The Roman Solar Year That Was

This year, the left-stream/mainstream media has published one Big Lie after another, really too numerous to mention.

Politically, this has been a very bad year. President Obama’s administration has managed to reduce America’s stature in the world, abandon freedom-loving peoples everywhere, betray our own Ambassadors, (think: Christopher Stevens and his military aides in Benghazi); pressure Jewish and democratic Israel as a way of avoiding any criticism of the genocidal Muslim-on-Muslim violence and Muslim-on-Christian violence going on in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa.

Obama’s administration is willing to “negotiate” with (that is, appease) the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Afghan Taliban, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood which has just been labeled a “terrorist” entity by the government of Egypt—not by the free world which has tolerated their proliferation and infiltration of our anti-terrorist infra-structures, media, academy, and human rights organizations.

This was also the year in which Secretary of State John Kerry bypassed Israel on his first official trip to the Middle East; the Boston Marathon was bombed by two Muslim Islamists—a “coincidence,” a case of “madness”—I think not. The new “moderate” President of Iran, Rouhani, was linked to the 1994 bombing of the Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was also quoted as describing Israel as “a wound on the body of the Islamic world.”

Obama’s administration lifted sanctions against Iran without receiving anything in return. This is, sadly, similar to Israel’s being forced to return Palestinian Arab terrorists with blood on their hands and who are without remorse, in order to please/appease an anti-Zionist American administration.

And, by the way: Despite an increased demand for his release, Jonathan Pollard still remains behind bars. It has been said by others with whom I agree: Do not free another Palestinian Arab terrorist until Pollard has been released.

Bashar Assad still remains standing—despite the fact that, like his father, he has also used chemical weapons against other Syrians.

The Pakistani Taliban continue to shoot down polio vaccine health aides and girls who want an education; Islamists in every Muslim-majority country are practicing gender apartheid with a vengeance, forcibly face veiling women, arranging first cousin marriages when the girls are still children, engaging in polygamy, and practicing female genital mutilation. Such mutilation is really a tribal custom but Islam has not abolished it. What’s more, the practice has increased in Indonesia as Islamist-ification proliferates.

Obama’s administration has failed the American people on health care—and this nightmare is only going to get worse. And, he has failed the American people in terms of the economy. And, all those who voted for him, not once but twice, and all those who helped him steal the first election away from Hillary, are also to blame. They elected a man who has proved to be both an empty suit and a Manchurian Candidate; an anti-colonialist socialist, a pro-Islamist, with absolutely no political ability; a word-charmer who may look “black” but who is half “white.”

I do not understand why Obama’s maternal line has been so minimized and denied. Read James McBride’s “The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother” for a corrective vision of how a black man may honor his white mother. I am waiting for Obama to write “Dreams of My Mother” someday because he owes her that.

This year, the left-stream/mainstream media has published one Big Lie after another, really too numerous to mention. Read CAMERA, HonestReporting, and MEMRI for a detailed and ongoing roundup. The latest Big Lie, in the New York Times, is that Hillary’s and Barack’s Benghazi Fiasco was really due to a You Tube video which insulted the Prophet Mohammed and that Al-Qaeda was not involved since Obama has insisted that Al-Qaeda was vanquished with the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.

Films and political theatre have continued to demonize Israel the entire year—beginning with two anti-Israeli films which were nominated for Academy Awards The BDS campaign against Israel-only continues on campus after campus and at churches—although I believe that the latest American Studies Association academic boycott vote against Israeli academics has just backfired in a big way.

I cannot leave you without some uplifting news which also exists. Looted Jewish-European art has been discovered and the challenge to return it to its rightful owners has been launched. Missing and ruined Jewish texts in Baghdad were discovered and restored and are presently, for the time being, safe in the United States. Billionaire American entrepreneurs are investing in Israel. China and Israel signed a major trade agreement. Birthright Israel has been blessed with a new 40 million dollar donation from Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson. Both Democrats and Republicans denounced Obama’s Geneva deal with Iran and are attempting to re-impose sanctions.

Despite being under perpetual siege, Israel has continued to send medical teams everywhere to help deal with typhoons, tornados, floods, earthquakes, and bombings—and has been giving both food and medical assistance to Syrians. Israeli hospitals treat Palestinians—recently, Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyah’s one year old granddaughter was treated by Israeli doctors. Israelis also continue to win Nobel Prizes in Science and Medicine.

Personally, 2013 was a year of accomplishment. I completed writing and rewriting and, in October, I published my new book, “An American Bride in Kabul,” which has since received hundreds of (mainly positive) pre-publication and post-publication reviews over a seven month period, including in these pages. I have also been widely interviewed—and the QNAs are still ongoing as are the Book Events and lectures. Most important, I enjoyed a totally positive working relationship with my publisher, Palgrave-Macmillan, both in New York and in the UK. For an author to say this is really Saying Something.

Also, at the personal level, I was appointed a Fellow at the Middle East Forum, appeared at the 92St Y with my colleagues Ibn Warraq and Raquel Evita Saraswati, and lectured at Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Annual Conference on Honor Violence.

I am very grateful for such personal blessings.

A Happy Roman Solar New Year to my readers at Arutz-7.