An Eye to Eye Week: A period of peace efforts, record hurricane and major disruption on multiple fronts
We must continue to pray for the people in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina who have been greatly impacted and devasted by Hurricanes Michael and Florence over the past few weeks.
These record-setting hurricanes, Florence for the massive rains and flooding and Michael for the third most powerful hurricane at landfall in U.S. history, have affected lives beyond our comprehension.
Last year’s Month of Elul Hurricane’s Harvey, Irma and Maria and Florence and Michael will be in the top 10 costliest hurricanes in U.S. history.
The last time we had so many major record-setting hurricanes was in 2004 (Charlie, Jeanne, Frances and Ivan) and then 2005 (Katrina, Rita, Wilma and Dennis). One thing they have in common is that they all occurred during active peace efforts. George W. Bush was promoting the “two states for two peoples” in 2004 and 2005 and President Trump (and his son-in-law Jarred Kushner) the deal of the century in 2017 and 2018.
I documented in “Eye to Eye – Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel” (version 1 and 2) “periods of political and national disruption” events that would take place when President George W. Bush and his top people were involved in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. These periods lasted anywhere from one week to five weeks. The last nine days that we have observed are classic examples of periods of disruption.
Trump peace envoy Jason Greenblatt said it “was a pleasure” for him and the president’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner to meet with senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Bob Corker of Tennessee, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Jim Risch of Idaho, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Chris Coons of Delaware, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. Their meeting took place Thursday, Oct. 4, on Capitol Hill.
The following day Orlando’s News 6 meteorologist Troy Bridges pointed to an area of low pressure near Honduras that then had a 60 percent chance of tropical development over the next five days.
“Although strong winds in the upper levels are located just to the north of the system, the upper-level environment is expected to be conducive enough to allow for some minimal development,” News 6 meteorologist Troy Bridges said.
Bridges said, “A tropical depression could formulate this weekend or early next week over the northwestern Caribbean Sea or the southern Gulf of Mexico.”
The next day, Saturday, Oct 6, the National Hurricane Center released the first advisory on a tropical depression for a storm that became Hurricane Michael 48 hours later. The advisory was released at 4 p.m. EDT, the exact same time as the Senate was taking a vote (with disruptions) on Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Michael became a monstrous Category 4 hurricane early Tuesday morning, Oct. 9.
In the Wall Street Journal article, From ‘Disturbance’ to Historic Monster in Just Four Days, unfortunately for the Gulf Coast, conditions were just right to make Hurricane Michael a monster.
Warm water is like jet fuel for hurricanes, and a combination of balmy conditions in the Gulf of Mexico, a lack of disturbance from wind shear and rapid intensification near the coast turned Michael into a historic storm, according to hurricane experts.
“The timing was ghoulishly perfect,” said Weather Underground meteorologist Bob Henson.
On Tuesday, Oct. 9, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley announced her decision to resign at the White House, sending shock waves through the political and diplomatic world. During her announcement, she spoke of the hidden genius of Jarred Kushner “to redo the NAFTA deal the way he did,” listing off his accomplishments. “What I’ve done working with him on the Middle East peace plan … it is so unbelievably well done.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 10, just past 12 noon, Hurricane Michael came ashore at 155 mph, 1 mile per hour under a Category 5 hurricane. It was the third most intense hurricane in U.S. history.
CNN reported, “a US defense official says the Pentagon now calculates there are 700,000 military personnel, family members, and DOD civilians that lived in the path of Hurricane Michael from the Florida Panhandle to North Carolina.”
Also, in peculiar timing, Tyndall Air Force Base, located just east of Panama City, Florida, the largest F-22 stealth fighter base, evacuated the entire fleet due to Hurricane Michael. Then, the next day, the entire U.S. F-35 stealth fighter jet fleet was grounded for evaluation by the military following a crash (articles below).
Additionally, at the very same time that Hurricane Michael is coming ashore, the Jerusalem Post reports that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “teased the Trump administration’s upcoming peace plan as a ‘truly historic’ effort to broker an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, accepting an award from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America in Washington.”
The Jerusalem Post further wrote, “Speaking at the Grand Hyatt downtown, with senators and diplomats in the audience, Pompeo hinted at a plan that would offer the Palestinians a state – a word only recently introduced into US President Donald Trump’s lexicon, when he endorsed a two-state solution to the storied conflict last month.
“‘We are making a truly historic push for peace between Israel and the Palestinians’ Pompeo told the crowd. The peace plan – designed by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and Jason Greenblatt, his special representative for international negotiations, over the course of nearly two years – will be released ‘before too terribly long, and we are hopeful that both sides will have constructive conversations to lead to that.’”
On Wednesday, Oct.10 and Thursday, Oct. 11, the Dow Jones average had major sell offs:
CNBC reported:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 545.91 points to post its worst two-day decline since early February. In that time, the Dow has lost more than 1,300 points. The index also posted a three-day losing streak and closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time since July 2. It is also down 5.3 percent, on pace for its biggest one-week decline since March.
The S&P 500 completed a six-day losing streak — its longest since late 2016 — and closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time since April 2. The index is down 5.5 percent this week, on pace for its biggest weekly decline since March. It is also on pace for its first three-week losing streak since June 2016.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.3 percent to post its fifth loss in six sessions. It is also on pace for its worst weekly decline since March. The tech-heavy index also dipped into correction territory.
Another very significant news story with far-reaching implications and complications for President Trump and Jarred Kushner is “Did the Saudis murder Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey? And was Crown Prince bin Salman the person who directed the hit?”
“The Turkish government has told U.S. officials that it has audio and video recordings that prove Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul this month, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.
“The recordings show that a Saudi security team detained Khashoggi in the consulate after he walked in on Oct. 2 to obtain an official document before his upcoming wedding, then killed him and dismembered his body, the officials said.”
Roll Call reported that “senators on Wednesday triggered a U.S. government investigation into what happened to a prominent missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who is suspected to have been murdered last week in Turkey.
“The lawmakers said they expect the investigation to look into the actions of the ‘highest-ranking officials in the government of Saudi Arabia,’ a move that signals lawmakers on both sides of aisle are willing to confront the staunch ally.
“The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Appropriations subcommittee with responsibility for the State Department sent a letter to President Donald Trump that triggered a provision of 2016 Magnitsky human rights law. …
“In their letter, Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., write that the disappearance of Khashoggi, who has not been seen since last week when he sought a legal document from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, ‘suggests that he could be a victim of a gross violation of internationally recognized human rights.’
“The letter is co-signed by nine Republicans and nine Democrats, including nearly everyone on the Foreign Relations Committee, with the exception of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Paul on Wednesday in a tweet called for ending arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
“‘I’ve shared with them [the Saudis] that they are at a very, very low point as it relates to political support here in the Senate, the lowest ever,’ said Corker, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee. ‘This would drop it off the cliff.’”
Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman plays a huge role in Trump’s Middle East strategy. Jarred Kushner’s Middle East peace plan is reliant on the Saudi Crown Prince’s role and influence. They also have a close friendship.
General Jack Keane (Ret) said Thursday night on Lou Dobb’s Fox Business program that this could not be a worst time for US-Saudi relations as the Trump Administration is assembling the Sunni allies and working on a Middle East peace plan.
President Trump, who is under pressure to respond, said he didn’t want to jeopardize the $110 billion US-Saudi arms deal. He was concerned if the United States backed out of the deal Russia, China and others would fill the void. He said the Khashoggi allegations will be fully investigated.
Article: Rand Paul Seeks Vote to Block U.S.-Saudi Arms Sales Over Missing Journalist
Summary
Coincidence or consequence? I have now documented 131 record-setting, catastrophic events that correspond to U.S. pressure on Israel to divide their God-given land since October 1991.
To say the least, this week was another very disruptive period, as the biblical land of Israel was in discussion and play.
Moreover, today’s release of Pastor Andrew Brunson is likely an attempt by Turkey to improve U.S.-Turkey relations and to gain U.S. support regarding the Saudi- Jamal Khashoggi allegations.
All of these events and recent activities by Russia, Iran, Syria, China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey will lead to further prophetic alignment of final-day nations.
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TIMELINE: October 4 to October 11
Thursday, October 4
US envoy Greenblatt discussed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan with senators
Source: Times of Israel
Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said early Friday that he had discussed the administration’s long-awaited peace plan with a number of senators from both sides of the aisle on Thursday.
In a tweet, Greenblatt said it “was a pleasure” for him and the president’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner to meet with senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Bob Corker of Tennessee, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Jim Risch of Idaho, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Chris Coons of Delaware, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.
Trump made headlines last week when he declared for the first time his support for a two-state solution to the conflict, though he did not give details of his vision for Palestinian statehood.
Trump, who has called an Israeli-Palestinian accord the “ultimate deal,” said during his meeting with Netanyahu that the peace plan would be rolled out within the next four months.
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Friday, Oct. 5
Tropical wave eyes the Gulf of Mexico
Click Orlando
ORLANDO, Fla. - It will be a nice weather weekend in Central Florida, but all eyes are on the tropics.
An area of low pressure near Honduras now has a 60 percent chance of tropical development over the next five days.
"Although strong winds in the upper levels are located just to the north of the system, the upper-level environment is expected to be conducive enough to allow for some minimal development," News 6 meteorologist Troy Bridges said.
A tropical depression could formulate this weekend or early next week over the northwestern Caribbean Sea or the southern Gulf of Mexico.
"This system will move slowly northwest, regardless of tropical cyclone formation," Bridges said. "This disturbance will continue to bring torrential rain primarily to portions of Central America and the Yucatán Peninsula during the next few days."
If the system becomes a tropical storm, it would get the name Michael.
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Saturday, Oct. 6
The storm that became Hurricane Michael, first advisory posted Saturday, 4:00 pm, at the time the Kavanaugh vote was being conducted and disrupted in the U.S. Senate
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Monday, Oct. 8
China-U.S. Tensions Flare in Testy Pompeo Visit to Beijing
Source: Bloomberg
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo cited “fundamental disagreement” with China’s foreign minister during a testy exchange in Beijing that highlighted rising tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
Pompeo’s retort came after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused the U.S. on Monday of escalating trade disputes, interfering on Taiwan and meddling in the country’s domestic affairs. “These actions have damaged our mutual trust, cast a shadow over China-U.S. relations, and are completely out of line with the interests of our two peoples,” Wang told his visiting American counterpart.
“The issues that you characterized, we have a fundamental disagreement,” Pompeo said. “We have great concerns about actions that China has taken and I look forward to having the opportunity to discuss each of those today because this is an incredibly important relationship.”
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Tuesday, Oct. 9
Trump’s peace plan for two Palestinian states kicked off by fuel trucks for Gaza
Source: Debka
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu won praise from US special ME negotiator Jason Greenblatt for letting the Qatar-funded fuel trucks go through to the Gaza Strip on Oct 9. That is because its was the first step, DEBKAfile reports, towards implementing the administration’s Israel-Palestinian peace plan, partnered with Israel and Egypt, to eventually separate the Gaza Strip from Judea and Samaria (West Bank) to form two separate Palestinian entities.
While Israeli politicians still argue about the pros and cons of the ageing “two-state solution” for the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, after decades of getting nowhere, Washington, Jerusalem, Cairo and Doha are beginning to shape this widely different ” two-state” formula. The fuel trucks are expected to be followed by deliveries of other essentials, as well as cash injections, for the financially-strapped Gaza population. These aid consignments will not be handed to the Hamas-ruled administration but unloaded at UN-controlled facilities for distribution to the people, under the supervision of the world body’s peace negotiator Nickolay Mladenov.
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Haley calls Jared Kushner Trump's 'hidden genius'
Source: The Hill
Departing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Tuesday morning lauded White House senior adviser Jared Kushner as a "hidden genius" of the Trump administration.
"I can’t say enough good things about Jared and Ivanka [Trump]," she said. "Jared is such a hidden genius that no one understands."
"To redo the NAFTA deal the way he did," she said, listing off his accomplishments. "What I’ve done working with him on the Middle East peace plan … it is so unbelievably well-done."
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Wednesday, Oct. 10
Pompeo Says Unreleased Mideast Peace Plan ‘Truly Historic’
Source: Jerusalem Post
The secretary also teased the Trump administration’s upcoming peace plan as a “truly historic” effort to broker an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, accepting an award from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America in Washington.
Speaking at the Grand Hyatt downtown, with senators and diplomats in the audience, Pompeo hinted at a plan that would offer the Palestinians a state – a word only recently introduced into US President Donald Trump’s lexicon, when he endorsed a two-state solution to the storied conflict last month.
“We are making a truly historic push for peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” Pompeo told the crowd. The peace plan – designed by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and Jason Greenblatt, his special representative for international negotiations, over the course of nearly two years – will be released “before too terribly long, and we are hopeful that both sides will have constructive conversations to lead to that.
“We very much want you to have a space, [but] you need to govern, you need to decide you want peace as well. We said the same thing to the Palestinians both in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip,” Pompeo said. “We are very hopeful that one day the Palestinian people will have the same kinds of things, the same material, the same opportunities that the people of Israel have, right? A real economy, a real governance, all the things that we want for every citizen of the world.”
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By the numbers: Michael ranked as 3rd-most intense hurricane to hit continental US
Source: Accuweather
"The lower the pressure, the more intense the storm. The storm is literally drawing air from the surface and propelling it upward like a giant vacuum cleaner. Air then must rush from the sides near the ground to compensate. This is what produces the high winds that cause the damage and contribute to storm surge flooding," Sosnowski said.
When Michael made landfall, it had a minimum central pressure of 27.13 inches of mercury. This makes it the 3rd-most intense US land-falling hurricane with a pressure lower than Katrina and Andrew.
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From ‘Disturbance’ to Historic Monster in Just Four Days
Source: Wall Street Journal
Unfortunately for the Gulf Coast, conditions were just right to make Hurricane Michael a monster.
Warm water is like jet fuel for hurricanes, and a combination of balmy conditions in the Gulf of Mexico, a lack of disturbance from wind shear and rapid intensification near the coast turned Michael into a historic storm, according to hurricane experts.
“The timing was ghoulishly perfect,” said Weather Underground meteorologist Bob Henson.
“Storms like that are referred to in hushed tones,” said Phil Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State University who specializes in Atlantic Ocean hurricane forecasts.
Measured by barometric pressure, Michael ranks as the third-most-intense storm on record to make landfall in the U.S., according to the National Weather Service. Only the 1935 storm and Camille had lower pressures, Mr. Klotzbach said.
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Tyndall Air Force Base, a ‘major loss’: Largest F-22 stealth fighter base in US
Source: New York Times
As Hurricane Michael tore across the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday, shredding buildings and homes in its path, the mostly empty Tyndall Air Force Base braced for a ferocious impact.
A wind gauge surged to 130 miles per hour, and then broke. Hangars where Air Force jets have sheltered during past tropical storms began to groan and shudder before being ripped to ribbons.
As the monster storm barreled toward the Florida coast this week, the Air Force worked to minimize possible destruction. Tyndall is home to the largest group of F-22 stealth fighters — 55 of them, each costing a dizzying $339 million. The stealth fighters and about 17 trainer jets were flown to safety, to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Planes from nearby Hurlburt Field and Eglin Air Force Base also fled inland in the days before the storm.
Tyndall, where about 3,600 airmen are stationed, sits on 29,000 acres that include undeveloped woods and beaches, as well as stores, restaurants, schools, a bowling alley and quiet, tree-lined streets with hundreds of homes for both active-duty and retired military.
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Thursday, Oct 11
Entire F-35 stealth fighter jet fleet grounded by military after crash in September
Source: Fox News
The U.S. military on Thursday grounded its entire fleet of F-35 stealth fighters after one of the jets crashed during a training mission in South Carolina last month, officials said Thursday.
The stand down affects more than 200 jets while an "inspection of a fuel tube" in F-35 engines takes place, according to a Pentagon spokesman.
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Khashoggi was killed, Turks say
Source: CT Post
ISTANBUL - The Turkish government has told U.S. officials that it has audio and video recordings that prove Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul this month, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.
The recordings show that a Saudi security team detained Khashoggi in the consulate after he walked in on Oct. 2 to obtain an official document before his upcoming wedding, then killed him and dismembered his body, the officials said.
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US-Saudi relations face major crisis over the alleged killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi: Senators triggered a US government investigation into missing Saudi Journalist who may have been murdered
Source: Roll Call
Senators on Wednesday triggered a U.S. government investigation into what happened to a prominent missing Saudi journalist, who is suspected to have been murdered last week in Turkey.
The lawmakers said they expect the investigation to look into the actions of the “highest-ranking officials in the government of Saudi Arabia,” a move that signals lawmakers on both sides of aisle are willing to confront the staunch ally.
In their letter, Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., write that the disappearance of Khashoggi, who has not been seen since last week when he sought a legal document from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, “suggests that he could be a victim of a gross violation of internationally recognized human rights.”
“Therefore, we request that you make a determination on the imposition of sanctions pursuant to the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act with respect to any foreign person responsible for such a violation related to Mr. Khashoggi,” the senators wrote.
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What the media aren’t telling you about Jamal Khashoggi
October 11, 2018
Source: Spectator
As someone who spent three decades working closely with intelligence services in the Arab world and the West, the Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi knew he was taking a huge risk in entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week to try to obtain a document certifying he had divorced his ex-wife.
A one-time regime insider turned critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — the de facto head of the Saudi kingdom which tolerates no criticism whatsoever — Khashoggi had been living in Washington for the previous year in self-imposed exile amid a crackdown on independent voices in his homeland.
He had become the darling of western commentators on the Middle East. With almost two million Twitter followers, he was the most famous political pundit in the Arab world and a regular guest on the major TV news networks in Britain and the United States. Would the Saudis dare to cause him harm? It turns out that the answer to that question was ‘You betcha.’
Following uneventful visits to the consulate and, earlier, the Saudi embassy in Washington, Khashoggi was lured into a murderous plan so brazen, so barbaric, that it would seem far-fetched as a subplot in a John le Carré novel. He went inside the Istanbul consulate, but failed to emerge. Turkish police and intelligence officials claimed that a team of 15 hitmen carrying Saudi diplomatic passports arrived the same morning on two private jets. Their convoy of limousines arrived at the consulate building shortly before Khashoggi did.
Their not-so-secret mission? To torture, then execute, Khashoggi, and videotape the ghastly act for whoever had given the order for his merciless dispatch. Khashoggi’s body, Turkish officials say, was dismembered and packed into boxes before being whisked away in a black van with darkened windows. The assassins fled the country.
For the rest of the article, click here: Spectator