RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://amgreatness.com/2022/02/12/oligarchys-response-to-the-freedom-convoy-bodes-ill-for-them/

As I write, Canadian police, many dressed in military garb and supported by armored vehicles and snipers(!), are moving in to enforce several court orders and demands of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and others that the “Freedom Convoy” of Canadian truckers stop blocking the Ambassador Bridge, the major artery between the United States and Canada, and disperse. Some of the protestors are leaving while many others are standing their ground. 

Will the heavy hand of the state succeed in crushing the protest? In the short term, perhaps. 

On Friday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson presented a montage of Canadian and American officials berating the truckers and threatening all sorts of dire retribution should they fail to obey their masters. Carlson was right: the hysterical squeaking of Justin Trudeau, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and the other political mannequins was pathetic—a sign of impotence, not strength. 

But impotence comes in long-term and short-term varieties. Long-term, I think Carlson is right. Officialdom’s response to the Freedom Convey is a desperate effort to put the genie of liberty back in the bottle. Ultimately, it will not work. But on the way to that failure there will be plenty of opportunities for the coercive power of the state to manifest itself. 

As General Mark “White Rage” Milley, the anti-Trump chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put it when commenting on the January 6, 2021 protest in Washington, D.C., “We’re the guys with the guns.” Well, some of them, anyway. Joe Biden was trespassing on the same territory when he said that if you want to take on the government, you’ll need “some nukes and F15s.” 

I do not think that is true. In fact, I would say we are rapidly approaching a situation that the columnist Matt Taibbi evoked when he suggested that Justin Trudeau’s response to the Freedom Convey might be his “Ceaușescu moment.” After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the oxygen of legitimacy rapidly went out of Communist dictatorships throughout Eastern Europe. Romania’s Nicolae Ceaușescu was one of the unlucky tyrants. He went from delivering a speech to an angry populace to facing, along with his wife Elena, a firing squad four days later on Christmas Day. 

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18212/apartheid-middle-east

Where is the outcry from Amnesty International and other human rights organizations? When an Arab country subjects Palestinians to actual apartheid measures, the international community is too busy lying about Israel’s alleged abuses to take notice.

“It is estimated that 65% of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon live under the poverty line.” — UNRWA, October 2017.

Palestinians in Lebanon have long been prevented from practicing such professions as medicine and law, given that only the Lebanese could join professional syndicates.

Thirty-nine professions remain prohibited to Palestinians in the following fields: healthcare (general medicine, dentistry, nursing, midwifery, pharmacy) transport and fishing, services and daycare, engineering, law, tourism, and accounting.

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are at risk of food insecurity, electricity blackouts, increased health problems and complications amid the shortages of medicine and health-care interventions. — UNRWA, January 2022.

“My husband works as a driver and earns less than two dollars a day. We mainly eat vegetables and beans because that’s all we can afford. Meat and chicken have become a dream; we can’t buy them because prices have increased so sharply. We no longer eat three meals a day, and sometimes I send my kids to bed without dinner.” — Rihab Maajel, a 50-year-old Palestinian from Shabriha in southern Lebanon, UNRWA, January 2022.

“I fear that I may freeze to death this winter. I cannot afford to buy gas for heating.” — Nawal Kayed, 66, Palestinian in Lebanon, UNRWA, 2022.

The group also noted that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon who want to receive medical treatment in a Lebanese hospital have to wait for weeks to obtain a permit. — palhrw.org, January 20, 2022.

When Palestinians in Lebanon cannot feed their children this winter, chalk it up to the world’s unjust lethal obsession with Israel.

ive thousand homes belonging to Palestinians in Lebanon are at risk of collapsing and are in dire need of renovation, according to a report in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/02/rape-britain-bruce-bawer/

On May 25, 2018, Tommy Robinson was standing outside the courthouse in Leeds, England, microphone in hand, reporting live on the trial of several Muslims for child rape, when, without prior warning, he was arrested for breach of peace, hustled into a van, and, within the space of four hours, tried, convicted, and sentenced to thirteen months’ incarceration – not, curiously enough, for breach of peace but for contempt of court. Conveyed tout de suite to the prison in Kingston upon Hull, he spent much of the next year and a half in and out of lockup, undergoing physical and psychological torment while behind bars and the rankest of forensic malpractice while at the so-called bar of justice.

And why did all this happen? Here’s why. Islam teaches its adherents that (1) they’re in a state of constant war with the infidel and (2) sex with minors (as demonstrated by the fact the prophet Muhammed took his wife Aisha’s virginity when she was nine) is permissible; consequently, Muslim men have every right to molest the children of the infidel at will. As Islamic communities established themselves in major English cities, Muslim rape gangs, known as “grooming gangs,” took root. Eventually, thousands upon thousands of non-Muslim girls, almost all of them members of the working class, would be victimized by these gangs, not just once apiece but repeatedly, in most case over a period of years.

British police, social workers, and journalists are known to have been aware of this phenomenon for decades. But instead of addressing it fully and responsibly – which, they know, would have required mass arrests and prosecutions of prominent Muslims, and frank media coverage of these transgressions as well as of their roots in Islamic doctrine, all of which in turn would almost certainly have led to social tumult on a dangerous scale – these parties chose to do and say nothing. And when confronted with a single individual who refused to play along – a working-class bloke who insisted on shouting from the rooftops both about these offenses and the official policy of silence and subterfuge – they knew what they had to do: vilify him, smear him, find crimes to charge him with, lock him up and hope that Muslim fellow inmates would do the rest. Or, failing that, hope that after he’d endured a certain amount of persecution, he’d break down, or give up, and crawl away into a hole and keep his mouth shut.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18206/france-freedom

“If every time we are shocked, we were to pronounce death sentences, what would become of us? What kind of society would we live in?” — Mila to a tribunal, L’Union, June 21, 2021.

“We resist because, otherwise, they will have won”. — Mila’s mother, testifying in court, bfmtv.com, June 21, 2021.

One morning… Val learned that Al Qaeda had issued a death sentence on him. The poster showed his photograph, stained in blood.

Social media are filled with ways to kill her — bullets, explosives, crushing her head, slitting her throat or setting her on fire.

These threats and attempts to intimidate prove the danger presented by those committed to… creating a new society by force and terror: If you criticize me, I will kill you — behead you or slit your throat.

Fear works. No one wants to see their name on an internet hit list, or falsely be called racist. Journalists studiously look the other way and are nowhere to be found.

In April, the country will vote. The next day, it will be possible to tell what direction the country — and with it, Europe — will take. Will it submit — or not?

“What else do you need to wake up and understand that we have to defend ourselves?”, asked the late Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci.

We should be worried about Europe. It is the cradle of European culture, especially France. Henry James, in The Ambassadors, writes about France as the epitome of civilization, as the “eldest daughter of the Church”. Now, however, France’s churches are being burned, demolished and abandoned, and its adherents sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. France’s Jews, “the canaries in the coalmine”, are being physically attacked and leaving their country. Since 2000, more than 60,000 have fled.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18205/iran-mischief-life-support

Seen from China and Russia, the nuclear issue is an effective means of preventing Iran from returning to its historic pro-West path. An isolated Iran has helped Russia to capture a good chunk of its oil market while preventing it from using its immense resources of natural gas, probably the largest in the world, to help Europe shake its dependence on Russia.

Both Russia and China have been careful to show Iran its place, as low as possible by normal standards. China has excluded Iran from its grandiose “One Belt-One World” project while Russia, as seen in the recent humiliation that Russian President Vladimir Putin inflicted on Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow, has shown that it treats the regime in Tehran as a vassal and not an equal partner.

Obama went further than any of his predecessors to help the mullahs live another day. He invented a “fatwa”, presumably by “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei to declare building and using a nuclear arsenal is “forbidden” (haram) in Islamic shariah, forgetting that Pakistan, an Islamic republic with a population twice that of Iran, has been a nuclear-armed nation for decades. Unable to pass his scheme through the US Congress, Obama also invented the P5+1 scheme that keeps issues related to Iran out of the normal framework of international law. To emphasize his keenness on helping the mullahs at a crucial time, he even arranged for $1.7 billion to be smuggled to Tehran in cash via Cyprus, straight into the hands of Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s Quds Force.

Ever since the roadshow known as “nuclear talks with Iran” started almost 15 years ago, we have witnessed an event unique in diplomatic annals. On the surface the whole process is designed to deal with something simple: Iran should comply with the terms of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), of which it was one of the founders. In exchange the “international community” would recognize Iran’s right to enrich uranium, a right that is already granted under NPT and does not need further endorsement by “the international community”.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/02/chinas-shameful-olympics/

These Games never should have been in Beijing. But the Biden administration failed to keep them out. Now American athletes are at risk.

T he greatest athletes in the world have now gathered to compete in the 24th Olympic Winter Games. Usually, the American people await this event with enthusiasm and excitement. This year, we await it with disgust.

This year’s games will be held in the People’s Republic of China, a Communist nation that enslaves workers, imprisons children in concentration camps, forcefully sterilizes and rapes women, and — lest we forget — unleashed a plague on the world that has killed millions.

There’s a word for the Chinese Communist Party. That word is “evil.” No moral nation should celebrate such a regime or participate in pageantry that will glorify and enrich it.

Last December, the Biden administration announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games. This action was inadequate and insufficient.

As early as last June, I urged the administration to pressure the IOC to rebid the 2022 Olympic Games and announce both a diplomatic and economic boycott of the Games if they remained in Beijing. The economic component was and remains key — these games will bring both prestige and profit to the CCP. A diplomatic boycott alone will do nothing to stop the Chinese regime from raking in cash and enriching its corrupt leadership.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18202/eu-alliance-conservatives-populists

“There is a growing threat that seeks to transform the European Union into an ideologically charged federalist super-state; a corporation which disregards national identity and sovereignty, and therefore democracy, plurality and the interests of the citizens of the nations that form the Union. This drift endangers the Union itself by moving away from the Christian European ideals on which it was founded…. We should cooperate and join forces to protect Europe from enforced ideologies and anti-democratic drift that are leading to its downfall.” — Joint Statement, Madrid Summit, January 29, 2022.

“European institutions cannot become a tool of social engineering aiming at creating a new ‘European nation.’ Examples of such social engineering could be, among other things, the attempts to ideologically alter our languages in a way which will detach a human being from their culture and heritage, like the recent decision of the European Commission to remove the word ‘Christmas’ from the public sphere.” — Joint Statement, Warsaw Summit, December 4, 2021.

The signatories said that the EU has become a tool of “radical forces” that are determined to carry out a civilizational transformation of Europe. They accused conservative establishment parties in Europe of having abandoned traditional Judeo-Christian values ​​and of aligning themselves with leftist positions for political gain.

“The slightest national decision that does not correspond to the wishes of the European institutions is now the subject of blackmail: that is not what the Europe of freedoms is! We love Europe because we love our nations. And we will defend Europe because we defend our nations!” — Marine Le Pen, President, France’s National Rally party.

“What brings us together is stronger than what separates us: the fight for our civilization!” — Nicolas Bay, MEP for France’s National Rally party.

“With regard to major European issues such as more effective external border protection, greater economic independence for Europe and a common, more restrictive migration policy that is completely diametrically opposed to the current one. We all agreed.” — Marlene Svazek, Chairwoman, Freedom Party of Austria.

The leaders of European conservative and populist parties met in the Spanish capital of Madrid on January 28-29 to build a unified political front aimed at defending traditional Judeo-Christian values and the sovereignty of European nation states.

The so-called Madrid Summit — held under the motto “Defending Europe” — marked an important milestone in efforts to create a continent-wide alliance to fight the federalist, globalist and anti-democratic drift of the European Union.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2022/02/04/china-scores-propaganda-triumph-at-opening-of-genocide-olympics-n1556153

It was a masterstroke of propaganda, created by the master propagandists of the Chinese Communist government.

The most dramatic moment of the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics is the lighting of the Olympic cauldron, with the same flame used during the torch relay. Although this year’s relay was shortened considerably because of the pandemic, the torch still symbolizes the game’s continuity going back to ancient Greece.

The person chosen to light the cauldron at the Olympic games is usually someone emblematic of the values and virtues of the host country. For the 2022 Olympics, China chose two athletes — including a female cross-country skier who the government says is of Uyghur heritage.

The Uyghurs are being systematically oppressed by the Chinese government. For China to have Dinigeer Yilamujiang light the torch is eerily similar to a stunt pulled by Adolf Hitler in 1936, where Helen Mayer — a German fencing champion who happened to be Jewish — was pushed forward by the Nazis to show that German Jews weren’t being mistreated. And it was done back then — as it is today — with the full support of the International Olympic establishment.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/02/the-china-you-wont-see-during-the-winter-olympics/

The Chinese Communist Party will do everything in its power to sanitize its atrocious human-rights record.

T he Chinese Communist Party — its international reputation having suffered a blow as a result of the Covid pandemic, its human-rights abuses, and its saber-rattling — hopes to score a massive propaganda victory in the coming weeks as thousands of athletes from 90 countries converge on Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The Games, which will formally kick off with the opening ceremony today, are being held within a “closed loop” accessible to only 60,000 people amid stringent public-health measures.

China has reason to be confident in its ability to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community. Perpetration of mass atrocities were not enough to persuade the International Olympic Committee to move the event. The U.S. — in addition to the U.K., Canada, Australia, Lithuania, and a handful of others — is diplomatically boycotting but has stopped short of a hard boycott of the actual sporting events, and President Biden will still watch the Olympics. The 21 world leaders in Beijing for the opening ceremony today mostly represent different autocracies. (Vladimir Putin is among them, and the U.S. couldn’t persuade Poland’s president to bail.) Meanwhile, with billions of dollars in investments and corporate sponsorships at stake, there is a heavy incentive for many in the West to look the other way.

As with the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin and China’s previous hosting of the 2008 Olympics, the opening ceremony will serve a lot of pomp and circumstance to divert attention from military expansionism, totalitarianism, and oppression of minority groups.

The last time Beijing hosted, it took a bludgeon to human rights, with the Games taking place against the backdrop of an intensifying CCP campaign to crush Tibet’s independence movement and a crackdown on dissent in Beijing.

The human-rights situation within China has only deteriorated since 2008. The Olympics takes place with Xi Jinping on his way to a third term as the party’s general secretary. Beijing’s campaign to snuff out a distinct Tibetan identity and its efforts to silence dissidents have grown more dire over the past 14 years, with a recent report from the Tibet Action Institute revealing a yearslong policy by which some 80 percent of Tibetan children have been placed in boarding schools to assimilate them.

Add to that a number of other concerning events.

Starting in 2020, Beijing has all but eliminated Hong Kong’s autonomy and democracy with its imposition of a new national-security law. Effectively, the party criminalized any speech it deems to be dangerous — and claimed the ability to prosecute offenders anywhere in the world.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18186/china-space-cooperation

“[Chris] Hadfield has consistently fronted for cooperation with China in space, never acknowledging how the Chinese Communist Party seeks to dominate Low Earth Orbit and the moon to gain military dominance on Earth to impose a new global hegemony.” — Richard Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center to Gatestone, January 2022.

It seems fanciful that Chinese cooperation in space could proceed while the Communist Party maintains its goal of destroying the United States.

“Tackling pandemics” is definitely not an argument for space cooperation with China. Wherever SARS-CoV-2 came from…China’s leaders deliberately spread COVID-19 beyond their borders by, among other things, lying about contagiousness and, while locking down their own country, pressuring others to take arrivals from China without restrictions or quarantines.

And because a specific group was targeted—non-Chinese—the crime [deliberately spreading COVID-19 beyond China’s borders] constitutes a “genocide” as defined in Article II of the Genocide Convention of 1948. That toll includes 884,000 in the United States.

So how could Washington consider cooperation, on space or in any other area, with a regime that deliberately took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans?

“We all have our better angels and our worst devils in each of us,” Hadfield, who has worked for NASA, correctly notes. The problem is that the worst of humanity is now running the Chinese regime, and cooperation with China, in space or below, is morally and strategically wrong.

“It is completely mind boggling how, after decades of doing deals with China over a variety of issues that only seem to end with the further weakening of the United States and the strengthening of China, the same voices are now calling for massive space cooperation with Beijing, which would only be the world’s largest technological transfer in history,” Weichert, who produces The Weichert Report, says. “The insanity must stop and America must hold firm against the siren song of cooperation with China in space.”

China’s militant regime wants the United States to aid its space program, and some, including those in the U.S. space community, are eager to provide assistance. Such cooperation, however, would be extremely disadvantageous for the United States, as it has always been.