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Ban Ki-Moon Gets It Wrong Shoshana Bryen

https://www.newsweek.com/ban-ki-moon-gets-it-wrong-opinion-1605816#slideshow/183474

Ban Ki-moon, former secretary-general of the United National, has had a thought. It is, unfortunately, not a good one. Acknowledging that the Oslo Accords are a failure (true), he then posits two things.

First, that the Israelis and Palestinians must recognize “the fundamental asymmetry between [them]. This is not a conflict between equals that can be resolved through bilateral negotiations, confidence-building measures or mutual sequencing of steps—the traditional conflict-resolution tools.” (Both untrue and true.)

Second, the negotiation failure is because “Israel has pursued a policy of incremental de facto annexation in the territories it has occupied since 1967, to the point where the prospect of a two-state solution has all but vanished.” (Just untrue.)

It is not a “conflict between equals,” but it is true that “confidence-building” and so forth will not work—because the Palestinians remain in a self-avowed state of war with Israel. It is the last remnant of the pan-Arab war against the Jewish state that began before 1948 and is now slowly resolving as follows: “Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.”

Those words should sound familiar to Ban because they are from UN Resolution 242, adopted in the wake of 1967’s Six Day War. Starting with Egypt and Jordan, followed by the Sunni Gulf states, then Sudan and Morocco openly as well as other Arab and African countries quietly, the normalization movement represents precisely the “new approach” Ban seeks.

Chinese Communist Word Games By Jimmy Quinn

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/chinese-communist-word-games/

The most memorable passage of Xi Jinping’s speech marking the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s existence is easily this:

We Chinese are a people who uphold justice and are not intimidated by threats of force. As a nation, we have a strong sense of pride and confidence. We have never bullied, oppressed, or subjugated the people of any other country, and we never will. By the same token, we will never allow any foreign force to bully, oppress, or subjugate us. Anyone who would attempt to do so will find themselves on a collision course with a great wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people.

I’ve emphasized a portion of the last sentence of this selection, because it’s gotten tied up in a debate over translation with political implications. The translation above is from the official version disseminated by the Xinhua News Agency.

Some analysts, however, say that Xi’s remarks were far more violent. The China Media Project and NPR, among others, have translated the line like this: “Anyone who tries to do so will find their head broken and blood flowing against a great wall of steel built with the flesh and blood of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people!”

On Twitter, a Xinhua News employee notes that emphasis on the phrase “seems to be gaining traction, w/ some gruesome translations being floated.” But, he writes, “one of those words that gradually lost their literal meaning over the [years], to [Chinese] ears it conveys total failure, not broken skull & blood”

Xi’s bellicose speech, marking the centenary of a singularly vicious regime, would maintain its broadly defiant message no matter the translation of the phrase in question. In any case, the Party’s violent past and present (and Xi’s promise today to “reunify” Taiwan with the mainland) do not inspire much confidence that the true meaning of the line is anything other than what we have come to expect from Communist Chinese conduct.

Can America’s ‘Woke’ Generation Rise To China’s Growing Challenge?

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/07/02/can-self-loathing-america-meet-challenge-from-self-loving-china/

As Americans prepare to celebrate 245 years of freedom with diffidence and perhaps even mixed feelings, China’s national fete this week marking the Chinese Communist Party’s 100 years of existence showed no such doubt. America faces a serious challenge from China, but seems too self-obsessed and divided to do anything about it.

It’s depressing to compare China’s celebration of a century of communism with our much more muted planned observance.

Of course, most Americans remain patriotic, despite the recent divisive turn in our politics brought on by the Democratic Party and its sharp shift toward extremism of the socialist kind.

For instance, a RealClearPolitics Opinion Research poll of 1,762 registered voters reveals America’s profound cultural and political schism: Overall, 49% of Americans consider themselves “very patriotic.” If you add those who consider themselves “somewhat” patriotic, the number jumps to 85%.

But virtually all of the patriotism resides on one side of the American political equation. Among Republicans, 68% are “very” patriotic. Democrats? Just 41%. Independents? Even lower at just 39%.

There’s a huge generational split as well. Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation remain intensely patriotic, at 68%. No other age group is even 50%. By race, the picture’s the same: White Americans are 58%, while Blacks (37%), Hispanics (36%) and Asian-Americans (28%) are lower.

A separate sounding of young people nationally by North Dakota State University produced even more alarming findings. It asked more than 1,000 students at campuses around the country if they were “proud to be an American.”

As CampusReform reported, “57% of liberal identifying students answered ‘no.’ This is in contrast to the 73% majority of conservatives who answered ‘yes’ to the same question.”

There’s a rather disturbing split between the two groups when it comes to economics:

… 61% of liberal students have a negative view of the country’s economic system. Only 9% of liberals answered in favor of capitalism, while 30% remained indifferent … 47% had a positive association with socialism, while only 13% felt negatively about it.

The Chinese Communist Party’s Legacy at 100 Years Is One of Profound Evil We must see in China the very antithesis of the system of liberty and justice that our forebears gave us Benjamin Weingarten

https://weingarten.substack.com/p/the-chinese-communist-partys-legacy?token

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is turning 100, fresh off a year in which it helped inflict catastrophic damage in blood and treasure across the world, and a week in which it smothered the muckraking, pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily—and with it, free speech in Hong Kong.

Such is the nature of the CCP. In spite of its propagandizing about raising the Chinese people’s living standards, the regime’s so-called “stability” and other purportedly favorable characteristics, such as China’s growing economic, technological and military might (all enabled by the West), that the CCP must lie, cheat, steal and silence dissent betrays its decrepit core.

The CCP, like its predecessor autocracies that covered their atrocities with utopian veneers of Marxism-Leninism, is a corrupted, murderous and evil regime.

What is its true legacy, as we mark this centenary?

I discuss it in a new piece at Newsweek, which you can read in full here.

As I conclude in part, perhaps even more important than comprehensively confronting the CCP:

as we look toward a celebration of our Founding this Independence Day—a founding rooted in values and principles that the CCP believes pose an existential threat to its totalitarian reign—is that we quit emulating it and rekindle the American way of life.

The weaponization of the state and its private ruling class auxiliaries against critics, the anti-cultural revolution under which we currently labor and the “woke”-ing of every aspect of society threaten to demoralize, divide and deconstruct our country.

Who will defend America if they believe it to be irredeemable? How will America foster the excellence and achievement upon which our civilization relies, and which this confrontation with China demands, if under Wokeism we reward everything but merit? What is to be said about an America today whose leaders wish to pursue putative wrong-thinkers with infinitely more vigor than they do the very CCP that seeks to replace us?

America must neither kowtow to Communist China nor copy it.

The Threat of Iran’s Ayatollahs – Track Record vs. Speculation Ambassador (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger

https://bit.ly/3jxl8ye

US policy-makers who are negotiating a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear accord (JCPOA), should be aware that the most effective predictor of Iran’s future behavior is its past behavior.  Past performance – especially in the highly traditional Middle East – is a tangible and objective basis of assessment, while future behavior is subjective, speculative and fraught with uncertainty.  

Ignoring the systematic and relentless anti-US track record of Iran’s Ayatollahs, since the 1978/79 revolution – which transformed Iran from “the American policeman of the Gulf” to a key epicenter of regional and global subversion, terrorism and wars – would be at the expense of regional and global stability, undermining vital US national security and economic interests.

However, the US Administration seems determined to conclude another accord with Iran, irrespective of Iran’s consistent track record of the fanatical anti-US education system, violation of agreements with the US and the Arab Gulf countries, and horrific violations of human rights and democracy.  Add to that, Iran’s regional and global proliferation of subversion, terrorism, wars, conventional and non-conventional military technologies, and close ties with North Korea, Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan’s Taliban, Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Hamas and additional rogue entities.

US policy-makers consider the Ayatollahs credible partners for negotiation, amenable to peaceful-coexistence and power-sharing with their Arab Gulf States, notwithstanding the aforementioned track record, as well as Iran’s fueling the civil wars in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, the persistent violent attempts by the Shiite Ayatollahs to topple every pro-US Sunni Arab regime, and the entrenchment of Iran’s drug-trafficking and terrorist cells in South and Central America.

Moreover, in order to advance negotiation with Iran, the US has waived the military and regime-change options, which is perceived by the Ayatollahs as weakness, as it would be by any rogue regime, especially in the Middle East.

Germany’s Ban of the Hamas Flag: “A Superficial Measure” by Soeren Kern

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17516/germany-hamas

German lawmakers said that banning the Hamas flag was aimed at sending “a clear signal” of support “to our Jewish citizens.” Others, however, dismissed the ban as an empty gesture aimed at silencing critics of the German government’s pro-Islamist foreign policy ahead of upcoming federal elections this September.

“A ban on flags remains a superficial measure if the structures of the associations and parties concerned are not or only insufficiently affected.” — Alex Feuerherdt, Mena Watch

“What we have been experiencing in Germany for some time testifies to deep-seated Muslim anti-Semitism. One would have therefore wished that politics would have been active as early as 2015.” — Ramin Peymani, German-Iranian author

“Wherever anti-Semites appear, politicians and the media try to place them in the right-wing camp, although time and again it is declared leftists who incite against Israel and urge others not to ‘buy from the Jews.’ The political lie of mostly right-wing extremist anti-Semitism was told so often that at some point no one raised an objection.” — Ramin Peymani, German-Iranian author

“Political leaders in Europe are only gradually waking up from their multicultural daydreams. However, this is less based on the mature realization that one’s own policy has failed, rather than due to the pressure of voters who fear for their prosperity and security.” — Ramin Peymani, German-Iranian author

Germany’s ban of Hamas flags follows a well-established pattern of announcing half-hearted measures to tackle radical Islam in Germany. In particular, the German government has a long track record of hypocrisy on Israel and the Jewish people.

The German Parliament has amended Germany’s Criminal Code to ban the flag of Hamas, the terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip.

The move comes after the green and white flags of Hamas, which seeks the destruction of Israel, featured prominently at pro-Palestinian rallies across Germany during the Gaza conflict in May. Some of those rallies ended in anti-Semitic violence in German cities and towns.

German lawmakers said that banning the Hamas flag was aimed at sending “a clear signal” of support “to our Jewish citizens.” Others, however, dismissed the ban as an empty gesture aimed at silencing critics of the German government’s pro-Islamist foreign policy ahead of upcoming federal elections this September.

Biden Administration: Rewarding the Murderous Regime of Iran? by Majid Rafizadeh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17510/biden-administration-rewarding-iran

“I told judges not to write death sentences for girls. This is what I said. But they perverted my words and quoted me as saying: Don’t execute girls. First marry them for one night and then execute them.” — Grand Ayatollah Hussain-Ali Montazeri, theologian and human rights activist, in his diaries.

The Biden administration should understand that Ebrahim Raisi is an extremely dangerous man partially because, from his perspective, anyone who criticizes the Islamic Republic or protests against it is rising against God and his representatives on earth. Whatever his regime does is presumed to be fully justified and rewarded by God because the Islamic Republic is a divine political establishment and all its actions are enforcing God’s will on earth.

The Biden administration truly needs to halt talks with the Iranian regime, stop appeasing the ruling mullahs, impose sanctions and hold the Iranian regime accountable for handpicking a mass murderer to be the next president, and most likely, the next Supreme Leader of Iran.

The Biden administration’s attempts to appease the ruling mullahs of Iran do not seem to have an end. A few days after the Iranian regime handpicked a mass murderer to be its next president — in a blow to the Iranian people and advocates of democracy and human rights — the Biden administration is rewarding the regime. The US announced that it is now considering lifting sanctions against Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Biden administration should instead halt negotiations with the Iranian regime and open an investigation into the next president of Iran — Ebrahim Raisi who, in addition, is likely to be the next Supreme Leader of Iran. This mullah, known in Iran as “The Butcher,” was a member of the “Death Commission” which, according to Amnesty International, “forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially executed in secret thousands of political dissidents” and sent thousands to their deaths, often “without a shred of due process.” Raisi is extraordinarily unpopular among the Iranian people, who, apparently amid calls to boycott the elections, largely refused to vote.

The Significance of China’s ‘Unrestricted Warfare’ on U.S. Ally India By Janet Levy

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/07/the_significance_of_chinas_unrestricted_warfare_on_us_ally_india.html

In 1999, two Chinese officers explored potential strategies that militarily inferior nations might use against a superpower like the U.S. In their book Unrestricted Warfare: China’s Master Plan to Destroy America, they expounded on alternatives to direct military confrontation — often defined as “gray-zone” or indirect war, and including tactics such as assaults on economic and financial systems, gaining control of infrastructure, disrupting networks, cyberattacks, political propaganda, and replacement of populations. Of course, China has employed this strategy, reminiscent of Sun-Tzu’s conviction that wars should be won without firing a single shot, against other adversaries. But nowhere is this more evident than in its actions against U.S. ally India.

Since the advent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949, the newly independent India, under prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was viewed by the American leadership as “potentially a great counterweight to China” in the region. But it was more than 70 years before a strong alliance was forged between the two countries by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump, during the latter’s visit to India in 2020. Simultaneously, the revival of the Quad alliance — India, U.S., Japan and Australia — solidified the relationship as a bulwark against China’s growing dominance in the region. During his India visit, President Trump remarked approvingly on the difference “between a nation that seeks power through coercion” and one that “rises by setting its people free… and that is India.” Therefore, China’s attempts to weaken India militarily and economically will certainly diminish our regional ally’s value as a counterweight.

Several events of the past two years highlight China’s insidious war of sabotage against India, the world’s largest democracy. These include skirmishes along the Sino-Indian border; stealth appropriation of territory; the use of unorthodox weapons; several crippling cyber-attacks, including one that caused an extensive power outage in India’s financial hub Mumbai; the diversion of shared water resources; and a treacherous geostrategic alliance with India’s archenemy Pakistan. China is deploying both Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and the PLA officers’ Unrestricted Warfare as playbooks.

Last summer, Indian and Chinese troops clashed at Galwan, in a disputed Himalayan border region that’s part of Ladakh, a Union Territory (UT) of India. China had amassed troops on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), violating bilateral agreements limiting border deployments. India was forced to respond with a sizable number of troops. In the ensuing skirmish, 20 Indian soldiers were killed and 75 injured. Upon the cessation of the conflict, Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Beijing’s Renmin University, proudly reported that China had prevailed by deploying “microwave weapons” that were effective up to a kilometer, cleverly dodging the “no live shot” rules of engagement. He was referring to microwave technology that heats up fluid under the skin, causing intense pain and vomiting and that resulted in Indian troops retreating after becoming violently ill.

CancelCanadaDay.Con A delusion wrapped in hysteria inside a conspiracy theory. Lloyd Billingsley

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/07/cancelcanadadaycon-lloyd-billingsley/

As Reuters reports, the city of Victoria, capital of British Columbia, has canceled the July 1 Canada Day celebration “after the discovery of unmarked graves of children at a now-defunct indigenous boarding school.” This “discovery” of more than 200 remains, reportedly by ground-penetrating radar, is the latest edition of a conspiracy theory charging a deliberate campaign of “genocide,” by Canada and its churches, with participants including the Queen of England.

Back in September, 1964, according to the theory, the Queen and Prince Phillip visited the Kamloops Residential School, took ten children on a picnic, and those children were never seen again. As a Reuters fact check discovered, the Queen was not in Canada during that month. She came to Canada in October, 1964, for the centenary of the Confederation Conference but did not visit British Columbia. The Queen did visit Kamloops in 1959 but Reuters found no evidence that she and Prince Phillip abducted 10 children from the school, which closed in 1977. The Queen visited Kamloops again in 1983 but nothing emerged about the picnic abduction.

Even so, the Queen and Prince Philip were found guilty in the disappearance of the children by the “International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State,” and the order to arrest Queen Elizabeth was issued by the “International Common Law Court of Justice in Brussels.” As Reuters learned, both of these bodies, “seem to be inventions of Kevin Annett a former pastor who was removed from his ministry in 1997 for spreading conspiracy theories.”

In 2008, Kamloops This Week published a story headlined “Burial Ground – or Bogus?” in Annett claimed the land around Kamloops Indian Residential School contained remains of children. The abduction charge against the Queen first appeared in a February, 2010 statement by William Combes, who claimed to be “an Interior Salish spirit dancer” and also accused Catholic priests of torture and murder. Combes died in 2011 and that year Kevin Annett began citing “eyewitness accounts” of skeletons within walls, graves on the grounds of Indian schools, and so forth. Local residents knew nothing of those stories, and neither did the police.

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1956, Arnett was a United Church of Canada minister in Port Alberni, British Columbia but “delisted” in 1997 after being found unsuitable for the ministry.

Despite his wild, unsubstantiated charges – or more likely because of them – the ex-minister has cultivated a following. On a 2016 U.S. tour, the Davis Vanguard, billed Annett as a “longtime political activist, author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee.” As it happens, that “nomination” came not from the Nobel committee but a group of American and Canadian academics, by some accounts including Noam Chomsky.

The Chinese Communist Party at 100 An anniversary to mourn. Don Feder

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/07/chinese-communist-party-100-don-feder/

Today is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on July 1, 1921. Hold the confetti and balloons, please.

That’s 100 years and an ocean of blood.

It’s been a century of carnage: The Chinese Civil War (2.2 million dead), the Great Leap Forward (15 million to 55 million dead), the Cultural Revolution (upwards of 20 million dead), the conquest of Tibet, Tiananmen Square, the One-Child Policy (including forced abortions and sterilizations), the subjugation of Hong Kong, the Uyghurs in concentration camps (more than 1 million imprisoned since 2017), the leaky lab in Wuhan (worldwide death toll, 3.94 million and climbing).

Regarding the Peoples Barbed Wire Enclosure of China, a few things to consider:

The cabal in Beijing does not constitute a legitimate government. It’s a criminal gang that rules the nation by force.
 
The Chi Coms are inveterate liars. They promised Hong Kong  semi -autonomy for 50 years. (“One country, two systems.”) The ink was hardly dry on the accords transferring sovereignty from Britain to China, before the Red Chinese began violating it.
 
How can the commies get away with calling their regime the People’s Republic of China, when the people have less to do with its governance than I do with running General Motors? Easy. The Party is the Vanguard of the Proletariat. The Party is omniscient. The Party knows what’s best for the people even when they don’t know themselves, because they’re too weak or stupid to understand where their interests lie. Hence, the Party has a right and a duty to speak in the people’s name.
 
The Thousand Year Reich lasted for a dozen years. Officially, the Soviet Union existed for 69 years. The People’s Republic of China has been in the tyranny business for 72 years and is still going strong.