RUTHFULLY YOURS

If a “mere” 11.3% of Turks thought so generously of the Islamic State, it meant that there were nearly nine million Turks sympathetic to jihadists. Only 5% of that would mean an army of nearly 450,000.

Apparently, the people of Turkey did not “rise up and fight against these atheists [Kurds], these Crusaders and these traitors.” So they had to be killed by jihadists in suicide-bombing attacks. IS promised to attack, and it did.

450,000 minus two (suicide-bombers) leaves behind too big a number. Turkish cities are unsafe.

Davutoglu cannot admit that jihadists alone had simply murdered people en masse in a twin bomb attack.

It’s necessary to take another short break from the endless coverage of the 2016 election. There are a lot of things of more immediate importance going on in the world, and they demand our undivided attention for at least a few minutes.

Those of us who of skeptical mind wonder why so little attention is being paid to the story out of Moldova (where?) about smugglers trying to sell nuclear material to ISIS. And to the statement of FBI Director Jay Comey about the problem his agency is having with the Syrian refugees coming to America.

Even though Cold War 2 has been going on for about ten years, it didn’t take nearly that long for the Russians to re-learn old habits. We haven’t kept pace with our abilities to spot anomalies in their behavior. We’d better re-learn our abilities not only to spot anomalies but to connect them to Russian capabilities and intents when they fit.

Moldova – now that you’re wondering – is a very poor nation of 3.5 million people on the Black Sea wedged in between Ukraine and Romania. Its government is enthusiastically corrupt and its economy is agricultural except for the part that’s supported by smuggling.

The United Nations is dedicated to the notion that men and women of good will can do much to promote peace. Alas, something must have been garbled in translation, as the global body’s legions of grafters and grifters keep their focus on pocketing a piece of the action
“To dismantle corruption’s high walls, I urge every nation to ratify and implement the UN Convention against Corruption. Its ground breaking measure have made important inroads, but there is much more to do.”

— UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

In 2003 the United Nations declared that December 9 would be “International Anti-Corruption” Day. The global body’s celebrations this year will be muted. The 2013-14 president of the UN General Assembly, John Ashe, is now accused by US prosecutors of successfully soliciting bribes of some $US1.3m from Chinese tycoons and understating his income by the same amount. Free after posting $US1million bail on the tax charges, he denies wrong-doing.

Ashe can’t possibly be guilty! His priority is saving the planet from CO2 emissions, not taking bribes. Look what he says on his UN website by way of “summing up his philosophy”:

Guided by a passion for sustainable development, Mr. Ashe has been in the forefront of international efforts to address the adverse effects of climate change and the fight to eradicate poverty… We only have the planet we live on, and if we are to leave it in a reasonable state for the next generation, the quest for a safer, cleaner, and more equitable world is one that should consume us all.

Some innocents are still starry-eyed about saving the planet from CO2 hell. They want the UN’s minions and members to start the job in the Paris, where the world’s warmists will convene in December, the latest confab in the long series of global parleys intended to mandate expensive energy for rich and poor alike. They also hope that First World taxpayers will pony up $US100 billion a year as a climate-compensatory present for the Third-World’s kleptocrats.

These Paris-bound carbonphobics might profitably ponder the allegations against ex-UN President Ashe. He’s been a standard-bearer in the UN climate campaign since way back in 1995. He represented the Group of Latin and American States (GRULAC) as vice-president of the first and fourth climate conferences (1995 and 1998), and in the next few years chaired the Subsidiary Bureau for Implementation (SBI) five times. In 2009 he chaired the Kyoto Protocol Negotiating Track, preparing groundwork for the Copenhagen conference. His bright idea was First World emissions cuts in the near term of 25-40%, because that is what “the science is telling us”, he said. After Copenhagen’s debacle, he chaired the Negotiating Track again in 2010, preparing draft decisions for the Cancun round of talks, including “carbon market mechanisms”.