RUTHFULLY YOURS

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s management style seems to have alienated a lot of people on his own side of the aisle during his nine-and-a-half years at the helm of the Conservative government. Now, as he faces an election on Monday, his reputation as a not-very-likable fellow could cost him and his party—and also cost Canadians their future prosperity.

None of Canada’s top three national parties is expected to come away from the election with a majority government. For most of the campaign the Conservatives were given a reasonable chance of winning a plurality of seats in Parliament. If that happens, Mr. Harper would have to govern by looking for allies on a vote-by-vote basis until he is forced to call another election.

But in recent days internal polling began to suggest that the center-left Liberal Party led by Justin Trudeau—the eldest son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau—could finish first past the post with enough seats for a minority government. This is partly the result of a late-stage slump by the further-left New Democratic Party (NDP). A Liberal majority is unlikely but not impossible. The contest is now said to be down to suburban Vancouver and Toronto electoral districts.

P.M. Stephen Harper has been Israel’s staunchest ally during his entire tenure. Justin Trudeau his liberal opposition, is the son of the late P.M. Pierre Trudeau and has been, like his father, warm to Israel but not with the commitment of Harper….stay tuned….rsk

Economic slump and voter fatigue with ruling Conservatives help Liberals make gains ahead of Monday vote

LONDON, Ontario—Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, after nearly a decade in power, heads into Monday’s federal election caught in a tight race for his political survival.

One of the West’s longest serving leaders, Mr. Harper is seeking to win a fourth term. But voter fatigue with his ruling Conservative party and a slump driven by a collapse in oil and metal prices have helped the opposition Liberals—led by Justin Trudeau, son of the former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau—edge ahead in polls in the last weeks of the race.

Issues beyond Canada’s slumping economy have also dogged Mr. Harper’s campaign, including a scandal over lawmakers’ expense accounts and controversies over his government’s recent decision not to take in more Syrian refugees and to push for a ban on the right of women to wear the face-covering niqab while taking citizenship oaths. In a survey of 1,000 Canadians by Ottawa pollster Nanos Research last week, 71% said it was time for a change in government.

THE REFUGEE ISSUE has deep historical roots that go back to the 14th century. The Black Death killed up to half the population of Europe, but it led to a concentration of efforts to make childbearing safer, which, in due course, gave rise to the first hints of the population explosion to follow.

In the 16th century Europeans began traveling all over the world, and it wasn’t long before they started settling abroad. This colonization process wasn’t prompted merely by a spirit of adventure and the quest for gold, silver and other precious commodities but by the need for Europe’s growing population to find jobs. The trend intensified until the mid-20th century. The whole of the Americas and Australasia, parts of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were thus colonized. Argentina’s population doubled within 20 years, thanks mostly to Italian and Spanish immigrants, including the parents of Pope Francis.

Just after the bombing attack in Ankara, Turkish authorities said that the Islamic State (ISIS) was responsible. But in response, Turkish jets did not bomb ISIS; they bombed the Kurdish PKK, who are fighting ISIS.

Where were the special forces and the police, so quick to shoot Kurds but not protect them? The police delayed medical help, and instead attacked with tear gas the people that were helping the wounded, in an effort to disperse them.

“The PKK ceasefire means nothing for us. The operations will continue without a break.” — Senior Turkish security official.

“Ankara is the capital of Turkey. If a bird flies here, the state knows about it. … There was a rally of 100,000 people but no security precautions were taken. Look at their own rallies: the security precautions start 10 streets away.” — Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the Kurdish HDP Party.

Many massacres have been carried out against the Kurds. None of the perpetrators has ever been punished — in those massacres, the planners were the state authorities themselves.

On October 10, the Kurds in Turkey were exposed to yet another massacre – this time a double suicide bombing in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, in the center of town.

This time, two explosions ripped through a peaceful crowd that had gathered outside the entrance to Ankara’s central railway station to proclaim an end to violence in a “Labor, Peace and Democracy” rally.

Together with the Kurds were officials from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP); supporters of left-wing parties, and members of trade unions in Turkey — all calling for peace and democracy.[1]

Editor’s note: The authors of this article are Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands; Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front in France; Matteo Salvini, leader of the Northern League in Italy; and Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the Austrian Freedom Party.

Europe. Imagine a world without her. Sure, the geographical entity will always continue to exist. But the civilization is in danger. Millions of migrants are currently arriving in Europe. More than half a million have already done so. Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, says the greatest tide of refugees and migrants is still to come. Hungary’s foreign minister expects 35 million people heading to Europe. This will be the end of the Continent as we know it.

The situation is completely out of control. Too many fortune seekers, too much illiteracy. Some of the migrants are refugees, but the majority come for economic reasons. Our European economies and social-protection systems cannot cope with this. The media prefer to focus on families and children, but their images cannot conceal that the asylum seekers flocking to Europe are predominantly young men. Many are unskilled.

Wrong again Dr. Kissinger….. “the American role in stabilizing the Middle East order that emerged from the Arab-Israeli war of 1973.” That role orchestrated by you was vicious and counterproductive. You insisted that Israel bow to the demands of the aggressor Anwar Sadat who, in company with Assad (father) of Syria led a surprise attack in the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, you betrayed our ally Israel. You warned that beleaguered nation that almost lost that war by threatening ” a reassessment of the America/Israel relationship” if Israel did not accede to your demands. These suggestions of yours now are prattle, as were your policies of “detente” and “realpolitick”and total failure to see resurgent radical Islam as the curse of the Middle East ….rsk

“With Russia in Syria, a geopolitical structure that lasted four decades is in shambles. The U.S. needs a new strategy and priorities.

The debate about whether the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran regarding its nuclear program stabilized the Middle East’s strategic framework had barely begun when the region’s geopolitical framework collapsed. Russia’s unilateral military action in Syria is the latest symptom of the disintegration of the American role in stabilizing the Middle East order that emerged from the Arab-Israeli war of 1973.

In the aftermath of that conflict, Egypt abandoned its military ties with the Soviet Union and joined an American-backed negotiating process that produced peace treaties between Israel and Egypt, and Israel and Jordan, a United Nations-supervised disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria, which has been observed for over four decades (even by the parties of the Syrian civil war), and international support of Lebanon’s sovereign territorial integrity. Later, Saddam Hussein’s war to incorporate Kuwait into Iraq was defeated by an international coalition under U.S. leadership. American forces led the war against terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States were our allies in all these efforts. The Russian military presence disappeared from the region.

North Korea could have as many as 100 nuclear bombs within five years and may already be able to mount warheads on missiles capable of reaching the United States. Those are the latest estimates of Pyongyang’s atomic capabilities, and they will be at the center of the discussion Barack Obama will have with Park Geun-hye when the South Korean President visits the White House Friday. So it’s good the two democracies can do something about it.

That’s thanks to Thaad, or Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense. This U.S.-built system’s powerful radar and sophisticated interceptors would allow U.S. and South Korean forces to intercept missiles across distances of up to 200 kilometers, compared with about 35 kilometers with the Patriot systems currently deployed around the Korean peninsula.

Deploying Thaad would integrate South Korean defenses into a regional network of U.S. and Japanese sensors, enabling more accurate detection and interception of missiles from multiple angles and at multiple points in their flight path. Trilateral cooperation might also soothe some of the enduring tensions between South Korea and Japan over the latter’s militarist past.

Philippe Verdier, the weather chief at France’s state broadcaster France Televisions, has reportedly been sent on “forced holiday” for writing a book accusing top climatologists of “taking the world hostage.”

Every night, France’s chief weatherman has told the nation how much wind, sun or rain they can expect the following day.
Now Philippe Verdier, a household name for his nightly forecasts on France 2, has been taken off air after a more controversial announcement – criticising the world’s top climate change experts.
Mr Verdier claims in the book Climat Investigation (Climate Investigation) that leading climatologists and political leaders have “taken the world hostage” with misleading data.
In a promotional video, Mr Verdier said: “Every night I address five million French people to talk to you about the wind, the clouds and the sun. And yet there is something important, very important that I haven’t been able to tell you, because it’s neither the time nor the place to do so.”
He added: “We are hostage to a planetary scandal over climate change – a war machine whose aim is to keep us in fear.”