Displaying posts published in

November 2018

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Israel and the Sunni Arab States Cannot Resist Iran Alone By Brandon J. Weichert

By on November 19th, 2018

https://amgreatness.com/2018/11/19/israel-and-the-sunni-arab

The small democratic state of Israel finds itself outnumbered—and potentially outgunned—as the Iranian threat, supported by its Hezbollah terrorist allies, amasses to its north.

Recently, though, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got itself in an even bigger mess. After allowing for Qatar to transfer $15 million in financial aid and gasoline to the blockaded Gaza Strip, Hamas, the terror organization that controls the rebellious Gaza, along with their allies in the Islamic Jihad group, fired off nearly 500 rockets into southern Israel.

The response from Israel, usually a forceful practitioner of decisive counterterrorism, has been strangely muted.

When it comes to the unruly Gaza Strip, the Israeli government tends to take a low-cost “mowing the grass” approach. Instead of trying to implement regime change (because their options for replacing the ruling Hamas range from bad to worse), the Israeli military prefers to let Hamas grow in strength. Then, once Hamas gets too big for its britches, the IDF marches on Gaza and cuts Hamas down to size. Netanyahu’s response to the recent violence has confused everyone in the region.

Netanyahu is known to Westerners as a counterterrorism hawk. After he failed to respond militarily to the recent rocket attacks, his even more hawkish defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, resigned in protest. Lieberman was vehemently opposed to Netanyahu’s initial approval for the transfer of $15 million from Qatar into Hamas coffers. At the time, Lieberman likened Netanyahu’s decision to that of protection money one pays to the mafia.

In that, Lieberman proved correct. But is that the whole story?

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Report: Merkel urged Romania’s president not to move embassy to Jerusalem By Thomas Lifson

By on November 19th, 2018

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/11/report_merkel_urged_romanias_president_not_to_move_embassy_to_jerusalem.html

Has Germany changed course on Israel under Angela Merkel toward active, if private, hostility? In an exclusive report that is not being denied by either government, Benjamin Weinthal of the Jerusalem Post writes:

German chancellor Angela Merkel called Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis in April, urging him to stop Bucharest’s declared announcement to move its diplomatic building to Israel’s capital.

A Western source told The Jerusalem Post that Merkel lobbied the Romanian president to put a halt on the relocation of its embassy to Jerusalem. It is believed that Merkel called other European politicians as part of a campaign to block the relocation of European embassies to Jerusalem.

Representatives of Romania, Germany, and Israel all do not deny, but rather refuse to comment on the report, generally a sign that it is true.

With its historical guilt over the Holocaust, and previously-expressed commitments to Israel’s security, this marks a strong, if covert, change of direction, assuming it is true. Merkel, of course, also admitted more than a million Muslim so-called refugees last year, predominantly military-age males, and it is not clear if this new group is adding anti-Israel weight to the German Chancellor’s calculus, through fear of unrest.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

The totalitarian democracy of Stacey Abrams By Abraham H. Miller

By on November 19th, 2018

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/11/the_totalitarian_democracy_of_stacey_abrams.html

“Democracy has failed in Georgia,” said Stacey Abrams in what hardly could be called a concession speech after a ballot recount confirmed that the Republican candidate, Brian Kemp, had defeated her in Georgia’s gubernatorial contest.

Of course, democracy did not fail in Georgia. The voters made their voices heard at the ballot box, and Ms. Abrams did not like what she heard.

The late Israeli historian J. L. Talmon called such behavior “totalitarian democracy” or “messianic democracy,” which found its origins in the French Revolution when the extremists arrogated to themselves the unfettered right to interpret the will of the people. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about this when he observed that those who made the French Revolution always spoke in the name of the people, without in the least having bothered to consult them.

Talmon’s theme was that in totalitarian democracy there exists a general will, an abstraction that is known to elites who divine what the people really want and assume the right to speak in the name of the people. In totalitarian democracy, the elite are not the people’s representatives but their messiahs.

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Islamic Invaders from the South Edward Cline

By on November 19th, 2018

https://edwardcline.blogspot.com/2018/11/islamic-invaders-from-south.html

Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah is ramping up south of the US border, as witnessed by arrests of its operatives in Bolivia and Peru.

Clarion had an interesting – nay, a startling – description of how Islamic terrorist groups have established footholds in South America to better attack the U.S. And the so-called “caravan” — aka invasion, thousands strong – of illegals is now at the border, with some of them climbing the wall to taunt border guards and U.S. soldiers. The trek from Central America through Mexico is supported by outside parties historically antagonistic to the U.S., but who are these groups?

Clarion reports:

Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah is ramping up south of the US border, as witnessed by arrests of its operatives in Bolivia and Peru.

Information revealed by the State Department’s top counter terror official Nathan Sales confirmed the increased presence of Iran and Hezbollah in Latin and South America.

But will an attack from Canada? Tim Brown of Freedom Post reports:

Canada is today the happy home of thousands of radical Islamists, ex-ISIS fighters and the Muslim Brotherhood. Their numbers continue to grow, with Islamists infiltrating the Canadian government on several levels.

Many Americans assume that all is peaceful and well with their northern neighbor. But security experts here warn that by welcoming radical Islamists, Canada now presents a danger to the United States.

Canada as an ‘Aircraft Carrier’ for Muslim Terrorists to Attack America.

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

A Green Logrolling Classic Offshore wind for 78 cents a kilowatt-hour. On the open market: 3 cents.

By on November 18th, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-green-logrolling-classic-1542579487

For a perfect example of green daydreaming gone awry, look to the waters off Virginia Beach, which will soon feature two wind turbines with blades rising as tall as the Washington Monument. It’s impressive engineering, but it makes zero economic sense, according to Virginia’s utilities regulators. They’ve issued a scorching order that . . . approves the project. Yes, the surprise ending is that their factual analysis doesn’t matter under a green fiat from the state Legislature.

Dominion Energy , Virginia’s biggest utility, plans to spend $300 million to build the two turbines 27 miles off the coast. Together they will produce 12 megawatts of power, enough for 3,000 homes. This first pair of turbines is a “demonstration project” to let Dominion gather data and experience. Then, as soon as 2024, it could begin dotting the adjacent waters with hundreds more, enough to generate 2,000 megawatts and light 500,000 homes.

This summer Dominion asked Virginia’s State Corporation Commission, which regulates electric utilities, to deem the plan “prudent.” As reason to act swiftly, it cited pressure to cut carbon emissions. Senate Bill 966, championed by Dominion and signed in March by Gov. Ralph Northam, set a state objective of 5,000 megawatts of solar and wind power by 2028.

The commission’s 20-page order, issued Nov. 2, is a takedown from front to back. “Dominion’s customers will pay the costs of this Project,” it says. The two turbines will generate electricity at 78 cents a kilowatt-hour—compared with 9.4 cents for new onshore wind, 5.6 cents for new solar, and around three cents for energy bought on the open market.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

Florida’s Close Election Call Marc Elias is foiled in his attempt to change vote-counting rules.

By on November 18th, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/floridas-close-election-call-1542579560

The Democratic candidates for Governor and U.S. Senate in Florida finally conceded on the weekend, 11 days or so after the final votes were cast. A machine recount in both races, and then a hand recount in the Senate race, made clear that Andrew Gillum and Senator Bill Nelson lacked a path to victory against Republicans Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott.

This spares the country from what would have been a polarizing fight had either Democrat made up tens of thousands of votes to prevail after Election Day. But that possibility was closer than it should have been as Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias tried to have tens of thousands of ballots counted in violation of normal election rules.

Mr. Elias used the counting follies in Democratic Broward and Palm Beach counties to demand that the legal deadlines be extended for vote counting and for mail-in ballots. Broward elections had to be ordered by courts to disclose how many votes they had left to count and what kind of votes they were. Mail-in ballots are valid if they arrive within 10 days of the election as a concession to voters serving in the U.S. military, but Mr. Elias was hoping to extend the election indefinitely as Democrats hunted for more votes somewhere, anywhere.

Federal Judge Mark Walker was right to enforce regular vote-counting order. In the end Mr. DeSantis won by a little more than 33,000 votes and Mr. Scott led by 10,033 after the manual recount on Sunday.

One lesson is that Florida needs to tighten up on its absentee and provisional ballot rules. Democrats like to say “count every vote,” which they use to suggest that black voters are being disenfranchised. But turnout this year was a record for a midterm election.

The far greater opportunity for cheating, and thus a greater threat to democratic legitimacy, is if politicians can change the election rules after votes have been cast.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

CAROLINE GLICK: A DESPERATE MACRON ATTCKS TRUMP

By on November 18th, 2018

http://carolineglick.com/a-desperate-emmanuel-macron-attacks-donald-trump/

French President Emmanuel Macron has apparently decided that with his approval ratings in the toilet, his best bet for a political resurgence is to attack the United States.

This isn’t a bad move, for a French president. Hatred for America has been a powerful mobilizing force in France since shortly after the American army liberated the French from Nazi German occupation in 1944.

In his speech at the official ceremony marking a hundred years since the U.S. saved France from Germany and ended World War I, Macron took a direct swipe at President Donald Trump and his voters. Macron said that the “ancient demons” that caused World War I and millions of deaths are growing stronger.

“Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. Nationalism is the betrayal of patriotism,” Macron pronounced, as Trump and other world leaders looked on.

He added, “In saying ‘Our interests first, whatever happens to the others,’ you erase the most precious thing a nation can have, that which makes it live, that which causes it to be great and that which is most important: Its moral values.”

Macron’s speech on Sunday was his second rhetorical assault against America in under a week. In a radio interview last Tuesday, Macron called for Europe to raise “a true European army,” to defend against the U.S., Russia and China.

In Macron’s words, “We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America.”

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With 2000 missing ballots, Brenda Snipes is either incompetent or crooked, so she blames racism By Thomas Lifson

By on November 18th, 2018

The continuing vote counting clown show in Broward County, as 2000 ballots now are declared missing, is an outright embarrassment to the vote fraud deniers in the media and politics. Elections supervisor Brenda Snipes has screwed up so many things so often that the charitable interpretation is that she is utterly incompetent. The less forgiving explanation would be that she is crooked. Either way, the gates are open to those who would want to fix elections when ballot security, keeping provisional ballots separate, and other fundamental issues of security are absent.
Sarah Chakales @sechakales

As of 1:30pm we still haven’t seen or heard from Dr. Snipes. The Canvassing Board gave her until 1pm to present her findings regarding 2040 missing ballots. At noon, the #Broward SOE asserted the missing ballots are in the building. But again, she has yet to reappear. #FLRecount

Naturally, she is playing victim. The Guardian reports:

A top elections official in Florida who endured national humiliation after missing a midterms recount deadline by two minutes has told the Guardian that racism is “probably” a factor in the backlash against her.

The banner under which Snipes told the media about the missing ballots tells a story of its own:

Screen grab via Twitter

If that isn’t self-promotion, what is it? Her name is in type multiple times the size of that indicating her office.

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The Brexit Crisis

By on November 18th, 2018

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/11/theresa-may-brexit-deal-negotiations-crisis/

After what seem like years of a phony war, British and European Union negotiators finally agreed on the terms of Britain’s departure from the EU earlier this week, and Theresa May announced it in the House of Commons. The deal covers more than 500 pages of legal and bureaucratic prose, and few but the negotiators have read it in full. But those who have say that it confirms the earlier leaks: After leaving, Britain will continue to be subject to EU rules and regulations more or less indefinitely but, as a non-EU-member state after March, the country will have no say or vote in designing them.

It doesn’t sound like a very attractive package, but May argues that this deal fully achieves the Brexit that the voters chose two years ago. It’s hard to square this claim with the “red lines” she vowed a year ago to never cross:

Red Line: Britain will leave the single market and its regulations.

Deal: Britain will sign on to a “common rulebook” of regulations that will in fact be the EU single-market rulebook.

Red Line: Britain will leave the Customs Union in order to sign free-trade deals with non-EU countries such as the U.S.

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Palestinian Settler-Colonialism By Dr. Alex Joffe (2017)

By on November 18th, 2018

Thanks to Janet Levy for sending this column….rsk

https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/palestinians-settlers-colonialism/

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The concept of “settler colonialism” has been applied with almost unique vehemence against Israel. But the fact that Jews are the indigenous population of the Southern Levant can be proved with ease. In contrast, historical and genealogical evidence shows Palestinians descend primarily from three primary groups: Muslim invaders, Arab immigrants, and local converts to Islam. The Muslim conquest of Byzantine Palestine in the 7th century CE is a textbook example of settler-colonialism, as is subsequent immigration, particularly during the 19th and 20th centuries under the Ottoman and British Empires. The application of the concept to Jews and Zionism by Palestinians is both ironic and unhelpful.

One of the mainstays of the modern university is the idea of settler-colonialism. This argues that certain societies are birthed by settlers implanted in a foreign territory, either directly by or with the consent of an imperial power. These colonists then dominate and eradicate the indigenous population. They develop bellicose cultures that eliminate the natives from historical, literary, and other narratives. Primary examples often cited are the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa and Rhodesia, and Israel.

The settler-colonial argument against Israel posits that Zionism was an imperial tool of Britain (or, alternatively, that Zionism manipulated the British Empire); that Jews represent an alien population implanted into Palestine to usurp the land and displace the people; and that Israel has subjected Palestinians to “genocide,” real, figurative, and cultural.

According to this argument, Israel’s “settler colonialism” is a “structure, not an event,” and is accompanied by a “legacy of foundational violence” that extends back to the First Zionist Congress in 1897 or even before. With Zionism thus imbued with two forms of ineradicable original sin, violent opposition to Israel is legitimized and any forms of compromise, even negotiation, are “misguided and disingenuous because ‘dialogue’ does not tackle the asymmetrical status quo.”

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