Breitbart London editor-in-chief Raheem Kassam was in Maryland to chair the Foreign Policy Panel at CPAC 2018 — the beating heart of grassroots conservatism in the U.S. and a beacon to conservative activists throughout the West.
Kassam previously spoke at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, which has hosted such heavyweights as U.S. President Donald Trump and Brexit campaign leader Nigel Farage, in 2017.
This year, the No Go Zones author moderated a high-profile panel on Foreign Policy, which included big names including former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, Erielle Davison of the Hoover Institute, and Dr M. Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy.
Dr Jasser, who is of Syrian origin, identified political Islam as the gravest threat which America faces, praising President Trump for supporting Iranians who came on to the streets to protest the Islamic theocracy in Iran recently.
He urged the President to go further and back a full-scale revolt against the Shia ayatollahs — but also warned against getting to close to the Sunni royal family of Saudi Arabia, who were blasted as the “founding fathers of ISIS ideology” and a poor choice of “short-term friends”.
He futher warned that, even with the destruction of the last remnants of the Islamic State’s physical caliphate, radical Islam would remain a potent threat, highlighting the increasing radicalisation of Muslims even in traditionally allied countries such as Turkey.
Erielle Davidson appeared to agree with her co-panellists in terms of priorities, telling Kassam: “I think our biggest threat is radical Islamic ideology.”
Ambassador Bolton, meanwhile, urged a hard line against the Muslim Brotherhood, and suggested that President Trump was strongly placed to act as a protector for the U.S. constitution domestically: “In any debate between conservatives and liberal over who will defend the constitution best, who do you think will win that debate?” he asked.
Kassam also asked Ambassador Bolton whether the Chinese Communist Party were right to believe they were winning the “long war” against the United States, prompting a trenchant response from the elder statesman, who questioned the narrative of a “peaceful rise” for China sharply: “I think the real pattern of Chinese behaviour is incredibly aggressive and assertive.”
He explained: “They’re building bases on rocks and reefs in the South China Sea that on a good day are only three inches above water. They are mapping the seabed of the Indian Ocean … they want to know where they can put their submarines when they develop an undersea fleet.”
While acknowledging tertiary issues like “piracy against intellectual property”, the Ambassador was clear that a full spectrum political-military strategy to deal with the People’s Republic would be required.
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