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Ruth King

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Iran’s Mullahs Throw Biden a Lifeline Supporting freedom would aid U.S. interests and take a toll on Russia. By Walter Russell Mead

By on November 8th, 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tehrans-mullahs-throw-biden-a-lifeline-iran-middle-east-russia-ukraine-drones-weapons-oil-sanctions-china-protests-women-11667849350?mod=opinion_featst_pos1

Joe Biden is a lucky man. The heroism of the Ukrainian people saved him from a Russian victory. Now the people of Iran, led by their women, are offering him a historic opportunity to weaken Russia, reduce long-term American vulnerabilities in the Middle East, and even return a sense of caution and sobriety to Chinese foreign policy.

Like many great opportunities, it comes unexpectedly. The Middle East has been a dreary place for Team Biden. The failure to enlist the Iranians in a renewed nuclear deal, the shambolic Afghan withdrawal, the embarrassing fist bump with a price-hiking Mohammed bin Salman, Benjamin Netanyahu’s electoral victory: Nothing in the Middle East has gone Joe Biden’s way.

This string of embarrassing failures has confirmed the administration’s determination to downgrade the Middle East as a strategic priority. But the Middle East refuses to stay quiet.

Blowing off Biden administration threats dating back to last summer, Iran is selling sophisticated drones to Russia for use in the war on Ukraine. Those drones have enabled Russia’s latest assault on Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure, threatening shutdowns of Ukrainian industry and leaving civilians without light or heat as winter nears. As Robin Wright observes in the New Yorker, Russia salvaged Iran’s position in Syria in 2015 by bolstering the criminal Bashar al-Assad regime. Now Iran is returning the favor by helping Russia in its flagrantly illegal attack on Ukraine.

Enter the women of Iran, whose resistance to clerical bigotry opens the door to a new era in Iranian and even world history.

We do not know whether the Iranian protesters can win. The track record of democratic revolutions across the Middle East is anything but inspiring, and the protesters in Iran have yet to coalesce behind a single group of leaders or political program. But using all the diplomatic and economic tools at America’s disposal to help the Iranian people’s fight for freedom is both the right thing to do and the best way to advance U.S. interests at a critical time.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israel’s Right-Wing Coalition Gets the Cold Shoulder From Biden Many on the left warn that democracy is in peril, just because the government they back isn’t in power. By Eugene Kontorovich

By on November 8th, 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israels-right-wing-coalition-gets-the-silent-treatment-from-biden-netanyahu-ben-gvir-supreme-court-legal-reform-west-bank-arab-abbas-11667848331?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

The victory of Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition has many on the left bemoaning the end of democracy in Israel. Even before voting began, Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) threatened harm to bilateral relations should Israelis vote to the right. The State Department has said it would boycott some right-wing ministers, and President Biden waited almost a week before calling to congratulate Mr. Netanyahu. Yet Secretary of State Antony Blinken apparently had time Friday to phone Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who last stood for election (to a four-year term) in 2005.

What has degraded Israeli democracy, according to critics, is the electoral success of Itamar Ben-Gvir’s party. Mr. Ben-Gvir’s critics cite his past in the far-right Kahanist movement. For all the consternation, one would think he was the future prime minister, rather than the head of a second-tier party, with seven of 120 seats in the Knesset.

Yet those saying Mr. Ben-Gvir’s inclusion in the government is unacceptable were untroubled by the departing government, which included Ra’am, a party affiliated with Israel’s Islamic Movement, which was founded by a convicted terrorist; or the far-left Meretz, with roots in an actual Stalinist party; or by Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s apparent willingness to accept support from Hadash, a still-Communist party whose members of the Knesset recently justified terrorism against Israeli civilians.

Another theme in the dire forecasts for Israeli democracy are legal-system reforms that the new government may pursue. The measures would actually reinforce democracy and introduce checks and balances to a political system in which the Supreme Court has far more power than its American counterpart.

Like the U.S. Supreme Court, Israel’s strikes down laws as unconstitutional—even though Israel doesn’t have a written constitution. The court has, without statutory authority, taken upon itself the power to strike down any law or government action as “unreasonable”—that is, anything the justices don’t think is a good idea. The justices—they currently number 15—decide what laws to bestow “constitutional” status on. They also dominate the committee that appoints new justices as well as lower-court judges. Candidates don’t undergo confirmation hearings before the Knesset.

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Biden’s Closing Argument: Higher Energy Prices “No more drilling,” says the president in response to a global warmist in New York.By James Freeman

By on November 8th, 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-closing-argument-higher-energy-prices-11667845918

It’s midterm campaign season and U.S. voters are clearly upset about the cost of energy. So it’s especially odd that just before Election Day President Joe Biden is emphasizing his opposition to cheap fuel. Perhaps voters can find cause for some modest hope in a CNN finding that many of Mr. Biden’s recent public statements are false.

As for the president’s promotion of energy scarcity, Haley Brown and Ben Kesslen report for the New York Post:

President Biden repeatedly said “no more drilling” and tripped onstage when he joined Gov. Kathy Hochul in Yonkers on Sunday in a last-ditch effort to help her try to stave off GOP challenger Lee Zeldin…
“No more drilling,” Biden snapped at a climate protester who was heckling him.
“There is no more drilling. I haven’t formed any new drilling,” Biden said.
A confused-sounding Biden tried to assuage the protester and return to his speech.

Whether he was confused or not, it wasn’t Mr. Biden’s only recent message of energy paucity. A Journal editorial notes:

Every so often President Biden blurts out what he really thinks, even if it’s politically or diplomatically embarrassing. He did it again Friday when he said his Administration will shut down coal plants across America…
Mr. Biden’s campaign remarks in Carlsbad, Calif., were supposed to be about the semiconductor bill and his “unity agenda.” But during a riff on Democrats’ tax and climate spending bill, he let slip that “we’re going to be shutting [coal] plants down all across America and having wind and solar.”

Those worried about the possibility of limited energy supply and therefore an expensive winter may cling to the hope that the President was speaking untruthfully, a not infrequent occurrence. Recently this column noted the valiant effort by the New York Times to frame numerous presidential falsehoods as an element of Mr. Biden’s grandfatherly charm.

Now from CNN of all places comes an acknowledgment that the President’s false claims are hardly confined to self-aggrandizing whoppers about his biography. It seems the fibs are embedded throughout his policy message as he seeks to help Democrats hold on to their congressional majorities. A CNN headline announces: “Fact check: Biden’s midterms message includes false and misleading claims.”

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Understanding Biden Administration Energy Policy  Francis Menton

By on November 7th, 2022

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2022-11-6-understanding-biden-administration-energy-policy

Politicians have long been known for having a loose relationship with the truth. Generally, that takes the form of exaggeration or hyperbole. But the latest craze among Democrats is just making flatly contradictory statements.

In this category, it’s hard to top the performance of Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman on Saturday night, when he uttered this immortal quote:

I run on Roe v Wade. I celebrate the demise of Roe v. Wade. That’s the choice that we have between us, in front of us.”

Video at the link if you don’t believe it. Clearly, Fetterman is not all there mentally.

But how different is that, really, from Joe Biden on energy policy? The main difference that I can find is that there does not appear to be an example where Biden has so clearly contradicted himself in consecutive sentences uttered to the same audience on the same night. But his various statements on energy policy are at least as contradictory as Fetterman’s on abortion. Consider a few from Category A and Category B.

Category A.

Biden at a February 2020 rally: “We are going to get rid of fossil fuels. . . . That’s okay. These guys are okay. They want to do the same thing I want to do. They want to phase out fossil fuels, and we’re going to phase out fossil fuels.”

Biden at a March 15, 2020 CNN debate with Bernie Sanders: “No more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period. [It] ends.”

Biden Executive Order, January 27, 2021: “The United States and the world face a profound climate crisis. We have a narrow moment to pursue action at home and abroad in order to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of that crisis and to seize the opportunity that tackling climate change presents.”

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israeli Woman a Top Finisher in NYC Marathon!

By on November 7th, 2022

https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-woman-finishes-2nd-in-new-york-city-marathon/

It is the best final result for an Israeli man or woman in the history of the race, which is in its 51st year.

By Algemeiner Staff

Israeli Lonah Chemtai Salpeter has finished second place in Sunday’s New York City Marathon. Salpeter finished seven seconds behind the winner, Sharon Lokedi of Kenya, who ran the 26.2 mile race through the city’s five boroughs in a time of 2 hours 23 minutes and 23 seconds.

Salpeter, 33, was born in Kenya and moved to Israel in 2008 to work as a nanny for the children of Kenya’s Ambassador to Israel. She married Israeli running coach Dan Salpeter in 2014.

It is the best final result for an Israeli man or woman in the history of the race, which is in its 51st year.

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ISRAEL, MEDICINE AND HEALTH Comments turned off

A new medical device developed in Israel eliminates the need for invasive open heart surgery.

By on November 7th, 2022

By United with Israel Staff

Heart disease remains one of the most pervasive health challenges facing society, despite significant advances in open heart surgery and other treatments.

These approaches can be effective in treating valvular heart disease, which prevents heart valves from fully opening and closing properly. Unfortunately, surgery requires lengthy rehabilitation and can result in infections and other dangerous outcomes.

In a significant medical breakthrough, a new device developed in Israel by Cuspa Medical could eliminate the need for open heart surgery.

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Brazil’s Lula will pose challenges for the US By Lawrence J. Haas

By on November 7th, 2022

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/patriotism-unity/brazil-lula-pose-challenges-us

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s sort-of concession after his reelection loss to former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva should provide a sigh of relief for democracy backers. It paves the way for a peaceful transition of power in the world’s seventh most populous country.

Bolsonaro is vowing to follow the constitution, and his team is reaching out to Lula. With the military simultaneously scoffing at suggestions that it intervene for Bolsonaro, his protesting supporters will likely now return to their homes. This is no small deal: the election was very close. Bolsonaro is the first incumbent president in Brazil’s 34-year modern democracy to lose re-election, and he previously alleged fraud in its voting system.

Nevertheless, Lula’s victory will nourish a growing challenge for the United States. It means that the region’s seven largest countries now all have leftist governments. Washington will not be able to navigate regional politics through its traditional strategy of trying to isolate far-left regimes. This U.S. challenge, moreover, comes as China, Russia, and Iran — a growing axis of anti-American activity — are increasing their economic, military, and diplomatic influence across the region.

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HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Former DOD Contract Translator Arrested for Alleged Ties to ISIS The ongoing threat of Jihad. by Michael Cutler

By on November 7th, 2022

https://www.frontpagemag.com/former-dod-contract-translator-arrested-for-alleged-ties-to-isis/

A former Department of Defense (DOD) contract interpreter, Mohammad Rafi Mohammadi has been arrested for allegedly having lied about his connection to ISIS in his application for a security clearance in conjunction with his employment by the DOD.

The arrest of this defendant is of great significance however, while information about this case has been published in several news reports but, incredibly, has not been reported by the Justice Department or any other federal agency.

Mohammadi is being prosecuted by the federal government and is alleged to have worked to assist ISIS, the group behind the bombing in Afghanistan that killed 13 American soldiers and grievously wounded many others.

Additionally, the news reports neglected to provide important insight into just how the alleged actions of the defendant may have done significant harm to U.S. national security or ask what should be obvious questions about the way that Mohammadi is being charged.

I will address these issues shortly, but first, let’s begin by reviewing information about this case that Rolling Stone’s article about the arrest provided in its October 18, 2022 report under the title:

CAUGHT

Feds Charge Pentagon Contractor With Lying About Ties to ISIS

Mohammad Rafi Mohammadi worked for the U.S. in Afghanistan. He was also allegedly helping the terrorist group behind a bombing that killed 13 American troops.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Palestinians Vote For Terrorists, Then Claim Israelis Are ‘Extremists’ by Bassam Tawil

By on November 7th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19087/palestinians-vote-terrorists

The Palestinians, who keep complaining about the rise of the right-wing parties in Israeli elections, are the ones who brought the terrorist Hamas group to power.

In 2006, a majority of Palestinians voted for Hamas, whose charter openly calls for the elimination of Israel.

The Palestinians who voted for a jihadist terror group would therefore seem to have little justification to complain about the outcome of any Israeli election.

The statements that Palestinian leaders and officials are making in response to the latest elections are identical to those they issued after previous rounds of voting in Israel.

After Israel’s 2020 election, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum… urged Palestinians to step up the “resistance” against Israel to thwart then US President Donald J. Trump’s plan for peace in the Middle East, titled “Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People.”

As far as the Palestinians are concerned, any elected government in Israel that does not submit to 100% of their demands is a bad and dangerous government.

The second camp, represented by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and several other armed groups, is seeking to replace Israel with an Islamist state. This camp does not believe in Israel’s right to exist….

The Palestinians… continue to engage in fear-mongering after each Israeli election in efforts to intimidate the Israeli public into complying with their demands. They also have used this tactic for three decades to frighten the international community into pressuring Israel to make dangerous territorial concessions.

The Palestinian claim that there is no partner for peace in Israel is totally false. In fact, the opposite is true…. The sad fact is that there is no partner for peace on the Palestinian side.

The next time the Palestinians wring their hands about Israeli elections, the international community might remind them that it is Palestinian terrorism that drives the Israeli ballot-box results.

The Palestinians also need to be reminded that it is their own leaders, and not those of Israel, who reject peace.

Rather than bemoaning the Israeli election results, Palestinian leaders should be granting their own people even a part of what the Israelis wish for them in the Abraham Accords: equal justice under the law, freedom to speak and publish without fear of retribution, freedom to become prosperous, and freedom to live lives that have opportunity apart from the cottage industry of terrorism — lives free from their own leaders’ corrupt, unending suppression.

Even before the final results of the latest Israeli general elections were announced, Palestinian leaders and officials were quoted as expressing deep concern and fear that the outcome of the vote would lead to increased tensions and violence between the Palestinians and Israel.

Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh was quoted as saying that the results of the election “confirms” that the Palestinians have no partner in Israel for peace.”

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

The Pathetic Democratic Pantheon Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Nancy Pelosi are of no use to the Left in the midterms because it is their radical ideology that was finally enacted and wrecked the country. By Victor Davis Hanson

By on November 7th, 2022

https://amgreatness.com/2022/11/06/the-pathetic-democratic-pantheon/

Over the last few months the four icons of the Democratic Party—Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Nancy Pelosi—have hit the campaign trail. 

They’ve weighed in on everything from “right-wing violence” and “election denialists” to the now tired “un-American” semi-fascist MAGA voter—and had nothing much to say about inflation, the border, crime, energy, or the Afghanistan debacle. In this, they remind us just how impoverished and calcified is this left-wing pantheon. 

So why should we take anything they say seriously, given their own records—and especially given their mastery of projecting their own shortcomings upon others as some sort of private exculpation or preemptive political strategy?

Still Hopin’ and Changin’? 

Barack Obama this past week has assumed the role of surrogate president. He is storming the country, while Joe Biden mopes at home or visits shrinking blue enclaves so he can claim post facto, “At least I was out there stumping.” 

Over the last six years, we have become accustomed to Obama’s periodic getaways from one of his three estates. It is always the same. From time to time, he reenters politics to remind us that he did not just cash in on his presidency to become a multi-millionaire. Instead, he is still the Chicago “community activist” of his youth. And so, Obama will not be overshadowed by the Biden crew that is enacting all the crazy things he as president had warned were a bit much even for him. 

At the funeral of the late John Lewis, Obama turned his eulogy into a political rant. He weighed in on the “racist” filibuster, the “Jim Crow relic” that he desperately sought in vain to use to stop the appointment of Justice Samuel Alito. 

At campaign stops, he deplores “divisions” that he, more than any modern figure, helped create. The entire left-wing vocabulary of disparagement for the white lower-working classes (e.g., deplorables, dregs, chumps, irredeemables, etc.) got its start with Obama’s putdown of Pennsylvania voters who rejected him in the 2008 primaries as “clingers.” 

In interviews, Obama suddenly now blasts harsh rhetoric—this from the wannabe tough guy who stole the “The Untouchables” line about bringing a knife to a gun fight. Well before crazy Maxine Waters’ calls to arms, Obama advised his supporters “get in their faces.”

Still, on the campaign trail, Obama appears not so much animated as stale. It is as if he has been suddenly stirred from a long coma that commenced in 2008. It’s the same old, same old—sleeves rolled up. He still resorts to the scripted outbursts of mock anger. And the nerdy prep school graduate still amateurishly modulates his patois—now policy wonk, now breaking into the Southern African-American pastor accent when an audience needs more preachy authenticity. 

He still tries to rev up his crowds with the familiar attacks: Republican demons will cut Social Security, the MAGA semi-fascists are captives of Donald Trump (as if the Democrats have not ceded their souls to woke hysterics), the Republican fanatics will all but kill women by denying abortions, and extremists unlike himself are dividing the country. 

On and on, Obama shouts about social justice. And then he wraps up and must decide to which of his mansions he will fly home (via private jet)—Kalorama, Martha’s Vineyard, Hyde Park, or soon the Waimanalo estate.

Obama offers no solutions much less hints at his own culpability in his sermons. There is nothing about the open border he helped birth. Nothing about Biden’s failed energy policies now bankrupting the middle class that were simply a reification of his energy secretary Steven Chu’s perverse wishes for European-priced gas (“Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”). 

There is nothing about Obama’s old boasts about shutting down coal plants and skyrocketing electricity (“Under my plan . . . electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”). 

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