FARMAGEDDON: EU LEADERS DODGE ANGRY FARMERS’ EGGS

February 8, 2024

As EU leaders gathered in Brussels for a summit on Thursday, farmers across Europe worked hard to get their attention – throwing eggs and starting fires around the European Parliament and using tractors to bring capitals and roadways across Europe to a standstill. Leaders are scrambling to address farmers’ concerns so that they don’t end up with egg on their faces in June’s European Parliament elections.

Their complaints: EU climate change regulations are costing farmers time and money, while climate-change-fueled disasters devastate crops.

Russia’s invasion led to skyrocketing fertilizer and energy prices, and now, with Ukrainian grain flooding their markets, farmers who were already feeling disadvantaged by cheap imports are voicing their exasperation.

What they want:  Local grievances may vary, but on the whole: less red-tape and environmental restrictions, more subsidies (for small farmers, in particular), and less foreign competition.

Farmers want to reduce foreign imports by limiting free trade agreements, especially one with the Mercosur states – Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. French President Emmanuel Macron is under intense domestic pressure to push European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to blow up the deal.

EU elections effect: The protests could amplify a shift to the right in the European Parliament and imperil the EU’s green agenda. The far right, for whom farmers represent a growing constituency, is expected to make gains in the June elections.

In response, the European Commission announced it would curb Ukrainian imports, a blow to Ukraine’s economy and war effort, while France and Germany both watered down their proposals to end gasoline subsidies.

To address foreign competition concerns, Macron is pushing the EU to abandon free trade agreement talks with the Mercosur countries in South America. If he fails, it would give his opponent Marine Le Pen the advantage in France’s next election. Von der Leyen, meanwhile, would lose a powerful ally in Macron, a significant loss as she contemplates running for a second term.   (Gzero Signal, 2/2/2024)

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BIDEN MUST KEEP TROOPS IN MID EAST

The priority now for the White House must be to strengthen its military presence in the region, not reduce it. Worse, the vacuum created by any withdrawal by US troops is sure to be filled by adversaries of America and the free world.

Any US withdrawal is sure to be seen, especially after the US surrender in Afghanistan, as America running away — again.

It would be folly of the highest order for the Biden administration even to contemplate a reduction of US forces in the region. With Iran clearly intent on pursuing its proxy war against the US and its allies, the US needs to demonstrate its determination to prevent Tehran from expanding its malign influence in the Middle East, rather than capitulating in the face of Iranian violence.   (Con Coughlin, Gatestone, 2/2/2024)

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EL SALVADOR’S ELECTION MATH:  2 + 90 = 71

You need three numbers to understand this Sunday’s presidential election in El Salvador.

The first is 2.  Since taking office in 2019, President Nayib Bukele’s sweeping anti-gang crackdown has resulted in the incarceration of 2% of the country’s adult population. In US terms, that’s the equivalent of throwing 5 million people in jail.

The second is 90.  The official homicide rate has fallen more than 90% since 2015, including roughly 75% since Bukele took office.

The third is 71.  Polls show Bukele leading his nearest competitor by 71 points. He will cruise to victory in a free and fair election.

The meaning of this math:  Bukele has been criticized by human rights groups for thousands of abuses. He has used the military to strong-arm congress and twisted the constitution to run for a second term. But ordinary Salvadorans are OK with it because their cities are livable again after years when the country was one of the bloodiest in the world.

It may be that his strongman tactics are planting the seeds for future upheavals. But for now, Bukele is seen – not only at home but by other right-wingers in the Americas – as the Salvador (savior) of El Salvador.    (Gzero Signal, 2/2/2024)

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ANGLO-AMERICAN PUSH FOR INDEPENDENT PALESTINE BAD FOR ISRAEL

Fears that the Biden administration’s bear-hug of embattled Israel is the prelude to eating it alive were dramatically enhanced this week.

On Wednesday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the administration was “actively pursuing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with real security guarantees for Israel.”

He was confirming a report on the Hebrew-language news site Walla that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had ordered officials to examine the possibility of American and international recognition of a “state of Palestine” the day after the war in Gaza.

A senior US official told the site that elements within the Biden administration are recommending a move towards recognizing a Palestinian state as a first step in a renewed peace process and not as the result of negotiations between the parties.

These “elements within the Biden administration” appear to be in lockstep with the British government. Two days before the report, at a reception in London, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron stunned observers by declaring that the British government was considering formal recognition of a “state of Palestine,” including at the UN.

“This could be one of the things that will help make this process irreversible,” he said.

It’s been clear from the start of the war in Gaza that both Britain and America are seizing on the turmoil to advance their obsession with a “two-state solution.” However, it’s one thing to press for movement towards a Palestine state. Unilaterally recognizing it crosses a red line.

Official recognition of a “Palestine” that doesn’t exist is part of the strategy of diplomatic warfare against Israel promoted by those who want to see the Jewish state destroyed.

Conceptually ridiculous, since it involves recognizing a “state” that has no physical form and no boundaries, it would remove at a stroke the necessity for the Palestinian Arabs to agree to live in peace alongside Israel. Instead, it would incentivize still further their rejection of Israel’s right to exist.  (Melanie Phillips, 2/2/2024)

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AFD MAKES GAINS

When Olaf Scholz replaced Angela Merkel as Germany’s chancellor in 2021, hopes were high, in Germany and beyond, that a shift to new leadership might reinvigorate the nation at the heart of Europe. The remarkable Merkel had led her center-right Christian Democrats, her country, and the EU through a series of crises during her 16 years in power. Scholz rose to the top three years ago by casting himself as both a steady pair of hands in the Merkel mold but also as a center-left leader with a progressive view of Germany’s future. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Scholz surprised many with the boldness of his response. The “new era” he declared in Germany’s attitude toward Russia and the countries still trapped in its shadow defied his image as a skilled bureaucrat without a strong public voice or vision.

But as Chancellor Scholz prepares to visit Washington this weekend, he faces a rising tide of criticism back home. The German public mood has grown darker over the past year, mainly because the economy is limping, and inflation has taken a bite out of both consumers and industry. Workers are angry. Business leaders are frustrated. And the coalition Scholz formed to win power – an increasingly uneasy partnership of establishment socialists, ambitious Greens, and the fiscally hawkish, pro-business FDP – is wearing badly.

The poll numbers speak for themselves. In January, the government’s approval rating hit 17%, a record low. Scholz’s personal popularity hovered at 19%, the lowest mark for any chancellor in a quarter century. Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) aren’t faring much better. Recent polls show the current three-party coalition’s expected vote total has dropped from a combined 52% in 2021 to just 32%. By itself, Scholz’s SPD is attracting just 15% support.

The center-right opposition, the CDU-CSU alliance, now leads the polls with 30%-34% of support. But Friedrich Merz, Angela Merkel’s successor as CDU chairman, isn’t much more popular than Scholz. Instead, it’s the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, that’s making headlines. Noisy recent protests in dozens of German cities make clear that the popularity of the AfD’s increasingly radical, openly xenophobic, anti-European, and pro-Russian platform has its limits, and all other parties now represented in parliament have pledged never to partner with them. But nationwide polls show the AfD’s support has grown from just 10.3% at the 2021 election to between 19% and 22% today.   (Gzero Signal, 2/8/2024)

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MISCELLAEOUS

“Shame on you,” says The Mirror as it leads on calls for Rishi Sunak to apologise after he joked about Keir Starmer’s position on trans people. The PM made the comment when the mother of murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey was in Parliament. Ghey’s father has described Sunak’s words as “dehumanizing,” notes The Guardian.   (The Week, 2/8/2024)

There are, of course, alternatives less than all-out war, and more than attacks on proxies. They involve the bombing of military targets inside Iran. These include sites used for Iran’s nuclear program, its naval bases and ships, its military drone production, its oil and gas facilities and its command centers. All of these could be accomplished from the air and sea without a ground invasion, and without the loss of American lives an invasion would risk.  (Alan Dershowitz, Gatestone, 2/8/2024)

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague has largely dismissed a lawsuit brought by Ukraine against Russia. The ruling clearly runs counter to Western interests, now for the second time in just a few days. Kiev initiated proceedings against Moscow back in 2017. The charges were mainly based on accusations of Russian financial support for eastern Ukrainian separatists and repression of Ukrainian and Tatar minorities in Crimea. The ICJ does not share this interpretation of events. It merely accuses Moscow of insufficiently promoting the Ukrainian language in school teaching in Crimea. This major institution of international law cannot now be relied on to support Western claims. In response, Berlin, Washington and NATO have begun to work on setting up parallel structures. A special tribunal is to be established to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine. It is to be installed solely for this purpose, and thus exclude potential prosecutions for waging wars of aggression, in violation of international law, against Iraq or the former Yugoslavia. The West is effectively discarding the idea of equality of all states before international law.  (German Foreign Policy, 2/7/2024)

During a visit to Pristina yesterday (Monday), Defence Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed plans to increase German troop numbers in Kosovo. In April, the Bundeswehr will deploy more than 150 additional military personnel. Germany has stationed soldiers in the former autonomous province for almost twenty-fife years within the NATO framework. Berlin and the West had promised to pacify the territory after the 1999 war of aggression against Yugoslavia conducted by NATO in violation of international law. Yet tensions have again risen sharply along the ethnic divide since a nationalist prime minister took office in Pristina in March 2021. He has instigated aggressive actions against Serbian administrative structures. Primarily in the four Serbian-speaking communities in northern Kosovo, these arrangements have so far been generally tolerated and have enabled tolerable coexistence. The entities are indispensable for the education and healthcare of the Serbian-speaking minority. In Belgrade there is some speculation about a possible return of at least parts of Kosovo in the event of a future shift in the global power balance. The number of states that officially recognize Kosovo is already declining.   (German Foreign Policy, 2/7/2024)

Devastating wildfires tearing through swaths of Chile have killed more than 120 people, authorities said, as they warned that the death toll would continue to rise. There are currently 161 active fires burning across the country, according to the Chilean National Disaster Prevention and Response Service.  (The Week, UK, 2/5/2024)

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BIBLICAL COMMENTARY

“You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.”  (Revelation 2:3)

On a trip to Ephesus, I was able to walk through what had once been a neighborhood of houses and streets.  Etched into a stone in front of one doorway was a symbol that looked like a fish.  According to tradition, this may have identified the house as a place where Christians lived and met together for worship, prayer, and fellowship.

In Revelation 2, Jesus tells John to write to the church in Ephesus, saying, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. . .  You have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.” Jesus’ followers in Ephesus are commended for holding up the light of Christ against the darkness of this world. The apostle Paul had earlier reminded the Ephesians, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against . . . the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). Still today, the devil aims to harm the church until Jesus returns. Jesus commended the church in Ephesus for standing strong in defense of the gospel. God’s Word to us today remains: Be strong, know the difference between light and darkness, be wise and ready to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1).   (Our Daily Bread, 2/8/2024)

PAKISTAN AND IRAN’S COMPLICATED RELATIONS

January 18, 2024

Pakistan has hit targets in Iran’s south-eastern Sistan-Baluchestan province. According to Tehran, nine people were killed, none of them Iranian nationals. Iranian state media said missiles struck near the city of Saravan, close to the border with Pakistan and its Balochistan province. Iran had targeted that area on Tuesday in an attack that, according to Islamabad, killed two children. Pakistan and Iran have long accused each other of harbouring militant groups that carry out attacks from regions along their shared border. Iran’s recent missile strikes send a message to its enemies – especially Israel and the United States – that it’s more than capable of hitting targets well beyond its border, writes diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams. According to retired Lt Gen Asif Yaseen, a former Pakistani defence secretary, Islamabad would have been under pressure to respond. And, as Adams puts it, each has “perhaps, met the demands of public opinion,.  (BBC, 1/18/2024)

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ITALIAN GOVERNMENT CALLS FOR EU ARMY

ROME, Jan 7 (Reuters) – The European Union should form its own combined army that could play a role in peacekeeping and preventing conflict, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.

In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, Tajani said that closer European cooperation on defence was a priority for the Forza Italia party that he leads.

“If we want to be peacekeepers in the world, we need a European military. And this is a fundamental precondition to be able to have an effective European foreign policy,” he said in an interview published on Sunday.

“In a world with powerful players like the United States, China, India, Russia – with crises from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific – Italian, German, French or Slovenian citizens can only be protected by something that already exists, namely the European Union,” he added.

European defense cooperation has risen up the political agenda since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.

However, efforts have been more focused on NATO expansion, with EU nation Finland joining the alliance last year and Sweden also on track to become a member.

Tajani also said the 27-nation EU should streamline its leadership and have a single presidency, rather than the current structure of a European Council president and a European Commission president.

The foreign minister became leader of Forza Italia following the death of Silvio Berlusconi last year.

European Parliament elections in June will be the first gauge of the party’s popularity after the loss of its charismatic former leader.   (Reuters, 1/7/2024)

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GERMANY CONSIDERING COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE

The Bundeswehr is facing a dramatic shortage in personnel. Now Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has rekindled the debate over reintroducing conscription. (https://p.dw.com/p/4ahmH)

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is considering the reintroduction of compulsory military service.

At the end of October, the Bundeswehr said it counted 181,383 soldiers in its ranks — that’s still some distance from the target of 203,000 that the German military hopes to reach by 2025. This has given rise to concern in times of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has once again reminded Germans how quickly conflicts can erupt in Europe.

Since taking office at the beginning of 2023, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has been thinking about ways to make the Bundeswehr more attractive as a career. He said he has received 65 concrete proposals from his ministry on recruitment and reforming training methods.

Even conscription, something Germany ended in 2011, is also up for debate. “There were reasons at the time to suspend compulsory military service. In retrospect, however, it was a mistake,” Pistorius told newspaper Die Welt earlier in December.

He also cited the case of Sweden, where compulsory military service was suspended and then reintroduced. “I’m looking at models, such as the Swedish model, where all young men and women are conscripted and only a select few end up doing their basic military service. Whether something like this would also be conceivable here is part of these considerations,” said Pistorius.  (Volker Witting,  DW, 12/29/2024)

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ISIS calls on Muslims to carry out jihad massacres of ‘Jews, Christians, or their allies on the streets of America’

As well as Europe and the world. Expect the overwhelming majority of peaceful Muslims to rise up and stop these hijackers of the Religion of Peace any day now. “Pro-ISIS Posters Incite Attacks On New York City: ‘Go Get Them, Oh Monotheist,’” MEMRI, January 11, 2024)

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TAIWAN ELECTION MAKES CONFLICT WITH CHINA MORE LIKELY-

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has won an unprecedented third consecutive presidential victory, in an election closely watched by the world.

President-elect Lai Ching-te is taking over from Tsai Ing-wen, who has served the maximum two terms in the top job, after claiming more than 40% of the vote. “This is a night that belongs to Taiwan,” Lai, currently vice president, told supporters at a rally after his two main opposition rivals both conceded defeat following Saturday’s election. “We managed to keep Taiwan on the map of the world.” 

Global leaders have congratulated Lai, “drawing ire” from China, which had hoped to see the pro-sovereignty DPP ousted, said The Guardian. In a statement issued after the election result was announced, Beijing insisted once again that “Taiwan is part of China.”

While most foreign policy experts are speculating about the future of the island’s fractious relationship with the mainland as tensions increase, others are focusing on what the election reveals about the changing face of Taiwan. 

Identity is “a hugely sensitive issue for this island of 23 million people,” wrote NPR’s international correspondent Emily Feng from capital Taipei. Although more than 90% of the population “can trace their roots to mainland China,” the majority “now identify in polls as Taiwanese only,” which is “a huge shift from just 30 years ago.”

A generational divide exists, however, with younger people more likely to be turning their backs on the mainland.

Taiwan’s “burgeoning identity” is being “tested” by the election, wrote Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, the BBC’s Taipei-based Asia correspondent. This was the first election in which all three presidential candidates were of Taiwanese descent, rather than from families that arrived from China in 1949 after losing the Chinese Civil War. 

Beijing’s “persistent claims” of sovereignty are “making a bristling, younger generation rethink how they see themselves,” he continued.  (The Week, 1/15/2024)

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BRIEFLY

The German Armed Forces are facing a possible forced withdrawal from Iraq. This situation follows last Thursday’s US drone assassination of the commander of an Iraqi Shiite militia. Responding to the attack, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani declared that he is determined to end the presence of the US-led military coalition in Iraq, which includes a Bundeswehr contingent. Unauthorised US operations on Iraqi territory such as the recent murder would, he said, no longer be tolerated. The foreign military presence has been under attack for years, especially from organizations of the Shiite majority, which include forces aligned to Iran. Western governments, on the other hand, insist on keeping units in Iraq, saying their troop deployments are legitimized by the ongoing fight against IS. A military presence is also seen as useful in the ongoing tussle over Tehran’s influence. The build-up of tensions is also occurring in the wake of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. Any withdrawal would result in a significant loss of influence, also for Germany, in the Middle East.   (German Foreign Policy, 1/12)/2024

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The Tories are heading for an “electoral wipeout” on the scale of their 1997 defeat by Labour, according to a poll.  The YouGov survey is “the most authoritative opinion poll in five years,” said The Telegraph, and it found that the Tories will retain just 169 seats, while Labour will “sweep to power” with 385. Every Red Wall seat won from Labour by Boris Johnson in 2019 will be lost, it predicted, in the “biggest collapse in support for a governing party since 1906.”  (The Week, UK, 1/15/2024)

Six people have been arrested across the UK on suspicion of a conspiracy to disrupt the London Stock Exchange. According to the Metropolitan Police, activists from the Palestine Action group were intending to target the exchange today, with plans to cause damage and “lock on” in the hope of stopping trading from opening. It may have been “one part of a planned week of action,” claimed Detective Superintendent Sian Thomas.   (The Week, 1/15/2024)

The US military said its fighter jets shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired from Houthi militant areas of Yemen towards a US destroyer operating in the Red Sea. The “mid-air interception” is the latest episode in the Red Sea where the Houthis have been attacking international shipping to support Palestinians under siege from Israeli forces in Gaza. A leading Houthi supporter, Hussain Al-Bukhaiti, told the BBC that fighters would target US and UK battleships if strikes on Yemen continued.  (The Week, 1/15/2024)

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SOME THOUGHTS

“And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” (Matt. 24:6-7)

It seems like there’s a proliferation in the number of wars being fought around the world.

We’ve gotten used to the war in Ukraine.   In the last three months a potentially more dangerous conflict in the Middle East has replaced Ukraine on our TV screens.  In the last few days, we’ve had to add another Middle East trouble spot, as the Houthis have become a target of the US and UK. And it’s still possible that Lebanon could open up another offensive against Israel.

Now, there’s increasing violence in the Red Sea as Western shipping is a favorite target for pirates.

Slightly east (but only slightly), Iran and Pakistan are in dispute, in a war that could go nuclear.

And we haven’t even mentioned Taiwan and China.   The Taiwanese elected to power a government that is guaranteed to provoke China.

We are also seeing more of “famines, pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places.” 

So, does this all bring us closer to the end? 

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”  (Matt 24:36-37)

All we can do is wait.    Wait for the second coming of our Messiah.   We have God’s assurance of that soon-coming day!

CLIMATE CHANGE ABOUT TRANSFER OF WEALTH

Jeff Bezos takes his $65M private jet to UN climate change conference, 400 other private jets also fly in. (https://jet.ms/news/bezos-takes-his-65m-private-jet-to-un-climate-change-conference-400-other-private-jets-also-fly-in-boing-boing/)

“At root, almost every globalist and transnational institution and summit has a common feature: the endless transfer of wealth from the First World, the historic oppressors, to their alleged Third World victims.”  (Pat Buchanan 11/9/2021)

What would happen if a doomsday cult were to take over the world? Science fiction? No. It’s happened. 

How else to explain the collective lunacy of the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, an absolute farce where world leaders made complete fools of themselves?  

There’s been much criticism of the hypocrisy of the event, with hundreds of private jets flying into Glasgow to hector the world about reducing carbon emissions.

Far, far worse has been the total erasure of rationality in the hysterical chorus that this was the “last chance to save the planet” — and the fact that no-one in mainstream debate has challenged this as utter unscientific garbage. (Melanie Phillips, 11/3/2021)

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The Great Organic-Food Fraud

There’s no way to confirm that a crop was grown organically.  Randy Constant exploited our trust in the labels—and made a fortune.
by Ian Parker, The New Yorker, 15 November 2021 issue
(https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/15/the-great-organic-food-fraud)

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Nelson Mandela Bay [Port  Elizabeth & area] Day Zero:  ‘We will run out of water before Christmas’

‘We are weeks away from the dams running dry, rather than months,’ says the expert sent by the National Treasury to help the metro deal with this imminent crisis. ‘We are cutting it really fine.’ Is anybody listening? by Estelle Ellis

Nelson Mandela Bay metro (NMBM) is hurtling towards the worst-case scenario. 

With only weeks of water left in the metro’s dams, its Plan B is failing because of delays in the completion of the Nooitgedacht Water Scheme – and yet residents have not reduced their water consumption.  “If it doesn’t rain and consumption is not drastically reduced, we will run out of water before Christmas,” said Dr Gisela Kaiser. Kaiser has been seconded by the National Treasury to Nelson Mandela Bay to try to steer the city through the water crisis.

(https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-11-06-nelson-mandela-bay-day-zero-we-will-run-out-of-water-before-christmas/)

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GERMANY AIDS TAIWAN

Germany should “vigorously” promote “Taiwan’s greater representation in international organizations,” as demanded by the USA, and “in the long run” insist on its UN membership. This is a growing demand by representatives of foreign policy think tanks in Berlin and by commentators in leading German media organs in the context of a US campaign aimed at undermining the UN resolution recognizing the People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of China at the UN. The campaign, in turn, is part of Washington’s efforts to instrumentalize Taiwan more than before in its power struggle with Beijing. Washington is upgrading Taipei’s armaments – with arms export clearances worth US $18 billion under the Trump administration. With US warships crossing on a monthly basis through the Taiwan Straits, it is intensifying its gunboat diplomacy and is beginning to permanently station US troops on Taiwan, while planning to deploy medium-range missiles on the “first island chain” off China, including Taiwan. (German Foreign Policy, 11/4/2021)

Parallel to a US campaign to reinforce Taiwan in the joint power struggle against Beijing, the European Parliament is calling for a “comprehensive enhanced partnership” with Taipei. On Wednesday a parliamentary delegation arrived in Taiwan, for the first time, to hold talks with top-ranking politicians with the aim of further developing relations. The European Parliament also advocates taking additional steps, which would undermine the “One China Policy” and thereby chop at the roots of diplomatic relations to the People’s Republic of China. The EU’s representation in Taipei, for example, should be renamed the “European Union Office in Taiwan” – a linguistic detail, which of course, carries weight in the diplomatic world and signifies a step in the direction of Taiwan’s formal recognition. The latter is incompatible with diplomatic relations with Beijing. The new Taiwan campaign goes hand-in-hand with a campaign against the external cultural policy of the People’s Republic of China, in particular, its Confucius Institutes. Demands to shut them down are now being heard.   (German Foreign Policy, 11/7/2021)

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THE FOURTH REICH

‘The Fourth Reich’ – German Neo-Nazis And White Supremacists, Influenced By Founding Member Of The Red Army Faction (RAF) Horst Mahler, Advocate For Replacing German Government With State Modeled After Third Reich, Seek To Inspire Global Neo-Nazi Movement

German neo-Nazis and white supremacists have been using the term “Fourth Reich” to refer to an imagined establishment of a new German state, based largely on the national socialism of the Third Reich. The establishment of the imagined state would involve the retrieval of West and East Prussia, (territory that is currently Poland and Russia), Silesia (territory that is today Poland and Czech Republic), Pomerania and East Brandenburg, parts of which were made part of Poland after WWII.  (MEMRI 11/5/2021)

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AFGHANISTAN

British and Canadian troops were more than twice as likely to get killed in Afghanistan as their US counterparts, according to a study that looks at the scale of the sacrifice made by Nato allies over the course of the 20-year war.

The UK also gave more to Afghanistan than the US in the form of economic and humanitarian assistance as a percentage of GDP, the study published on Wednesday by the Costs of War project at Brown University in the US found.

Although the US suffered by far the greatest number of fatalities in absolute terms compared with other members of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) – 2,316 American troops were killed between 2001 and 2017, the period of the study – Canadians and British soldiers sent to Afghanistan were more likely to die.  (The Guardian, 2021)

Taliban Orders:  Western Hairstyles Are In Violation Of Shari’a; Women Forbidden From Carrying Phones, Taking Selfies; Shaving Beards Is Outlawed; Taliban Arabic Magazine:  US Veteran Suicide Is A Prayer Answered By Allah  (MEMRI, 11/7/2021)

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JEWISH INVOLVEMENT IN CREATION OF MODERN IRAQ

On August 23, 2021, Iraq celebrated its centennial. There was little of the pomp and celebration that the occasion would have called for; the country was too heavily weighed down by political turmoil and economic hardships. Still, a few articles in the local newspapers were written celebrating the occasion, and some spent time praising the name of an Iraqi Jew, Heskell Sassoon, as one of the key architects in the creation of modern Iraq after four centuries of Ottoman rule.

As the Ottoman Empire begun to crumble toward the end of World War I, the Jews of Baghdad were victimized for supposedly causing the collapse of the government’s finances and some moneychangers faced degradation and torture. Not surprisingly, the Jews welcomed the British army when it entered Baghdad victoriously in 1917. Indeed, there is evidence that shortly after the British military government was established, the Jews of Baghdad, who constituted about 40 percent of the capital’s population, sent an appeal to the military governor of Iraq, General Stanley Maude, signed by 56 leading personalities of the community, expressing their objection to the creation of an Arab national government and requesting to be granted the status of British subjects.

The request was ignored, but Jews came to be important in the colonial government. With the language skills they had acquired at the Jewish schools and with what today would be termed a global outlook, Jews in large numbers were recruited by the British military government to fill many positions in the new administration. Other Jews used their trading skills and overseas contacts to import food supplies to meet the needs of the British army.

In 1920 a deadly revolt erupted in central and southern Iraq against the British rule which the British tried to suppress by force. The revolt claimed the lives of 6,000 Iraqi and 600 British soldiers (primarily Indians with their British officers.). After months of fighting, the key leaders of the revolt decided to seek an end to the violence. They selected a Jew by the name of Menashe Eliahu Ezra Khalaschi who, together with Sheikh Salman Al-‘Abtan, met with the British commanding officer in the city Kufa, and a ceasefire was achieved. 

With the revolt coming to an end, Great Britain decided to relinquish some of the governing powers to a national government, although under British tutelage. A provisional government was established in 1920 with Abdul Rahman Al-Naqib as prime minister presiding over a government comprising six additional ministers, including Heskel Sassoon as minister of finance. Gertrude Bell, who was the Oriental Adviser to the British military government, who is considered by some to be the person most responsible for the creation of modern Iraq, was a big booster of Sassoon. She would later write that he was the most competent of the Iraqi ministers.

Haskell Sassoon was born in Baghdad in 1860 to a distinguished and wealthy Iraqi Jewish family. The son of a leading rabbi, he attended the Alliance School, and continued his education at the imperial school in Constantinople and then with law studies at St. Theresa College in Vienna. He returned to Baghdad after spending time in Berlin and London and, in 1908, he was designated as a member in the first Ottoman parliament where, incidentally, he befriended Prince Faisal, who was to become king of Iraq.

Al-Naqib readily welcomed Bell’s recommendation to appoint Heskell Sassoon as minister of finance, but Bell had difficulty persuading him to add a Shi’ite minister to the government. Throughout most of the history of Iraq under Muslim rule, from the advent of Islam in the seventh century to invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003, the rulers of Iraq were primarily Sunni Muslims. The Shi’a branch of Islam has been viewed by the Sunnis, particularly those in Saudi Arabia, as rawafedh, meaning apostate. Gertrude Bell, herself believed that the Shi’as “were almost all subjects of Persia, and not eligible for office in a Metropolitan government,”  but she believed it was important for national unity to include them. Al-Naqib reluctantly agreed to appoint a Shi’ite as minister of education. The new government, also known as the Provisional Council of State, reported to the British administration.   (MEMRI 9/20/2021)

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TO THE POINT

• In Michigan, prosecutors said that a female Muslim doctor facing a charge of obstruction of justice performed female genital mutilation (FGM) procedures on nine 7-year-old girls. The doctor was “part of a secret network which traveled across the U.S. to perform the agonizing procedure,” the court was told. The network belongs to the Dawoodi Bohra cult, whose national presence was exposed by Clarion Intelligence Network.   (Clarion Project, 9/23/2021)

• Europe is at “critical point” in the Covid-19 pandemic after once again becoming the “epicentre” of the global outbreak, a World Health Organization boss has warned. On the current trajectory, Hans Kluge told a press conference yesterday, the continent may be facing another half a million coronavirus deaths by the beginning of February.  Many countries are “in the midst of a virulent fourth wave,” said Politico. German authorities reported 34,000 new infections on Thursday, a record high, and hospitals there are “beginning to buckle under the pressure” as intensive care beds fill up, Deutsche Welle reported.  (The Week, 11/5/2021)

• France is returning 60 artefacts to the west African nation of Benin taken from there in 1896, when the country was first colonized.   It all sounds really good.   The problem is that Benin is not the most stable country in the world.  During an upheaval, it’s quite likely the same items could be stolen, as they were in Iraq some years ago.

• General Colin Powell died a couple of weeks ago.   He is generally considered a great man.   But he had at least one major flaw.  In an interview I saw with him, he said how much he looked forward to America’s first Muslim president.   He obviously lacked in perception!

• The COP26 conference in Glasgow really is a farce.    China’s president is missing.   The US and India are there.  They are the next two biggest polluters.   Russia comes in at number 4.  Again, Russia’s president is not there.   Greta Thunberg is there and keeps making the headlines.   The only question there is:  who’s behind her?   The biggest farce of all is all the private jets at Glasgow’s airport.   The representatives are collectively the biggest polluters on the planet!

• Apparently, President Biden on his visit to Britain for COP26, made a loud noise, with resultant smell, while next to Camilla, Prince Charles’ wife.    This could, of course, happen to anyone.   It particularly afflicts old men.  It reminded me of a story the Queen told over dinner some years ago.   She had been to the airport to welcome a visiting foreign head of state.  They rode in an open carriage through the streets of London.  Suddenly, one of the horses let out the same loud noise with resultant smell.   It was so loud the queen felt she had to address it.   She remarked “You see, Mr. President, there are some things even a queen has no control over.”  To which the visiting president responded, “If you hadn’t said anything, your Majesty, I would have thought it was the horse!”   The president was Nigeria’s General Gowon, though many thought it was the US president, George W. Bush.

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I Corinthians 13:8 Remember in these troubled times, “Love never fails!”

“I WILL BREAK THE PRIDE OF YOUR POWER” – Leviticus 26:19

More comments on the disaster in Afghanistan.

The Taliban didn’t defeat the United States. The United States defeated itself. Incredibly, US President Joe Biden has doubled down even more strongly the disaster he has inflicted upon both Afghanistan and the west.  His speech yesterday was beyond jaw-dropping. Here was an American Commander-in-Chief responsible for a catastrophe which has not only brought a deadly enemy of the free world to power, but also left it in control of unknown amounts of American military ordnance which will vastly increase its capabilities.  A catastrophe in which the US abandoned its Bagram airbase, which could have provided much more capability and security for a mass evacuation than Kabul airport but which the Americans incomprehensibly fled overnight on July 1 without even informing their Afghan allies — and thus demoralized and panicked the Afghan army.  (Melanie Phillips, 9/1/2021)

Twenty years on, America’s global plan lies in ruins, its elites confounded on almost every issue, the stupidity and incompetence on display over the Afghan withdrawal confirming that they don’t understand the rest of the world, and aren’t fit to govern their own country, let alone the globe. Blinded by a simplistic universalism, they no longer understand religion, tribalism, history, national differences or why countries want to govern themselves.  (Decadence and hubris have finally brought down the American Empire, Allister Heath, Daily Telegraph, 8/18/2021)

President Biden has, in fact, bestowed “advanced weaponry,” courtesy of US taxpayers, not only on the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and ISIS, but also on Russia, China and Iran, who will doubtless now reverse-engineer the abandoned material.  (Gatestone, 8/17/2021)

Al-Jazeera Reporters Celebrate ‘Taliban Victory,’ ‘U.S. Defeat’ As Historic Triumph For Islamic Ummah  (MEMRI, 8/18/2021)

Chinese TV Host:  U.S. Withdrawal And Taliban Takeover Of Afghanistan Proves That America Is A Paper Tiger That Betrays Its Allies; China Will Play A Constructive Role In Rebuilding Afghanistan, Restoring Peace (MEMRI, 8/17/2021)

The Biden administration must . . .

• Refuse with absolute consistency to work with radical Islamist groups. Exceptions to this rule must be limited to cases of absolute and immediate necessity. Never trust and always verify, verify, and verify.
• Send powerful messages of support to Taiwan, Ukraine, Israel and our allies in Asia such as Japan and Australia especially. These are the partners most at risk because of Biden’s failure in Afghanistan, and his inadequate responses to China and Russia, our other greatest adversaries.
• Make it clear, now that the U.S. is at a much greater risk than just a few weeks ago, that any attack against the U.S. will be met with the harshest response. (“History Lesson,” Pete Hoekstra, Gatestone, 8/20/2021)

In the Middle East, every country or territory touched by America is in chaos. Afghanistan is back in the hands of the Taliban.  Iraq is a nightmare.  Syria was the scene of monstrous killings as the West looked on and Libya is a calamity. The Clinton-backed Israel-Palestine peace plan failed:  the Gaza withdrawal merely emboldened anti-Semitic Hamas terrorists. Biden’s administration is still sucking up to Iran’s two-faced regime. Does it not see that it is intent on going nuclear and destroying Israel? As for the Gulf States, largely US protectorates, what will their fate be when demand for oil collapses as a result of net zero? The Middle East’s woes have only just begun.   (“Decadence and hubris have finally brought down the American Empire,” Daily Telegraph, 8/18/2021)

The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan has been met with celebration by many Islamist extremist groups, with one “notable exception,” said Jason Burke, foreign correspondent for The Guardian:   Islamic State.  Instead, in the group’s first statements following the Taliban’s seizure of Afghanistan, Isis has “basically called the Taliban a stooge of the US” and suggested it “was handed Afghanistan on a silver platter” by America, a BBC expert on extremist messaging Mina Al-Lami told NPR.  (The Week, 8/23/2021)

“All our efforts in Afghanistan have been uprooted by a complete disaster of an administration . . . you can spin it all you want . . .  We Afghan/Iraq vets did not lose this . . . our government did . . . our government lost it for us . . . but while most of America was at the mall, we were all in the mix shedding our time, effort and blood . . .  What broke me was the video of the mother throwing her newborn to the Marines on the wall . . . but this is all squarely on who’s in office now . . . even if he doesn’t know it.” — EMT worker on 9/11/2001 and later a US Marine. (Gatestone, 8/24/2021)

Yet Biden takes no responsibility for any of this. Instead, he has repeatedly doubled down on the rightness of his decision. The carnage he has facilitated apparently has nothing to do with him. And, of course, he blames it all on Trump.  Now, obscenely, he is voicing outrage over atrocities that he himself made inevitable, and is trying to project a power that he himself has squandered.   (Melanie Phillips, 8/27/2021)

Our cover this week looks at how Islamist insurgents will be inspired by the Taliban’s triumph in Afghanistan. Through willpower, patience and cunning, a low-budget band of holy warriors has vanquished America and taken charge of a medium-sized country. To Muslims who yearn to expel infidels and overthrow secular states, it was evidence that God approves. The ripple effects could be felt far and wide. The chief risk is not that terrorists will use Afghanistan as a base from which to strike the West, as they did on September 11th 2001. Such attacks are harder now, since rich countries have better security. The danger is in poorer, weaker states, where jihadists aspire not merely to kill but also to wield power, or at least prevent the government from doing so. In places like Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Nigeria, Mali, Somalia and Mozambique, they already control territory. In several other parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, they threaten to. Calamity in Kabul today means bigger refugee flows, more jihadist attacks and a greater chance that other Islamist insurgencies will prevail. That could destabilize a large number of countries, endangering both locals and the foreigners who visit or do business there.  (The Economist, 8/27/2021)

The tragic price of surrender

“The tragic price of surrender” is how the Daily Mail sums up yesterday’s bomb attacks at Kabul airport. The Sun says the scene was “hell on Earth” and the Daily Mirror says the attacks were “barbaric.”  Metro leads with a scene of two distraught women, with their faces bloodied, after their arrival at a hospital. It describes the scene as a “bloodbath.”  With the story dominating the front pages, the Financial Times says the attacks were a “severe setback” to Joe Biden as he withdraws troops from Afghanistan. The Daily Telegraph says yesterday was “America’s deadliest day in a decade.”   (The Week, 8/27/2021) (The Tragic Price of Surrender, Daily Mail (8/27/2021)

“A failure snatched from the jaws of victory”   (Sky News, 8/29/2021)

“No one here can imagine any kind of cooperation with the US” (Global 3000, 8/29/2021) (Taliban seminary)

Afghan refugees are being moved quickly into the United States and that brings concerns over whether they’re being properly vetted, former Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan told Newsmax Saturday.  “Having been in the government for a long time, I’ve been in operations where the goal was to do something fast, and I guarantee when you do that, something falls through the cracks,” Morgan, now a Newsmax contributor, said on “The Count,”  “I don’t think we should be doing that in this situation where we’re actually taking people from a complete failed terrorist state, that is going to be an operating base for terrorists.”  (Sandy Fitzgerald, Newsmax, 8/30/2021)

“So it was that, in the first August of the Biden presidency, the U.S. suffered defeat in its longest war, underwent a humiliating evacuation under the guns of its enemies, continued to endure the worst plague in 100 years, and saw an invasion of its southern border by illegal migrants that called into question whether we Americans retain the resolve to preserve our country. Nor is this all . . . ”   (Pat Buchanan, 8/31/2021)

Al-Qaeda’s Central Command:  The Defeat Of The U.S.  In Afghanistan Has Put An End To America’s Appetite For Invading Muslim Nations   (MEMRI, 8/31/2021)

• Advocates of multi-culturalism demand not only that we should accept sweeping changes to our cultural landscape, but also that we should be far more welcoming of some of the medieval customs, traditions, and religious laws it has taken much of the world – often at great cost in the irrevocable currency of life as well as treasure – centuries to get rid of.
• This importation of Muslim laws and customs, which often sit at odds with the British way of life, is seen as yet another example of a “preferential treatment” that minority groups receive over and above the indigenous population. That Christians, and people of other faiths, are guiltlessly persecuted in a majority of Muslim nations only serves to increase this resentment.
• The advocates of diversity then claim that those who would disagree with what seem to them outdated practices that should remain outdated, are called “racist,” “xenophobic,” or “Islamophobes,” when actually they might just be opposed to the beating of women, child marriage, female genital mutilation or a whole host of abuses they mistakenly thought had been left behind ages ago. (UK Welcome to the medieval era of 2021, Andrew Ash, Gatestone, 9/1/2021)

TO THE POINT

• Hispanics power US population growth – The latest US census has found that the number of Americans who identify as white has fallen below 60% for the first time and that population growth is being powered by ethnic minorities. The total population grew by 7.4% over the last decade to reach 331 million. Just over half that growth was the result of a rise in the Hispanic population. The Asian-American population grew by 35% to 24 million.  (The Week, 8/13/2021)
• Lord of the Rings series moved to UK – Amazon has moved production of its billion-dollar Lord of the Rings series from New Zealand to the UK. The unexpected move will cost the streaming giant tens of millions of dollars in incentives to shoot the television show in the same location as the franchise’s movies. The Guardian says the Tolkien estate had been keen for the series to be shot in the UK, the land that inspired JRR Tolkien’s original books.   (The Week, 8/13/2021)
• South African unemployment world’s worst – South Africa’s unemployment rate reached a record high of 34.4% in the second quarter – the highest since records began in 2008 and the worst out of 82 countries monitored by Bloomberg. Risenga Maluleke, the statistician general, said that because of Covid-19, “most firms have closed down.”  The unemployment rate is about 33% in both Nigeria and Namibia, and about 15% in Spain and Greece.   (The Week, 8/25/2021)
• Malaria vaccine ‘could save millions’ – A game-changing malaria jab developed in the UK is expected to save the lives of millions of children in Africa. The vaccine, developed by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, was found to reduce the rate of severe malaria by 70% in a study involving nearly 6,000 children aged between five and 17 months in Burkina Faso and Mali. More than 150,000 children under five die of malaria each year in the continent’s worst-hit regions.  (The Week, 8/26/2021)
• “The number of defenseless Christians hacked to death by Nigeria’s Islamic Jihadists and their collaborators in the security forces in the past 200 days . . .  has risen to no fewer than 3,462 . . .” — Times Live, July 8, 2021, Nigeria.  (Gatestone, 8/29/2021)

10,000 LEFT In isis

A recent United Nations Security Council report concluded that ISIS currently controls more than 10,000 fighters, organized in small cells in Syria and Iraq.

To date most of the Biden administration’s policy announcements have been aimed at reducing tensions with Iran, such as freezing arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states and easing restrictions on the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

By concentrating the new administration’s foreign policy resources on reviving the Iran deal and restoring relations with the Palestinian leadership, however, President Biden risks overlooking the extremely significant threat posed by the fanatical supporters of ISIS which, if left unchecked, could once again wreak havoc across the Middle East.

As the Biden administration prepares to implement its new policy on the Middle East, it is vital that its preoccupation with reviving the Iran deal does not result in the White House overlooking the considerable threat the Islamist fanatics of ISIS continue to pose to global security. (Con Coughlin, Gatestone, 2/14/2021)

HOUTHIS UP TERROR ATTACKS FOLLOWING BIDEN DECISION

On February 5, the Houthi leadership in the mountains of Yemen read welcome news from Washington that they would soon be removed from a list of foreign terrorist organizations.  They had just been put on the list by the Trump administration.

Because of their designation as “terrorists,” it made it difficult to deliver humanitarian aid through areas they control, so the US wanted to make them not terrorists. For the Houthi leadership and their Iranian backers, this meant a new round of attacks and that a military offensive would be planned.   (Seth Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, 2/15/2021)

Headline in Jihadi Watch — Calculated insult:   Biden first president in 40 years not to contact Israel’s leaders upon taking office.  (2/16/2021)

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NEWSMAX PROMOTES “BAD DECISIONS”

As a six-term senator from Delaware and two-term vice president under Barack Obama, Biden has consistently portrayed himself as a solid policymaker, a centrist and an honest, middle-class American.

But “Bad Decisions” provides startling evidence — based on Biden’s own words, deeds and the people who knew him the best – that his policies have often been disastrous with damaging consequences for the millions they impacted.

In “BAD DECISIONS,” a one-hour special event will reveal how Biden:

• Flip-flopped on the plan for a U.S. surge in Iraq that saved thousands of American lives.
• Openly opposed the operation to kill Osama bin Laden, considered the hallmark achievement of the Obama presidency.
• Approved a border wall long before President Trump ever advocated for it.
• Opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants, then supported it.
• Was derided by Obama’s own Defense Secretary Robert Gates as “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
• Touted himself as “middle-class Joe,” while raking in more than $15 million in the first two years after leaving the White House.
• Flew multiple times to China and Ukraine to help his son Hunter secure multi-million-dollar business deals.
• The truly shocking story of how Biden used U.S. aid to have the Ukrainian government fire the very prosecutor investigating him and his son.
• How the Penn Biden Center at the University of Pennsylvania was secretly bankrolled by the Chinese.
• Seesawed on taxes — approving of a payroll tax cut during the Obama years, then slamming President Trump’s tax cuts.
• Supported mass incarceration for minor drug offenders that almost destroyed the African American community.
• Lauded Sen. Robert Byrd, a former Ku Klux Klan member who opposed federally mandated desegregation and civil rights, as someone who “elevated the Senate.”
• Supports defunding the police by “redirecting” money from the enforcement on streets to education.

In the heated 2020 campaign for President, the public is missing the real Joe Biden story – one that shows decades of policy decisions and secret efforts to benefit him and his family . . . all at the expense of the American people.

As “Bad Decisions” points out, even the Washington Post has reported that Biden has made a “significant move to the left” on “everything from climate and guns to healthcare and policing.”  (Newsmax, 2/16/2021)

AMAZON BANS CHRISTIAN BOOK

Freedom of speech is on the ropes, and it just received another body blow.  Over at Amazon, you can still get Friedrich Nietzsche’s God Is Dead, God Remains Dead, and We Have Killed Him.  You can still get Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion.  You can get Christianity Disproved:  The Conclusive Proof That Christianity Is False.  You can get God Needs To Go:  Why Christian Beliefs Fail.  You can get All That’s Wrong With The Bible:  Contradictions, Absurdities, and More.  You can get Four Disturbing Questions with One Simple Answer:  Breaking the Spell of Christian Belief.  And on and on and on.  But you can’t get Allah is Dead:  Why Islam is Not a Religion by the New English Review’s Rebecca Bynum.   (JW, 2/16/2021)

An Epoch Times survey of more than 28,000 readers has found that 96% disagree with putting a stop to construction on the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

“President Joe Biden halted the project via executive order on Jan. 21.”  (Epoch Times, 2/10/2021)

Segregation ended in US military on July 26, 1948, under the Truman Administration.  So why then do we find WWII movies made showing “diversity” amongst the troops?  It just didn’t happen.

AUSTRALIA  

PRAY FOR VICTORIA

A law before the Victorian parliament seeking to outlaw parental, therapeutic or religious discussions on issues of sexuality and gender is the biggest threat to our democratic freedoms in Australia’s entire legislative history.

In response, the Moderator General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, Rev. Dr. Peter Barnes, has requested that all Presbyterian ministers to “preach the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:26-27) and preach that not only all sex outside of marriage—between a man and a woman—is sinful, but that all Christians should actively seek to pray for LGBTIQ people to turn away from both their behavior and desires. As Dr Barnes argues:

The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill has now passed through both houses of the Victorian parliament.  It forbids any attempt to change or suppress, or induce any person to change or suppress, his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.  Prayer or counseling designed to change a person, even at that person’s request, is prohibited. In short, this means that sexual preference is protected by law, as is any person’s gender preference.  Homosexual sex is not permitted to be called ‘sin,’ and a male today can claim to be a female tomorrow.

Significantly, the Victorian legislation makes it illegal for a parent to pray for their own child, even if they had requested them to do so.  As such, Dr. Barnes believes that it is right for Christians to defy the governing authority such as, “When King Darius exceeded his God-given authority, Daniel did ‘as he had done previously’ (Dan.6:10).” (Mark Powell, Caldron Pool, 2/16/2021)

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SOUTH AFRICAN PAPERS THREATENED

Audit Bureau of Circulations data for the fourth quarter of 2020 is harrowing:  there will be no rebound for print, and newspapers in particular.

The long, slow structural decline of the sector in South Africa has reached the point of no return.   Circulations for daily newspapers are down by 40%, on average, over one year.

Not included in this drop are the two titles that ceased publication as dailies during 2020:  Die Volksblad (Bloemfontein) is now “digital only” while the DFA (Kimberley) now only publishes on Fridays.

Some titles are being propped up by free circulation, where thousands of free copies are given away daily to help the papers justify their advertising rates. 

Overall, circulation for the 17 daily papers in the country is 60% lower. 

Eight papers have seen declines of more than 60%, with Pretoria News down 87%, The Star down 75% and Cape Argus and Cape Times each down around 70%.  The best performing title since 2016 is The Citizen, with a circulation decline of 32%. Circulation of the Sunday Times is down 44% over one year.   (Money Web, 2/15/2021)

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REPLACING CASH

If your local pub ever reopens, don’t be surprised if one thing is missing: the till.  The anti-cash lobby is seeking to take advantage of the pandemic to rid us of our banknotes once and for all. When UK Finance – the trade body for the banking and payments industry – pushed the government two weeks ago to increase the limit on contactless card payments to £100 (it was raised from £30 to £45 at the beginning of the pandemic), it was a new offensive in a campaign for a cashless society which has been going on for years.

Small shops might fight back – the British Retail Consortium warns of high fees charged by card issuers and that some of its members are losing thousands from incomplete contactless payments – but there are far bigger forces at play. The ‘fintech’ (financial technology) industry has sniffed its big chance, and it is going to play dirty.   (Ross Clark, The Spectator, 2/13/2021)

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TO THE POINT

• Amsterdam overtakes London on trade – Amsterdam leapfrogged London as Europe’s largest share trading center last month as the UK’s departure from the EU led to a shift in dealing of stocks and derivatives. An average €9.2b (£8bn) shares were traded a day on Euronext Amsterdam and the Dutch arms of CBOE Europe and Turquoise in January, more than a fourfold increase on December. Anish Puaar, a market construction analyst at Rosenblatt Securities in London, said that the development is “symbolic”, adding that London “has a chance to carve out its own niche on trading.”  (The Week, 2/11/2021)

• Economy ‘a coiled spring’ – The UK’s economy is like a “coiled spring” ready to release large amounts of “pent-up financial energy,” says the Bank of England’s chief economist.  Andy Haldane said that, thanks to the vaccine programme, the economy will fire “on all cylinders” by spring.  However, General Sir Nick Carter, the Chief of the Defence Staff, has warned that the present “economic crisis” will undermine the “stability and security” of the UK.   (The Week, 2/12/2021)

• LGBT troops can reclaim medals – Former military personnel dismissed from the armed forces because of their sexuality can now reclaim lost medals. After the Falklands veteran Joe Ousalice’s successful bid to return awards he lost after being forced out of the Royal Navy, a new scheme has been launched under which former service personnel can apply to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to restore their honours.  The MoD admitted that its past actions were “deeply regrettable,” while Conservative MP Johnny Mercer, the veterans minister, said the announcement “addresses a historic injustice.” The Week, UK, 2/16/2021)

• Oprah bags Harry and Meghan – The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to give their first in-depth television interview since stepping back from Royal duties to Oprah Winfrey.  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expected to tell the chat show host why they walked away from the monarchy in a 90-minute special to be shown on the US network CBS in March.  Palace officials were given no warning of the interview and The Times says Buckingham Palace is “bracing itself” for further revelations.  (The Week, UK, 2/16/2021)

• “The succession struggle in the GOP is now underway. But as for now, Donald Trump is The Man, and he is not going anywhere . . .  Still, even if Trump cannot unite the Republican Party, he brings, far and away, the largest pile of chips to the table.”  (Pat Buchanan, 2/16/2021)

• At the time of writing (Tuesday morning) CBS news reported that it is warmer in Moscow than it is in Dallas.

A HOUSE DIVIDED

Democrat women leaders publicly legitimizing riots and unrest.

A famous travel writer once wrote that “if you live long enough in Canada, you eventually die of boredom.”    No such fate can befall anybody who lives south of the border.

In 400 years since Jamestown, the US has had three civil wars and may be on the verge of a fourth.   (The Revolutionary War, the War between the States and the Indian Wars were all civil wars.)   Meanwhile, Canada, with basically the same ethnic mix, avoided all three.   A Canadian friend of mine called a few days ago and told me that many Canadians think we’re about to have another civil war!   Many Americans say the same. This is serious. Mark 3:25 says: that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”

We have to ask ourselves why.

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“An impeachment trial of Donald Trump isn’t about removing him from the presidency – his term ends Wednesday, either way.

“It’s about preventing him from seeking the presidency again in 2024.

“Several senators, including Republicans, have noted that if they vote to convict Trump of inciting the Jan 6^th attack on Congress, they could then vote to bar him from future public office, effectively nixing another presidential campaign.”  (Lansing State Journal, 1/17/2021).

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MIDDLE EAST

IRAN WANTS SWEETER DEAL

Iran… rejoined the global financial system with full legitimacy — plus billions of dollars flowing into the treasury of the IRGC and its expanding militias across the Middle East. You would think, then, that the regime would be delighted to return to the same nuclear deal, right? Wrong. The mullahs want an even sweeter deal.

Biden already showed his cards by stating that he wants the deal. The regime now knows that Biden seems desperate for a deal, and doubtless sees this as a delectable weakness.

The ruling mullahs also most likely assume that they can extort even more concessions from a Democrat administration, particularly Biden’s, because they successfully did so in the past….  (Gatestone, 1/19/2021)

While the Western news media has us fretting over Trump supporters, it is ignoring more alarming new stories. One story the mainstream Marxist media has ignored is the discovery of a mass grave in Iraq’s Salahaddin province. The grave reportedly contained hundreds of victims, including women and children. 

Virtually all the victims were “people of color.” None will killed by so-called “White supremacists.” All were massacred by Islamic supremacists.   (Daily Ken, 1/19/2021)

Iraqi Writer Commends President Biden’s Appointment Of Muslims To Key White House Positions  (MEMRI 1/21/2021)

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS MAINLY FROM ISLAM

“More Christians are murdered for their faith in Nigeria than in any other country.” — Open Doors, World Watch List.  (Gatestone, 1/17/2021)

The “extreme persecution” that Christians experience in 10 of the absolute 12 worst nations comes from “Islamic oppression” or is occurring in Muslim majority nations. These include:  Afghanistan (#2), Somalia (#3), Libya (#4), Pakistan (#5), Yemen (#7), Iran (#8), Nigeria (#9), Iraq (#11), and Syria (#12).  (Gatestone, 1/17/2021)

On January 13, 2021, the military commander of an Iran-backed Shi’ite militia shared a post on his Telegram channel announcing that “the advisors of the Islamic resistance” are ready to offer counsel and training to what he called “the liberation movements” within the United States.   (MEMRI, 1/17/2021)

Reversing the Muslim travel ban raises the question:  How come no Muslim country allows non-Muslim Americans to immigrate?  Maybe they are convinced the two philosophies can’t mix.   America is for freedom; Islam means submit.  They are clearly not compatible.  So why reverse the Muslim travel ban?

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Biden to end American democracy through alien amnesty

Joe Biden plans to end American democracy through providing amnesty to illegal aliens living in the USA.  Biden’s scheme will likely add 11 million new voters, nearly all of whom will align themselves with the Democratic Party. In so doing, the de facto two-party system that is the bedrock of America’s democracy will be effectively eradicated. 

A massive invasion of non-white “migrants” will likely ensue, permeating most traditionally Republican regions, making the destruction of democracy and republicanism ubiquitous. Virtually every non-white people group disproportionately supports the Democratic Party.  (Daily Ken, 1/21/2021)

US PATHWAY FOR CITIZENSHIP FOR 11 MILLION ILLEGALS

President-elect Joe Biden plans to immediately put forward legislation offering a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants.

Four people who have been briefed on the plan say Biden plans to announce the legislation on his first day in office, according to the Associated Press.

“This really does represent a historic shift from Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda that recognizes that all of the undocumented immigrants that are currently in the United States should be placed on a path to citizenship,” Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, said about the plan, which she was briefed on.  (Washington Examiner, 1/18/2021)

CHURCHILL OUT OF FAVOR

Once again, a bust of Winston Churchill has been removed from the Oval Office as a new occupant moves in.   The bust was introduced by President Bush and removed by President Obama before being put back by President Trump.   Whatever they might have against Churchill, you’d think they would appreciate the fact that without his leadership in World War II, we would all be goose-stepping and speaking German!

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NEW EURO ARMY COMING TOGETHER

Less than seven years after British Eurosceptics were laughed at for expressing concerns about a coming European Union army, the bloc has revealed the official uniform of its new ‘standing corps,’ as the first of 10,000 recruits prepare to deploy to the field.

Frontex, the European Union’s combined border force and coastguard, revealed the new uniform in a social media post on Monday, showing off the navy uniform complete with EU-flag identification patches and military side cap. The force said:  “For the first time, the European Union has its own uniformed service – the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps.”  (Breitbart, 1/12/2021)

Germany’s defence minister has confirmed that “a united EU military is becoming a reality,” after her ally and Chancellor Angela Merkel backed Emmanuel Macron’s call for a “real European army.”

“Europe’s army is already taking shape,” Ursula von der Leyen wrote in an opinion piece for Handelsblatt, on Thursday. (Breitbart, 1/12/2021)

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US IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON GERMAN COMPANY

The United States is imposing, for the first time, concrete sanctions on a company, because of its participation in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. In one of its last official acts, the Trump administration announced that it would impose sanctions on the Russian pipe-laying vessel Fortuna.  Whereas, Moscow has declared that it will nevertheless do everything it can to complete the pipeline that will bring Russian natural gas directly to Germany, more companies from several European countries – including the German company Bilfinger – are abandoning the Nord Stream 2 project due to threats of US sanctions. The pull-out is not without its risks, because the companies are thus demonstrating their vulnerability to blackmail from the United States – a disadvantage, for instance, on the highly attractive Chinese market. Since Russia is vigorously pursuing the expansion of the natural gas pipelines to China, the EU risks losing its privileged purchasing position. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas recently warned that there is “no need to talk of European sovereignty” if that means “bending to Washington’s will.”   (German Foreign Policy, 1/20/2021)

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NEO-NAZIS, WHITE SUPREMACISTS WANT WAR

Neo-Nazis And White Supremacists On Social Media In Lead-Up To Inauguration Day: Calls For War, Revolution, Threats To Politicians, Bombmaking Manuals; ‘Bullets Gonna Fly’; ‘The Black Flag Will Fly Above The Dome,’ ‘CIVIL WAR WILL START.’ (MEMRI 1/15/2021)

Founder And Former Leader Of U.S. White Supremacist Organization, Now Living In Russia, In Russian TV Interview:  I Established My Organization To Create A Network Of Support During A Civil Unrest Crisis; Hitler Was The Result Of Past Circumstances And Has Nothing To Do With Us; I Feel Like A Political Dissident; We Use Social Media To Recruit (MEMRI 1/8/2021)

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TO THE POINT

• Amazon workers have seen their pay increase by $.099-an-hour during the pandemic, while Bezos’s hourly pay increased by $11.7m.  (The Guardian, 1/15/2021)

• Armed insurrection:  Congress votes to overturn the next election (Washington Times headline, 1/15/2021)

• “There is no randomized evidence to show that mask mandates would work to slow the spread of the disease.   In fact, for influenza, the randomized studies that have been done suggest that they don’t work to slow the spread of the disease.”   (Epoch Times, 12/16/2021).

• Every evening, Governor Andrew Cuomo sends out an e-mail blast blaming the vaccine chaos in New York on inadequate supply from the federal government. It is a lie. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show New York is delivering only 37% of its vaccine supply they already have into people’s arms.  (Gatestone, 1/18/2021)

• Vaccines could see Covid spike — Government scientists have warned that people could become less aware of sticking to Covid-19 rules as more of the population is vaccinated, leading to spike in cases that outweighs the gains being made by the jab rollout. Minutes from a Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) meeting say “there is a risk that changes in behaviour could offset the benefits of vaccination, particularly in the early months of vaccine rollout.”  (The Week, 1/19/2021)

• Biden to keep UK travel ban — Joe Biden’s spokesperson has said the US will maintain travel bans on the UK, much of the EU and Brazil despite an order from outgoing President Donald Trump to lift them.  Although the White House said yesterday that the ban on entry would end on 26 January, six days after Biden takes office, Jen Psaki said on Twitter that “with the pandemic worsening… this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel.”  (The Week, 1/19/2021)

• Johnson ‘glad Trump is going’ — The former head of the civil service says Boris Johnson will be glad Donald Trump has not been re-elected for a second term as US president.  Lord Sedwill said those who believed Johnson would have preferred Trump to win again were “mistaken.”  In 2015, while serving as mayor of London, Johnson accused Trump of “stupefying ignorance” over his comments about violence in the city. However, the pair became unlikely allies during Trump’s term in the White House.  (The Week, 1/19/2021)

• COVID IN UK:  One in four young people say they are unable to cope with life, according to polling conducted for The Prince’s Trust.  Half of 16- to 25-year-olds said their mental health has got worse during the pandemic.    (The Spectator, 1/1/2021)

• Biden reverses Trump policies — Joe Biden has kicked off his presidency by signing a raft of executive orders, undoing many of Donald Trump’s key policies. Biden signed 15 orders, firstly to boost the federal response to the coronavirus crisis. Other orders halted the travel ban from Muslim-majority countries, ended funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border and saw the US rejoin the Paris climate agreement. Taking his place behind the Resolute desk, Biden said: “There’s no time to start like today.” (The Week, 1/21/2021)

• UK Shop staff face anger over masks — Supermarket workers are facing “abuse, threats and violence” from customers angry over a new crackdown on face coverings and social distancing rules, the boss of Co-op Food has said. Following a 140% surge in criminal activity at the Co-op over the past year, Jo Whitfield said: “Shop workers… have been spat at and threatened just because they’ve asked customers to respect social distancing.”  (The Week, 1/21/2021)

• China sanctions Trump team — China has announced sanctions on dozens of people close to Trump, including outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In a move taken minutes after President Biden was sworn into office on the steps of the Capitol, Beijing ushered in the measures to prevent the individuals and their families from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, or doing any business with China. It comes just a day after the US State Department accused China of committing genocide against its minority Uighur population.   (The Week, 1/21/2021)

• “On inauguration night, Antifa mobs attacked the Democratic Party headquarters in Portland and torched American flags in Seattle, the same kind of left-wing mobs that gave us a long hot summer of rioting, looting and arson… Has Biden ever condemned by name these mobs the way he did the mob that invaded the Capitol on Jan. 6?”  (Pat Buchanan, 1/22/2021)

MEMORIES OF WATERGATE

President Richard M. Nixon gives an emotional farewell address to his staff prior to his leaving the White House, Aug. 9, 1974. His situation is being compared to Donald Trump’s. (AP Photo)

In 1973 or ’74, I was living in England where I was the Student Editor of The Portfolio, a Student newspaper. I remember then writing an editorial on Watergate and how the continual, never-ending saga of America’s domestic issues, was damaging America’s international relations.   The article was censored and was not published.

In ’73-’74 America suffered a number  of international set-backs.   The biggest challenge was the October War, when three Arab nations tried to destroy Israel.   At the same time, the oil producing nations of OPEC raised the price of oil by 400%, causing a major international recession.

I now have a sense of Déjà vu, all over again!

New Year’s saw crowds try to seize control of the US Embassy in Iraq.   A country Americans like to think they helped restore democracy has now turned against us.   In Afghanistan, where the US desperately wants peace as a prelude to withdrawal, the Taliban has made it clear that all American troops must leave before they will sit down and talk.

Iraq and Afghanistan – two recent wars that we have lost!

In addition, North Korea is making strong and possibly serious threats of action against the US.

German leaders will no doubt now go ahead with a deal with Russia, making the country more dependent on Russia for energy and giving Russia a major financial boost for further defense spending.

The rest of the world does not understand impeachment (do Americans?).   Their sense is that the US president is greatly weakened and will soon be out of office.   This will not end until the election, ten months away.   By that time, the world could very well be a very different place!

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Germany could make big EU impact in 2020

So far, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has not been particularly ambitious with regard to EU affairs.  But next year provides ample opportunity to make real progress.

 2020 will be a big year for Germany when it comes to European affairs.   Berlin will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in July, but even before then German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has come out to push for a “strong and sovereign Europe.”

To make Europe a bigger player on the world stage, Maas called for a European Security Council to tackle foreign affairs and security issues — such a council could even include the post-Brexit United Kingdom.

*During Germany’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, it will host an EU-Africa summit.   It will be about bringing both continents closer together.   According to Krichbaum, the bloc for many decades woefully neglected its ties with Africa.

(https://www.dw.com/en/germany-could-make-big-eu-impact-in-2020/a-51774449)

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Germany ponders bigger troop mandate in Africa’s Sahel

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said she supports sending more troops to Africa’s Sahel.   Although France already has a strong deployment, they’ve asked for support and Germany cannot “duck away” from the region, she said.

The Sahel spans numerous countries, including parts of Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Mauritania.  Kramp-Karrenbauer noted that the Sahel region has become a “major hub for terrorism, organized crime, migration and human trafficking.”

Germany cannot allow itself to “duck away” from responsibility in the region”, she said.   “In the end, we would have to put up walls and barbed wire all around Europe.”

(https://www.dw.com/en/germany-ponders-bigger-troop-mandate-in-africas-sahel/a-51828723  Map attached)

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Merkel’s ‘grand coalition’ faces array of new challenges                         A poll has found that one-third of Germans want new elections.  Right-wing populists are most eager to clear the decks, and the new SPD leadership has fueled concern about the stability of Germany’s grand coalition.

Divisive issue of speed:  The topic of speed limits is to Germans what gun rights are to many in the US.   Overall, the poll found that 34% of voters want to be rid of the current coalition government, as opposed to 39% who say it should continue to serve until regular elections are held in the fall of 2021.

(https://www.dw.com/en/germany-merkels-grand-coalition-faces-array-of-new-challenges/a-51827518)

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Germans think Trump is more dangerous than Kim Jong Un and Putin
When asked who posed the greatest threat to world peace, Germans in a recent poll overwhelmingly pointed to one person — Donald Trump.  

The US president beat out the leaders of North Korea, Russia, China and Iran   (Deutsche Welle * 26 Dec, 2019)

Although Washington is one of Germany’s closest allies, public trust in the US has significantly eroded under President Donald Trump, a new YouGov survey showed.   Germans were asked who was more dangerous:   North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Russian President Vladimir Putin or US President Donald Trump.   Some 41% of Germans said they thought Trump was the most dangerous out of the five world leaders.  In second place was Kim with 17%, followed by Putin and Khamenei with 8%.   Coming in last was China’s Xi Jinping with 7%.   Over 2,000 people in Germany took part in the survey, which was commissioned by news agency dpa.   A similar YouGov poll was carried out in July last year, in which 48% of Germans surveyed said Trump was more dangerous than Kim and Putin.  That poll, however, did not include the leaders of Iran or China.

(MORE:  https://www.dw.com/en/germans-think-trump-is-more-dangerous-than-kim-jong-un-and-putin/a-51802332)

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GERMANS UNWILLING TO DEFEND US                                              Germans are more unwilling than willing to defend NATO ally the United States should she be attacked by Russia, according to a YouGov survey.

The poll was conducted amongst key members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the defence bloc which was formed during the Cold War to protect allies from Soviet aggression.

Out of the U.S. France, the UK, and Germany, Americans showed the most willingness to “use military force if Russia attacks” NATO allies and partner countries.

Britons were almost equal in the urge to protect as Americans, but opinion was an “even split” on whether to defend Turkey, while the French were more willing to defend the U.S. and others apart from the Ukraine, Turkey, and Romania.

…. “It is very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia, where we’re supposed to be guarding against Russia, and Germany goes and pays out billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia.   We’re protecting Germany, we’re protecting France, we’re protecting all of these countries,” President Trump said.

Currently, only the United States, Greece, Estonia, the United Kingdom, Romania, Poland, and Latvia are meeting their NATO spending obligations, which require members to spend at least two per cent of GDP on defense spending.

Germany is only spending 1.36 per cent of its GDP on defense, well below its NATO obligations, despite having the largest economy in Europe.

Germany was the only country out of these major powers to say they were more unwilling than willing to defend the U.S., 43 per cent to 32 per cent; by contrast, 54 per cent of Americans think they should defend Germany should she find herself attacked by Russia (Breitbart, 12/29/19)

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Expect a tumultuous 2020 in the Middle East                                              by Marc Lynch, The Washington Post, Wednesday, January 1, 2020

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that the Middle East’s 2020 will be tumultuous.   Libya’s civil war has taken a dangerous turn, with Russian mercenaries and Turkish forces joining the fray as Gen. Khalifa Hifter’s forces push into the capital.   Yemen’s still ravaged by economic blockade and war, despite recent efforts on all sides to de-escalate the conflict.   Syria’s civil war continues to metastasize, with a massive new wave of refugees fleeing violence in Idlib.   Large-scale popular protests are challenging Iraq’s government, which is bracing for fallout from the growing confrontation between the United States and Iran.   Israel and the Palestinian territories could dramatically change their relationship, as the prospects of a two-state solution dissolve.   And protest movements throughout the region could shake up half a dozen regimes.

Here are three trends to watch in the Middle East over the coming year.   Expect these three trends to bring numerous crises during this U.S. election year, shaping the challenges that will await the next administration.

1. Every government is on edge about the U.S. 2020 election: Usually, when the U.S. government changes hands, U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East remains steady and consistent.  No more.
2. Conflicts in the gulf region are getting harder to control:   The Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran has inflicted economic pain while accomplishing few or none of its strategic objectives.
3. Protests and more protests.   2019’s wave of protests across the Middle East rivaled those of the Arab Spring in 2011 – and in some ways were more impressive.   Protests challenged regimes in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon; forced political change in Algeria; and overthrew the Sudanese regime.   More will come.
   (https://www.thehour.com/news/article/Expect-a-tumultuous-2020-in-the-Middle-East-14943308.php)

(Marc Lynch is a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, where he is the director of the Project on Middle East Political Science.  He is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Program and the co-director of the Blogs and Bullets project at the United States Institute of Peace.  Lynch is the editor of “The Arab Uprisings Explained:   New Contentious Politics in the Middle East” and the author of “The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East.

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UK SEX GROOMING GANGS VICTIMIZE 19,000 CHILDREN IN 2019

Despite the publicity given to UK’s Pakistani sex grooming gangs since 2012, close to 19,000 children have been victimized by UK sex grooming gangs in 2019.   The number represents a 3,300 increase from five years ago.

In a report by the Independent, activists say the true number is much higher, as many of these crimes go unreported.   After underage girls are groomed using drugs and alcohol, many are reluctant to go to the authorities as their groomers convince them that due to the illegality of the substances, the victims themselves will be punished.

The exploitation has been widely known to local government officials, social workers and law enforcement officials for over a decade.   However, for fear of being called racists, authorities took no steps to prevent the horrific abuse of young, white British girls.

Sarah Champion is a Labor MP from Rotherham where the story broke in 2012 and a tireless campaigner for the victims of these gangs.   In 2017, Champion was forced to resign from her position as shadow (opposition) secretary for women and equalities after writing an article in The Sun telling the facts about the sex grooming gangs:

Frustrated that years after recommendations were made to endless government commissions with no measures taken to support victims and prevent such abuse in the future, Champion wrote, “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls … There. I said it.  Does that make me a racist?  Or am I just prepared to call out this horrifying problem for what it is?”

Champion continued:   “The irony of all of this is that, by not dealing with the ethnicity of the abusers as a fact, political correctness has actually made the situation about race.”

“The perpetrators are criminals and we need to deal with them as such, not shy away from doing the right thing by fearing being called a racist.”

In a scathing talk in which he excoriated authorities for not protecting Britain’s young girls, Muslim activist Majid Nawaz said, “They were men like me from my community and in all but three, the victims were white teenage girls.   That is the truth, and what I’m saying is so uncomfortable that we’ve been ignoring it for years.   As a result of ignoring it, this problem has been growing and growing to a point where it now has led to racial tensions.” (Clarion Project, 12/31/2019)

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TO THE POINT

• French president Emmanuel Macron awarded Britain the Legion of Honor, in recognition of the fact that Britain gave Charles de Gaulle and the “Free French” army refuge during World War II.   Many Frenchmen were opposed, claiming that Britain is France’s traditional enemy.
• EUROPE:  ANTI-CHRISTIAN ATTACKS REACH ALL TIME HIGH.  The issue of anti-Christian vandalism was rarely reported by the European media until February 2019, when vandals attacked nine churches within the space of two weeks.   The issue made headlines again in April 2019, when a suspicious fire gutted the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.   Since then, however, the European media are once again shrouding facts in silence. (Soeren Kern, Gatestone, 1/1/2020)
• “Statistics on homelessness are patchy, but dispiriting.   In 2010-18 the French government doubled the spaces in emergency accommodation to 146,000, yet cannot meet demand.   In Spain the number in shelters rose by 2-.5% between 2014 and 2016.   In the Netherlands homelessness has doubled in the past decade.  In Ireland, the number in shelters has tripled.   The German government estimates homelessness rose by 4% in 2018, to a record 678,000, most of them migrants.   All this has thrown a spanner into government’s plans.  For years, they have been trying to shift from providing beds for the night to housing first strategies like Finland’s.   Instead they are struggling to keep people off the streets.”   (“Oh give me a home,  Europe,” The Economist, 12/21/2019).
• Political instability in Germany, coupled with ongoing economic uncertainty, could mean that the disruption seen in the U.K. during its Brexit crisis could shift across the continent to Europe’s largest economy, according to economists and market watchers. (CNBC 12/30/2019)
• On December 24, Vladimir Putin took part in the Defense Ministry Board meeting held at the National Defense Control Centre.   During the Defense Ministry Board meeting, Putin discussed the role of European countries in contributing to the outbreak of WWII.   Commenting on Poland, Putin used strong words to criticize the Polish ambassador to Nazi Germany, Josef Lipski, who backed Hitler in 1938.   “That bastard! That antisemitic pig – I have no other words,” Putin said referring to Lipski.   This video aired on Rossiya-24 TV (Russia) and was translated into English by Vesti. (MEMRI 12/30)
• Biblical Archaeology Report listed a finding at the biblical site of Shiloh as the second-most important biblical archeological discovery during 2019 out of a total of ten discoveries.
  What was the number one find in biblical archaeology? A bulla (clay stamp) found in the ancient City of David, with the inscription “[belonging] to nathan-melech, servant of the king,” not far from the Jewish Temple.   First-century artifacts and a Byzantine church in Bethsaida, evidence of Jerusalem’s destruction in the Babylonian period and a monumental staircase at Hazor, also made the cut.
  (https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/01/01/the-most-important-biblical-discovery-of-2019-not-what-you-think/)
• Please remember to pray for Australia, which is experiencing the most horrendous fires in its history.  Watching them and the skies over New Zealand made me think of the prophecy in Deut. 28:23:   “And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron.”

PERVERSE LIBERAL THINKING

Flowers are left following Friday’s terror attack on London Bridge in London, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2019. A man wearing a fake suicide vest was subdued by bystanders as he went on a knife rampage killing two people and wounding others before being shot dead by police on Friday. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)    (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Two young Cambridge University graduates are dead, murdered by a supposedly rehabilitated terrorist, in London last Friday.   The Cambridge University students were part of “Learning Together,” a project that aims to bring rehabilitated terrorists back into mainstream society.   This is liberalism gone mad!

A major weakness of western liberalism is the idea that we’re all the same, whatever culture or background we come from.   We should know better.   ISIS fighters are not going to repent – as they come back to western countries following the defeat of ISIS they will bring their ideology with them, and kill people.   Anybody who thinks otherwise is a misguided fool.

The young male victim had written his dissertation on why minorities account for a disproportionate percentage of people in prison.   The answer is simple – they commit more crimes.

It’s sad as more innocent lives are likely to be lost as we pursue rehab.   Years ago, I remember reading in Psychology Today that 92% of sex offenders are never rehabilitated.   When they leave prison, they commit the same acts again.   Do we really think that terrorists will do better?

As Piers Morgan wrote in the Daily Mail, “Most terrorists don’t change their evil spots so it’s time Britain stopped going soft on hate-filled jihadis to please the PC hand-wringing brigade and does what Americans do – lock them up forever.” (12/2/2019 Daily Mail)

Even this may not work.   Terrorists in prison might encourage fellow terrorists to seize hostages until they are released.

What would be more appropriate (and final) is the death penalty.

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KING OF THE NORTH?

Following the opening, on September 30, 2019, of the Al-Bukamal-Al-Qaim border crossing between Syria and Iraq, which had been closed for five years due to the Syria war, Abu Al-Fazel Salehiniya, a culture advisor at the Iranian embassy in Damascus, published an article in the pro-regime Syrian daily Al-Watan, in which he presented the opening of the crossing as a step towards the realization of Iran’s vision of a new Middle East.   He explained that Iran planned to establish a political, economic and cultural bloc consisting of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, which will impact the power-balance in the region and world, and thwart what he called the American and Western plan to fragment the Middle East into tiny states under Western control.   For many years, he said, the U.S. and Israel have been working in various ways to prevent the creation of this bloc, including by instigating protests in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon; however, they have failed thanks to the resistance axis, which is now stronger than ever and has attained impressive achievements.   (MEMRI 12/4)

Editor’s note: The four countries were roughly the borders of the biblical king of the North, in the second century BC.

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GERMAN MILITARY EXPANSION                                                                        by Johannes Stern, 29 Nov 2019, World Socialist Web Site

(Extracts) . . . Kramp-Karrenbauer replied:  “We know we have to do more, but we are on the way.”   In 2031 the German army would “realistically” be able to take over ten percent of NATO’s military capacity.   Until that date at the latest, Germany would also reach the NATO target of two percent of gross domestic product for military spending.   In fact Germany will make substantial steps towards this goal as early as next year, as the pact to form the grand coalition laid out.   According to a report by the German Press Agency, the German government has reported to the military alliance its intention to spend 50.25 billion euros [$US55.3 billion] in 2020.   “We are complying with our international obligations.   The NATO defense rate is 1.42 percent,” boasted Social Democratic Finance Minister Olaf Scholz at yesterday’s presentation of the budget for 2020 in the Bundestag . . .   Five years after the German government announced the end of military restraint at the Munich Security Conference in 2014, the ruling class can no longer hide the fact that it is basing its foreign and great power politics on the militaristic traditions of the German Empire and the Nazis.   In his major lecture on foreign policy at the end of October, the president of the German parliament, Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), described 1945, i.e. the date of the downfall of the Third Reich and the defeat of Germany in World War II—as a “catastrophe”       (https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/29/kram-n29.html)

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GERMANY TO MATCH US CONTRIBUTION TO NATO BUDGET

From 2021, Germany will increase its contribution to the NATO budget to be in line with what the US pays.                                                                  NATO officials hope the move will diffuse tensions surrounding the cost of maintaining the military alliance.             (https://www.dw.com/en/germany-to-match-us-contribution-to-nato-budget/a-51446211)

German army sorry for ‘retro’ post

BERLIN, Germany — The German army on Wednesday apologized for posting a photo on Instagram of a military uniform complete with two Iron Crosses bearing the Nazi swastika and appearing to celebrate it as “retro.”   After media reports sparked outrage, the army removed the picture of the Nazi-era Wehrmacht uniform and explained that it was an “unacceptable mistake.”   The Bundeswehr said it was seeking to do a photo-essay on the influence of military uniforms on fashion through the ages but failed to provide the correct historical context in its captions.   The Bundeswehr has over the years repeatedly come under fire over embarrassing associations with Germany’s militaristic past (https://www.timesofisrael.com/german-army-sorry-for-retro-nazi-uniform-post/)

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Global Survey of 18 Countries Finds Hardcore Anti-Semitic Attitudes Remain Pervasive                                                                                 One in four Europeans polled fall into most anti-Semitic category.

Among the 2019 ADL Global 100 Index’s key findings:  Negative attitudes in Argentina, Brazil, Poland, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine have seen marked increases since the last ADL Global 100 survey.  Anti-Semitic attitudes remain pervasive in Europe. Roughly one out of every four residents of the 14 European countries polled by ADL fall into the most anti-Semitic category, subscribing to a majority of the anti-Semitic stereotypes tested in the index.

Stereotypes about Jewish control of business and the financial markets are among the most pernicious and enduring anti-Semitic beliefs.   These are especially widespread in the Central and Eastern European countries surveyed.   Asked whether they agreed with the statement that “Jews have too much power in the business world,” a staggering 72 percent of Ukrainians agreed, as did 71 percent of Hungarians, 56 percent of Poles, and 50 percent of Russians.

Jewish “disloyalty” is a widespread anti-Semitic stereotype in the Western European countries surveyed. In Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, more than 40 percent of the public believes that Jews are more loyal to the State of Israel than to their own country.   This canard also scored high in Brazil (70 percent), South Africa (60 percent), and relatively high in Canada (25 percent) compared to its overall index score of 8 percent.

“Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust” was a statement supported by large segments of the populations of many of the European countries polled, even in Germany, where 42 percent of the population agreed.   This sentiment was also prevalent in Austria (44 percent), Belgium (40 percent) Italy (38 percent) and Spain (37 percent).(https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-global-survey-of-18-countries-finds-hardcore-anti-semitic-attitudes-remain)

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Zimbabwe ‘on brink of man-made starvation’, UN warns               (BBC, 28 Nov 2019) 

More than 60% of the country’s 14 million people are considered food-insecure, according to the findings.  Hyperinflation, poverty, natural disasters and economic sanctions were among the identified causes.  Women and children were “bearing the brunt of the crisis” with 90% of children aged six months to two years not consuming enough food.  Hilal Elver, the UN’s special rapporteur on the right to food, reported her findings following an 11-day visit to the country.  “I cannot stress enough the urgency of the situation in Zimbabwe,” she said, adding that the crisis continues to worsen.   She said many of the people she met could only afford one meal a day and that most of the children she met were stunted and underweight.  “The harrowing stories I heard from resilient grandmothers, mothers or aunts desperately trying to save their children from starvation, in the midst of their daily hardships, will remain with me.”

She also noted Zimbabwe was among the four highest food-insecure nations, alongside conflict-ravaged countries.(https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-50586514)

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SOUTHERN BAPTISTS CHANGE ON ABORTION

To Christians, there are few issues more important than fighting against abortion.  The millions of unborn children are made in the image of God, making it personal to Christians.

And millions of American might switch churches after what one denomination said about abortion.

If one were to ask virtually any Southern Baptist churchgoer, they would be strongly against abortion and supportive of the fight to end it.

But as it turns out, the Southern Baptist Convention doesn’t agree with that sentiment.

The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), which is the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, just came out stating that Christians should not preach against abortion from the pulpit, on the street corner, or in bumper stickers or social media posts.

They claim that it is “hurtful to women.”   (Culture wars, 11/19)

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LETTER FROM A UK FRIEND

“Channel 4 hosted a leaders debate on climate change yesterday. Boris Johnson. and Nigel Farage did not appear, and their vacant podiums sported ice sculptures instead.   The problem is that Boris is not good responding to tough questioning.   Boris is being shielded from scrutiny as much as possible, he may feel that he’s ‘Churchill like’ but in reality he’s no orator.   In contrast Jeremy Corbyn is a rabble-rouser and whips an audience up to ‘cheers and chanting.’ Very popular with younger voters too.   The Election is for Boris to lose.   According to the opinion polls his lead is slipping back.   I’m fearing another hung parliament.”

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EU DECLARES “CLIMATE EMERGENCY”

The European Parliament declared a “climate emergency,” by a vote of 429 to 225.   The decision is symbolic but important (the European Union is the world’s largest economy) ahead of the UN climate summit to be held in Madrid next week.  The incoming head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has promised a package of ambitious green measures on December 11th.   (The Economist, 11/29)

Britain’s ruling Conservative Party reacted furiously after Channel 4, a national broadcaster, replaced the prime minister with an ice sculpture during a debate on climate change.   While most other leaders of Britain’s main political parties took part, Boris Johnson refused.  The editor of Channel 4 News accused Mr. Johnson of trying to avoid scrutiny during the election campaign “like Donald Trump.”  (Economist, 11/29)

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Italy busts neo-Nazi ring, ‘Miss Hitler’ pageant winner

Prosecutors in Sicily have announced 19 arrests, exposing a nationwide network of would-be fascist militants.  Police have uncovered weapons, explosives, and extremist propaganda in a series of raids.

Italian police have arrested at least 19 people in connection with a militant neo-Nazi ring, national media reported on Thursday. Although the investigation was based in Sicily, several of the suspects hail from all over the country.   One of the arrested included a 26-year-old Milan resident who had been the winner of an online beauty competition called “Miss Hitler.”   She also spoke at an extreme-right conference in Portugal last August that attempted to unite the so-called “National Socialist movements” of Italy, Portugal, Spain, and France.

During the operation, led by prosecutors in Caltanissetta, Sicily, and dubbed “Black Shadows,” police undercovered troves of weapons, explosives, Nazi memorabilia and texts praising fascist dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, in a series of raids carried out across Italy.
   On top of possible weapons charges, promoting fascism is a crime in Italy.
   The supposed leader of the group is a 50-year-old public employee from the city of Padua, in the northeastern region of Veneto.   She was not known to authorities prior to her detention, police have said, adding that they recovered anti-Semitic material at her home.
   Another suspect is an offender with multiple convictions and ties to the ‘Ndrangheta, the elusive Calabrian mafia, one of the richest organized crime syndicates in the world and by some estimates responsible for 3% of Italy’s GDP.   The man, Italian media said, had turned informant for the police against the mafia but was apparently acting as the chief “trainer” for the violence the neo-Nazi group hoped to carry out.   Specific center-left politicians were named as possible targets.
   The group used a Russian chat app to communicate and try to avoid detection, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported.   A Russian social media platform called VK was also used to host the “Miss Hitler” competition.(https://www.dw.com/en/italy-busts-neo-nazi-ring-miss-hitler-pageant-winner/a-51458025)

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TO THE POINT

• CHINA FINANCIAL WARNINGS                                                                    From rural bank runs to surging consumer indebtedness and an unprecedented bond restructuring, mounting signs of financial stress in China are putting the nation’s policy makers to the test. Xi Jinping’s government faces an increasingly difficult balancing act as it tries to support the world’s second-largest economy without encouraging moral hazard and reckless spending.   While authorities have so far been reluctant to rescue troubled borrowers and ramp up stimulus, the costs of maintaining that stance are rising as defaults increase and China’s slowdown deepens.  (China financial warning; Bloomberg, 11/28/2019)

• HONG KONG IN REVOLT                                                                            “When Mao Zedong’s guerrillas seized power in China in 1949, they did not take over a clearly defined country, much less an entirely willing one.   Hong Kong was ruled by the British, nearby Macau by the Portuguese.   Taiwan was under the control of a Nationalist government Mao had just overthrown.   The mountain terrain of Tibet was under a Buddhist theocracy that chafed at control from Beijing.   Communist troops had yet to enter another immense region in the far west, Xinjiang, where Muslim ethnic groups did not want to be ruled from afar.”  (“Hong Kong in revolt,” The Economist, 11/23/2019).

• Applying pressure on China is the top priority for the newly elected German EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She announced that, on Sunday – her first day in office – she plans to call Beijing to discuss “human rights.”   The People’s Republic of China is being accused of human rights violations in the context of its “war on terror” against jihadism in Xinjiang province.  The German chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, David McAllister (CDU) announced that the EU Parliament also plans to discuss the situation in Xinjiang, in its upcoming plenary session (December 16 – 19). In Berlin, the transatlantic-oriented opposition plans to call for sanctions to be imposed on either Chinese politicians or Chinese high-tech-companies, already affected by US sanctions. Commentators in the USA, as well as in Germany, are equating China with Nazi Germany. According to a former liberal-oriented German daily, “there can be no long-term peaceful coexistence” with the People’s Republic of China.   (German Foreign Policy, 11/29/2019)

• ZAMBIAN COUPLE GET 15 YEARS FOR SEXUAL ACT                      A homosexual couple has been given 15 years for a crime “against the natural order,” citing the fact that they are a very religious Christian country.   They also happen to have one of the highest incidents of HIV in the world, reflecting widespread immorality. They should take a look at I Corinthians 6.  Fornication, adultery and sodomy are all condemned equally, a fact that Zambian churches have failed to notice.  In Africa, AIDS is invariably a heterosexual disease.

•  A video has emerged from the Nato summit in London, which appears to show Boris Johnson,  Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron, Princess Anne and the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, laughing about the US president during a reception at Buckingham Palace.   The meeting to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nato alliance began inauspiciously, with tensions on full display between Macron, Trump and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.    It seems that other countries are more likely to ridicule Mr Trump, expecting that he will be impeached next year.

• PRINCE ANDREW                                                                                                    As a former navy pilot, Prince Andrew would normally be present at a Nato shindig, but the disgraced duke has been stripped of his duties, leaving his mother to host the reception.  Meanwhile, Trump’s claim not to know Andrew is contradicted by extensive photographic evidence.  (Guardian, 12/4)

 

 

 

IRAN USING ISLAMIC JIHAD TO STRIKE ISRAEL

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced strong support for protesters again and called on Iran’s leaders to stop their crackdown. (ABC News)

Pompeo:   Iran uses Islamic Jihad to strike Israel

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday accused Iran of using its terrorist proxy Palestinian Islamic Jihad to strike our great ally Israel.   In two tweets, Pompeo also wrote:   “Iran does not want peace in the region.  It does not want the Palestinian people to prosper.   It wants more conflict. Until we address Iran’s threats, the cycle of violence will continue.”   Pompeo went on to say:   “The way forward is clear:  continued pressure until Iran negotiates a comprehensive agreement that includes halting its support to terror groups like PIJ.   Nations around the world can no longer claim to want peace in the region yet allow Iran’s threats to go unchallenged.” (Debka 11/16/2019)

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LEGACY OF FASCISM IN CROATIA

Serious accusations are being made concerning racist attacks, official commemorations honoring Nazi collaborators and excessive police brutality against refugees, are accompanying Croatia’s preparations for taking over the Presidency of the EU Council on January 1, 2020. Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Zagreb, yesterday, for consultations with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković about the duties he must assume in the context of Croatia’s council presidency.   The Croat government will also seek to ward off refugees more efficiently.   For years, Croatia’s border police have been using brute force to deport large numbers of refugees to Bosnia Herzegovina, in violation of international law.   In addition, the Council of Europe has certified that the country is experiencing an increase in racism and glorification of the fascist Ustaša regime. One of the popular commemoration ceremonies honoring Croat Nazi collaborators is celebrated under the “patronage” of Croatia’s parliament in Zagreb.   (German Foreign Policy, 11/22/2019)

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TOTAL COST OF WARS

Since terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center and killed thousands upon thousands of innocent American citizens, U.S. taxpayers have spent $6.4 trillion on wars and military action in the Middle East and Asia, according to a new report by the Watson Institute at Brown University.

. . . The study also shows that as a result of the fighting, 801,000 people have died, including 335,000 civilians, and another 21 million people have been displaced to get away from the violence. (https://moneyandmarkets.com/war-on-terror-cost-us-6-4-trillion/)

. . . The report notes that after 9/11, wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria have grown to include more than 80 countries, making it “a truly global war on terror.”

And the longer the war on terror drags on, the more service members will lose their lives while others will ultimately claim benefits and disability payments.

“Even if the United States withdraws completely from the major war zones by the end of FY2020 and halts its other Global War on Terror operations, in the Philippines and Africa for example, the total budgetary burden of the post-9/11 wars will continue to rise as the U.S. pays the on-going costs of veterans’ care and for interest on borrowing to pay for the wars,” the study notes.

The Pentagon said in March that wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have cost each U.S. taxpayer $7,623 through fiscal 2018.

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“Britain is in a dangerous mess” says former Prime Minister Tony Blair                                                                                                                                      Blair said on Monday that  neither his own Labor Party nor Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives deserved to win a Dec. 12 election.
by Guy Faulconbridge & William James, Reuters, 25 Nov 2019

“We’re a mess,” Blair said at a Reuters Newsmaker event.  “The buoyancy of the world economy has kept us going up to now, but should that falter, we will be in deep trouble.”   Blair, the only Labour leader to win three elections, said his party was now controlled by its “Marxist-Leninist wing” and that its leader Jeremy Corbyn was promising a revolution.

“The problem with revolutions is never how they begin but how they end,” said Blair.   “The problem with revolutions is that they always end badly.”   “The truth is:  the public aren’t convinced either main party deserves to win this election outright.”   The Dec. 12 vote presents a stark choice between a socialist-run state under Labour, which is offering a second referendum on leaving the EU, and the free-market Conservatives, who want to “get Brexit done” by the end of January.

Johnson has pledged to take Britain out of the EU by Jan. 31 if he wins a parliamentary majority and then to negotiate a comprehensive deal with the bloc covering trade and future relations during a transition period due to end next December.  Blair cast doubt on that timetable and said there was still a risk that Britain could exit the EU in a year’s time without having struck a deal with its biggest trading partner.   “No-deal Brexit is not off the table,” Blair said. “This negotiation (on the future relationship) has no chance of being concluded in that transition period.”  Blair said he did not know whether Labour, which has tacked sharply to the left under Corbyn, would ever return to the center ground of British politics, but added:   “We must set about the urgent task of reconstructing the sensible mainstream of British politics.”

“Otherwise, this laboratory experiment in populism running riot, will end very badly for our nation.”
(http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/topNews/~3/70roENoQAOI/britain-is-a-dangerous-mess-former-pm-blair-says-idUSKBN1XZ0WT)

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ISLAM AND THE LGBT

British Sheikh Asrar Rashid said in a class that was uploaded to the Internet on August 3, 2019, that the LGBT movement is one of the signs of the end of days because it is a manifestation of people forgetting basic principles, like male-female relations.   During the lecture, which took place against the backdrop of protests by the U.K.’s Muslim community against public school curricula that teach about same-sex relationships, Sheikh Rashid criticized the LGBT movement for having “concocted” over 70 different genders, and he said that Islam’s prohibition of homosexual acts is not tantamount to hatred of homosexuals.   Sheikh Rashid said that children who are confronted with education about LGBT issues in schools should vocally question what they are taught and that such questions should not be “blotted out in classrooms or treated in an Orwellian fashion.”   He said that the “Chinese-communist-Mao-Zedong-style brainwashing program” taught in schools should also teach children about the harms that can be caused by homosexual lifestyles in order to discourage such behaviors.

Sheikh Rashid said, for example, that the schools should teach that men who engage in homosexual acts sometimes have to use “male Tampax” diapers at night to prevent their bowels from leaking.   He also said that children should be taught about STDs.   Sheikh Asrar Rashid, who is based in the Birmingham area, was born in the U.K. in 1983 and has reportedly studied in Syria and India.   The video, which was titled “The New Age of Jahiliyah,” was uploaded to the Ahl-us-Sunnah Wal Jama’ah YouTube channel.   For more from Sheikh Asrar Rashid, see MEMRI TV Clip No. 6370.                    (MEMRI, 11/26)

From September next year, “relationships” are to be taught in British primary (elementary) schools, including same-sex relationships.   This has led to protests outside schools.   Most protestors appear to be Muslims.  Muslim opposition to anything LGBTQ is leading to a clash between the two groups.

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GERMAN SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA

With today’s Africa Conference in Berlin, the German government is seeking to induce German companies to make investments on the African continent.   The conference is taking place within the framework of the “Compact with Africa” project, launched more than two years ago during the G20 Summit in Hamburg.   Hailed as a breakthrough for Africa’s economic development at the time, the heralded expansion of investments has, so far, fallen short of expectations, according to experts.   Berlin’s efforts must be seen in the context of the growing global competition for a share in the African market that is no longer limited to China.   Whereas the People’s Republic of China is already Africa’s leading trading partner and is catching up on investments, India has also been expanding its activities on the continent and has surpassed Germany.   Meanwhile, Russia has also succeeded in reinforcing its influence in Africa.   Like the other western powers, Germany is steadily losing ground.   (German Foreign Policy, 11/19/2019)

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The Militarization of the North Sea

Alongside the militarization of the Baltic Sea region, NATO is beginning to reestablish military structures around the English Channel and the North Sea.   At the annual meeting within the framework of the NATO Channel Committee (CHANCOM) recently held in Hamburg, the five riparian states signed a declaration on the further enhancement of their naval cooperation.   According to the German Navy, which participated at the meeting, the establishment of a regional NATO command for the North Sea region, analogous to the war alliance’s Baltic Maritime Component Command (BMCC) in Rostock, was also in discussion.   The maritime route from the Atlantic through the English Channel to the Baltic Sea, via the North Sea is the main route for US troops coming to Europe.   This is why the region has regained strategic importance, since NATO has intensified its confrontation against Russia.   Civilian ports along the transatlantic route are also to be integrated, including Hamburg and Bremerhaven.    (German Foreign Policy, 11/26/2019)

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TO THE POINT

• The three conservative leaders of three prominent western democracies are all under intense pressure now.   The US, UK and Israel are the three nations threatened.   There is no such pressure upon liberal-socialist leaders. Is this just a coincidence?
• “Following the 2016 coup attempt, (Turkey’s) Erdogan has purged scores of thousands from his army and regime, jailed more journalists than any other authoritarian, purchased Vladimir Putin’s S-400 missile system as Turkey’s air defense, and ordered the U.S. forces out of his way as he invaded northern Syria, killing Kurdish fighters who did the bleeding and dying in the U.S.-led campaign to crush the ISIS caliphate.” (Pat Buchanan, 11/22/2019)
• Italian former prime minister and MEP Silvio Berlusconi said on Thursday that Europe needs to become a global military power “to have a seat at the table where decision are made” with America and China.   “We also need military capacity to defend ourselves in case of a massive invasion phenomenon,” Berlusconi added, saying his party will return to government soon as the current Italian government is “unprepared, unqualified and inexperienced.”   (EU Observer, 11/21)
• A report on TV earlier this week highlighted the fact that Italy has a very low birthrate, with some communities seeing no babies for years.   A proposed solution is immigrants from Africa.   But if the Italian peninsular was full of Africans, would it still be Italy?
• It has been suggested that Britain’s Prince Andrew should visit the US to be interviewed by the FBI.   A month ago, an American woman was asked to return to the UK to stand trial for the death of a motorcyclist, something she admits.   But she won’t return and claims diplomatic immunity, which she does not qualify for. The US cannot have it both ways.   Perhaps Prince Andrew can be interviewed about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein on British soil?
• “Corbyn refuses to say sorry” for anti-semitism in the Labor Party (headline in a British newspaper November 27^th)
• “A passionate cohort of campaigners, including former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and opposition leader Anthony Albanese have renewed their push for Australia to become an independent republic more than 20 years since the failed referendum.”   (Sky News, 11/27/2019)
• As with the referendum on Scottish independence, or Brexit, groups refuse to accept a “No” verdict and simply ask for a second referendum.

WILL NATO MAKE IT TO 70?

President Emmanuel Macron of France concerned about a “brain dead” NATO.. (Reuters)

NATO leaders are meeting in London December 3rd & 4th to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the organization, which has been credited with maintaining world peace.   President Macron of France has declared the organization “brain dead.”   Could NATO fall apart?

President Emmanuel Macron of France has described Nato as “brain dead,” stressing what he sees as waning commitment to the transatlantic alliance by its main guarantor, the US.

Interviewed by The Economist, he cited the US failure to consult Nato before pulling forces out of northern Syria.  He also questioned whether Nato was still committed to collective defense.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a key ally, said she disagreed with Mr. Macron’s “drastic words.”

Nato, which celebrates 70 years since its founding at a London summit next month, has responded by saying the alliance remains strong.

What else did the French president say?

“What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of Nato,” Mr. Macron told the London-based newspaper.

He warned European members that they could no longer rely on the US to defend the alliance, established at the start of the Cold War to bolster Western European and US security.   (BBC News 11/7/2019)

Franco-German disagreements are accompanying French President Emmanuel Macron’s current trip to China, where he is assuming the role of a leading EU representative.   He is promoting a speedy conclusion of an economic treaty between the Union and the People’s Republic.   He is accompanied by the Union’s designated Trade Commissioner, Phil Hogan, and Germany’s Minister of Education and Research, Anja Karliczek.   This is his way of seeking to lay the groundwork for a unified EU policy regarding China – contrary to Germany’s pursuit of its national interests in its relationship to Beijing.   Germany usually seeks a common approach toward the People’s Republic of China, when other EU countries, such as Greece or Italy, begin to closely cooperate with China within the framework of the “New Silk Road” project.   Macron is making an effort to set both confrontational and cooperative EU policies toward Beijing, and thereby position the Union on an equal footing between the USA and China.   (German Foreign Policy, 11/8/2019)

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ENERGY BOOST FOR ISRAEL

Before discovering major natural gas field

, which began with the Noa gas field off the shores of Ashkelon in 1999 and the more significant findings in 2009 of Tamar and Leviathan, it was widely assumed that the country lacked natural resources.   Finding large sources of natural gas has freed Israel from its dependency of energy sources from abroad and transformed the country into an energy supplier, both domestically and abroad.

Israel is pegged to deliver natural gas to Jordan and Egypt, valued at $26 billion.   It is also planning to construct a 2,000-km pipeline to supply Eastern Mediterranean gas to Europe.   (United with Israel)

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BRITISH LABOUR PARTY ANTI-SEMITIC                                                  From the Jewish Chronicle, UK, November 8th:

The vast majority of British Jews consider Jeremy Corbyn to be an antisemite.  In the most recent poll, last month, the figure was 87 per cent.

Putting oneself in the shoes of another person, or another group, can be difficult.   But we believe it is important — and urgent — that you do that.   Perhaps the fact that nearly half (47 per cent) of the Jewish community said in that same poll that they would “seriously consider” emigrating if Mr. Corbyn wins on December 12 will give you an indication of what it feels like to be a British Jew at a time when the official opposition is led by a man widely held to be an antisemite.

There is racism on all sides of politics and it must be called out wherever it is found.   History has forced our community to be able to spot extremism as it emerges — and Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader in 2015 is one such example.

Throughout his career, he has allied with and supported antisemites such as Paul Eisen, Stephen Sizer and Raed Salah.   He has described organizations like Hamas, whose founding charter commits it to the extermination of every Jew on the planet, as his “friends.”   He has laid a wreath to honor terrorists who have murdered Jews.   He has insulted “Zionists” — the word used by antisemites when they mean “Jew” because they think it allows them to get away with it — as lacking understanding of “English irony.”

Mr. Corbyn should take note of Genesis 12:3. 3 – And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

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AUSTRALIAN DROUGHT RELIEF PACKAGE HITS THE POLITICAL SPOT BUT MISSES THE BIGGER POINT

There are two basic components to the Morrison government’s latest A$1 billion package response to the drought affecting large parts eastern Australia.   One part involves extra subsidies to farmers and farm-related business.   The other involves measures to create or upgrade infrastructure in rural areas.

Unfortunately, most funds will be misdirected and the response is unlikely to secure the long-term prosperity of regional and rural communities.   This is a quick fix to a political problem, appealing to an important constituency.   But it misses the point, again, about the emerging economics of drought.

Hitting the political target

The bulk of the A$1 billion package is allocated to a loan fund.   The terms of the ten-year loans are more generous than what has been offered in the past.   They are now interest-free for two years, with no requirement to start paying back the principal till the sixth year.

Farmers will be able to borrow up to A$2 million.   In addition, loans of up to A$500,000 will also be available to small businesses in drought-affected towns.

Because recipients are not having to pay the full cost, these loans are in practice a form of subsidy.   (The Conversation, 11/6)

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ATTACK BY ISLAMISTS ON CANADIAN COMPANY WORKERS

Gunmen in Burkina Faso have killed nearly 40 civilians in an ambush on a convoy transporting workers for the Canadian goldminer Semafo, regional authorities have said.

The attack on Wednesday underlines the growing instability in the Sahel, where Islamist extremist groups have grown in influence and power over the past decade.

Semafo said in an earlier statement that the attack on a convoy of five buses with a military escort took place on the road to its Boungou mine in the eastern region of Est, about 40km (25 miles) from Boungou, and that there had been several deaths and injuries.   (The Guardian, 11/7)

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OHIO MAN PLOTTED ATTACK

An Ohio man pleaded guilty to planning a Fourth of July bombing in Cleveland.

Demetrius Pitts, 50, also pleaded guilty to threatening the life of U.S. President Donald Trump and the president’s immediate family.   Pitt, who is from Philadelphia, planned to park a van full of explosives in the downtown area and detonate it during the annual fireworks display.   He also wanted to join al-Qaeda.

Pitt, who also went by the names Abdul Raheem Rafeeq and Salah ad-Deen Osama Waleed, became radicalized and began expressing anti-American sentiments in 2015.

He scouted downtown Cleveland on a reconnaissance mission before the attack, looking for a place to park his van for the Fourth of July bombing.   (Clarion Project, 11/7/2019)

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THE THIN VENEER OF CIVILIZATION COLLAPSING IN HONG KONG

The same deterioration in norms is glaringly evident in the actions of the Hong Kong Police Force, which was once considered the finest in Asia, if not the world, and whose slogan is to “serve with pride and care.”   Today, they openly refer to Hong Kong citizens as “cockroaches” and “trash.”   Protesters respond by calling them “dogs.”   This is the language of genocide.

“This willingness to stomach previously unthinkable acts is astonishing in a place ranked seventh by the UN in terms of human development, with some of the healthiest, longest-living, best educated, richest and most worldly citizens on earth.   If this breakdown can happen in Hong Kong it can happen anywhere.   And while a civil society can be torn apart virtually overnight, it almost always takes decades to build it back up.   (“Events in Hong Kong reveal the thin veneer of civilization,” Jamil Anderlini, Financial Times, 11/13).

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ISLAMISTS CROSSING BORDER

Often lost in the discussion of hundreds of thousands of Central Americans pouring over the southern border is that migrants from Muslim-majority countries where Islamist terrorist groups operate arrive among them almost every day.   The corporate media hates talking about this.   But most border-crossers show up without any identification and little vetting, giving rise to U.S. national security efforts to stifle this human traffic for fear of terrorist infiltration, a threat about which I have written extensively.

Every so often, smugglers of migrants from countries of national security concern — known in government parlance as “special interest aliens” — are caught and brought to American justice.   Such was the case last week, when a federal judge in a Del Rio, Texas, courtroom empty of news reporters sentenced a Mexico-based Jordanian smuggler named Moayad Heider Mohammad Aldairi to three years in the federal penitentiary on a guilty plea.   (MEF, 11/8/2019)

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IRAN’S NETWORK OF INFLUENCE IN MIDEAST IS GROWING     by Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent, 7 Nov 2019

Iran is winning the strategic struggle for influence in the Middle East against its rival, Saudi Arabia, according to a study by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).  Iran’s regional rivals have spent billions of dollars on Western weaponry, much of it from the UK.   Yet for a fraction of that cost, sanctions-bound Iran has been able to successfully embed itself across the region into a position of strategic advantage.   It has a major influence – verging on a controlling influence in some cases – over the affairs of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.(https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50324912)

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that US President Donald Trump is the “best US president” so far in his opinion, because he is honest about American intentions to grab Arab oil, Reuters reported on Friday citing Syrian official television.

Assad also said he is skeptical about Trump’s declaration US forces killed ISIS leader al-Baghdadi.   In this perspective, he seems to be in-line with the Russian view as Russia also expressed desire to see further evidence to the claim.  (JPost).(https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Syrian-leader-Bashar-Assad-Donald-Trump-is-the-best-US-President-606534)

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 TO THE POINT

• “The Scottish government’s statistics show that 60% of Scottish trade goes to the rest of the UK; that Scottish public spending is boosted by $2,530 per person via Westminster’s Barnet formula; and that Scotland’s deficit is over twice as high as the 3% level which would be required if an independent Scotland were to try to join the European Union.”   (Alastair Cameron, Director, Scotland in Union; Letters, The Economist, 11/2/2019)
• China, with control of 5G, will be in a position to remotely manipulate the world’s devices.   In peacetime, Beijing could have the ability to drive cars off cliffs, unlock front doors, and turn off pacemakers.   In war, Beijing could paralyze critical infrastructure.   (Gatestone, 11/7)
• After a rocky start to Britain’s general-election campaign for the ruling Conservatives, the main opposition Labour Party also ran into problems.   Tom Watson—often at odds with his chief, Jeremy Corbyn—resigned as the party’s deputy leader and an MP and minister.   And Ian Austin, a former Labour MP, said Mr. Corbyn was “completely unfit” to be prime minister and voters should back the Tories.   (The Economist, 11/7)
• The National Health Service (NHS), the government-run medical system in the UK, is being discussed a great deal in the election campaign.   Labour accuses the Conservatives of wanting a trade deal with the US that will open up the NHS to American companies, particularly pharmaceutical companies.   This would, they claim, make the price of many drugs too expensive for consumers.   It’s scare mongering, as Mr. Johnson has already said that won’t happen.   But it belies the fact that a serious discussion is needed on the future of the NHS, the biggest employer in Europe and a sacred cow if ever there was one.   The last time I saw figures, the cost of the NHS was rising by 8% a year, while the economy was growing at only 2%.   As viewers of Dr. Finley on British TV will be aware, there was a great deal of opposition to the NHS when it started in 1948.   It may be time to look again at the arguments and see if there isn’t a better way of delivering health care.
• If you want to see accurate history portrayed on television, try Russian TV.   At least, the programs offered on Amazon Prime.   We’ve just finished watching “Ekaterina,” a ten-part series on the rise of Catherine the Great, the eighteenth century Russian Czar who was actually from Germany.   Earlier this year, we watched “Sophia,” an 8-part series on Ivan III, who was 300 years earlier. Ivan chose to marry the heir to the Byzantine throne after the fall of Constantinople.   Fascinating stuff.   If the Russians keep this up, they could put Mel Gibson out of business (his two movies “Braveheart” and “The Patriot” were notable for their historical inaccuracies!)