Displaying posts published in

July 2019

THE EUROPEAN UNION’s APPEASEMENT OF IRAN Endless concessions didn’t stop Hitler, nor will they stop the Mullahs. Joseph Puder

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274365/european-unions-appeasement-iran-joseph-puder

The European Union (EU) leaders are anxious to preserve the nuclear deal with Iran at all costs, and they are willing to ignore Iran’s breaking the deal by enriching its uranium stockpile to 4.5%. An act that is a clear violation of the nuclear agreement, formally titled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed by Iran, Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and the U.S. (the U.S. withdrew from the deal last year). The EU efforts are reminiscent of the way Neville Chamberlain, the former British Prime Minister, believed that he could preserve the peace in Europe by having a deal with Hitler. Hitler however, never meant to adhere to the (Munich) agreement and end his aggression, and neither does Iran. The EU’s endemic predisposition toward appeasement would inevitably lead to a catastrophe. Iran would produce a nuclear bomb long before the EU agreed to take military action against the terror sponsoring, and doomsday seeking Ayatollahs.

Iran’s tactics of intimidation and provocations supplemented with violent acts by its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) or its proxies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen, resemble Hitler’s tactics in Nazi Germany’s late 1930’s. Iran’s protégé, the Hezbollah terror organization, serves as its Nazi-like SS enforcer in Lebanon, and increasingly elsewhere in the Middle East and beyond. Earlier this month the IRGC attempted to capture a British tanker in the Persian Gulf. Prior to that it had downed a U.S. drone, as well as being implicated in the damaging of oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

Lessons for America From India’s War Against Illegal Muslim Migrants Imagine if we had India’s immigration policy. Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274331/lessons-america-indias-war-against-illegal-muslim-daniel-greenfield

India’s 2,582 mile border with Bangladesh is even longer than America’s 1,954 mile border with Mexico.

The two countries are divided not only by that border, but by religion. India has an 80% Hindu majority and a rising 13% Muslim minority. Bangladesh has a 90% Muslim majority. And the tide of Muslim migration from Bangladesh to India began to shift the population balance in some Indian states.

India has spent decades building fences, topping them with barbed wire, and installing lights. The lights are there so that the guards can see. Unlike America, there are guards, they have guns, and they shoot.

What makes America’s border different from those of so many other countries isn’t the lack of fencing. Smugglers, traffickers, and assorted criminals can often find weak points in any security setup. In most countries, the defense of the border is seen as a national security issue backed by real firepower.

America’s Border Patrol has less than 20,000 people. India’s Border Security Force has 186 battalions and 257,363 people. It’s a paramilitary organization with an intelligence network, ten artillery units, air and marine wings, and canine and even camel units. And the weapons aren’t just there for show.

Over 1,000 illegal infiltrators have been killed trying to enter India from Bangladesh in over a decade.

BSF personnel are allowed to shoot on sight. Boats are used to monitor river areas that can’t be fenced in. Air units watch from the sky. And intelligence units gather information on smuggling gangs. The first and final line of defense though comes from men with rifles watching the fences and the shadows.

When a Bangladeshi teenage girl illegally entering India was shot, leftist activists hoped to use her to stop the zero-tolerance border security policy. But India kept building fences and defending them.

Ilhan Omar calls still calls Somalia her country By Thomas Lifson

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/07/ilhan_omar_calls_still_calls_somalia_her_country.html

Does Ilhan Omar represent the Fifth Congressional District of Minnesota? That’s her official job. But buried in the back of her mind, ready to spring out in unguarded or stressful moments, seems to be the notion that her real country is Somalia.

Streiff of Red State notes that there is a pattern of her speaking of Somalia, which she left at about the age of 8, as her country, not the nation from which she draws a substantial salary ad whose Constitution she is sworn to protect.

Chris Berg on Twitter spotted a Freudian slip which Omar quickly caught, when she returned to MSP Airport last week, to be greeted by 100 or so cheering supporters. The fact that she corrected herself is significant, indicating that she realizes that she must present a false front to her ostensible constituents in Minnesota.

And Streiff posts another example from 2015 in which, speaking to the “Revolution Somali Youth League, she called Somalia “our nation.”

Why Was a Saudi Attacked by Palestinians? by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14588/palestinians-assault-saudi-blogger

The main reason the Saudi blogger was assaulted and humiliated during his visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque was incitement.

It came mainly from the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), a group affiliated with Fatah, and that has been described by some in the West, and even in Israel, as “moderate” and “pragmatic.”

Spitting in the face of a Saudi blogger and cursing him as an “animal” and “Zionist” is not behavior conducive to luring cash from his state — or any other self-respecting entity — that refuses to be slapped in the face while providing handouts.

When Saudi blogger Mohamed Saud arrived at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on July 22, he apparently thought he would peacefully pray at the site before proceeding to tour the markets of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Moreover, Saud apparently believed that as an Arab Muslim, he would be warmly welcomed by his Palestinian brothers.

He was wrong.

The moment Palestinians noticed the Saudi blogger at one of Islam’s holiest sites, they demonstrated to him how they treat their Arab brothers.

Videos that surfaced on social media showed a number of Palestinians hurling insults and spitting at Saud. One Palestinian later threw a plastic chair at him as he left the compound.

Greece’s New Government: Undoing the Damage of Years of Socialist Rule by Maria Polizoidou

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14569/greece-undoing-damage

The new government took office with an apparent sense of genuine purpose… The new government has transferred the handling of illegal immigration from the auspices of the Ministry for Migration Policy to that of the Ministry of Citizen Protection, treating the issue as a national-security threat.

The Mitsotakis-led government is also reversing its predecessor’s course where foreign policy is concerned, stressing a desire to enhance Greek-American relations. One step in illustrating a closer alliance with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is the recognition of Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s transitional president in his battle against Nicolás Maduro. Another step is strengthening ties with Israel.

Greece now has a single-party government… which means that it will not be forced to compromise with Marxists and Social Democrats. This situation bodes well for the major economic and social reforms that Mitsotakis… was elected to undertake.

Mitsotakis deserves a chance at home and abroad to prove that opening up the economy while clamping down on forces that threaten Greek democracy can undo the damage done by years of socialist rule.

The July 7 elections in Greece have ushered in a new era of promise, with the victory of the center-right New Democracy Party leader, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, over the incumbent prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, head of the left-wing Syriza coalition.

The vote represented the Greek people’s frustration and disgust not only with the failures of the Syriza-led government, which wreaked havoc on the economy and state institutions, but with the accompanying widespread corruption and anarchy that overtook the country.

The new government took office with an apparent sense of genuine purpose, seemingly intent on exacting immediate change. The new Minister for Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis, for example, set to work with the encouraging pledge to reform the police force. He announced that he would make law enforcement more efficient, through better recruitment policies, backup for anti-crime units and by enabling raids into virtual “no-go” zones, such as Exarchia, a hotbed of drug-dealers, anarchists and illegal immigrants.

Thelma and Louise Go to Israel Prepare for a bumpy ride. Tlaib and Omar are in the Democratic Party driver’s seat. By William McGurn

https://www.wsj.com/articles/thelma-and-louise-go-to-israel-11563835181

The Democratic Party’s Thelma and Louise—Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar—are taking their act to Israel. In a great gift to Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to let them in.

In Hollywood’s feminist buddy flick, Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon hit the road in a 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible. They make bad choice after bad choice, defying authority and turning the tables on men who abuse or annoy them. They thoroughly enjoy every minute.

In the real-life Beltway version, the Michigander (Ms. Tlaib) and the Minnesotan (Ms. Omar) constitute half of “The Squad”—the four female House progressives who are defying the convention that freshman members of Congress are to be seen and not heard. Ms. Tlaib is the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress and speaks often of her grandmother in the West Bank. She has endorsed a “one state” solution under which Israel would cease to exist.

Ms. Omar came to America after fleeing Somalia. Her election marked several congressional firsts: the first Somali-American, the first naturalized citizen from Africa, the first nonwhite woman from Minnesota, and one of the first two Muslim women (along with Ms. Tlaib).

Part of their notoriety comes from their willingness to match President Trump’s outrages and raise them. More comes from their willingness to clap back at their own leaders, even if that means accusing Speaker Nancy Pelosi of racism. They remain largely unrepentant—and energized.

Boris Johnson becomes UK prime minister amid Brexit, tensions with Iran and anti-Semitism in Labour

https://www.jns.org/boris-johnson-becomes-uk-prime-minister-amid-brexit-tension

He has had warm ties with the British Jewish community and Israel stemming from his time as mayor of London, and later, as foreign secretary under former Prime Minister Theresa May.

Boris Johnson overwhelmingly was elected by his Conservative Party on Tuesday to become the next party leader and prime minister of the United Kingdom.

In his victory speech, Johnson, who defeated Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in the party race, promised that he would “deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn.”

Johnson, 55, who succeeded Theresa May, comes to power amid several crises wracking his country. He has to deal with a do-or-die Oct. 31 deadline to leave the European Union, known as “Brexit,” and the potential economic and political ramifications to arise from that. At the same time, he will need to push back against Iranian aggression, especially in the aftermath of the regime seizing two U.K.-owned oil tankers, as well as handle growing anti-Semitism in the country, especially within the rival Labour Party.

Earlier this month, Johnson warned Iran to “cease this madness” over violating the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, adding that he’s “prepared” to reimpose sanctions on the regime.

Patriotism Wins in Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Backyard How to win a battle with the Left. Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274340/patriotism-wins-rep-ilhan-omars-backyard-daniel-greenfield

On June 17th, the St. Louis Park City Council voted 5-0 to get rid of the Pledge of Allegiance. On July 15th, just as the abolition was set to take effect, the Council voted 7-0 in a room crowded with American flags and red, white and blue signs, to bring the Pledge back. Outside a giant inflatable bald eagle kept watch.

It was an unlikely victory for patriotism in an implausible place.

St. Louis Park is a small Democrat city in Minnesota. Hillary Clinton beat Trump here 3-1. Rep. Ilhan Omar represents it in the House. The firm at the center of her tax and marriage scandal is based here.

Councilwoman Anne Mavity, who had called for the abolition of the pledge, insisted that the pledge didn’t reflect the city’s diverse values. As part of those diverse values, she had endorsed Rep. Omar.

“Omar,” Councilwoman Mavity had said, was a voice for an “unapologetic progressive agenda.”

Mavity never did apologize. But at least one member of the St. Louis Park City Council did.

“I’ve concluded that I made a mistake and I’m sorry and I’m asking for forgiveness,” Councilman Steve Hallifan conceded.

The Battle of the Pledge was won by a combination of committed local patriots, who came flying flags and eager to confront the councilmembers who had tried to sneak the issue past everyone by tying it together with a meeting time change and some other procedural minutiae, and by President Trump’s willingness to take on a local issue in a place most people outside Minnesota had never heard of.

A Herd Has No Mind Of mob politics and the decline of reasoned discourse. By Kevin D. Williamson

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2019/07/29/a-herd-has-no-mind/

Funny thing about my new book: I had begun shopping around the proposal for writing it long before my brief period of employment with that other magazine and the subsequent witless chimp-brained media freakout and Caffeine-Free Diet Maoist struggle session that followed and climaxed with my being fired by Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg on my third day of employment there and after a good deal of stink eye from some seething young woman with an unfortunate All-Lesbian World Bowling Champion haircut loitering glumly in the coffee room. I was, for a few days, a writer who was much more read about than read. After the ninth (or so) New York Times denunciation of my soul and my work, my professional dance card began to fill up with pleasing speed.

That’s the upside of being in the controversy business: I always get paid. Hooray for me.1

But why was I flogging this book way back before I got involved in what I must with some genuine disappointment characterize as only the second-most-infamous episode involving a shady right-winger and the Watergate complex?2 There were good reasons. A number of disturbing sociopolitical meltdowns combining deep stupidity with casual authoritarianism already had taken place: the firing of Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich for his views on marriage, and the IRS’s criminal leak of the National Organization for Marriage’s confidential tax documents in the service of a campaign to harass and attack its donors; the firing of James Damore for the crime of being stupid enough to believe that his po-faced ham-souled Caitlyn-haunted superiors at Google were being anything like halfway serious when they asked for dialogue about diversity in the firm; the campaigns against Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss at the New York Times; the “deplatforming”3 of conservatives and other nonconforming voices on social media; the violence and firebombings targeting unpopular speakers at Berkeley and other college campuses; and much more. The blackshirts and the American Association of Outrage Professionals were as creepily tumescent as Anthony Weiner cruising a Hello Kitty boutique, and there was outrage-porn aplenty, rampant, unapologetic, depraved — but my little book proposal was met with almost no excitement until I became, for a couple of weeks, the headline in the story.

I revisit that tawdry little episode in the book, to the extent that it is necessary to the story, but it isn’t a memoir. My subject is not the life and times of Kevin D. Williamson.4 My subject is what Coriolanus5 called “the beast with many heads” — mob politics, on social media and in what passes for real life, which increasingly is patterned on social media — and its effects on our political discourse and our culture. It is the most important political issue of our time. Discourse — the health and character of that discourse — is a force that exists above and outside the specific policy questions of the day; it is the master issue that will determine how every other issue is talked about and thought about — and whether those issues are thought about at all.

The Economy, Father of Us All By Victor Davis Hanson

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/07/the-economy-father-of-us-all/Good times immunize a president and make his over-the-top domestic enemies look irrelevant.

Each week we are warned of a recession. And each week the economic news “unexpectedly” and “surprisingly” improves or stays steady — in ways well aside from the staples of continued near-record-low peacetime unemployment (3.8 percent), near-record-low minority unemployment, booming annualized GDP (3.1 percent), and a record-high stock market.

In June, retail sales increased for the fourth straight month. The rate of Hispanic home ownership continues to increase. A quarter-million new jobs were created in June, with strong growth in construction and manufacturing. Record oil and gas production seems only to keep increasing. Strong wage growth of 3.4 percent continues.

The point is not so much “It’s the economy, stupid,” but rather that the economy is the font of all contemporary politics, and it adjudicates the parameters of presidential prerogatives.

In the standoff between the “Squad” and Donald Trump, near-record peacetime unemployment in general and in particular historic-low minority unemployment argue against the idea that Trump is racist.

Polls suggest that Donald Trump may well win a greater share of the minority vote than moderates John McCain and Mitt Romney — largely because of a raise in middle-class wages in a tight labor market, and new leverage of entry-level workers over labor-hungry employers. Do working-class blacks and Hispanics suffer then from false consciousness, and do they need tutorials from progressive grandees so they won’t be so incorrect as to appreciate having more jobs at better pay?  Racists do not craft economic policies that empower African Americans far more so than those promoted by the first African-American president.