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April 2019

ISRAEL Comments turned off

What Is Behind the Opposition to Peace with Israel? by Bassam Tawil

By on April 6th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14020/opposition-peace-israel

The anti-Israel campaign in the Arab and Islamic world sees peace with Israel — and not failed leadership, bad economic policies and corruption — as the biggest threat to Arabs and Muslims. Recognizing Israel’s right to exit is also seen by many Arabs and Muslims as a humiliation to their values, their culture, their political power and their economic traditions. They seem concerned that Arabs and Muslims might wake up one morning and start demanding freedom of expression and free and democratic elections like the ones held every few years in Israel.

The anti-peace camp seems to want its people to continue living in misery and under dictatorships, so that it is easier to recruit people to jihad against Israel and the West. Also, if people are lifted from poverty and misery and begin to enjoy the fruits of modern civilization, there is a chance that Arabs and Muslims will move away from Islam and even start endorsing the inadmissible values of the West.

The Trump administration will soon discover what every child in the Arab and Islamic world already knows: that the Israeli-Arab conflict is not about a settlement or a checkpoint or a security fence, but about Israel’s very right to exist in the Middle East. The Trump administration will also learn that peace with Israel is seen by many Arabs and Muslims as nothing but an unacceptable threat that must at all costs be stopped.

Peace with Israel is purportedly a form of surrender and submission that will harm the dignity of Arabs and Muslims.

This is the theme of a massive campaign being waged by Palestinians and other Arabs in preparation for the announcement of the US administration’s plan for peace in the Middle East, also known as the “deal of the century.” The plan, according to US officials, is expected to be announced sometime after the general elections in Israel, slated for April 9.

The latest campaign is designed to thwart the “deal of the century” and terrorize Arabs and Muslims who may wish to accept the US administration’s peace plan.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Spurious Case of Jeremy Corbyn By Christopher Gage

By on April 6th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/04/05/the-spurious-case-of-jeremy-corbyn/

Call me crazy, but I am beginning to suspect that thrusting a diehard Remainer into the job of pulling Great Britain out of the European Union was, on second thought, a bad move.

Excuse me for being glacially slow to arrive at this moment of clarity.

The revolution, though each pathetic flutter has been painfully televised, is indeed over. This week, Theresa May appears to have given up on her deal to leave the EU. And she is now siding with probably the most intellectually impoverished pseudo-sentient being to besmirch parliament in at least three centuries.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, sexagenarian Holden Caulfield sans the wit, humor, or intellectual incision, is now entrusted with the most consequential decision to befall our country since World War II.

What Corbyn thinks about Brexit is largely unknown. If he thinks at all it is unverified. His ex-wife claimed that in their four years together, “Jeremy” didn’t read one book. And he detested “bourgeoise” holiday spots. In the middle flushes of his youth, he vacationed in Communist East Germany. So, as you may deduce, he is a barrel of laughs. A box of frogs.

But May, still our prime minister, reported this week she held “constructive” talks with Corbyn with the hope of solving the Brexit impasse. She can’t do much else. Lawmakers killed her withdrawal agreement three times. Other lawmakers threatened to take control, and then voted several times against taking any semblance of control.

A lawmaker friend of mine, one of the original and thoroughly fruity Brexiteers, is so desperate to leave he has voted for May’s deal three times.

“Nobody here,” he said, interrogatively, “seems to know what they are doing.” Which is alright, I suppose, if one is standing in a Subway queue and the meat of discussion centers upon pointlessly large sandwiches. The most consequential of endeavors in such instances concerns ranch dressing. But he was not in a sandwich shop. This was the House of Commons.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

How Professional Merit and Scientific Objectivity Became Casualties of Social Justice Insanity By David Solway

By on April 6th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/how-professional-merit-and-scientific-objectivity-became-casualties-of-social-justice-insanity/

The idea of merit has fallen on evil times, as has its corollary concept, objectivity. These principles have now been breached by a consortium of the ideologically minded, who resemble a gang of robbers tunneling under a bank vault. The masterminds planning and executing this operation are a class of “treasonous” intellectuals as Julien Benda defined them, primarily academics, along with members of the political left.

In the interests of creating a society based on the axioms of “social justice”—which is really socialist justice—the principles of professional merit and scientific objectivity are dismissed by our mandarin class as forms of bigotry. As the professions, the educational institution, the political arena, and the scientific establishment engage in a process of diversification, accommodating claimants who trade on race and gender rather than ability and native endowment, merit is in the process of being replaced by outright mediocrity.

In the university, for example, no department is safe from the “inclusion and diversity” mania that is bringing higher education into the slough of disrepute—not law, not medicine, not business, not even the STEM subjects. As is, or should be, common knowledge, literature and the social sciences have long succumbed to the social justice, disparate impact, and feminist miasma that has clouded the atmosphere of thought, paving the way for pervasive academic decadence.

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

U.S. to Designate Iranian Guard Corps a Foreign Terror Group The designation, the first time any government entity will be branded as terrorist, will be accompanied by an alert to U.S. forces to warn of possible retaliation By Michael R. Gordon, Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef

By on April 6th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-to-designate-iranian-guard-corps-a-foreign-terrorist-organization-11554499401

The Trump administration is preparing to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, U.S. officials said, a step that would vastly escalate the American pressure campaign against Tehran but which has divided U.S. officials.

The decision, which could be announced as early as Monday following months of deliberation, would mark the first time that an element of a foreign state has been officially designated a terrorist entity.

National security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been strong proponents of the move, which is intended to help the U.S. crack down on businesses in Europe and elsewhere controlled by the IRGC, the officials said.

But Pentagon officials, including Marine Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have cautioned against the move, several U.S. officials said, fearing it could lead to a backlash against U.S. forces in the region without inflicting the intended damage to the Iranian economy.

Central Intelligence Agency officials have also had reservations about consequences of the decision, the officials said.

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FOREIGN POLICY, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Why America Needs New Alliances The international order of the Cold War era no longer makes sense. But the world can’t do without U.S. leadership. Here’s a better approach. By Yoram Hazony and Ofir Haivry

By on April 6th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-america-needs-new-alliances-11554503421

President Trump is often accused of creating a needless rift with America’s European allies. The secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Jens Stoltenberg, expressed a different view Thursday when he told a joint session of Congress: “Allies must spend more on defense—this has been the clear message from President Trump, and this message is having a real impact.”

Mr. Stoltenberg’s remarks reflect a growing recognition that strategic and economic realities demand a drastic change in the way the U.S. conducts foreign policy. The unwanted cracks in the Atlantic alliance are primarily a consequence of European leaders, especially in Germany and France, wishing to continue living in a world that no longer exists. The U.S. cannot serve as the enforcer for the Europeans’ beloved “rules-based international order” any more. Even in the 1990s, it was doubtful the U.S. could indefinitely guarantee the security of all nations, paying for George H.W. Bush’s “new world order” principally with American soldiers’ lives and American taxpayers’ dollars.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Recession False Alarm The job market shows underlying strength after February’s scare.

By on April 6th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/recession-false-alarm-11554506440

Friday’s solid labor report ought to ease fears that the U.S. economy is skidding toward recession. Employers added a healthy 196,000 jobs in March while unemployment held at 3.8%, confirming that the labor market continues to expand following a freeze in February and should continue despite economic problems abroad.

Job growth has averaged 180,000 for the last three months, which is down from 223,000 in 2018, but still strong for an economic expansion that’s going on a decade. Average hourly earnings climbed 3.2% in March and have moderated over the past few months, which suggests rising wages are unlikely to push up prices and fuel wage-push inflation.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

David Malpass, Trump’s Pick to Lead World Bank, Is Approved By Tiffany Hsu

By on April 6th, 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/05/business/david-malpass-world-bank.html?action

David Malpass, President Trump’s pick to be president of the World Bank and a longtime critic of the influence wielded by the bank and other multilateral institutions, was unanimously approved by its executive board on Friday.

Mr. Trump nominated Mr. Malpass, the Treasury under secretary for international affairs, in February. He will begin his five-year term on Tuesday, the executive directors said in a statement. He succeeds Jim Yong Kim, who stepped down abruptly in January to join an investment firm.

In a note to World Bank employees on Friday, Mr. Malpass, 63, said the organization was capable of “measurable successes” like raising median incomes, improving debt transparency and increasing private-sector development. He urged the bank’s staff to “work tirelessly” toward “a stronger, more stable global economy for all.”

The mission of the bank, which was created in 1944 and is collectively owned by nearly 200 countries, includes reducing global poverty, providing financial aid to needy countries and fighting the effects of climate change. Last year, it provided $20.5 billion for projects involving renewable energy, agriculture and emissions management.

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MEDIA Comments turned off

Anti-Semitism in the NYT By Marilyn Penn

By on April 6th, 2019

http://politicalmavens.com/

Purporting to outline the current disease of hatred on both left and right “extremes,” the Times caption reads, “Surge of Anti-Semitism in Europe and U.S. as Economies Cool,” thereby solidifying one of the most heinous anti-semitic tropes – conflating Jews with money. As for the Democrat party, anti-semitism has jumped from its extremes to mainstream candidates for office and members of congress who consider it merely an example of freedom of speech.

The Times ignores completely the enormous influence of anti-semitism on campus and in leftist institutions and organizations. There is no mention of Muslim influence,, either monetary or political, in movements such as BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) or Israel Apartheid Week, an annual occurrence on campuses across America since 2005. Nor is anything said about intersectionality, a concept emphasizing the commonality between oppressed brown and black groups and their mandatory identification with the plight of Palestinians. Interestingly, these groups are only concerned with Palestinians who are “controlled” by Israel – no mention is made of their abysmal treatment by other Arab countries who keep them in deplorable refugee camps, refusing to offer citizenship to their Muslim brothers. The fact that more than a million Palestinians are citizens of Israel is never divulged, nor is the fact that their standard of living and educational and professional opportunities surpass what they can expect in Arab countries.

Although the Times pretends that much of this anti-semitism is a result of Israel’s right-wing leadership, the animosity expressed by Muslim nations and immigrants throughout Europe is directed at “Jews” wherever they may live. The Koranic sources of this hatred are not mentioned in this lengthy article which also fails to mention the resurgence of respect for Louis Farrakhan by Democrat members of congress and organizers of the Women’s Marches on Washington. The Times leaves us with the assessment of a sociologist at the University of London who equates the British right and left by saying that both consider Israel to be a “belligerent country that defends itself against Muslims.” A more accurate description would be that Israel is a strong country which is constantly forced to defend itself against Muslim belligerents and terrorists who refuse to accept the existence of a Jewish state in the Middle East.

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Climate’s Uncertainty Principle by Garth Paltridge

By on April 5th, 2019

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2019/04/climates

“The bottom line of politically correct thought on the matter—the thought that we must collectively do something drastic now to prevent climate change in the future—is so full of holes that it brings the overall sanity of mankind into question. For what it is worth, one possible theory is that mankind (or at least that fraction of it that has become both over-educated and more delicate as a result of a massive increase of its wealth in recent times) has managed to remove the beliefs of existing religions from its consideration—and now it misses them. As a replacement, it has manufactured a set of beliefs about climate change that can be used to guide and ultimately to control human behaviour. The beliefs are similar to those of the established religions in that they are more or less unprovable in any strict scientific sense.”

Whether we should do anything now to limit our impact on future climate boils down to an assessment of a relevant cost-benefit ratio. That is, we need to put a dollar number to the cost of doing something now, a dollar number to the benefit thus obtained by the future generations, and a number to a thing called “discount for the future”—this last being the rate at which our concern for the welfare of future generations falls away as we look further and further ahead. Only the first of these numbers can be estimated with any degree of reliability. Suffice it to say, if the climate-change establishment were to have its way with its proposed conversion of the global usage of energy to a usage based solely on renewable energy, the costs of the conversion would be horrifically large. It is extraordinary that such costs can even be contemplated when the numbers for both the future benefit and the discount for the future are little more than abstract guesses.

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EDUCATION, ISRAEL Comments turned off

Melissa Langsam Braunstein :Harvard Students Vote To Send Student Money To Anti-Semitic Group Israel Apartheid Week has a history of not promoting open, honest, or nuanced conversation. It’s about slandering democratic Israel by comparing it to apartheid South Africa.

By on April 5th, 2019

https://thefederalist.com/2019/04/05/harvard-students-vote-send-student-money-anti-semitic-group/

If everyone admitted to a college is invited to campus, but Jewish students are made to feel less welcome, is the campus still everyone’s home? I never wondered about this as an undergraduate. But I absolutely did this week, after reading that Harvard’s Undergraduate Council (UC) funded Israeli Apartheid Week on campus.

When I arrived in Cambridge in the fall of 1996, Harvard felt like the Upper West Side’s northern outpost. That is, it was very culturally Jewish — Seinfeldian, if you like. Obviously, most students weren’t Jewish, but there was a decent-sized Jewish minority, and we were well integrated into campus life. It was an incredibly comfortable place for someone like me who was actively involved with the campus Hillel and kept kosher. But I’m not so sure I’d feel identically if I were a student there now.

This year doesn’t mark Harvard’s first IAW, but it appears to be the first one that’s received funding from the student government. And that seems like a notable change.

The UC, which is supposed to represent all Harvard undergraduates, recently voted 21-13-4 to grant $2,050 — serious money for student groups, and more than the UC’s typical grant — to fund the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s Israeli apartheid Week.

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