Monday, May 11, 2015
From: Gary L. Bauer
Saudis Snub Obama Summit
President Obama’s efforts to reassure nervous Middle Eastern allies that he can handle Iran aren’t going well. The White House is hosting a highly anticipated summit of Middle Eastern leaders this week at Camp David to discuss Obama’s outreach to Iran and the wave of Islamic extremism that is destabilizing the region.
But there’s just one problem: Four of six invited leaders, including the king of Saudi Arabia, are not coming.
Multiple press reports suggest the Obama White House is now “scrambling to put on a positive face.” According to Reuters, “Analysts and diplomats in the Middle East described King Salman’s decision to skip the meeting at Camp David this week as a snub.”
Secretary of State John Kerry was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last week and met with King Salman. As late as Friday, the White House was crowing about a special one-on-one meeting that was set to take place between Obama and King Salman prior to the summit.
Suddenly, the king claims he’s too busy overseeing the ceasefire with Yemen. But few are taking that lame excuse seriously. Most analysts see it as the Saudis’ way of signaling how upset they are — not with America’s backing of Israel, but with Obama giving Iran a free hand to run the Middle East.
Professor Abdulkhaleq Abdullah told the Associated Press:
“I don’t think they [Gulf leaders] have a deep respect, a deep trust for Obama and his promises. There is a fundamental difference between his vision of post-nuclear-deal Iran and their vision. They think Iran is a destabilizing force and will remain so, probably even more, if the sanctions are lifted. … They’re just not seeing things eye to eye.”
By the way, Ali Saeedi, one of the ayatollah’s top advisors, over the weekend reiterated the regime’s opposition to international inspections of Iran’s military bases. “There is no possibility for the inspection of military centers,” Saeedi said. “It will be against our national interests and security, and neither the Supreme Leader nor the parliament will allow this to happen.”
But without unannounced inspections of Iran’s military bases, any deal regarding the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program is meaningless.
Whose Lives Matter?
Most of the country knows the names Michael Brown and Freddie Gray. Their deaths set off violent riots and much pontificating in the press about the state of race relations and the value of black lives in America. But does anyone know who Melissa Anne Bingham is? How about Armand Parrine? No?
Bingham and Parrine were shot and killed last week in Baltimore. Since the Freddie Gray riots ended, 40 people have been shot in “Charm City.” Ten on Thursday alone.
Do black lives really matter? Or do they only matter when their deaths serve the political left’s agenda of dividing America from the police and stoking racial discord?
FBI statistics released today show that murders of police officers are on the rise. In 2013, 27 officers were killed in the line of duty. Last year the figure nearly doubled to 51.
Two police officers, one white and one black, were gunned down over the weekend in Mississippi. They were murdered during what should have been a routine traffic stop. One thing we can be certain of is that no matter how many policemen are killed by thugs, there won’t be a police riot.
Will President Obama send anyone from the White House to attend the funeral of these officers? It seems unlikely. Breitbart reports that that White House dispatched three officials to attend the funerals of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray. But no one from the president’s staff was on hand Friday at the funeral of New York Police Officer Brian Moore.
Michelle vs. Denzel
Two commencement speeches at historically black universities this weekend made headlines. Graduates of Tuskegee University got to hear from First Lady Michelle Obama.
The Hill writes that the young men and women heading out into the world got a “candid view” about “the challenges and emotional toll of being the country’s first black first lady.”
She complained about her treatment in the press. “Was I too loud or too emasculating? Or was I too soft? Too much of a mom and not enough of a career woman,” she said. But Michelle was just getting warmed up.
Bloomberg reporter David Knowles writes, “Obama then aired a laundry list of slights she said black Americans deal with on a regular basis.”
“The road ahead is not going to be easy. It never is, especially for folks like you and me. . . . We’ve both felt the sting of those daily slights throughout our entire lives. The folks who crossed the street in fear of their safety. The clerk who kept a close eye on us in all those department stores. The people at formal events who assumed we were help.”
Contrast Michelle Obama’s comments to those of actor Denzel Washington, who addressed the graduating class of Dillard University in New Orleans. In his brief address, he laid out four points for the graduates to focus on in their lives. He said:
“Number one: Put God first! Put God first in everything you do. Everything I have is by the grace of God. Understand that. It’s a gift. . . .
“Number three: You’ll never see a U-haul behind a hearse. I don’t care how much money you make, you can’t take it with you. . . . It’s not how much you have, it’s what you do with what you have.
“Finally, I pray that you put your slippers way under your bed tonight, so that when you wake up in the morning you have to get on your knees to reach them. And while you’re down there, say thank you. Thank you for grace, thank you for mercy, thank you for understanding, thank you for wisdom, thank you for parents, thank you for love, thank you for kindness, thank you for humility, thank you for peace, thank you for prosperity.”
Now that’s a uniting message all of us could benefit from. Let’s be thankful for grace, mercy, wisdom and love. Let’s work together for freedom and prosperity.
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