I wrote my blog yesterday and titled it. The Economist arrived last night — its cover (above) was also titled “Israel Alone.” – Editor
Israel is taking quite a battering lately, mostly from its friends, including the US. Israel is decidedly alone. — Editor
In my article last week, I wrote that America was abandoning Israel. Today, the Biden administration wrote its name in the annals of infamy by openly joining the axis of evil against those defending civilization.
The UN Security Council has passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the remainder of Ramadan, and the immediate and unconditional release of Israeli hostages.
Breaking with its historic policy by vetoing hostile resolutions at the UNSC to protect Israel against those working for its destruction and the defeat of the West, the US abstained today and so the resolution was passed.
And of course, the UK, the Biden administration’s poodle whose Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron, has been threatening Israel with an end to arms sales unless it does what he and the US State Department are demanding, abstained alongside the US.
So both the US and UK are now aligned with the West’s foes Russia and China against Israel, the sole defender of the West in the Middle East. What a disgrace.
The resolution is obnoxious because it fails to condition a ceasefire on the release of the hostages, thus destroying the chances of the latter actually occurring. (Israel Alone, Melanie Phillips, 3/25/2024)
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THERE GOES LATIN AMERICA
This news from South America illustrates a weakness on the part of the US. It’s largely self-inflicted. – Editor
A threatening development has been brewing largely under the radar of the Biden administration and the mainstream media attention: Iran’s calculated expansion into Latin America, from Argentina to Mexico.
With alarming nonchalance, the Biden administration appears to have turned a blind eye to the Iranian regime’s concerted efforts to establish a military foothold right in America’s backyard. The ramifications of this complacency are profound. The Iranian regime, which, since it began in 1979, has been calling for “Death to America,” now has ballistic missiles which it says can reach the US, and claims to have a hypersonic missile that, according to one report, “Can Destroy US In 40 sec.” (“There goes Latin America,” Majid Rafizadeh, Gatestone, 3/16/2024)
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25 YEARS LATER, IS PUTIN WINNING?
Surprising zero people, Vladimir Putin on Sunday “won” his fifth term as Russia’s president.
The result was not close: Russia’s electoral authorities say Putin took 87% of the vote with 77% turnout. A landslide was never in question, as Putin has systematically eliminated any opposition to his rule.
Putin has now ruled Russia for 25 years. When he first became president, no one had ever heard of “YouTube,” Italy’s economy was still bigger than China’s, and Britney Spears ruled the Billboard with “One More Time.” But now, a quarter of a century later, is Putin more powerful than ever?
Consider:
His economy has largely weathered sanctions and is humming again — on a war footing.
He faced down an insurrection from his own warlord protege last year.
He dispatched his most eloquent and charismatic critic to the grave.
The war in Ukraine wasn’t the four-day cakewalk to Kyiv he imagined, but Russia again has the upper hand in a grinding war of attrition as Ukraine scrambles to find more military aid.
The Putin-curious Donald Trump leads the polls ahead of this fall’s US presidential election.
To be clear, there are plenty of reasons to believe that Russia is a long-term loser as a result of Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. (Gzero Signal, 3/18/2024)
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Niger wants US troops out. – A SET BACK FOR US
In another setback for the US, America is going to withdraw from Niger (not to be confused with Nigeria). – Editor
Niger’s military junta announced Saturday that it would end the agreement that allows US troops to operate in the country. Niamey said the pact was “profoundly unfair,” and cited a “condescending attitude” and alleged violations of diplomatic protocol during a high-level visit last week.
Washington has been trying to find ways to work with the military governments that have seized power in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali to combat extremist militants in the region. But at the same time, the Biden administration has pressured Niamey to set a timeline to restore democratic control and reportedly raised alarm at a possible deal to sell uranium to Iran, which seems to have led to the rupture.
What happens now? The US has about 1,000 troops in Niger and operates a drone base monitoring suspected militants in the north of the country. The State Department is aware of the demand but has not commented on next steps.
If US troops do pull out of their base in Niger, it would remove a major obstacle for Niger to expand its relationship with Russia, as juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso have. The former Wagner Group mercenaries have been absorbed into Moscow’s Defense Ministry and rebranded the Africa Corps, which is expected to deploy on the continent this summer. (Gzero Signal, 3/18/2024)
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CHINESE THREAT BECOMES MORE REAL
This is a dire warning for the US, not taken very seriously. – Editor
China-linked hackers appear to be looking to attack U.S. infrastructure, especially key components such as the electrical grid, water reservoirs and treatment plants, pipelines, and transportation and communications systems, among other targets.
The goal is seemingly to disrupt the U.S. everything critical to life – if you have no electricity, your cellphone will not work; no water will come out of the tap; gas pumps will not pump gas; flights and trains will stop, and disease from disabled sewage treatment plants will spread. There will be havoc and panic. The government and military will be unable to protect the nation. That is what is meant by “unrestricted warfare.” Not a bullet was fired. It did not have to be. According to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, it is perfect.
What are some of the steps that should be taken? The West has correctly identified the CCP as the malign threat that it is; now we have a responsibility to put into place the measures and deterrents to prevent it from attacking us through cyberspace or any other way. Let us not wait until we experience a 9/11-scale cyberattack that could be far more damaging to the U.S. than what took place on that dark day more than 20 years ago. (Pete Hoekstra, Gatestone, 3/26/2024)
SCRIPTURE CORNER
Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers . . . nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
Most of the conquerors in history have been egotistical thugs. They established kingdoms by their own power and for their own glory, often killing many thousands of people to do so. But what we learn from Scripture is that Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, has conquered all things by laying down his own life as a ransom for us. By doing that, he broke the power of sin’s hold on us. And that means no other power in all creation or even in the spiritual realms can separate us from God. Nothing can separate us “from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Sometimes the challenges we face are from circumstances and other people, but the root of all challenges to our faith comes from spiritual forces that are at war with God. Those spiritual powers would love to destroy us, but they cannot touch us because of God’s protection in Christ. Jesus has already won the battle. And because he won, we win! When Jesus rose from the dead, he overcame the ultimate weapon of the forces of evil—death. Never again can Satan and the powers of evil have a hold on us, because Jesus has brought us into everlasting life. With him, we are more than conquerors. (Kent van Til, Our Daily Bread, 3/26/2024)
On BBC Radio’s Moral Maze this week, my colleagues and I pondered our responsibility to the future. Do we have such a responsibility? What is the trade-off between the future and the present? As fuel prices go through the roof in order to (ahem) save the planet, should we be prepared to take a dive in our living standards for the benefit of our grandchildren and those coming after them? Is that a morally sustainable position as gas prices rocket and today’s poor are forced to choose between heating and eating? Can anyone even work out what will actually happen in the future, or are all such prognostications merely idealistic fantasies among those who want to make the world anew? And is optimism or pessimism the default position for the thinking person? (Melanie Phillips, 2/10/2022)
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COULD NORTHERN IRELAD BREAK AWAY FROM THE UK?
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Michelle O’Neill was forced to greet visitors this week in a drab upstairs meeting room at the rear of the Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast, its faded posters and scattered chairs a stark contrast to the classical grandeur of the chambers at the front of the complex.
A leader of the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party, Ms. O’Neill had just vacated her office as deputy first minister of Northern Ireland’s government after the first minister, Paul Givan, a member of the main unionist party — that is, the main party supporting Northern Ireland’s current status as part of the United Kingdom — abruptly resigned. Under the power-sharing agreement that governs the territory, she automatically lost her post as well.
But if the upheaval turned Ms. O’Neill into a temporary vagabond, it also served to underline a momentous political shift in Northern Ireland:
Assuming that current polls hold, Sinn Fein, with its vestigial ties to the paramilitary Irish Republican Army and fervent commitment to Irish unification, will become the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly after elections scheduled for May.
That could catapult the 45-year-old Ms. O’Neill into the post of first minister, and it helps explain why Mr. Givan quit when he did.
His Democratic Unionist Party is desperate to rally its voters before the election. Its most emotive issue is the North’s trade status in the wake of Brexit, which is governed by a complex legal arrangement known as the Northern Ireland Protocol. Unionists complain that the protocol, which requires border checks on goods passing between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain, has driven a wedge between the North and the rest of the United Kingdom. (“Upheaval in Northern Ireland”, Mark Landler, New York Times, 2/10/2022)
Belgian Philosopher Daniel Schiffer Tells Europe: ‘Deprived Of Their Rights And, Under That Mobile Prison Burqa, [Afghan Women] Are In Pitch Darkness; They Are Experiencing Islamic Fascism… That In The Past Even Nazis Were Not Able To Imagine’ (MEMRI, The Middle East Media Research Institute, 1/11/2022)
Iran Is Insisting On Its Demands From A Year Ago: The Biden Administration Must Lift Sanctions, Recognize It As A Nuclear Threshold State, And Accept Its Expansion In The Region (MEMRI, 2.14/2022)
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GERMANY IN AFRICA
The debate concerning terminating the Bundeswehr’s mission in Mali is gaining momentum. France wants to make its decision concerning how, or whether, it intends to continue to pursue its military intervention in this West African country by the end of the month. This was caused by the fact that the military government in Bamako refuses to continue to put up with the paternalism and high-handed attitude of its former colonial power and other European countries, and is openly defying them. Most recently, in reaction to serious accusations raised by France’s foreign minister, the French ambassador was expelled from the country and France’s Sahel policy sharply criticized. Mali cannot “be transformed into a slave,” declared Prime Minister Choquel Maïga, at the beginning of the week. “Those times are over.” German Minister of Defense Christine Lambrecht’s trip to Mali this week was canceled on short notice. Berlin is contemplating whether to discontinue the EU’s training mission, but continue participation in the UN’s MINUSMA mission. As a correspondent in Bamako reported, “many people” are “delighted” at the prospect of the EU troops withdrawal. (German Foreign Policy, 2/13/2022)
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TIK TOK MAY BE A HIGH RISK
By 2020, TikTok reported nearly one billion active users worldwide—less than four years after its launch.
But TikTok may have a dark side. TikTok is a Chinese company, and all the private information that the app is collecting may be fed directly to the Chinese regime, experts have warned, citing a range of Chinese laws that compel companies to cooperate with regime authorities when asked.
“All of your data on that phone,” said Fleming, “everything you do, and everything that you have stored on your phone is being sent out of the country, possibly to be used against you.”
“The Communist Party of China is collecting vast amounts of data,” said Fleming. “It may not be used against you today. But this information might be used against you, your company, or your country in the future.” (“Tik Tok” users feeding data to CCP, Lorenzo Puertas, The Epoch Times, 2/13/2022)
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RUSSIAN THREATS MAY FORCE SWEDEN AND FINLAND TO ABANDON NEUTRALITY
In response to the mounting tension with Russia, Sweden has been boosting its military preparedness and has sent soldiers and heavy military equipment to its largest island, Gotland, strategically located in the Baltic Sea, just 330 kilometers from Kaliningrad, the headquarters of Russia’s Baltic Fleet …. Sweden has been observing a deteriorating security environment in recent years with repeated Russian incursions into Swedish airspace and territorial waters.
Unlike Sweden, Finland, which shares a long land border with Russia, never stopped investing in its defense capabilities. It recently ordered 64 F-35 fighters, at a value of $9.5 billion, to replace its existing and ageing combat jets. According to Finland’s former Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, Finland “can mobilize a reserve of 280,000 trained soldiers, which no other country in Europe can do.”
In a meeting with Sweden and Finland on January 24 about the worsening security situation in Europe, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg invited the two countries to join NATO, stressing that each country has the right to choose its own military alliances.
Denmark is deploying four air force fighter jets to the Baltic states and a Danish Navy frigate will most likely be patrolling the Baltic Sea, as a contribution to NATO’s patrolling in the region. This is “a very clear signal to Russia,” Danish Defense Minister Trine Bramsen said. (“Russia driving Sweden and Finland into arms of NATO,” Judith Bergman, Gatestone, 2/14/2022)
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PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS
“When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, they tried to appear moderate – but there’s no sign that Christianity will be anything other than a death sentence.” – World Watch List-2022
“The persecution of Christians in India has intensified, as Hindu extremists aim to cleanse the country of their presence and influence. The extremists disregard Indian Christians and other religious minorities as true Indians, and think the country should be purified of non-Hindus …” — World Watch List-2022. (Gatestone, 2/13/2022)
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ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISTS ACCUSED OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
Turkey’s Islamist government is set to complete a pair of construction projects in New York City that, among other uses, will house Turkish-American students and expose Muslim youth to Turkish propaganda and extremism.
However, Turkey’s indoctrination of Muslim youths isn’t the only reason why New Yorkers should oppose the Islamist government’s real estate plans. A notorious Turkish foundation accused of numerous cases of child abuse and rape will fund and administer one of these dormitories. (“Turkish Islamic Foundation linked to child sexual abuse”, Burak Bekdil, 1/30/2022, MEF)
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TO THE POINT
“An entire generation are puzzled by the idea that anyone has the right to say things they don’t agree with . . . for most people, true free speech has ceased to exist . . . On some issues, such as the transgender controversy, it is virtually impossible to say anything without attracting the attention of the Thought Police.” — Peter Hitchens, author and journalist, Daily Mail, December 11, 2021
Boris Johnson is expected to deny allegations that he broke lockdown laws and tell the Met police that his presence at Downing Street gatherings was simply part of the working day, said The Guardian. The PM has until Friday to respond to a questionnaire sent by the Met that may lead the force to issue him with a fixed penalty notice. No. 10 is not planning to publish Johnson’s defence. Scotland Yard is expected to reveal the number of government staff members fined for having attended lockdown-busting parties but not provide their names, reported The Independent. (The Week, 2/15/2022)
Justin Trudeau has temporarily invoked the Emergencies Act to crack down on anti-vaccine mandate protests. The Canadian PM said the unprecedented step would be “time-limited, geographically targeted, as well as reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address” and would not involve military deployment. Under the new powers, protesters may see their personal and corporate accounts frozen by their banks, as well as their vehicle insurance suspended. (The Week, 2/15/2022)
The megadrought gripping the US West is the worst the region has seen for centuries, scientists have warned. According to a study published in the Nature Climate Change journal, the period from 2000 to 2021 was the driest in 1,200 years. The study described 2021’s drought as “exceptional” and said all indications are pointing to the extreme conditions continuing through 2022, CNN reported. The human-caused climate crisis has made the US West’s drought 72% worse, the scientists said. (The Week, 2/15/2022)
Petrol prices have hit record highs as the cost-of-living crisis worsens, said The Times. The average cost of petrol rose to 148.02p per litre on Sunday, above the previous high of 147.72p last November. The AA said that diesel also hit a new high, at 151.57p per litre. * Analysts believe that prices will continue to rise with records broken almost daily, said The Times. The increases have been caused by a rebound in global demand as the pandemic eases, combined with cuts in production.
(*That’s about $8 per gallon.)
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FINAL THOUGHT
Governments are often out of touch with reality and out of touch with the common people. In a democracy, this is dangerous.
We have seen this happen over the last few weeks with the “trucker convoy” in Canada. The truckers were dismissed as a bunch of white supremacists, Nazis, racists, etc, the usual claptrap from the “progressives”. In truth, the trucker rally evolved into a freedom rally joined and supported by Canadian families of different races, ethnicities and religions. Police, fire and veterans also in attendance.
It’s the usual stance of the Left, when faced with a revolt from the working class, who they claim to represent. All they were demanding was to sit down with the prime minister, to talk it through. But the prime minister, rather, left town and went to an undisclosed destination. In other words, he left town rather than meet the “rabble.” It’s rather ironic that a political leader of the left is frightened of the working class!
Rehoboam was the third king of the Davidic monarchy of Israel almost 3,000 years ago.
David was the first king and Solomon the second. When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam, became king.
Solomon had been a lavish spender, mostly on expensive building projects. The people were suffering under a burden of heavy taxation, rather like people in the western world today. (A friend of ours in Canada pays 52% income tax. In addition, there’s a high provincial sales tax.)
When Rehoboam took over, the people asked him to reduce their burden.
“Your father made our yoke [a]heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.” (I Kings 12:4). He took three days to speak to some of the elders of Israel and received the following advice: “And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” (verse 7)
Unfortunately, Rehoboam did not listen to the elders. Rather, he turned to young men, his cronies.
“And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!’.” (verse 11)
“So the king did not listen to the people.” (verse 15)
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, refused to listen to the truckers. Rather, he listened to the arrogant, liberal intellectuals who surround him. They are as much out of touch with the people as he is. But he’s comfortable with them. Today (Monday) he announced a State of Emergency, the first time the Emergency Powers Act has been used in the country. This is comparable to Martial Law in other countries; it suspends civil rights afforded to citizens in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The result in ancient Israel was a tragedy from which the country never recovered. Ten of the twelve tribes who made up the Kingdom of Israel rebelled against Rehodoam, who was left with just Judah and Benjamin. Rehoboam’s new kingdom took the name of Kingdom of Judah.
In Canada, Saskachewan and Alberta have broken ranks with the prime minister. The country is not likely to fall apart because of this, but if future governments do not listen to the people anything could happen. Ontario Monday abolished most Covid restrictions.
The Bible is rather frowned upon in Canada, so it’s unlikely the prime minister has read the chapter on Rehoboam. Don’t expect him to suddenly listen.
The immediate issue here was Covid mandates, required by a heavy-handed government. 90% of truckers had already received the vaccine, but rules and regulations made it difficult to do their jobs. They also had concerns about their children getting the vaccine. Hence the revolt. Not surprisingly, the government showed no compassion or sympathy. (The US is just as bad!)
The prime minister may feel that he is doing the right thing by ignoring the truckers and sticking to Covid mandates. But he risks the same fate as the Bourbons and Romanovs, two other ruling elites that separated themselves from the people and would not listen.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that Europe could be returning to what he called the “nightmare of military confrontation.”
At a European security conference in Sweden, Mr. Lavrov floated the idea of a new European security pact to try to stop Nato from expanding further east. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned of “serious consequences” if Russia sought conflict with Ukraine.
The meeting comes as Russia boosts its military near Ukraine’s border. Ukraine says Russia has amassed more than 90,000 troops there. Moscow denies it is preparing an attack on Ukraine and accuses Kyiv of its own military build-up. (BBC 12/2/2021)
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Trump ally calls for ‘one religion’
Donald Trump’s former national security adviser has called for “one religion” in the US to win a battle of good versus evil. CNN said Michael Flynn made the comment during a speech to a conservative Christian audience on the ReAwaken America tour in Texas. “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion,” he said. “One nation under God and one religion under God, right? All of us, working together.”
Flynn is a Catholic. (The Week, 11/16)
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Emad Al Swealmeen: the motivation for Liverpool taxi bomb examined
The suspected terrorist who appeared to blow himself up outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Remembrance Sunday has been named as 32-year-old Emad Al Swealmeen. Officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North West have said that they “strongly believe” Al Swealmeen was the passenger who was proclaimed dead at the scene when the taxi he was in exploded. The driver, named locally as David Perry, managed to escape before the vehicle burst into flames at a drop-off zone near the hospital’s entrance. It was claimed that Perry, who has been heralded as a hero, locked Al Swealmeen in the cab. (The Week, 11/16/2021) (https://dennis.slgnt.eu/optiext/optiextension.dll?
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Move to Jerusalem, or Else!Government threatens financial sanctions against ministries that fail to move their offices to the capital by Ryan Jones, 15 Nov 2021, Israel Today
Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. It’s a fact that much of the rest of the world is belatedly accepting. If only Israel could get its own government ministries to do the same.
Israel Today has in the past spoken to Israelis who complained that it was no use trying to convince the rest of the world that Jerusalem was the capital of the State of Israel when its own Ministry of Defense and other major government bodies remained in Tel Aviv. Israel’s new “government of change” is looking to, well, change that. Cabinet ministers on Sunday voted in favor of a plan requiring all ministries and government offices within the next 120 days to either obtain a special exemption or submit a detailed plan to move to Jerusalem. Ministries and government offices that fail to meet the deadline will have their budgets for furniture and renovations revoked, and will start paying rent on the Jerusalem properties earmarked for their use, even if those properties remain unused. Currently some 100 government units operate outside the capital, including the Israel Prison Service, the Health Ministry’s food division, the police fraud and traffic units, and the tech divisions of the ministries of transportation and education. “The government decision passed today is another part of correcting Jerusalem’s status as the capital and governing city of Israel, and it is extremely important,” Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion told Ha’aretz. Some are worried that the influx of government offices will exacerbate Jerusalem’s traffic problems and make the capital even more overcrowded.
‘Experts’ told you if you complied with lockdowns, censorship, masks and vaccinations — life would return to normal. ‘Conspiracy theorists’ told you Covid was never going to end, and governments would use it to usher in a totalitarian new world order. Who do you believe now? — Candace Owens
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KEEP YOUR EYES ON GOVERNMENT SPENDING
“Keep your eye on one thing and one thing only: how much government is spending,” Milton Friedman once said. Today his eyes would be popping. Governments have spent $17 trillion on the pandemic, including loans and guarantees, for a combined total of 16% of global GDP. On current forecasts government spending will be greater as a share of GDP in 2026 than it was in 2006 in every major advanced economy. America is about to put $1.8 trillion into expanding its welfare state; Europe is doling out a 750 billion euro ( $850 billion) investment fund; and Japan is promising a “new capitalism,” with even more government largesse.” (“The triumph of big government,” The Economist, 11/20/2021)
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THE END OF US DOMINANCE IN THE PERSIAN GULF
The incoming German government should intensify its efforts to gain influence at the Persian Gulf, thereby assuring that the EU can be “an actor” in the “global contest” for obtaining regional power. This demand is raised by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in its current position paper, due to the power vacuum that is developing from the US focus on its power struggle against China, and therefore withdrawing from the Middle East. The People’s Republic of China, on the other hand, is strengthening its position, not only in Iran, with which it had concluded a 25-year “strategic partnership” last March and is seeking means for circumventing US sanctions, but in Arab Gulf countries as well. Beijing, for example, is also expanding its activities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and in Saudi Arabia – and is supplying them with 5G technology from the Huawei corporation, that Washington is so fiercely opposing. Appeals to Berlin and Brussels to strengthen the EU’s position in the region have so far been in vain. The DGAP warns that, in light of the global “rebalancing of power, ” raising the question of whose order will prevail. (German Foreign Policy, 11/23/2021)
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CHINESE SAVING FACE DEMANDS TAIWAN
There is an error in the excerpt from Memri below. Taiwan was separated from China in 1895. It was ruled by Japan until the end of World War II, then was briefly reunited with China.
The Kuomintang government retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after the Communist Party seized power in mainland China. Since then, Taiwan and mainland China have been divided for 72 years. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has yet to achieve its cherished “reunification,” and this is its biggest concern, since not achieving the annexation would mean a “national humiliation.” Consequently, to seize Taiwan is a matter of “honor” (荣耀) for the CCP, which cannot afford to lose its national prestige as well as its legitimacy as the sole representative of the Chinese people. In fact, the concept of “honor” is deeply rooted in Chinese culture. An ancient Chinese saying goes: “A man can be killed but not humiliated.”
In Chinese culture, the notion of “honor” is connected to the “face” (面子). The “face” concept is so important that “losing face” may even be more frightening than the loss of life itself. Hence, “saving face” is a very important factor affecting judgment and choices. (MEMRI, 11/29/2021)
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THE BAD GUYS ARE WINNING
“If the 20th century was the story of slow, uneven progress toward the victory of liberal democracy over other ideologies — communism, fascism, virulent nationalism — the 21st century is, so far, a story of the reverse,” Anne Applebaum writes in this tour de force for The Atlantic. From Venezuela, to Belarus, to Russia, to China, she details the myriad ways in which the “bad guys” are winning. “If America removes the promotion of democracy from its foreign policy, if America ceases to interest itself in the fate of other democracies and democratic movements, then autocracies will quickly take our place as sources of influence, funding, and ideas,” she concludes. “If Americans, together with our allies, fail to fight the habits and practices of autocracy abroad, we will encounter them at home; indeed, they are already here. If Americans don’t help to hold murderous regimes to account, those regimes will retain their sense of impunity. They will continue to steal, blackmail, torture, and intimidate, inside their countries—and inside ours.” (The Atlantic, 11/17/2021)
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Holocaust Museum removes photo of Mufti of Jerusalem with Hitler (Jihad Watch, 11/29/2021)
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AMERICA IN TROUBLE
“America is still the world’s greatest power. But since the late 2000’s its ability to deter foes and reassure friends has waned. George Bush’s invasion of Iraq ended in failure. Barack Obama drew a “red line” against the use of chemical weapons but did nothing when Bashar al-Assad crossed it in Syria. Donald Trump scorned America’s allies. Joe Biden ditched Afghanistan.
“Other countries sense, not exactly a vacuum, but many areas of the world where American power is unlikely to be deployed vigorously. Mr. Biden said he had to ditch Afghanistan to concentrate on China. If all his attention is on China, other regimes may calculate that they are free to flex their muscles elsewhere.” (Geopolitics, The Economist, 11/27/2021).
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POINTERS
“Indeed, of all of the Black folks who will have died of homicide or murder in D.C., Baltimore, Philly and New York this year, how many will have been shot or stabbed by Proud Boys, Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, white vigilantes, white supremacists or rogue white cops?” (Return of ‘law and order’ issue, Pat Buchanan, 11/30/2021)
So many people nowadays are described as heroes, I thought I would look for a definition of the term. . . Here it is. A definition of “hero”: a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. With that definition in mind, could somebody please explain why the singer Rihanna was called a hero when she attended celebrations in her homeland of Barbados? The event was the birth of the Republic of Barbados, which has now ceased to be a Commonwealth Realm. The event on the 300,000-population island was also attended by Prince Charles.
COVID-19 is a serious disease, but it bears constant repeating that the recovery rate now is between 97% and 99.75%. (Gatestone, 12/2/2021)
Call the Midwife” has been consistently one of the most heartwarming shows on television. Now in its tenth year, it seems set to go on indefinitely. It’s only just reached 1966 so it has a long way to go. Unfortunately, a recent episode dealing with abortion, legalized in the UK in 1967, suggested that all the Anglican nuns at Nonnatus House supported the change in the law. In the same episode, when a young mother from India turned out to have been traumatized during Partition, the doctor in the series remarked on how it was all Britain’s fault, and that it was due to “arrogance and stupidity.” And there was me thinking it was due to the fact that the Hindus and the Muslims hated each other. Silly me!
UK army to leave Canada base – British armed services are to leave Canada after 50 years and move their biggest training base to the Middle East. The British Army Training Unit Suffield in Alberta, western Canada, has been in operation since 1972. The thousand-square-mile base, seven times the size of Salisbury Plain, has trained thousands of soldiers. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace is expected to announce that the military will open a training area in Oman to take its place. (The Week, 11/24/2021)
Hamtramek becomes first US city to have an All-Muslim council
“[We are being more effectively challenged militarily today than at any other time in our history.” — US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, September 20, 2021. (Gatestone, 11/16/2021)
An ancient philosopher is attributed to once observing that a nation can survive deprivation or even a battlefield defeat but it cannot survive the loss of confidence in its leadership. (Gatestone, 11/29/2021)
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FINAL THOUGHT
In a book on European history, The Forge of Christendom, by Tom Holland, published in 2008, I came across the following quote: “The faith is Europe. And Europe is the faith.” (Hilaire Belloc 1870-1953; Mr. Belloc was a famous historian, writer and satirist. He was also a committed Catholic.)
This statement reminds me of certain passages in scripture. Daniel 7 and Revelation 17 are all about the church-state relationship that has been the norm for 2,000 years. Prophecy shows that this system will rise again to form a powerful political and military system at the time of the end.
12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”
The London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat cited an unnamed “well-informed” Russian source as saying that following talks with Washington, Moscow had got the impression that “Washington does not welcome the continuous Israeli raids,” and thus believes it has the freedom to act more aggressively to thwart them. In light of this, the Russians were now supplying Syrian forces with more advanced anti-missile systems and know-how, making them more capable of shooting down Israeli armaments, the report said. (Israel Defense Forces, the Times of Israel)
“Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it? Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.” Thus says the Lord God: “Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them? (Ezekiel 38:14-17)
On Thursday it was reported that the Israel Defense Forces is planning to change its tactics in Syria and will base its operations against Iranian targets in the area on long-range standoff munitions rather than on airstrikes. Obviously, the move will downgrade Israel’s operational prowess.
The report of Israel’s new policy of restraint followed the big story of the week: Russia’s announcement that for the first time, it had assisted the Syrians in intercepting four missiles fired by Israeli F-16s at targets in Syria.
Russia’s statement came in tandem with its announcement that it is abrogating its 2015 agreement with Israel to coordinate and deconflict Israel’s military operations in Syria from Russian forces in the country.
For Jerusalem, Russia’s decision is a major strategic blow. (Caroline Glick, Israel Hayom)
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PROTESTS IN IRAN
Protesters chanted: “Cannons, tanks, rockets, the mullahs should get lost” in a protest staged in Tehran, video of which was posted on Kian Sharif’s Twitter account on July 26, 2021. Protesters also chanted: “Not Gaza, not Lebanon, I will give my life only for Iran” in another video posted on the same day on the Twitter account of Iran News Wire. In the video, protesters further chanted: “Death to the dictator!” and “From Tehran to Khuzestan, unite, unite!” On July 31, 2021, videos of another protest were posted on the Irankargar YouTube channel, in which protesters burned tires and blocked a road. Protesters also chanted: “Death to the Rule of the Jurisprudent!” and “The country has no water, the massacre continues!” The protests in Tehran come following protests in Khuzestan and elsewhere. (MEMRI, 8/2/2021)
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MAJOR EXPANSION OF CHINA’S NUCLEAR FACILITIES
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The U.S. military is warning about what analysts have described as a major expansion of China’s nuclear missile silo fields at a time of heightened tension between Beijing and Washington.
Researchers at the Federation of American Scientists estimate that China has approximately 250 underground missile silos under construction after they used satellite imagery to identify a new field being built in western China.
U.S. Strategic Command tweeted a link Wednesday to a story in The New York Times on the federation’s findings, which were published this week.
“The public has discovered what we have been saying all along about the growing threat the world faces and the veil of secrecy that surrounds it,” said Strategic Command, which oversees America’s nuclear arsenal.
The field in the Xinjiang region is the second one reported this summer. In June, researchers at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California identified another field under construction in neighboring Gansu province.
China has not commented on the reports. Asked about the latest one, the Foreign Ministry said Friday that it was not aware of the situation.
The reports come at a time when relations between the U.S. and China have plunged to their worst level in decades. The two nations remain sharply at odds over a range of issues, including trade, technology, cybersecurity, human rights and China’s increasingly assertive foreign policy under President Xi Jinping.
The expansion of China’s nuclear force would likely factor into any U.S. calculations for potential military confrontations over flashpoints such as Taiwan or the South China Sea. (“US warns China is building more nuclear missile silos,” Huizhong Wu and Jon Gambrell, 7/30/2021)
MANDELA’S DREAM FOR SOUTH AFRICA IS IN RUINS Following the imprisonment of Jacob Zuma, and at a time when inequality is worse than during apartheid, mob violence is threatening the country’s constitutional order. by Robin Wright, who is a contributing writer and columnist, has written for The New Yorker since 1988. (She is the author of “Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World,” The New Yorker, July 28, 2021)
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CUBAN RALLIES
Here is the ugly truth: Biden does not care a damn about the Cuban people throwing off 60+ years of communism. Cubans are holding the largest anti-government rallies in decades. American media coverage has been near zero. Half of Biden’s White House staff probably does not understand what the president means by “repression,” admires Fidel and Raul Castro, and can be found wearing Che Guevara T-shirts on the weekends. (“Betraying the Cuban people, again,” Chris Farrell, Gatestone, 8/2/2021)
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NEWSLETTER – MANEUVERS IN EAST ASIA (II)
With its deployment of the frigate Bayern to East Asia on Monday, Germany is joining the rapid expansion of western war maneuvers in China’s close vicinity. In the fall, the frigate Bayern will conduct operations for monitoring US sanctions against North Korea and subsequently set off for home through the South China Sea. The UK Carrier Strike Group led by the new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth had entered the South China Sea already yesterday, after joint exercises also with warships from India and Singapore. Following naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal in early April, the French armed forces have conducted joint air combat exercises with US jets in Hawaii this month and specially relocated several Rafale fighter jets to its overseas territory French Polynesia in the middle of the South Pacific. The US air force is currently holding a maneuver that experts view as a realistic trial-run for war with China under contemporary conditions. High-ranking US military officials suggest that war is possible in the near future. (German Foreign Policy, 7/30/2021)
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AN ALTERNATE VIEW: COVID VACCINE KILLS MORE THAN OTHER VACCINES
There are now more deaths and injuries likely due to reactions to the coronavirus vaccines than all other vaccines combined, according to numbers published by the CDC.
The numbers can be found in the Centers for Disease Control Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The latest numbers were released last Friday, the National Vaccine Information Center noted.
The latest report shows that there have been 11,940 deaths and 618,648 injuries among 518,770 cases, including 12,808 permanent disabilities, 65,272 emergency room visits, 40,873 hospitalizations, and 11,198 life threatening injuries. It is acknowledged that these numbers are not all such cases in the U.S., but this database is the most comprehensive one there is. There were also 1,175 deaths of unborn babies following COVID vaccine injections. (Warner Todd Huston, 8/2/2021, Flag and Cross)
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TO THE POINT
CALL FOR TAX ON MEAT – The founder of the world’s biggest plant-based meat firm is calling for a tax on meat to encourage people to cut their consumption of animal-based products. Speaking to the BBC, Beyond Meat boss Ethan Brown said he is in favour of a “pigouvian tax.” Past examples of such taxes include levies on tobacco and carbon. However, critics argue that a meat tax would raise the cost of living. (The Week, 8/2/2021)
CHINA: Going into its second century, the CCP is not as invincible or as unified as it tries to appear, Schell notes. “Despite nationalist bravado about China’s ‘rejuvenation’ and success at nation building,” he writes, “the party’s ongoing obsession with control reveals a lack of confidence in the system it has confected.” (Foreign Policy, 7/23/2021)
NZ APOLOGIES FOR HISTORIC RACIST POLICING – New Zealand’s prime minister has issued a formal apology for historic racist policing of Pacific people, and offered scholarships to Pacific students. As some audience members at a town hall event wept, Jacinda Ardern said of the dawn raids of the 1970s that saw authorities hunt for visa over-stayers: “It remains vividly etched in the memory of those who were directly affected. It lives on in the disruption of trust and faith in authorities, and it lives on in the unresolved grievances of Pacific communities.” (The Week, 8/2/2021)
WELLBEING ON THE DECLINE IN ENGLAND – Analysis of data from the ONS shows that wellbeing in England has decreased in the last year while loneliness and mistrust in government has increased. Carnegie UK says “gross domestic wellbeing” has fallen to 6.79 out of 10 from 6.89 for 2018/19. The number of adults in England feeling lonely has jumped by 44%, from 2.6m to 3.7m. Meanwhile, trust in government has suffered a 40% drop from 2018/19 to 2019/20. (The Week, 8/2/2021)
UK PM’S POPULARITY PLUMMETS – Boris Johnson has fallen nearly 40 points in a poll of grassroots Tory members after a challenging month for his government. A Conservative Home survey found that the prime minister’s recent U-turn over self-isolating cost him 36 points. The news comes after an Ipsos Mori survey showed that public satisfaction with Johnson and his party had fallen to a nine-month low. (The Week, 8/2/2021)
FIRST REFUGEES ARRIVE – “The first flight evacuating Afghans who worked alongside Americans in Afghanistan brought more than 200 people, including scores of children and babies in arms, to new loves in the United States on Friday, and President Joe Biden said he was proud to welcome them home.” (“Evacuation brings 221 Afghans to US,” Lansing State Journal, 7/31/2021)
Hunger is expected to rise in 23 global hot spots in the next three months with the highest alerts to “catastrophic” situations in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, southern Madagascar, Yemen, South Sudan and northern Nigeria, two UN agencies warned Friday. (“UN: Hunger to rise in 23 hot spots,” LSJ, 8/1/2021)
Germany’s grand coalition presses ahead with military re-armament. Ahead of Germany’s federal election on 27 September, the federal grand coalition government is pressing ahead with military rearmament. In its last sitting of the legislative session, the parliamentary budgetary committee approved spending for 27 rearmament projects with a total value of close to €20 billion at the end of June. The projects include major purchases for the navy, air force and land-based armed forces. According to an official report on the Defence Ministry’s website, the investments cover “a broad spectrum of land, air, naval, and cyber dimensions.” Some of the most comprehensive projects are listed here: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/07/26/mili-j26.html(World Socialist Web Site, 26 July 2021)
CANADA’S G-G A FIRST – The Governor-General in Canada exercises the powers of Queen Elizabeth II in her absence. He or she is appointed for five years. The new G-G is a woman, the first time a Native Canadian has been appointed. This follows scandals involving the Roman Catholic Church where hundreds of children’s bodies were found on reservations. Some of this got blamed on the Queen and Queen Victoria.
CALL FOR WARNING ON FOOTBALL SALES – Footballs should be sold with health warnings, the scientist leading a landmark study has said. Professor Willie Stewart of the University of Glasgow said the link between dementia and heading a football is now so clear that the laws of the game to be changed for amateur and youth football to reduce the risk of degenerative brain disease. The study found no evidence that the transition from heavy leather balls to synthetic replacements had made a difference. (The Week, 8/3/2021)
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, Boulder Police Department photo
As we witness U.S. authorities and the establishment media trying to de-Islamize the Jihad in Boulder and to obscure the fact that the Jihadist perpetrator, Ahmad Al Issa, is a Muslim migrant ISIS sympathizer, a vital question confronts us: why does the Left consistently engage in Jihad Denial? Why is it so invested in denying the Islamic roots of Islamic Jihad? This is, without doubt, one of the most pertinent questions of our time, especially now with the Boulder Jihad — and its tragic victims — hovering right before our very eyes. (Jihad Watch 3/25/2021)
Although Christians face oppression throughout the Islamic world, Muslim converts to the faith face an even harsher climate because Islamic doctrine condemns apostasy and conversion away from the Islamic faith is deeply taboo. Islam “was created 600 years after Christ as a rebellion against biblical values,” said Darwish, and therefore “to choose the Bible over Islam . . . Jesus over Muhammad, is the ultimate insult to Islam.” Muslims living in the Middle East who convert to Christianity often claim to have seen Jesus in a dream – maintaining, in effect, that Jesus chose them, not the other way around. Islamic law sanctions the killing of apostates. Although civil laws in some countries may nominally protect converts, in most countries “the percentage of Muslims who believe in killing apostates is huge” and authorities often turn a blind eye to it, so the threat of “vigilante justice against apostates” is ever-present. (Marilyn Stern, MEF, 3/26/2021)
Demonstrations outside a school where a teacher showed a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed to pupils are “disturbing,” a cabinet minister has said.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said the protests outside Batley Grammar School were “not right” and that “we shouldn’t have teachers feeling intimidated” as more people gathered there again on Friday. (Sky News, 3/26/2021)
“As a society, for too many years we have not made the necessary demands of newcomers. We have had far too low expectations for the refugees and immigrants who came to Denmark. We have not made sufficiently tangible demands on jobs and self-sufficiency. Therefore, too many immigrants have ended up in prolonged inactivity.” — Danish government report, “Showdown with Parallel Societies.” (Gatestone, 3/23/2021)
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BERLIN CONCERNED ABOUT LOSS OF BUSINESS WITH IRAN
Berlin and the EU could permanently lose out on political influence and substantial business deals in Iran, due to new agreements between Iran and China, on the one hand, and to the ongoing US blockade of Tehran on the other. The People’s Republic of China has not only been able to somewhat maintain its Iranian oil imports despite US sanctions, and, since the beginning of the year, also register a significant increase. Over the weekend, Beijing even concluded a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Tehran, which provides for huge investments and could, in the long run, procure a long-term dominant economic influence for China in Iran. Germany’s attempt to sidestep US sanctions in favor of German business with Iran has failed, with no perspective for relaunching its traditionally lucrative economic activities in that country. Experts complain that the Biden administration is even blocking necessary humanitarian imports of food and Covid-19 vaccines. (German Foreign Policy, 3/30/2021)
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COVID DIVIDES COUNTRIES
The EU’s serious failings in procurement of Covid-19 vaccines are dragging the Union into internal and external conflicts prior to today’s summit. Tensions are growing between EU states, because poorer countries are being discriminated against in the distribution of the scarce supply of vaccines and are thus lagging behind in their vaccination programs. The fact that a growing number of EU member states, in addition to the protracted procurement at Union level, have begun to purchase Russian vaccines on a national level has caused further conflicts. Several allied countries are very upset because the EU has widened vaccine export controls and openly threatens to impose export bans. It was reported yesterday that the EU Commission had ordered the police to inspect an AstraZeneca vaccine filling plant in Italy, accusing the company of smuggling vaccines to the UK in a breach of contract. The accusation proved to be unfounded. According to insiders, the EU’s maneuvers are already wasting precious time in global vaccine production. (German Foreign Policy, 3/25/2021)
As a youth coach at Crewe Alexandra and Manchester City, Barry Bennell fed “dreams of being the next big star” to the boys in his care, said Kyle O’Sullivan in the Daily Mirror. A charming man with a “mesmerising” personality, he easily won the trust of parents, who’d think nothing of letting their sons stay overnight at his house. But Bennell’s charisma was a front: he was a predatory paedophile who “destroyed a succession of young lives” in a career lasting from the 1970s to the mid-1990s. And we now know he was one of many such men in English football. The horrifying scale of abuse over this period has been laid bare by a new BBC documentary, Football’s Darkest Secret, which follows the publication last week of an FA-commissioned report into historic abuse in the game.
Football child sexual abuse report: ‘a dark day for the beautiful game’
The “landmark inquiry” shows what a “free run predatory abusers had,” said David Conn in The Guardian. It documents hundreds of cases of abuse, and a notable failure to act. Talent scout Frank Roper was at Blackpool FC for two decades, despite having multiple convictions for sexual assault on a minor to his name. Most victims never complained at the time, being “bullied, scared or shamed into silence.” But the game’s authorities were culpably slow to respond when the scale of the problem began to emerge. Bennell received his first conviction in 1995 – yet it took the FA another five years to establish anything like a proper safeguarding culture.
Daniel Gordon’s documentary was horrific to watch, said Carol Midgley in The Times. Seeing men in their 40s and 50s break down before the camera high-lighted the damage inflicted by Bennell and his ilk. The boys they abused suffered irreversible injuries that never healed no matter what they went on to achieve. Paul Stewart, one of Roper’s victims, said he’d gained no pleasure from a successful career with Man City, Tottenham and Liverpool. “Alone,” he said, “I was just dying inside.” The courage he and others have displayed in coming forward beats “anything you’d see on a football pitch.” (The Week, 3/26/2021)
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US DEBT MOUNTS
The federal government’s debt will rise to twice the size of the economy by 2051, the Congressional Budget Office said on Thursday. The CBO said that by the end of 2021, federal debt held by the public is projected to equal 102 percent of GDP. That is before taking into account the $1.9 trillion covid spending bill currently being considered by the Senate.
“Debt would reach 107 percent of GDP (surpassing its historical high) in 2031 and would almost double to 202 percent of GDP by 2051,” the CBO said.
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BOYS FORCED TO HATE THEMSELVES
Parents of male students at a school in Victoria’s southwest are furious after their sons were forced to stand up at an assembly and apologise to their female classmates.
Brauer College, in Warrnambool, held an assembly on Wednesday where boys were told to stand in solidarity for female students who had experienced sexual harassment.
Outraged parents say their sons were told to apologise to the girls for offensive behaviour on behalf of their gender.
The move comes after a viral petition exposed thousands of stories of sexual assault from students and former students around Australia, throwing the education sector into crisis.
A Snapchat post, believed to be by a male student at the school, took aim at the assembly saying: “Today at Brauer they made every guy stand up and apologise to every girl for rape, sexual assault and so on. ” (au.com 3/26/2021)
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CHINESE PLAN TO BRING DOWN AMERICA
A leading Chinese professor—who is also an adviser to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—laid out a comprehensive plan for the communist regime to overthrow the United States as the world’s superpower.
The professor’s multi-pronged strategy involves a range of malign actions to subvert the United States while strengthening the Chinese regime. They include: interfering in U.S. elections, controlling the American market, cultivating global enemies to challenge the United States, stealing American technology, expanding Chinese territory, and influencing international organizations.
The plan was explained in detail by Jin Canrong, a professor and associate dean of the School of International Studies at Beijing’s Renmin University of China, in a July 2016 speech on “Sino-U.S. Strategic Philosophy” given over two full days at Southern Club Hotel Business Class in south China’s Guangzhou City. “We want to be the world leader,” Jin said, explaining Chinese Leader Xi Jinping’s desire for a “national rejuvenation” of the country. (Nicole Hao, Epoch Times, 3/26/2021)
Cole Bridges, a 20-year-old American who joined the U.S. Army in late 2019—and who was earlier described as “a polite, responsible and trustworthy teen”—was recently arrested and faces two federal charges: “attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group and the attempted murder of U.S. military service members.”
Earlier, in October, 2020, Bridges, a convert to Islam, came into contact with an FBI online covert employee (OCE) posing as a Muslim supporter of and in contact with the Islamic State. In their communiques, Bridges made clear that his allegiance was to Islam and jihad, not America and its soldiers. According to the criminal complaint against him: “Bridges then provided training and guidance to purported ISIS fighters who were planning attacks, including advice about potential targets in New York City, such as the 9/11 Memorial. Bridges also provided the OCE with portions of a U.S. Army training manual and guidance about military combat tactics, for use by ISIS.” … (Raymond Ibrahim, MEF, 1/29/2021)
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CANZUK GETS A BOOST
BRITAIN could form a special alliance with Canada, Australia and New Zealand, all predominantly English-speaking nations with historic links to the UK, under a radical proposal. by James Bickerton, 2/10/2021
The plan, known by the acronym CANZUK, would see the four countries agree to free trade, reciprocal migration and foreign policy cooperation. This would allow citizens of the four CANZUK nations to move freely between each other, provided they don’t have a serious criminal record. CANZUK International, which advocates for the scheme, was founded by Toronto based James Skinner in 2015.
Explaining the policy to Express.co.uk he said: “The vision for it is really founded on the principle of these four countries working together as sovereign independent nations for the betterment of their economies and opportunities for their citizens.
The way we promote that is through three objectives. The first would be reciprocal migration whereby citizens of these countries could freely live and work in the other countries, minus a few stipulations and requirements.
“Then free trade between these countries would maximize trading potential opening up trade to [markets worth] about $3.5trillion (£2.5trillion).
“The third aspect would be foreign policy cooperation so acting as sovereign nations we could improve on the relations we already have.”
A poll of 13,600 people in 2018 for CANZUK International found overwhelming support for free movement in all four nations.
The policy was backed by 82 percent of New Zealanders, 76 percent of Canadians, 73 percent of Australians and 68 percent of Britons.
UK ‘model for race relations’ Britain is a model for race relations and claims of institutional bias are “not borne out by the evidence,” according to a government report commissioned in response to protests last year. It found that pupils from Indian, Bangladeshi and black African backgrounds outperform white British children in their GCSEs, and that “elite professions” are increasingly diverse. But it acknowledged that some ethnic minority communities are “haunted” by historic racism and that explicit discrimination remains a problem. A spokesperson for Black Lives Matter UK said the report “fails to explore” serious issues and the Runnymede Trust said it appeared to “downplay” the impact of racism. (The Week, 3/31/2021)
Flowers outside the Collège du Bois d’Aulne middle school as part of a memorial to the teacher who was killed in Eragny, a suburb of Paris, on Friday.Credit…Siegfried Modola/Getty Images
In an attack that sent France reeling, on Friday afternoon, October 16, in broad daylight, a French schoolteacher was beheaded on a suburban street for teaching his students a required lesson about free speech. Samuel Paty, 47, was murdered close to the school where he taught by an 18-year-old Chechen immigrant (identified only as Abdoulakh A.) who had come to France as a child refugee.
Abdoulakh then posted images of Paty’s severed head on his Twitter account along with insults aimed at French President Emmanuel Macron and French “infidels” and “dogs.”
Witnesses reported hearing Abdoulakh shout “Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest)!” during the attack. Abdoulakh had been waiting for Paty before attacking him with a knife and inflicting him with multiple head wounds.
The attacker was killed by police after firing at them with an air gun.
Paty was a history and geography teacher, who had been threatened many times after educating his students in light of the ongoing Charlie Hebdo trial and showing them cartoons from the satirical magazine depicting Islam’s prophet Mohammed (he advised Muslim students to look away if they were offended). (Clarion Project, 10/18/2020)
An entire community of immigrants, who enjoyed all the freedoms we had granted them, ambushed him . . . It is a racism condoned by imams who had called [the beheaded teacher] Paty “delinquent.”
“[T]here is the continuity of our submission. I am convinced that if we had known how to say no, we would not be here. They all bowed their heads out of fear of appearing racist or out of patronage.” — Élisabeth Badinter, author, Le Point, October 16, 2020.
If the French authorities do not take the many warnings to heart, even after a schoolteacher was beheaded in broad daylight by a terrorist shouting “Allahu Akbar,” it means that the fight is over and they might as well raise a white flag over the Eiffel Tower. (Giulio Meotti, Gatestone, 10/20/2020)
Sheikh Ali Al-Yousuf Of The International Union Of Muslim Scholars: Killing Of French Teacher Paty Was In Keeping With The Ruling Of The Shari’a But It Should Have Been Done By The Islamic State, Not By Just Any Individual (MEMRI, 10/20/2020)
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GERMANY
[BREXIT]: In the Interest of German Industry
The German government breaks ranks with the EU consensus on the negotiations of a Brexit free trade agreement and demands that concessions be made to Great Britain. On Thursday, the EU heads of states and governments – with Germany’s endorsement – had unanimously increased pressure on the British government to unilaterally concede in the dispute over the agreement, however, Chancellor Merkel is now strongly pleading for “a compromise.” This change of course was triggered by London’s reiteration that it would rather settle for a no-deal Brexit, if the EU insists on its maximalist positions. A hard Brexit would bring serious disadvantages particularly for German industry, because, well ahead of China, the UK is its second largest investment site and its business on the British Isles has already been seriously affected by Brexit uncertainties. Confronted with the impact of the Corona crisis and economic risks due to the power struggle between the USA and China, Germany seeks to avoid further slumps. 19 Oct 2020, German-Foreign-Policy newsletter. (https://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/news/detail/8415/)
Secret NATO Drills: German Air Force trains in the event of nuclear war? The German air force is currently working with NATO partners to work out the defense of the alliance’s territory using nuclear weapons 19 October 2020 (From German newspaper) Bild.de
If the situation would follow the most appalling scenario, and it comes to a nuclear war, we must be ready for this.
The German air force is currently working with NATO partners to work out the defense of the alliance’s territory using nuclear weapons.
According to the DPA news agency, a secret Alliance exercise called Steadfast Noon began this week. At the same time, the operations of fighter-bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons are being practiced. The venue for the maneuvers this year was the Nørvenich airbase in North Rhine-Westphalia. Presumably, it is there that the American tactical atomic bombs B61 will be placed, according to unofficial data, stored at the base in Büchel (Rhineland-Palatinate)
At the same time, the Resilient Guard exercise continues in Büchel, where the Air Force is practicing defense of the airbase there. According to the Bundeswehr, operations with the use of Patriot missile systems are also being practiced there.
The B61 hydrogen bombs located in Büchel, if necessary, can take on board, in particular, the German Tornado aircraft, in order to take hostile forces out of the game. American nuclear weapons are also stored in Belgium, Turkey, and the Netherlands. Combat aircraft of the Air Forces of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy are also participating in the current exercises.
According to military experts, during the Persistent Noon maneuvers, which traditionally take place in October, the safe delivery of American nuclear weapons from underground storage facilities to aircraft and their placement there is being worked out. However, during the exercise, flights will be carried out without bombs. Information on a specific exercise scenario has not yet been released.
Today, the danger of war, during which nuclear weapons may be used, has grown significantly in comparison with the past 30 years. The reason is the termination of the INF Treaty. The United States, with the approval of NATO partners, withdrew from it in the summer of 2019, arguing that Russia has been developing medium-range missiles called 9M729 (NATO classification: SSC-8) for several years, thereby violating the agreement.
Will a new arms race start?
Military experts do not rule out that the world is on the verge of a new arms race. The United States is already working on a new mobile ground-based missile system, which was illegal during the INF Treaty. According to current plans, they should be equipped exclusively with conventional (that is, non-nuclear) warheads. But it is possible that the plans will be further adjusted.
Europe Preparing for the Worst in Washington; Concern is growing in the European Union that Donald Trump might refuse to recognize the election results if he loses. Preparations are underway for the worst-case scenario. by Markus Becker, Christiane Hoffmann und Peter Müller 16.Oct.2020, Der Spiegel, Germany
A horror scenario is making the rounds these days in both Berlin and Brussels: Should the outcome of the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3 be close, incumbent Donald Trump could declare himself the winner when polls close, even if he is behind in the vote count. He could prematurely and unlawfully claim the presidency. (DS)
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USA
AFGHANISTAN DILEMMA
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, US President George W. Bush demanded that Afghanistan’s Taliban government surrender Osama bin Laden and end support for al-Qaeda. The Taliban refused.
On October 7, US bombs began falling on Taliban forces. NATO allies quickly pledged support for the US, and US boots hit the ground in Afghanistan two weeks later.
Thus began a war, now the longest in US history, that has killed more than 3,500 coalition soldiers and 110,000 Afghans. It has cost the American taxpayer nearly $3 trillion. US allies have also made human and material sacrifices.
Though the Taliban government quickly crumbled, its fighters kept fighting. A Taliban insurgency continues, and its forces are now believed to control nearly 20 percent of Afghan territory. Almost half of Afghan land is “contested.”
The Taliban is militarily stronger today than at any time since the start of the war, and there are now US soldiers serving in Afghanistan who were not yet born on September 11, 2001.
The dilemma remains
A large-scale US effort to defeat the Taliban everywhere in Afghanistan would prove costlier than the American public, and therefore any US president, is willing to bear. (Gzero Signal, 10/22/2020)
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THREAT FROM AMERICAN EXTREME RIGHT — On October 19, 2020, the National Socialist Order (NSO), which was created by members of the international neo-Nazi network, AtomWaffen Division, released a one-minute video on its Telegram channel urging supporters to take action such as running-over protesters, or murdering politicians, to bring about a “new world.” The video, titled “National Socialist Order – A Step by Step Guide to Victory,” is a slick production in a retro television style, with black and white animated sequences and titles, and is narrated in a male voice. (MEMRI 10/21/2020)
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FRANKLIN GRAHAM ON POLITICS
Regarding the recent Democratic and Republican national conventions, Graham asserted that the Democratic Party is “opposed to faith.”
“The Democrats are really, if anything, they are opposed to faith.” Graham asserted.
Graham acknowledged that while his father, the late evangelist Billy Graham, was a lifelong democrat, even he saw the significant transformation within the Democratic Party as it became “a party of the left.”
“It’s a socialist party. They want socialism for this country,” Graham argued, according to CBN News. (CBN, 9/3/2020)
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New Data Analysis Finds 353 Counties With 1.8 Million More Registered Voters Than Eligible Citizens by Mark Tapscott (Epoch Times, 10/18/2020)
Nope, no chance of voter fraud here, folks.
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THREAT FROM CCP
We areat risk of losing a war today because too few of us know that we are engaged with an enemy, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), that means to destroy us. The forces of globalism that have dominated our government (until recently) and our media for the better part of half a century have blinded too many Americans to the threat we face. If we do not wake up to the danger soon, we will find ourselves helpless.(Imprimis, 9/20/2020)
Republicans in Washington are concerned far-left groups will stir up trouble after the election should Mr. Trump win – or say he won as a court battle begins. Democrats say it is the president who has been stoking trouble. (The Independent, 10/22/2020)
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Chris Jackson / Canada Government
CANADA’S NEW OFFICIAL PORTRAIT OF THE QUEEN
A new portrait of the Queen has been commissioned by the Canadian government. It will hang in schools, government buildings and embassies.
Even after resuming socially-distanced in-person engagements, and reopening Buckingham Palace for audiences, the royals haven’t had occasion to flaunt their stunning jewelry collection in some time – and may not for a while yet. This makes the reveal of Queen Elizabeth’s new official Canadian portrait, which features the monarch bedecked in precious stones from the King George VI Victorian Suite, all the more special.
Photographer Chris Jackson unveiled the portrait on Instagram, saying, “It was an incredible honor to have the opportunity to photograph HM Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of the Canadian Government.”
He then went on to explain the significance of the jewelry and royal honors the Queen wears in the portrait, starting with the two badges affixed to her dress. These are the Canadian insignia as Sovereign of the Order of Canada and the Order of Military Merit (per Canadian Heritage’s Instagram, the Order of Canada is the country’s highest civilian honor, instituted by the Queen herself in 1967). More interesting, perhaps, to those interested in royal history are the jewels: a tiara, necklace, earrings, and bracelet, all from the diamond and sapphire King George VI Victorian Suite.
The suite – then composed only of the necklace and earrings, made circa 1850 – was given to the Queen by her father, King George VI, as a wedding present in 1947. A matching tiara and bracelet were fashioned in 1963, and in 1990, the Queen took the whole suite with her for a royal tour of Canada – making it a particularly meaningful choice for this portrait.
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POPE ENDORSES SAME SEX CIVIL UNIONS
ROME — Pope Francis expressed support for same-sex civil unions in remarks revealed in a documentary film that premiered on Wednesday, a significant break from his predecessors that staked out new ground for the church in its recognition of gay people.
The remarks, coming from the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, had the potential to shift debates about the legal status of same-sex couples in nations around the globe and unsettle bishops worried that the unions threaten what the church considers traditional marriage — between one man and one woman.
“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered,” Francis said in the documentary, “Francesco,” which debuted at the Rome Film Festival, reiterating his view that gay people are children of God. “I stood up for that.”
Many gay Catholics and their allies outside the church welcomed the pope’s remarks, though Francis’ opposition to gay marriage within the church remained absolute.
His conservative critics within the church hierarchy, and especially in the conservative wing of the church in the United States, who have for years accused him of diluting church doctrine, saw the remarks as a reversal of church teaching.
“The pope’s statement clearly contradicts what has been the longstanding teaching of the church about same-sex unions,” said Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, R.I., adding that the remarks needed to be clarified. (NYT, 10/22/2020)
Matthew 23:9 – “And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.”
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HOW ISIS RESPONDED TO COVID: In early March, as coronavirus swept across Europe, Isis issued a surprising message to its members. Adopting a safety-first approach, the terror group’s al-Naba magazine stopped encouraging attacks on western nations, instead advising its members not to travel to Europe, which it described as “the land of the epidemic.”
The group also told its followers to “put trust in God and seek refuge in Him from illnesses,” but to also “cover the mouth when yawning and sneezing” and to wash their hands frequently, Politico reports. Terror groups traditionally thrive in areas undergoing disruption and chaos. So how has Isis handled the past eight months? (The Week, 10/21/2020)
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The goal of socialism is communism. Vladimir Lenin
“The Chinese Communist Party “is the biggest and most serious virus of all . . . The CCP represses and manipulates information to strengthen its hold on power. It is time to recognize the threat the Chinese Communist Party poses to all humanity.” — Chen Guangcheng, blind Chinese dissident, now a refugee in the US. (Asia news April 27, 2020)
Bloomberg News is said to censor articles that might anger China and expose Xi’s personal wealth. And the European Union just softened criticism of China in a report on disinformation about the pandemic… It looks as though free thought is more valued among China’s daring dissidents than in many corners of the West.
To paraphrase Leon Trotsky: You may not be interested in China, but China is interested in you. (Gatestone, 5/17/2020)
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EU UNHAPPY WITH CHINA
The Western Balkan states, including Serbia, should publicly acknowledge the EU’s support in combating the Covid-19 pandemic, the EU demands in the final declaration at its Zagreb Western Balkan Summit last Wednesday. The summit had been preceded by harsh criticism of Chinese aid deliveries to Serbia, which have aroused strong resentment in Berlin and Brussels. EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell accused Beijing of waging “a struggle for influence” with its “politics of generosity.” For years, Germany and the EU have been trying to counter the growing influence of other powers in the Southeastern European non-EU countries. This pertains to the Turkish, Russian and Chinese cultural and military policies and their economic activities. The EU dominance over the Western Balkan countries’ economy has only drained these countries of billions of euros and rendered their recovery impossible. This is why they are turning also to China. (German Foreign Policy 5/18/2020)
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UK: Sunak warns of ‘severe recession’ and ‘more hardship’
Rishi Sunak (Britain’s Finance Minister) has forecast that Britain is facing a “severe recession, the likes of which we haven’t seen” and warned that it is “not obvious there will be an immediate bounceback.” Following a sharp rise in unemployment benefit claims, the chancellor told a Lords committee that there is “no doubt there will be more hardship to come.” (The Economist, 5/20/2020)
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WHO INVESTIGATION
Member-states of the World Health Organization unanimously agreed to set up an independent inquiry into the covid-19 pandemic. The “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” will look at the WHO’s own role in the crisis. America, in particular, has been critical of the inter-governmental organization. Its boss, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the inquiry would start “at the earliest opportunity.”
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OPPOSITION TO LOCKDOWNS GATHERS PACE
(Direct quote from The Economist) ” IN MORE THAN 30 of America’s 50 state capitals angry crowds have been gathering to protest against stay-at-home orders. Buoyed by tweets from President Donald Trump encouraging them to “liberate” their states, some even compare their elected officials to the Nazis. A few among them toting assault weapons are dressed incongruously in Hawaiian shirts. They might seem almost comical were it not for the fact that, in the fetid corners of the internet, such beachwear is recognized as the uniform of the extreme right.
“The spreading of conspiracy theories is central to the extreme right’s activities. Some claim the virus is a hoax. Others blame the Chinese, the Jews or even Bill Gates. Some claim that the federal government is using the virus as a pretext to confiscate weapons and enforce “medical martial law.” Extremists also spread more familiar conspiracy theories, decrying 5G networks and vaccinations, which help introduce the uninitiated to their ideology.
“A closer look at the far right’s beliefs helps explain why extremists have been energized by America’s new reality.
“The most familiar of these is white supremacy. Its adherents exploit the virus’s geographical origins to drum up racial antipathy towards Chinese people. Anti-semites have been accusing Jews of deliberately spreading plagues ever since the Black Death, and covid-19 gives them a chance to reuse the template. The supremacists thus use fears about “white genocide” to argue for closed borders and eventually a white ethno-state. “Open borders is the virus,” declares one protest sticker placed on road signs.” (The Economist, 5/20/2020)
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DURBAN: CORRUPTION IN FOOD DISTRIBUTION
Hunger and starvation in Durban Allegations are flying thick and fast as some desperate eThekwini residents wait for the delivery of food parcels, one of the brutal consequences of government’s draconian and extended Covid-19 lockdown. (by Des Erasmus, 12 May 2020, Daily Maverick )
[ eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality created in 2000, that includes the city of Durban, South Africa and surrounding towns. eThekwini is one of the 11 districts of KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The majority of its 3,442,361 people speak Zulu. It was formed from seven formerly independent local councils and tribal land. ]
Hunger — and more particularly the very real fear of starvation — has roused already elevated suspicions in some of the province’s rural areas, where peering through a curtain at midnight and seeing “food being delivered at that time” has led to allegations of theft and mismanagement of the parcels by councillors. What the lockdown has revealed is that it is ordinary citizens who are stepping up to place food on the plates of the province’s distressed. And allegations about councillors who milk the lockdown to ensure they are able to “buy support” for next year’s local government elections in order to keep their seats. But just how deep and real this problem is, is difficult to uncover. Even the South African Police Services couldn’t provide clarity.
Nevertheless, perceived or real, over the course of the weekend and into Monday, Daily Maverick received several calls from eThekwini residents accusing councillors of distributing food to friends and family. One such call involved the “peering through the window” scenario in Ward 94 of eThekwini Metro, which includes the areas of KwaMakhutha and Ensimbini, just west of the seaside suburb of Amanzimtoti. “The councillor was seen handing out food parcels at about midnight on Saturday to people who were her friends and family. One lady went to collect parcels and was turned away,” a resident, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions, told Daily Maverick.
In the wake of the most recent US devastating blow launched at Huawei, demands are again being raised in Berlin to exclude the Chinese company from setting up Germany’s 5G networks. Huawei should not have an opportunity in Germany, insists Norbert Röttgen, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the German Bundestag. The government’s current draft for a revised version of the IT security law, in principle, does not exclude the participation of Chinese companies but includes an ambiguous clause (“trustworthiness test”) that could be applied against them. While the discussion is continuing in Berlin, the Trump administration announced that, in the future, chip manufacturers anywhere in the world, using specialized US equipment must obtain a special US government license to supply Huawei. Experts estimate that should this directive be implemented – which would subjugate key sectors of the world’s economy to US control – nearly 90 percent of Huawei sales would be threatened. Subsequently, German companies would also suffer damages. (German Foreign Policy, 5/19/2020)
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WIFE BEATING ADVICE FROM QATARI OFFICIAL
Dr. Ahmad Al-Farjabi, a shari’a expert from the Qatari Ministry of Religious Endowments, said in a May 6, 2020 interview on Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) that Muslims are not the only people who beat their wives and that when a man suspects his wife might turn out to be rebellious, he should take the measures prescribed by the Quran, the third of which is beating his wife. Dr. Al-Farjabi added that even Western psychologists have said that wife-beating is “inevitable” for women who had been beaten while they were growing up and for women who have no respect for their husbands. He said that these kinds of women must be “subdued by muscles,” and that some kinds of women “may be reformed by beating.” Al-Farjabi also said that he has even heard from women at his lectures that it is preferable to beat one’s wife than to allow her to ruin the home and lose her children. (MEMRI 5/18/2020)
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NUREMBERG CODE FORBIDS VACCINES WITHOUT CONSENT
The Nuremberg Code (1947) is a set of research ethics and principles for human experimentation created as a result of the Nuremberg trials at the end of the Second World War, when the notorious doctor’s experiments where supposed to have come to an end.
It established a set of guiding principles for the Right of the patient to be informed of their medical treatment options and to give their consent before any medical treatment could be performed.
It feels now more than ever that the mass experimentation on humanity is under way once more with enforced vaccines looking an inevitable thing for anyone that wants to do anything. But know your rights and be better prepared.
The Nuremberg Code is one of the most influential documents in the history of clinical research
Code 6 also states: The risks should never exceed the benefits. According to Article 6 of the Unesco 2005 statement on Bioethics and Human Rights.
Article 6, section 1: Any preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic medical interventions is only to be carried out with the prior, free and informed consent of the person concerned, based on adequate information. The consent should, where appropriate, be expressed and may be withdrawn by the person concerned at any time and for any reason WITHOUT DISADVANTAGE or prejudice. (caps mine)
Alan Dershowitz: State has right to ‘plunge a needle into your arm’ Contends Constitution grants government power to forcibly vaccinate individuals.
Harvard Law School emeritus professor Alan Dershowitz claimed in an interview that the government has a constitutional right under the 10th Amendment to forcibly vaccinate a citizen to curb the spread of a contagious disease. “Let me put it very clearly, you have no constitutional right to endanger the public and spread the disease, even if you disagree. You have no right not to be vaccinated, you have no right not to wear a mask, you have no right to open up your business,” he said. The interviewer, Jason Goodman, interjected, asking if the famed constitutional scholar was saying that if the government decides “you have to be vaccinated, we have to be vaccinated.” “Absolutely,” Dershowitz replied. “And if you refuse to be vaccinated, the state has the power to literally take you to a doctor’s office and plunge a needle into your arm.”
BEHIND THE SCENES OF FRANCO-GERMAN RECOVERY FUND
by Katya Adler, BBC Europe editor, 19 May 2020
After a shambolic, acrimonious display at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the EU’s main players are now on a mission to demonstrate that the European dream is not dead or dying. To prove that solidarity, common values and a unity of purpose are, in fact, the order of the day.
The German and French leaders were notably absent: the relationship between them tetchy – with France pushing for the EU’s richer countries (including Germany and excluding itself) to take on and share the coronavirus-related debt of the countries of the south. But what did we see on Monday? Hey presto: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron jointly proposing a recovery fund to help the weakest EU economies get out of a post-covid slump to the tune of €500bn ($545bn; £448bn). In EU political terms this is huge. Chancellor Merkel has conceded a lot. She openly agreed with the French that any money from this fund, allocated to a needy EU country should be a grant, not a loan. Importantly this means not increasing the debts of economies already weak before the pandemic and financially excruciating lockdown, such as those in southern but also central and eastern Europe. President Macron gave ground too. He’d wanted a huge fund of a trillion or more euros. But a trillion euros of grants was probably too much for Mrs. Merkel to swallow on behalf of fellow German taxpayers. The resulting compromise: win-win for the two leaders. They hope. . . . I’d say the battle over the EU recovery fund is only just beginning.
Crisis in Europe: von der Leyen’s audacious bid for new powers Commission president must bridge bitter divides over EU plan to rebuild the economy
by Sam Fleming, Jim Brunsden and Michael Peel in Brussels (Financial Times, 18 May 2020)
Ursula von der Leyen delivered a stark message to the EU’s commissioners on Thursday evening at their first in-person meeting for many weeks. She told her socially distanced colleagues that they had an opportunity to forge a viable reconstruction plan for a European economy ravaged by the coronavirus crisis. But they had precious little time at their disposal and only one shot to get it right. One important detail was tellingly absent from the commission president’s private presentation in a windowless room in Brussels’ Berlaymont building: the hugely divisive question of the size of the recovery fund which she will shortly propose.
Ms. von der Leyen is planning an audacious bid for new powers as she seeks to put her institution at the centre of efforts to revive the European economy, asking member states for unprecedented latitude to raise funds in the markets. But the former German defense minister faces the central test of her short presidency as she seeks to bridge bitter splits within the EU over the plan.
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FRANCE: MACRON LOSES MAJORITY
Seven Members leave the La République en Marche group. The French President Macron’s party thus has 288 seats – one less than the majority.(May 19, 2020, Der Spiegel)
The party of French President Emmanuel Macron loses its majority in parliament. Seven MEPs from La République en Marche (LREM) left the group and joined the Ecologie Démocratie Solidarité (Ecology, Democracy, Solidarity) group that was founded on Tuesday.
Macron’s party LREM now has only 288 votes in the people’s representation. A majority require 289 seats. When Macron took office in 2017, LREM had 314 MPs. There’s Dissatisfaction with Macron’s business-friendly policies.
BEE POPULATIONS ARE IN DECLINE ALL OVER THE WORLD = To bee or not to bee: International Bee Day highlights plight of pollinators 90% of world’s wild flowering plant species depend, entirely, or at least partly, on animal pollination, along with over 75% of world’s food crops, 35% of agricultural land.
Bees have gotten a bad press — the truth is that they rarely sting. What they do do is sustainably pollinate a third of the plants needed for a stable, healthy, human diet. There is no alternative to bees and no logic to seeking an alternative.
In the US, beekeepers lost an estimated 40.7% of their managed honey bee colonies between April 2018 and April 2019, according to the most recent loss and management report issued by the Bee Informed Partnership: https://beeinformed.org/
1927 BOMB REMAINS WORST SCHOOL ATTACK IN US HISTORY
May 18th, 1927, 45 people including 38 children were killed in Bath Township, during the deadliest school attack in U.S. History.
“He asked himself I don’t know why I lived.” said Wendy Marrison, granddaughter of a survivor. Wendy Marrison’s Grandpa, Dean was a student at Bath Consolidated School and was only 11 years old when it happened.
93 years ago, Andrew Keyhoe was a school board member at the time. Police say he hid nearly 500 pounds of dynamite throughout the school, something he planned for months.
“It was the last day before summer break and as the kids were going into school Mr. Keyhoe was there greeting him. He actually said to the kids this is your last day, my Grandpa thought that’s a nice greeting, later on, he realized that was a warning.” said Wendy Marrison.
At 8:45 A.M., hours before their summer vacation was set to begin.
The explosion happened.
“He was on the first floor and he got buried under all this rubble. He was the very last one to be pulled out. When they pulled him they couldn’t find a pulse, so in his words “I was put in the dead pile.” One of his neighbors saw his toe move and they all started yelling he’s alive he’s alive!” Marrison added.
Dean did survive the attack and went on to live a good life. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 92. Wendy wasn’t alive when it all happened, but she wants to make sure that people never forget.
“We need to honor the ones who survived and the ones who didn’t.” Marrison said. (WLNS 6, Bath Township, Lansing, Michigan)
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Danish Bible that removed Israel ‘not antisemitic’ argues columnist The Danish Bible society took too many liberties with the translation but, Mosaic Magazine’s Philologos argued, was not antisemitic in its motives.
Far from being antisemitic, a new Christian Bible translation which omits or replaces the word “Israel” in many places within the text affirms the link between Israel and the Jewish people, a columnist for Mosaic Magazine has argued.
The translation, titled Bible 2020, released earlier this year by the Danish Bible Society, came under scrutiny toward the end of April when readers noted that numerous references to “Israel” had been replaced or removed. In some places the word had been replaced with “the Jews,” “the Jewish people,” or even “the people,” whereas in others the translation was made more universal, such as the re-rendering of Psalm 121:4 from “He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps,” to “He who takes care of us will not fall asleep, no he is not sleeping.”
According to analysis by the Bible Society in Israel, the word “Israel” appears only twice in the Bible 2020 version of New Testament rather than the more than 60 times it appears in the Greek from which it was originally translated. The Old Testament has been less altered, but while the word appears 2,521 times in the Greek, it has been rendered as such 2,316 times in the Danish translation, a reduction of around 9%.
Defending their translation, the Danish Bible society said in a statement: “In The New Testament the word ‘Israel’ has been translated into ‘the Jewish people,’ ‘the Jews,’ or ‘the people’ because when the Greek text uses the word ‘Israel’ it is referring to a people with whom God has a special relationship – Jacob’s descendants. However, for the secular reader, who does not know the Bible well, ‘Israel’ could be referring only to a country. Therefore the word ‘Israel’ in the Greek text has been translated in other ways, so that the reader understands it is referring to the Jewish people.”
However, many were unconvinced.
The Jerusalem Post columnist Liat Collins wrote of the translation: “Instead of making sure that readers understand the connection between Israel, the Jews and the Land of Israel of the Bible, they preferred to make an artificial separation.
“Taking a charitable approach, it’s possible to say that the Danish Bible translators did not see their changes as a political act, more an act of political correctness – trying to include all. But clearly something was lost in translation, as is evident to someone who reads the Bible in the original Hebrew. As B’nai Brith International tweeted: “… this surreal revision causes confusion and worse: whitewashing of history, identity, and sacred scripture.””
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TO THE POINT
Dozens of companies around the world are working on vaccines. Experts say the world will need more than one, because demand will outstrip the production capacity of any single manufacturer. Official remarks: President Trump said he had been taking hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that experts have warned could cause dangerous heart rhythm abnormalities in coronavirus patients, as a preventive measure. He said he had no symptoms of Covid-19. (NY Times).
Aussies subservient to Chinese — AUSTRALIA lacks courage to appropriately deal with China in the wake of the Coronavirus “cover-up” warns Liberal Party senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. Addressing parliament this week the NSW-based senator said it was critical for Australia to plan for reparations and to “decouple” from China. (Politico, 5/20/2020)
It is understood that due to his own experience with the coronavirus, the British PM believes ending obesity will help Britain in its fight against Covid-19 – a battle that will require blood, toil, tears and sweat. And also, knowing Johnson, bicycles. (The Week, 5/15/2020) Boris Johnson is an impassioned fan of wartime prime minister Winston Churchill. But his own war, as it turns out, will not be waged against Nazis but against fat.
“Even without laptops and swimming pools, and on a fraction of what government schools spend today, Americans were a surprisingly learned people in our first hundred years.” (“The Myth that Americans were poorly educated before mass government schooling,” Lawrence W. Reed, The Epoch Times, 5/14/2020).
Headline in Lansing State Journal: “Mid-Michigan’s catastrophic flooding adds to state’s pandemic woes” (5/21/2020). Michigan is the third worst hit state from the coronavirus.
CAR BUMPER STICKER: My car gets three weeks to the gallon!
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AFTER THOUGHT
There have been more articles warning about a “second” civil war.
By my calculations, it would be the third civil war. The Revolutionary War was also a civil war. As John Adams wrote, the country was divided three ways, those Loyal to the Crown, those rebelling and those who couldn’t spell Crown!
Not counting this as a civil war overlooks a reality in American history, which is still pertinent today, in the time of corona.
The country is divided.
A Canadian Member of Parliament summed it up quite well a few years ago. In explaining the difference between the US & Canada, he said, in Canada they have four different parties who all have a different approach to any problem. The Canadians discuss the problem until consensus is reached. In the US, the two parties take opposing positions and head for the barricades.
Perhaps it’s something in the DNA of Americans. Or something in our breakfast cereals.
The fact is that we are divided again – on a virus of all things! There are those who believe everything the government tells us; and those who reject everything.
In this sense, it resembles the first civil war (1775-83). Then, on the one side you had people who were against authority and on the other those who upheld authority.
Then as now.
It would be ridiculous to have a civil war over a virus, but it’s just one more issue that continues to divide the country.
As Abraham Lincoln said prior to the War Between the States, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” He was quoting from Mark 3:25.
MR
"Once in a while you will stumble upon the truth but most of us manage to pick ourselves up and hurry along as if nothing had happened." — Sir Winston Churchill
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