Navalny’s Widow Addresses EU Lawmakers

Yulia Navalnaya has vowed to continue her husband’s work to fight for a “free Russia,” Credit: EPA

In the days following her husband Alexei Navalny’s death in a Russian prison colony on 16 February, Yulia Navalnaya has picked up his mantle as a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin.  Speaking to European lawmakers and students from across the continent in Strasbourg, Ms. Navalnaya called on countries to treat the Russian president as the leader of a criminal organization, using the legal tools at their disposal. Ahead of her speech, Mr. Navalny’s spokesperson announced that the activist’s body would be buried at a cemetery in Moscow on Friday, two weeks before the start of Russia’s presidential election, where Mr. Putin is set to win another six-year term.  Ms. Navalnaya addressed the feeling that “Putin cannot be defeated at all,” channeling her husband in saying: “If you want to defeat Putin you have to become an innovator. You have to stop being boring.”   (BBC News Briefing, 2/28/2024).

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TUESDAY’S MICHIGAN PRIMARY – Michigan’s primary mattered, here’s why

Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden won their primaries in Michigan yesterday, but the vote revealed vulnerabilities for Joe Biden that could come back to haunt him in November.

Why Michigan mattered:  It was Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in Michigan that sealed the 2016 election, and Joe Biden’s triumph over Trump there and in other Upper Midwestern states in 2020 that decided the election. In all probability, it will play a decisive role this November. Michigan is also home to the largest Arab-American population in the United States. After a concerted campaign in protest of the Biden administration’s policy toward Israel and Gaza, 13 percent of Democratic primary voters chose “uncommitted” last night. In Dearborn and Hamtramck, two of the Michigan cities with the highest concentrations of Arab Americans, “uncommitted” won 56 and 61 percent of the Democratic vote, respectively. Significant portions of Michigan’s college towns also voted uncommitted in protest, foreshadowing how many young, progressive voters are angry about American support for Israel.

GOP voters once again rejected Nikki Haley in favor of Donald Trump. Haley lost for a fifth time against the former president, winning 27% of the vote against Trump’s 68%. She has vowed to stay in the race through Super Tuesday, where the lion’s share of the delegates are up for grabs. (Gzero Signal, 2/28/2024)

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NATO Troops to Ukraine? Macron Can’t Be Serious

Is French President Emmanuel Macron crazy or just bluffing? It’s a question geopolitics experts are confronting after he suggested Monday that sending Western troops into Ukraine to fight against Russia shouldn’t be “ruled out.”

Ukraine seemed to welcome the suggestion of possible European intervention – hardly surprising given Kyiv’s many challenges at this stage of the war.

But Moscow quickly warned that would inevitably lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. Germany and Poland on Tuesday also pooh-poohed Marcron’s idea.

Would this actually happen? It’s extremely unlikely that any Western countries will put boots on the ground in Ukraine. No one wants a conflict between nuclear-armed powers.

So why did Macron say this? According to a thread on X by Eurasia Group’s Europe Director Mujtaba Rahman, French sources said Macron’s comments were meant “to reassure Ukraine” and serve as “words of warning to Vladimir Putin.”

Our take:  Macron likes to stand out on the global stage, for better or worse. He took a lot of flak for seeming too friendly to Putin early in the war. Making a non-starter threat like this enables him to look tough, without actually having to back it up. Trés shrewd, Emmanuel.   (Gzero Signal, 2/28/2024)

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MOSCOW MUST LOSE THE WAR

In Germany, the second anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine has been marked by noisy sloganeering: calls to keep on fighting until Russia is defeated, and scorn for those who question the logic of ever more lethal weapons for Kiev. “They’re just scared.” From the United States come warnings that Ukraine will lose the war. Some voices within the US administration are now urging President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate with Russia. Yet Berlin is doubling down: Moscow must “lose this war.” The leader of the main opposition party in the Bundestag, Friedrich Merz (CDU), says bluntly that there should be “no negotiations” before Russia capitulates. Surveys indicate that not many agree: only 10 to 25 per cent of the German population think a Ukrainian victory is likely. Majorities expect a Russian victory and oppose further arms deliveries. Yet leading German media have joined in the ridiculing of Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his current stance against handing over Taurus cruise missiles to Kiev. He should, they say, stop being “scared”. Any fears are, of course, based on the well-founded assumption that Moscow would interpret the delivery of the Taurus as Germany going to war. Meanwhile, domestically Germany is in a downward spiral. The sharp rise in military spending is accompanied by social cuts and economic decline: “guns without butter,” as one economist quips.  (German Foreign Policy, 2/28/2024)

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US Immigration: Economics vs. Politics

Immigration has overtaken the economy atop the list of Americans’ biggest concerns. In part that’s because the economic future is getting brighter, and as it happens, immigration is part of that story.

The upside:  According to a CBO study, the surge in irregular migrants seen under Joe Biden will lead to 1.7 million more workers in 2024, and will grow the economy by about $7 trillion over the next decade.

The downside:  Irregular immigration is straining social services, even in Democrat-run “sanctuary cities.”  And over the longer term, experts say that the lower skill levels of this wave of migrants could undermine productivity and depress wages in low-skilled sectors.

The politics:  Notwithstanding the findings about undocumented immigrants’ contributions to the future economy, Americans’ views are hardening. 80% of Americans say the current administration is doing a bad job managing the border, and a Gallup poll found that 28% of voters named immigration as the country’s biggest problem, up from 20% last month.   (Gzero Signal, 2/28)

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JEW HATRED IN UK OUT OF CONTROL

In London over the past few days, I was told the following story.

It concerned Menai Bridge, a small town in north Wales which is listed here as having a population of 3,046 souls of whom precisely four are Jews. A few weeks ago, one of these four Jews decided to visit a shop in the town. She was shocked, however, to see a sign in its window declaring “No Zionists allowed.” She put her head round the door and told the owner that she had been intending to visit the shop, but in view of the sign in the window she wouldn’t now do so. At which he yelled at her: “Get out of my shop, you f*****g Jew!” 

The owner was white-skinned. As the woman retreated into the street, an Asian man who was passing heard what was being screamed at her from inside the shop and proceeded to hurl at her the same antisemitic obscenity.

Jew-hatred in Britain is out of control.   (Melanie Phillips, 2/28/2024)

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SHORTS

Any addiction, whether to the internet, opioids, or gambling, is closely linked to depression, with each reinforcing the other. (Rise and shine, Epoch Times, 2/28/2024)

TRUMP’S SURPIRSING PLEDGE. If former President Donald Trump wins reelection in 2024, he’s promising a massive campaign to deport all illegal immigrants. There are some doubts around whether this would be possible, but during the recent CPAC conference, President Trump reiterated this promise. Meanwhile, the former president is saying that a victory for him would render Nov. 5 a veritable “Liberation Day” for hard-working Americans.  (Epoch Times, 2/28/2024)

The Daily Mail leads on the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, allegedly deciding not to boost defence spending in the upcoming budget, despite “raging” wars and “growing threats.” The paper describes this as “indefensible.”  The Times splashes on its own interview with the home secretary, James Cleverly, who tells the paper that he believes that pro-Palestinian protesters have “made their point” and do not need to continue with their demonstrations.  (The Week, 2/28/2024)

Mary Poppins, the 1964 Disney classic film, has had its age rating raised from U to PG by British film censors because it features “discriminatory language.” Mary Poppins includes two uses of the discriminatory term ‘hottentots’,” which was a derogatory term originally used by white Europeans about nomadic peoples in southern Africa, a spokesperson for the British Board of Film Classification said. “Most recently, the film was resubmitted to us in February 2024 for another theatrical re-release, and we reclassified it PG for discriminatory language.”   (The Week, 2/27/2024)

Incitement Against Israel In Qatari Press Continues: Only More Attacks Like October 7 Will Restrain It; The Conflict Will End Only With Disappearance Of Israel (MEMRI headline, 2/28/2024

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RICH BUT, OH, SO POOR

Scripture Reading – Hebrews 13:16-18

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

Stock market values can make people wealthy or poor. Money is not a good god; it cannot love you, nor can it give you eternal life. The one true God, however, has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” The church in Laodicea had a big problem. Because their lukewarm attitude caused a less-than-effective ministry, Jesus warned them that he was about to spit them out of his mouth. They had bank accounts filled with money, tempting their eyes to turn from Jesus toward only themselves. But that made them “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” in Jesus’ eyes.

Jesus did not shut the door on them, but he offered wise financial advice. He advised them to find true wealth in him, and to obtain the pure, white garments of his righteousness rather than the black-wool garments that Laodicea was famous for. And they should invest in the eye medicine of his insight, rather than the medicinal balm their region was known for. Money itself is not the problem, but trusting in money instead of Jesus will bring ruin (see 1 Timothy 6:10). Following the way of Laodicea puts the church at great spiritual risk. Let us thank God that he never leaves us but is always ready to discipline us in love.   (Evan Heerema, Our Daily Bread, 2/27/2024)

BERLIN AIMS TO HAVE “BEST EQUIPPED” NATO ARMY DIVISION IN EUROPE IN 2025

T

German soldiers with the crew of an army TOMA Puma. (https://playcrazygame.com/greece/2023/07/18/german-army-chief-we-want-the-best-equipped-division-in-nato-by-2025/)

BERLIN, July 17 (Reuters) – Germany is confident it will have the best equipped army division amongst European NATO allies in 2025, Army Chief Alfons Mais told Reuters, as countries are scrambling to gear up their troops in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

At the moment, Berlin does not have a single combat-ready division, a military unit comprising more than 20,000 troops. It aims to have the first of three divisions operational by 2025, with the second to follow in 2027. “I am very optimistic that we will get it (the division for 2025) done,” Mais told Reuters in an interview published on Monday, adding the division would initially have 80%-90% of the required personnel and that the plans were agreed with NATO.

The lieutenant general said Germany would provide two mechanized brigades first, a — more lightly armed — medium brigade later, and be reinforced by a Dutch brigade. A brigade has some 5,000 troops. “This will be good enough,” the lieutenant general said. “It will be sufficient, in any case, to contribute the best equipped division of all European NATO partners in 2025. At least, this is our joint goal with our Dutch partners.”

Divisions are the land forces’ main organizational building blocks that would be needed to handle a conflict with a peer adversary.  Western nations are scrambling to rebuild and re-equip their divisions after decades spent fighting smaller wars in Iraq or Afghanistan saw them neglected, taken apart and stripped of weapons and ammunitions.

Mais acknowledged that it will be ambitious to supply the division with enough ammunition by 2025 at a time when Western countries are supplying huge amounts of shells to Kyiv, further depleting stocks severely run down since the end of the Cold War.

“If we rush ammunition to Ukraine, we don’t have it available ourselves until the new orders come in,” he said. “You can’t buy munitions at the DIY store, production capabilities have shrunk over the past 30 years.”

The army chief said this was a problem all NATO partners were facing. “But supporting Ukraine is more important right now than establishing a division, as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has stressed,” he underlined.

As for the second German division which is meant to be combat-ready in 2027, Mais said equipping it fully was massively hinging on the arrival of purchases from the 100 billion euro special fund materializing at troop level.

In a major shift of policy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a “Zeitenwende” (historical turning point) after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the establishment of the special fund to modernize a German military suffering from decades of financial neglect.

The German government is making serious accusations against Russia for suspending the grain deal with Ukraine. The fact that, since the beginning of the week, Moscow has pulled out of the deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea, shows that President Vladimir Putin is “again using hunger as a weapon against the whole world,” German Foreign Minister declared on Monday. The absence of grain deliveries from Ukraine – just like the war-related slump in Ukraine’s harvest – is an additional danger for the already precarious food supply, particularly to poorer countries. This, however, also applies to Western sanctions, which impede Russian grain and fertilizer exports – to the detriment of the Global South. While the EU is perfectly capable of facilitating Russian exports to satisfy its own needs – such as nuclear fuel and nickel – it refrains from enabling those Russian exports that are urgently needed in poorer countries. Depriving themselves from Russian pipeline gas in their sanctions frenzy last year, EU states bought up LNG away from countries such as Pakistan, thereby driving them into more severe crises.   (German Foreign Policy, 7/19/2023)

Serious tensions are casting a shadow over EU’s summit with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) that will begin next Monday. With this summit, the first since 2015, the EU seeks to revitalize its relations with Latin American states. This has to be seen in the context of the EU’s endeavors to improve its access to the subcontinent’s natural resources, which are essential for the EU’s energy transition – from lithium to green hydrogen. This is being met with resistance. “No one” can “doom” Latin American countries “to being suppliers of raw materials, that others process industrially,” to then “sell us the over-priced products,” Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández recently protested. Controversy also exists over the EU-CELAC summit declaration. With regards to the Ukraine war, CELAC also refuses to side with the West and instead demands a written admission to the crimes committed under European colonial rule – and a commitment to pay reparations. It looks like the CELAC nations want to be perceived as equal partners,” an EU diplomat notes.  (German Foreign Policy, 7/13/2023)

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Will anyone arrest the Russian president?

Vladimir Putin will not attend a summit in South Africa next month, ducking the possibility of arrest on an International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment.

South Africa had been grappling with the dangerous conundrum of whether to arrest the Russian president for war crimes if he visited Johannesburg for the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bloc economic summit in August.

In court papers released yesterday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that Russia “made it clear” that arresting its president would be “a declaration of war.”  South Africa has “obvious problems” with upholding the warrant, he said. Any arrest of Putin would also “introduce a new complication” that could “foreclose” a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine. The papers revealed that Ramaphosa had sought permission from the ICC to allow Putin to visit without arresting him.

This afternoon a spokesperson for Ramaphosa said that by “mutual agreement” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would attend instead.  (The Week, 7/19/2023)

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Biden Hosts Israeli President As Two-State Solution Slips Further Away by Daniel Bush (18 July 2023, Newsweek)

President Biden will host Israel’s president at the White House this week amid growing tension over the hard-right Israeli government’s proposed judicial system reforms and plans to expand settlements in the West Bank. Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit Tuesday to Washington comes at a fraught moment in the relationship between the United States and Israel, nations with a longtime security alliance that has been strained in recent months by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new conservative governing coalition.

Herzog will meet with Biden and then address a joint session of Congress later Tuesday to mark the 75th anniversary of Israel’s independence. (https://www.newsweek.com/biden-hosts-israeli-president-two-state-solution-slips-further-away-1813703)

Netanyahu hospitalized after ‘slight dizziness’; initial assessment is dehydration; Sheba Medical Center and PM’s office say first tests normal, more to follow; note he spent hours in sun at Sea of Galilee yesterday; said to be conscious; wife, son Avner with him

PM’S PERSONAL DOCTOR SAYS HIS CONDITION IS ‘GOOD AND STABLE’ (Times of Israel, 5 July 2023)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushed Saturday to the emergency room at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan. He was undergoing “further routine examination” on Saturday evening after the hospital said it was believed he was suffering from dehydration and “nothing untoward was found” in initial tests. “His condition is good and he is undergoing medical tests,” an initial statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said on Saturday afternoon.

In a joint statement early on Saturday evening, Sheba and the Prime Minister’s Office elaborated: “The prime minister spent several hours in the heat of the day at the Sea of Galilee yesterday. Today, he complained of slight dizziness,” and his doctor recommended he come to Sheba.(https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-taken-to-emergency-room-after-reportedly-not-feeling-well/)

Who replaces the prime minister during a medical emergency?
With Netanyahu in hospital and no minister serving in the role of Acting Prime Minister, what happens in the event that he’s declared incapacitated? (by Tal Shalev/Walla, Barak Ravid/Walla, Jerusalem Post, July 15, 2023)

After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was hospitalized on Saturday afternoon, reportedly due to fainting and hitting his head, many people have found themselves wondering what the procedure is in the event that he cannot continue to function as prime minister for a temporary amount of time. In principle, the Israeli government has a position known as Acting Prime Minister, which, unlike the role of Deputy Prime Minister, holds statutory significance. The person serving in the role of Acting Prime Minister is supposed to fill the role of prime minister in case of illness, absence from the country, or even death. However, Netanyahu has not appointed himself a replacement in recent years, and therefore, in the event that he is unable to perform his duties due to medical reasons, there would be no immediate changeover. It is important to note, however, that the prime minister is not currently expected to be declared incapacitated as a result of his hospitalization.

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POINTS TO PONDER

• The future of the Commonwealth Games has been thrown into doubt after the 2026 hosts dramatically pulled out today.  Just over a year after the Australian state of Victoria announced to great fanfare it was to host the next Games, its premier, Daniel Andrews, said that because of spiraling costs he was not prepared to redirect government funds to make up the shortfall.  Citing a nearly threefold increase in budget estimates, Andrews said it “does not represent value for money, that is all costs and no benefit.”  The Commonwealth Games Federation was “furious,” calling the decision “hugely disappointing,” said The Independent. It leaves organisers scrambling to find a new host for their showcase event less than three years out, but is in fact “just the latest sorry chapter for the Commonwealth Games, as it struggles for hosts – and relevance,” said The Guardian.  
• Rising interest rates are pushing more households into debt as incomes fail to cover basic costs, said the UK’s largest debt support charity. Citizens Advice said the number of people it was seeing who could no longer afford the property they were living in had almost doubled in a year. A report by the Resolution Foundation economic think tank said soaring interest rates had caused household wealth across Britain to fall by £2.1 trillion over the past year. This is the biggest fall since the Second World War, the think tank warned.  (The Week, 7/17/2023)

• “Hundreds of millions” of people “from the US to Europe and Asia” have been hit by severe heat, said The Guardian. Southern Europe is bracing for a second heat storm in a week while in the US, more than 100 million people are sweltering under extreme heat advisories. There are unconfirmed reports that China set a new national temperature record at 52.2C in Sanbao, Xinjiang Province on Sunday. “Incredibly”, according to BBC Weather, “it’s roughly six months since it also saw a record low temp of -53C, so in that short time it’s a swing of more than 100C.”  (The Week, 7/17/2023)

• One in 10 flights from UK airports are now private jets, reported The Times. In the 10 years before Covid-19, private jets accounted for about 7.5% of all UK departures but that figure rose to more than 20% during the pandemic when conventional flights were grounded. The number has now reached around 10%, said the climate charity Possible. The growth in private flights “poses a challenge to Britain’s 2050 net zero goal”, said The Times with the planes carrying an average of three passengers or less.  (The Week, 7/17/2023)

• America’s “age-old love affair with ice cream” appears to be “winding down,” said CNN. In 1986, the average American ate 18 pounds of regular ice cream, according to the US Department of Agriculture, but by 2021, the most recent year of the data, that was down a third to just 12 pounds per person. The shift to premium brands means that ice cream could be “more of a treat than it is a staple that you would potentially have in your freezer,” said John Crawford, VP of client insights for dairy at Circana, a consumer research firm.  (The Week, 7/17/2023)

INDUSTRIAL ACTION SURGING IN CHINA

Workers confront security forces at Foxconn’s Apple iPhone factory in Zhengzhou in November 2022 in a pay dispute. Photograph: AP (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/21/surge-in-strikes-at-chinese-factories-after-covid-rules-end)

China strikes: Industrial action is surging in China, The Observer said, with workers around the country “going on strike at a remarkable rate.” This year there have already been at least 130 factory strikes, more than three times as many as occurred throughout the whole of 2022, according to data compiled by the China Labour Bulletin (CLB), a Hong Kong-based non-governmental organization. For most of the strikes “the root cause is money,” The Observer said. “Strikes sometimes get small wins,” Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a professor of Chinese history at the University of California, Irvine, told the paper “but sometimes small concessions are made and the organizers are punished.”  (The Week, 5/22/2023)

[Catholic] ‘Christian Brothers’ accused of engaging in ‘slave trade.’

A 74-year-old County Limerick victim of child sex abuse by Christian Brothers has accused the congregation of having been engaged in the “slave trade.”

Tom Wall was just three when he was sent by court order to an industrial school in the village of Glin after his unmarried mother left a mother-and-baby home in nearby Newcastle West.  Industrial schools were established in the mid-19th Century and often run by religious orders to care for neglected, orphaned or abandoned children.  The Christian Brothers opened their first school in 1802 to provide education and help the poor.  In 2009, they issued an apology, following a damning public inquiry into child abuse in Catholic-run institutions in the Republic of Ireland.  The congregation said it accepted the findings of the Ryan Commission “with shame” and was “deeply sorry for the hurt” it had caused through abuse and its failure to respond to abuse allegations. 

Indentured or unpaid labour was more common in the past than it is now.

“They are not allowed to marry; they are not allowed to go to the cinema; they must not divulge their master’s secrets; they cannot absent themselves from their masters,” he continued, quoting from a 1902 contract which the BBC has seen. “Their wages for the first three years have to go to the Christian Brothers in Glin. 

It’s a total slave trade.”  (BBC 21 May, 2023, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx04e3nny4lo)

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PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS

• “The Taliban are offering money for Afghans to turn in any Christians they know. And Afghans are desperate, further heightening the security risk [to] Christians.” — mnnonline, April 3, 2023, Afghanistan.
• [P]olice raided a large group of Christians, mostly college students, as they “gathered to sing and record video clips for social media.” One-hundred-and three of them, “mainly students,” were arrested and sent to prison. “This latest arrest puts the number of Christian prisoners detained indefinitely without trial in Eritrea to more than 500…. Mai Serwa [prison]…is … known for its use of torture and other forms of mistreatment, including beatings, starvation, and denial of medical care. The Eritrean government detains individuals without charge or trial and has held many in detention for years without access to legal representation or the due process of law.” — International Christian Concern, persecution.org, April 24, 2023, Eritrea.

• [I]n one night of unfathomable horror … men, women, and children were slaughtered like chickens . . .” — persecution.org, April 28, 2023 — Democratic Republic of Congo.

• The “pure genocide” of Christians, as it has been characterized by several international observers, reached new levels, according to an Apr. 10 report, which found that since 2009, 52,250 Christians in Nigeria “have been butchered or hacked to death.” – Nigeria.

• “Political Islam replaces the laws or interprets them differently so that they restrict the practice of other religions. It also works to change the culture of society — which puts it under great pressure — so that it becomes more radical and extreme, not only toward other religions but also toward other Islamic sects.” — catholicnewsagency.com, 2023, Libya.

[Raymond Ibrahim, Gatestone, 5/21/2023)

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WHITES TO BECOME A MINORITY IN THE UK

In the UK, Dr Paul Morland warns that white British children are likely to become a minority in primary schools by the year 2060.

“In terms of the speed of the decline, there was work done by demographers at Oxford and other work more recently that looks at 2060, where we’ll have perhaps 50-60 per cent of people defining themselves as white British,” said Morland.

“But of course at that point, if you look at the primary school or the school age folk or the people in the large cities, it would be a minority and a declining minority,” he added.

(https://summit.news/2023/05/16/china-launches-nationwide-program-to-encourage-people-to-marry-and-have-more-children/)

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DESANTIS BLASTS FAUCI

“Where’s the accountability?” asks Gov Ron Desantis about Fauci for basically lying to the American public and the world.

Gov Desantis announced that the State of Florida is the first US state to formally ban gain of function research, even though it was once officially banned. In so doing, Desantis blasted Fauci for lying to the American public and the world in covering up the fact that he directly funded gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology that developed the coronavirus that then spread around the world.

Yet, Fauci is still yet to be held accountable for being responsible for funding the illegal gain of function research.  (Israel Unwired, 5/16/2023)

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TALKING POINTS

• A new study has found that voters overwhelmingly support the imposition of tougher curbs on junk food to tackle obesity. Some 80% of adults would back legislation to prevent the advertising of unhealthy food to children on television and online, according to the YouGov poll for the Obesity Health Alliance. Two thirds of adults in England are overweight or obese, noted The Times, a trend that is “driving record levels of long-term sickness in the UK,” with 2.6m people off work.   (The Week, 5/23/2023)

• London is falling behind rival financial centres because of over-regulation, claimed the chief executive of Britain’s biggest investment company. Nigel Wilson, the head of Legal & General, said that although entrepreneurship in universities is “off the scale” the UK’s financial centre doesn’t have “a capital system that is set up for these people to become successful in the way that the US has.” He is backing “urgent reforms to help the economy thrive,” said The Telegraph.  (The Week, 5/23/2023)

• ALL of Labor’s truly great leaders were constitutional monarchists, while today’s leaders usually claim they’re “life-long republicans.” That’s because they tend to be life-long politicians without any prior real job!  (Politicom, Australia, 5/232023)

• Germany seeks to bolster cooperation with South Korea and is thus engaged in enhancing the formation of an East Asian bloc against China. This is the result of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s short visit to Seoul yesterday. Prior to his visit, Scholz had already welcomed the recent rapprochement between Japan and South Korea. The USA has exerted massive pressure on Seoul and Tokyo to tighten ranks against Beijing. The groundwork had recently been laid, when South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol practically obliged South Korean companies to assume the Japanese companies’ obligation to pay compensation to their former South Korean forced laborers. While a clear majority of South Korea’s population is rejecting this plan, as well as Yoon’s pro-Japanese policy, Scholz is backing the South Korean president. Berlin seeks to intensify cooperation with Seoul in the fields of semiconductor production, of armament and military. Plans are being discussed to involve the Bundeswehr on an ongoing basis in the US-led monitoring of UN sanctions against North Korea.  (German Foreign Policy, 5/22/2023)

• SAVE THE BEES. “The goal of No Mow May is to pause mowing during the month of May, allowing flowers to bloom in your lawn to help early season pollinators. Late winter and early spring is a time when floral resources are often limited.”  Last year, I reported that a walk through my neighborhood revealed one immaculate lawn after another.   It’s the same this year.   Clearly, nobody cares about bees.  Or, indeed, our future food supply!  Lansing City Council is not helping.   It continues to fine people if their grass is above eight inches.

COMMENTARY

China and Russia are about to ditch the US dollar for trade between the two nations.   Others are expected to follow.   This could be the start of something big.

When I googled this verse, the following came up.

“God controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars . . . ”  (Daniel 2:21)

One way he “removes kings” is through their finances.  Before the world wars of the last century, Great Britain was the world’s leader.   In 1916, halfway through the Great War, the UK had to ask JP Morgan for a loan.   This was the beginning of the end for British leadership.   Great Britain was gradually replaced by the US.

But now we see the US in big financial trouble.   It’s not just the dollar.   The debt ceiling crisis, a problem that keeps coming back, shows America to be heavily in debt.   In fact, there’s more debt that any nation in history.

Every child born this year already has debts amounting to $94,000 around his neck.   Additionally, there’s a mountain of private debt, totaling $13 trillion.   And it’s getting worse by the day.

Although other things can bring us down, it seems likely that our financial problems will be a major factor.

Finances and war – the two biggest reasons for a superpower’s fall (see “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers,” by Paul Kennedy).  It’s only a matter of time.

Interestingly, the war in Ukraine which is a major drain on our finances, has also driven Europe closer.   A USE will be ready to replace the USA as the global superpower when the time comes.

“He removes kings and sets up other kings.”

MONEY IS THE PROBLEM

Suddenly, money is the big issue.   In just about every country.

After accumulating debt ($31.4 trillion in the US, in addition to the billions of private debt) — there’s nothing left to spend.  The Biden administration will have to cut spending.

In the UK striking public sector workers are unlikely to get a pay rise, as this would be inflationary at a time of high inflation.

A US general commented last week that the UK is not capable of defending itself due to many cuts over the years.   So the UK must find more money.  This will not be popular.

In France, French strikers are protesting changes to the pension system.  Until now, the French could retire on full benefits at the age of 62.  Faced with serious labor shortages, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, aims to raise the age to 64.   This is still lower than most competitor countries but the French people do not like it.   

So, money is the problem.  Or, rather, the lack of it.   This could be solved by a massive increase in taxes, but this would be deeply unpopular.   

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Row Growing Over Shell’s £32bn Profits (UK)

Pressure is growing on the government to impose a bigger windfall tax on energy companies after Shell reported the largest profits in its history. Thanks to the surge in energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the oil company’s annual takings have risen to $40bn (£32bn). The vast profits — “equivalent to just over £1,000 a second,” said the London Evening Standard — were among the biggest ever made by a British company. Opposition parties accused Rishi Sunak of letting fossil fuel companies “off the hook” and unions described the profits as “obscene”. The UK-headquartered company paid $134m in British windfall taxes last year.  (The Week, 2/3/2023)

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From German Foreign Policy, 2/2/2023

In open defiance of Germany and the other Western powers, Brazil rejects all arms deliveries to Ukraine and pushes, instead, for a mediation initiative to end the Ukraine war. Brazil sees itself as a “land of peace” and rejects any involvement in this war, was President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s response Monday to Berlin’s demand during German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit, that ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft tank be provided to Kiev. Rather than constantly fueling the war with ever more weapons, a mediation initiative must be launched, with the possible contribution from China, in particular, but also from India and Indonesia, according to Lula. Scholz does not support such an initiative from the Global South to end the fighting and raised his objections on Monday. However, more and more governments, particularly in the Global South, such as, most recently Columbia and Egypt, but also Israel are promoting a negotiated solution. Thus, a counterpoint is becoming apparent to the West’s efforts to continue to assert its global dominance in and with the Ukraine war.

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In an anti-Islam demonstration, a Swedish man burned a copy of the Quran.   This has enraged Muslims around the world.   Many are now threatening suicide bombings in Europe.  The demonstration also resulted in Sweden’s application to join NATO being rejected because of Turkey’s refusal to support it.

“Afghan Taliban Officials Threaten Suicide Bombings In Europe To Avenge Quran Desecrations:  ‘We . . . Are Ready To Conduct Istishhadi [Martyrdom-Seeking] Attacks To Defend Our Islamic Values;’ ‘The Lions Of Islam Should Respond To This Evil Act In Such A Way That The Heart Of Stockholm, Sweden, Can Be Shaken Several Times.’ “(MEMRI, 2/1/2023)

In its Freedom in the World 2022 report, Freedom House, a U.S. government funded organization in Washington, D.C., put Turkey in its “not free” category of countries, along with Afghanistan, Angola, Belarus, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nicaragua, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and several other third world rogue regimes. Could one, by the criteria of democracy, imagine any of those countries as a NATO member state? But Turkey is.  (Gatestone, 2/3/2023)

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(Sorry, folks, my computer is still giving me problems. I think it is about to give up the ghost.  It’s one of the older ones, about 2008 — large screen and keyboard for my ham fists to pound on.  I tried to have it fixed but it’s just too old.  So I am having a bit of difficulty producing my blog right now.)

IRAN ALREADY HAS NUKES

Iran’s Sajjil-2 ballistic missile (FARS News Agency)

“Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch,” says Joe Biden often and unconvincingly. He said it to Israeli prime ministers Bennett in 2021 and Lapid in 2022. He has even threatened to use military force “as a last resort.” A cynic would suggest that Biden’s attempt to forge another Obama-like “nuclear deal” is designed to ensure that Iran gets a nuclear weapon on the next president’s watch. A pessimist believes it’s too late.

As a pessimist by nature, I’m afraid that the window of opportunity to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb has closed. Iran is already a nuclear power, and decades of dithering, cajoling, and appeasing by past U.S. administrations from Clinton to Biden (especially Obama) have given it the time and political cover to build several nuclear bombs. Even the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) now estimates that Iran is only several weeks away from having “the approximate amount of nuclear material for . . . manufacturing a nuclear explosive device,” which, given the IAEA’s spotty record, probably means that threshold was crossed months if not years ago.  (“It’s too late to prevent an Iranian nuke,” AJ Caschetta, National Review, MEF, 9/16/2022)

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RIOTS IN TEHRAN

There have been amazing scenes in Iran. Women have been burning their headscarves and cutting off their hair in protest at the death of 22 year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest by Tehran’s morality police. 

Amini died after three days in a coma. Witnesses have claimed she was beaten on the head with a baton while being dragged into a police van to be taken to a detention centre for not wearing a headscarf.  

Since Iran’s Islamic revolutionary regime came to power in 1979, women have not only been required to wear headscarves but have also been banned from wearing tight trousers, ripped jeans, brightly colored outfits or clothing that reveals the knee.

Tehran’s police chief, General Hossein Rahimi, said Amini had violated the dress code. The police have rebutted the accusations of brutality and claimed she died of a heart attack. But Col. Ahmed Mirzaei, the head of the moral security police of Greater Tehran, has reportedly been suspended.

The move failed to prevent massive unrest which has now been going on for four days.  The Telegraph reports:  Videos posted on social media showed protesters setting fire to hijabs while chanting promises to “take revenge” for “our sister” Amini, who died in hospital on Friday after three days in a coma following her arrest during a visit to the capital… (“An inflection point for Iran,” Melanie Phillips, 9/21/2022)

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BRITS BLAMED FOR BIAFRAN WAR

I’m mortified by the hideous and historically inaccurate claims’: Nigerian academic slams Carnegie Mellon professor for saying Queen ignited Nigerian Civil War – calling it ‘propaganda and pseudo history’  (Mail,  9/15/2022)

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Ultra-processed Foods –  it’s not just their low nutritional value that’s a concern – The Conversation, 12 Sept 2022

In countries such as the UK, US and Canada, ultra-processed foods now account for 50% or more of calories consumed. This is concerning, given that these foods have been linked to a number of different health conditions, including a greater risk of obesity and various chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and dementia.

Ultra-processed foods are concoctions of various industrial ingredients (such as emulsifiers, thickeners and artificial flavours), amalgamated into food products by a series of manufacturing processes.  Sugary drinks and many breakfast cereals are ultra-processed foods, as are more recent innovations, such as so-called “plant-based” burgers, which are typically made of protein isolates and other chemicals to make the products palatable. The intense industrial processes used to produce ultra-processed foods destroy the natural structure of the food ingredients and strip away many beneficial nutrients such as fibre, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. 

(https://theconversation.com/ultra-processed-foods-its-not-just-their-low-nutritional-value-thats-a-concern-189918)

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EU SEEKS GLOBAL BLOC

In its power struggle against Russia and China, the EU is aiming at the formation of a global bloc, seeking to comprehensively expand the Western bloc and to move against foreign powers’ “Trojan horses” at home, according to yesterday’s State of the Union Address by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The transatlantic bloc, which includes some Asia-Pacific nations, will thus be given the positively connotated label of “democracies.” It is to include as many African and Latin American nations as possible and juxtaposed with a non-western bloc, which will be given the negatively connotated label “autocracies.” While the EU is fostering the formation of a bloc, in the non-Western “rest” of the world – i.e., three quarters of all nations – new alliances are forming, seeking a multipolar international order. Besides Russia and China, these include India Brazil and South Africa. Diverse countries such as Argentina, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia are seeking to join BRICS or SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization). (German Foreign Policy, 9/17/2022)

One of the most influential German dailies is offering a sort of constructive assessment of the German government’s repeated claims to leadership at EU and global levels. These claims to leadership are not new. Already more than ten years ago, the chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Volker Kauder, had spoken of a “Zeitenwende” (historical turning point) and openly declared that Berlin must “lead Europe into a new era.” For several months, a growing number of Berlin’s top politicians – including federal minsters – have again been forging ahead and declaring, like Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, “we are prepared to take the lead.” To implement the claim to leadership, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is calling for the introduction of decision-making by majority rule in EU foreign policy. This will hardly work, according to the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung: Some EU states have already balked at implementing less stringent decisions on the redistribution of refugees within the Union. Recently, Berlin has all too often limited itself to “demanding allegiance.” If it seeks success in the future, it must proceed in a “cooperative” manner.  (German Foreign Policy, 7/21/2022)

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INFLATION REDUCTION ACT

The IRS deliberately sets about impoverishing many Americans by increasing taxes “on everyone” and increasing tax audits at the same time as prices are skyrocketing. Imposing steeper taxes at a time of steeper prices may not mean that much to the rich, but has the effect of a stealth double-tax that crushes especially middle- and working-class families, who now find themselves forced to choose between necessities such as food, gasoline or rent. Reports state that 42% of Americans are struggling financially. (Gatestone, 9/7/2022)

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TO THE POINT

• US WILL DEFEND TAIWAN – Joe Biden has once again said the US would defend Taiwan in the event of an “unprecedented attack” by China. Asked to clarify if he meant that rather than supplying weapons or aid, US forces would actually defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, Biden replied: “Yes.” After the remawere broadcast by CBS, the White House said that US policy had not changed. The US has long held a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on the question of Taiwanese independence.  (The Week, 9/19/2022)

• UK RIOTS BETWEEN HINDUS AND MUSLIMS – Fifteen people have been arrested in Leicester following unrest in the city over the weekend. The arrests came amid tensions involving mainly young men from sections of the Muslim and Hindu communities including “violence after an India vs Pakistan cricket match”, said the BBC. Police said the latest arrests were “to deter further disorder.” Sanjiv Patel, who represents Hindu and Jain temples across Leicester, said he was deeply saddened by the disturbances. Suleman Nagdi, of the Leicester-based Federation of Muslim Organizations, said the violence had been “very alarming.”  (The Week, 9/19/2022)

• New Zealand becomes the first country to grant all women the right to vote 19^th September, 1893

• One of the people in line to view the queen’s coffin suddenly bolted from the 14-hour queue and charged the casket.  Police grappled him to the floor.  His name was Muhammed Khan.  David Beckham was in the line.  He waited a little over 12 hours.  He received no special favors.  Members of Parliament did, which upset people. 

FINAL THOUGHT

In the Bible certain numbers are of great significance.   The numbers 70 and 40 are both significant.  It remains to be seen if the 70 years that Elizabeth II was on the throne were of biblical significance.  She was also the 40th monarch in a line that began with William the Conqueror in 1066.   We should wait and see what follows her reign.  Something big could happen.

I had no idea until last week that prayers are said every Sabbath in synagogues across the UK for the Queen /King.  Melanie Phillips has been a particularly good news source at this time of transition.  In the second extract you will find the words: Some British monarchs in the past have even purportedly traced their line back to King David.  Be sure to read both.

“In any event, his own deep belief in promoting harmony reinforces the fundamental duty of the British monarchy — to unify the nation.

In that duty, the British crown has patterned itself since antiquity on the monarchy of King David, who forged a united kingdom out of disparate tribes and whose own power was limited through alternative power bases of priests, prophets and judges.

Charles III is the latest British monarch in that Davidic tradition. God save the King. And God save British Jews.”  (“The defender of faith,” Melanie Phillips, Jewish Chronicle, 9/18/2022).

The monarch in Britain is consecrated to a higher king. At the coronation — which will take place next year — Charles will be anointed. The oath that he takes is not to the people but to God.

That’s why his duty to serve the people is unbreakable. And that’s why the monarch is a unifying force, and melds the people into a united nation. The royal family helps forge the country into a kind of national family.

Citizens of republics often find it hard to appreciate the benefits of a constitutional monarchy. By enshrining the identity of the nation above and beyond temporal politics, the constitutional monarch acts as a focus for unity often denied to countries that have instead elected presidents as their head of state.

Few also appreciate that the British monarchy is patterned on ancient Israel. It’s why the monarch is anointed; it’s why Handel’s “Zadok the Priest,” with its words taken from the first Book of Kings, has been sung at every English coronation since 973 CE. Some British monarchs in the past have even purportedly traced their line back to King David.

True, ancient Israel was a theocracy and was also eventually destroyed by internal divisions. Nevertheless, it developed a concept of governance that was to serve as a template for both Britain and America.

The genius of the monarchy invented by King David was that it brought together, as one governable nation, otherwise disparate and potentially warring tribes. 

Even more revolutionary was the ancient Israelites’ concept of limited governance. Their king didn’t enjoy absolute power. He was constrained from below by the authority vested in priests, prophets and judges, and from above by the belief that the supreme ruler whose laws even the king had to follow was the Almighty himself. 

Under Oliver Cromwell, some even advocated turning parliament into a sanhedrin or supreme council patterned on the biblical high court of Judea. 

Just as Britain’s constitutional monarchy is generally not understood in republican countries, nor is the relationship in Britain between church and state in which the Crown plays a central role.  (‘The Momentous task for King Charles III,” Melanie Phillips, 9/16/2022)

‘For this is what the LORD says:  David will have a descendant sitting on the throne of Israel forever.”  (Jeremiah 33:7 New Living translation)

DEATH OF THE QUEEN

Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8^th.

If you have been watching the commentary at various times during the week, you will have noticed how religious it’s all been.  The British people are not very religious, but the Queen was.   Churches have been full.

There was some speculation about the double rainbow that appeared in the sky soon after her death.

The celebrations were the last hurrah for the country, faced with serious economic problems predicted for the next 12 months.

One scripture that comes to mind in thinking of the life of this exceptionally popular monarch is Matthew 23:11 “The greatest among you shall be your servant.” She was an exceptional head of state to all fifteen of her territories and a dedicated servant to the 56 nations of the Commonwealth.

Hopefully, the emphasis on service and duty will be followed by her successor.   It has not always been the case.

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Germany’s Scholz Invited UK’s Truss to Berlin – German Spokesperson
BERLIN (Reuters / USNews.com, 7 Sep 2022)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to Britain’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss by phone on Wednesday and invited her to visit Berlin soon, a German government spokesperson said. “They exchanged views on current topics. The Chancellor has invited his British counterpart to Berlin for an inaugural visit soon,” said the spokesperson in a statement, adding Scholz also conveyed his congratulations to Truss on taking office.  There were no further details.  (https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-09-07/germanys-scholz-invited-uks-truss-to-berlin-german-spokesperson)

Germany must accept leading military role, says defense minister German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has said Germany must take on a leadership role militarily, whether it wants to or not.  “Germany does not have to be afraid” of doing so, she said. (12 Sept 2022, Deutsche Welle)

“Germany’s size, its geographical situation, its economic power — in short, its clout — makes us a leading power whether or not we want to be one. Militarily as well,” she said in a keynote security address in Berlin.  Her remarks come as Europe is struggling to come to terms with the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Germany rethinking its defense strategy after decades of major dependence on Washington for its security. “The war in Ukraine has shown everyone, even us Germans who are used to peace, that states need armed forces as a last resort — that is, whenever an enemy is determined to use invasion, destruction, murder and forced displacement” as means to serve its interests, she said.  . . . Lambrecht confirmed that Europe’s security was still guaranteed by its most important ally, the US.  “But this ally has been forced to shift its main focus of attention to security in the Pacific region,” she said.  This meant that Europe, and above all Germany, had to play a more important role . . . 

“Germany is ready to take the burden off America in Europe and thus make a decisive contribution to sharing the load fairly,” Lambrecht said.
(https://www.dw.com/en/germany-must-accept-leading-military-role-says-defense-minister/a-63089386)

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EU TRADE WAR

The EU may be at the threshold of its next trade war, according to remarks pertaining to today’s appointment of Liz Truss as the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It is caused by the dispute between Brussels and London over the Northern Ireland protocol, which, becoming effective in the aftermath of Brexit, imposes the establishment of a customs border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, obligating London to comply with single market regulations in Northern Ireland. Given the fact that, until now, the EU has only been willing to allow minor corrections to the protocol, even though it is provoking serious tensions in Northern Ireland, the British government is preparing to institute changes unilaterally. It has been reported that Truss could suspend parts of the protocol soon after taking office. Such a move could provoke a “trade war” between the EU and Great Britain, Katarina Barley (SPD), Vice President of the EU Parliament, was quoted to have said. The damage that would ensue from that trade war, would add to the severe damage inflicted on the economies of Germany and the EU from their sanctions on Russia. In addition, because of the power struggle with Beijing, there is also a danger of a slump in business with China.   (German Foreign Policy, 9/7/2022)

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US AIR STRIKES ON SYRIA

US forces carried out airstrikes in Syria on Tuesday, targeting groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The airstrikes took place in the Euphrates River Valley, in the administrative region of Deir ez-Zor.

Washington said the strike was intended to defend US forces from recent attacks. A statement by US Central Command cited an August 15 attack on American forces as an example.

The airstrike is important because the US has rarely retaliated for dozens of attacks carried out by the IRGC and its proxies against its forces over the past several years. These attacks increased in 2019 and have resulted in harm to US personnel in Iraq. Under the Trump administration, the rising tensions led to America killing IRGC Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.  (Seth Frantzman, MEF, 8/24/2022)

GENOCIDE IN NIGERIA

• The Christians of Nigeria are, in fact, being purged in a genocide, according to several NGOs Every two hours, one Christian there is killed.
• “Heavily armed bandits, many of whom are said to be ethnic Fulanis, are waging their own form of Jihad; killing, abducting and terrorizing worship centers and educational institutions owned by churches as well as impoverished communities in the North and Middle Belt regions.” — (Vanguardngr.com. June 19, 2022, Nigeria)
• The Biden administration’s response to the jihadist onslaught against Christians in Nigeria . . . has been to remove Nigeria from the State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern: nations that engage in, or tolerate, violations of religious freedom.
• “The landlocked Sahel state [Burkina Faso], one of the world’s poorest countries, is in the grip of a nearly seven-year-old jihadist insurgency. Thousands of people have died and nearly two million have been driven from their homes.” — Guardian.ng, June 28, 2022, Burkina Faso.  (“Where is the Media?”, Raymond Ibrahim, Gatestone, 8/14/2022)

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AMERICA IGNORING PROBLEMS – Too many Americans are blithely dismissing threats that could prove cataclysmic.  by Mitt Romney a Republican senator from Utah.
Illustration by Paul Spella, The Atlantic, July 4, 2022

Even as we watch the reservoirs and lakes of the West go dry, we keep watering our lawns, soaking our golf courses, and growing water-thirsty crops.

As inflation mounts and the national debt balloons, progressive politicians vote for ever more spending.  As the ice caps melt and record temperatures make the evening news, we figure that buying a Prius and recycling the boxes from our daily Amazon deliveries will suffice.  When TV news outlets broadcast video after video of people illegally crossing the nation’s southern border, many of us change the channel.

And when a renowned conservative former federal appellate judge testifies that we are already in a war for our democracy and that January 6, 2021, was a genuine constitutional crisis, MAGA loyalists snicker that he speaks slowly and celebrate that most people weren’t watching.

What accounts for the blithe dismissal of potentially cataclysmic threats? The left thinks the right is at fault for ignoring climate change and the attacks on our political system. The right thinks the left is the problem for ignoring illegal immigration and the national debt. But wishful thinking happens across the political spectrum. More and more, we are a nation in denial.  (Mitt Romney, The Atlantic, 8/15/2022)

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CHINA TO OVERTAKE US

• The [Harvard Belfer Center] report, “The Great Economic Rivalry: China Vs. the US,” predicts that at the current rate China will overtake the US economically within a decade.
• When it comes to trade, China has now displaced the US. “When this century began, China was knocking on the door of the WTO and the U.S. was the leading trading partner of most major economies. Today, China has overtaken the U.S. to become the largest trading partner for nearly every major nation . . . by 2018, 130 countries traded more with China than they did with the U.S . . .” — The Belfer Report.  (Gatestone, 8/17/2022)

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CHINA USING CHINESE IN US

Can Americans of Chinese descent be loyal to both America and China?

No. China’s Communist Party has made itself an existential threat to America and every other society. . .  The promotion of tianxia [ruling “All under Heaven”] means, among other things, that the Party views the U.S. government as illegitimate and America as nothing more than a tributary society or colony.

Although we [“Chinese-Americans”] technically do not have an obligation to prove our loyalty to America, we must, as a group, understand that a hostile power is trying to weaponize us. Xi Jinping has openly called on us to become a subversive force, to help him destroy the country we now call home.  (Gatestone, 8/23/2022)

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TO THE POINT

• Germany’s defence minister said the country must assume a leading military role in Europe. Speaking to the German Council on Foreign Relations, Berlin’s defence minister said the US would remain Europe’s main protector and there could be “no substitute for the American nuclear deterrent for the foreseeable future” but tensions between the US and China over Taiwan and Washington’s pivot to the Asia-Pacific region meant “we are called on to do more than before for Europe,” adding: “Germany is prepared to make a decisive contribution to fair burden-sharing.”  (The Week, 9/13/2022)

• Aldi has surpassed Morrisons to become Britain’s fourth largest supermarket chain. The discount grocer enjoyed an 18.7% jump in sales in the 12 weeks to September 4 that boosted its share of the overall grocery market to 9.3%, according to figures released by Kantar. Lidl also experienced a surge in sales, which were up 20.9%. “Rampant inflation is prompting consumers to tighten their belts,” said The Times, and they are increasingly “turning to discounters amid soaring food prices.” (The Week, 9/14/2022) Both Aldi and Lidl are German owned.

• “Germany’s size, its geographical situation, its economic power — in short, its clout — makes us a leading power,” declared German Minister of Defense Christine Lambrecht. As Lambrecht affirmed yesterday in a speech to the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Germany is “a leading power … also in the military sphere.”  In the future, the Bundeswehr must play “a more important role in our political thinking and action.” In her speech Lambrecht focused on the new National Security Strategy that the government plans to adopt still this year. The strategy, being drafted under the auspices of the foreign ministry, reflects on a national level the EU’s “Strategic Compass” – a sort of military doctrine – and NATO’s new Strategic Concept. Since the Strategy’s implementation will entail considerable costs, it is necessary to win broad public acceptance – for example by introducing a “National Security Day.” The ambitious plans are in stark contrast to the failure of German military missions over the past few years.   (German Foreign Policy, 9/14/2022)

TRUSS BECOMES UK PM

Liz Truss, the new Prime Minister of UK. (Photo: Neil Hall / EFE, https://en.mercopress.com/2022/09/07/truss-announces-new-cabinet-to-face-the-storm))

What do you do when there are three potential lead articles in the same week?  I’ve always tried to put the most important news item first.   We don’t always get it right, but I like to think we do most of the time.  This week, the new British prime minister, the German energy crisis and the future of the United States could each have been the “lead.” 

So, why did I choose Liz Truss as #1?   Because that was the first article I chose for the newsletter.   I saved the blogpost under the title “Liz Truss new UK PM.”  As I added other articles, it remained the title of this week’s newsletter.

However, the German energy crisis, could easily be the #1 story, with great implications for Germany and Europe.

Last week, I led on a news source that claimed Germany is about to have the third most powerful military in the world.   That has great implications for anybody with even a rudimentary knowledge of twentieth century history. 

To ensure the energy needed for the military (and domestic) roles is going to be a major challenge for the new German Chancellor.   This issue could fracture the unity of the West.

The third issue is the possible breakup of the United States.  This certainly could happen but may not.  We can only wait and see.   In Mark’s gospel, Jesus said, that “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  (Mark 3:25).Be sure to read all three “articles.”   They will help you keep abreast of major developments in the news.

As expected, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss won the Conservative Party leadership race on Monday and will become the next British PM, replacing the disgraced Boris Johnson. Truss — a political chameleon who’s popular with the Tory base — beat former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, a moderate technocrat, by a comfortable margin of 57% of party member votes. She now faces tough challenges at home and abroad. First, a looming recession compounded by a cost-of-living crisis and an energy crunch. Truss, who fancies herself as a modern Margaret Thatcher, plans to announce big tax cuts and perhaps a temporary freeze on energy bills for the most vulnerable Brits — which her economic guru has warned would be fiscally irresponsible. Second, a likely collision course with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol. Brace for rocky times ahead as Truss tries to convince Brussels to renegotiate the post-Brexit trade deal, which scrapped a hard border between Northern Ireland, part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state. (No surprise then that Brussels is hardly looking forward to her moving into No. 10 Downing St.) On Tuesday, Truss will travel to Scotland to meet with Queen Elizabeth II, who as per tradition will ask her to form a government.  (Gzero Signal, 9/6/2022)

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TRUMP PREDICTED GERMAN ENERGY CRISIS IN 2018 UN SPEECH

Mainstream media at the time called Trump’s comments ‘outrageous,’ ‘inaccurate,’ and ‘highly misleading.’

A flashback video making its rounds online this week shows then-President Donald Trump warning during a 2018 speech at the UN that Germany could soon be “totally dependent on Russian energy.“  After the 45th president put the Germans on notice, the nation’s UN representatives and the mainstream media scoffed at his warning. 

. . . Shadi Hamid, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, posted on Twitter Sunday mocking mainstream media for fact-checking Trump on a future prediction.

Now, Germany and several other European countries are experiencing an energy crisis that could have deadly results . . .  Articles with titles such as “Germany Is Already Struggling to Keep the Lights On” and “Why Germany’s Energy Crisis and Euro Weakness Spell Trouble For The Euro Zone” are flooding media outlets.

Russia reduced the supply of natural gas flowing to Germany in response to sanctions and could completely cut them off if necessary.  While “Germany is considering operating its 3 remaining nuclear reactors that are scheduled to be shuttered by the end of the year through this winter,” according to the Institute for Energy Research, the nation still relies on Russia for most of its uranium fuel.  The Institute for Energy Research also points out, “Germany also gets 34 percent of its oil from Russia and 53 percent of its hard coal supplies.”

. . . CNN reported the pipeline shutdown is “reigniting fears that Moscow could completely shut off gas to Europe, which is racing to stockpile supplies ahead of the winter.”

. . . German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Cabinet met for an energy summit on Tuesday, telling the media, “Coal power plants are being connected to the power grid again, bit by bit, and as you know, we are also looking into whether it makes sense to restart nuclear power plants for the winter through a careful stress test.”

“We’re in a much better situation now than was foreseeable several months ago and we are much more able to deal with the threats coming from Russia over the cutting off of gas supplies,” he added.  Meanwhile, Germany’s largest natural gas importer, Uniper, asked the government for an additional €4 billion ($4 billion) bailout this week.

The people of the world need to get prepared immediately for a rough winter. . .  (yournews.com 8/30/2022)

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American policy is splitting, state by state, into two blocs – This will have profound implications for the union. (The Economist, 3 Sept 2022)

To understand the future of America, don’t head to Washington, DC. Instead, talk to the governors of its most conservative state, Mississippi, and its most progressive one, California.

Bespectacled and calmly confident, Mississippi’s Republican governor, Tate Reeves, is on a high. It was his state’s 2018 ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy that returned the issue to the Supreme Court, setting the stage for the reversal of Roe v Wade in June, a decision which gave all state governments the freedom to decide their own abortion regimes.

In August, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Mr. Reeves boasted of his state’s other bans:  on vaccine mandates; on teaching critical race theory; on transgender students taking part in school sports on the basis of the gender with which they identify.  “I think Mississippi has led on social and cultural issues for years,” he says, and he plans to keep that lead. Though he declines to say which policies he and the Mississippi legislature will target next, “there will certainly be opportunities for us to do [more].”

Some 2,700km (1,700 miles) away, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is as depressed as Mr. Reeves is upbeat. “It’s the great unravelling,” he says. “All the progress that I’ve enjoyed in my 50-plus years, all being unravelled, in real time.”

Those policies reflect America’s growing ideological polarisation. “State policies vary more than they ever have before,” says Chris Warshaw of George Washington University, co-author of a forthcoming book, “Dynamic Democracy.”

To quantify the divergence among states, Mr. Warshaw and Devin Caughey of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysed 190 policies from the 1930s to 2021. On the whole, states have become more liberal. They have unwound, for example, racial restrictions, bans on women serving on juries and laws criminalising sodomy…

. . . Let’s stay together

The most extreme outcome would be if today’s disunity led again to a real possibility of secession. That remains highly unlikely. But in a recent survey of nearly 9,000 Americans conducted by researchers at the University of California, Davis, half the respondents said there would be a civil war in America within the next few years. Searches for “secession” shot up in the aftermath of the 2020 election. If 2024 sees a constitutional crisis in which states, rather than just individual politicians within them, use new powers to reject the result the voters intended, the country’s constitution, and its constituent parts, will face a serious test.

In his book Mr. French lays out several scenarios for secession. When asked what the odds are of one of them actually coming true, he asserts a continued belief that the United States will stay united. “But for the first time in my life,” he adds, “I’m not certain of that.”   (The Economist, 9/3/2022)

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Russian spies suspected of infiltrating German government, according to report — The domestic intelligence service is said to be investigating 2 officials who work on energy supply.

BERLIN — Two senior officials at Germany’s economy ministry are being investigated over allegations of spying for Russia, newspaper Die Zeit reported on Wednesday.  According to the article, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic intelligence service, is looking into the case of two civil servants “who are involved with energy supply in key positions” and might be Kremlin moles.  If confirmed, the case would represent a spectacular security breach at a highly sensitive time for Germany and for Europe. The economy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  The powerful ministry is under the leadership of Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck, who also serves as Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s deputy. It is playing a key role in preparing Germany to cope with an energy crisis as Russian President Vladimir Putin cuts gas deliveries in response to Western sanctions over his invasion of Ukraine. (Politico.eu. — https://www.politico.eu/article/kremlin-espionage-reportedly-suspected-german-economy-ministry/)

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China has waived the debt of some African countries. But it’s not about refinancing . . .

The Trump administration accused China of ensnarling developing countries by extending credit to debtors Beijing knows lack the solvency to pay it back. As (former) US vice-president Mike Pence put it in 2018:  China uses so-called ‘debt diplomacy’ to expand its influence … offering hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure loans to governments from Asia to Africa to Europe and even Latin America. Such “debt traps” are deliberately being created so China can force poor African states to vote with it in the UN General Assembly, support its positions on Taiwan or acquire valuable real estate in Africa that can be converted into military bases. Or so the narrative goes. Chinese public and private lenders accounted for 12% of the continent’s US$696 billion external debts in 2020. Ghana and South Africa are particularly worried about a vicious cycle of downgrades by the rating agencies, and rising trade imbalances. Most of Africa’s debts to China are owed by five states – Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia.  (August 31, 2022, Extracts,  https://theconversation.com/china-has-waived-the-debt-of-some-african-countries-but-its-not-about-refinancing-189570)

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TO THE POINT

• Saudis complain about Netflix – The Saudi media regulator and the six-member Gulf Cooperation have demanded that Netflix removes all content deemed to violate “Islamic and societal values and principles,” according to Saudi media and The Guardian. Illustrating the report, Saudi state TV showed blurred clips from the animated show Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, in which two teenage girls kiss, and footage from the French movie Cuties. It also accused the streaming service of “promoting homosexuality by focusing excessively on homosexuals.”

• Nearly 50% of British children now grow up outside the traditional two-parent household. According to a report published today by Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, almost a quarter of families are headed by a lone parent, compared with the EU average of one eighth. De Souza said she will revise the “family test,” which is applied to all new domestic laws and policies, to put families “at the heart” of policymaking.  (The Week, 9/1/2022)

• The German government has announced a €65bn (£56.2bn) package of measures to address rising energy costs. The new support will include one-off payments to the most vulnerable and tax breaks to energy-intensive businesses. Energy prices have soared since Russia invaded Ukraine in February and EU officials have warned of an impending “crunch point” when countries start to feel acute economic pain while also still being asked to help the Ukrainian military and humanitarian effort, said Politico.   (The Week, 9/5/2022)

• Condemned to Lead’ Europe, German Chancellor Struggles for Impact.    Facing its worst crisis since World War II, Europe is looking for leadership.  Olaf Scholz is trying to take up the role but faces a tepid response.  (by Erika Solomon, 2 Sept 2022, New York Times)

• China Daily: No Matter How Many US Politicians Visit Taiwan, How Many Military Exercises The US Stages In The Region, They Will Not Change The Island’s Status; Chinese News Agency Reaffirms The ‘One-China Principle’ Over Taiwan (MEMRI, 9/1/2022)

• As rumours swirl, Pope Francis names new cardinals – Pope Francis, who recently raised the possibility of retiring due to his declining health, will create 20 new cardinals on Saturday — many of whom could one day choose his successor.  It is the eighth consistory since the 85-year-old was elected in 2013, but is being particularly closely watched for signs of the kind of Catholic Church he hopes to leave behind.  The new cardinals include men known for their progressive views and their pastoral work, and they hail from around the world: from Brazil to Nigeria, India, Singapore and East Timor.  After Saturday’s swearing-in at St Peter’s Basilica, they will join a two-day meeting of all cardinals starting Monday.  (25 Aug 2022, Yahoo, by Clément Melki, AFP /Yahoo)

• Boris Johnson is in line for an £18,000 “golden goodbye” and an annual allowance of up to £115,000 after resigning. The former PM will receive severance pay of £18,860 – a quarter of his prime ministerial salary of £75,440 – “just for stepping down,” said the I news site, and will also be eligible for the public duty costs allowance, which allows ex-PMs to claim staffing, office and other expenses of up to £115,000 a year.  (One pound is $1.15)  Johnson is also expected to make millions from his memoirs, journalism and public speaking.  (The Week, 9/7/2022 )

DOLLAR’S LONG TERM PROSPECTS

What are the attributes of a global reserve currency? It must be stable, it must be underpinned by a large and strong economy, it must be freely convertible, and it must be used widely.

Americans should not remain overconfident. The only reason the greenback is still the world’s reserve currency is because there is no practical alternative. China and Russia, however, are busy trying to figure out how to engineer a replacement.  (Gatestone, 8/10/2022)

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RACISM IN HAMTRAMCK

In January, the city of Hamtramck, Michigan, became the first municipality in the United States to be governed entirely by Muslim Americans. Mayor Amer Ghalib was sworn into office with an all-Muslim city council on January 2, after promising to represent the entire community, “no matter your faith, your background, who you love, or your political views.”

Yet, Hamtramck’s new mayor does not live up to his inclusive pledge. Ghalib’s Facebook account includes deeply racist, anti-black statements. He viciously mocked black justice demonstrations and endorsed a comment that referred to African Americans as “animal” and “inhuman.”

Alarmingly, Ghalib’s social media history even appears to include an admission of serious voter fraud.  (7/7/2022 MEF)

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IRELAND RETHINKING NEUTRALITY

Ireland is to significantly expand its participation in EU military co-operation projects, including in the areas of cybersecurity and special forces training.

Although a member of the Permanent Structured Co-operation (Pesco) initiative since 2017, Ireland has played a minimal role in the project which has been characterised in some political quarters as a prelude to an EU army. Ireland is to significantly expand its participation in EU military co-operation projects, including in the areas of cybersecurity and special forces training.

The Government views it as a way of increasing interoperability between Irish and EU militaries in support of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, which it says is vital for future participation in peacekeeping operations.  (Conor Gallagher, Irish Times, 7/12/2022)

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GERMANY CALLS FOR MASSIVE REARMAMENT

The EU should play a “geopolitical role” and therefore “close ranks” and step up its militarization, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz demands in an op-ed published in the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung. He promises “concrete proposals” in the next few months and is already demanding the abolition of the right to veto on foreign policy issues, which enables smaller states to protect their vital interests against the pressure of the powerful member states. A similar view was recently expressed by SPD Chair Lars Klingbeil. “After nearly 80 years” of alleged “restraint,” Germany should claim “the role of a leading power,” the SPD-Chair demanded. This would “require tough decisions by Berlin.” Klingbeil also called for massive rearmament of the Bundeswehr. Scholz and Klingbeil are worried because the developing and emerging countries are refusing, to a growing extent, to follow the old West and are pursuing their own independent policy. The call to engage in “geopolitical” activities in the future comes at a time of rapidly growing poverty in the EU. (German Foreign Policy, 7/20/2022)

Putin’s plan to hold Germany to ransom by Wolfgang Münchau, The Spectator, 2 July 2022

Russia has a long history of using the cold to defeat Europe.  The winter of 1812 arrested Napoleon’s special military operation.  Hitler’s troops hit the deep-freeze outside the gates of Moscow in December 1941. Now Vladimir Putin has the option to turn off the gas sent to Europe – a strategy against which Germany appears to have no defence.  (The Spectator, 7/2/2022)

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MUSLIM ADVANCE IN US

A Turkish-backed coalition of the nation’s most prominent Sunni Islamist organizations converged on Capitol Hill for the 7th annual National Muslim Advocacy Day in mid-June. The U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO) enjoyed logistical support from the Turkish government as more than 300 delegates toured Congressional offices to lobby a package of radical legislative proposals.

Since its inaugural Muslim lobby day in 2015, USCMO regularly hails itself as the uncontested representative of a Muslim American voting bloc — one that is united by concerns that affect “all Americans.” However, just three days after this year’s event, which took place on June 13-14, USCMO Secretary-General Ousama Jammal struck a decidedly different tone, describing his experience at the lobby day in a fiery Friday sermon at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, Illinois.

“This is our battle. This is our jihad, our weapon is our vote,” Jammal said. “This is what we are going to fight with.” (Benjamin Baird, MEF, 7/17/2022)

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INCREASED MILITARY SPENDING

In the days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a host of countries announced momentous hikes in military spending. Canada and the United States both released plans for new military expenditures. So did Australia. So far, 29 European states have pledged more than a combined $209 billion in new defense funding – a figure that will almost certainly rise. The European Commission has declared that “investments will be needed to replenish the depleted stocks of military equipment,” and Josep Borrell, the EU’s top foreign policy official, has called for the bloc “to spend together, more, and better” on its armed forces.  (Foreign Affairs, July 2022)

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MESSAGE FROM PRO-AMERICAN SPECTATOR WRITER

It isn’t much fun being American right now. Your cities are sinking into criminality, your sidewalks are full of drug addicts, your education system is self-harming, you are the fattest big country on earth, your health service is a cruel disaster, your towns are burned by race riots, you are shooting your own children in schools, your military is in retreat around the world, you are being supplanted as the number one nation by China, you are returning to medieval laws over abortion, your life expectancy is actually shrinking, and you recently suffered an attempted coup.

It’s not a pretty list. It is, indeed, a horrible list. America is in stark decline and its people are in anguish, so they lash out, and comfort themselves, by saying ‘look, it’s even worse over there’. And, as psychologists know, when someone lashes out, it’s always the close friends and family that get hurt. Not the strangers. America is not attacking Indonesia or Japan or Brazil. It is attacking the mother country. Britain. This is Oedipal.

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SALMAN RUSHDIE

I remember checking out his book The Satanic Verses out of my library.  I got to page 2 and was deeply offended.  This is what led to the fatwa against Rushdie and to the attempted assassination last week.  Rushdie’s best book is Midnight’s Children, set in India.   This week marks the 75^th anniversary of India’s independence.   It’s a perfect time to read the first paragraph again, one of the best intros to any novel.

“I was born in the city of Bombay… once upon a time.  No, that won’t do, there’s no getting away from the date:  I was born in Doctor Narlikar’s Nursing home on August 15^th, 1947.  And the time?  The time matters, too.  Well then: at night.  No, it’s important to be more…  On the stroke of midnight, as a matter of fact.  Clock-hands joined palms in respectful greeting as I came.  Oh, spell it out, spell it out: at the precise instant of India’s arrival at independence, I tumbled forth into the world.  There were gasps.  And outside the window, fireworks and crowds.”

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TO THE POINT

• Asian markets and Wall Street both climbed after the latest US inflation data came in slightly below estimates and boosted investor hopes. US headline consumer prices rose 8.5% in July compared to the same period a year earlier, just shy of economists’ expectations of 8.7%. The data also showed no month-on-month inflation from June to July. The Financial Times said the reprieve has “bolstered confidence.”  (The Week, 8/11/2022)

• “In Britain, everything is policed except crime.”  (Mark Steyn, GB News, 8/2/2022)

• The Royal Navy is planning to relinquish its role of dealing with migrants crossing illegally to the UK on 31 January next year, said The Telegraph. Just months after Boris Johnson brought in the first Navy vessels to patrol the Channel, government sources said the Navy is planning to hand back control to the Border Force. The news comes after MPs complained that policing the Channel had turned the Navy into a “super taxi service” for migrants. The next PM will be presented with a dilemma over whether to overrule military advisers.  (The Week, 7/16/2022)

• “For a nation, a country, a people, a democracy to endure, there needs be a broad consensus of belief, culture, custom and politics…  We are a country whose people have a diminishing confidence in almost all of its institutions, from big business to the churches, universities and media.”  (Pat Buchanan, 7/16/2022)

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FINAL THOUGHT

I was talking to somebody recently who desperately wanted to confirm his conservative credentials to me.    He said that he watched Fox News for three hours every evening!  I can’t think of anything worse to waste an evening.   At a troubled time like this, we need something uplifting.  We do not need to immerse ourselves in the world’s politics.

Music helps.   In my case classical music, even a bit of opera, helps me relax.   You can substitute whatever is to your taste.  

Philippians 4:8 is sound advice during these difficult days:

^“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

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JEWS TOLD TO LEAVE RUSSIA

Former Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky

JEWS TOLD TO LEAVE RUSSIA

Ex-Jewish agency head urges Russian Jews to move to Israel before possible shutdown. This comes a day after the Justice Ministry in Moscow reportedly asked a local court to rule on the liquidation of the Jewish Agency in Russia, citing violations of the law.

Russian Jews should move to Israel as soon as possible, former Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky urged on Friday, less than a day after Moscow called for the aliyah organization’s liquidation in Russia. (Haaretz, 22 July 2022) 

ARABS CRITICIZE BIDEN’S POLICIES

• Arabs point out that one of Biden’s biggest mistakes was that he took America’s Arab allies for granted while embarking on a policy of appeasement towards Iran’s mullahs.

• “The behavior of the Obama and Biden administrations regarding Iran and Afghanistan served as a wake-up call for the countries of the region.” — Ali Hamadeh, Lebanese Journalist, Annahar, July 20, 2022. 

• The Arabs are telling Biden that they do not appreciate or respect weak leaders and remain concerned about his appeasement policy toward the mullahs and their proxies in the Middle East.   (Gatestone, 7/26/2022)

DICTATORSHIPS HAVE THE ADVANTAGE

“History teaches that prolonged conflicts bleed both sides, but dictatorships have an advantage over democracies. They are not accountable to their societies and can pay the price of blood, even with opposition from their citizens . . . Does the transatlantic free world still want to occupy a position of leadership? Do we still believe in the universality of values ​​such as freedom and the right of national self-determination?” — Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Politico, June 27, 2022  (Gatestone, 7/24/2022)

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GERMANY’S PM CALLS ON BERLIN TO HELP FUND FRENCH NUCEAR WEAPONS

BERLIN, July 23, 2022 (Reuters) – Germany should contribute towards the costs of France’s nuclear arsenal as the threat of nuclear war with Russia looms over Europe, German political veteran Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview published on Saturday.  “Now that Putin’s accomplices are threatening a nuclear strike every day, one thing is clear to me: we need nuclear deterrence at the European level as well,” Schaeuble, a former finance minister who has served as a member of the German parliament for five decades, told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.  France has such weapons, he said, adding: “In our own interest, we Germans must make a financial contribution to the French nuclear force in return for a joint nuclear deterrent.”  The conservative, who has long been a passionate supporter of European integration, became a European household name during the 2012 eurozone debt crisis, when fans hailed him as a guardian of fiscal rectitude even as opponents accused him of imposing damaging austerity on Greece and other indebted countries.  

Asked whether his proposal would give Berlin a say on using nuclear weapons, the former conservative minister said France and Germany would have to come to an agreement as neighbors and NATO partners.  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most serious crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war.  France – one of three NATO members with nuclear weapons, alongside the United States and Britain – has around 300 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).  (https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germanys-schaeuble-calls-berlin-help-fund-french-)   (7/23/2022)

NATURAL GAS FROM AFRICA CONTROVERSIAL

The intensified use of African countries as a source of natural gas for Europe is meeting growing criticism on the African continent. This is resulting from decisions, taken last year by a group of prosperous industrialized nations during the Climate Conference in Glasgow (COP26), which foresaw halting funding of oil and gas extraction abroad. This, on the other hand, would mean that it would be more difficult for Africa to use natural gas as a source of energy. Today, 600 million people in Africa still have no access to electricity. Natural gas is considered a suitable source of energy for rectifying this, with the least possible impact on climate. Now, however, European countries have executed an about face and are insisting on natural gas supplies from African countries – to free themselves of their dependency on Russian gas and to reinforce their boycott against Moscow. Sharp criticism is being raised by numerous African states. A former top UN representative accused this European approach of being “paternalist” and hypocritical.” In their quest for liquefied natural gas (LNG), European countries continue to buy up deliveries away from southern Asia’s poorer countries.  (German Foreign Policy, 7/24/2022)

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PAPAL VISIT TO CANADA

Penitent Pope:  The Pope touched down in Canada last night for a visit in which he will apologise for the harms done by Catholic-run residential schools across the country. Pope Francis called the visit a “pilgrimage of penance” and said he hopes to make amends for the wrongs done to indigenous people in Canada by the Roman Catholic Church. Some 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were taken from their families and placed in residential schools, the majority of which were run by the Catholic Church, as part of a decades-long policy meant to assimilate indigenous children and destroy indigenous cultures and languages. More than 4,000 indigenous children died either from neglect or abuse in the schools. The pope’s five-day itinerary will include stops in Quebec, Alberta and the northern territory of Nunavut.  (The Week, 7/25/2022)

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DANIEL PIPES RESPONDS TO WSJ ARTICLE

To the Editor:

Instead of lecturing Israelis, Saudis and others, know-it-all U.S. policy makers should start learning from them.

Walter Russell Mead’s scathing op-ed “Can Biden Correct Obama’s Mideast Errors?” (July 16) makes an oft-neglected point that U.S. politicians and advisers must absorb: Their liberal bromides, brewed up by human-rights and anti-Israel activists, are increasingly despised in the region itself. “Arabs and Israelis alike remember the serial failures of the Obama administration,” writes Mr. Mead. They wondered, as the Biden administration dug in, “if the days of condescension and arrogance had returned.”

Mr. Mead is right. It is time for know-it-all U.S. policy makers to recognize the Democrats’ terrible record from Libya and Egypt to Syria and Iran and culminating in Afghanistan. Instead of lecturing Israelis, Saudis and others, they should start learning from them and their bitter experiences. Maybe then the U.S. can again develop worthy policies.

Daniel Pipes
President, Middle East Forum
Philadelphia  (WSJ 7/22/2022)

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TO THE POINT

• “. . . An unrelenting stream of immigration, nonstop, nonstop.  Folks like me who were Caucasian of European decent, for the first time in 2017, will be in an absolute minority in the United States of America, fewer than 50% of the people in America from then on will be white European stock.  That will be the source of our strength.”  – Joe Biden, February 2015, from C-Span video clip (7/23/2022)

• “OIL HAS BOUGHT EVERY POLITICIAN” – New analysis has found that the oil and gas industry has delivered $2.8bn (£2.3bn) a day in pure profit for the last 50 years, The Guardian reported. Prof Aviel Verbruggen, author of the study, said the $52tn amassed by petrostates and fossil fuel companies since 1970 has allowed the sector to “buy every politician, every system” and delay action on the climate crisis. His analysis used the World Bank’s oil rent and gas rent data.

• BBC APOLOGIZES TO FORMER ROYAL GRANNY – The BBC is paying damages to the ex-nanny of princes William and Harry over false claims made about her to obtain a 1995 interview with Princess Diana. The corporation said it was “extremely sorry for the serious and prolonged harm” caused to Alexandra Pettifer, who is better known as Tiggy Legge-Bourke, and her family following the broadcast. There had been unfounded allegations she had an affair with Prince Charles and an abortion.

• HEALTH SERVICE IN CRISIS – NHS and social care services face their worst workforce crisis in history because of chronic staff shortages, a cross-party committee of MPs has found. The report warned that patient safety is at severe risk with 12,000 hospital doctor posts and more than 50,000 nurse and midwife jobs unfilled in England alone. The MPs also criticised the “absence of a credible government strategy.” Reporting on the “bombshell” findings, The Mirror said exhausted NHS staff are quitting “in droves.”  (The Week, 7/25/2022)

• The head of Russia’s investigative committee has announced that Moscow has charged 92 members of the Ukrainian armed forces with crimes against humanity. Alexander Bastrykin told state media that more than 1,300 criminal investigations had been launched. Meanwhile, Ukraine has warned that a deal to export grain via the Black Sea will stall if there are further Russian airstrikes on key ports. The warning came after Saturday’s missile attack on a port in Odesa.   (The Week, 7/25/2022)

• 7% — The percentage of Indonesia’s 270 million people believed to eat dog meat, according to Dog Meat Free Indonesia, a group that campaigns against the dog meat trade. Although 87% of Indonesians are Muslim and view dog products as haram (forbidden) in the same way as pork, the rest of the country does not share the same religious conviction. While animal rights groups object to the trade and consumption of dog meat on the grounds of cruelty and say it carries public health risks including rabies and other diseases, many Indonesians “see eating dog meat as no different than consuming chicken or beef,” according to Al Jazeera, and reject the idea that it should be banned.  (The Week)

• Zelenskiy says Odesa strike shows Russia will find ways not to implement grain deal.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia’s missile strike on the port of Odessa on Saturday demonstrated that Moscow would find ways not to implement the grain deal struck with the United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine. (23 July 2022, Reuters)

• Vatican slams German reformers, warns of potential for schism.  The Vatican rebuked the progressive “Synodal Path,” which seeks more agency for lay members, saying it has no authority on doctrine. They warned that issues taken up by the group could split the Catholic Church. [Rome] made clear that it views the Synodal Path’s calls for addressing homosexuality, celibacy, and women in the Church as divisive . . .  Members of the Synodal Path, a group made up of equal numbers of German bishops and lay Catholics, meet regularly. In February, they called on the Catholic Church to allow priests to marry, women to become deacons, and same-sex couples to receive the Church’s blessing.(https://www.dw.com/en/vatican-slams-german-reformers-warns-of-potential-for-schism/a-62559108, Deutsche Welle, 23 July 2022)

• Olaf Scholz announces bailout for Germany’s largest Russian gas importer. Chancellor unveils government plan to take 30% stake in Uniper, as country struggles to cope with drastic cut in supplies (+ Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates. * Guardian, 22 July 2022)(htps://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/22/olaf-scholz-announces-bailout-for-germanys-largest-russian-gas-importer-uniper)

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FINAL THOUGHT

The National Health Service is the biggest employer in Europe.    According to Skynews it needs an additional 475,000 people.  Sky also reported that a further 490,000 positions are needed in social care.  

What wasn’t mentioned is that all the illegal aliens arriving on Britain’s shores in their tens of thousands are entitled immediately to free medical care.  And free education for their children.  And free hotels, with three free meals per day.  And they are given 39 pounds a week to spend on themselves.  This all comes to 5 million pounds ($6 million) per day. 

The need for more money must, in part, be due to increased demand on medical services.

With long wait times for some surgeries, more and more British people are dipping into their savings to receive private medical care.

There is a certain inevitability to the expansion of government.  Here we see a warning from the Bible.

¹⁰ Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 

¹¹ He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 

¹² Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 

¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 

¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 

¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 

¹⁶ Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 

¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 

¹⁸ When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

(I Samuel 8)

CBS Morning had a segment a couple of Fridays ago about the protestors on January 6, the so-called insurrection.  Most of them came from northern “rust belt” cities.   They also said that many came from cities where large numbers of immigrants were settled, altering the make-up of their historic communities.  Resentment built up, with the inevitable consequences.

So, we see both countries’ governments deliberately contributing to significant changes.   Governments fail to understand that the people are not happy with this.   There is a sense they are losing their country.

There will be more real insurrections in the future.  Governments will keep on expanding, spending more money on the new arrivals (and others).

UK IN TURMOIL

The United Kingdom has been in a state of turmoil for almost two weeks now.  Firstly, the ruling Conservative Party turned increasingly against Prime Minister Boris Johnson, forcing him to resign a week ago.  Now, the Conservatives are going through a lengthy process to choose a new leader.

One thing stands out – and that is the number of “minorities” in the running.   The left-of-center Labor Party should hang its head in shame, as they always have a white male leading them.

Boris was involved in so many scandals, they eventually brought him down.   It has also been suggested that this is revenge for Brexit.  If that’s the case, he is the fourth Conservative Leader in rapid succession to fall victim to Europe.

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An investigation endorsed by top human rights lawyer Helena Kennedy has concluded that Turkey should face charges in front of the international court of justice for being complicit in acts of genocide against the Yazidi people. The report has also found that Syria and Iraq failed in their duty to prevent the killings. The Guardian said it is “widely accepted” that genocide was attempted against the Yazidis, a religious minority group, from 2013 in Iraq and Syria. Geoffrey Nice QC, chair of the Yazidi Justice Committee, described the genocide of the Yazidi people as “madness heaped on evil.” (The Week, 7/6/2022)

Freedom of religion is a right that must be “embedded” in all areas of life including “government education, business, the media, and social media, and right across our communities,” said Prince Charles. In his opening remarks at the International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief, the Prince of Wales said the world stands “at a crossroads” and “there is a choice to be made between totalitarian and liberal societies.” The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Chief Rabbi and the foreign secretary also addressed the conference.  (The Week,7/6/2022)

UK:  The boss of Lloyds Bank said 80% of customers have less than £500 of savings in their accounts. Charlie Nunn said the lender saw customers with persistent debt problems increase by a third in the first six months of this year. However, he added, many customers have increased their balances in the last few years and are in a healthier position than they were before the pandemic. Nunn told the BBC that credit card spending was up significantly, driven by the return of the travel industry.  (The Week, 7/6/2022)

EU

Germany and the EU depend on Chinese companies for access to Lithium, one of the most important raw materials for the energy transition. Chinese companies dominate the global lithium sector – not only in mining, but also in processing and battery production. For the US to catch up to China in the lithium sector, it could take decades and at least US $175 billion in investments, according to estimates. The required investment would be no less for Germany and the EU. This is all the more significant, because experts are predicting a serious shortage of lithium in the years to come. Chinese producers would be at an advantage over their European competitors in the production of electric cars, whose batteries consume the bulk of the lithium being mined globally. Experts already expect that, in the foreseeable future, Chinese electric car manufacturers will conquer the cheaper segment of the European market, which European car manufacturers neglect. One of Germany’s flagship sectors would thus come under pressure on the domestic market.  (German Foreign Policy, 7/6/2022)

RUSSIA WARNS ISRAEL TO LEAVE SYRIA ALONE

In a stunning escalation between Russia and Israel, the Russian government has issued a serious condemnation and warning to Israel, that it must stop its airstrikes against Iranian positions in Syria.

Gone are the days when Israel was able to freely attack Iranian positions in Syria, while making sure to stay away from Russian interests in the Levant.

As the Bennett-Abbas government has now slipped into the Lapid-Abbas government, Putin’s demands appear to be rising on the Jewish State. Whether this is a product of Lapid’s own strong stance against Russian aggression in Ukraine or its just a matter of changing needs for the Russian ruler, Russia is coming hard against Israel.

“We strongly condemn such irresponsible actions that violate the sovereignty of Syria and the basic norms of international law, and we demand their unconditional cessation,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

This statement was made after Israel undertook a rare daytime mission to strike at an Iranian shipment of advanced arms in the Syrian port of Tartus. Tartus also houses many Russian military personnel and equipment. (David Mark, American Liberty, 7/6/2022)

Experts are skeptical concerning the widely praised results of the western summits (EU, G7, NATO) that took place over the past ten days. The EU summit has produced an astounding result – granting Ukraine and Moldova candidate status, they note. However, how real the prospects may be for Ukraine, should be cast in serious doubts, given the fact that the EU continues to renege on its accession promises to the non-EU countries of Southeastern Europe. Concerning NATO’s announcement to massively militarize its eastern flank, they wonder where the resources should come from. Arming Ukraine, as the sole focus, should be abandoned in favor of negotiations with Moscow. Observers also note that, with its 600 Billon Dollar infrastructure initiative, the G7 summit has produced a “pipedream” with questionable substance. According to experts, the BRICS states are currently more successful:  More countries seek to join their alliance. The West may well “lose” the current power struggle. (German Foreign Policy, 7/4/2022)

JAPANESE LEADER ASSASSINATED

Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe has died after being shot while campaigning in the southern city of Nara. He was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition but died soon afterwards from his injuries.

Prime minister Fumio Kishida described the attack on the 67-year-old Abe – who was Japan’s longest-serving PM – as “barbaric and malicious”, a sentiment that has been echoed by world leaders who have expressed their shock at the incident. Abe’s brother, the current defence minister Nobuo Kishi, described the shooting as a sacrilege against democracy.

A 41-year-old male suspect was arrested at the scene and is now in police custody. He is thought to be Tetsuya Yamagami and a resident of the city, with no known occupation. Images from the scene suggest that the assailant used an improvised or homemade weapon.

(https://dennis.slgnt.eu/optiext/optiextension.dll?ID=v32v2sp83Lu_uuyzTr0BVfErJrcJBK2vWx9u3f4zBlXcEq7fDbdzZ_iLhx2KEXtZHoL5G0lCHx7VMJMdqQ9wXiHAZY_

PROGRESSIVE ISLAMIZATION IN BRUSSELS

“[I]n the Brussels region as a whole only a quarter of Belgians are of Belgian origin…. Molenbeek is in fact only the tip of the iceberg of the progressive Islamization in all the major Belgian cities. Islam is increasingly visible in the public space of Molenbeek, and in the month of Ramadan almost all the shops and restaurants in the city are closed during the day. In many neighborhoods, women are no longer able to dress however they want or go out at night, and homosexuals have no right of citizenship. There are, however, hardly any voices to worry about this development, as if French-speaking Belgium, anesthetized in unison by the multicultural media, had resigned itself.” — Alain Destexhe, Le Figaro, May 3, 2022   (Gatestone, 7/10/2022)

Germany building LARGEST army in Europe as Scholz vows Kyiv support ‘as long as necessary’ – Germany is in the process of building the largest military in Europe, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a pledge that marked a 360-degree turn in the country’s historic stance on defence (by Teresa Gottein Martinez, Express, 29 June 2022)

Post-Cold War Germany steadily reduced the size of its army from around 500,000 troops at the time of reunification in 1990 to just 200,000. Its military spending has for decades been notoriously cautious – until Berlin’s approach abruptly changed in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. Days after the start of the full-scale war, Mr. Scholz announced a €100billion ($105-billion) fund to beef up Germany’s military defences and offset decades of chronic underfunding – none of which is directly linked to the delivery of weapons to Ukraine. He also promised to meet NATO’s target of spending two percent of GDP on defence as well as boosting its high-readiness forces from the current 40,000 to more than 300,000 troops. This followed years of criticism from close allies that the Bundeswehr was falling short of contributing enough to the Alliance. In an interview on public television ARD after the G7 group of the world’s richest nations met in Bavaria, the Chancellor said Germany, alongside the United Stared, made “certainly the largest contribution” to the North Atlantic Alliance.

(https://ewn.co.za/2022/06/30/stage-8-power-cuts-or-higher-a-real-risk-for-south-africa-energy-experts-warn — Olaf Scholz has vowed to build Europe’s biggest army) 

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. … for great is your reward in Heaven…” (Mat 5:9-12).

WATCH:  Abbas’ Fatah party gives 7-year-olds military training to fight Israel | World Israel News. (July 10, 2022)

“When they love their children more than they hate us, there will be peace” – Golda Meir

India will overtake China as the world’s most populous country in 2023, said a report from the UN. As the pace of mortality slows, the world’s population, estimated to reach eight billion by 15 November this year, could grow to 8.5 billion in 2030 and 10.4 billion in 2100, found the report, which was released on World Population Day. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said a growing population was a reminder of our shared responsibility to care for the planet and that we should “reflect on where we still fall short of our commitments to one another.”  (This Week, 7/12/2022)

(I and the family are all sick this week (and last in most cases), so my blog is shorter than usual.)