RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17580/bangladesh-passport-israel

Whatever the public perception and the explanations by cabinet members are regarding the passport issue, the government of Bangladesh has taken a big step forward by removing the clause. At least, from now on, the state will not be able to prosecute someone for visiting Israel. As an extra benefit, the country’s declared foreign policy of “friendship to all and malice towards none” will be more meaningful as well.

Recently, the government of Bangladesh dropped the infamous phrase “this passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel” from its new passports. Those words had been prominently inscribed since the country’s independence from Pakistan in 1971. Six months ago, when Bangladeshi government introduced a new machine-readable passport with an electronic chip, the “except Israel” clause was quietly erased with no public announcement. The change was, in a sense, classified.

In early May, a man went to the passport department headquarters to collect the passports of his mother and brother, when he noticed that the clause had been omitted. Through social media, the news went viral. Now it has become a national issue of debate.

Having been informed of the news, the deputy Director-General for Asia and the Pacific with the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Gilad Cohen, joyfully tweeted: “Great news! #Bangladesh has removed travel ban to Israel. This is a welcome step & I call on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with #Israel so both our peoples could benefit & prosper.” The reactionary comments to his tweet from Muslims are notable.

The Jerusalem Post wrote: “Bangladesh has reportedly lifted its travel ban in an unexpected move….” In Bangladesh, however, several cabinet members, especially the home minister and the foreign minister, apparently felt pressure. The reaction had been enormous.

On May 30, the Islamic Movement Bangladesh, a religious party, demanded reinstatement of the clause and a judicial investigation against “the culprits involved in the misdeed”. The leftist parties’ alliance of Bangladesh insisted on revoking the decision. The Palestinian Authority’s ambassador to Dhaka, Yousef Ramadan, told local media that he was “saddened” by Bangladesh’s move not to single out Israel in its passport.

https://amgreatness.com/2021/07/25/chinas-greater-east-asia-co-prosperity-sphere/

Stonewalling investigations into the origins of COVID-19 in Wuhan? A hundred new hardened intercontinental nuclear missiles silos? Dressing down U.S. diplomats on purported American racism? 

Braggadocio about nuking non-nuclear and once-nuked Japan, if need be? Winks and nods that Taiwan will soon be Hong-Kongized?  

Hacking into Western institutions?  

No apologies for lying about the origins, nature, and transmissibility of the gain-of-function, virology-lab-engineered Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 virus? Or rather, an attitude of maybe/maybe not the virus leaked from a military-related lab, “So what are you going to do about it—this time or next”? 

Recently China has sought to ramp up its now accustomed bullying and intimidation of the Western world, still reeling from a Chinese-born coronavirus.  

Yet its new global badgering is as much predicated on its potential as it is on its actual power, at least in classical terms of a global hegemon. Even in our postmodern electronic age, the real stuff of an ascendant civilization remains constitutional stability, fuel, food, economic strength, defense, strategic security, and education. In all those areas, is China really on course to overtake us?

Beneath the Veneer of Strength 

A good indicator of the demographic advantage of large nations is not absolute numbers (otherwise India and China would have been sharing world power decades ago) but median age. Even in our increasing era of shrinking Western families, by 2050 the median age in America will be 44 years, but 56 in China. Indeed, China may already have 150 million residents over 65, nearly half the current population of the United States—at the very time the Chinese family is becoming Westernized, and the elderly increasingly dependent on the state. 

There are currently more smokers in China than there are people in the United States. And Beijing is on a collision course with all sorts of costly expenditures for a population that might be characterized as excessively elderly and unhealthy, and yet never more expectant of quality state health and long-term care.  

China’s population density is almost five times greater than that of the United States, in a country in which the effects on its cramped population from natural and man-made disasters—floods, draughts, earthquakes, unclean air, industrial waste, and polluted water—resemble more an early 20th-century than a 21st-century nation.  

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17600/lebanon-fall-iran

There is growing concern among the Lebanese and other Arabs that Iran is planning to exploit the severe political, economic and financial crisis in Lebanon to complete its takeover of the country.

Iran already has a political and military presence in Lebanon through its terrorist proxy, Hezbollah. The current crisis, however, is likely to facilitate Iran’s mission of adding Lebanon to the list of countries it already occupies: Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

“Iran is already very dangerous without a nuclear bomb. The region is witnessing a state of chaos and agitation by fundamentalist forces, which threaten all Arab countries without exception.” — Mishary Dhayidi, Saudi writer, Al-Arabiya, July 21, 2021

The Arabs appear clearly worried about the perceived apathy of the US and other Western powers towards Iran’s scheme to extend its control to Lebanon. They seem particularly alarmed that Lebanon will meet the same fate as Iraq, Syria and Yemen…. thanks to Iran’s continuous efforts to export terrorism and the “Islamic Revolution” to the Arab countries.

[T]he mullahs in Tehran are doubly dangerous: they aspire not only to develop nuclear weapons, but also to occupy Arab states.

There is growing concern among the Lebanese and other Arabs that Iran is planning to exploit the severe political, economic and financial crisis in Lebanon to complete its takeover of the country.

Iran already has a political and military presence in Lebanon through its terrorist proxy, Hezbollah. The current crisis, however, is likely to facilitate Iran’s mission of adding Lebanon to the list of countries it already occupies: Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2021/07/theyre-your-problem-now-mr-putin/

Having spent two years of my life on the border between the contemporary Uzbekistan and Afghanistan as a Soviet Army conscript medic many years ago, my take on the Western withdrawal from this sad place is quite different from what might be called the op-ed page consensus. It was painfully obvious that the Western attempt to help Afghans build a modern state had no chance of success because it never gained popular support. The long-term presence of a Western military coalition in Afghanistan was a grievous political miscalculation, not least because it allowed an increasingly aggressive Russia to direct its resources towards achieving its expansionist goals instead of defending its southern borders. Astonishingly, Western governments persisted with this folly for 20 years, the result being no gain whatsoever. In reality, Western forces were protecting Russia and China from radical Islam’s penetration instead of looking after its members’ own best interests.

At last the penny dropped! The ‘sudden’ withdrawal of Western forces has nothing to do with abandonment of the Afghani people to the Taliban’s less-than-tender mercies as it never won hearts and minds — quite the opposite. What we’re about to see is the beginning of the pushback by the West against Russia and China, the beginning of the America’s embrace of asymmetrical war. The fact of the matter is that this withdrawal has created a political vacuum and the related need for it to be filled.  In one  stroke the US has created a pressure point for the Russians to contain and on which they will be obliged to spend their limited resources. What
goes around, as they say, comes around.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17566/truth-is-buoyant

First published in 1989, [Paul Kennedy’s] book, “The Rise and Fall of Great Powers,”… should be required reading in Washington.

Against this battering from Beijing, the Biden Administration seems to be sleepwalking. In response to the CCP’s military expansion journalists say our defense budget will be – in essence – flat, at best.

While these mistakes, missteps, and missed opportunities are early in Biden’s term, the Chinese also know the proverb that “Truth is buoyant” – it will surface at some point and become obvious to all. When it does, will America still have the means to preserve its security and freedom?

History reminds us that great nations have been brought down when their leaders failed the ultimate test – one that requires unwavering courage, insightful vision, and resolute patriotism.

Historian Paul Kennedy writes in his book “The Rise and Fall of Great Powers” that empires able to bring superior economic and technological resources to bear invariably win the pitiless fight for global power. First published in 1989, his book is not only relevant today but should be required reading in Washington.

One has to wonder if anyone currently in the Biden White House is familiar with Kennedy’s research; it spans the centuries, from Spain’s undisputed leadership in the 1500s to the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. It is a roadmap that leads readers straight to the gates of Beijing where the present communist leadership has harnessed enormous economic power, a growing arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, and a surveillance technology of its population that Stalin and Hitler could only dream of.

Current satellite imagery has revealed the stunning news that Communist China is building what defense analysts believe are more than 100 new silos for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

This action cannot be taken as an isolated decision: Communist China has dramatically increased its military strength – from an ocean-going navy to new stealth fighters to an aggressive space program. The leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) also seem to think nothing of allowing spent boosters to fall back to earth wherever they may. Meanwhile Hong Kong’s democracy is being strangled while international media has exposed how China seeks to crush their Uighur minority in sprawling prison camps.

China’s global shadow is only lengthening. This autumn will mark the second anniversary of a COVID virus from Wuhan whose actual origin inside China is still being debated by a global health organization that lacks both the means and political will to actually access the data that would reveal the truth.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17522/russia-putin-navalny-law

Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst at Carnegie Moscow, “told CNN the law threatens not only opposition politicians but ordinary Russian citizens.”

“The law is part of a larger campaign against anti-regime behavior in Russia… The battlefield has become much larger, now even a Russian citizen who participates in protests, retweets an opposition post or donates to opposition groups, face the risk of prosecution.” — Tatiana Stanovaya.

Russia’s decision to crush all political opposition seems a clear indication of how Putin fears Navalny and his influence over the Russian electorate….

A number of Russian opposition politicians have already been barred from taking part in elections or were persecuted for their support for Navalny or other pro-democracy groups.

“The process was held behind closed doors, and I myself did not participate in it. Even though we demanded it, I was not even invited.” — Alexei Navalny, Instagram, as reported by CNN, June 10, 2021.

The Russian courts are a “laughingstock.” — Alexei Navalny, Instagram, as reported by courthousenews.com, June 10, 2021.

On June 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning “individuals designated as ‘extremists’ from running for public offices.”

There is little doubt that the legislation signed by Putin is aimed largely at opposition leader Alexei Navalny, now in prison, and whoever supports him. According to CNN:

“The law prevents members of ‘extremist’ or ‘terrorist’ organizations from standing in elections for a period of three to five years… Founders and leaders of designated groups will not be able to run for elected office for five years… Employees or financial supporters of court-ruled extremist and terrorist organizations will be banned from running for office for three years.”

Five days later, on June 9, Navalny’s “Anti-Corruption Foundation,” (FBK) and “Citizens Rights Protection Foundation” were declared by the Moscow City Court to be “extremist” organizations. According to CNN:

“The court ordered that FBK be liquidated and its property transferred into the ownership of the Russian Federation, according to a statement from the Moscow City Court’s press service.

“The court also banned the activities of Navalny’s regional political offices around Russia, which has mobilized protests in the past…”

The court’s decision, subject to immediate execution, “also banned the activities of Navalny’s regional political offices around Russia” which have upheld Navalny’s “smart voting strategy” to support candidates not from Putin’s party and which have organized protests in the past.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17567/eu-north-korea-welcome-iran-president

By handpicking a mass murderer to be president, the Iranian regime is sending a strong message to the Iranian people and the world that it will not respect human rights.

How could a leader of a democratic country congratulate a mass murderer?

The people of Iran, like those of Hong Kong and now Cuba, have been struggling and fighting to change their regime, while European governments and leaders of democratic countries — including the current administration in the United States — have basically been sending a message to the people: We do not care about your aspiration for justice, rule of law and human rights; instead we are going to partner with your authoritarian leaders.

Europe’s leaders have also been totally disregarding calls by human rights organizations to investigate Iran’s mass murderer mullah — who will also most likely be the next Supreme Leader of Iran.

“That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance and torture, is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran….. The circumstances surrounding the fate of the victims and the whereabouts of their bodies are, to this day, systematically concealed by the Iranian authorities, amounting to ongoing crimes against humanity. — Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, June 19, 2021.

It is indeed shameful, and a blow to the people of Iran and advocates of human rights and democracy, that European governments and leaders of democracies are joining North Korea to congratulate Iran’s mass murderer president — and wishing him success!

The leaders of the European Union, who preach about human rights and democracy, are not only turning a blind eye to the Iranian regime’s handpicking of a mass murderer, Ebrahim Raisi, to be the next president; they are also now joining North Korea in congratulating the ruling mullahs and their new President Raisi.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, issuing a message congratulating Iran’s new incoming president, stated that he is “confident” friendly relationships between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Austria would continue. “In his message,” wrote the Islamic Republic News Agency, “…. he wished success for president-elect Raisi and said that his country, as the host of multinational negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal, is ready to make any cooperation. He expressed hope that the Vienna talks will yield fruit in the near future.”

How could a leader of a democratic country congratulate a mass murderer? What kind of message is he sending to the Iranian people who boycotted the elections and called on the international community to investigate the new mullah president?

https://www.nysun.com/editorials/frau-merkels-farewell/91582/

One thing to watch for as Chancellor Angela Merkel makes her various farewells is her famous eye roll. It is the tic that, on occasion, discloses the impatience and exasperation and intelligence that lurks behind her lugubrious visage. It is brilliantly lampooned — immortalized, even — by comedienne Tracey Ullman in a sketch in which, at the mention of Donald Trump, she rolls her eyes so forcefully that she flips over backwards.

We hoped that Frau Merkel’s eye roll might make an appearance in, say, her press conference yesterday with President Biden. We were disappointed. She stood there lugubriously without the eye roll as Mr. Biden shrugged off the fact that Germany had shrugged off America’s objections to Berlin going ahead with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Russia. “Good friends can disagree,” Mr. Biden burbled.

We met Ms. Merkel only once, in 2003, at a small breakfast in Berlin. It was off-the-record, but we don’t think it would be inappropriate to say that she exuded a kind of intelligence that we greatly admire. She is — like the founding president of Israel, Chaim Weizmann — a chemist by training; plus, she grew up in communist East Germany. So she understands the way the world works in both a political and physical way.

At the time we felt that it would be easy to underestimate her. She acceded to the chancellorship in 2005 in an election in which neither her Christian Democrats nor the incumbent Social Democrats won a majority and both claimed victory. Neither was successful in finding a coalition with the small parties. In a move that astonished us, the two major parties agreed to make a government with Frau Merkel as chancellor.

In that government, the outgoing leftists initially held important ministries — including foreign affairs and finance. It would be like, say, President Trump giving major cabinet posts to Hillary Clinton’s camarilla. We figured Frau Merkel wouldn’t last long. In the event, she’s now in her fourth government and will step down later this year as the second-longest serving chancellor in the history of the Federal Republic.

Yet, we found her years in office to be disappointing. Her economic adviser during the campaign was famously for a flat tax. It stirred in us the idea that President Bush could make Steve Forbes, a tribune of the flat tax, his ambassador in Berlin. Frau Merkel, though, shrank from making so radical a stand as the flat tax, and the potential to really change and excite Europe seemed to wane even before she took office.

President George W. Bush clearly has great affection and regard for her, and talked about it — including the shoulder massage — in an interview the other day at the Bush compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. We thought, though, that Frau Merkel made a mistake in taking so much offense, as she did, at President Trump. He was right on almost every critique he made of Germany and the Europeans, and she bears a portion of the blame for the failure to find a partnership.