Joe Biden is leaving for Saudi Arabia. He's going there, cap in hand, to beg for more oil production -- so that he doesn't have to increase production in the U.S., because somehow that means Democrats can still pretend to be green.
He's also going after ripping the Saudi regime for its human rights abuses. No doubt Saudi Arabia is one of the worst abusers in the world, but Democrats didn't care until the Saudis were seen to be working with Trump on policy.
Biden's old boss, President Barack Obama, even bowed before the Saudi king on his first visit in 2009, part of Obama's early attempt to deal with terror by appeasing Sunni fundamentalists (he later tried Shia fundamentalists in Iran).
Jake Sullivan, the Russia hoaxer who somehow found his way into Michael Flynn's old job after smearing Michael Flynn, tried to list what he claimed were Biden's many achievements in the region. It was all a blur; nothing was real.
Biden's only achievement in the Middle East is failing to fulfill his ill-advised promise to the Palestinians to open a consulate in Jerusalem -- which would have divided the city irreversibly -- and failing to restore the Iran nuclear deal.
Sadly, because Biden has wasted 18 months trying to appease the Iranians, the regime has bought time to produce more nuclear material -- and Sullivan was reduced to complaining about Iran supplying Russia with weaponized UAVs.
That was precisely what was wrong with Obama's Iran deal -- as Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress in 2015: it did not require Iran to stop supporting terror and rogue regimes. Biden is only reaping what he and Obama sowed.
The Abraham Accords -- a name the Biden administration is reluctant to use have not expanded since Biden took office, though Israel and its Arab neighbors have continued improving relations simply because it is in their mutual interest.
Biden hopes to secure a deal involving a couple of islands that Saudi Arabia once possessed, hoping that will entice the Saudis to join in normalizing ties with Israel. Good luck to him: he has absolutely no leverage to make demands.
The Afghanistan withdrawal was a disaster; Biden's decision to delist the Houthis as terrorists was a disaster; and the choice to restore hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Palestinians was also a disaster.
Sullivan tried to claim credit for ending last year's war between Israel and Hamas. That was was preceded by Biden's gifts to the Palestinians, and the administration began by condemning Israeli self-defense in Jerusalem.
There is nothing redeeming about Biden's Middle East policy except its failure to achieve its stated objectives, which have run up against the hard reality of Iranian intransigence, Palestinian malfeasance, and Israeli-Saudi detente.
I should have noted in my message about the weekly Torah portion that this week is Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath of Vision. We are about to mourn -- but see through that pain to something better that lies beyond, on the other side.
Wishing you the best vision -- and an incredible reality to follow. It happens!
We begin the final speech of Moses to the people of Israel before they enter the Promised Land. He relates the ups and downs of the years of wandering in the desert, before, finally, the people have the merit to enter the land itself.
This Sabbath always precedes Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Holy Temples, and a catch-all for many calamities that befell the Jewish people.
A word on Tisha B'Av. This year I am leaving for an overseas trip during the afternoon of the holiday -- in the middle of a fast day. Not idea, but there was no other choice. But my flight is in the afternoon, which is significant.
We relax some of the harsh, mournful customs of the day in the afternoon. We start to pray normally; we sit on regular chairs; we start to have hope again in the redemption that will, one day, lead us all back from exile to our home.
I'll be taking a trip to a land where an important part of ...
President Trump is in Scotland, playing golf and making big trade deals -- a major deal with the EU, in fact. Meanwhile, there is a global outcry about humanitarian aid to Palestinians (not about the Israeli hostages, mind you).
On top of that, Democrats are at their lowest polling numbers ever -- so they are trying to win control of the House by redistricting in the middle of a 10-year Census cycle. Oh, economic optimism is up, so they have a tough road.
And Tulsi Gabbard's revelations about the Russia collusion investigation make it clear that Obama's lieutenants lied to Congress. How deeply was he himself involved? The media continue to ignore the evidence, but we certainly won't.
Special guests:
Nick Gilbertson - Breitbart News White House correspondent, on EU deal
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Trump abroad and Russia
John Spencer - urban warfare expert, on humanitarian aid and war in Gaza
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on the ...
