Displaying posts published in

August 2020

ISRAEL Comments turned off

The EU and Israel as Genuine Strategic Partners By Florin Pasatoiu and Christian Nitoiu

By on August 23rd, 2020

https://besacenter.org/mideast-security-and-policy-studies/eu-israel-strategic-partners/

Time and again the relationship between the EU and Israel has been marred by bad language, subsequent remorse to varying degrees, and tepid reassurance. Bewilderment, annoyance, and disappointment in both directions have characterized the relationship for many years, and have led to deep structural fault lines in the EU.

One must judge the success of the EU’s Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP) by the impact it has had, the postures taken in its regard by the Union’s member states, and the traction it has gained among the populations of those states.

A substantial 45% of Israelis think the EU is a foe versus 27% who view it as a friend, and most believe the US should remain Israel’s main interlocutor. The EU continues to be perceived by Israelis as a partisan mediator in the Middle East peace process.

The EU-Israel Association Council, which was supposed to convene annually, has not met since 2012. That is despite solid cultural, scientific, and economic bilateral relations.

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CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

John Brennan Was Put in a Perjury Trap Yesterday — A Completely Legitimate One

By on August 23rd, 2020

www.redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2020/08/22/john-brennan-perjury-trap-yeserday-completely-legitimate-one/

EXCERPT from bottom half of article below:  Read it all at link above. It is profoundly substantive, instructive and it clarifies the real situation in which John Brennan finds himself (for many legitimate reasons – his career dishonesty for the most part). C.B.

If John Brennan isn’t at least a potential “target,” why was he not called to explain historical events to the grand jury?

Finally, John Brennan has many times expressed the belief that any investigation initiated by the Trump Administration into the actions of Obama Administration officials to examine their conduct as it pertains to the investigation of the 2016 campaign, and the aftermath of Trump’s election victory, is illegitimate.  John Brennan has all but declared Trump’s election to be illegitimate — heck, he might have said so outright.

So, it is not surprising at all that Shapiro — not Brennan — would claim:

Brennan questioned why the analytical tradecraft and findings of the ICA are being scrutinized by the Department of Justice, especially since they have been validated by the Mueller Report as well as the bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Intelligence review.

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CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

WHITHER CORONAVIRUS? John Hinderaker

By on August 23rd, 2020

www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/08/whither-coronavirus-2.php

In today’s London Times, there is an interesting COVID article titled Cancer care backlog may cost 30,000 lives, Boris Johnson told. The principal theme of the article is that Britain’s health care shutdown on account of the COVID epidemic (or hysteria triggered by the epidemic) will cost many lives:

One senior oncologist has claimed that in a worst-case scenario the effects of the pandemic could result in 30,000 excess cancer deaths over the next decade.

In the letter, seen by The Times, the MPs write: “We urge you to work with your ministers to ensure that the NHS reacts more quickly to restore cancer services that have been badly disrupted due to the response to Covid.

“We are particularly concerned that the NHS’s plan appears to be limited to getting cancer services back to normal by the end of the year [but] this timescale is far too long. Many cancers can become untreatable in a matter of weeks.”

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CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Dangerous Half-Truths Behind ‘The Joe Show’ Madeleine Westerhout

By on August 23rd, 2020

https://townhall.com/columnists/madeleinewesterhout/2020/08/23/the-dangerous-halftruths-behind-the-joe-show-n2574862

If you watched last week’s Democratic National Convention you couldn’t help but notice an overwhelming theme that ran throughout “the Joe Show”. The well-produced and heartwarming images of the former Vice-President were front and center, evoking sympathy and admiration for a man who has endured multiple tragedies throughout his half-century career in politics. 

But those images were also on display to underscore the belief amongst the overwhelming number of Democrats, who, united only in their disdain for President Trump, believe him to be, at best, morally inept, and at worst, actively evil. 

By shining a light on “Saint Joe,” they cast a shadow on the man who currently occupies the Oval Office, a man who is apparently both all-powerful and simultaneously incompetent. A man who CNN would have you believe single-handedly spread the coronavirus from coast to coast, all but ensuring that countless Americans would find themselves unemployed in the economic downturn that followed.

Thankfully, and much to the disappointment of 95% of the media and nearly half of our country, this is not the man I had the honor of serving directly for over 2 and a half years.

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Feeling Good Through Feeling Bad Heroes, promise, opportunity, and greatness versus a round-the-clock obsession with racism and identity politics, climate hysteria, open borders, and higher taxes. Which is the more attractive? By Roger Kimball

By on August 23rd, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/08/22/feeling-good-through-feeling-bad/

Usually, political conventions are feel-good events. The party faithful congregate, wave flags, and cheer their candidates. Tomorrow is another day! Nothing stands between us and victory except defeat!

These Roderick Spode-like sentiments are echoed and amplified by the cheering masses, who never let a dollop of tautology intrude upon and dampen their enthusiasm. 

This year, as we all know, the Chinese virus—which is to say our quivering response to this new seasonal ailment—has transformed the cheering masses into isolated maskists. 

About the only congregations our masters in the media and Democratic statehouses smile upon these days are those undertaken for the sake of rioting, arson, and general mayhem. Congregating in a church to worship is dangerous to your health and so is forbidden. So are birthday parties for your five-year-old. But scores or hundreds congregating to burn public buildings and to blind policemen is constitutionally protected “peaceful protest.”

Terror about the novel coronavirus—to say nothing of terror at the possible legal and public-relations liability of people getting sick at large in-person events you sponsor—prompted both parties to scrap their plans for a live convention and broadcast “virtual” conferences instead. 

Last week’s Democratic National Convention—four nights of taped hectoring and inadvertently hilarious exercises in politically correct sermonizing—showed how difficult it is to make a virtual event seem like an actual celebration. 

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

A Slippery Patch in World Affairs by Amir Taheri

By on August 23rd, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16389/world-affairs-slippery-patch

Today, as in the 1880s, big, small and even mini wannabe empire-builders are engaged in a ruthless power game…. The most intense activity comes from Russia and China.

China, for its part, is projecting power all over the world while bullying some neighbors and bribing others into submission. When deemed necessary, it also acts with military force, as it did recently along the ceasefire line with India. China treats some African, Asian and Latin American countries, notably Congo-Kinshasa, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Ecuador as abatis or territory left by previous masters and open for pickings by new reapers.

Overall, in economic, political and even military terms, Western powers, still nominally led by the United States, remain involved in all continents but are increasingly behaving as if their hearts, not to say their pockets, are no longer in it.

As for Germany, it seems that its hapless Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has no ambition beyond caressing the corpse of the Obama “nuclear deal” with Iran.

The current lukewarm war may never morph into a hot one, but the risk should not be dismissed. Today, projecting power with low-intensity war, often waged through inexpensive proxies as Iran does in Lebanon, or through mercenaries as Russia does in Syria and Libya, enables even relatively poor countries to cast a larger shadow than they deserve.

“The world has stepped into a slippery patch, and we need to steady it.” This is how Benjamin Disraeli saw the international scene in the early 1880s.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

“We Have No Mercy on You People”: Persecution of Christians, July 2020 by Raymond Ibrahim

By on August 23rd, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16391/persecution-of-christians-july

“[T]here are young girls who have been abducted and enslaved, forced into sexual slavery by some of these guerrillas, these insurgents, these terrorists… We know that the recruitment of boys and adolescents, some of them very young, aged 14, 15, 16, is also happening. It is obvious that these young boys are under coercion. If they refuse to join the group, they could be killed.” — Paulo Rangel, Portuguese Member of European Parliament, Catholic San Francisco, July 23, 2020; Mozambique, where Islamic State (ISIS) seized a port.

In one week in June, 15 people were beheaded in the Christian-majority nation. Discussing the situation, Bishop Lisboa said: “The world has no idea yet what is happening because of indifference.” — Mozambique.

A 16-year-old Muslim refugee from Syria pleaded guilty to four counts of terrorism. His schemes were shared with and exposed by an undercover FBI agent posing as a fellow ISIS supporter online…. “It was a bomb lab,” the report said. — Global News, July 31; Canada.

“Somalis generally believe all Somalis are Muslims by birth and that any Somali who becomes a Christian can be charged with apostasy, punishable by death.” — Morningstar News, July 9, 2020.

The following are among the abuses that were inflicted on Christians throughout the month of July 2020:

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

We Need This Change in the Arab World by Sara Al Nuaimi

By on August 23rd, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16390/arab-world-change

“What is the difference between a Jewish person and an Israeli?” my mother, a religious and traditional Emirati, asked.

“Well,” she said, “when they start coming here, we shall get to know them better.”

For women trapped in the dogma of tradition, half in-half out, adventurous but guilt-stricken, we now feel proud of the choices we made to carve a niche for ourselves, because this niche is the new center. We can finally be ourselves and create the lives we wanted: to be out in the world, not in the confinements of a golden cage.

There was for so long the mantra of “Israel is the enemy.” It was a mantra that people could not break out of and that they believed without proof. These people are now quiet. We need this change in the Arab world. It has taken so long to come.

It was easier than we thought, that joint statement of the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the United States.

There were so many steps that were skipped, though: you can tell by reading on Twitter the voices of opposition from other countries that were in shock at the news. They resist the possibility, but to us, now that we are capable of acknowledging the peace that was created, the opposition feels no bigger than ants with puny pincers.

This is perhaps the first time that peace has happened without a war. It is peace for the sake of peace

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

In his convention speech, Joe plagiarized from everyone, including himself By Andrea Widburg

By on August 23rd, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/in_his_convention_speech_joe_plagiarized_from_everyone_including_himself.html

The Democrat National Convention is already fading in the rear-view mirror of history, and the country is preparing for the Republican National Convention (which sounds as if it will be a more cheerful, optimistic affair). The passage of time, however, has allowed people to compare Biden’s acceptance speech to other speeches and, lo and behold, Biden is back to plagiarizing, whether it’s stealing ideas from Trump, words from other politicians, or whole passages from himself.

Once upon a time, the American media was not in love with Joe Biden. That’s why, in 1987, when it emerged that Biden had copied a Welsh Labour politician almost word for word (albeit without the Welshman’s elegance and passion), the media ran with the story:

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

College students say free speech is “unacceptable” By Eric Utter

By on August 23rd, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/college_students_say_free_speech_is_unacceptable.html

The administration of Princeton University recently published a “Statement on Principles of Inclusivity and Free Speech.” The Statement affirmed that the school “cherishes both inclusivity and free speech, which can be protected even when the speech in question is ‘unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive.’” It also noted that Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber is on record as saying the free expression policy “rests upon the idea that the pursuit of understanding, discovery, and truth benefits from the open and vigorous contestation of ideas.”

That belief was the very foundation of colleges and universities for well over two centuries. Eisgruber correctly added, “We are in an era when many people mistakenly treat free speech and inclusivity as competing values. We need the benefit of multiple voices and perspectives, and we need real engagement among them.”

Not any longer. The president and two vice-presidents of the Princeton Graduate Student Government replied to their school’s shocking affirmation of free speech and the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, calling it “tone-deaf” and “unacceptable.”

In a letter written in response to Eisgruber and the administration, the three opined that the free speech policy protects “hate” at the university. They stated, “We as a student body are not looking for ‘dialogue’ on how to cope with institutional racism,” and averred that an emphasis on the importance of free expression “reads as a typical dog-whistle often used to excuse racist speech and hateful actions.”

Their admission that they are not looking for “dialogue” is a refreshing bit of candor, as leftists/progressives never seek dialogue, only victory and submission. Especially submission.

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