptive” cyberattack within the past three years. Amano was quoted by Reuters as saying: “This issue of cyberattacks on nuclear-related facilities or activities should be taken very seriously. We never know if we know everything or if it’s the tip of the iceberg.” And he noted that this is ” not an imaginary risk.”

It should also be noted that in 2014, a computer in the control room at Monju Nuclear Power Plant in Tsuruga, Japan, was subjected to malware, but possibly by accident. And in 2015, South Korean hackers targeted Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company, but luckily to no avail. Most cyber experts believe that North Korea was behind the attempted cyberattack. These incursions are a wake-up call as there is a very real and growing fear that a future cyberattack on a nuclear plant could risk a core meltdown.

Non-nuclear power plants have also been subjected to intrusions and breaches. A hack in Ukraine was held up as a prime example. In December 2015, hackers breached the IT systems of the electricity distribution company Kyivoblenergo in Ukraine, causing a three-hour power outage.

Refineries, dams and data centers are all potential targets of cyber incursion. According to a report released last month titled “The Road to Resilience: Managing and Financing Cyber Risks,” oil and gas companies around the world could face costs of up to $1.87 billion in cybersecurity spending by 2018.

There have been attempted cyberattacks on grids and utilities, many via phishing and ransomware, and some have been successful. Adm. Mike Rodgers, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, has stated that only two or three countries have the ability to launch a cyberattack that could shut down the entire U.S. power grid and other critical infrastructure.

Much of our grid still relies on antiquated technologies, and more investment in defenses are needed. As technology exponentially advances and as threat actors (including cyber mercenaries) gain tools via the dark web, that number of potential state-sponsored adversaries could expand in the near future.

In 2013, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13636, “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cyber-security,” which called for the establishment of a voluntary risk-based cybersecurity framework between the private and public sectors.

Congressman Trent Franks R-Ariz., chairman of the congressional EMP Caucus, and considered the foremost expert in Congress on electromagnetic pulses, has introduced legislation ( HR 3410) called the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act. The law would enable DHS to implement practical steps to protect the electric grid by training and mobilizing first responders for possible EMP events.

Along with Franks and Peter Prye, who heads the Task Force on National and Homeland Security (a congressional advisory board), several noted industry and policy experts, including former CIA Director Jim Woolsey; Frank Gaffney, former deputy secretary of defense and president and CEO of the Center for Security Policy; and Michael Del Rosso, former chairman of IEEE-USA Critical Infrastructure Protection Committee have been especially active in alerting the public to the critical need to find near-term solutions to protect the grid.

Clearly the entire energy critical infrastructure is justified in garnering the attention of DHS, states, regulatory organizations and the many subject-matter experts on the topic of cybersecurity.

While the threats are complex and the threat actors varied among hackers, state sponsors, organized criminal enterprises and terrorists, there are several themes to adhere to mitigate risk. These include:

Remain vigilant and continually analyze and game the energy cyberthreat landscape, as the methods, means and malware variants are constantly morphing.
Share and communicate cybersecurity information between the public and private sectors (a majority of the energy infrastructure is owned by the private sector). The government and industry are currently using pilot programs including Cybersecurity Risk Information Sharing Program and the Trusted Automated eXchange of Indicator Information to facilitate rapid sharing of security information. DHS NPPD has established an active and successful program in the area. DHS’ Cybersecurity Emergency Response Team responded to 295 cyber incidents in the energy sector in 2015.
Follow industry protocols, especially related to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). Power companies use SCADA networks to control their industrial systems, and many of these networks need to be updated and hardened to meet growing cybersecurity threats.
Maintain robust access management control and cyber incident response programs. This includes following National Institute of Standards and Technology, North American Electric Reliability Corporation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and U.S. Nuclear Energy Regulatory Commission cybersecurity protocols.
Invest in next-generation security controls and cybersecurity technologies.

The World Energy Council says countries must raise their game in combating cyberattacks on nuclear and other energy infrastructures. They note that the frequency, sophistication and costs of data breaches are increasing. The expanding cybersecurity focus on energy infrastructure by both the public and private sectors is certainly a welcome development.

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Meeting Security Challenges Through Vigilance, Readiness and Resilience

by Chuck Brooks

This photo, taken during the International Cybersecurity Forum held in Lille, France, shows cables attached to a protective cybersecurity system.

Photo: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images

In 2017 we are facing a new and more sophisticated array of physical security and cybersecurity challenges that pose significant risk to people, places and commercial networks. The nefarious global threat actors are terrorists, criminals, hackers, organized crime, malicious individuals, and, in some cases, adversarial nation states. Everyone and anything is vulnerable, and addressing the threats requires incorporating a calculated security strategy.

According to Transparency Market Research, the global homeland security market is expected to grow a market size of $364.44 billion by 2020. A large part of the spending increase over the past year is directly related to cybersecurity in both the public and private sectors.

A security strategy to meet growing challenges needs to be both comprehensive and adaptive. Defined by the most basic elements in managed risk, security is composed of:

Layered vigilance (intelligence, surveillance);
Readiness (operational capabilities, visual command center, interdiction technologies);
Resilience (coordinated response, mitigation and recovery).

The specifics of a security approach may vary according to circumstances, but the mesh that connects the elements is situational awareness combined with systematic abilities for critical communications in cases of emergency.

Because society is undergoing such a rapid technological change, the traditional paradigms for addressing threats are evolving with the security challenges. Two particular security challenges characterize the current and future connective landscape in both the public and private sectors: protecting critical infrastructure, and protecting the Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Cities.
The Security Challenge of Protecting Critical Infrastructure

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CAROLINE GLICK ON McMASTER

By on August 4th, 2017

The Israel angle on McMaster’s purge of Trump loyalists from the National Security Council is that all of these people are pro-Israel and oppose the Iran nuclear deal, positions that Trump holds.
McMaster in contrast is deeply hostile to Israel and to Trump. According to senior officials aware of his behavior, he constantly refers to Israel as the occupying power and insists falsely and constantly that a country named Palestine existed where Israel is located until 1948 when it was destroyed by the Jews.
Many of you will remember that a few days before Trump’s visit to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו and his advisers were blindsided when the Americans suddenly told them that no Israeli official was allowed to accompany Trump to the Western Wall.
What hasn’t been reported is that it was McMaster who pressured Trump to agree not to let Netanyahu accompany him to the Western Wall. At the time, I and other reporters were led to believe that this was the decision of rogue anti-Israel officers at the US consulate in Jerusalem. But it wasn’t. It was McMaster.
And even that, it works out wasn’t sufficient for McMaster. He pressured Trump to cancel his visit to the Wall and only visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial — ala the Islamists who insist that the only reason Israel exists is European guilt over the Holocaust.
In May, Adam Lovinger, a pro-Trump national security strategist on loan from the Pentagon’s office of net assessment was summarily informed that his security clearance was revoked. He was fired and escorted from the White House like a spy and put on file duty at the Pentagon.
Lovinger is a seasoned strategic analyst who McMaster hated because he supported India over Pakistan, among other things.
Lovinger has not been told the grounds for his sudden loss of clearance but Mike Cernovich reported that the grounds were that he traveled to Israel for a family bar mitzvah. In other words, there were no grounds for dismissal. His boss at the Pentagon — unbelievably named James Baker, is an Obama hire who hates Trump and supports Obama’s agenda.

As for Iran, well, suffice it to say that McMaster supports the deal and refuses to publish the side deals Obama signed with the Iranians and then hid from the public.

The thing I can’t get my arms around in all of this is why in the world this guy hasn’t been fired. Mike Flynn was fired essentially for nothing. He was fired because he didn’t tell the Vice President everything that transpired in a phone conversation he had with the Russian ambassador. Whoopdy doo! Flynn had the conversation when he was on a 72 hour vacation with his wife after the election in the Caribbean and could barely hear because the reception was so bad. He found himself flooded with calls and had no one with him except his wife.
And for this he was fired.

McMaster disagrees and actively undermines Trump’s agenda on just about every salient issue on his agenda. He fires all of Trump’s loyalists and replaces them with Trump’s opponents, like Kris Bauman, an Israel hater and Hamas supporter who McMaster hired to work on the Israel-Palestinian desk. He allows anti-Israel, pro-Muslim Brotherhood, pro-Iran Obama people like Robert Malley to walk around the NSC and tell people what to do and think. He has left Ben (reporters know nothing about foreign policy and I lied to sell them the Iran deal) Rhodes’ and Valerie Jarrett’s people in place.
And he not only is remaining at his desk. He is given the freedom to fire Trump’s most loyal foreign policy advisers from the National Security Council.
One source claims that Trump’s political advisers are afraid of how it will look if he fires another national security adviser. But that makes no sense. Trump is being attacked for everything and nothing. Who cares if he gets attacked for doing something that will actually help him to succeed in office? Why should fear of media criticism play a role here or anywhere for this president and this administration?
Finally, there is the issue of how McMaster got there in the first place. Trump interviewed McMaster at Mara Lago for a half an hour. He was under terrible pressure after firing Flynn to find someone.
And who recommended McMaster? You won’t believe this.
Senator John McCain. That’s right. The NSA got his job on the basis of a recommendation from the man who just saved Obamacare.
Obviously, at this point, Trump has nothing to lose by angering McCain. I mean what will he do? Vote for Obamacare?

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Courting Success, Bigly By Larry Schweikart

By on August 4th, 2017

Don’t look now, but while Democrats (and some goofy Republicans) continue to push Russian conspiracy stories, President Trump is advancing his Greatness Agenda through court appointments like wildfire. The Senate on August 1 confirmed Kevin Newsom to the 11th Circuit, joining Sixth Circuit Judges Amul R. Thapar and John K. Bush as confirmed Trump appointees. Ralph Erickson has already had his hearing and should be confirmed soon for the Eighth Circuit.https://amgreatness.com/2017/08/03/courting-success-bigly/

To date in his administration, Trump has outpaced Barack Obama and Bill Clinton with his judicial appointees. Trump has so far had confirmed one Supreme Court justice (Neil Gorsuch) and three circuit court nominees. Only four presidents have had a Supreme Court appointment in his first year. At this same point, Ronald Reagan had no Supreme Court justices and no circuit court nominees confirmed—his first wasn’t confirmed until September 19, 1981, although he finished with eight circuit justices confirmed in his first year. Trump could well surpass the pace of both Richard Nixon, who had one Supreme Court pick and 10 circuit judges confirmed, and Jimmy Carter (no Supreme Court justices but 10 circuit court choices confirmed) by the end of the year.

There are a number of outstanding nominations waiting to be voted on now, but they appear to be moving fast. For example, Amy Barrett from Notre Dame was just given the “blue slip” of approval by U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), indicating her confirmation is imminent. Several Democrats have yet to return their blue slips, but there is no reason to think they won’t. In the Fifth Circuit, Trump has four nominations, plus one to the D.C. circuit, one to the Eighth, and one to the 11th (a vacancy in Georgia that just came up). Even assuming blue slips aren’t returned for Judges Joan Larsen, David Stras, Allison Eid, or Professor Stephanos Bibas, Trump could still rack up an astounding 13 confirmations in his first year. Only John F. Kennedy, with 14 (plus Byron White to the Supreme Court) had more.

Most of Trump’s nominees are young. Newsome is 45; Thapar, 50, and a Supreme Court short-lister; Bush is 52. Judge Erickson is on the way, almost certain to be confirmed. There are four Fifth Circuit vacancies (three current and one in October when Judge E. Grady Jolly assumes senior status); one Seventh Circuit (Amy Coney Barrett, whose blue slip has been returned, and her hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, August 8, ensuring confirmation); one in the Eighth Circuit (two Republican senators are supportive, although one—Ben Sasse of Nebraska—has been a pain in Trump’s neck and, like John McCain, could torpedo the pick); one in the Ninth Circuit; one in the 11th Circuit when Judge Frank Hall will assume senior status when her—yes, her—successor is confirmed); and one in the D.C. circuit, who will likely be Greg Katsas. In short, if Trump sends up the rest of the other 13 soon, he could match Reagan’s record with 13 confirmations.

District court judges are a different matter because of cloture requirements. And even with this blistering pace, Trump’s work is cut out for him. Obama nominated 329 judges who were confirmed (121 unanimously), and only 105 of them were challenged. All of six Obama nominees were rejected as a result of Republican filibusters. Obama withdrew them. Newsom’s vote

was 66-31, indicating there will still be Democrat obstruction. At this rate, though, it won’t matter. After a year of Trump in the White House, the U.S. judiciary will have made a sharp, decisive turn to the right. Contrary to the predictions of some NeverTrumpers—that Trump would betray conservatives on judges—Trump is embarrassing them with one solid appointee after another

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Ladies’ Home Jihad: Burqa Cover Model Graces Magazine Telling Women to Grab Grenades By Bridget Johnson

By on August 4th, 2017

A terrorist group chose a burqa-clad cover model and a column for grammar-school-age wannabe-jihadists to kick off the first edition of its English-language ladies’ jihad magazine.
(Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan )

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) launched “Sunnat E Khaula” — the Way of Khaula, a 7th century Islamic female warrior — because they “want to provoke women of Islam to come forward and join the ranks of mujahideen,” according to the magazine’s introduction.

The kids’ column, “Come Let’s Do Jihad with Little Muhajid Omar,” is purportedly the voice of a 6-year-old who vows “when I will grow up I will do jihad like my father, I will fight kuffar” and says he’s currently learning English at his madrassa.

“I everyday do physical exercise so that I can become a good, brave mujahid. I also serve mujahideen in my spare time. My mother cooks meals and I take it to mujahideen in hujra (man’s sitting room). I feel very happy when I look after mujahideen because it makes Allah pleased with me,” Omar writes.

He says of his jihadist father, “At night I asked Baba that why do we do jihad? Baba told me that we do jihad so that there remains no fitna on Allah’s earth, bad people can be removed from earth and we can live peacefully under law of Allah and that is sharia.”

The young writer describes an unrelated “brother” named Osama living with them who had migrated there to wage jihad and was killed in an operation. Omar says he told his parents, to their delight, that “I will inshAllah one day make a big gun by which I will gun down drones and inshAllah one day like brother Osama I will become a martyr.”

“Become strong and fight kuffar [disbelievers] to make this world a peaceful place to live,” the kids’ column concludes, telling youngsters to fight for a day “when all bad people will be finished from earth and everyone will obey only one Allah.”

In the magazine issue, an unidentified wife of a TTP leader does a Q&A in which she defends child marriages as a practice that averts “moral destruction of the society.”

An article showing fully veiled women wielding automatic weapons states that Muslim countries are acting as “puppets” of “America and Jews,” and “humanity is at the verge of destruction.”

Women are advised to “rise up” and “fight against the ones who have taken off clothes from you in the name of fashion and modernism, the followers of dajjal [antichrist] who have turned you into a man, if ‘modernism’ does not work then they use names like ‘culture.'”

Women are further told “it is your duty to fight,” so “if parents are obstructing your way then leave them, if husband’s love is keeping you away from haq [truth] then sacrifice his love and you will receive love of Allah in return.” CONTINUE AT SITE

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Elegy for the Sons of Asgard To an outsider, the people of Norway, Sweden and Denmark may all seem to be cast from the same mold, but that is far from the case.By Andrew Stuttaford

By on August 4th, 2017

Robert Ferguson’s “Scandinavians” is not a book for the beach, but it might well fit the bill on a distant northern shore, with the fog rolling in and memories of long ships stirring. Discursive, meandering, sometimes beautifully written, it presents a historical narrative punctuated by reminiscences, conversations retold, snatches of autobiography, fragments of biography and stories added, one suspects, solely for their strangeness.

We learn, for instance, about Olof Rudbeck (1630-1702), scientist, engineer, architect, musician and botanist. “Of all [the] claims for Rudbeck’s polymathic genius,” Mr. Ferguson writes, “none can compare in its scope, its vision, its ingenuity and its sheer weirdness” with his discovery that Atlantis had been located in Sweden and that Swedish was “the proto-language from which Greek, Latin and Hebrew all derived.” Rudbeck devised, Mr. Ferguson suggests, “a golden past worthy of Sweden’s golden present”—in the 17th century, the country was a European superpower. The stormaktstiden (the great power era) didn’t last long, nor did Rudbeck’s reputation. Even so, nowadays he is remembered sympathetically in Sweden for his account of the country’s origins, a saga “in which facts, dreams, myth and waking life, historical personages, biblical and mythological figures merge and flow and part in a mesmerizing drift.”

Mr. Ferguson, whose earlier books include a history of the Vikings, as well as biographies of Henrik Ibsen and Knut Hamsun, is a rather more reliable source. A Briton, he first traveled to Scandinavia at the tail end of the 1960s with a friend (“He looked like Withnail and I looked like I”). Despite an unglamorous stint in Copenhagen (Withnail was eventually deported for trying to shoplift some cheese), Mr. Ferguson fell for the place. He obtained a degree in Scandinavian studies and, not long after, took up a Norwegian government scholarship to study in that country for a year. It’s not much of a spoiler to reveal that he’s still in Norway today.

The book’s subtitle (“In Search of the Soul of the North”) makes “Scandinavians” sound more daunting than it is. If there is a search going on, the author is in no hurry to find what he is looking for. Instead we are left with an idea—no more than that—of these lands and the three taciturn tribes that make up the bulk of their population. To an outsider, Norwegians, Swedes and Danes seem to be cast from the same mold, but—as I know well from three decades of working alongside them—that is far from the case. Mr. Ferguson touches on this, but too lightly.
Photo: WSJ
Scandinavians

By Robert Ferguson
Overlook, 455 pages, $35

The history that he retells—Vikings, wars, monarchs, writers, philosophers—is an overview, operating both as necessary background and an invitation to dig more deeply. The grand old gods make their inevitable appearance and so does the tale of their demotion, a transition commemorated in 10th-century Denmark by a massive stone that features the earliest known depiction of Jesus in Scandinavian art, a “fierce-eyed warrior ready to jump down from his cross and do battle with the demons of heathendom.” As Mr. Ferguson observes (and as the first missionaries to these unpromising territories understood), “the suffering Christ had no natural appeal among those who formerly worshipped masters of violence like Odin and Thor.”

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Tensions Rise Ahead of Kenya’s Election as Mysterious Death Fuels Mistrust Some suspect official was murdered because he oversaw technology to protect against rigging By Matina Stevis

By on August 4th, 2017

NAIROBI, Kenya—Less than three months ago, Kenya was coasting to its most uneventful election in years, with commentators predicting a walkover for incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Now, the contest—and the country’s mood—are on a knife-edge. The murder of an election official, a proliferation of fake news and the activities of secretive political technology companies have raised tensions in a country that saw over 1,000 people die and hundreds of thousands displaced in election violence a decade ago.

On Monday, Chris Msando, the senior official in charge of Kenya’s electoral information systems, was found dead, his body strafed with the signs of torture.
Christopher Msando, an information technology official for Kenya’s electoral commission, speaks at a press conference on July 6th, in Nairobi. Photo: Associated Press
Members of civil society groups protest the killing of electoral commission information technology manager Christopher Msando, at a demonstration in downtown Nairobi, August 1. Photo: Ben Curtis/Associated Press

On Tuesday, the opposition called for an investigation while Mr. Kenyatta promised authorities would get to the bottom of the assassination.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.K.’s Scotland Yard offered assistance—but the offer hasn’t been accepted, according to people familiar with the situation. The police declined to comment.

As the Aug. 8 election approaches, few in this East African nation of 48 million believe answers are forthcoming, while many see an ominous warning.

“Whatever the reality is, many believe he was killed because he would have made sure that anti-rigging technology would work,” says Nic Cheeseman, an African democracy expert at Birmingham University. “His murder has struck fear into independently minded electoral officials.”

The top candidates in this year’s presidential contest—Mr. Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga —are the same leaders who faced off in the 2007 election. Polls have now narrowed dramatically, giving Mr. Kenyatta a thin 3% lead with 8% of voters undecided.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta speaks to his supporters at the Jubilee Party campaign rally on August 2nd at Tonanoka Stadium in Mombasa. Photo: Jennifer Huxta for The Wall Street Journal

Both men are pledging to spend on development projects and stamp out corruption, but tribal divisions continue to frame Kenyan politics. Mr. Kenyatta says his leadership transcends tribe, though he is dependent on support from his Kikuyu tribe, the nation’s largest, and its allies; Mr. Odinga says his Luo tribespeople and other friendly smaller tribes have been neglected.

Mr. Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were accused of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court after the 2007 violence pitted tribes against one another. Those charges were later dropped. CONTINUE AT SITE

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Judicial Watch reveals Huma emails indicating pay-to-play culture at Hillary’s State Department By Thomas Lifson

By on August 4th, 2017

Judicial Watch has been doing the work that Congress and the Justice Department can’t or won’t do, uncovering evidence of Clinton scandals heretofore hidden from the public. Thanks to their FOIA lawsuits, the State Department is coughing up redacted documents that are part of the public record – even the ones on Hillary Clinton’s illegal server and (soon, we hope) Anthony Weiner’s laptop, where Huma Abedin forwarded classified emails “to make them easier to print.”

In the latest release of 1,606 pages, Judicial Watch noted “repeated use of unsecured communications for classified information and numerous examples of Clinton Foundation donors receiving special favors from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s staff.”

As Hillary’s closest aide, Ms. Abedin had access to everything Hillary did.

There is a lot to go through, but the U.K. Daily Mail picked out this highlight:

[An] email from 2009 released by the State Department reveals Kelly Craighead of the Democracy Alliance and friend of Hillary Capricia Marshall, a former HillPAC director, putting in a good word for a person they describe as a ‘loyal supporter.’

Craighead followed up to try to get the booster a job.

‘It would mean a lot to me if you could help or advise on a personnel situation for a dear friend,’ she wrote.

Abedin, who worked for Clinton in the Senate and State Department and went on to join her presidential campaign, seemed to buy it. ‘We love [redacted]’ she wrote. ‘Looking into this asap.’

If and when a special counsel is appointed to look into the possible crimes associated with the Clinton Foundation and State Department, I am sure that this interaction will be the subject of inquiry and cross-examination of Ms. Abedin.

And this:

The emails also show the reemergence of Hillary Clinton brother Tony Rodham, who intervenes to try to get someone help with his green card.

In the 2010 email, assistant Monica Hanley wrote Abedin: ‘Hi Huma – Tony Rodham called again looking for an update with his greencard issue. Let me know if this is something I should follow up on.’

A March 2010 email from Hanley appears to show an effort to get out of the task.

‘Do you want me to tell Mr. Rodham that the State Departmtn doesn’t handle Green Card matters or do you want me to tell him something else?’ she inquired.

If only the State Department handled Green Cards, there would not be a problem in granting the favor – special consideration, it sounds like.

Leftist apologists are claiming that because Hillary Clinton lost the election, she should be immune from criminal prosecution. These are potential crimes in office, and the American people deserve a full inquiry. The left demands investigations, so let’s show how it is done.

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Time for Trump to Get Rid of McMaster By Eileen F. Toplansky

By on August 4th, 2017

Apparently, President Trump was not aware of the decision by national security adviser H.R. McMaster to grant senior Obama official Susan Rice top-secret security clearance. This disturbing news was revealed by Sara Carter of Circa News, who documents the letter that notified Rice that such powers gave her “unfettered and continuing access to classified information and waiving her ‘need-to-know’ requirement on anything she viewed or received during her tenure.”

Carter asserts that “[t]he undated and unclassified letter from McMaster was sent in the mail to Rice’s home. Trump was not aware of the letter or McMaster’s decision, according to two Senior West Wing officials and an intelligence official, who spoke to Circa on condition that they not be named.”

I hereby waive the requirement that you must have a ‘need-to-know’ to access any classified information contained in items you ‘originated, reviewed, signed or received while serving,’ as National Security Adviser[.] The letter also states that the ‘NSC will continue to work with you to ensure the appropriate security clearance documentation remains on file to allow you access to classified information.’

Circa revealed in “March that during President Obama’s tenure, top aides – including Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch – routinely reviewed intelligence reports received from the National Security Agency’s incidental intercepts of Americans abroad. They were doing so by taking advantage of rules Obama relaxed starting in 2011 to help the government better fight terrorism, espionage by foreign enemies and hacking threats[.]”

In June, “the House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Rice as part of the committee’s larger investigation into the unmasking of Americans under the Obama administration..”

Apparently “[u]nder the law, and under certain conditions, it is common practice for some senior government officials to be given the unfettered access to classified information, and their ‘need to know’ is waived under ‘Executive Order 13526 Section 4.4 Access by Historical Researchers and Certain Former Government Personnel.’ But the White House officials told Circa that under the current congressional investigation, and given President Trump’s ongoing concern that members of his team were unmasked, Rice’s clearance should have been limited to congressional testimony only or revoked until the end of the investigation.”

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