MEDIA BIAS GREATER THAN EVER

NPR’S REFUSAL TO BROADCAST BAD NEWS ON BIDEN

(https://americantruthtoday.com/politics/2020/10/23/taxpayer-funded-npr-refuses-to-report-on-growing-biden-scandal-we-don-t-want-to-waste-listeners-time/?utm_source=sprklst&utm_campaign=allamerican-tax-10_23-pm)

A tweet from the National Public Radio (NPR) Public Editor on Thursday — on the day of the presidential debate — explained why the taxpayer-funded news outlet has been ignoring the growing scandal surrounding former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, and the family’s business dealings in China.

“Why haven’t you seen any stories from NPR about the NY Post’s Hunter Biden story,” the tweet said. “We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste listeners’ and readers’ time on that stories that are just pure distractions.”

“Major media are either denouncing the allegations as unproven or ignoring the story, the motive for which is apparent. Journalistic duty be damned. We have to get rid of Trump. And anything that jeopardizes that highest of goals should be buried until after Election Day.”  (Pat Buchanan, 10/27/2020)

Texas prepares to send 1,000 troops to five major cities, DC boards up its stores and Washington state puts the National Guard on alert as the US braces for post-election violence.  (Daily Mail, 10/26/2020)

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One view on a Biden win:

If Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump next week, he will take office during a global pandemic and America’s most serious economic crisis for a century. And when he’s dealt with those, he will still have to rebuild US relationships abroad, grapple with the nation’s increasingly dysfunctional democratic institutions – and face the existential threat of climate change.  (The Guardian 10/28/2020)

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INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT ASSERTING RIGHT TO LIFE

On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Health & Human Services Alex Azar co-hosted the virtual signing of the Geneva Consensus Declaration along with the governments of Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, and Uganda.

The declaration serves as a rebuke to the pro-abortion rights U.N. and World Health Organization (WHO).

It states the nations join to promote women’s health as well as the “strength of the family and of a successful and flourishing society.”   The governments also affirm “the essential priority of protecting the right to life.”

The nations that signed onto the declaration, which represent 1.6 billion people, also “reaffirm ‘all are equal before the law,’” and that “human rights of women are an inalienable, integral, and indivisible part of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The governments declare “the inherent ‘dignity and worth of the human person,’ that ‘every human being has the inherent right to life,’ and the commitment ‘to enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant.’”

The declaration emphasizes that “in no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning,” and that “the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.”  (Dr. Susan Berry, Breitbart, 10/23/2020)

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THE US – AN INSPIRATIONAL LEADER IN MID EAST

• By taking a robust approach to some of the region’s more intractable issues… such as relocating the American embassy to Jerusalem, the US has produced a number of profound changes to the regional landscape, the consequences of which are likely to be felt for many years to come.
• The breakthrough in the peace process, moreover, has resulted in the region being clearly divided between moderate, peace-loving countries that are prepared to engage in the peace process, and rejectionist regimes, such as Turkey and Iran, that are only interested in causing further bloodshed.
• It is these countries, as well as China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela that have most to fear in next month’s presidential election if a strong and successful America returns again.  (Con Coughlin, Gatestone, 10/24/2020)

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THE END OF AMERICAN ILLUSION

Since the end of the Cold War, most U.S. policymakers have been beguiled by a set of illusions about the world order.  On critical issues, they have seen the world as they wish it were and not how it really is. President Donald Trump, who is not a product of the American foreign policy community, does not labor under these illusions.  Trump has been a disrupter, and his policies, informed by his heterodox perspective, have set in motion a series of long-overdue corrections.  Many of these necessary adjustments have been misrepresented or misunderstood in today’s vitriolic, partisan debates.  But the changes Trump has initiated will help ensure that the international order remains favorable to U.S. interests and values and to those of other free and open societies.   (Nadia Schladlow, Sept-Oct issue, Foreign Affairs)

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THE US NAVY IS SHORT ALMOST 100 FIGHTER PILOTS

The US Navy is battling to get its fighter pilot training program back on track. by David B Larter, Sept 17,2020

The Navy has seen a slew of issues, including problems with the oxygen flow to the pilots causing negative and unsafe physiological responses in pilots and trainees, as well as readiness and engine trouble with aircraft. All of this has extended the time it takes to create a fighter pilot from three to four years, and the issues have created a gap in the number of pilots in the fleet, naval air training chief Rear Adm. Robert Westendorff said at a virtual Tailhook symposium on Saturday. “We can’t just snap our fingers and produce those immediately. The time to train of a strike fighter pilot is about three years; due to the bottlenecks we’ve had, its getting closer to four years,” Westendorff said.

(https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/09/17/the-us-navy-is-short-almost-100-fighter-pilots/)

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US & CHINA – INCREASED TENSIONS:  Tang Hong, a Chinese expert for Middle Eastern affairs, said in a September 3, 2020 interview on CGTN Arabic TV (China) that tensions are increasing between China and the United States because some American politicians still hold on to a Cold War ideology and believe that America can be the only superpower in the world. He said that U.S. and China can either cooperate or engage in competition that may involve armed conflict, and he criticized the U.S. for choosing the “wrong” path. Hong said that today’s China is not the China of the past, that it has a clear position regarding how it would respond to any military provocations and that it does not fear escalation. 

Tang Hong:  “In my view, the main reason for the escalating tensions between [the U.S. and China] is that some American politicians hold on to the ideology of the Cold War.  They delude themselves that they can maintain the status of being the single superpower in the world.  They believe that competition is the only way to resolve this problem and to preserve their status as the world’s only superpower.  But the truth is that they were wrong in thinking this.   (MEMRI, 9/16/2020)

Official Chinese TV Criticizes U.S. Capitalism, Trump’s Economic Policies: The Government Should Redistribute Wealth; Fundamental Reforms Are The Only Solution; Trump Does Not Care About Making America Great Again   (MEMRI 10/26/2020)

As Europe locks down again, there’s only one major country in the world that will fully recover from the pandemic. In his cover story, Rana Mitter looks at China’s incredible escape act and how the virus has reordered the world to Xi Jinping’s benefit.  (The Spectator, 10/22/2020)

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SOUTH ASIAN MUSLIM EXPERIENCE

The presence of South Asian Muslims in America began with a “trickle” of immigration in the early 1900s, but the “real flow” started after the independence of Pakistan and India in the 1940s. The South Asian Muslim diaspora grew rapidly in the U.S. during the 1970s and 1980s, when the U.S. sought to alleviate a shortage of doctors at home by opening its doors to foreigners with a medical degree. Attracted by the opportunity for greater income and freedom in America, these immigrants agreed to be placed in rural communities. Today there are some 52,800 American physicians from India and Pakistan, and 98% of the Pakistani doctors are Muslim.  (“South Asian Muslims and the American Experience,” Marilyn Stern, MEF, 10/26/2020)

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59% of American women with college degrees are trending toward Biden.   (CBS Face the Nation, 10/25/2020)

“Record high campaign contributions from women helped Democrats take the House in 2016, and now women have their sights set on the Senate.  In the 15 most competitive Senate races, an average 43% of the large dollar donors to Democratic candidates are women, compared to 28% of donors to Republicans.”  (USA Today, 10/26/2020)

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) told Axios in an interview that aired Monday that she expects a liberal turn if Democratic nominee Joe Biden is elected president, adding that she wants all Cabinet positions filled with progressives.

Biden’s transition team has reportedly vetted a handful of Republicans for potential Cabinet positions. While this may reinforce Biden’s image as a unity candidate, it has fueled a backlash among the Democratic Party’s leftmost wing.

“I would say all of the Cabinet positions should be filled by progressive Democrats,” Omar told Axios. “We know that the policies we advocate for are most popular with the American people,” she added.  (Tom Ozimek, Epoch Times, 10/27/2020)

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GERMANY / EU

We are facing very, very difficult months ahead.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel says German’s should brace themselves after a sharp spike in coronavirus cases. The country recorded its 10,000th Covid death on Saturday.  (The Week, 10/26/2020)

Germany tries to forge a deal on who can play ball in Europe Defense News, 21 Sept 2020 

COLOGNE, Germany — Time is ticking for Germany to find a compromise on letting American, British and other non-European Union countries tap into the bloc’s emerging defense cooperation scheme.  The government of Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken on the task of sorting out the issue by the end of the year, when Germany’s six-month term at the helm of the European Council concludes.  “It is an important issue to solve, particularly for close NATO partners,” Karl-Heinz Kamp, special envoy of the political director at the German Ministry of Defence, said during a panel discussion at the annual Defense News Conference this month.  The challenge is to find common ground between two camps within the EU: member states seeking ties with outsiders, and those countries who prefer treating the nascent defense agenda as a members-only affair.  Poland, Sweden and the Netherlands are leading a group of nations advocating for openness. But France, for example, is pursuing a more restrictive stance, especially toward Turkey and the United States.



From the beginning, the Trump administration has eyed the EU’s creation of a defense cooperation mechanism, dubbed PESCO, and the proposed multibillion-dollar European Defence Fund with a degree of mistrust. The efforts run the risk of undermining NATO if America and its powerful defense companies are kept out, Washington claims.  The tone has softened more recently, however, as officials on both sides of the Atlantic try to broker a compromise.  “One of the things that COVID-19 has really brought into sharp focus is the significance of our integrated defense industrial base,” said Gregory Kausner, executive director for international cooperation, who works in the Pentagon for acquisition chief Ellen Lord.  (Defense News, 9/21/2020)

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Hungary’s PM Orbán:  George Soros wants to create mixed-ethnic societies, dismantle nationalism, and hand power to the global elite  (9/22/2020)

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ISLAM

DOUBLE STANDARD IN ISLAM

France recalled its ambassador to Turkey after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said French President Emmanuel Macron needed a mental health evaluation amid a government crackdown on Islamic extremism.

“What is the problem of this person called Macron with Islam and Muslims?”  Erdogan asked rhetorically during his Justice and Development Party meeting in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri.

“Macron needs treatment on a mental level,” he added, according to the BBC.  “What else can be said to a head of state who does not understand freedom of belief and who behaves in this way to millions of people living in his country who are members of a different faith?”

The French crackdown comes in response to the beheading of a history teacher near Paris by an alleged extremist.  (Danielle Wallace, Fox News 10/25/2020)

Grand Mufti Of Egypt Shawki Allam:  According To Our Research, 50% Of Second- And Third-Generation Muslims In Europe Support ISIS  (MEMRI, 10/25/2020)

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AUSTRALIA

QUEEN INNOCENT OVER DISMISSAL, KERR MISLED PALACE:  KEATING

The architect of Australia’s push for a republic, Paul Keating, repudiates as “tilting at shadows” the revisionist history that claims the Queen was implicated in the 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government.

Rejecting conspiracy theories about the Queen’s complicity that have attracted support in recent years, the former prime minister said the Queen had “never contrived, on this occasion or others, over the long course of her reign, to undermine governments.”

Mr. Keating said claims that she engaged with governor-general John Kerr to terminate the Whitlam government were “given the lie” by his own knowledge of the Queen, notably her immediate acceptance of his advice as prime minister that Australia should become a republic, delivered in 1993 during their meeting at Balmoral.

He said it was the governor-general who misled Buckingham Palace in 1975. “Kerr usurped the kingly powers reserved to a monarch, unused for centuries, and made the palace hostage to his plans,” Mr. Keating said.

While he is a committed republican, Mr. Keating made clear his respect for the Queen, saying she sought always to do her duty by Australia. He warned republicans that accusing the Queen of complicity in Whitlam’s dismissal would only undermine their cause.   (The Australian, 10/26/2020)

AUSTRALIAN PROBLEM WITH JIHADISTS

In 2013, MEMRI reported on the activity at the Al-Risalah Islamic bookstore in Sydney, Australia, which also served as a community center for local Muslims. The report showed that the bookstore, located in the Bankstown area of West Sydney, was a hub from which radical Islamists spread extremist and militant Islamic views. The center was owned by Australian preacher and community leader Wissam Haddad, and many of the individuals who operated and preached there later joined Al-Qaeda (AQ) or the Islamic State (ISIS), or were involved terror activity inside Australia. Haddad closed the Al-Risalah center in September 2014 after media reports about the activity there aroused public outrage.

The present report, based on research conducted in 2019-2020, shows that, eight years later, despite arrests and the banning of their activity, Haddad and other members of the Bankstown jihadi network are still preaching extremist views and possibly also recruiting for terror organizations.  (MEMRI 9/24/2020)

COULD JOHNSON MAKE UP WITH A PRESIDENT BIDEN?

As the self-styled “Mr. Brexit”, Donald Trump’s residence in the White House seemed perfectly aligned with Boris Johnson’s aims of striking a lucrative US trade deal as Britain quits the EU.

But Trump’s opponent in the imminent US presidential election is a different prospect entirely. Having vocally opposed the Brexit project, Joe Biden may prove less eager to strengthen ties with Downing Street if he secures the White House.

And with polls pointing towards victory at the polls for the Democrat, concerns are growing inside Downing Street about a changing of the guard in Washington that could “leave Johnson scrambling to rebuild the ‘special relationship,’” according to the Financial Times.    (The Week, 10/26/2020)

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TO THE POINT

• BRITS FORCED TO PAY £4BILLION FOR IMMIGRANT 5-STAR HOTELS        (BNP newsletter, 10/23/2020)
• Pope Francis will elevate Washington DC archbishop Wilton Gregory to cardinal making him the first black prelate in the US to hold the rank.  (Daily Mail, 10/25/2020)
• ARRESTS AFTER SPECIAL FORCES END SUSPECTED TANKER HIJACKING — Seven stowaways have been arrested after the Special Boat Service stormed a tanker off the Isle of Wight.  About 16 commandos boarded the Nave Andromeda last night, following a suspected hijacking. Two Royal Navy Merlin helicopters were involved, along with two Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters. “Initial reports confirm the crew are safe and well,” the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.  (The Week, 10/26/2020)
• The Economist provided sympathetic coverage of a Chinese tech giant widely considered a national security risk without disclosing the publication’s lucrative business relationship with the firm that spanned nearly a decade.  (Washington Free Beacon, 10/26/2020)
• While critics of President Trump’s redeployment of U.S. troops in Europe continue to bash the moves, Poland is showing how a real ally behaves. While already fulfilling its NATO required 2% of GDP for defense spending, it has now also agreed to pay the majority of costs associated with stationing 5,500 U.S. troops at bases in Poland.  (American Defense News, 10/25/2020) 
• “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money,” Margaret Thatcher.

Keep in mind on election day Daniel 2:21 — “And he changes the times and the seasons: he removes kings and sets up kings.”

POLAND’S HOLOCAUST DENIAL

Bible prophecy is focused on the Middle East and Europe.   There’s a lot happening in the latter right now, as the following news items show.   Poland’s holocaust denial is likely to be followed by other European countries given time, as a new generation takes over and does not want to be blamed for the sins of their fathers.  

“Watch therefore and pray always.” (Luke 21:36)

 

A few years ago, I visited Auschwitz and Krakow in Poland.   I remember asking the tour guide about Polish involvement in the Holocaust.  He admitted that many Poles had aided the Nazis in rounding up the Jews and worked in the camps, helping the Nazis in killing Jews.

The upper house of the Polish parliament has now made it illegal to say such things.  Revisionist history now says that Poles played no role in the Holocaust.  Note the following from the Wall Street Journal:

“Poland’s parliament passed a libel bill imposing jail sentences for accusing the Polish population for collaborating in the Holocaust or other war crimes, sparking concerns from Israel and the United States that a close ally was limiting free expression and flirting with anti-Semitism.

“American and Israeli diplomats condemned the legislation, passed by the upper house of the country’s legislature on Thursday which would set up to three year’s imprisonment for blaming the wartime murder of roughly six million Jews on the Polish state or people.”   (“Poland pushes controversial libel law,” Wall St Journal, 2/2/18)

Under the new legislation, it will become illegal to write or talk about ‘Polish death camps.’

In Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, Alan M. Dershowitz of Harvard University, wrote the article:   “Poland seeks to censor history.”   Here’s a paragraph from the article:

“True, the Germans built Auschwitz and other death camps on Polish soil.   But the Germans could not have murdered the Polish Jews, and millions of other Europeans imported to death camps in Poland, without the active assistance of many Poles in identifying and rounding up victims.   This complicity was incited by generations of anti-Semitic church sermons.   Poles also murdered Jews during and after the German occupation – including in the Jedwabne pogrom in July 1941 and in Kielce in July 1946.”

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Merkel warns of rising anti-Semitism on Holocaust remembrance day  (AFP / 27 January 2018)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of rising anti-Semitism in her country on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, calling the need to protect Jewish buildings “shameful.”   “It is inconceivable and shameful that no Jewish institution can exist without police protection, whether it is a school, a kindergarten or a synagogue,” she said.    The chancellor also reaffirmed her support of creating the position of anti-Semitism commissioner in the next German government, if her party can finalize tortuous negotiations to forge a coalition.  The commissioner would be appointed to counter growing hate speech against Jews and Israel in German from both its home-grown far-right and some recent migrants in the Muslim community.

https://www.thelocal.de/20180127/merkel-warns-of-rising-anti-semitism-on-holocaust-day

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‘Verbal attacks have become part of everyday Jewish life in Germany’

The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany argued in an interview that much more educational work needs to be done in schools to combat anti-Semitism.  (25 January 2018 / The Local Germany)

Dr. Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews, spoke with the founder of the initiative Faces of Democracy, Sven Lilienström, about the importance of German democracy,   Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and modern anti-Semitism in Germany.   Surveys have shown for decades that about 20 to 25 percent of the population have anti-Jewish resentment.   However, these attitudes have been articulated more openly for some time now.   The internet plays a major role here.   In the social networks we find a verbal lack of inhibition which is dangerous, especially on the far-right of the political spectrum. Therefore, it is good that the Network Enforcement Act now provides an instrument to better prevent “hate speech.”

Unfortunately, however, an anti-Israeli attitude is also spreading in society.   It is then no longer a matter of factual criticism of Israel, but Israel’s right to exist is called into question, or Jews in general are held liable for the policies of the Israeli government.   That’s anti-Semitism.

https://www.thelocal.de/20180125/verbal-attacks-have-become-part-of-everyday-jewish-life-in-germany

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Germany’s AfD is ‘destructive power,’ Jewish leader warns

The ex-president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Charlotte Knobloch, says the party Alternative for Germany endangers democracy.

 It could soon become the biggest opposition party in the German parliament.

 

©27 Jan 2018 Deutsche Welle

 

The former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Charlotte Knobloch, has expressed her concern at the fact that the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has entered the German Bundestag. “It pains me that a party that tolerates not just historical misrepresentation and anti-Semitism but also racism, far-right extremism and populist nationalism in its ranks was able to become the third-strongest in Germany,” Knobloch told the Passauer Neue Presse in an interview published on Saturday for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. “Here, an anti-modern, anti-democratic and anti-liberal destructive power is at work that challenges the prevailing collective consensus” formed on the basis of the lessons of history, Knobloch said. Knobloch also warned of what she described as a “very strong and very aggressive” form of anti-Semitism present among Muslims living in Germany and called on Muslim associations and institutions to combat radical elements in their own communities. (http://www.dw.com/) 

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Son of Nazi leader’s warning about Germany — HARDtalk interviews Niklas Frank, son of Hans Frank, brutal Nazi Governor of Poland executed for war crimes 

Germany could return to authoritarianism if the economic conditions were to seriously worsen in the country, the son of Hans Frank the governor general of Nazi occupied Poland during World War Two, has told BBC Hardtalk.   “As long as our economy is great, and as long as we make money everything is very democratic,” said Niklas Frank, but “if we have five to 10 years heavy economic problems the swamp is a lake, and is a sea and will swallow again, everything,” he added.

Niklas Frank said he “despises” his father for the crimes he committed while he was governor-general of Poland from 1939 to 1945, and tours Germany giving speeches about his father and the legacy of the Nazi era.  Hans Frank was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials and executed in 1946.  (Released:  25 April 2017)

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Germany’s push for EU army:   Merkel developing networks with EU members for military union

Germany has been pushing for greater military co-operation amongst European Union member states, setting up a network between the Bundeswehr and other Brussels partners.  (29 Dec 2017 * Express UK)

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen has been working on establishing the groundwork for an European Union army, in particular developing a network of co-operation between troops from Germany and others from countries that are part of Pesco – Permanent Structured Co-operation.  The bloc comprises 25 EU countries with only Denmark, Malta and the UK remaining outside. The move largely comprises of co-operation in training the troops, with the Bundeswehr training a number of soldiers from various EU countries and similarly,   German troops visit their counterparts.  But the plan does not just comprise the army but also the navy and air force.   The aim is deeper European integration in defence, which could already be realised ahead of the aims of Pesco.   The German Ministry of Defence has said it is open to the creation of a single EU academy for its military elite but there has been no firm commitment to such a project due to concerns that Germany could end up paying the bulk of the cost to train soldiers from around the bloc. . . .   The move by Ms. von der Leyen comes after Brussels announced EU military cooperation is a now a “tangible reality” after signing off a huge new project . . .   The European Defence Fund has received its first grant from the bloc for a €1million research programme called Pythia.   Named after the Priestess of Ancient Delphi, Pythia will see countries including France and Italy join forces to research cutting-edge military technology.   The UK also forms part of the programme, despite leaving the bloc in 2019, alongside Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.   A further €90million will be dished out from the EU budget in the next two years as Brussels chiefs look to strengthen military ties across the bloc.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/897773/EU-army-Germany-Bundeswehr-military-co-operation-training-Merkel-Macron

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Austrian right-wing Chancellor Sebastian Kurz welcomes Hungary’s Orban, says tensions have grown in the EU since the migrant crisis.  (AFP•January 30, 2018)

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Tuesday that he aimed to ease east-west tensions within the European Union, as his new right-wing government welcomed Hungary’s incendiary Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Vienna.   “In particular since the start of the migrant crisis (in 2015) tensions have grown in the European Union,” Kurz told a joint news conference with Orban in the Austrian capital. “Our great aim in Austria is to be a bridge-builder in this respect between the Visegrad states and the countries in western Europe,” the 31-year-old conservative said.

. . .  A rift has emerged in recent years between Brussels and the Visegrad group of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — and in particular with Warsaw and Budapest.   A sweeping revamp of state institutions by the nationalist governments in both countries have raised worries about the rule of law, judicial independence and media freedom.   Both have been the subject of legal action by the European Commission and they have refused to take part in a scheme to share out migrants around the 28-nation bloc.

. . .  Orban has called immigration the “Trojan Horse of terrorism” and earlier this month called migrants “Muslim invaders” of a Christian Europe.   “The biggest danger today to the hopeful future of central Europe is migration of peoples,” Orban told the news conference with Kurz on Tuesday.   “When I say that the future needs to be protected I mean that we have a culture, a Christian culture . . .   We have a way of life, and we want to protect this way of life,” Orban said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/austrian-wing-govt-welcomes-hungarys-orban-162849205.html

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MIDEAST

“215 million Christians experience high levels of persecution” around the world, according to Open Doors, a human rights organization.   On its recently released World Watch List 2018, which ranks the world’s 50 worst nations wherein to be Christian, 3,066 Christians were killed, 1,252 abducted, and 1,020 raped or sexually harassed on account of their faith; and 793 churches were attacked or destroyed.

The Islamic world had the lion’s share of this persecution; 38 of the 50 worst nations are Muslim-majority.   The report further cites “Islamic oppression” behind the “extreme persecution” that prevails in eight of the 10 worst nations.   In short, the overwhelming majority of persecution that these 215 million Christians experience around the world — especially the worst forms, such as rape and murder — occurs at the hands of Muslims.”  (215 million Christians persecuted – mostly by Muslims,” Raymond Ibrahim, MEF, 1/21)

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REAL PROBLEM WITH MIDEAST PEACE TALKS

The root cause of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has not been an Israeli refusal to concede, or an American unwillingness to bend: it has been the ongoing Palestinian rejection of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.   (E.J. Kimball, The Daily Caller, Middle East Forum, 2/2)

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SYRIA

“Idlib province is home to a wide range of groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.   His efforts to crush rebels there come after the government successfully reasserted control over large parts of the country, thanks to firepower from the regime’s Russian and Iranian allies.   But the offensive on Idlib is moving into risky territory, with foreign powers maneuvering in proximity to each other as alliances that used to fight Islamic State fray.”   (“Syrian Offensive strains foreign powers”, WSJ, 2/5/18).

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HOLOCAUST DENIAL — 2

In a TV interview, Egyptian historian and Egyptologist Bassam El Shammaa downplayed the Holocaust, saying that the figure of six million Jews killed was “disputed among historians” and that “at the time, there weren’t six million Jews in the world.”   “How come nobody talks about the ‘counter Holocaust’? he asked, claiming that after Hitler’s defeat, “the Jews in Europe captured the Germans, put them in camps, and started to kill them.”   The interview aired on the Egyptian Mehwar TV channel on December 17, 2017.   (MEMRI)

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DEMOGRAPHICS

All that matters is immigration…

Republicans who treat immigration as a backburner issue should be required to run on the issues they consider more important — in California.   See how your arguments fare in a state that’s already been transformed by immigration.   That’s your new country.  (Steynonline)

How stupid do you have to be to carry on about taxes, defense spending, ISIS, abortion or the Ten Commandments while intentionally losing on the one issue that will determine the outcome of all these other issues?   Too stupid to be of any real help.   (Ann Coulter, January 2018)

• In Germany, 47% of Muslims believe Sharia is more important than German law.   In Sweden, 52% of Muslims believe that Sharia is more important than Swedish law.
• The studies are supported by European intelligence reports. In Germany, intelligence agencies warned in the early fall of 2015 that, “We are importing Islamic extremism, Arab anti-Semitism, national and ethnic conflicts of other peoples, as well as a different understanding of society and law.”
• A recent Belgian study, in which 4,734 Belgians were polled, showed that two-thirds of Belgians feel that their nation is being “increasingly invaded.”

(Europe: Making Islam Great Again. Gatestone 2/3)

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Special Dispatch No. 7305

Former Basij Commander Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi:  ‘The European Continent Is Gradually Giving Way To The Asiatic And African Genes; In The Next Century, They’ll Have To Look For The European Gene In Museums’

THE COST OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION                                                          By Ruthie Blum, Gatestone 2/5/18

• “At the federal, state, and local levels, taxpayers shell out approximately $134.9 billion to cover the costs incurred by the presence of more than 12.5 million illegal aliens, and about 4.2 million citizen children of illegal aliens.” — Matt O’Brien and Spencer Raley
• It is also rather more than the single payment of $25 billion that it will cost to build a wall — five and a half times more, and every year.
• “Undocumented immigrants are at least 142% more likely to be convicted of a crime than other Arizonans.   They also tend to commit more serious crimes. . . . ” — John R. Lott.
• In 2015, included in the DEA’s drug-threat assessment was the fact that drug overdoses killed more people in the United States than car accidents or guns. Many of these drugs [were] smuggled in large volumes by drug cartels.”

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An Italian man went on a shooting spree in the central town of Macerata, wounding six African immigrants before getting out of his car and doing the fascist salute, police said.

“The 28-year-old suspect drove through Macerata on Saturday, shooting in an area where police had arrested a Nigerian man suspected of killing an 18-year-old Italian woman, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said.” (WSJ, 3/5)

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BERLUSCONI WANTS TO DEPORT 600,000 IMMIGRANTS

Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to deport 600,000 illegal immigrants from Italy should his centre-right coalition enter government after elections on 4 March, as tensions simmer over the shooting of six Africans by a far-right extremist on Saturday.

The 81-year-old rightwing former prime minister said in a TV interview that immigration was a “social bomb ready to explode in Italy” and that the shooting in Macerata posed a security problem.

“Immigration has become an urgent question, because after years with a leftwing government, there are 600,000 migrants who don’t have the right to stay,” said Berlusconi.   “We consider it to be an absolute priority to regain control over the situation.”

Berlusconi’s Forza Italia has forged an alliance with two far-right parties, the Northern League and the smaller Brothers of Italy, for the elections.   (The Guardian, 2/5)