RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18231/xi-jinping-china-war

Xi Jinping, China’s mighty-looking leader, has an “enormous array of domestic enemies.” — Gregory Copley, president of the International Strategic Studies Association and editor-in-chief of Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, to Gatestone Institute, February 2022.

Xi created that opposition. After becoming China’s ruler at the end of 2012, he grabbed power from everyone else and then jailed tens of thousands of opponents in purges, which he styled as “anti-corruption” campaigns.

Beijing is panicking, adding nearly a trillion dollars in total new credit last month, a record increase…. When the so-called “hidden debt” is included, total debt in the country amounts to somewhere in the vicinity of 350% of gross domestic product.

Not surprisingly, Chinese companies are now defaulting. The debt crisis is so serious it can bring down China’s economy—and the country’s financial and political systems with it.

In the most recent hint of distress, “Fang Zhou and China”… wrote a 42,000-character essay titled “An Objective Evaluation of Xi Jinping.” The anti-Xi screed, posted on January 19 on the China-sponsored 6park site, appears to be the work of several members of the Communist Party’s Shanghai Gang faction, headed by former leader Jiang Zemin. Jiang’s faction has been continually sniping at Xi and now is leading the charge against him.

Xi’s problems, unfortunately, can become our problems. He has, for various internal political reasons, a low threshold of risk and many reasons to pick on some other country to deflect elite criticism and popular discontent.

The Communist Party of China has always believed its struggle with the United States is existential—in May 2019 the official People’s Daily declared a “people’s war” on America—but the hostility has become far more evident in the past year.

Virulent anti-Americanism suggests Xi Jinping is establishing a justification to strike America. The Chinese regime often uses its media to first warn and then signal its actions.

America has now been warned.

When truckers took over Canada’s capital, Ottawa, and shut down border entry points to America, some called it a “nationwide insurrection.” Mass demonstrations have occurred across the democratic world. People have had enough of two years of mandates and other disease-control measures.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/unmasking-trudeaus-lies-and-trucker-truths/

According to an old Israeli quip, the way to remove 500 Canadians from a swimming pool at closing time is to whisper, “Everybody out of the water, please.”

The implication is both clear and amusing to each group. Israelis are famous for and proud of being disobedient and unruly; Canadians are considered and view themselves as well-mannered and orderly.

But the joke, apparently, is on all concerned, now that the latter’s truckers have entered the picture. These guys aren’t exiting the proverbial premises with a subservient bow. On the contrary, they’re not only conducting a serious protest but leading others in the world to follow suit.

Their shouts to be heard by the government in Ottawa started as a reaction to draconian measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic—or, at least, it’s the excuse used by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his very illiberal Liberal Party to exercise power over the public.

Trudeau is by no means alone in this endeavor. Leaders around the globe, initially flummoxed by COVID-19, have spent the past two years caving to the dire predictions of and warnings by health “authorities,” despite equally gloomy economic and psychological forecasts.

Nor are Canadians the only people who’ve been putting up with restrictions imposed on them by politicians. Indeed, even normally cheeky and rebellious Israelis meekly accepted lockdowns and the like from the outset.
It’s almost funny that a microbe came along and instilled a level of fear that no Hamas or Hezbollah missile had been able to do until that point. And that’s not a joke.
Israelis I know personally who used to pooh-pooh calls to take shelter during rocket attacks—some going so far as to head outside to film Iron Dome interceptions—suddenly were terrified not to wear the best surgical masks on the market and wouldn’t leave home without bottles of hand sanitizer at the ready.
Much of the hysteria waned when vaccines became available. But then a second and third wave arrived, followed by a fourth and a fifth. This had an interesting effect.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/02/canada_and_the_tyranny_of_emergencies.html

Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared a “state of emergency” against his own citizens in what has become the latest fashionable trend to crush dissent and demand obedience to the state. The BBC reports:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken the unprecedented step of invoking the Emergencies Act to crack down on anti-vaccine mandate protests.

Mr Trudeau said the scope of the measures would be “time-limited”, “reasonable and proportionate” and would not see the military deployed. (snip)

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said at Monday’s news conference that banks would be able freeze personal accounts of anyone linked with the protests without any need for a court order.

Vehicle insurance of anyone involved with the demonstrations can also be suspended, she added.

Ms Freeland said they were broadening Canada’s “Terrorist Financing” rules to cover cryptocurrencies and crowdfunding platforms, as part of the effort.

https://dianebederman.com/there-is-a-stench-in-the-air-over-ottawa-and-it-isnt-coming-from-diesel-fuel/

There is a stench in the air over Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, and it isn’t coming from diesel fuel. No, it is coming from the odious fumes of main stream media at the behest of our Dear Leader, Justin Trudeau.

The Globe and Mail, one of Canada’s major media outlets has just informed us that the Freedom Trucker Convoy is a right wing phenomenon with a sharp America feel. According to the author, Ian Brown, it is an “.. . unapologetic Trumpy aggressiveness.” It seems the Convoy seconded the flag for nefarious reasons. Who knew? Too many flags apparently are the problem. Once again, I have to ask, like prunes, are three enough are six too many?  Professor Peter Astor  is concerned about “the convoy organizers’ promiscuous flinging of the word freedom. “I realize you’re not dealing with PhD students but there is no such thing in democracy as absolute freedom.’” And saying something like “FUCK TRUDEAU” is a stoop too low for Canada. This was too much for Professor Astor. He was shocked. SHOCKED. He’s positively distressed! No one said that about Mulroney or Pearson.  Hmm, I wonder why.

What about this?

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18227/russia-sweden-finland-nato

In response to the mounting tension with Russia, Sweden has been boosting its military preparedness and has sent soldiers and heavy military equipment to its largest island, Gotland, strategically located in the Baltic Sea, just 330 kilometers from Kaliningrad, the headquarters of Russia’s Baltic Fleet headquarters… Sweden has been observing a deteriorating security environment in recent years with repeated Russian incursions into Swedish airspace and territorial waters.

Unlike Sweden, Finland, which shares a long land border with Russia, never stopped investing in its defense capabilities. It recently ordered 64 F-35 fighters, at a value of $9.5 billion, to replace its existing and ageing combat jets. According to Finland’s former Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, Finland “can mobilize a reserve of 280,000 trained soldiers, which no other country in Europe can do.”

In a meeting with Sweden and Finland on January 24 about the worsening security situation in Europe, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg invited the two countries to join NATO, stressing that each country has the right to choose its own military alliances.

Denmark is deploying four air force fighter jets to the Baltic states and a Danish Navy frigate will most likely be patrolling the Baltic Sea, as a contribution to NATO’s patrolling in the region. This is “a very clear signal to Russia,” Danish Defense Minister Trine Bramsen said.

Russia’s military buildup on the borders of Ukraine and its sweeping ultimatums to NATO on halting further expansion and rolling back its engagement on NATO’s eastern flank is also causing tension in northern Europe. Russia has threatened that if Finland and Sweden — which are not members of NATO but enjoy close ties with the transatlantic organization — join the alliance, it “would have serious military and political consequences that would require an adequate response from the Russian side.”

https://pjmedia.com/columns/david-solway-2/2022/02/13/the-canadian-dilemma-in-a-nutshell-n1558926

From the perspective of freedom-loving citizens in this country, the trucker convoys and blockades protesting mask and vaccine mandates are a stirring spectacle of patriotism, civic responsibility, and true grit. They represent the offset to heavy-handed and arrogant government that is using everything in its power to suppress their efforts: threats, fines, police coercion, theft of property, and the manifestly illegal sequestering of funds donated to the truckers by private individuals. A conflict of this nature is often framed as the state versus the nation, the authorities versus the people. Whether it applies to the current situation, as we will see, is problematic.

The issue is the preservation, or restitution, of the government-violated Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms meant to guarantee common life in a democratic country—or, at any rate, a country now under the sway of an avowedly communist leader and several autocratic provincial premiers, a country that would appear well on the road to despotic control.

The problem is that fully two-thirds of the electorate rejects or is indifferent to the trucker revolt against unscrupulous and demagogic power. According to an Angus Reid poll, 54% of Canadians would like to see the COVID-19 mandates lifted, yet they are not interested in standing up for the Freedom Convoy that carries their banner. The trucker unions jealous of their perquisites and the bought-and-paid-for national press have also sided with the wielders of tyrannical authority. 

Ironically, it is popular opposition to a popular uprising that will determine the future of the country. This explains why, despite the courage and the exhilarating display of patriotic fervor animating the trucker convoys, numbers of Canadians have left or are considering leaving the country. I know of many such. They are not defectors but long-suffering citizens who are convinced that they have read the writing on the wall.

https://americanmind.org/salvo/oh-canada/

I joined the Canadian Freedom Convoy once the trucks were already firmly set in Ottawa. My time in the Canadian capital was spent gathering information, specifically to document the successful, as well as the failed, tactics and strategies of the demonstration. My reticence over details is necessary because, whether through fate or my own persistence, I am now helping the central organization with some of their strategy, and anything that I disclose publicly could be used against them. But I can give a brief overview of what is happening here.

It’s important to note that the meaning of all this is still unclear. There is indeed a very palpable sense that “this is history,” as many here are prone to say, but no one has yet presented a historical vision, and no shape has yet organically formed.

Concerning such “grand narratives,” there are many false directions. Walking through the blockade, it can seem as though multiple demonstrations are going on at the same time, some of which feel distinct. The protest can often seem like a textbook workers revolution, since much of the language used by the protestors stake the “working class” against the bourgeoisie and the other traditional enemies of the proletariat.

At other times there are intimations of 1960s counter-culture, where blunts are circulated, heart-shaped signs are passed out, and placards read, “Live. Love. Freedom.” The most obvious theme of the protests is state imposed restrictions under the pretense of bio-medical safety. According to this logic, once the mandates end, everyone will go home. In this last case, this would mean that the protests are counter-revolutionary in nature, since all the people want is to turn things back to normal.

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/593983-free-speech-becomes-roadkill-in-the-crackdown-on-canadian-truckers

Canada appears to be facing its greatest threat since Benedict Arnold came close to seizing Ottawa in 1775. The source of this “insurrection” and “attack on democracy,” however, is not a foreign government but Canadians who have descended on their own capital to protest continuing COVID-19 mandates.

The protest has been peaceful — and highly successful in cutting off key highways. But the most alarming development has not come from the convoy but from the commentary about it, including calls for mass arrests and even vigilantism. The Ottawa Police Services Board chairman has called it a “nationwide insurrection,” adding, “Our city is under siege.”

CNN analyst and Harvard professor Juliette Kayyem was apoplectic at the thought of truckers shutting down roads and interfering with trade. She tweeted out a call to “slash the tires, empty gas tanks, arrest the drivers, and move the trucks.” CNN correspondent Paula Newton said this act of civil disobedience was nothing less than a “threat to democracy. An insurrection, sedition.”

Blocking streets, occupying buildings and shutting down bridges have long been tactics of protesters. Yet what constitutes a protest or an insurrection often seems to depend on the cause involved. When rioters caused billions of dollars in damages, burned police stations and occupied sections of American cities in the summer of 2020, for example, few in the media declared them to be terrorists or a threat to democracy. But CNN’s Kayyem once called conservative protesters occupying a state capital to be “domestic terrorists.” GoFundMe, which previously helped fund arrested Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters, froze more than $10 million raised for Canadian truckers to prevent it from being used to support them.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18226/christians-persecuted-worldwide

“When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, they tried to appear moderate—but there’s no sign that Christianity will be anything other than a death sentence.” — World Watch List-2022.

“The persecution of Christians in India has intensified, as Hindu extremists aim to cleanse the country of their presence and influence. The extremists disregard Indian Christians and other religious minorities as true Indians, and think the country should be purified of non-Hindus…..” — World Watch List-2022.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has offered a new weapon to persecutors. In some areas, Christians have been deliberately overlooked in the local distribution of government aid and have even been accused of spreading the virus.” — World Watch List-2022.

In Qatar, “Violence against Christians rose sharply ….” — World Watch List-2022.

In Bangladesh (#29), local authorities told Muslim converts to Christianity who, like their Muslim counterparts, sought governmental aid, “to return to Islam or receive nothing.”

In the Central African Republic, which was “hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic … Christians were denied government aid and told to convert to Islam if they wanted to eat.”

Another notable trend concerns the growing number of internally or externally displaced people — 84 million: “a significant number [of whom] are Christians fleeing religious persecution.”

[A]t least a quarter, though arguably much more, of all hate crimes registered in Europe in 2020 were anti-Christian — representing a 70% increase compared to 2019.

[I]t is telling that the European nations suffering the most also happen to have Europe’s largest Muslim populations — namely, Germany (where anti-Christian hate crimes have more than doubled since 2019) and France (where two churches are reportedly attacked every single day, some, as in the Muslim world, with human feces).

In short, the persecution of Christians, which was already horrific, has increased by nearly 70% over the last five years, with no signs of abating.

How long will it be before this seemingly irreversible trend metastasizes into those nations currently celebrated for their religious freedom?

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18208/free-speech-britain

“It isn’t hate to speak the truth.” — J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, Twitter, June 6, 2020.
“An entire generation are puzzled by the idea that anyone has the right to say things they don’t agree with…for most people, true free speech has ceased to exist…. On some issues, such as the transgender controversy, it is virtually impossible to say anything without attracting the attention of the Thought Police.” — Peter Hitchens, author and journalist, Daily Mail, December 11, 2021.
“Among millions, the idea that you can defend someone’s right to say something you disagree with is now puzzling. They have no idea why anyone would do that. For them, the debate is over, they have won, and those who oppose them are stupid and wrong.” — Peter Hitchens, Daily Mail, December 11, 2021.
“They also view my doubts about the theory of man-made global warming as ‘denial’ of a fact which they regard as proven. To them, this is little short of sabotage of efforts to combat this peril.” — Peter Hitchens, Daily Mail, December 11, 2021.
“All of them believed that they owned the truth, that they were profoundly good and that those who got in their way were therefore evil as well as wrong.” — Peter Hitchens, Daily Mail, December 11, 2021.

Freedom of speech is doing extremely poorly in the UK, according to a recent YouGov poll. When Britons were asked what should be the priority, 43% said protecting people from offensive or hateful speech should be the priority, while only 38% said the focus should be on protecting free speech. Generally, men and conservative voters were more concerned about protecting free speech, while women, younger people and Labour voters were more concerned about blocking offensive or hateful speech.