Important Takeaways:
- The Jordanians and Lebanese, for their part, have not forgotten how Palestinians sparked civil wars in their countries in the 70s and 80s.
- [The Arab countries’] refusal to take in Palestinian prisoners probably arises from the fact that these countries actually do not care about the Palestinians and even consider them an ungrateful people and troublemakers. Many Arabs also seem to have lost faith in the Palestinians’ ability to implement reform and end rampant financial and administrative corruption in their governing bodies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
- “The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization. Help us modern-minded, secular, liberal Muslims marginalize their influence by declaring what they are: a terrorist organization.” — Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, in testimony before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, July 11, 2018.
- “In point of fact, nothing would be more pro-Muslim than the marginalization of the Muslim Brotherhood and its direct affiliates. Making the Muslim Brotherhood radioactive would allow the light to shine upon the most potent antagonists in Muslim communities: those who reject political Islamist groups and believe in liberty and the separation of mosque and state.” — Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, in testimony before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, July 11, 2018.
- “Call on American Muslim leaders to take a position on the Muslim Brotherhood and its overarching theo-political ideology. I ask my fellow Muslims: Will they be the side of freedom, liberty, and modernity, or will they be on the side of tyranny of the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey’s AKP, the Iranian Khomeinists, or Pakistan’s Jamaat e-Islami?” — Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, in testimony before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, July 11, 2018.
- “Develop foreign policy mechanisms to disincentivize Qatari and Turkish Government facilitation of the Brotherhood and ultimately think about suspending Turkey from NATO.” — Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, in testimony before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, July 11, 2018.
- “And please stop engaging Muslim Brotherhood legacy groups in government, media, and NGOs, and recognize their Islamist terrorist sympathies.” — Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, in testimony before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, July 11, 2018.
- Such a designation would also make it far more difficult for the countries that support the Muslim Brotherhood, especially Turkey and Qatar, to keep on doing so. The Muslim Brotherhood has already been declared a terrorist organization by the governments of Austria, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
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Important Takeaways:
- Zelensky’s legitimacy is increasingly in question
- Here’s why Russia and the US can’t force the Ukrainian leader to resign – at least for now
- Zelensky’s departure is far from certain. For him to resign, at least two of three critical conditions must be met:
- The key players in the Ukraine conflict – Russia, the US, and the European Union – must want him to go.
- The Ukrainian political elite must push for his resignation.
- Zelensky himself must see a reason to step down.
- At present, none of these conditions are fully in place.
- The US and Russia have seemingly converged on a three-stage process: ceasefire, elections, peace talks. Reports indicate that an informal consensus is emerging in both capitals. However, neither side has explicitly acknowledged a unified stance, likely because the negotiations are still in their early stages and have yet to formally address Ukraine.
- The European Union remains the wildcard. Brussels is adamant that Ukraine must be supported, regardless of Washington’s position. This provides Zelensky with an alternative power base, meaning that even if Russia and the US agree on his departure, he could still count on support from Europe to justify staying in power.
- Does Ukraine want Zelensky to stay?
- Polling during wartime is notoriously unreliable, making it difficult to assess whether the Ukrainian people truly want Zelensky to step down.
- Ukrainian political opposition also remains fragmented. Many figures within the ruling elite bear grudges against Zelensky, but their ability to effectively challenge his authority is questionable. The Ukrainian parliament recently embarrassed Zelensky by failing to pass a resolution reaffirming his legitimacy at the first attempt – an incident that took place in front of EU representatives. But this is hardly a coordinated coup attempt; rather, it underscores the lack of unity among his detractors.
- Will Zelensky leave willingly?
- The simplest answer is no. Zelensky appears convinced that his leadership is indispensable to Ukraine’s survival. He has consistently rejected any suggestion of early elections or stepping down voluntarily. His statements on the matter are often deflective, saying he would consider resignation only if Ukraine was admitted to NATO – an impossible condition. This suggests he will cling to power for as long as possible.
- The coming crisis: What could change?
- While Zelensky currently holds his ground, shifting battlefield dynamics could force his hand. Ukraine’s military situation continues to deteriorate, its resources are stretched thin, and Western support is no longer guaranteed. The new US administration is unlikely to display the same patience as the Biden White House. If Ukraine fails to turn the tide, Zelensky may face a stark choice: hold elections before the situation becomes catastrophic or risk being overthrown in a palace coup orchestrated by Ukrainian elites desperate to preserve their own futures.
- The latter scenario would not be unusual in history. Leaders who refuse to acknowledge military defeat often find themselves ousted by their own ranks. If Zelensky continues to insist on leading Ukraine down an unwinnable path, he may well meet the same fate.
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Important Takeaways:
- A significant outbreak of severe weather, including the risk of some nocturnal tornadoes will unfold by Tuesday and continue on Wednesday which will put lives and property at risk in the central and eastern U.S.
- As an early March storm strengthens from Monday night to Wednesday night, severe thunderstorms will extend across nearly two dozen states, and associated impacts may affect 170 million people from the southern Plains to the Midwest and East, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
- The main threat from severe weather will be powerful wind gusts that can knock over trees and cut the power in some communities from Texas and Oklahoma to portions of Florida, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. There is also a risk of a dozen or two tornadoes spinning up in the strongest storms, and part of that threat will exist during the nighttime hours in the Central states.
- Wind energy from the storm will first be felt over portions of the southern Rockies and Plains beginning at the end of the weekend. Gusts frequenting 50-70 mph in the mainly clear, dry air, combined with the dry winter brush, will significantly boost the risk of wildfires through Tuesday.
- As a trailing cold front associated with the storm begins to encounter moisture from the Gulf late Monday night, thunderstorms will erupt.
- At this early stage of the severe weather outbreak, the main threat will be from powerful wind gusts during Monday night from central Texas to much of Oklahoma and southern Kansas. However, this will only mark the beginning or ramp-up phase of the severe weather.
- AccuWeather meteorologists believe there is a high risk of severe weather that represents a widespread threat from northeastern Texas to southwestern Tennessee. This area may also be the most prone to tornadoes, with that threat continuing after dark, adding to the danger.
- From Tuesday to Tuesday night, a massive area with few to numerous severe thunderstorms will extend from south Texas to Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and the Florida Panhandle. In addition to the likelihood of high winds and a few tornadoes, some of the storms will produce damaging hail and lightning, as well as flash flooding.
- As the storm lifts northward toward the Upper Midwest, the threat of severe weather will be carried into the Great Lakes region, part of the Atlantic Seaboard and the northeast Gulf coast on Wednesday and Wednesday night. There can even be thunder and lightning with gusty winds as far to the north as the St. Lawrence Valley and eastern New England.
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Important Takeaways:
- Syria: Muslims kidnapping, possibly torturing, Christians
- After forces from the al-Qaeda affiliated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group conquered Damascus and overthrew Syria’s Assad regime in December 2024, they urged the residents of the Valley of the Christians to surrender any weapons they kept for self-defense, telling them that civilians would not be harmed. Since the jihadists’ takeover of Syria, however, around 500,000 Christians in the country have been faced with increased persecution and abductions
- On February 16, more Christians… were abducted from another village in the area. Their kidnappers, according to sources on the ground, are torturing them.
- “HTS’s successive renamings and ‘rebrandings’ appear to echo al-Qaeda’s own strategy in Syria of establishing branches and presenting them as locally-grown organizations arising in response to Syrians’ needs…” — US Commission on International Religious Freedom, November 2022.
- Al-Sharaa recently started dressing in a suit and tie, and is now presenting himself to the West as a “moderate.” He has spoken of plans to form an inclusive transitional government representing diverse communities that will build institutions and run the country until it can hold free and fair elections. In schoolbooks, however, his government has been replacing the word “law” with “sharia,” and has been using Islamic teaching to recruit the country’s new army.
- “Under HTS-control in Idlib, Christian clergy are not allowed to walk outside in any clothing that makes them recognizable as priests or pastors. Crosses have been removed from church buildings.” — Open Doors, December 2024.
- “Islam does not tolerate other cultures.” — “Christina,” a Greek Christian in Syria, to Gatestone, January 2025.
- “The new Syria should not be established without parties that represent the minority groups in the country, such as Christians, Kurds, Druze, and Alawites. The official recognition and acceptance of the jihadists by Western governments is like placing swords on the necks of Christians in particular and everyone who disagrees with them in general.” – “Christina,” a Greek Christian in Syria, to Gatestone, January 2025.
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Important Takeaways:
- Diplomats from the United States and Russia met and spoke at the U.S. consul general’s residence in Istanbul, Turkey for over six hours on Thursday, the latest meeting between the countries in a bid to normalize diplomatic relations before moving on to the larger matter of finding a solution to the Ukraine War. The discussions were said to have been focused on allowing the two countries to return to being able to properly operate embassies in each other’s’ nations.
- An agreement was reached to hold further meetings although when and where was not stated.
- Thursday’s talk followed another in-person meeting between Russian and American delegations in Saudi Arabia last week, the first such meeting between the nations in years, and a phone call between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin before that. An ambition of these talks is to get diplomatic relations between the states to a point where the two leaders are able to meet in-person to negotiate an end to the Ukraine War, but no meaningful progress on that has been made public.
- One facet of talks so far has been grumbling from Europe and Ukraine in particular about their not having been invited to these talks. While U.S. diplomats have been mollifying, pointing out these first meetings are specifically about American-Russian relations and Europe and Ukraine will have a seat at the table when relevant in the future, Russia’s Putin was more direct, warning European leaders not to attempt to undermine the process.
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Important Takeaways:
- We have a government that is literally fighting against itself.
- By the end of the Biden administration, leftist domination of most of our federal agencies was virtually complete. But now we have a new administration that most of our leftist federal workers absolutely detest. Many of them have absolutely no intention of cooperating with the new administration, and some of them have started to openly rebel against it.
- A secretive movement known as “#AltGov” has become the epicenter of that rebellion. Those that are involved primarily communicate through anonymous social media accounts and an encrypted messaging app…
- Calling itself #AltGov, the network has developed a visible, public-facing presence in recent weeks through Bluesky accounts, most of which bear the names or initials of federal agencies, aimed at getting information out to the public – and correcting disinformation – about the chaos being unleashed by the Trump administration.
- With 40 accounts to date, their collective megaphone is getting louder, as most of the accounts have tens of thousands of followers, with “Alt CDC (they/them)” being the largest, at nearly 95,000 followers.
- The network has also formed a group and a series of sub-groups on Wire, the encrypted messaging app, to share information and develop strategies – as played out on Saturday.
- “#AltGov dates from the first Trump administration, but it’s even more needed now,” said an employee at Fema, the disaster response agency, who requested anonymity to avoid being targeted at work. She recently launched an #AltGov Fema account on Bluesky. With nearly 13,000 followers, the account says it’s dedicated to “helping people before, during, and after (this democratic) disaster”.
- The network is aiming to “expose harmful policies, defend public institutions and equip citizens with tools to push back against authoritarianism,” Lynn Stahl, a contractor for the Department of Veterans Affairs and member of the group, told the Guardian.
- In other words, they want to use their positions inside the federal government to oppose the Trump administration any way that they can.
- Attorney General Pam Bondi instructed the FBI to deliver all documents related to Jeffrey Epstein to her office, and they told her that they had done so.
- But now it turns out that they had secretly held back thousands of documents, and Pam Bondi is extremely upset…
- Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a fiery letter to FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday accusing federal investigators in New York of withholding thousands of pages of Jeffrey Epstein documents she has vowed to make public.
- Bondi said she had requested the full Epstein case file before Patel was confirmed as the head of the FBI and received about 200 pages of files — far less than the number of pages released last year in a civil lawsuit connected to Ghislaine Maxwell, the trafficker’s former lover and convicted accomplice.
- “I repeatedly questioned whether this was the full set of documents responsive to my request and was repeatedly assured by the FBI that we had received the full set of documents,” Bondi wrote. “Late yesterday, I learned from a source that the FBI Field Office in New York was in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein.”
- FBI whistleblower Garret O’Boyle has revealed that operatives inside the FBI have been working feverishly to destroy sensitive files…
- “There are FBI servers,” said ex-agent-turned-whistleblower Garret O’Boyle, “and people inside the FBI have been working night and day to destroy files on these servers.”
- “No idea on what it is — I can only speculate — but you mentioned the Epstein list,” he added. “I’d imagine it’s cases like that.”
- If this sort of insubordination persists, more agencies may have to be almost entirely dismantled just like USAID was.
- Sadly, many workers that were fired at USAID and other federal agencies are now conducting wild protests…
- Of course this is just the beginning.
- For example, the Trump administration has announced that 120 IRS offices will be permanently shut down…
- The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to shut down more than 120 IRS offices that provide taxpayer assistance as part of a broader effort to reduce the federal government’s footprint and cut costs.
- The decision, outlined in a letter from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) obtained by The Washington Post, comes at a crucial time—right in the middle of the federal tax filing season, which ends on April 15.
- And President Trump has instructed those running our federal agencies “to turn in a plan for ‘large-scale’ headcount reductions” by March 13th…
- The Trump administration directed federal agency heads Wednesday to turn in a plan for “large-scale” headcount reductions by March 13 — as the president told his first cabinet meeting, he wanted to purge government workers who are “scamming our country.”
- The memo, sent jointly by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Personnel Management (OPM), tells agency leaders to work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to make cuts to the “bloated, corrupt federal government” by methods including firing “underperforming employees,” closing unneeded regional offices and not renewing contracts.
- The memo comes after DOGE overseer Elon Musk threatened twice to fire government employees who didn’t respond to an email asking for five things they did in the last week.
- Well, Trump just said that a million federal workers could potentially be “on the bubble” …
- President Donald Trump warned that one million or more federal employees are now “on the bubble” because of their failure to respond to an email demanding they justify their jobs.
- In a wild monologue during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, the president jumped in after Elon Musk responded to a question from a pool reporter about the fates of those who failed to respond to the email sent Saturday by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — which asked federal employees to list five bullet points of items they accomplished in the last week. Despite having previously warned federal employees that failure to respond would be considered a resignation, Musk softened his position — in response to the pool reporter asking whether those million-plus employees who blew off the email demand would be terminated.
- “We’re going to send another email,” Musk said. “But our goal is not to be capricious or unfair. We want to give people every opportunity to send an email. And the email could simply be ‘What I’m working on is too sensitive or classified to describe.’ Like, literally just that would be sufficient. You know, I think this is just common sense.”
- On top of everything else that is going on, a potential government shutdown is looming in the middle of next month…
- Congress is barreling toward a deadline to avert a government shutdown in just over two weeks, with Democrats and Republicans at odds over whether there should be guardrails on President Trump’s ability to withhold funding approved by Congress.
- Democrats want to insert language in the funding bill to ensure that the administration implements the spending directed by Congress, a reaction to Mr. Trump and top adviser Elon Musk’s work to downsize large swaths of the executive branch. But Republicans have made it clear that they won’t accept those terms.
- Government funding expires on March 14, and keeping the government open past the deadline will likely require bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. Republicans control 53 seats in the Senate, but a funding measure requires 60 votes for passage. In the House, Republicans are operating with a razor-thin majority and a divided conference in which conservatives regularly vote against government spending bills.
- In my entire lifetime, we have never seen this much chaos in Washington.
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Important Takeaways:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky started a blazing row with Vice President J.D. Vance in the Oval Office during a press conference on a pending minerals deal, prompting President Donald J. Trump to intervene strongly against the Ukrainian leader’s “very disrespectful” behavior.
- Addressing a question from the press, Vance said that engaging in diplomacy may be “the path to peace and the path to prosperity” before Zelensky cut in to recall the beginnings of Ukraine’s conflict with Russia in 2014 and sarcastically ask him, “What kind of ‘diplomacy,’ J.D., are you asking about?”
- Vance responded in strong terms, saying it was “disrespectful” to attack the Trump administration in front of the media in this way, while Zelensky continued to snipe at him about his understanding of Ukraine’s problems. President Trump lost patience when Zelensky began lecturing Vance on the negative consequences he would feel if the conflict crossed his “nice ocean.”
- “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel,” Trump warned.
- “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now,” the President continued.
- Zelensky shot back, saying that he was “not playing cards,” with Trump responding, “You’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that’s backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.”
- “In this entire meeting, have you said ‘thank you’ once?” Vance asked, recalling how Zelensky campaigned for Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania in 2024.
- President Trump told Zelensky in no uncertain terms he was “not winning” without American support, praising the bravery of Ukraine’s soldiers but stressing their reliance on American equipment. “Your people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers… And then you say, ‘I don’t want a ceasefire, I don’t want a ceasefire,’” he continued.
- “I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States,” Trump added bluntly. “Your people are very brave, but you’re either going to make a deal, or we’re out.”
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Important Takeaways:
- China is reacting angrily to President Trump’s pledge to impose an additional 10% tariff on its products, saying fentanyl is “the U.S.’s own problem.”
- Trump said the levy will take effect on Tuesday alongside a 25% tariff on products from Canada and Mexico. The Chinese tariff comes on top of a previously announced 10% tariff on products from the Asian superpower, ratcheting up tensions as the U.S. president says the trio of nations are letting deadly opioids pour into American communities.
- “China deplores and opposes this move, and will take what is necessary to firmly defend its legitimate interests,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Friday. “The fentanyl issue is just an excuse the U.S. uses to impose tariffs on, pressure and blackmail China, and they punish us for helping them. This will not solve their concerns.”
- Chinese manufacturers make precursor chemicals for fentanyl that reach Mexico, where cartels finish the drug product and send it to U.S. communities. A tiny percentage is seized at the Canadian border but the White House stressed that domestic production is increasing in Canada and even small amounts can kill in large numbers.
- On Friday, Mr. Lin said China agreed to officially restrict fentanyl-related substances at Mr. Trump’s request in 2019. It also struck a deal with President Biden to crack down on the flow of precursor chemicals.
- “China has conducted counter narcotics cooperation with the U.S. side in a broad-based and in-depth way. The remarkable progress is there for all to see,” Mr. Lin said. “Pressuring, coercion and threat is not the right way to deal with China. Instead, mutual respect is the basic prerequisite.”
- Trump said there hasn’t been nearly enough progress and that families are being destroyed by tens of thousands of overdose deaths per year in the U.S.
- Countries like China and Mexico have suggested the U.S. is to blame for its crisis because too many people are addicted to drugs.
- “China is one of the world’s strictest countries on counter narcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation,” Mr. Lin said. “The fentanyl issue is the U.S.’s own problem.”
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Important Takeaways:
- America is falling behind its adversaries when it comes to technological advancement, commanders of special operations forces told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.
- Rear Adm. Milton Sands III, Maj. Gen. Peter Huntley, Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga and Lt. Gen. Michael Conley all voiced concerns about special ops being bogged down by bureaucracy when it comes to making critical technological upgrades.
- Gen. Huntley, who leads the Marine Forces Special Operations Command, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that modernization is “moving very fast” across the globe, but America’s ability to keep up with the pace is troublesome.
- As an example, Maj. Gen. Huntley spoke of the impact artificial intelligence has had on U.S. forces’ ability to “sense the enemy before they sense us,” an advantage America has enjoyed for decades.
- Rear Adm. Sands also issued a warning about the ability to “rapidly” get U.S. troops the equipment they need “to survive” the modern battlefield.
- “… our priority is getting equipment that’s required for the modern battlefield rapidly into the hands of our operators, and the reason is because they need it to survive,” Rear Adm. Sands told lawmakers
- Gen. Braga, commander of Army Special Operations Command, expressed similar concerns about how systems in place are impacting modernization.
- “Our people are great at innovating, they have fantastic ideas,” Lt. Gen. Braga told the lawmakers. He added, however, that the challenges with funding and bureaucratic processes that can make simple modifications take months or years. However, he suggested that streamlining funding and oversight processes could be possible solutions to these issues.
- The military leaders also mentioned the threats posed by non-state actors, with Maj. Gen. Huntley noting that they are rapidly upgrading when it comes to technological capabilities.
- “What they bring to the tactical fight is, frankly, pretty impressive,” Maj. Gen. Huntley said, adding that the forces “know what we have to do,” but the “critical” challenge is getting those capabilities into the hands of troops.
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