THE VIRTUE OF NATIONALISM

January 25, 2024

One of the best written books you will ever read is The Virtue of Nationalism by Yoram Hazony. There is too much in it to quote here. But note this:

“The European Union does, despite the propaganda, have a powerful central government whose directives are legally binding on European nations and on their individual members . . .  It lacks a strong executive – an emperor – capable of conducting foreign affairs and waging war . . .”

“The European nations are, as everyone understands, dominated by Germany. The European Union is a German imperial state in all but name. However, as long as Germany seeks to avoid building up its military and taking responsibility for the security of the continent, the EU will apparently remain an American protectorate – a protectorate that is also an empire in its own right. Should the United States ever withdraw its protection, all the talk of Europeans pioneering a new form of political order will quickly evaporate. At that time, a strong European executive will be appointed by Germany and empowered to maintain the security of the continent. Then the reconstitution of the medieval German empire in Europe will be complete, and the English-inspired experiment with an order of independent national states in Europe will have reached its end.” (pp, 152, 153, 154)

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ISRAEL AND US DISAGREE ON FUTURE OF GAZA

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long been opposed to Palestinian statehood. And he has reiterated this view, saying Israel must have security control over all land west of the River Jordan, which would include the territory of any future Palestinian state. “I tell this truth to our American friends, and I also stopped the attempt to impose a reality on us that would harm Israel’s security,” he said. While not surprising, the very public nature of this latest dismissal of the US diplomatic push for a two-state solution is likely to cause frustration among Israel’s allies, writes correspondent Mark Lowen. Asked about Mr. Netanyahu’s comments, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby recognized that the US and Israel “obviously” see things differently. Mr. Netanyahu’s focus on destroying Hamas may also be at odds with a majority of Israelis who, according to recent polls, would rather  prioritize bringing home hostages. More than 100 remain in Gaza after being kidnapped during the 7 October attacks in which about 1,300 people were killed.   (1/19/2024)

ENDING PALESTINIAN SUFFERING

Palestinians in Lebanon are “prevented from employment in 39 professions such as medicine, law and engineering . . . are socially marginalized, have very limited civil, social, political and economic rights, including restricted access to the Government of Lebanon’s public health, educational and social services and face significant restrictions on their right to work…” — United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees, updated September 2020.

Arab citizens of Israel…. can own, buy and sell property, can vote and run in national and local elections, have equal access to free public healthcare, education and other services . . . Many Arab Israelis serve in senior positions in hospitals, universities and colleges, courts, the civil service, and even in the Israel Police and the Israel Defense Forces.

Neither Syria nor Lebanon grants citizenship to the Palestinians living there . . .

[W]hat is happening inside the Syrian detention centers against the Palestinians is “a war crime by all standards.” – Action Group for Palestinians of Syria, alquds.co.uk, November 29, 2023.

By ignoring the profound suffering of the Palestinians in Syria and Lebanon, these self-proclaimed “pro-Palestinian” activists and groups are once again proving that their goal is not to help Palestinians, but only to make Israel into a pariah state.

If these activists and groups want to end the suffering of the Palestinians, they should be demanding that the Arab countries end their discriminatory and repressive measures against their Palestinian brethren. The activists and groups should also be raising the plight of the Palestinians at every available international platform instead of blaming Israel.   (Bassam Tawil, Gatestone, 1/16/2024)

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TIMES SQUARE MACHETE ATTACKER PLEADS GUILTY

When Trevor Bickford was 19 years old, on Dec. 31, 2022, he ventured to Times Square along with multitudes of New Year’s Eve revelers, but he was not interested in joining the festivities. Instead, he attacked three NYPD officers with a machete. On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to three charges of attempted murder, and while his motive is abundantly clear, authorities appear to be completely indifferent about what its implications are for the future.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that Bickford, who came down to Times Square from his home in Wells, Maine, said this as he entered his guilty plea: “On Dec. 31, 2022, I attempted to kill three NYPD officers with a knife while they were working in Manhattan. I know what I did was wrong and I’m sorry.” That’s swell, but it would have been more helpful if young Bickford had explained why exactly he was sorry now for an act that he carried out in accord with his newfound beliefs and ideology.

AP added that Bickford “shouted ‘Allahu akbar’ — the Arabic phrase for God is great — before striking the officers in the head with the machete and trying to grab an officer’s gun, authorities said. One officer suffered a fractured skull.”

AP’s explanation was inaccurate: While most media outlets routinely translate “Allahu akbar” as “God is great,” it actually means “Allah is greater.” That is, the god of Islam is superior to anything that non-Muslims worship or hold dear. This declaration of superiority frequently accompanies acts that are designed to enforce the subjugation and submission of the non-believer or “infidel,” amounting to a kind of explanation of why a particular act of violence is being perpetrated.

It was unusually forthright of this far-left news service to bother to mention the politically incorrect fact that Bickford shouted this at all. AP even went so far as to add that “authorities say he had studied radical Islamic ideology and decided to wage jihad against U.S. officials.

Yet while AP was unusually forthright about Bickford’s motive, Bickford himself may have been trying to obscure it:  “At the outset of the hearing,” AP tells us, “Bickford said he was taking three medications for treatment of schizoaffective disorder.” In Europe, it is extremely common for clear cases of jihad violence to be dismissed as mental illness, with the perpetrators hospitalized rather than imprisoned.

There was no doubt, however, when Bickford was arrested. He had a handwritten note in his backpack, asking his family to “please repent to Allah and accept Islam.”   (Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch, 1/15/2024)

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TURKISH PARLIAMENT SAYS “YES” TO SWEDEN

The Turkish Parliament has officially approved Sweden’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership bid after months of deliberation.

On Tuesday, the Parliament plenary in Ankara voted 287-55 in accepting Sweden’s application to NATO. 

Before the document is filed with the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., the papers will be returned to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey for his signature and final approval.

Erdogan, who recently endorsed Sweden’s admission, is anticipated to sign.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in May of that same year. NATO’s border with Russia was doubled when Finland joined the alliance in April 2023, however, Sweden’s accession process has been plagued with setbacks.

Analysts maintain that NATO would benefit from Sweden’s entry by expanding its northern reach and strengthening its defense of the east. 

Prior to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military actions, Sweden and Finland had avoided membership in military alliances.

Hungary is the only member state that has not yet ratified Sweden’s accession.

In order to negotiate the conditions of Sweden’s membership bid, Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, announced on Tuesday that he had extended an invitation to Ulf Kristersson, the prime minister of Sweden, requesting that he visit Hungary to negotiate and discuss his terms.

“Today I sent an invitation letter to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson for a visit to Hungary to negotiate on Sweden’s NATO accession,” Orbán said on X (Twitter). (OAN, 1/24/2024)

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BANNING A POLITICAL PARTY – NOT SO EASY

More than 800,000 people took to the streets of Germany’s major cities over the weekend to protest against Alternative for Germany (AfD), following reports that members of the right-wing party have been discussing a radical plan to expel millions of migrants.

Independent investigative news site Correctiv reported on a meeting of right-wing groups including the AfD and the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). They were planning “for the so-called remigration, or expulsion, of millions of people who have immigrated to Germany,” said Deutsche Welle.

The story “jolted the nation awake from its winter slumber,” said The Guardian, “triggering sackings and resignations” and “mass rallies across German cities.”

It also prompted “a politically risky debate over an outright ban of the country’s second-strongest party,” the paper added.   (The Week, 1/23/2024)

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BRIEFLY

Britain’s shrinking army is “not what it used to be,” a top US general has warned, as the UK’s armed forces face a funding, procurement and personnel crisis just when they are most needed.

The UK has taken the lead – along with the US – in conducting military action against Houthi rebels in Yemen, with Rishi Sunak authorizing RAF air strikes last night for the second time in two weeks. This fits with Britain’s vision of itself as a “tier one” military power, loosely defined as having a full spectrum of capabilities, including a nuclear deterrent and a navy, army and air force capable of being deployed anywhere in the world.

But even the UK’s closest allies see this as fantasy, with a senior US general telling the then defense secretary Ben Wallace in 2022 that Britain was “barely tier two.”  (The Week, 1/23/2024)

The race for the Republican nomination is “all but over,” said the BBC, after Donald Trump won the New Hampshire primary. It is a highly significant victory for the former president and puts him in pole position to become the party’s candidate in November’s White House election. Joe Biden said it was “clear” Donald Trump would be the 2024 Republican nominee and warned that “the stakes could not be higher.”  (The Week, 1/24/2024)

A Tory MP said the party must replace Rishi Sunak as prime minister or be “massacred” in the general election. Writing for The Telegraph, former cabinet secretary Sir Simon Clarke said the Conservatives have “lost key voters” and need a leader who “shares the instincts of the majority.” But Priti Patel accused Clarke of “facile and divisive self indulgence” and backbench Tories “used WhatsApp groups to attack the former levelling-up secretary,” said The Times. (The Week, 1/24/2024)

The head of the Army is to “warn that the British public will be called up to fight if the UK goes to war,” claimed The Telegraph. In a speech later, General Sir Patrick Sanders will say the government will need to “mobilise the nation” if there is a war with Russia. Gen. Sir Patrick has been “openly critical of troop cuts” and believes there should be a “shift” in the mindset of regular British people, where they “think more like troops.” But the paper understands he does not support conscription.  (The Week, 1/24/2024)

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GET A HEARING AID

Some seven million people in the UK could benefit from wearing a hearing aid, according to RNID, but five million of them don’t regularly wear one. And they may be risking early mortality as a result, a study has found. For the research in the US, 10,000 adults with an average age of 49 had their hearing tested. Almost one in five of them were found to have hearing loss and were asked about how often they used a hearing aid. All of the participants were then tracked for ten years. Analysis of the results revealed those who had poor hearing were more likely to die during the period of the study – but those who wore a hearing aid regularly had a 24% lower risk of early death than those who did not. This was the case even after adjusting for age, sex, education, socioeconomic status and the severity of the hearing loss. The study didn’t look at why it might be the case, but previous research has found links between hearing loss and increased rates of depression, dementia and social isolation. Lead author Dr. Janet Choi suggested that improved hearing leads to better mental health and healthier, more active lives.   (The Week, 1/19/2024)

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Now and Forever

by Bob Arbogast — Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Scripture Reading — Matthew 19:16-26

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” - Matthew 19:24

The kingdom of God is eternal. It’s the ultimate reality, when everything will be good at last. Surprisingly, though, the kingdom is also right here, right now—wherever Jesus is present in the flesh or by the Spirit. We can see that in Matthew 19. A rich man who comes to talk with Jesus is very interested in having eternal life—that is, life in the kingdom of God. But does he really want that kind of life? When Jesus tells the man, “Sell everything, give to the poor, and follow me,” the man can’t do it. He can’t take those three steps. It’s really hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. That’s what Jesus says. And he means more than entering the eternal kingdom in the future. He also means living the way of the kingdom right here, right now. Among other things, the way of the kingdom is selfless and generous. And the way of the kingdom includes deeply trusting in God to meet every need. Sadly, the rich man in this story wasn’t ready to live that way. Not here, not now. How about you? Are you ready to live the way of the kingdom here and now? If not, will you want to live that way in eternity? (Our Daily Bread, 1/24/2024)

GERMAN HELP FOR UKRAINE

[This was the week of our grandson Grayson’s treatment.   Update #6 is on the GoFundMe website:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/treatment-for-grayson.   As time is rather limited, I’m sending you some urgent news clippings, with no “Final Thought.”]

President Volodymyr Zelenskyi spoke in a newspaper interview that Berlin “recently prevented us from receiving supplies of defense weapons systems within the framework of NATO cooperation”. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, on the other hand, referred to “the imperative of de-escalation” and at the same time emphasized solidarity with Ukraine. (https://detv.us/2021/12/14/ukraine-insists-on-a-change-of-course-kiev-germany-blocked-arms-delivery/)

Pressure is mounting on the German government to authorize arms deliveries to Ukraine. This is prompted by the fact that Berlin vetoed the supply of US-made sniper rifles to Ukraine via the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). The Ukrainian armed forces are already being upgraded by NATO and its member states. So far, the USA has provided military aid worth more than US $2.5 billion, including the delivery of hundreds of Javelin anti-tank missiles. Poland and the Czech Republic have delivered dozens of second-hand armored personnel carriers, Turkey is supplying Kiev with its infamous Bayraktar TB2 drones. Great Britain, in turn, has begun to upgrade Ukraine’s naval forces and wants to help Ukraine acquire new warships and construct new naval bases. Via the NSPA, NATO will supply Kiev with an anti-drone system – with Berlin’s explicit support. Kiev is demanding more and accuses Berlin of “blocking” further arms deliveries.  (German Foreign Policy, 12/15/2021)

PUTIN MEETS XI JINPING

Vladimir Putin yesterday sought to present a united front with Xi Jinping after the Kremlin said Beijing supported Moscow’s demand for guarantees that would limit western influence in its backyard. At the start of a 90-minute video call between the pair, Putin told his “dear friend” Xi that “a new model of co-operation between our countries has formed on principles such as non-interference in internal affairs and respecting each other’s interests.” Putin also confirmed he will attend the opening of the Winter Olympics in China, an event Boris Johnson and other leaders have boycotted.  (The Week, 12/16/2021)

Russia makes its demands. With 100,000 Russian troops at the Ukrainian border, Moscow released a bombshell list of demands for the “West” on Friday. Among other things, NATO must relinquish any right ever to expand further eastward and must stop sending its troops or ships anywhere that could conceivably threaten Russia. What’s more, the Russians are impatient: they want the US to discuss these proposals right now. The US is happy to talk but won’t give the Kremlin a veto over the choices that sovereign nations want to make about their own security alliances. The Ukrainians, naturally, agree, and on Monday President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will meet with his counterparts from Poland and Lithuania to emphasize the point. (Gzero Signal, 12/20/2021)

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No new friends — Putin and Xi 

The leaders of Russia and China held a conspicuously chummy video conference on Wednesday at a time when both are getting an earful from “the West.” Putin told his “dear friend” Xi that he will absolutely attend the Beijing Winter Olympics next February despite a US-led diplomatic boycott over China’s human rights abuses, and that China is right to be worried about Western military maneuvering in the Pacific. Xi, meanwhile, told his “old friend” Putin that China supports Russia’s demands for security guarantees from NATO. Both men reportedly discussed developing alternative financial structures in order to evade Western sanctions — the US and EU have threatened to shut Russia out of SWIFT if the Kremlin invades Ukraine (again). Russia-China relations have always been tricky — they have clashed over borders in the past and Moscow is perennially worried about being dwarfed economically by its more populous neighbor. But as the US gears up for a push against authoritarian countries, the two most influential important ones are closing ranks.  (Gzero Signal, 12/16/2021)

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Fed gets serious about US inflation. 

The US Federal Reserve has spent months telling Americans that persistently high inflation was “transitory.” Not anymore (in fact, that word is verboten for the Fed from now on). On Wednesday, the Fed announced it would cut back its monthly purchases of US government debt — which it started doing in March 2020 to bolster the COVID-battered economy — faster than it initially planned because prices are simply rising too much, too fast. What’s more, for the first time since the pandemic began, the Fed is ready to take the more drastic step of raising interest rates up to three times in 2022 if inflation keeps going up at this rate. Now that the US economy is in better shape than it was a year ago — despite ongoing supply-chain disruptions, that is — and unemployment is down, the Fed has become increasingly worried about inflation. Finally admitting you have a problem is a good first step, but fixing it won’t be easy — and interest rate hikes will likely be painful for many Americans.  (Gzero Signal, 12/16/2021)

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IRANIAN OIL ARRIVES IN LEBANON

In September 2021, 80 trucks carrying one million gallons of Iranian oil entered Lebanon amid a severe fuel crisis. There were no border checks and no customs duty was levied. The shipments were orchestrated by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement. Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati, although a Hezbollah political ally, told CNN: “The violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty makes me sad.”

If the international community still had doubts, these recent events have clearly shown the extent of Hezbollah’s control over Lebanon. The Iranian oil shipments represent an impressive public relations success. In practical terms they are hollow: Lebanon needs more than 6.5 million gallons of oil per day. Iran sent much less than one day’s worth of consumption. Still, from Hezbollah’s viewpoint, the move was a victory. It highlighted Iranian generosity and flouted the United States embargo. And, since they sold the fuel at the inflated market price, the project also proved highly profitable.   (Amatzia Baram, MEF, 12/16/2021)

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European Neo-Nazis And White Supremacists Use Soccer As An Expression Of Antisemitism Across Social Media Platforms, Chant Slogans Including ‘Jews To The Gas,’ Wear Nazi Paraphernalia At Games, Violently Attack Jewish Supporters Of Rival Teams  (MEMRI 12/16/2021)

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EU POWER WANING

The global power potential of the EU and its member countries is eroding and cannot keep up with that of the United States and China, as confirmed by data in “Power Atlas,” recently published by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).  Not only the German and the EU’s relative economic power is systematically declining, Germany is also losing ground in terms of its share of major corporations with global influence. China is leading in every sector. In the high-tech sectors such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, robotics and the like, the USA and China dominate. The EU, ECFR notes, “fails to keep pace.” In the future, “geopolitics will be dominated by countries and firms” that excel in precisely these fields. Only in the military sector – in terms of the volume of military expenditures, the number of foreign military bases – are western powers, led by the United States far out front. The military could thus take on prime importance in the West’s attempt to maintain its dwindling global dominance against China.   (German Foreign Policy, 12/19/2021)

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JOE SINKS JOE

It looks like US President Joe Biden has come to the end of the road with his $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Plan, now that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has announced flatly he’ll vote “no.” With the Senate split 50-50, Biden needs every Democrat vote in the chamber. The White House haggled with Manchin for months — “dancin’ for Manchin”, you might say. Biden even cut the proposed spending in half. But the moderate Manchin said he still “couldn’t get there” because of concerns about the deficit, and further stoking already high inflation. Republicans, of course, are ecstatic, because passing BBB is Biden’s key pitch for Americans to vote for Democrats in next year’s midterms and re-elect him (or another Democrat in his place) in 2024. It’s not too late to reach a fresh compromise on the bill, but the longer the Dems keep squabbling, the longer their odds of retaining control of Congress next November.   (Gzero Signal. 12/20/2021)

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THUNDER DOWN UNDER

For Beijing, there is thunder Down Under. Tensions between Australia and China just keep rising. After China responded to Aussie requests for a COVID investigation by imposing devastating tariffs and unofficial bans on Australian exports in 2020, Oz is pushing back hard now. Canberra on Friday accused China of “economic coercion,” while cybersecurity officials publicly confirmed malicious attacks against Australia by Chinese spy services working with Chinese telecom giant Huawei. The Aussies also say Chinese intelligence vessels are snooping around in Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone. These accompany several clearly pro-American moves this year: the Aussies have signed on to AUKUS, an exclusive military club with Washington and London that gives them access to unprecedented weapons tech, are allowing the buildup of US military infrastructure (read, bases) on its soil, and joined America in a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. But the Australians are taking the tensions directly to China’s neighborhood, too. Canberra just signed a $770 million weapons deal with South Korea, including tech to build Howitzers — really, really big artillery guns. And even though the spat between the two continues, there is evidence that Australia, while heavily dependent on trade with China, is successfully pushing for diversity in trade partnerships.  (Gzero Signal, 12/20/2021)

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TO THE POINT

• Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban says his government will defy an EU ruling and maintain its controversial immigration laws. The bloc’s top court has ruled that Hungary’s law, which criminalises lawyers and activists who help asylum seekers, was in breach of European legislation. Orban said the EU’s rules were “obsolete” in the face of “massive migration” since 2015. The row means Hungary could miss out on billions of euros in EU cash.  (The Week, 12/23/2021)

• Covid’s icy grip on Europe:  Winter infections soar on the continent as Belgium rages with anti-lockdown riots, Holland enforces brutal new curbs and Germany bans tourists in desperate bid to slow the march of Omicron *Winter infections are soaring across Europe amid the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant *Denmark became first EU country to lift lockdown restrictions, but Europe now reintroducing tougher rules.  Thousands of protestors marched through Brussels and clashed with police over tighter restrictions.  Holland has announced that all non-essential stores, bars and restaurants will be closed until January 14.  Germany has also confirmed Britain has been added to its list of high-risk countries as a ‘virus variant area’  by Jamie Phillips for MailOnline, 20 Dec 2021  (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10326009/Covids-icy-grip-Europe-Winter-infections-soar-countries-bid-slow-march-Omicron.html)

• Doctors have been told to stop handing out antidepressants after a study found no strong evidence that the drugs were effective. A trial failed to show a “clinically relevant” difference between the drugs and a placebo, with researchers finding that patients had “severe” side effects and withdrawal symptoms. An estimated 7.8m people in England — roughly one adult in six — were given at least one prescription for antidepressants in 2019-20.  (The Week, 12/21/2021)

• Police in India are investigating a charity started by the late Mother Teresa for alleged “forceful conversions”. Authorities in the state of Gujarat are investigating whether the Missionaries of Charity forced girls in its shelter home to wear a cross and read the Bible. The Telegraph said the probe comes as the Hindu nationalist government pursues a crackdown on the country’s Christian minority.  (The Week, 12/14/2021)

• What Americans believe when it comes to matters of faith has been shifting for decades, and the latest Pew Research Center seems to indicate that the pace of change is accelerating. Today, the percentage of Americans that identify as Christians is the lowest that it has ever been before, and the percentage of Americans that identify as “nones” is at a new all-time record high.  (PNW, 12/16/2021)

• The Queen is suffering “sleepless nights” over the Duke of Cambridge’s decision to fly with his wife and children in a helicopter, according to a royal source. The source told The Times that she is “terrified” about an accident. An unwritten rule preventing senior royals flying together was relaxed to allow Prince William to travel with his family between London and Norfolk, but an investigation has been launched after two near-misses.   (The Week, 12/20/2021)

ASSAULT ON RELIGION WITHOUT PARALLEL

Staff photo by Wyatt Massey / Pastor Doug Plumlee delivers a sermon at Ridgedale Baptist Church on March 15. The Baptist church was shut down for in-person services.

Vaccination is now the hot topic for decision-making. The argument for widespread vaccination is powerful, but a few million Australians quietly disagree. They carry concerns, often unspoken. Having suffered financially from the lockdowns, they see no sign of comparable financial sacrifices being offered by leading politicians and high-ranking officials, who mainly decide which citizens, industries and occupations should suffer.

Hosts of civil servants are receiving higher salaries and working safely at home while the losers in the private sector are suffering financially and even dipping into their superannuation.

Women, especially those in hospitality and tourism, are losers. The young more than the middle-aged suffer from unemployment, a burden that is more widespread than is measured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The government’s job subsidies tend to support full-time employees, whereas so many young workers, especially students, are casuals.

Outer regions tend to suffer more than the big cities, while in the heart of those cities the hairdressers, coffee shops, laneway bars and other small businesses suffer more than banks and big mining companies.

Some businesses, of course, have gained more than they merited because the Morrison-Frydenberg formula of subsidies necessarily had to be devised with speed and generosity.

The loss of daily freedom has perhaps surpassed financial losses from the pandemic, though the two forms of damage cannot be compared easily. School-age children, deprived of their friends by the onset of online learning, have suffered emotionally. Mental health is impaired in all age groups. The assault on freedom of religion – inflicted promptly during lockdowns – has probably no parallel in the past 185 years.

This assault is more punitive than that organized by governments during the mask-wearing months of the Spanish flu, when Christians were often allowed to worship in the open air near their chosen church.  (“Compared with Spanish flu, we’re doing ok,” Geoffrey Blainey, The Australian, 8/4/2021)

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MUSLIM ASSOCIATION OF CANADA

Muslim Association Of Canada (MAC), After Participating In Summit With Prime Minister Trudeau, Canadian Officials, Schedules Muslim Student Leadership Conference Featuring Muslim Brotherhood Leader Tareq Al-Suwaidan, Who Has Said Gays Should Be Killed, Called For Jihad Against Israel, And Spoke At December 2020 MAC Conference Alongside Islamist Figures Muhammad Al-Dido, Muhammad Al-Nabulsi   (MEMRI, 8/6/2021)

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DIEGO GARCIA OCCUPIED ILLEGALLY

The frigate Bayern, which set sail for East Asia yesterday, will soon make a port call at Diego Garcia, an island under occupation, in violation of international law, and serving military purposes. It is the main island of the Chagos Archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean and the site of a strategically important US military base. The Chagos Archipelago is an old British colonial possession that had once belonged to Mauritius. It was detached, in violation of international law, during the decolonization of Mauritius, to allow the United States to construct a military base. The population was deported to impoverished regions on Mauritius. In the meantime, several international court rulings have been handed down and a UN General Assembly resolution has been passed on this issue – all concluding that Mauritius has sovereignty over Diego Garcia and calling on the United Kingdom to hand back the illegally occupied Chagos Archipelago. To this day, London and Washington refuse to comply. This does not bother Berlin.   (German Foreign Policy, 8/3/2021)

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IRANIAN PROTESTS

Protests began on July 15 in the southwestern Khuzestan Province. The initial focus was a scarcity of water in recent months, which has led to deaths among livestock and consequent impoverishment among farmers in the ethnically diverse province. The lack of water is also leading to a breakdown in electricity provision and frequent blackouts.

But while scarcity of water was the initial trigger, the protests soon began to include more generalized slogans against the ruling Islamist regime. Khuzestan Province, in which Arab-Iranians form the largest community, is a place of high unemployment, poorly served by the central government in terms of services. In the course of a week, the protests spread, with additional, though smaller, demonstrations taking place in the cities of Isfahan, Karaj, Kermanshah and Tabriz.  (“Unrest grows in Iran,” Jonathan Spyer, MEF, 7/30/2021)

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WILL LEBANON FALL TO IRAN?

If Lebanon falls to Iran, the Iranians will control an arc of territory from Iran, through Iraq and Syria.   This territory is basically the old King of the North, which the Bible says will be restored prior to Christ’s return.

• There is growing concern among the Lebanese and other Arabs that Iran is planning to exploit the severe political, economic and financial crisis in Lebanon to complete its takeover of the country.
• Iran already has a political and military presence in Lebanon through its terrorist proxy, Hezbollah. The current crisis, however, is likely to facilitate Iran’s mission of adding Lebanon to the list of countries it already occupies:  Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
• “Iran is already very dangerous without a nuclear bomb. The region is witnessing a state of chaos and agitation by fundamentalist forces, which threaten all Arab countries without exception.” — Mishary Dhayidi, Saudi writer, Al-Arabiya, July 21, 2021
• The Arabs appear clearly worried about the perceived apathy of the US and other Western powers towards Iran’s scheme to extend its control to Lebanon. They seem particularly alarmed that Lebanon will meet the same fate as Iraq, Syria and Yemen…. thanks to Iran’s continuous efforts to export terrorism and the “Islamic Revolution” to the Arab countries.
• [T]he mullahs in Tehran are doubly dangerous: they aspire not only to develop nuclear weapons, but also to occupy Arab states.  (“Will Lebanon fall into the hands of Iran?,” Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone, 7/26/2021)

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HUNGARY’S ORBAN FACES ELECTION

Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s far-right populist prime minister, likes to shock people. It’s part of his political appeal. Orbán has proudly proclaimed that he is an “illiberal” leader,” creating a frenzy in Brussels because Hungary is a member of the European Union.

It’s been over a decade since the 58-year-old, whom some have dubbed the “Trump before Trump,” became prime minister. In that time he has, critics say, hollowed out Hungary’s governing institutions and eroded the state’s democratic characteristics.

But now for the first time since then, Orbán faces a real challenge to his power. Six ideologically-diverse opposition parties have joined forces to unseat him. But even if the opposition bloc wins elections next spring, a hard feat given Orbán’s popular appeal, what would it even mean to “liberalize” Hungary again?   (Gzero Signal, 7/29/2021)

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FAMILY FIRST, NZ

George Orwell is traditionally credited with saying this great quote:  “The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” Let me adjust that slightly to my version. “The further a society drifts from biblical truth, the more it will hate those who quote it.”   (Family First, NZ, August)

The proposed ‘conversion therapy’ ban will be yet another attack on parents’ rights. A ban would criminalize parents who wish to protect their child from the physical, emotional, and psychological harm caused by gender dysphoria. Shockingly, parents would be criminalized and potentially liable up to five years in jail simply for affirming that their sons are boys and their daughters are girls. The government want to criminalize the discussion and practice of alternatives to hormones, surgery and confusion.
 
And if a person wanted to align their sexuality with the teachings and values of their particular faith – be it Muslim or Christian, Jewish or Sikh – and sought help to do so from a minister, imam or other faith leader, a ban would make it virtually impossible to access the support they wanted. Furthermore, if they were able to find someone prepared to provide counselling of that kind, they could well cause that person (such as you!) to become implicated in a criminal offence. According to the government bill, consent is not relevant. But the right of self-determination is a founding principle of the mental health profession, and for children, the wider whanau / family is part of this important value and support base.   (Family First NZ, August)

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CRITICAL RACE THEORY

Despite widespread acceptance of bi-culturalism and the increasing use of Te Reo Māori, terms like “systemic racism”, “White guilt” and “White privilege” are being enthusiastically embraced by organizations and governments – and now being pushed in our education system. It’s all part of critical theory – a radical and dangerous new way of thinking about human identity and value. But critical theory is divisive. It’s reduces human interaction to the notion of us versus them. This then feeds the very thing it claims to be fighting:  racism, prejudice, resentment and self interest. And the traditional values of reconciliation, love, treating others the way you want to be treated, forgiveness and colour-blindness have no place in a world gripped by critical theory. But it’s wrong to teach children to be defined by their race rather than as individuals, as though they are only the color of their skin and that’s all they will ever be. This is confusing to children and creates resentment, tribalism and division in schools. Fighting racism with racism is a double standard. Parents need to check whether this agenda is in their local schools.   (Family First NZ, August)

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President Biden’s Middle East policy

The Biden team has attempted to base its Middle East policy on the noble values of human rights and democracy, which are inconsistent with the Arab Middle East.

by Yoram Ettinger: a former ambassador & head of Second Thought: A U.S.-Israel Initiative.  (August 8, 2021 / JNS)

The Middle East does not intend to disengage from the United States. America is perceived by rogue Middle East entities as “The Great Satan,” and the main obstacle on their way to achieving their overarching goal: bringing the West into submission. This goal has deep roots, going back to the seventh century C.E.

Isolation is not a realistic option in the increasingly globalized village, where rogue Middle East regimes are engaged in the proliferation of terrorism, non-conventional military technologies and drug trafficking around the globe. Their reach extends all the way to the American continent, impacting U.S. homeland security.  . . . Biden and his team assume that Islamic terrorism (e.g., Iran’s ayatollahs, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Hamas, PLO, Houthis) is driven by despair. They ignore the fact that Islamic terrorism has been driven – since the 7th century C.E. – not by despair, but by deeply-rooted, intolerant, fanatic and megalomaniacal anti-Western ideology, irrespective of Western and Israeli policies.  (https://www.jns.org/opinion/president-bidens-middle-east-policy/)

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Germany’s Left Party candidate for chancellor supports NATO and European army by Peter Schwarz (9 August 2021, © 1998-2021 World Socialist Web Site. All rights reserved)

A world without an army was “a wonderful utopia,” Dietmar Bartsch, the lead candidate for Germany’s Left Party told an ARD television interviewer recently. 

A utopia, however, he also made clear, that for him and his party existed only as fiction. Bartsch made unmistakably clear that despite verbal declarations about peace, the Left Party supports foreign deployments of the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces), the creation of a European army and NATO. (https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/08/09/left-a09.html)

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Why did so many world leaders attend the inauguration of Iran’s murderous president?
For a regime that makes such noise about how many foreign leaders attend an inauguration, it sure is quiet about how many citizens it has murdered.

(August 8, 2021 / The Jewish Journal) What would you do if you were a senior European Union diplomat who was invited to the inauguration of a man affectionately known as “The Butcher of Tehran”?  Yes, I’m kidding about the “affectionately” part, but not about “The Butcher of Tehran.” You don’t earn that nickname (as well as “Ayatollah Massacrist”) among Iranian people unless you’ve overseen the arrest, torture and murder of thousands of dissidents and protestors for more than 30 years.  If you’re Enrique Mora, a senior E.U. diplomat, you RSVP “yes” to the swearing-in of newly-elected Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, which was held on Thursday in Tehran.  Mora was joined by representatives from over 70 countries who also said “yes.”  Specifically, the ceremony was attended by “10 presidents, 20 speakers of parliament, 11 foreign ministers, 10 other ministers, envoys of presidents, vice presidents and parliamentary delegations,” according to a statement by Iranian Parliament spokesman Seyyed Nezam Al-Din Mousavi. For a regime that makes such noise about how many foreign leaders attend an inauguration, it sure is quiet about how many citizens it has murdered. + Noted:  thousands murdered.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/why-did-so-many-world-leaders-attend-the-inauguration-of-irans-murderous-president/

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Evidence shows biblical-era earthquake reached Jerusalem

The new findings update what was previously the earliest destruction layer of Jerusalem – from the Babylonian conquest of 586 BCE.
by Brian Blum (8 August 2021, Israel 21c)

Did an ancient earthquake described by the Bible in the Kingdom of Judah some 2,800 years ago reach as far as Jerusalem, the region’s capital? An archeological dig says yes.  This could have only one explanation: the eighth century BCE earthquake mentioned in the books of Amos and Zechariah.

https://www.israel21c.org/evidence-shows-biblical-era-earthquake-reached-jerusalem/

Is Iran on the verge of sparking a water war?

Years of mismanagement has left Iran facing “irreversible” water shortages that threaten to trigger conflict across the Middle East and North Africa, an exiled former minister has warned.

Kaveh Madani, a scientist who served as deputy environment minister, told The Times that Iran was “water bankrupt” – when consumption is greater than renewable water availability – as reservoirs, rivers and groundwater begin to run dry.

And the shortages are “being replicated across the region,” says the paper, “with the marshes of southern Iraq starting to dry out again despite restoration efforts, and eastern Syria suffering a significant drought.”  (The Week, 7/29/2021)

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TALKING POINTS

• “Biden is failing in his first constitutional duty — to defend the United States from foreign invasion. We Americans no longer decide who comes into our national home and whom we shall adopt as new citizens . . .   We defend the borders of scores of nations; we cannot, or Biden will not, defend our own.”  (“Is America becoming a failed state?” by Pat Buchanan, 8/10/2021)

• Not once in this century has the U.S. decisively won one of the wars it launched — in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen or Libya. And the sole superpower status we enjoyed as the 21st century began is gone with the wind.”  (PB, 8/10/2021) 

• Iran ‘working systematically to build serious cyber-attack capabilities’
  Revelations about malign plans by Tehran’s leaders serve as the latest confirmation of how seriously the Islamic Republic takes cyber warfare, said Professor Col. (res.) Gabi Siboni, an expert on cyber security.  (https://www.jns.org/iran-is-working-systematically-to-build-serious-cyber-attack-capabilities/)

• VIEWPOINT Quote of the day, UK — It’s phenomenal to see first-hand the enthusiasm of the British public for the vaccines.”  Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi hails the news that 75% of adults have now been double-vaccinated.  (The Week, 8/10/2021)

• Nigel Farage helped lead the British people to Brexit.   He now has a program on a new channel called “GB News,” which is far more even-handed than the BBC.  Imaginatively, his program is called “Talking Pints.”   Nigel sits at a bar interviewing people.  Both participants have a glass of brownish liquid in front of them.  It’s well worth a view (and can be seen regularly on YouTube).  Although I like the concept, we shall continue to call this segment of the blog “Talking Points.”

FINAL THOUGHT

GOD’S WAITING ROOM

My wife had a birthday at the weekend.  A lady friend in Australia called her on the day to wish her a happy birthday.  I also talked with her for a few minutes.   She mentioned how one old lady she knows described the years after 70 as being in God’s waiting room.

Psalm 90:10, written over 3000 years ago, is a reminder that people normally live about 70 years.  “The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor …”  Some may be given a few more years, but life only gets harder as we all deal with failing health.

It’s as if we are in God’s waiting room.   As in any waiting room situation, we have choices.  We can do something profitable while we wait such as reading; or we can waste away the time checking our phones for messages!

In our general life, we can spend time with the grandchildren or waste our days watching television.  

You get the idea.   Redeem the time.   Use it profitably.

Ephesians 5:15-16 tells us to “see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

We don’t know how long we will be in the waiting room, but, as we wait patiently, let us use the time well.   For we never know when the wait time will be over.

RUSSIAN INVOLVEMENT AGAINST ISRAEL

The London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat cited an unnamed “well-informed” Russian source as saying that following talks with Washington, Moscow had got the impression that “Washington does not welcome the continuous Israeli raids,” and thus believes it has the freedom to act more aggressively to thwart them.  In light of this, the Russians were now supplying Syrian forces with more advanced anti-missile systems and know-how, making them more capable of shooting down Israeli armaments, the report said. (Israel Defense Forces, the Times of Israel)

“Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it? Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.” Thus says the Lord God:  “Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them?   (Ezekiel 38:14-17)

On Thursday it was reported that the Israel Defense Forces is planning to change its tactics in Syria and will base its operations against Iranian targets in the area on long-range standoff munitions rather than on airstrikes. Obviously, the move will downgrade Israel’s operational prowess.

The report of Israel’s new policy of restraint followed the big story of the week:  Russia’s announcement that for the first time, it had assisted the Syrians in intercepting four missiles fired by Israeli F-16s at targets in Syria.

Russia’s statement came in tandem with its announcement that it is abrogating its 2015 agreement with Israel to coordinate and deconflict Israel’s military operations in Syria from Russian forces in the country.

For Jerusalem, Russia’s decision is a major strategic blow.   (Caroline Glick, Israel Hayom)

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PROTESTS IN IRAN

Protesters chanted: “Cannons, tanks, rockets, the mullahs should get lost” in a protest staged in Tehran, video of which was posted on Kian Sharif’s Twitter account on July 26, 2021. Protesters also chanted: “Not Gaza, not Lebanon, I will give my life only for Iran” in another video posted on the same day on the Twitter account of Iran News Wire. In the video, protesters further chanted: “Death to the dictator!” and “From Tehran to Khuzestan, unite, unite!” On July 31, 2021, videos of another protest were posted on the Irankargar YouTube channel, in which protesters burned tires and blocked a road. Protesters also chanted: “Death to the Rule of the Jurisprudent!” and “The country has no water, the massacre continues!” The protests in Tehran come following protests in Khuzestan and elsewhere.   (MEMRI, 8/2/2021)

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MAJOR EXPANSION OF CHINA’S NUCLEAR FACILITIES

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The U.S. military is warning about what analysts have described as a major expansion of China’s nuclear missile silo fields at a time of heightened tension between Beijing and Washington.

Researchers at the Federation of American Scientists estimate that China has approximately 250 underground missile silos under construction after they used satellite imagery to identify a new field being built in western China.

U.S. Strategic Command tweeted a link Wednesday to a story in The New York Times on the federation’s findings, which were published this week.

“The public has discovered what we have been saying all along about the growing threat the world faces and the veil of secrecy that surrounds it,” said Strategic Command, which oversees America’s nuclear arsenal.

The field in the Xinjiang region is the second one reported this summer. In June, researchers at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California identified another field under construction in neighboring Gansu province.

China has not commented on the reports. Asked about the latest one, the Foreign Ministry said Friday that it was not aware of the situation.

The reports come at a time when relations between the U.S. and China have plunged to their worst level in decades. The two nations remain sharply at odds over a range of issues, including trade, technology, cybersecurity, human rights and China’s increasingly assertive foreign policy under President Xi Jinping.

The expansion of China’s nuclear force would likely factor into any U.S. calculations for potential military confrontations over flashpoints such as Taiwan or the South China Sea.   (“US warns China is building more nuclear missile silos,” Huizhong Wu and Jon Gambrell, 7/30/2021)

MANDELA’S DREAM FOR SOUTH AFRICA IS IN RUINS Following the imprisonment of Jacob Zuma, and at a time when inequality is worse than during apartheid, mob violence is threatening the country’s constitutional order. by Robin Wright, who is a contributing writer and columnist, has written for The New Yorker since 1988.  (She is the author of “Rock the Casbah:  Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World,” The New Yorker, July 28, 2021)

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CUBAN RALLIES

Here is the ugly truth: Biden does not care a damn about the Cuban people throwing off 60+ years of communism. Cubans are holding the largest anti-government rallies in decades. American media coverage has been near zero. Half of Biden’s White House staff probably does not understand what the president means by “repression,” admires Fidel and Raul Castro, and can be found wearing Che Guevara T-shirts on the weekends.   (“Betraying the Cuban people, again,” Chris Farrell, Gatestone, 8/2/2021)

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NEWSLETTER – MANEUVERS IN EAST ASIA (II)

With its deployment of the frigate Bayern to East Asia on Monday, Germany is joining the rapid expansion of western war maneuvers in China’s close vicinity. In the fall, the frigate Bayern will conduct operations for monitoring US sanctions against North Korea and subsequently set off for home through the South China Sea. The UK Carrier Strike Group led by the new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth had entered the South China Sea already yesterday, after joint exercises also with warships from India and Singapore. Following naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal in early April, the French armed forces have conducted joint air combat exercises with US jets in Hawaii this month and specially relocated several Rafale fighter jets to its overseas territory French Polynesia in the middle of the South Pacific. The US air force is currently holding a maneuver that experts view as a realistic trial-run for war with China under contemporary conditions. High-ranking US military officials suggest that war is possible in the near future.  (German Foreign Policy, 7/30/2021)

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AN ALTERNATE VIEW:   COVID VACCINE KILLS MORE THAN OTHER VACCINES

There are now more deaths and injuries likely due to reactions to the coronavirus vaccines than all other vaccines combined, according to numbers published by the CDC.

The numbers can be found in the Centers for Disease Control Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The latest numbers were released last Friday, the National Vaccine Information Center noted.

The latest report shows that there have been 11,940 deaths and 618,648 injuries among 518,770 cases, including 12,808 permanent disabilities, 65,272 emergency room visits, 40,873 hospitalizations, and 11,198 life threatening injuries.  It is acknowledged that these numbers are not all such cases in the U.S., but this database is the most comprehensive one there is. There were also 1,175 deaths of unborn babies following COVID vaccine injections.  (Warner Todd Huston, 8/2/2021, Flag and Cross)

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TO THE POINT

• CALL FOR TAX ON MEAT – The founder of the world’s biggest plant-based meat firm is calling for a tax on meat to encourage people to cut their consumption of animal-based products.  Speaking to the BBC, Beyond Meat boss Ethan Brown said he is in favour of a “pigouvian tax.”  Past examples of such taxes include levies on tobacco and carbon. However, critics argue that a meat tax would raise the cost of living.  (The Week, 8/2/2021)

• CHINA:  Going into its second century, the CCP is not as invincible or as unified as it tries to appear, Schell notes. “Despite nationalist bravado about China’s ‘rejuvenation’ and success at nation building,” he writes, “the party’s ongoing obsession with control reveals a lack of confidence in the system it has confected.”   (Foreign Policy, 7/23/2021)

• NZ APOLOGIES FOR HISTORIC RACIST POLICING – New Zealand’s prime minister has issued a formal apology for historic racist policing of Pacific people, and offered scholarships to Pacific students. As some audience members at a town hall event wept, Jacinda Ardern said of the dawn raids of the 1970s that saw authorities hunt for visa over-stayers: “It remains vividly etched in the memory of those who were directly affected. It lives on in the disruption of trust and faith in authorities, and it lives on in the unresolved grievances of Pacific communities.”  (The Week, 8/2/2021)

• WELLBEING ON THE DECLINE IN ENGLAND – Analysis of data from the ONS shows that wellbeing in England has decreased in the last year while loneliness and mistrust in government has increased. Carnegie UK says “gross domestic wellbeing” has fallen to 6.79 out of 10 from 6.89 for 2018/19.  The number of adults in England feeling lonely has jumped by 44%, from 2.6m to 3.7m. Meanwhile, trust in government has suffered a 40% drop from 2018/19 to 2019/20.  (The Week, 8/2/2021)

• UK PM’S POPULARITY PLUMMETS – Boris Johnson has fallen nearly 40 points in a poll of grassroots Tory members after a challenging month for his government.  A Conservative Home survey found that the prime minister’s recent U-turn over self-isolating cost him 36 points. The news comes after an Ipsos Mori survey showed that public satisfaction with Johnson and his party had fallen to a nine-month low.  (The Week, 8/2/2021)

• FIRST REFUGEES ARRIVE – “The first flight evacuating Afghans who worked alongside Americans in Afghanistan brought more than 200 people, including scores of children and babies in arms, to new loves in the United States on Friday, and President Joe Biden said he was proud to welcome them home.”  (“Evacuation brings 221 Afghans to US,” Lansing State Journal, 7/31/2021)

• Hunger is expected to rise in 23 global hot spots in the next three months with the highest alerts to “catastrophic” situations in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, southern Madagascar, Yemen, South Sudan and northern Nigeria, two UN agencies warned Friday.  (“UN:  Hunger to rise in 23 hot spots,” LSJ, 8/1/2021)

• Germany’s grand coalition presses ahead with military re-armament. Ahead of Germany’s federal election on 27 September, the federal grand coalition government is pressing ahead with military rearmament. In its last sitting of the legislative session, the parliamentary budgetary committee approved spending for 27 rearmament projects with a total value of close to €20 billion at the end of June. The projects include major purchases for the navy, air force and land-based armed forces. According to an official report on the Defence Ministry’s website, the investments cover “a broad spectrum of land, air, naval, and cyber dimensions.” Some of the most comprehensive projects are listed here: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/07/26/mili-j26.html  (World Socialist Web Site, 26 July 2021)

• CANADA’S G-G A FIRST – The Governor-General in Canada exercises the powers of Queen Elizabeth II in her absence.   He or she is appointed for five years.   The new G-G is a woman, the first time a Native Canadian has been appointed.  This follows scandals involving the Roman Catholic Church where hundreds of children’s bodies were found on reservations.  Some of this got blamed on the Queen and Queen Victoria.  

• CALL FOR WARNING ON FOOTBALL SALES – Footballs should be sold with health warnings, the scientist leading a landmark study has said.  Professor Willie Stewart of the University of Glasgow said the link between dementia and heading a football is now so clear that the laws of the game to be changed for amateur and youth football to reduce the risk of degenerative brain disease. The study found no evidence that the transition from heavy leather balls to synthetic replacements had made a difference.   (The Week, 8/3/2021)

HOW MUCH LONGER CAN U.S. STAY AT THE TOP?

To paraphrase former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, how much longer can the world’s biggest debtor continue being the world’s biggest superpower?  How much longer can a country which debases its currency, embraces socialism, silences intellectual dissent, brainwashes its youth, and encourages unproductive behavior, continue being the world’s most dynamic economy?   (Sovereign Man, 7/21/2021)

EU ROLE IN MOZAMBIQUE

The EU is launching a military mission in Mozambique to train the country’s armed forces. This move comes after nearly four years of insurrection in the northeastern Cabo Delgado province, which claimed around 3,000 lives, and displaced almost 800,000 people. The insurrection was basically provoked by social deprivation: Cabo Delgado, one of Mozambique’s poorest regions, has been neglected by the government for many years. The population does not benefit from the current exploitation of the country’s rich natural resources by multinational corporations. The battles are being led by the Ansar al-Sunna/ al-Shabab jihadi militia, at times supported by the Islamic State (IS). In late March, an Ansar al-Sunna attack on the coastal town of Palma and the subsequent massacres prompted France’s Total corporation to halt all operations on a natural gas field in the vicinity. Soon thereafter, the EU decided on the new deployment. In line with its tradition, Berlin is not participating in missions that are in Paris’ interest.  (German Foreign Policy, 7/20/2021)

LEBANON’S ECONOMIC CRISIS CONTINUES

Lebanon is currently in the grip of the worst economic crisis in its history. There are daily shortages of fuel and electricity, a chronic lack of medical supplies, and an absence of essential medicines in hospitals. Some 77% of Lebanese households are unable to purchase sufficient food. The Lebanese pound has lost 90% of its value over the last two years. Lebanese citizens, meanwhile, are prevented from withdrawing more than $100 per week, as foreign currency reserves grow thin. The situation is reaching a point of no return, with the real possibility of widespread hunger. Lebanon is, today, by all measures a failed and collapsing state.    (Jonathan Spyer, MEF, 7/15/2021)

CHINESE THREAT TO UK

While British ministers claim China is an increasing threat to UK interests, they have approved the sale of £2.6bn worth of military and dual civilian/military equipment to the country in the past three years. The exports will likely benefit China’s navy and airforce — as the UK government laments the rise of Chinese military power.  (Daily Maverick, 6/7/2021)

After alleged Iranian cyberattack, Israel’s Water Authority beefs up defenses

SIGA OT Solutions signs deal to protect water infrastructure; agreement comes as Military Intelligence chief warns Israel under regular assault.  Last April, six Water Authority facilities were targeted in the cyberattack in which hackers attempted to increase the amount of chlorine in the water supply to dangerously high levels. The attacks were countered before any damage could be caused. However, the incident raised major concerns about the ability of the Water Authority to protect itself from future cyberattacks. . . . “Water utilities are at the forefront of global cyberattacks. But utilities have minimal tolerance for a downtime in service, and no utility would agree to a hacker deciding whether its infrastructure will operate or not,” Amir Samoiloff, co-founder and CEO of SIGA, said in a statement.  . . . “Israel is under constant threat in the cyber dimension, and attacks are sometimes carried out against it. We are able to deal with most of the threats through advanced defense capabilities,” Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman said at a conference at Tel Aviv University.  “Those who attack Israel by air, sea, land, or cyber need to understand the risk they are taking.”  (Times of Israel, 21 July 2021)

https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-alleged-iranian-cyberattack-israels-water-authority-beefs-up-defenses/

US WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN

• The Arabs are saying that the Americans are mistaken if they think that the war on terrorism will end with the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan.
• Adib warned that the US will pay the price for its exit from Afghanistan. “The cost of the withdrawal will be greater and more dangerous for America and the entire world,” he said. “Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are preparing to establish a state whose features will be close to those of ISIS. The threat of ISIS is still there and its cells are still spread everywhere.” — Mounir Adib, Egyptian expert on Islamic movements and international terrorism, Annaharar.com, June 5, 2021.
• The threat of terrorism will grow because of the Americans’ failure to consult with their allies in the Middle East, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates…. — Mounir Adib, Annaharar.com, June 5, 2021.  (Gatestone, 7/20/2021)

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NORTHERN IRELAND – “THE WHOLE THING’S FALLING APART” Northern Ireland’s unhappy birthday

As the province marks its centenary, Protestants don’t feel like celebrating.  In every Protestant town, on every loyalist estate, the fires are ready to burn. In Monkstown, a 15-minute drive from Belfast, there will be two, one for each paramilitary organization on the estate. “This one’s the UVF [Ulster Volunteer Force],” a teenage boy told me, pointing to a mound of old sofas, mattresses, cardboard boxes and pallets. “The other one’s UDA [Ulster Defense Association].”

On July 10th the teenager and his friends will be sure to get here by 10.30pm, in time to fan the flames. Then it’s down to the bottom of the estate to “see the other boney get lit.” The spectacle is part historical re-enactment – bonfires were lit in 1690 to celebrate the arrival of Protestant “King Billy” of Orange, who defeated the Catholic King James II – and part sectarian show of strength. But mostly it’s one big party:  as one of the boys tells me, “Everyone’s on the drink.”

(https://www.economist.com/1843/2021/07/06/the-whole-things-falling-apart-northern-irelands-unhappy-birthday (7/7/2021)

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70 years ago, Jordan’s king assassinated by Palestinian on Temple Mount

Abdullah was assassinated by a Palestinian gunman while exiting al-Aqsa Mosque with his grandson, Hussein

Abdullah was succeeded by his son Talal, who was forced to abdicate about a year later due to mental illness.

Talal was succeeded by Hussein, who ruled until 1999, when he was succeeded by the current king of Jordan, Abdullah II.

Winston Churchill expressed deep regret after hearing of Abdullah’s assassination, saying “I deeply regret the murder of this wise and faithful Arab ruler, who never deserted the cause of Britain and held out the hand of reconciliation to Israel,” according to The Guardian.

(https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/70-years-ago-jordans-king-assassinated-by-palestinian-on-temple-mount-674480)

Iran, terror concerns are changing France’s ties with Israel, say visiting MPs

40 French parliamentarians meet with top Israeli leaders:  some sounding alarm over Hezbollah’s grip over Lebanon, antisemitism in France.

(https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-terror-concerns-are-changing-frances-ties-with-israel-say-visiting-mps/)

“America used to regard its southern border as sacrosanct and vulnerable, requiring constant vigilance and occasional action to secure. And how is President Joe Biden handling his sworn presidential duty to defend the states of the Union from invasion?” (Pat Buchanan, 7/20/2021)

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TALKING POINTS

• Sex offenders change identities in UK – Hundreds of sex offenders have changed their identity by exploiting a loophole to avoid scrutiny.  The Times says it has been shown examples of convicted child sex abusers changing their name by deed poll, failing to inform the authorities and using their new identity to gain access to children.  Men barred for life from working with young people used their new name to get jobs in schools and homes where they committed further offences.   (The Week, 7/22/2021)

• Orban plans new anti-LGBTQ+ law – Viktor Orban has announced a referendum to measure support for a law that bans the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality and gender reassignment for under-18s. The proposed legislation has been criticised for conflating paedophilia with homosexuality and violating EU rules on freedom of expression, free trade and provision of services. Opposition politicians say the law is a distraction from domestic scandals.  (The Week, 7/20/2021)

• New York has worst air quality in world – The air quality in New York City was the worst in the world earlier this week as cities across the eastern US were shrouded in smoke from wildfires thousands of miles away on the west coast. As air pollution in the city soared to eclipse Lima in Peru and Kolkata in India, state officials advised the vulnerable to avoid strenuous outdoor activity. George Pope, professor of earth and environmental studies at Montclair State University, said:  “This is unprecedented.”

• One-third of Covid deaths in care homes (UK) – At least one in three Covid deaths in England were in care homes, according to new figures from the Care Quality Commission. The data reveals that some care homes lost around 75% of residents to the virus, with more than 40 people dying in one home alone. Care home bosses said the sector was “left out to dry” by a lack of PPE and testing, as well as being forced to accept infected patients after they had been discharged from hospital.

• SOUTH AFRICAN DROUGHT – The National Disaster Management Centre has declared a drought disaster due to the persistent drought conditions.  In the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Western Cape. National resources will now be mobilised to assist affected farmers.  Farmers from all three provinces are battling the effects of the drought, the worst experienced in 100 years, according to Agri SA.  (Daily Maverick, 7/21/2021)

• The real driver of illegal immigration, in fact, is that the U.S. economy is wildly outperforming Mexico and other Latin American economies. This wasn’t the case for most of the past decade or so.  (Bloomberg, 7/21/2021)

FINAL THOUGHT

The above cartoon shows somebody throwing a television out of the window as a solution to Covid.   There is some truth to this.  In the early days of television, only 15 minutes was dedicated to the evening news.   After commercials, that was about ten minutes.   Now, of course, news is 24/7 on a dozen different channels.  No wonder people are panicked, in a state of continual stress. 

We need to get all this depressing news out of our lives.   Yes, we do need to be aware of what’s going on (Luke 21:36), but a few minutes with the radio can keep us well informed.   At the same time, it is important for us to keep the following scripture in mind. 

^”Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.“ (Phil 4:8)

It’s a question of balance.

BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN UNDERMINES HIS OWN GLOBAL STRATEGY

Far worse than failing to intervene is intervening to fail. The withdrawal from Afghanistan is just that.

US allies who have themselves invested huge military and economic resources in Afghanistan fear a Taliban return to power and the blood-bath that would likely accompany it. Their concerns are shared by General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of US CENTCOM, responsible for Afghanistan, who told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that Afghanistan’s forces might well collapse following US withdrawal.

Jihadists everywhere would be encouraged and empowered by a perceived US defeat at the hands of the Taliban, which was being trumpeted by Al Qaida within days of Biden’s announcement.

Biden justified his withdrawal with the need to counter challenges from China and Russia and strengthen democratic allies and partners against autocracy. His actions are likely to have the reverse effect.

The abandonment of Afghanistan will long be remembered by countries around the world as they weigh their choices between the US and authoritarian regimes. Already Saudi Arabia has recognised that Biden will not protect them from Iran . . .

Chinese President Xi Jinping says Taiwan must and will be “unified” with China, by force if necessary . . . Xi will be . . . count[ing] the potential cost of moving against the country that he considers his own.  (Richard Kemp, Gatestone, 5/2/2021)

Hillary Clinton has warned of “huge consequences” in Afghan US troop withdrawal. (BBC News, 5/3/2021)

LOOMING AFGHAN DEFEAT

Parents and wives of the men lost in the twenty-year Afghan conflict must be furious at the US withdrawal, which effectively cancels out all the progress made in the last two decades.   Other nations must be equally angry (Britain alone has lost 454 men).   One question they will have:  Is the US a reliable partner?

Al-Qaeda:  ‘The Americans are now defeated. The US war in Afghanistan played key role in hitting US economy.’   (Jihad Watch, 5/2/2021)

TALKING POINTS

• TV news companies ridicule the idea that the election was not fair and that only 30% of Republicans believe it was.  But in one respect it really was not fair.  Election coverage was one sided, with at least one survey showing that 93% of coverage favored the liberals (Democrats).   Until it gets closer to 50/50, they cannot claim fairness.  In that sense, at least, the election was rigged.

• There’s clearly a shortage of doctors in India.   This is partly because the US and the UK are attracting so many and are able to offer higher salaries.  What’s needed is to encourage more to stay in India where a pandemic has left them in a real big mess. Maybe it’s time to train enough of our own doctors.

• Antifa militants in Portland have now ramped up their terroristic efforts and have issued a direct threat to “mayor” Ted Wheeler via a video posted on Twitter, ordering him to resign or else widespread destruction and bloodshed will enrapture the city. “Ted, we are asking for the last time that you resign. If you ignore this message outright the destruction of your precious way of life is going to escalate. Blood is already on your hands, Ted. But next time, it may just be your own,” says the narrator in a video posted to the @KnotAThreat account on Twitter, while showing Wheeler’s home address in the video.   (The Patriot Nation, 5/3/2021)

• Eight people were shot dead at an Indianapolis FedEx facility.   Four were Sikhs from India.   Diversity isn’t working!

• PBS’ “The Rise of the Nazis” is a disturbing series.   It seems to be warning us of similar groups (i.e. Trump) as much as retelling the events in Germany almost ninety years ago.  What’s needed now is a series on “The Rise of Bolshevism.”   We are threatened by the Left far more than by the Right.

• The British government seems set to pay Iran 400 million pounds ($560 million) for the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual nationality citizen married to a British man with a young daughter.   This is a dangerous precedent.  The best policy on this is that Brits should avoid those countries were state kidnapping is the norm.  UK policy could prove very expensive.

• When countries spend too much money, one of two things usually happens.   The currency will go down in value on international currency markets; or there is hyper-inflation; or both.   Mr. Biden seems to think this won’t happen.

• Really sad news from Israel.   45 people were killed in a stampede at a religious festival.   Included in the dead were two brothers, aged 14 and 9.  It was the worst peacetime disaster ever to befall the nation.

• Israel and Lebanon resume maritime border-demarcation talks. After a four-month hiatus, Lebanon and Israel will resume talks on their disputed maritime boundary. U.S. mediator John Desrocher will be present at the talks, which will take place at the U.N. base in Naqoura near the Israel-Lebanon border. Both countries are seeking to expand oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean, giving the talks high stakes. Lebanon’s government may try to negotiate for a border line farther south than in previous rounds, a bid Israel will likely rebuff.   (Stratfor, 5/2/2021)

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LOVE FOR ENEMIES

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[b] and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” ( Matthew 5:43-48)

US V CHINA: WHO’S WINNING?

(Photo credit: (The Sunday Guardian Live)

Anyone with a pulse and a smartphone probably knows by now that the US-China rivalry is heating up these days, and fast.  (If you know anyone who doesn’t, get them a Signal subscription.)

Let’s recap the latest drama between the world’s two largest economies.  In tech, after squeezing Huawei over 5G, US President Donald Trump now wants to ban TikTok and WeChat. Harsh words — backed up by sanctions — are still flying over China’s crackdown on Hong Kong and its repression of the Uighurs.   The US has also waded into the South China Sea dispute, closed China’s consulate in Houston, and stirred up a hornet’s nest by dispatching the highest-ranking official to visit Taiwan in more than 40 years.

Why is this all happening?   Because each side, in its own mind, is winning.

Trump’s big swipes at China are good electoral politics:   Americans’ distrust of China is at an all-time high, and one of the (very) few things that Democrats and Republicans agree on these days.  What’s more, Democrats can’t really push back on Trump’s China approach now that the US intelligence community has said it believes Beijing prefers a Biden victory in November.

For Beijing, the US undermining Chinese tech companies and slapping sanctions on Chinese officials over “internal” matters feeds President Xi Jinping’s nationalist narrative that Washington is preventing China from taking its rightful place as a rising global power.   It also explains why Beijing wants to break the (US-dominated) internet, and assert its dominance over all territories where China’s rule is contested — including Taiwan.

However, there’s one area they seem unlikely to mess with for now.  Phase I of the US-China trade deal signed in January was hardly a big win for either side, but enough to pause a rapidly escalating trade war that was hurting both US and Chinese businesses (and consumers).  (Signal, 8/11/2020)

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NOT SO UNITED KINGDOM

Post-Brexit, United Kingdom is not so united
,  Six months after Britain broke away from the European Union, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is trying to stop the breakaway of restive parts of the U.K.
  On Friday, Mr. Johnson sent his popular Treasury chief, Rishi Sunak, to Scotland, to tamp down nationalist sentiment.  There, Mr. Sunak noted that Scottish firms would get 2 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) in loans to survive the lockdown.  Another top minister, Michael Gove, visited Northern Ireland with nearly $500 million in aid to help frustrated companies deal with new checks on shipped goods.  Experts have long predicted that Brexit would strengthen the forces pulling apart the U.K.   But in Scotland, in particular, the pandemic has accelerated those forces.  In an average of recent polls, 52.5 percent of people said they would vote for Scottish independence — a swing from the 2014 referendum, when 55.3 percent of Scots voted to stay in the U.K.   What it means:   This is the first time the polls have consistently shown a majority for breaking away, one polling expert said.  Pro-independence feelings have hardened in Scotland during the pandemic because many people there believe that Scotland has done a better job managing the crisis than neighboring England has.  Case study:   The implications of leaving the bloc are dawning on some of those in Mersham, an area close to Britain’s busiest port where support for Brexit was strong.   A 27-acre parking lot is being built to handle trucks amid fears that new trade rules will slow freight movement.  (New York Times, 10 Aug 2020)

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ZIMBABWE’S CONTINUING ECONOMIC CHAOS

Forgive Zimbabweans for not celebrating “Heroes’ Day” today.  The annual commemoration of those who died fighting against white rule comes at a time of great suffering.  The value of the local currency has plummeted against the American dollar.   Inflation is running at more than 700%.   The World Food Programme reckons that 60% of Zimbabweans will soon struggle to get enough to eat. The ruling party, Zanu-PF, blames covid-19.   The truth is that it has run the country into the ground.   After toppling Robert Mugabe in a coup in late 2017, Emmerson Mnangagwa and his backers in the military have behaved much as he did, manipulating the currency and responding to unrest with repression.   In recent weeks journalists and opposition figures have been arrested and allegedly tortured.   But as the economy spirals out of control, how long can Mr. Mnangagwa hold on?   The veteran of the independence wars may see himself as a hero. Zimbabweans disagree.   (The Economist,  8/10/2020)

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Banks braced as pandemic poses biggest test since financial crisis | Provisions for loan losses are at the highest in a decade as lenders prepare for large-scale company bankruptcies             
(© Financial Times UK, 10 Aug 2020)                                                                    by Stephen Morris and Owen Walker in London and Laura Noonan in Dublin

During the depths of the coronavirus crisis in Europe in late March, Sergio Ermotti remembers sitting in his home study in Lugano, reflecting on the latest financial meltdown to engulf his career as a banker.  “If I go through my last eight years, we had a lot of mini-earthquakes, but never of the magnitude of what we are seeing now,” the 60-year-old UBS chief executive says.  “This is a crisis that is driven by fear in a different way . . . this time it’s not just about people losing their assets or savings, it’s about their life, it’s about their families.  It’s so profound, so different.”   Switzerland’s largest bank is weathering the crisis relatively well, considering its share price is down only 10 per cent this year, a more modest fall than any other global lender apart from Wall Street’s Morgan Stanley.

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 BARR ON URBAN GUERILLA WARFARE

• Attorney General William Barr revealed that the United States is under attack, facing a new form of “urban guerilla warfare.”
• Barr on Fox News’ “Life, Liberty & Levin” on Sunday said that the left’s “lust for power” was the driving force behind this new anti-American assault.
• He added that the media’s false characterization of the “Black Lives Matter” organization as a fed-up activist group was misleading the American people and leaving them vulnerable to what is actually a group of “Bolsheviks” focused on taking over the country and turning it into a communist run country.
• Barr tore into the media for selling a “lie” to the American people in their horrifically biased coverage of the civil unrest caused by these two dangerous groups. (Lifeandlibertynews)

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FROM FRANCE:

• “We only love what hates us, anything that destroys us is seen as great.  There is a desire to destroy truth, history . . .  We no longer teach the history of France and we no longer say what our civilization has accomplished.   We only talk about our civilization to disparage it.” — Michel Onfray, Le Salon Beige, July 30, 2020 and YouTube, July 17, 2020.
• “France is undergoing reverse colonization.   Populations coming mainly from countries formerly colonized by France have settled in France without any intention of integrating.  Most of them live in neighborhoods where the laws of Islam now reign and where imams spread hatred of France . . .   And in a gesture of submission, the French authorities say that hatred does not emanate from those who kill, but from those who want to react and say that we must put an end to assaults and murders. It is a suicidal attitude.”   — Éric Zemmour, YouTube, November 22, 2016   (Guy Milliere, Gatestone, 8/9)

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THE NEED FOR A MUTUAL DEFENSE TREATY FOR ISRAEL

“Although the relationship between Israel and the United States has many of the characteristics of a formal alliance – intelligence sharing, regular joint exercises, prepositioned weapons and so forth – the two countries have opted not to sign a traditional mutual defense pact because of Israel’s determination to defend itself by itself and maintain freedom of action in conducting military operations, and because of American reluctance to be dragged into Middle East conflicts.”

However, according to Makovsky, the revival of Iran’s nuclear program and the growing capabilities of its proxies mean Israeli deterrence alone may be insufficient to stave off a regional military conflagration, particularly given “the trend in America towards a retrenchment in the Middle East.”   Hezbollah’s arsenal of an estimated 130,000 rockets and missiles is vastly superior quantitatively and qualitatively to its stockpile the last time it fought an all-out war with Israel in 2006.  “Unless there’s a regime collapse in Iran, I think we’re heading at some point to a major war between Israel and Iran and Hezbollah.”   (Gary C. Gambill, Middle East Forum, 8/10/2020)

Iran Has 125 Outposts and Bases in Syria – Dean Shmuel Elmas (Israel Hayom) —  Iran has 125 outposts of its Revolutionary Guards Corps and pro-Iranian militias in Syria, the Turkish research institute Jusoor has revealed.

The Iranians have set up 37 military locations in the Deraa governorate in southwestern Syria, not far from Israel.

There are another 22 Iranian outposts in and around Damascus, 15 in Aleppo, and another 5 each in the Quneitra and al-Suwayda governorates in southwestern Syria.

***

Fatah, PLO Are Planning a Third Intifada – Nan Jacques Zilberdik (Palestinian Media Watch)  —  “A popular uprising that will result in a comprehensive intifada” is being planned by Fatah, the PLO, and other Palestinian groups, according to a statement they issued on July 28.  Asked by the PA TV host if this would be a “peaceful” and “non-violent intifada,” PLO Executive Committee member Wasel Abu Yusuf answered in the negative.

Former Israeli Defense Minister:  Hizbullah Responsible for Beirut Blast – Neta Bar (Israel Hayom) —  A Hizbullah weapons depot that caught fire led to the explosion of the ammonium nitrate stored in Beirut port, former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told the Saudi outlet Elaph on Friday.

Pro-ISIS Media Center Urges Muslim In The West To Set Forests, Factories, Agricultural Fields, And Buildings On Fire  (MEMRI, August 2020)

Friday Sermon In Bojnurd, Iran By Abolghasem Yaghoubi:   Pork Contains A Microbe That Weakens One’s Zeal; Just Look At The Westerners – There Is No Difference Between Men And Women There  (MEMRI 8/9/2020)

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EMPIRE REDUX

Rhodesia had contributed, per head of population, more in both world wars than any part of the British Empire, including the United Kingdom itself.   (“The Rhodesia Syndrome,” Tiberiu Dianu, December 11, 2016)

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TO THE POINT

• FAILING DEMOCRACIES – Both Lebanon and Belarus claim to be democracies.  The former is very corrupt, as evidenced last week by the massive blast that hit Beirut.  Belarus, the last dictatorship in Europe, had an election at the weekend.  Their president Alexander Lukashenko was returned with 80% of the vote after 26 years in office.   That stretches credulity too far.
• We’ve just finished watching the new Perry Mason on HBO.   Any resemblance to the old TV series with Raymond Burr is largely coincidental, but not entirely.   The new Perry Mason shows how the “crew” came together:   Perry and Della Street (now a lesbian), Drake (now black), thanks to PC and the intervening 60 years!  There is some nudity in the new series but there is a lot of swearing.  I don’t remember any of either in the earlier 271 episodes.   All eight episodes are just one story, but a very good one with lots of twists.
• A promising TV series called “Wild Bill” is being shown on TV.   I’m curious.  The series is based around a US police chief who is sent to Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England, where I come from.  Why the English force would need the help of a US cop is beyond me!  (The show is being streamed on Britbox.)
• The Epoch Times contains some really good movie reviews by Tiffany Brannan, of movies that are quite old.   These words appeared at the end of last week’s article.  “Tiffany Brannan is an 18-year-old opera singer, Hollywood historian, travel writer, film blogger, vintage fashion expert, and ballet writer.  In 2016, she and her sister founded the Pure Entertainment Preservation Society, an organization dedicated to reforming the arts by reinstating the Motion Picture Production Code.”
• Australians too divided for sustained conflict – Former PM Tony Abbott has raised concerns about Australia’s deteriorating strategic situation saying the nation’s economy is not as strong as it should be nor its citizens as united as they need to be. (Politicom 8/10/2020)
• Qatari Press:   Reconversion Of Hagia Sophia Into Mosque Is A Historic Step; We Hope To See Prayers At Great Mosque Of Cordoba (Spain)  (MEMRI, 8/8/2020)
• Britain in recession as PM warns of ‘bumpy months –
  Boris Johnson has said the British economy faces “bumpy months” ahead and has a “long, long way to go” until it sees a return to “economic vitality and health”.   GDP figures announced this morning confirmed that the UK has officially fallen into recession for the first time since the 2008 financial crash.   The Office for National Statistics has announced earlier this week that about 730,000 jobs have been lost since March.
• Biden names Kamala Harris as running mate — Senator Kamala Harris, the former presidential candidate, has been picked by Joe Biden to be his running mate, making her the first black woman and Asian-American to be selected as vice-presidential nominee. Writing on Twitter, Harris said she was “honored” to join Biden on the Democratic ticket and pledged to “do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.”   Biden will face President Donald Trump in the election on 3 November.  (The Week, 8/12/2020)
• The Economist Is Sick — Our local library lets me read  The Economist before anyone else.   Now, in the midst of the virus, there’s a delay of a week as the magazine has to go through quarantine.  If I had my own subscription (about $200) I could read it right away.   Not only that, but I have to pick up my magazine  in the parking lot, without getting out of my car.   I have to have the trunk open so library staff can put it in there without any contact with me.

 

 

 

 

 

IS TURKEY ABOUT TO LAUNCH A RELIGIOUS WAR AGAINST ISRAEL?

The site is now one of Turkey’s most visited tourist attractions – GETTY IMAGES

The sixth century Christian church, the Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul, is about to be converted into a mosque.  Turkey’s religious government is increasingly hardline Islamist.  It compares the Hagia Sophia to the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and is a call to “liberate” Jerusalem from the Israelis.  “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. ” (Luke 21:20)

Has Erdogan Launched a New Age of Religious Wars?                             by Jonathan S. Tobin / JNS.org

 In a statement, Erdogan said that the reimposition of Muslim worship at the Hagia Sophia is “the harbinger of the liberation of Masjid al-Aqsa [the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount].”  That’s a call for throwing Israel out of Jerusalem and the spot holiest in Judaism. 

That this incendiary comment came during the period when religious Jews begin the period of mourning for the destruction of the ancient Temple culminating on Tisha B’Av [evening to evening 29-30 July 2020] is probably coincidental but still chilling.

(Tisha B’Av is an annual fast day in Judaism, on which a number of disasters in Jewish history occurred, primarily the destruction of both Solomon’s Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusalem. Wikipedia)

What happened in Constantinople was hardly unique.  Invading Muslims did the same thing everywhere that they triumphed during the period when they spread their faith by force of arms from India to Europe.  And, to be fair, Christian forces repaid the favor when they reconquered Spain and the Balkans by converting mosques into churches.

So when Erdogan echoes the Palestinian rhetoric of both the so-called moderates of Fatah and the extremists of Hamas about chasing the Jews from Jerusalem, he’s not just signaling his hostility to the Jewish state.  He’s also making it clear that he wishes to claim the title of the guardian of Islam from Saudi leaders that many Muslims think are now tainted by their under-the-table relations with Israel.

Unfortunately, the Hagia Sophia precedent is also helping shape the discussion about Jerusalem.

The point here is not only to bring attention to the revanchist Islamist spirit that Erdogan’s boasts represent.  Nor is it to highlight the fact that even Muslim liberals like Akyol are unable to be honest about the way Judaism’s holiest site was converted into a Muslim shrine that is inviolable in the view of world opinion.

Rather, it is to point out that the only way Jewish access to holy sites in Jerusalem, as well as that of other faiths, will be preserved is by ensuring that the city is not redivided as advocates of a two-state solution with the Palestinians insist must happen.  The only alternative to the status quo in Jerusalem is not a platonic utopia of two peoples living happily together in shared sovereignty, as envisaged by anti-Zionists like Peter Beinart, or by returning to the peace parameters embraced by the Obama administration that would split the city.   Erdogan’s revival of the brutal conqueror’s path is the only other choice.  Those who care about religious freedom and the preservation of the holy sites should draw the appropriate conclusions from events in Turkey, particularly the way it is discussed in the pages of the [New York] Times.

(https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/07/21/has-erdogan-launched-a-new-age-of-religious-wars/)

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CONFLICT INTENSIFIES IN LIBYA

The Libyan House of Representatives in Tobruk this week passed a motion approving Egyptian military intervention, should this prove necessary in the fight against the rival Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. This latest move is set to sharply escalate tensions in the divided and strife-torn country.

The decision raises the still remote but no longer unthinkable possibility of a conventional clash between Egyptian and Turkish forces on the soil of Libya.   What began as a proxy war now threatens to escalate into a direct conflict.   For now, the fighting fronts remain static around the town of Sirte. The focus looks set to return to crisis diplomacy intended to avert a direct clash over the next period.   But the escalation is very real, and reflects a dangerous combination of geo-strategic rivalries and long-standing ideological differences between Ankara and Cairo.  (Jonathan Spyer, Jerusalem Post, 7/16/2020)

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DIVERSITY TO AFFECT ELECTION

Is her racial diversity America’s greatest strength?

So we are told.   Yet, even before America becomes a majority-minority nation, 25 years from now, recent changes in the composition of the country are going to impact both parties in 2020.

According to Brookings Institution demographer William Frey, between 2010 and 2020, while America’s population grew by 20 million, our white population fell for the first time since the 1790 census.

White Americans fell as a share of the population in all 50 states, in 358 of 364 metropolitan areas, in 3,012 of 3,141 counties.   During that same decade, our Black population grew by 3 million, our Asian population by 4 million and our Hispanic population by 10 million.

What’s the significance of those numbers?   In presidential elections, Hispanics and Asians vote 70% Democratic and African Americans vote 90%.

White folks, who made up 69% of the U.S. population in 2000 when George W. Bush was elected, have fallen today to 60%.

For children under 16, the white share has fallen to less than half.

Minority kids are now the majority in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Maryland.

Whites are also the oldest Americans, with a median age of 44.   For Asian Americans, it is 37, for Black Americans, it is 35, and for Latinos, it is 30.

(Rising diversity is Joe Biden’s problem, too.  Pat Buchanan,  7/21/2020)

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US NEEDS TO UPDATE GERIATRIC BOMBER FORCE

This 4th of July, Americans witnessed flyovers of our airpower.  It was a far cry from the airpower displays over Washington, D.C., that I viewed as a boy on national holidays in the late 1950s.  Then, dozens of B-47 bombers literally cast a shadow over the viewers.   On this Fourth, only three bombers were on display­­ – a B-52 built in the Kennedy years; a B-1B built during the Reagan administration; and our “newest” bomber, the B-2, over 30 years of age.

To put the current bomber deficit situation in historical context, in 1957 the Air Force had 2,334 bombers in its inventory; in 1990 it had 411; the 2021 budget plans for 140.   Yes, times have changed, but arguably the security challenges for the foreseeable future are much more complex and challenging than ever before.   Historically under resourced and now with the likely prospect of flat or declining defense budgets in the future, the U.S. Air Force is confronting the potential of painful tradeoffs between modernization, readiness, and capacity.   However, given the outsized mission value of bombers and the fact that the bomber force is significantly undersized, looking to it for near-term budget savings risks creating a major capacity and capability gap.   Instead, the Department of Defense should increase investment in this critical mission area, fully funding bomber readiness, sustaining the current force, and ramping up acquisition plans for the new B-21 bomber.  (forbes.com  7/18/2020)

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REBUILDING WARSAW 80 YEARS ON

Several hundred members of the German Bundestag are planning major construction projects in Warsaw.   The non-partisan group of German parliamentarians – ranging from right to left – is discussing transformation plans for the Polish capital, which had been destroyed in the 1940s, when war was raging everywhere.   Warsaw could finally be embellished with historical sensitivity and German money from a “Poland Fund.”   Berlin is discussing the reconstruction of Warsaw’s huge 18th century Baroque palace, the “Pałac Saski” in reminiscence of the Kingdom of Poland, when Poland was moaning under the reign of the Saxons (“Saxony Poland”) – a serious proposal from the portfolio of Germany’s Poland institutes.   Therefore, Warsaw’s museums and libraries must also expect wide-ranging construction measures.  They would be expanded, with means from the “Poland Fund,” to make room for cultural goods from Germany, where they have been stored in greater quantities – some already for several centuries.  They had unfortunately disappeared from Poland, when “Saxony Poland” had been succeeded by quite varying regimes under German domination.   Poland’s cultural heritage had been transferred to Berlin in a cloak-and-dagger operation, supposedly to safeguard it from theft and destruction.   The Polish artifacts would, however, remain German property and only loaned out to Warsaw’s museums, as was so caringly suggested in the German capital.   (German Foreign Policy, 7/21/2020)

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COVID DEATHS INFLATED IN UK

People living in England have become increasingly concerned in recent weeks, as Public Health England’s (PHE) figures demonstrate a relentless daily toll of more than a hundred Covid-associated deaths, several days a week.   This is in stark contrast to the more reassuring recovery in neighboring regions (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland), where there are days with no Covid-associated deaths whatsoever.   One reason for this is due to a statistical flaw in the way that PHE compiles ‘out of hospital’ deaths data, rather than any genuine difference between the regions of the UK:

‘Linking data on confirmed positive cases (identified through testing by NHS and PHE laboratories and commercial partners) to the NHS Demographic Batch Service:   when a patient dies, the NHS central register of patients is notified (this is not limited to deaths in hospitals).   The list of all lab-confirmed cases is checked against the NHS central register each day, to check if any of the patients have died.’

It seems that PHE regularly looks for people on the NHS database who have ever tested positive for Covid, and simply checks to see if they are still alive or not. PHE does not appear to consider how long ago the Covid test result was, nor whether the person has been successfully treated in hospital and discharged to the community. Anyone who has tested Covid-positive but subsequently died at a later date of any cause will be included on the PHE Covid death figures.

By this PHE definition, no one with Covid in England is allowed to ever recover from their illness.   A patient who has tested positive, but successfully treated and discharged from hospital, will still be counted as a Covid death, even if they had a heart attack or were run over by a bus three months later.

This is why the PHE figures vary substantially from day to day.   For example, 16 new deaths were announced on 6 July, but the following day, 152 were reported – today’s figure is 66.

It’s time to fix this statistical flaw that leads to an over-exaggeration of Covid-associated deaths.   One reasonable approach would be to define community Covid-related deaths as those that occurred within 21 days of a Covid positive test result.

In summary, PHE’s definition of the daily death figures means that everyone who has ever had Covid at any time must die with Covid too.   So, the Covid death toll in Britain up to July 2020 will eventually exceed 290,000, if the follow-up of every test-positive patient is of long enough duration.

Prof. Yoon K Loke is Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia.  Carl Heneghan is Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine and Director of Studies for the Evidence-Based Health Care Programmes.  This article originally appeared on the CEBM website. 

(https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-no-one-can-ever-recover-from-covid-19-in-england)

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NIKE USING SLAVE LABOR IN CHINA

In March, the non-partisan Australian Strategic Policy Institute, in a report titled “Uyghurs for Sale,” accused Beijing of forcing more than 80,000 Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities to produce products for Nike and 82 other brands.

The report’s accusations against Nike are damning.   “A factory in eastern China that manufacturers shoes for U.S. company Nike is equipped with watchtowers, barbed-wire fences, and police guard boxes,” it noted . . .   There, people have been kept against their will in inhumane conditions.  This facility, a Nike supplier for more than three decades, produces approximately eight million pairs of shoes each year.

U.S. law provides that products made with forced labor can be seized, but those made in horrific conditions in China and elsewhere routinely are cleared through Customs and end up on the shelves of American retailers.   (Gordon G. Chang, Gatestone, 7/21/2020)

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GERMANY:  TOWARD THE COLLAPSE OF THE SEMINARIES

In 1962, the year the Second Vatican Council opened, Germany ordained 557 priests.   Almost 60 years later, in 2020, only 57 of those priests remain in the priesthood.   The German Church, stuck more than ever in the synodal swamp, is struggling to find solutions. 18 July 2020, FSSPX 

“This is an alarming trend,” worries Thomas Sternberg, president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (Zdk), who explains that “last year, there was one ordination for 11 priests who left for retirement.”   A fundamental trend which does not seem likely to be reversed given the situation of German seminaries:  “the number of candidates for the Catholic priesthood has decreased from 594 in 2011, to 211 currently,” explains Msgr. Heinrich Timmerevers, Bishop of Dresden-Meissen.   A figure that reveals the collapse of the number of seminarians in formation houses.  In view of such a catastrophic situation, the fruits of accelerated secularization and the silent apostasy of a large number, the only solution would be a return to Tradition, to the Mass of all times, to the philosophy and theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas, which would imply moving away from the novelties which have the Second Vatican Council as their poisoned source.  Alas!  The German prelates are not ready for such a rebuff and prefer to deny reality by further accelerating the revolution.  Having sown the wind and harvested the whirlwind, the time of reckoning has come.  (FSSPX.NEWS is the communication agency of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, Paris, France).

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IS LEBANON ABOUT TO COLLAPSE?

Lebanon, one of the world’s most indebted countries, is spiraling into poverty and political chaos after decades of economic mismanagement.   Its government is seeking a $10 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but the IMF insists that Lebanon must first reform its bloated and corrupt public sector.   So far, Beirut’s power brokers have resisted. Is Lebanon about to implode?

A crisis decades in the making:   While coronavirus lockdowns have exacerbated Lebanon’s economic woes, the country’s financial crisis has been deepening for decades.   Lebanon’s byzantine sectarian power-sharing system has brought the government to a standstill, while years of pocket-lining by politicians has crashed the economy and sent standards of living into freefall.   (Even before the pandemic, the World Bank predicted that 50 percent of Lebanese could be living below the poverty line if economic trends continued.)  (Gzero Signal, 7/21/2020)

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TO THE POINT

• Another white guy was shot dead by police in our community. This one likely just snapped.  He had gone into a convenience store early one morning and was told he had to wear a mask.   He refused and started stabbing the 73-year-old man who had told him to wear one.  He then fled.   The police caught up with him in our neighborhood.   He tried to attack a policewoman with the knife and she reacted by shooting him.  Once again, it was not covered on the national television news.   When it comes to the news, white lives don’t matter!
• I’m a little uncomfortable with the extradition of Prince Andrew. I have no sympathy with the man and feel that he deserves what he gets.  Being a member of the royal family does not give him any special protection from the law.  But it bothers me that the US won’t even consider the extradition of Mrs. Anne Secoolas, the lady who killed a 19-year-old young man in England when she drove on the wrong side of the road.  Until she is extradited for trial, I see no reason to send Prince Andrew to face an American court.   Laws relating to extradition and diplomatic immunity need a complete overhaul.  The double standard here is making America look like a big bully.  It hardly helps America’s image in the world.
• Joe Biden plans on big changes to the suburbs, making them at least 25% minority.  That means more violence and more tension.   Diversity doesn’t work.   Enforced mixing will only breed resentment.   And you can bet Joe Biden’s neighborhood will be exempt.
• Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s court case continues.  Were there ever two more trashy people?    Why does anyone ever listen to celebrities?
• What happens if Trump refuses to accept defeat? Donald Trump will be “fumigated out” of the Oval Office if he refuses to quit following his predicted defeat in November’s US presidential election, according to the top US Democrat.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the warning after the president failed to give a straight answer during a TV interview about whether he “might not accept” the results of the vote.   The idea of Trump attempting to cling to power may “seem far-fetched,” Politico says. “But the president’s comments have people chattering in the halls of Congress and throughout the Beltway.   (The Week, 7/21/2020)
• 25 MILLION IRANIANS INFECTED WITH CORONAVIRUS – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said during a televised meeting of the country’s virus-fighting task force on Saturday:   “Up to now, 25 million Iranians have been infected with this virus.   We have to consider the possibility that 30 to 35 million more may face infection.” (Al-Jazeera)
• Iranian Spies Accidentally Leaked Videos of Themselves Hacking, by Andy Greenberg – Researchers at IBM’s X-Force security team revealed Thursday that they’ve obtained five hours of video footage from hackers working for ITG18, one of the most active state-sponsored espionage teams linked to the government of Iran.  The videos appear to be training demonstrations made to show junior team members how to access compromised Gmail and Yahoo Mail accounts to download their contents, as well as exfiltrating other Google-hosted data from victims.  The videos represent a rare, first-hand view of state-sponsored cyberspying. Victims included U.S. military personnel and State Department staff.   “This kind of thing is a rare win for the defenders,” said former NSA staffer Emily Crose.   “It’s like playing poker and having your opponents lay their entire hand out flat on the table in the middle of the last” hand.  (Wired)
• Lebanon’s Financial Collapse Accelerates – Most parts of Lebanon are receiving no more than two or three hours of electricity a day and the traffic signals in Beirut have stopped working.   These are among the latest symptoms of an economic implosion that is accelerating at an alarming pace in Lebanon – the result of decades of economic mismanagement, corruption and overspending.   Economists are now predicting a Venezuela-style collapse, with acute shortages of essential products and services, runaway inflation and rising lawlessness.   The Lebanese pound has lost over 60% of its value in just the past month. Bread is in short supply because the government can’t fund imports of wheat.  “Lebanon is no longer on the brink of collapse.  The economy of Lebanon has collapsed,” said Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics. (Liz Sly, Washington Post)
• 236 European Lawmakers Call for Total EU Ban on Hizbullah – 236 European lawmakers have urged the EU to ban Hizbullah in its entirety and “end this false distinction between [its] ‘military’ and ‘political’ arms – a distinction Hizbullah itself dismisses.”  (Laura Kelly, The Hill)

 

 

 

IRAN VS US – IS THIS THE START OF WW3?

Iranian mourners lift a picture of slain military commander Qasem Soleimani during a funeral procession in the capital Tehran on January 6, 2020.    (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Some years ago, an expert on the Middle East was being interviewed on a TV news program.   He expressed the opinion that World War 3 started in 1979 when the Iranian revolution took place and the ayatollahs came to power, overthrowing the pro-western Shah of Iran.   It was a major failure of US foreign policy, under the leadership of President Jimmy Carter.

Of course, WW3 did not begin then, in the full sense of the term.   But the enmity between the US and Iran that soon followed the revolution lay the foundation for what will eventually become WW3.

Is it going to be soon?

This is not looking probable, as Iran clearly is not up to war with the US.   Crippled by US-imposed sanctions, it does not have the technology to ruinously attack US bases in the Middle East.   It will resort to using “proxies and allies” (BBC News).   This period is being compared to the “phony war” at the start of World War II.   They hope that by keeping up the pressure, they can make Donald Trump a one-term president, just as they did Jimmy Carter.

Little realized is that President Trump has talked about how he would like the US to withdraw from the Middle East.   At the same time, Iran wants the US to leave.   What seems most likely at this time is that isolated terror attacks on US (and allied) bases will wear the US down and result in a withdrawal.

Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” scenario between the West and the Islamic world not only fits the Daniel 11 scenario, but seems very likely as the Islamic world increases its strength and the West continues to decline.

Iran has also started to develop nuclear weapons.  The treaty that held them back in their development has now been torn up and they are free to acquire them as soon as possible.   When this happens, in a few years time, it will be time to start talking about World War 3!

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POST-ASSASSINATION CONSEQUENCES

Eight men were killed when American drones struck a convoy in Baghdad’s international airport.   One of the deaths could shape the Middle East for years.  Qassem Suleimani was one of the most powerful figures in the region.   For 20 years he commanded the Quds Force, the foreign legion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran’s long arm in the Middle East.   He gave it reach by nurturing, training and mobilising militias from Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Palestine.   They shared the Islamic Republic’s ideology and could be used to strike its regional foes, including Israel, Saudi Arabia and their American backers.   In America, Republicans and Democrats agreed that Mr. Suleimani had blood on his hands, but many worried that killing him was a dangerous escalation.   Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has promised “severe revenge.”   Iraq’s prime minister said the assassination would light the fuse of a regional war.   (The Economist,1/3/2020)

Following the USA’s assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and other high-ranking Iraqi and Iranian military personnel, demands are being raised in Baghdad to expel the foreign troops, including the Bundeswehr.   The Anti-IS Coalition troops, stationed in Iraq, must leave the country, the Iraqi parliament ruled yesterday.   The German government insists on keeping German troops in Iraq to be able to maintain its options for gaining influence in that country.   Berlin had earlier already rejected calls to end its deployment for security reasons.   Camp Taji near Baghdad, where 27 German soldiers are currently stationed, had already come under missile fire in June.   The camp could become a possible target for retaliatory strikes by Iran or pro-Iranian militias.   Whereas the German government euphemizes the assassination of Soleimani as “a line of action undertaken by the United States,” the chairman of the SPD parliamentary group officially called it a “violation of international law.”   A government advisor spoke of “state terrorism.” (German Foreign Policy, 1/6)

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“There will be dead Americans:”   former CIA chief issues warning to Trump as Iran crisis deepens                                                                                Tens of thousands have mourned Soleimani in Iran, as US-Iran tensions have spiked.                                                                                                                           by Clark Mindock, New York

A former top CIA official has warned there will be “dead civilian Americans” as a result of the targeted air strike that killed an Iranian general.

Michael Morell, a former acting and deputy CIA director, said the killing of Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani would spark a “harsh retaliation” from the Iranian government, and that US citizens would be targeted.

“Soleimani was an evil genius.  He had a lot of American blood on his hands.   The world is a better place without him.   The problem is that comes at a very high cost,“ Mr. Morell, who served during Barack Obama’s presidency, told CBS.

“Number one, there will be dead Americans, dead civilian Americans, as a result of this.   Possibly over the next few days in any place where Iran has its proxies, Iraq is the most likely place, but also Lebanon, Bahrain, other places in the Middle East.“

In the days after Soleimani’s assassination at a Baghdad airport, American officials have claimed that US citizens are now safer.     (The Independent, 1/5/2020)

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Millions of Zimbabweans pushed into hunger by drought, spiraling economic meltdown                                                                                                        3 Jan 2020

HARARE – Millions of Zimbabweans pushed into hunger by prolonged drought and economic crisis face an increasingly desperate situation unless adequate funding for a major relief operation materializes quickly, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has warned.    With nearly eight million people – half the population – now food insecure, WFP plans to double the number of people it assists – up to 4.1 million – but needs more than US$200 million for its emergency response in the first half of 2020 alone.    “As things stand, we will run out of food by end of February, coinciding with the peak of the hunger season – when needs are at their highest,” said Niels Balzer, WFP’s Deputy Country Director in Zimbabwe.   “Firm pledges are urgently needed as it can take up to three months for funding commitments to become food on people’s tables,” Balzer added.   Years of drought have slashed food production in Zimbabwe, once an African breadbasket.   This year’s maize harvest was down 50 percent on 2018, with overall cereal output less than half the national requirement.   By August of 2019, WFP was forced to launch an emergency lean season assistance program to meet rising needs, months earlier than anticipated.  Since then, food shortages have become ever more pronounced. This month, maize, was only available in half of the markets WFP monitors countrywide.

Zimbabwe has seen drastic price increases – bread now costs 20 times what it cost six months ago, while the price of maize has nearly tripled over the same period.

(https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/international/millions-of-zimbabweans-pushed-into-hunger-by-drought-spiraling-economic-meltdown-39881934)

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IMMIGRANTS FORMING CLANS

“For decades, police turned a blind eye to extended criminal families, in part to avoid being accused of racial discrimination.   This has made the present-day challenge all the more difficult as clan structures have solidified, parallel societies have formed, and the enemy has grown.” — Deutsche Welle, February 3, 2019.

“There are now half a million people across Germany who belong to a clan . . .   Clans behave in their German surroundings as if they were tribes in the desert.   Everything outside the clan is enemy territory and available for plunder.”   (Ralph Ghadban, a Lebanese-German political scientist and a leading expert on clans in Germany, The German Times, October 2019)

(Judith Bergman, Gatestone, 1/4)

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Global Apathy Toward the Fires in Australia Is a Scary Portent for the Future
by David Wallace-Wells, New York magazine

The response to what’s transpired in Australia — again, over a period that has stretched into months — is unfamiliar, to me at least, and not in a good way.   Those California fires transfixed the world’s attention, but while the ones still burning uncontrolled in Australia have gotten some media attention outside the country, in general they have been treated as a scary, but not apocalyptic, local news story.

The global response to the bushfires has suggested, unfortunately, something more like the opposite:   that no bind of tribal alliance or allegiance is strong enough that we won’t discard it, if discarding it allows us to see the suffering of those living elsewhere on the planet as insignificant to our own lives.

(http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/new-south-wales-fires-in-australia-the-worlds-response.html)

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HARRY AND MEGHAN QUIT

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced Wednesday that they are to quit as senior royals.   Instead, they will work toward financial independence, splitting their time between the UK and North America.   The announcement came after they had spent six weeks in Canada.  They pledged their loyalty to the Queen, the Commonwealth and their patronages.

Although it’s only a coincidence, last month, Harry’s Uncle, Prince Andrew, was forced to quit his duties within the royal family due to a scandal.

It is known that Prince Charles wants a slimmed down monarchy. These developments will make it easier for him to achieve his goal.

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TO THE POINT

• Khamenei’s Defense Advisor General Dehghan:   If Trump’s Logic For Killing Suleimani Was Valid, Then The Iraqis Have The Right To Kill One Million Americans (MEMRI, 1/8)
• Dearborn, MI – Imam Ibrahim Kazerooni Eulogizes Qasem Soleimani:   He Brought Hope To The Marginalized And Fear To The Enemies Of Islam

(MEMRI, 1/8)

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)