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November 2020

Showdown in the Western Sahara by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16763/western-sahara-showdown

Presently, the Polisario Front appears to be trying to create “facts on the ground” outside of any legal framework, presumably in the hope that the international community will view them as irreversible.

International help would be greatly appreciated to prevent this showdown in the Sahara from escalating further.

While much of the world was looking the other way, distracted by China’s coronavirus and its economic aftermath, a separatist militia group backed by Algeria, the Polisario Front, have been militarily exploiting the crisis.

For weeks, the Polisario Front have blocked the only road leading southward from Morocco to Mauritania in the buffer zone of Guerguerat. Currently, around 200 trucks find themselves stranded there, while UN peacekeepers (MINURSO), on whom Morocco relies to enforce the tense 30-year ceasefire, apparently feel overwhelmed.

Ever since Spain withdrew from its former colony in the Western Sahara in 1975, the Polisario Front have been trying to claim the territory, rich with phosphates and fishing rights, as an independent state for themselves. Since that time, however, Morocco has served as the sole sovereign, offering the Western Sahara autonomy but not independence.

Last week, on Thursday night, Morocco finally responded to the Polisario Front’s roadblock at Guerguerat by creating a security cordon and promising to “restore free circulation of civilian and commercial traffic” between Morocco and Mauritania — an act that the Polisario Front called a “provocation.”

The Polisario Front had announced the Monday before that any movement of troops by Morocco to the buffer zone area “will be considered as a flagrant aggression to which the Sahrawi [Polisario] side will respond vigorously in self-defence and to defend its national sovereignty. This will also mean the end of the ceasefire and the beginning of a new war across the region.”

South Florida ‘ISIS’ Imam: ‘Jews Not Really Jews,’ ‘France Beheading Bogus’ Plus ‘Jihad is climbing over necks’ and more deranged thoughts from Imam Fadi Kablawi. Joe Kaufman

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/11/south-florida-isis-imam-jews-not-really-jews-joe-kaufman/

Fadi Kablawi, FBI ‘ISIS’ suspect and head imam of the North Miami Islamic Center (NMIC), a.k.a. Masjid As Sunnah An Nabawiyyah, thinks that his being called an “anti-Semite” or a “radical” is absurd, because his verbal attacks against Jews and incitement against those he considers kafirs (disbelievers) is merely a reflection of his religious beliefs. Regardless of the reason, Kablawi is a revered spiritual leader with a considerable following that could easily be spurred to act upon his dangerous rhetoric. The intent of this article is to alert the community and law enforcement and expose Kablawi’s bigotry and extremism as a preventive measure.

On October 23rd, during one of his Friday khutbas (sermons), Kablawi told his congregation that Jews are not really Jews but “Europeans” with “pointy tails.” He stated, “If you even want to be a Jew, you cannot be a Jew. You can’t… I’m talking about Orthodox Jews. You cannot be an Orthodox Jew. They don’t accept you. They don’t acknowledge the rest of the Jews in the world, if they’re not these Orthodox with pointy tails and all these things on their side. They don’t. And over 90% of the Jews today are not real Jews, because Judaism has to do with a specific race of people… They’re Europeans. They’re Yehuda Khazar, Russians!”

Two days later, on October 25th, Kablawi referred to Jews as “enemies” and complained about Muslims trying to copy them. He stated, “The Yehud, this is their nature… enemies to anything that has to do with al-haqq (the truth). It doesn’t matter. For them, they work based on the Machiavellian mentality, the ends justify the means, anything goes, so they can achieve their goals… The only way we can achieve what they have achieved is by us corrupting our deen (belief)… Allah is warning you from following the path of those who incurred the wrath of Allah. And then they come and say, ‘We need to be like the Jews…’”

Austria’s Kurz and Germany’s Merkel On Collision Course About How to Oppose Jihad Terror Coming soon: an ideological Anchluss and silencing of the Austrian. Robert Spencer

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/11/austrias-kurz-and-germanys-merkel-collision-course-robert-spencer/

The German-language Austrian publication Kronen Zeitung reported Tuesday that Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz flew to Paris in order to “coordinate ‘on a European level’ with French President Emmanuel Macron on the ‘fight against political Islam.’” This coordination involved a video conference that included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Union Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Angela von der Leyen, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. They all “announced that they would join forces and reform the Schengen rules.” But like so many things, it all sounded great until one started to examine the details.

“More far-reaching measures must be taken so that we can live safely in Europe and defend our way of life,” said Kurz, and who could argue with that? “We are in constant danger,” Kurz added, and pointed out that the European Union was full of “ticking time bombs” that is, thousands of “foreign fighters.” No argument there, either. But what did he and his colleagues propose to do about it?

Initially it looked as if the Euro honchos were on the right track: Macron “suggested implementing measures that have already been planned and decided in the fight against political Islam, or accelerating their implementation.”

These would include not only “against hate propaganda on the Internet and a reform of the Schengen rules,” but also “the linking of common databases so that the security services of the individual states can work better together.” Macron declared: “It takes reforms to enjoy our freedom and security.”

Why yes, Mr. Macron, yes it does. But does Europe have the courage to implement the reforms that would genuinely protect Europeans from further jihad massacres, such as immigration restrictions from jihadi hotspots and strict enforcement of the principle of one law for all, which would be a direct challenge to Sharia enclaves? None of that appeared to be even on the table at this video conference.

The Left’s Wanton Violence Against the MAGA Marchers A preview of what’s to come if Biden-Harris take over. Joseph Klein

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/11/lefts-wanton-violence-against-maga-marchers-joseph-klein/

We are already getting an early taste of what Biden-Harris’s America will look like. Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Antifa thugs harassed, threatened and assaulted pro-Trump demonstrators, who had peaceably assembled on Saturday in the nation’s capital for what was billed as the Million MAGA March. The radical leftists are preparing to own the streets, forcing law abiding Americans to either kowtow to their demands or get out of the way.

What a difference four years make. When Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, ‘Not my president’ marches took place across the country. The marches were loud, angry and unruly. Conservatives who witnessed the marches undoubtedly did not like what they were hearing and seeing, but they did not try to bully the protesters. They respected the First Amendment rights of those upset by the election’s outcome so long as the protesters expressed their views peacefully, which they not always did.

Fast forward to 2020 when conservatives backing President Trump have cause to be upset about what many believe to have been a stolen election. Trump supporters organized protests, culminating on Saturday when thousands gathered in Washington D.C. for the Million MAGA March. President Trump drove past and waved at the demonstrators at one point.

Joe Biden’s Potemkin Presidency: Will Socialist Soros And Other Extreme Leftists Call The Shots?

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/11/16/joe-bidens-potemkin-presidency-will-socialist-soros-and-other-extreme-leftists-call-the-shots/

Joe Biden’s big selling point to both the Democratic Party and the American people was that, in a crowd of candidates standing far left of center, he was the moderate choice. Now, as he staffs a possible White House with far-left media re-treads and George Soros’ socialist acolytes, we’re seeing that his supposed moderation was just another of his endless lies.

No one should be surprised. President Barack Obama played the moderate in his first campaign, then became the most far-left president in our history. He, too, opened the White House doors to Soros-linked socialist apparatchiks. Their inept policies led inevitably to economic stagnation and the worst foreign policy disasters in decades.

Biden, Obama’s loyal, lap-doggish No. 2, is going with what he knows. He’s bringing in the hard-left legions for what he hopes will be his administration, just as Obama did.

“Joe Biden’s transition team includes several people affiliated with organizations bankrolled by the left-wing billionaire George Soros,” notes the Washington Free Beacon in a piece that lays out the shocking truth about Biden’s “moderation.”

This is not just political paranoia about the socialist Soros mafia.

Let the Transition Proceed Trump’s legal challenges are legitimate, but the country needs to be ready if they’re unsuccessful. Charles Lipson

https://www.wsj.com/articles/let-the-transition-proceed-11605475975?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

The more divisive our politics, the more important it is to respect the fundamentals of constitutional democracy. Two tenets are critical: elections in which legal votes are counted honestly and the peaceful transition of power. It is appropriate to pose legal challenges to an election’s integrity, but not to impede the transition.

Two weeks after Election Day, President Trump’s team hasn’t presented compelling evidence against Joe Biden’s victory. They are assembling that evidence and Mr. Trump says he sees a path to victory, but there is no reason to delay the procedures for transferring power to a potential Biden administration.

The main reason to facilitate the transition is to show that amid deep political division, we can rely on constitutional norms, procedures and institutions. The Trump campaign has every right to litigate evidence of fraud, malfeasance or error. We should care about that evidence, even if it doesn’t change the outcome, because it undermines the honest elections on which democracy depends. Anyone who corrupts them should face serious prison time. It’s far more serious than bribing your kid’s way into college.

Mr. Trump and his supporters have every reason to ridicule the Democrats’ hypocrisy about the peaceful transition of power. The Obama administration lied to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, spied on Mr. Trump’s candidacy and transition, and desperately tried to cover its tracks. The Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign commissioned the false Steele dossier and funneled it into a receptive Federal Bureau of Investigation, launching a series of investigations that hobbled the Trump presidency. Barack Obama’s administration launched a baseless crusade against Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Flynn, for making a perfectly legitimate phone call to Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. Holdover officials from the Obama administration did all they could to impede the new administration, including leaks of classified information about its actions.

It is an outrage that, four years later, we haven’t had a full accounting of this malfeasance. This delay is all the more noxious because the party that engineered these abuses is now returning to power. It is reasonable to fear that if Democrats retake control of the Justice Department, they will be less than zealous in pursuing these crimes

Biden’s Foolish Immigration Priorities By The Editors

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/11/bidens-foolish-immigration-priorities/

Joe Biden shouldn’t want to begin his administration with a renewed migrant crisis at the border, but that’s what his priorities risk creating.

After many false starts — including the zero-tolerance policy that drove family separations — the Trump administration got a handle on the border thanks to its “remain in Mexico” policy and “safe third country” agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.

These initiatives closed an enormous loophole in the U.S. asylum system — undeserving asylum-seekers were able to gain access to our country, stay here for years while their claims worked their way through overwhelmed immigration courts, and remain even after their claims were denied because we lack the capacity (or will) to track and deport them. This running, de facto amnesty served as a powerful magnet for migrants from Central America.

But the Trump administration managed to get Mexico to agree to the so-called Migration Protection Protocols. This meant that asylum-seekers from countries other than Mexico could be made to remain in Mexico while their claims were adjudicated in the U.S. Also, under the safe-third-country agreements, asylum-seekers could be sent to Guatemala, El Salvador, or Honduras (whichever wasn’t their home country) to apply for asylum there. The theory was that if they were genuinely persecuted in their own country rather than simply seeking to come to the United States, they’d be satisfied to apply for asylum in some other nearby country; as it turned out, not surprisingly, most simply chose to go home when they realized an asylum claim wasn’t a ticket into the United States.

Joe Biden and the Bunker Presidency Rob Crisell

https://spectator.org/joe-biden-basement-bunker-presidency/

If you liked the basement campaign, you’re going to love the bunker presidency.

This year’s presidential election showed that slightly more than half of America no longer wants a president who speaks to them openly and often. They don’t want a chief executive who tweets, regularly takes contentious interviews, routinely answers questions from hostile reporters, and does freestyle stand-up at his boisterous rallies

Instead, they want a fragile, cosseted figurehead — a museum piece — who gives few speeches (all shopworn and canned), avoids tough questions from the press, and utters nothing without a teleprompter. They want T. S. Eliot’s hollow man, a headpiece filled with straw. They want a basement candidate who will be a bunker president. They want Joe Biden.

To paraphrase H. L. Mencken, it looks like the people will get what they want, good and hard.

The mainstream news industry is the group that worked the hardest to get Biden elected, all while rabidly tearing down Donald Trump for the last five years. The 78-year-old career politician would never have gotten within sniffing distance of the presidency without their tireless help.

Dershowitz: Trump May Seek to Deny Biden 270 Electoral Votes, Put Election in Congress By Jack Phillips

https://www.theepochtimes.com/dershowitz-trump-may-try-to-deny-biden-270-electoral-votes-put-election-in-congress_3579716.html

Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz predicted that President Donald Trump will attempt to settle the election in a way not seen since the 19th century.

In an interview with Newsmax, the longtime legal expert said Trump no longer is attempting to reach 270 Electoral College votes but will instead focus on denying Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s chances of getting 270 votes.

“Let’s look at the big picture: The big picture now has shifted,” Dershowitz told the website. “I do not believe that President Trump is now trying to get to 270 electoral votes. I think he thinks that’s out of the question.”

Trump hasn’t signaled in public about his chances of securing 270 votes due to several legal challenges.

“What he’s trying to do is to deny Joe Biden 270 votes, by challenging in Pennsylvania, Georgia, in Nevada, in Michigan, in Arizona,” Dershowitz said, adding that not allowing Biden to reach 270 out of 538 votes would eventually force House state delegations to vote, where Republicans have an advantage over Democrats. Currently, the GOP has a 26-23-1 state delegation majority in the House of Representatives.

“If he can keep the Biden count below 270, then the matter goes to the House of Representatives, where, of course, there is a Republican majority among the delegations of states, and you vote by state if it goes to the House,” Dershowitz said. “He’s trying to follow the playbook of three elections of the 19th century.”

Bellwether Counties Went Overwhelmingly for Trump in 2020 BY Petr Svab

https://www.theepochtimes.com/bellwether-counties-went-overwhelmingly-for-trump-in-2020_3579578.html

Over the past nearly 40 years, presidential elections have observed an intriguing phenomenon: 19 counties in the nation have always voted for the winner, be it Republican or Democrat. They’ve been dubbed “bellwether counties” and until this year, no president since at least Ronald Reagan has missed even one.

In 2020, all but one of the bellwethers picked President Donald Trump by a margin of some 16 points on average. Only one, Clallam County in Washington, went for former Vice President Joe Biden and only by about a 3 point margin.

Yet unofficial vote counts now show Biden in the lead and with enough electoral votes to claim the presidency. Trump is challenging the results in several states, alleging fraud, voter suppression, and illegal restrictions on Republican poll watchers. Two states have announced recounts.

Bellwethers aren’t a crystal ball—their streak was expected to end sooner or later. But what would be striking is for it to end so radically.

There is another bellwether list of 58 counties that has correctly picked each president since 2000. Trump swiped 51 of them by an average margin of nearly 15 points. The ones he lost went to Biden by a margin of about 4 points on average.