It’s not just the giddying signs that other Arab states may now follow suit and thus transform the prospects of a durable peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Even Saudi Arabia, the epicentre of the Sunni Muslim world and without whose approval the agreement would never have happened, may also openly “normalize” its relationship with Israel.
The Palestinian cause, supposedly the sticking point for the Arab rejection of Israel, is now receiving merely lip-service from Arab moderates, if that. Saudi writers are being allowed to write openly against the Palestinians. Hitherto suppressed truths are now being told in the Arab world in a way that was previously unthinkable.
Arab writers are saying they were wrong to believe that Israel was the aggressor in the region since it’s clearly Iran and Turkey that are guilty of aggressive expansionism. These writers are saying that peace and co-operation with Israel will bring them great benefits in terms of modernity and development.
A Bahraini activist wrote: “There is growing awareness among many in the Arab world that the Jewish people are not foreign colonialists in the Land of Israel, they are part of this land, and part of our region . . .” (“Healing the ancient fracture,” Melanie Phillips, 9/18/2020)
————————————————-
ISRAEL INDISPENSIBLE TO STAND AGAINST IRAN
“Recognition of Israel by the UAE and Bahrain will, it is predicted, be followed by recognition of Israel by Oman and other Gulf states, perhaps even Saudi Arabia. But the idea that peace is at hand appears to be, as Mark Twain said of reports of his death, premature.
“Indeed, the Gulf Arabs could be signing up to recognize Israel because they see the Jewish state as an indispensable ally in the Arab Sunni clash with the larger and more powerful Shiite Iran.” (PB, 9/18/2020)
——————————————————————
WHAT PUTIN FEARS
“Nothing is as inspiring as seeing people take to the streets to demand their freedoms – and nothing is as terrifying for the dictators they are defying. In Belarus, among scenes that recall the revolts of 1989, people are turning out in their hundreds of thousands after a blatantly rigged election, heedless of the threat of state violence. In the Russian city of Khabarovsk tens of thousands march week after week to protest against the arrest of the local governor and the imposition of Moscow’s rules. Vladimir Putin is rattled. Why else is Alexei Navalny, an anti-curruption crusader and Mr. Putin’s greatest popular rival for the Russian presidency, lying poisoned in a Berlin hospital bed?
“Regimes that rule by fear live in fear. They fear that one day the people will no longer tolerate their lies, thieving and brutality. They try to hang on with propaganda, persecution and patronage. But it looks increasingly as if Mr. Putin is running out of tricks, and as if Alexander Lukashenko, his troublesome ally in Minsk, is running out of road. That is why, despite the Kremlin’s denials, they are falling back on the truncheon and the syringe. And it is why, as the protests roll on, they must be wondering whether state violence can secure their regimes.” (“What Putin fears,” The Economist, 8/29/2020)
——————————————————————-
AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE CONCERNS
THE head of Australia’s powerful Intelligence & Security Joint Committee has called for the reinstatement of National Service as Australia’s strategic position continues to deteriorate. With rising concerns about a “strategic miscalculation” within the region, Committee chairman Andrew Hastie warned the risk of conflict was also increasing. And rebuilding Australia’s Reserves was vital. (Politico, 9/22/2020)
————————————————————————
DEMOCRATS ARE THE PARTY OF THE WEALTHY INTELLECTUAL ELITES
The Democrats are currently spending ten times as much money as the Republicans on advertising. Their support comes mainly from the intellectual elite who are on high incomes, plus celebrities. Yet many people still believe the Dems represent the common man. Joe Biden was shaking his head at a town hall meeting when a medical worker said he is paid less than $15 an hour. (In comparison, Mr. Biden could have reminded people that his son Hunter, was paid $50,000 a month when he sat on the board of a Ukrainian company.) In an interview with Harvard professor Michael Sandel, Mr. Sandel explains how the Democrats lost the support of the working class. — editor
They (the Democrats) should have shown more humility. Think of Hillary Clinton’s use of the word “deplorables.” She used it in the last election campaign in reference to Trump voters, blue-collar workers. It showed an arrogance toward the less educated. Obama spoke of people who “cling to guns or religion.” The liberals emphasize rising based on merit. But we don’t live up to the meritocratic principles we proclaim. Of course, you have to pass difficult entrance exams to get into Harvard, but some people are groomed for it throughout their childhood and youth, with hockey lessons, piano lessons, foreign language classes, and their parents pay for it. Other parents can’t afford it at all. So, good performance depends heavily on family background and a good deal of luck. By realizing this, we can develop a sense of humility and identify more easily with those less fortunate than ourselves. (Der Spiegel interview with Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel, interviewed by Susanne Beyer, 9/18/2020)
——————————————————————-
PELOSI AND BIDEN – NO FRIENDS OF UK
Biden warns the UK over Northern Ireland and Brexit —
Democratic nominee Joe Biden says he will not allow peace in Northern Ireland to become a “casualty of Brexit” if he becomes US president. He said any UK-US trade deal had to be “contingent” on respect for the Good Friday Agreement in final Brexit arrangements. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also applied pressure on the issue, saying he trusted the UK to “get this right.” (The Week, 9/17/2020)
Both Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are Catholic and sympathetic to Irish republicanism. It should be noted that they are not very good Catholics, supporting US abortion laws. –– editor
—————————————————————-
ON ABORTION
It’s difficult to understand Christians saying anything positive about Ruth Bader Ginsburg (see following):
“RIP to the more than 30 million innocent babies that have been murdered during the decades that Ruth Bader Ginsburg defended pro-abortion laws,” Collins tweeted. “With @realDonaldTrump nominating a replacement that values human life, generations of unborn children have a chance to live.” (GOP Rep Doug Collins)
The numbers of COVID-19 related deaths are announced each day. They are now up to 200,000 in the US alone (which is disputed). During the same six months that people have been allegedly dying from the coronavirus, 650,000 babies in the US have been aborted. That’s three times as many deaths, most of which were solely for convenience. — editor
BBC SHOWS CLEAR BIAS – Katty Kay, BBC’s anchor on Monday evening, wore a very formal black outfit. I’ve never seen her in black before. One can only assume she was mourning the death of RBG. — editor
——————————————————————
ARABS ARE LEARNING THEY NEED THE JEWS
Emirati writer Salam Hamid, founder and head of the Al-Mezmaah Studies and Research Center in Dubai, published an article titled “The Cost of the Expulsion of the Arab Jews” in the UAE daily Al-Ittihad, in which he lamented the expulsion of the Jews from the Arab countries following the establishment of Israel in 1948. This expulsion, he said, was a grave mistake, since the Arab countries thereby “lost an elite population with significant wealth, property, influence, knowledge, and culture,” which could have helped them, including against Israel, and lost the potential contribution of the Jews in many spheres, especially in the financial sphere. The Arabs, he added, should have learned a lesson from the expulsion of the Jews of Spain in 1492, and from Hitler’s expulsion of the Jews of Europe, which eventually harmed the countries that lost their Jews. He stated further that antisemitism, which is deeply entrenched in Arab societies, stems from the books that teach Islamic heritage, studied in schools throughout the Arab world, and therefore called for an overhaul of the curricula in order to strengthen tolerance and banish extremism. (MEMRI # 8939)
——————————————————–
EU-CHINA TRADE TALKS
The EU and China intend to reach an accord on a bilateral investment agreement before the end of the year. This is the main result of yesterday’s video conference between the European Union’s leaders and China’s President Xi Jinping. The bilateral negotiations, therefore, have been making significant progress and their conclusion before the end of the year seems realistic. German enterprises, in particular, are very interested in the treaty. Unlike media reports to the contrary, the majority of these enterprises are not leaving the People’s Republic of China due to current political tensions, but in many cases are even “strengthening” their presence, as the European Chamber of Commerce in China notes. Whereas EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell warns against “Chinese expansionism” and demands that the EU close ranks against Beijing, the Minister of State in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Niels Annen, pleads for “maintaining dialog” with China: independence from the USA should be preserved in the conflict with Beijing. (German Foreign Policy, 9/17/2020)
—————————————————————
US DEBT EXCEEDS GNP
The federal government is about to hit a regrettable post-World War II milestone, as government debt will meet, or exceed, the size of the entire U.S. economy. The last time U.S. government debt was bigger than U.S. GDP was 1946, as the nation wrapped up its war-time spending surge.
This time around, the rapid debt rise is due to three main factors: a massive economic contraction resulted in falling tax receipts. But government spending reached unprecedented levels to avoid even more economic pain. (http://forliberty.news/2020/09/03/federal-government-reaches-ugly-post-ww2-milestone-debt-bigger-gdp-rs-nl/)
“As of July, the public debt of the United States was $26.48 trillion, up $4.45 trillion from the previous year. Americans credit card debt is nearly $1 trillion, a record high. Some 43 million adult Americans carry a combined student debt of $1.5 trillion.” (“Thrift and Simplicity: a Pathway to Happiness,” The Epoch Times, 9/9/2020).
————————————————-
IMPERIAL REDUX
BEST ARTICLE ON SLAVERY – “The Real reason our statues are under attack”, by Richard Palmer. (9/20). “The slave trade was incredibly profitable. A slave in the Americas would sell for about eight times the price he cost in Africa. And in 1805, Britain became the undisputed master of the world’s oceans after winning the Battle of Trafalgar. The stage seemed set for Britain to profit more than ever from this evil trade.
“Instead. The opposite happened. In March 1807, Britain outlawed the slave trade. In his book “Empire” Niall Ferguson called it an “astonishing volte-face.” “Towards the end of the 18th century, something changed dramatically,” he writes, “it was almost as if a switch was flicked in the British psyche.”
“It is not easy to explain so profound a change in the ethics of a people,” he continues. “It used to be argued that slavery was abolished simply because it had ceased to be profitable, but all the evidence points the other way: In fact, it was abolished despite the fact that it was still profitable. “Instead, Britain had a “collective change of heart.”
“But Britain did more than simply stop participating in this trade. It used its diplomatic clout to ensure other nations ended slavery . . . No other nation was going around the world cajoling other nations to end the slave trade . . .
“But abolishing the slave trade didn’t free the slaves already at work. Thus, Britain’s anti-slavery campaigners pushed on. In 1833, the United Kingdom passed the Slavery Abolition Act, outlawing the practice within British colonies. When this law came into effect, 800,000 slaves were freed.
“To pass this law through Parliament, it had to be “compensated emancipation,” meaning slave owners were paid for the slaves they had to free. Many on the left criticize this today. But the fact is, uncompensated emancipation would have taken much longer. The reformers chose to be pragmatic and freed the slaves as soon as they could. Britain had to take out a loan so massive that it only finished paying it off in 2015.
“The UK, alone in all nations of the world, put forth a huge effort to shut this trade down. In 1808, during the Napoleonic War, with the nation still fighting for survival, Britain set up the West Africa Squadron. It patrolled the sea of Africa’s west coast looking for slave ships.
“Britain’s naval dominance was now assured, and so “for the first 30 years of Victoria’s reign, the Royal Navy’s chief task was the interception of slavers.” (Heaven’s Command, Jan Morris)
“In theory, Britain was leading a multinational effort; but in practice, no one else made any significant contributions.” (The Philadelphia Trumpet)
—————————————————————–
BARBADOS TO BECOME A REPUBLIC
Not a US style republic, but an Irish one, where the Queen is simply replaced as Head of State by an appointed president. The people will not have a say in this. They have been talking about a republic for twenty years. When my wife and I visited the country in the year 2000 local radio was discussing the issue. One young, black Barbadian, told us she was very concerned about a potential loss of freedom when the Queen is removed. The Barbadian Labour Party controls all but one seat in parliament. A simple two thirds majority is required to approve the change. This makes dictatorship much easier. A republic always gives more power to politicians.
There is also speculation that China is behind the move, as its ties to Barbados are growing.
————————————————
German Development Bank earmark R96 million for Cape Town by Marvin Charles, Cape Town
The Republic of Germany and the German Development Bank announced they would give the City €5 million (R96 million) for relief aid, for identified communities within the metro. The German Development Bank, KfW, has sent a written request to mayor Dan Plato, outlining the offer to support communities within the City.
The City said the funds would not be disbursed to the City, and will not be incorporated into the City’s budget, in the conditions laid out as part of the agreement signed by the City and the German ambassador. KfW’s Silke Stadtmann and Peter Weinert said in a letter to Plato: “Through these emergency measures, about 25000 families and pregnant women in need could be supported with a digital food voucher worth about R600 per month, for about three months.
”The focus of the aid would be families and single parents with children under the age of seven “as well as foreign families who do not qualify to receive government support grants.”
The areas that would be receiving relief include Khayelitsha, Hanover Park, Manenberg, Gugulethu and Nyanga and, if funds are still available, Bonteheuwel. KfW said some of the money would be used to support informal businesses, such as urban vegetable gardens and early childhood development centres. In a report that was tabled by the mayoral committee, the City said the relief was the latest development in a successful relationship with the German Development Bank, which had seen 15.5m contributed since 2007. The money went into a programme called Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading, which aims to prevent crime through environmental design, as well as social programmes.
Further comment was sought from the City but they were unable to respond to questions by the time of publication.
* €1 is equivalent to R19.34 as of 19 September 2020. (by Marvin Charles, IOL, Cape Town)
————————————————–
TO THE POINT
- EU SUMMIT CANCELLED – as President Charles Michel has to self-isolate.
- Pubs in England face 10pm closing time: Pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues in England will have to close at 10pm from Thursday, as the UK’s Covid-19 alert level moved to four. The upgrade in severity means the risk of transmission is now “high or rising exponentially,” with Boris Johnson set to announce the new measures in the House of Commons before addressing the nation in a live broadcast at 8pm this evening. (The Week, 9/22/2020)
- STRENGTHENING TIES BETWEEN CHINA, RUSSIA AND IRAN: China’s defense ministry announced Friday it would conduct the “Caucus 2020” military drills alongside Russia and Iran. According to China’s state-run The Global Times, Beijing hopes to use the joint drills with Russia as a way to strengthen diplomatic and strategic co-operation between Moscow and Beijing. The military drills that are causing anxiety in the West will run throughout next week. (Daily Express, 9/20/2020)
- LOSS OF FREEDOM: PETER HITCHENS: “Most people have far too readily accepted limits to their lives which the world’s tyrannies would once have hesitated to impose on their citizens. Well, have you had enough yet? ” (Peter Hitchens, Daily Mail, 9/20/2020)
- LANSING POLICE MORE LIKELY TO ARREST BLACK KIDS – a front page headline in the Lansing State Journal on Sunday. ‘Blacks are about 28% of youth, but 70% of arrests.” Not mentioned in the article is the comment made by African-American writer Shelby Steele last week, that 75% of black children do not have a father living with them. Could that be the reason African-American teens are more likely to get into crime? And consequently more likely to be arrested?
- TWISTED THINKING — Iranian Preacher Condemns Charlie Hebdo: The West Spreads Islamophobia, Westerners Will Be Annihilated; Iranian Ayatollah: Why Is Insulting The Prophet Considered Free Speech While Europe Executes People For Investigating The False Holocaust? (Memri #8288) It should be noted that no western country executes people for “investigating the false Holocaust.” Except for some states in the US, the death penalty has been abolished in every western nation. — editor
MEL RHODES' PLACE . . . world news that matters 