The genocidal Assad regime in Syria was ideologically inspired by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

A reflection on the 54 year alliance between the Assad and Castro regimes.

Hafez al-Assad seized power in November 1970 in a bloodless coup, and remained in power through brutal means until his death on June 10, 2000. The Syrian dictator ruled his country for over 30 years, and when he died in power, was succeeded by his equally brutal son Bashar al-Assad who ruled Syria for another 24 years.  Throughout these 54 years, the Castro brothers maintained a close relationship with the Assad regime.

Hafez al-Assad visit to Iran, 1 August 1997

 

Fidel Castro broke relations with Israel on the eve of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. This was required for all Soviet-aligned regimes, as the international communist line defined Israel as a colonial state and an arm of U.S. imperialism. However, the Cuban dictatorship went above and beyond in their hostility to the Jewish state.  Noticias de Israel (News of Israel) provided a more in-depth description of what took place next.

From the highest levels of power in Havana, a secret operation was orchestrated to send military support to Syria. A tank brigade, helicopter pilots, communications agents, and intelligence and counterintelligence officers were meticulously selected for this mission. It was imperative that these men did not arouse suspicion and that they were perfectly prepared for the task entrusted to them.

The Military Brigade of Senén Casas Regueiro was mobilized, and under the command of General Leopoldo Cintra Frías, a recognized name in military circles, this surreptitious plan was put into action. In a carefully planned diversionary maneuver, the soldiers left Cuba dressed in civilian clothes, with forged passports that identified them as university students. They traveled on separate flights to East Germany, where they made a technical stopover, before reaching their final destination: Syria.  

Once on Syrian territory, Soviet military equipment, including modern T-62 tanks and SAM rocket artillery, was ready for operation. Figures vary, but it is estimated that between 1,800 and 4,000 Cubans were present in Syria during the 1973 confrontation.

The surprise of this operation resulted in a series of significant losses for Israel, both in human lives and military equipment. Some civilian areas were also hit during the clash. 

On March 31, 1974, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan announced on US television that 3,000 Cuban troops had been dispatched to support Syria during the Yom Kippur War. The Economist published two articles in its Foreign Report in 1978 that highlighted Cuba's role in Syria beginning shortly after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Cuban tank crews fought with Syrian troops. According to Foreign Report, 180 Cubans were killed and 250 were injured.  

Cuban combat troops remained in Syria until 1975. 

Havana remained quiet when Assad invaded Lebanon in 1976, and occupied the country for the next 30 years. In 1979, Hafez Al Assad traveled to Cuba and met Fidel Castro. Castro, and other Cuban officials made no mention of the then ongoing Syrian occupation.

The bodies of hundreds of victims of the 1982 massacre that Hafez al-Assad ordered against Palestinians and Lebanese in the Tel al-Zaatar Palestinian refugee camp, northeast of Beirut, Lebanon are still interred in unidentified graves. Between 1,500 and 2,000 people, primarily civilians, are thought to have been killed, although some estimate that the total number of victims during the siege may exceed 4,000.

No criticism was made by Havana regarding the massacre of these Palestinians by Assad. On the contrary the relationship between Havana and Damascus remained strong.

Since 1975, 17,000 Lebanese have been disappeared by the Assad regime, according to Romy Haber, of the Catholic News Agency.

In the July 1986 issue of Commentary magazine, professor and commentator Daniel Pipes wrote an article with a title that asked a provocative question: "Syria: The Cuba of the Middle East?" and offered the following data point on relations between the two regimes.

"An August 1985 cable from Assad to Fidel Castro on the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Syria and Cuba praised the two countries' friendship as beneficial 'for the two peoples in their joint struggle against world imperialism and its allies.' A telegram from the Syrian foreign minister on the same occasion expressed 'Syria's admiration for the fraternal Cuban people's great achievements and their firm stands against imperialist aggression on the Latin American people.'”

Syria continued its dominance over Lebanon after 1990 with the assistance of Iran and their terrorist proxy Hezbollah. Bashar al-Assad's succession to power in July 2000 was met, less than a year later, by a visit by Fidel Castro to Damascus in May 2001 where the Cuban dictator met with his Syrian counterpart.

Lebanese nationalists rose up nonviolently against the Syrian occupation beginning in 2000, and by 2005 had forced the withdrawal of the Syrian army in what became known as the Cedar Revolution, but it was not conclusive.

On June 28, 2010 Bashar al-Assad visited Cuba for two days, and met with Raul Castro.

In 2011, a nonviolent movement against the Assad regime emerged, which was met with extreme brutality, and resulted in a civil war. When the international community, belatedly, demanded an accounting for the rights violations committed by the Assad regime in Syria, the regime in Havana was one of a handful of governments that voted against investigating the crimes of the dynastic dictatorship in Damascus.

On August 23, 2011 the Cuban government along with China, Russia and Ecuador voted against investigating gross and systematic human rights violations in Syria.

On February 5, 2012 ALBA Countries reiterated rejection of "foreign interference" in Syria's internal affairs, expressing support for President Bashar al-Assad and confidence that he would resolve the Syrian crisis. ALBA Countries include Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua. Meanwhile in Syria President al-Assad  engaged in massacres throughout the country

On June 1, 2012 at a Special Session on the deteriorating human rights situation in Syria with a special focus on the massacre in El-Houleh the Cuban regime and its allies took a stand against holding the Assad regime accountable for its gross and systematic human rights abuses.

  

Bashar al-Assad

The Associated Press reported that the U.N. Human Rights Council voted overwhelmingly on September 25, 2014, to share its evidence of Syrian atrocities in hopes it will be forwarded to the world's war crimes tribunal. By a vote of 32-5, with 10 abstentions, the 47-nation council adopted the resolution condemning the lack of cooperation by President Bashar Assad's government with a U.N. commission investigating rights violations since March 2011 in Syria.  Cuba was one of five nations—the other four being Algeria, China, Russia, and Venezuela—that voted against sharing evidence of  gross and systematic human rights violations in Syria.

Ten years of civil war and bloodshed with tens of thousands disappeared, millions displaced, and over 500,000 killed, yet the Syrian regime was being normalized in 2023 by too many in the international community.

 

Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024 fled to Moscow, and his dictatorship crumbled. Now the mass graves are being discovered, and the full scale of the horror is beginning to be understood.

 

It is also important to remember that Fidel Castro "was a source of ideological inspiration" for the Assad regime.

On December 8, 2024 I made the following observation in a thread of four Tweets on X:

It appears that the Assad dynasty that ruled Syria over two generations of incredible levels of brutality and terror has come to an end. Let us pray that what comes next after so many decades of depravity and repression is an improvement. Assad's decision to engage in the mass murder of the Syrian nonviolent opposition in 2011 sparked a civil war that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.  Now is the time to make an assessment of the governments who backed the Assad regime, and call them out as we learn of the crimes of this dynastic dictatorship. This includes the dictatorships in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. All supported Assad, and legitimized his rule.

"It appears that the Assad dynasty that ruled Syria over two generations of incredible levels of brutality and terror has come to an end. Let us pray that what comes next after so many decades of depravity and repression is an improvement." https://t.co/5dO3DpvHFn
1/4

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) December 8, 2024

Fight for Freedom in Venezuela: Time to Double Down on Non-violent Resistance

Beware the temptation to embrace violence as a short cut.

The power of nonviolence

 Exposing the terrible reality that Venezuela is in the midst of a famine, and the illegitimate and criminal Maduro regime refuses to recognize it. Worse yet, the regime sends valuable tons of humanitarian equipment to Cuba while Venezuelans are dying of hunger and lack of basic medicines.  If that was not the last straw, this same regime denies the entry of needed humanitarian assistance, and gives order to shoot those trying to bring it in to the country.

The logical result of this immoral policy is that it is creating dissension in the ranks. Defecting members of the military is a good sign. Nonviolent resistance strategy is the way to go to bring change to Venezuela and end the manufactured famine of the Maduro regime.

Revisiting the writings of Gene Sharp, the scholar of non-violent civic resistance, will lead one to a pluralistic concept of power and how regime's depend on different pillars to maintain power. One of the most important pillars is the military, another is the police, the business community, etc.

Source: Thoughtful Campaigner

The fact that there are scores of military personnel refusing to shoot their fellow citizens and abandoning their ranks is an excellent sign. 

Now is not the time to embrace violence (or violent flanks) but to double down on nonviolence and an effective strategy to bring yourself out of the crisis by speeding up the collapse of the remaining pillars of the Maduro regime. This also means expanding and maximizing your number of allies.

Source: Thoughtful Campainger

The example of Syria, where a nonviolent movement made incredible gains only to have a violent flank emerge out of defecting army units, ostensibly to defend nonviolent activists from the violent Assad regime, should serve as a warning. The belief, in some quarters, was that this was inevitable and would speed up the victory over the Syrian dictatorship. The result was just the opposite. Assad's regime was able to consolidate itself and the body count of the conflict exploded and radically violent elements overtook the violent resistance.

"Violent flanks" and the use of the so-called "diversity of tactics" reduces mobilization and decreases the probability of success for a resistance movement. Strategic thinker Gene Sharp put it succinctly when he said: "using violence is a stupid decision."
 
This does not mean entering into a pointless negotiation with the regime that buys it time to renew itself. Gene Sharp on the BBC program HardTalk in 2015 said it plainly: "Dictator's will not negotiate themselves out of power."  The only thing to negotiate is their exit once their pillars of power have imploded.

However it does mean identifying other effective elements of the opposition and strengthening your relationship with them operationally while trying to peel off neutral elements of the population to join your cause.

This does not signify stopping or slowing down your mobilization and activism but finding commonalities to speed up and perfect campaigns and tactics to take power away from the Maduro regime while growing your spectrum of allies. 

The friends of the Maduro dictatorship are doing everything they can to discredit Gene Sharp and his writings because they know how effective they are and how they empower the citizenry. Below is the complete 2015 Hard Talk program with Gene Sharp. Please share it widely.

 

Free Venezuelans: The case for continuing nonviolent resistance

The strategic wisdom of nonviolent resistance

Venezuela today

These are desperate times in Venezuela with an imploding economy, political violence and a regime bent on consolidating an already brutal dictatorship. Today the illegitimate Constituent Assembly that Maduro and his lackeys have granted supreme powers over all other branches of government began to rewrite the 1999 constitution. It was "elected" last weekend in balloting marred by regime organized violence and tampering with the vote. Among its 500-plus-members are Maduro's wife and son, and is led by Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro's former foreign minister.  At the time of the writing of this blog the Mayor of Metropolitan Caracas Antonio Ledezma was returned to house arrest after being grabbed up in the middle of the night, on early Tuesday but opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez remains jailed along with 600 other political prisoners.

 
There are voices gaining traction in Venezuela making the argument that violent resistance is now necessary to deal with the new political reality in the country. A century of data and the recent examples of Libya and Syria indicates that they are mistaken.

Furthermore, among some Venezuelans, there is the mistaken idea that Cubans did not fight against the imposition of communist rule in Cuba. Cuban author and artist Juan Abreu who advocates violent resistance in Venezuela also does not sugarcoat the difficulty nor the fact that Cubans failed to overthrow the Castros despite a formidable armed resistance because the communists are experts in violence and torture:

As I told you yesterday, Venezuelans, about civil war, that monstrous thing, I should be honest with you; that war guarantees you nothing. I should also warn you that you are going up against an organization made up of assassins who are the most sadistic and brutal on this planet. You should know that in Cuba there was a civil war as well. When the Castros came to power, Cuban citizens organized a formidable armed resistance in the cities and in the mountains. A failure. It was laid to waste.

You Venezuelans should know that the thugs of the Castro secret police (who are directing the repression against you Venezuelans) are brutal assassins and merciless. You should take into account that if you do confront them, there will be blood and death.
All I will say is that one of the methods used by the Castro DSE (the G-2 back in those days) consisted of tying anti-Castro insurgents by their feet to the back bumper of an automobile and dragging them through coral rock on the Cuban coast until all that was left was an unidentifiable mass of human flesh. I am mentioning just one of the atrocious tortures among the many atrocious torture methods used by the killing machine of the Castro repressive organs that you will be going up against.

The Castro enemy is barbaric and cruel. Yes, that is even more reason to kill them, I agree. But you should know what you are going up against.

The violent nature of this resistance made it easier for the communist dictatorship in Cuba to consolidate its totalitarian rule and "hermetically" seal the island, reinforcing the regime's false narrative that the opposition were terrorists and mercenaries, but less than a decade later a nonviolent alternative arose with the founding of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights on January 28, 1976 that the Castros could not so easily eliminate.

University Academics Maria J. Stephan and Erica Chenoweth in their 2008 study "Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic on Nonviolent Conflict" compared outcomes of 323 nonviolent and violent resistance campaigns from 1900 to 2006 and there study finds “that nonviolent campaigns are more likely than violent campaigns to succeed in the face of brutal repression.”

The usual counter argument is that nonviolence would not have worked against the Nazis but history says otherwise with the successful nonviolent action of the Rosenstrasse protest carried out by German wives who successfully got their Jewish husbands back from the concentration camps in 1943. Nor does one consider the scores of violent actions that failed to dislodge the Nazi regime but only consolidated their rule despite two close calls that nearly got Adolph Hitler in 1939 and 1944.

Hitler was overthrown by the outside intervention of the Allied Powers in WWII that claimed 40 million lives. The troubling question remains what would have happened if more Germans had non-violently resisted the Third Reich, as Mohandas Gandhi had counseled in 1940.

In the case of Libya outside powers led by NATO waged a war that violently overthrew and killed the cruel despot Muammar Gaddafi. Without this outside intervention the violent uprising would have failed. However the rebels that took power turned Libya into a place now described by some as a failed state.

Syria is a cautionary tale that Venezuelans should pay close attention to. Unlike Libya the uprising against Bashar al-Assad was initially nonviolent and despite great provocations maintained a nonviolent posture that successfully placed the Syrian despot on the defensive. Unfortunately when elements of the army joined the opposition to Assad the decision was made, out of the mistaken belief that it would speed up victory, of turning to a violent resistance. On February 5, 2012 nonviolent theorist Gene Sharp gave the following advice to the opposition in Syria:

"Maintain non-violence, do not organise soldiers to use violence against the remaining army. That is suicidal. That becomes a tool - that is what the government would want you to do". ... "Use the mutinous soldiers to persuade the rest of the soldiers also to mutiny - take the army away then the regime will come tumbling down."

In an earlier interview in the United Kingdom on the BBC News program HARDtalk on January 30, 2012 Dr. Sharp said that "using violence is a stupid decision." Sadly that advise was not heeded. The end result has been the escalation of violence and fatalities in a civil war and the consolidation of rule of Bashar al-Assad today and an opposition compromised by violent terrorist elements.
The odds of violent resistance successfully transitioning to a free society are higher than that of nonviolent resistance. However nonviolence is not a magic bullet anymore than violence is. In both a violent and nonviolent struggle success is determined by the side with greater resources and better strategy and tactics. Gene Sharp, a world renowned nonviolence theoretician, offers the following advice:

"You have to learn how to do it skillfully. If you are going to fight a war violently you don't go to all the neighborhood bars and get all the guys out there and say lets go fight a war but thats about the way nonviolent struggle has been conducted over the centuries. People were improvising. They didn't know what the hell they were doing. What would make it effective? What should they be aware of? Who was this guy who was urging violence? They didn't know he was a tool of the political police. This happened in the Russian empire ... and repeatedly. It also happened I am told with the Gestapo doing that. Dictators and rulers who fear the power of people will do their damndest to defeat it and you have to know how to be smarter than they are and more courageous and more skilled in what you do."

These are dangerous and difficult times in Venezuela with a brutal regime aided by the oldest tyranny in the Western Hemisphere, the Castro dictatorship, to consolidate the dictatorship in Caracas. At the same time the vast majority of Venezuelans oppose this government that is becoming increasingly illegitimate and there is an organized opposition. The elements to achieve victory are present but it requires thought, analysis and sustained action.

Those of us outside of Venezuela can demonstrate our solidarity by sharing their communications, providing humanitarian assistance, and standing up in protests of support for the Venezuelan democratic opposition to let them know they are not alone. This Saturday, August 5, 2017 at 11:00am Miami will unite for a free Venezuela at the Torch of Freedom and all people of good will should be there to demonstrate their support.

March of Silence for the Fallen: Remembering the Maduro regime's victims

Silent marches and vigils for Maduro's victims in Venezuela

"No more murders in Venezuela"

The Maduro regime is killing young Venezuelans in order to provoke a violent response for the opposition. It is a trap for the opposition as was seen in Syria. A civic movement abandoning nonviolence and fighting the regime militarily is taking the fight to ground where the dictatorship has the advantage. Rather than falling into the trap, nonviolent opposition is organizing a nonviolent silent march later today to remember those killed and demand justice.

"Silent march in honor of our fallen"

 Mobilizing millions of Venezuelans to nonviolently resist the Maduro dictatorship has a better chance of forcing a democratic transition and the ouster of the regime. The alternative would be civil war and the odds are it would lead to the permanence of the Maduro regime with the aide of Cuban soldiers and intelligence assets.

Paola Ramírez and Carlos Moreno both shot in the head on April 19, 2017 in Venezuela.

Shooting young Venezuelans in the head to terrorize demonstrators and provoke a response has been a Maduro regime tactic since at least February 2014.

Beginning on February 12, 2014 regime agents shot Bassil Alejandro Dacosta, age 24 in the head.  One of the young students who carried Bassil off  after he was shot was Robert Redman, age 28, who reported later that day over twitter: "Today I was hit with a rock in the back, a helmet in my nose. I swallowed tear-gas, Carried the kid who died, and what did you do?" That same day he was also gunned down by Maduro's colectivos, working in concert with his security forces, and murdered. The killings continued.

Some of the young Venezuelans shot in the head by Maduro's agents

 A high profile killing that shocked the world was the murder of a local beauty queen. Génesis Carmona was marching at approximately 4:00 pm on Tuesday February 18, 2014, near Cedeño Avenue and the intersection of Carabobo, when  a group of masked gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on the demonstrators. Génesis was shot in the head in the left occipital region. She was a model who had won the Miss Tourism Carabobo beauty pageant in 2013.There have been dozens more executed by Maduro regime agents in an effort to terrorize and either silence or provoke nonviolent protesters.

March of silence for the fallen on Saturday, April 22nd at 10am

Families of the victims have pursued justice and had some successes, but much remains to be done to end impunity and hold those responsible accountable. This morning beginning at 9:00am silent marches and rosaries will be held in Acarigua and Araure while an hour later marches will begin in other parts of Venezuela. Demonstrators are asked to dress in white.

March of silence in honor of the fallen. Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 10am

Those of us who advocate for nonviolence in Venezuela have an obligation to speak out and denounce the violence visited on non-violent opponents by the Maduro regime and their Cuban handlers. Those engaged in violence need to understand that sooner or later they will have to answer for their crimes in a court of law.

"They did not die. They murdered them."

Please use the hashtags #MarchaDelSilencio and #SilentMarch along with #Venezuela and share pictures of those killed by Maduro. Tragically, there are many to choose from. They must be not be forgotten.

Vigil for the fallen in Anzoategui, Venezuela last night

 

Christophobia, ISIS and Christian Genocide in the Middle East

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." - Matthew 5:11

Ethiopian Christians purportedly executed by ISIS in Ethiopia

On March 17, 2016 John Kerry recognized that ISIS was committing genocide against Christians in Iraq and Syria.  ISIS marked Christian houses with the Arabic equivalent of the letter "N" for Nazarene and targeted Christians. There has been a reduction in the number of Christians in Iraq and Syria. For example, in 2006 35,000 Christians lived in Mosul and now only 20 to 30 remain.

Nine years earlier then Senator Barack Obama wrote Secretary of State  Condoleezza  Rice on September 11, 2007 concerned "for Iraq's Christian and other non-Muslim religious minorities who appear to be targeted by Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish militants." The then Senator from Illinois and future President continued writing: "The severe violations of religious freedom faced by members of these indigenous communities, and their potential  extinction from their ancient homeland, is deeply alarming in light of our mission to bring freedom to the Iraqi people."

Things did not improve for Iraqi or Syrian Christians during the Obama Presidency and with the rise of ISIS worsened.

According to Pew Research in 2016 globally 38,901 Muslim refugees entered the United States as opposed to 37,521 Christian refugees but this is a misleading number because it does not reflect the disparity in the Middle East and that Christians there have been targeted for genocide. In fiscal year 2016 when the Secretary of State recognized that Christians in Iraq and Syria were targeted for genocide the United States admitted 12,587 Syrian Refugees out of which 12,486 were Muslims, 68 Christians, and 24 Yazidis. This is troubling since Syria had a population of 22.85 million according 2013 statistics with 10% Syrian Christians which translates to 2.2 million.  Only 0.5% of Syrian refugees admitted to the United States are Christian or 68 if the refugee flow were proportional the number of Christian Syrian refugees would be approximately 1,000.

Elliott Abrams of the Council on Foreign Relations and now being considered for a top post at the State Department concluded in September 2016 that in a de facto manner the United States was barring Christians, not Muslims from the United States and went on to explain how to solve this problem with some common sense reforms that the Obama Administration failed to implement.

James Zogby of the Arab American Institute disputed Abrams line of argument and argued that Christians were being "used" citing the silence of the Bush Administration during the first three years of the Iraq war when they were being devastated in Iraq and made the argument that not as many Christians have fled as claimed by Mr. Abrams. Mr. Zogby is a critic of the Iraq war and in 2014 in an essay "A Precarious Christmas" wrote the following that seems to contradict his argument:

Caught in the middle, as one Syrian has termed it “between the anvil of the regime and the hammer of violent extremists,” the country’s Christians have paid a dear price. Scores of churches have been destroyed and two bishops have been kidnapped by shadowy extremist groups. The famed ancient Aramaic-speaking town of Maaloula has been over-run by an al Qaida affiliated group that is holding captive the nuns from that community’s monastery. In the face of this violence and destruction, almost half of Syria’s Christians have joined their Muslim compatriots as refugees. Those who remain in the country live in fear for their future.

As a human rights activist I don't agree with a religious test for refugees but am concerned Christians targeted for genocide are being underreported for political reasons. I'm also uncomfortable that when raising the issue of Christian persecution there is a hostile reaction not seen when discussing other religious minorities such as Yazidis or Shia Muslims. Has Christophobia,  the hatred, prejudice, and bigotry against Christians, become so entrenched in elite circles that with a Christian genocide underway in Iraq and Syria only 68 Christian Syrian refugees arrived in fiscal year 2016 and questioning how to save more is considered a controversial proposition. 

Republican Congressman Chris Smith is calling on the Trump Administration to provide relief for Christian genocide survivors fleeing the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In December 2016 Congressman Smith visited the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil in Iraq. This is an excerpt of the report on what the Congressman found.

  The Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Mosul, Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf, who had to flee ISIS and seek refuge in Erbil, told Smith, “So often concern for Christians is minimized. I am so happy, because you are the first American who has come to just ask about the Christians. We pray that President Trump will help us. We are the last people to speak the Aramaic language. Without help, we are finished.”       

“I also saw how the Obama Administration has shortchanged organizations conducting criminal investigations and collecting, preserving and preparing evidence usable in criminal trials. Perpetrators will dodge punishment unless there is specific evidence linking them to specific atrocity crimes. My Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act legislation is a blueprint for how to assist Christians and other genocide survivors and hold perpetrators accountable. I will be working tirelessly to get this bill on the new President’s desk when we reconvene in January,” added Smith.

Syria and Iraq: Civil War and Genocide

A silent genocide in the Middle East

British Parliament and other buildings went red to protest religious repression  

There has been a civil war underway in Syria that emerged out of the 2011 Arab Spring and continues to the present day and is a humanitarian catastrophe. However at the same time religious minorities have been systematically targeted in Syria and also in Iraq in the aftermath of the U.S. intervention, 

On March 17, 2016 the U.S. State Department finally recognized that religious minorities are being targeted for genocide in Iraq and Syria. Three religious minority groups: Yazidis, Shia Muslims, and Christians have suffered and continue to face systematic ethnic cleansing. The Media Research Center has criticized news media for under reporting this story.

The United Nations issued a report on June 16, 2016 stating that "Islamic State fighters are committing genocide against Yazidis in Syria and Iraq by seeking to destroy the group through murder, sexual slavery, gang rape, torture and humiliation" with the ominous objective to “erase their identity.” 

Heartbreaking destruction of ancient Mar Behnam and Mart Sarah monastery outside of Mosul #OperationReturnToNineveh pic.twitter.com/n9TLw7MddI

— Christians of Iraq (@iraqichristian) November 23, 2016

Christians are also facing genocide in the Middle East and despite the under reporting there is some coverage and CNN on November 21, 2016 reported the following:

ISIS marked Christian houses with the Arabic equivalent of the letter "N" for the derogatory term Nazarene. The militants blared ultimatums from the loudspeakers of Mosul mosques: Leave by July 19 to avoid death or forced conversion to Islam. The terror-driven exodus emptied the city of Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities. A decade ago, 35,000 Christians lived in Mosul. Now maybe 20 or 30 remain.

There is a serious discussion underway that contemplates the possibility of the end of a Christian presence in the Middle East after more than 2,000 years beginning with the ministry of Jesus Christ.

In the midst of all this there is great concern that something unusual is taking place with the pattern of refugees entering the United States not reflecting the population of Syria or those most currently impacted. Judge Daniel Manion of the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in mid-October of his "concern about the apparent lack of Syrian Christians as a part of immigrants from that country" and detailed it in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit appeal:

"It is well‐documented that refugees to the United States are not representative of that war‐torn area of the world. Perhaps 10 percent of the population of Syria is Christian, and yet less than one‐half of one percent of Syrian refugees admitted to the United States this year are Christian. Recognizing the crisis in Syria, the President in 2015 set a goal of resettling 10,000 refugees in the United States. And in August the government reached this laudable goal. And yet, of the nearly 11,000 refugees admitted by mid‐September, only 56 were Christian. To date, there has not been a good explanation for this perplexing discrepancy."  

Elliott Abrams of the Council on Foreign Relations provided some context to the above question in an OpEd in Newsweek:

The BBC says that 10 percent of all Syrians are Christian, which would mean 2.2 million Christians. It is quite obvious, and President Barack Obama and Secretary John Kerry have acknowledged it, that Middle Eastern Christians are an especially persecuted group.So how is it that one-half of 1 percent of the Syrian refugees we’ve admitted are Christian, or 56, instead of about 1,000 out of 10,801—or far more, given that they certainly meet the legal definition?

Abrams concludes that in a de facto manner the United States is barring Christians, not Muslims from the United States and goes on to explain how to solve this problem with some common sense reforms that the current Administration has failed to implement.

However it is not only Christians but also Yazidis, mentioned above, with only 24 granted refuge in the United States in 2016 out of an estimated population of up to 700,000.

Refugees fleeing a war zone should be granted refuge, but refugees targeted by a regime for genocidal extermination should be given priority. The fact that the United States has done the opposite is a shameful failure of historic consequence.

Cold War II: How Obama - Clinton "Russian reset" paved way for current foreign policy disaster

Cold War 2.0 and the 2016 Election

Obama Administration's Russian reset launched new Cold War

This blog focuses on U.S. - Cuba policy but as the geopolitical situation deteriorates, U.S. - Russia relations deteriorate and Russia returns to Cuba and makes new inroads into Latin America the obvious question arises: How did the new Cold War between Russia and the United States materialize?


First, the end of the Cold War without a major war on the European continent was achieved during the Reagan - Bush era (1981 - 1993). Ronald Reagan entered The White House rejecting the failed policy of detente that had ended with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan during the Carter administration. However, the first Bush Administration pledged to Gorbachev in 1990 that in return for German unification and freeing the "captive nations" there would be no NATO expansion. Bill Clinton abandoned this agreement and NATO went on to expand with 12 nations of the former Warsaw pact joining and encircling Russia on its western front. During the second Bush Administration plans to install a missile defense complex in Poland were announced.

Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Lavrov press button marked "overload" in 2009 

On March 6, 2009 Secretary Hillary Clinton in Geneva, Switzerland announced the "Russian reset" with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov but things did not go as expected as Time Magazine's Simon Shuster reported a year later when there were already signs that things were going in the wrong direction:

Last March, she had the honor of starting Obama's charm offensive by presenting her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, with a little red button. It was supposed to have the Russian word for reset on it and was meant as a harmless bit of fun. But thanks to a spelling mistake somewhere in the State Department (presumably the Gimmicks Directorate), Lavrov had to explain that the button actually said overload. It caused some awkward laughter.

In September of 2009 the Obama Administration announced that they "no longer planned to move forward" with the missile shield and scrapped it, but pursued an alternative scaled down version that still bothered the Russians who viewed the President as weak.


On March 26, 2012 President Obama was caught on a hot mike telling then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that "This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility." President Medvedev replied, "I understand. I transmit this (inaudible) to Vladimir." President Obama went on to win re-election.

In August of 2012 President Obama made his famous statement of a "red line" in Syria over the use of chemical weapons leading to a U.S. military response only to back down when Assad used them.
This was all taking place under a backdrop where the Putin regime was transitioning into a more authoritarian regime murdering opposition activists, human rights defenders and independent journalists. The Obama administration did not allow these developments to effect their approach to Russia.

By 2014 Vladimir Putin responded to President Obama's promise of "flexibility" by militarily taking part of Ukraine, backing Assad in Syria, and floating the idea of opening Russian military bases in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Today in 2016 as construction begins on a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, and Russians have now returned to Latin America expanding their position there not only in Cuba but also Nicaragua the prospects that a second Cold War is underway is a reality.

U.S. foreign policy during the Obama administration has been a mixture of signals perceived as weak being sent, inviting aggressive responses by outlaw regimes and adversaries, followed up by responses that threaten to explode into conflict.

This is how today the Russians are involving themselves in the U.S. elections mocking The White House, as Russian planes buzz U.S military warships around the world, and the unprecedented statement by Vice President Biden announcing a "covert" operation against Russia for its alleged leaking of hacked e-mails of the Democratic National Committee, and John Podesta. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ignored protocols placing her electronic communications on a private and unsecured server. Until now there have been no leaks of her e-mails but could there be a late "October Surprise" as Russian revenge for Bill Clinton's NATO expansion?


This "Russian reset" was part of President Obama's overall charm offensive with various adversaries of the United States which amounted to neo-appeasement, and as was the case in Cuba and Venezuela failed terribly, and has created the conditions for future conflict that are now erupting at the end of his presidency.

President Obama's Proclamation for Captive Nations Week (2016)

Today the White House issued the following proclamation for Captive Nations Week. What is amazing is that the proclamation makes no mention of the scourge of communism which continues to oppress over one in five human beings in the world. Thankfully the Victims of Communism Foundation is observing Captive Nations Week and identifying the continuing evils of communism.

Presidential Proclamation -- Captive Nations Week, 2016

CAPTIVE NATIONS WEEK, 2016

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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Since our earliest days, the United States has worked to uphold the rights enshrined in our founding documents. The ideals that sparked our revolution find their truest expression in democracy, and our enduring belief in the right to self-govern is not limited to our borders -- we believe the human impulse toward freedom is universal. During Captive Nations Week, we recognize the inherent dignity of all people, and we renew our support for those struggling under oppressive regimes and striving to secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity.

After World War II, America joined with other nations to remake the world -- to rebuild, to forge a new international order, and to advance a more just and lasting peace. And following a decades-long Cold War, with strength and resolve and the power of our ideals, we rejoiced as an Iron Curtain was brought down and a new beginning was set in motion. But although more people live in democracies today -- and despite the fact that we are witness to the most peaceful and prosperous era in human history -- such progress is not inevitable, and dangerous forces threaten to pull the world backward.

We must bolster our commitment to upholding freedom and democracy wherever they are jeopardized. That means ensuring the people of Ukraine have the right to choose their own destiny and ensure their independence; it means helping the millions of those displaced from Syria seek a better and safer future, while continuing our efforts to bring an end to this brutal conflict and destroy ISIL. It also means discussing our differences with nations more directly. And we have opened a new chapter in our relationship with Cuba, which includes direct engagement with their government on human rights and steps to empower and create opportunity for the Cuban people.

Around the world, a new generation of young people -- connected by technology and driven by idealism and a willingness to stand up for their beliefs -- is calling for more accountability in government. As heirs to a struggle for freedom that has long defined our character, Americans must lead by example and chart new paths to liberty and opportunity. We will continue to stand for equality and dignity beyond our borders and encourage economic and political reforms that foster democracy. And we remain dedicated to leading and working with others to build security, prosperity, and justice, and to fighting for any person still suffering under the grasp of tyranny.

This week, let us rededicate ourselves to broadening democracy's reach and promoting its true pillars -- the rule of law, fair elections, a free press, and a vibrant civil society. As we work to lift up the lives of those whose governments still rule by fear and intimidation, let us stay vigilant in defense of democratic values and the ideals that keep us free.

The Congress, by joint resolution approved July 17, 1959 (73 Stat. 212), has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation designating the third week of July of each year as "Captive Nations Week."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim July 17 through July 23, 2016, as Captive Nations Week. I call upon the people of the United States to reaffirm our deep ties to all governments and people committed to freedom, dignity, and opportunity for all.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-first.

BARACK OBAMA