RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.wsj.com/articles/american-basketball-pro-spent-eight-months-in-secretive-china-detention-11624363200?mod=hp_featst_pos3

When Chinese police detained American professional basketball player Jeff Harper in Shenzhen last year, they didn’t formally arrest him, he says, but instead kept him locked in a room with a rancid mattress and a plastic chair for eight months.

That form of Chinese detention, called “residential surveillance in a designated location,” is used by authorities to hold a suspect for interrogation in a secret location before any arrest or charge. Human-rights groups describe it as a frightening situation that sometimes features violence and leaves the subject cut off from lawyers and family. Mr. Harper says he wasn’t physically abused but was tormented by the uncertainty around what authorities planned for him.

An unaffiliated basketball pro who had played in 12 countries, Mr. Harper had been in Shenzhen for five days for a tournament when he was detained after an altercation he says he was later told led to a man’s death. He was eventually released and permitted to leave China in September 2020 without ever being charged with any crime or appearing in court.

“They do their justice system totally different than we do ours,” says the 33-year-old from Whiteville, Tenn. “I’m not a fan of it.”

The residential-surveillance system has received international attention because of a number of high-profile cases involving political opponents of Beijing’s leadership and sometimes foreigners such as Mr. Harper.

The benign term “residential surveillance” denotes the system’s origins as a type of house arrest. But accounts by detainees and findings by human-rights groups suggest it may be a more systematized process that can feature purpose-built jail-like facilities with dedicated staff, sometimes referred to as black jails. Mr. Harper says he was held in what appeared to be a residential building for police officers.

According to research by a team of human-rights groups led by Madrid-based Safeguard Defenders, a nonprofit focused on human rights in China, some 5,810 cases of residential surveillance were recorded in open-source Chinese court records for 2020, up 91% from the year before. The group, which has tracked rising mentions of the practice in nine years worth of court records, estimates the use of residential surveillance is closer to double that or more.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17486/germany-extremists-grey-wolves

The German Parliament and other federal agencies estimate that the true number Grey Wolves in Germany is above 18,000. This is five times more than the number of members (3,500) of Germany’s neo-Nazi party.

The ideology underpinning the Grey Wolves movement is a Turkish version of Aryanism and sets itself in opposition to anyone who is not Turkish or Sunni Islamic. It is anti-Christian and anti-Jewish, as well as anti-American, anti-Armenian, anti-Kurdish and anti-Greek.

The objective of the Grey Wolves is to unify all the Turkish peoples into a single country called Turan whose territory would stretch from Europe to China. The Grey Wolves also want to establish a new world order based on Islam that is led by Turkey; they are opposed to the assimilation or integration of Turkish immigrants into Western society.

“Supporters of the ‘Grey Wolves’ are responsible for a large number of murders of political opponents and members of minorities in Turkey and abroad.” — Die Linke, Parliamentary Resolution, November 2020.

“So, the CDU is in reality working with the right-wing extremist Grey Wolves, although it preaches that right-wing extremism is the greatest danger in Germany.” — Zara Riffler, Tichys Einblick.

“Erdogan despises the West and Western values. He says this openly at every opportunity…. One is not working here on integration, not even on a parallel society, but quite obviously on a counter-society…. Why can Merkel — and Germany — criticize Trump and the USA, but not publicly and unequivocally put Erdoğan in his place?” — CDU politician Ali Ertan Toprak, Tichys Einblick.

As German federal elections approach on September 26, the candidates hoping to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel are reiterating the need to thwart far-right extremism, particularly neo-Nazism, in Germany. In fact, the largest far-right extremist group in Germany is Turkish, not German, according to a new intelligence report on domestic threats to Germany’s constitutional order.

The Turkish neo-fascist movement Ülkücü (Turkish for “Idealists”) — popularly known as Grey Wolves — now has at least 11,000 active members in Germany, according to the new annual report (Verfassungsschutzbericht 2020) by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV).

The German Parliament and other federal agencies estimate that the true number Grey Wolves in Germany is above 18,000. This is five times more than the number of members (3,500) of Germany’s neo-Nazi party, the National Democratic Party of Germany (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, NPD).

The ideology underpinning the Grey Wolves movement is a Turkish version of Aryanism and sets itself in opposition to anyone who is not Turkish or Sunni Islamic. It is anti-Christian and anti-Jewish, as well as anti-American, anti-Armenian, anti-Kurdish and anti-Greek.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/us-allies-too-eager-resume-nuclear-deal-iran-188016

With Tehran making significant progress on the nuclear front, Washington and its European allies seem engaged in an increasingly desperate effort to revive the 2015 global nuclear agreement with Iran, mirroring the earlier eagerness that helped produce the problematic agreement in the first place.

The operative question is whether – in reversing President Donald Trump’s 2018 exit from the deal and returning to the agreement, thereby presumably coaxing Tehran to adhere to its nuclear-related restrictions – Washington will find itself better placed in the long run to limit Iran’s nuclear pursuit, ballistic missile program, terror sponsorship, and regional expansionism.

Signs of Iran’s nuclear progress are mounting. For starters, Tehran announced on June 15 that it has enriched 6.5 kilograms of uranium to 60 percent purity (a short step to the weapons-grade purity of 90 percent) and another 108 kilograms to 20 percent – all far in excess of the agreement’s limit of 3.67 percent purity. Nor has Tehran become more transparent about suspicious activity at its undeclared nuclear sites, which is a problem that precedes the nuclear agreement and that has vexed international inspectors for many years. “The Iranian government has reiterated its will to engage and to cooperate and to provide answers,” Rafael Grossi, the International Atomic Energy Agency director-general, said as his agency’s board met in Vienna. “But they haven’t done that so far.”

Fox News, meanwhile, reported that satellite images since last fall at Iran’s Sanjarian site – where Iran is suspected of manufacturing work on “shock wave generators” (in order to miniaturize a nuclear weapon) – reveal vehicles, excavation work, and trenches that have prompted nuclear watchdogs to urge international inspections. In addition, Germany’s federal intelligence agency concluded in a new 420-page report that “the indications of proliferation-relevant procurement attempts by the Islamic Republic for its nuclear program increased in 2020.”

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2021/06/21/iran-prez-elect-on-mass-execution-of-political-prisoners-i-have-always-defended-peoples-rights-n1455992

On Monday, the soon-to-be-president* of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, defended his role in the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988, claiming that he has “always defended people’s rights.” On the day Iran announced Raisi would become the next president, Amnesty International called for his investigation for crimes against humanity for the 1988 prison massacres, in which Raisi oversaw the executions of thousands of political prisoners and protesters.

“There are sanctions against you. Human rights organizations say thousands were executed whilst you sat on a committee that oversaw those executions in 1988. On the day you were elected, Amnesty International said you should be investigated for crimes against humanity,” an English-speaking reporter asked Raisi. “Do you think that these issues will be difficult for you when you interact with world leaders, especially western leaders?”

“From the start of my responsibility as a legal professional I’ve always defended people’s rights,” Raisi insisted.

“We should say to those who make accusations today, ‘We are the ones who should be making claims as those who speak up for human rights,’” the soon-to-be-president insisted. “Everything I’ve done in my time of holding office has been to defend human rights. In the face of those who disrupted people’s rights and engaged in Daeshi [ISIS-type] and anti-security moves, in the judiciary as a legal expert and as a judge, I have always stood up for people’s rights and defended human rights.”

“If a legal expert, a judge, or a prosecutor has defended the rights of people and the security of the society, he must be lauded and encouraged for preserving the security of the people against assaults and threats. I am proud that in my role as a prosecutor wherever I was I have always defended people’s rights, security, and tranquility,” Raisi declared.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/06/two-chinas-don-feder/

It’s a little-known fact that there are two Chinas.

One China unleashed a pandemic on the world that killed close to 4 million people and has the World Health Organization in its back pocket. The other isn’t even allowed to join WHO.

One China is a destabilizing force, poised to start World War III. The other wants only peaceful relations with its neighbors and the rest of the world.

One China is ruled by a totalitarian regime that crushes dissent, suppresses religious and ethnic minorities and even tries to regulate births. The other is a thriving democracy where civil liberties are protected.

One China spies on us, arms rogue states like Iran, and threatens our security. The other was our ally in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

One is the hilariously misnamed People’s Republic of China, where the only role the people play is as hostages. The other is the Republic of China on Taiwan, the official name of the nation of 23 million, on the other side of the Taiwan Straits, that the PRC claims as its own.

Beijing calls Taiwan a breakaway province. That’s rich. Since the end of the First Sino-Japanese War (1895), Taiwan has been ruled by the mainland for at most half a dozen years – never by the Chinese Communist Party. One might as well say that America is a breakaway province from Britain.

It’s difficult to describe the systematic brutality and massive human rights violations that go on every day in the Peoples Detention Camp of China.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/06/with_the_election_of_raisi_its_time_to_get_real_with_iran.html

If you thought that Iran could not get more extreme, think again. It just did. Remember the name Ebrahim Raisi. He is the new leader of Iran. 

His ambitions were clear for decades. He marks himself out from the rest by wearing a black turban. This is significant. It is a personal statement, as well as a commitment of faith, in which he declares himself (wrongly) as a descendent of the Prophet Mohammad. In other words, his words, his orders, come from Allah himself. 

Photo credit: khameni.ir

He is omnipotent.

He was there, as a student, demanding overthrow of the Shah of Persia in 1979 that led to the Islamic Revolution.

After the Revolution, he joined the judiciary and became the Deputy Prosecutor in Tehran at the age of 25. 

In that capacity, he sat as one of four judges in a secret tribunal set up in 1988 that became known as the “Death Committee.”

This committee of judges retried political prisoners who had already been sentenced, but instead of commuting their sentences they decreed death on what human rights groups have described as thousands of men and women.

After execution, they were buried in unmarked graves. 

After Ayatollah Ali Montazeri, considered a moderate, complained about the mass executions, calling them “the biggest crime in the history of the Islamic Republic” he lost his position as the successor of Khomeini. That went to hardliner Ayatollah Khamenei who became Supreme Leader after Khomeini’s death.

Raisi went on to serve as the chief prosecutor of Tehran before becoming the State Inspectorate Organization head and later in 2014 the Iranian Prosecutor General. 

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/no-remorse-china-now-says-the-wuhan-lab-deserves-a-nobel-prize/?utm_source=

The Chinese Foreign Ministry argues that the Wuhan Institute of Virology deserves to win the Nobel Prize for Medicine; a look at the blatant contradictions in China’s propaganda about vaccine diplomacy; a senator shrugs off his membership in an all-white private beach club; and apparently progressives can’t find anything to enjoy this summer.

China: The Wuhan Institute of Virology Deserves the Nobel Prize in Medicine

Late last week, the Chinese Academy of Sciences nominated the Wuhan Institute of Virology for its Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement Prize, specifically naming Shi Zhengli, a.k.a. “Bat Woman,” and Yuan Zhiming, director of the WIV’s Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory.

Chinese state-run media explained that, “The award is mainly given to individuals or research groups who have made or demonstrated significant achievements in the past five years . . . China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson stressed at Thursday’s press conference that scientists working at the WIV should be awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine, rather than being blamed for being the first to discover the gene sequence of the novel coronavirus.”

We must admit, the Institute’s work really has touched all of our lives, hasn’t it? And just think how many medical breakthroughs we’ve seen in the past 18 months from Pfizer and Moderna and Oxford and Johnson & Johnson that never would have occurred if hadn’t been for the earlier work of the Wuhan Institute of Virology? The WIV’s work literally brought the world to a screeching halt. It even made late-night television funny again.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/06/israel_is_worried_about_ebrahim_the_butcher_raisi_irans_new_president.html

In the last two days, three interesting stories have emerged from the Middle East. The first story is about Ebrahim “the Butcher” Raisi’s election as president in Iran; the second is Israel’s announcement that this election forces it to protect itself against this butcher; and the third is news that Iran’s sole nuclear power plant abruptly shut down. The first and second stories are quite obviously connected. The real question is whether the third story is a promise of things to come or is just a coincidence.

That Raisi was going to be president is no surprise to regular American Thinker readers. Both Hassan Mahmoudi and Hamid Enayat wrote that Ayatollah Khamenei, who is the ultimate power in Iran, was backing Raisi’s election, making it a done deal. They also wrote that the men (and women) on Iran’s streets are deeply distressed by Raisi’s elevation because he is known to be a mad butcher, who willingly turned his sadism on his own citizens.

This is not hyperbole. Even the New York Times has acknowledged that Raisi’s crimes against humanity are so bad that both the U.S. and the European Union have placed him on sanctions lists. The Times, though, is a bit shy about telling the details, simply noting that,

In 1988, when he was Tehran’s deputy prosecutor general, Mr. Raisi was implicated in one of the bloodiest episodes in the history of the Islamic Republic. He sat on a four-man committee that sent about 5,000 imprisoned government opponents to their deaths, according to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other organizations. Many were executed in prison even though they had not been sentenced to death, according to rights groups and relatives of the dead.

Britain’s Sun is not so shy. And while there are doubts about whether Raisi was responsible for 5,000 deaths or as many as 30,000, the details about what he did seem clear. According to first-hand reports, in true Che Guevara fashion, Raisi and his fellow committee members lined men, women, and children up against walls and had them shot.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/06/canada-university-uses-critical-race-theory-fight-robert-spencer/

The Agassiz-Harrison Observer out in British Columbia reported Thursday that at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), a vanguard academic institution if there ever was one, is striking a blow this week against one of the great evils of our time: “As part of the Peace and Reconciliation Centre’s (PARC) Peace Talks series, on June 23 the centre will host a webinar from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., addressing Islamophobia.” What a relief! And even better, in a meeting of academic fads that one day will look as dated as Nehru jackets and bell-bottom trousers, they’re hauling out Critical Race Theory to fight “Islamophobia.”

As if that weren’t enough modern academic street cred, the university’s website explains that the university is “situated on the unceded traditional territory of the Stó:lō peoples. The Stó:lōhave an intrinsic relationship with what they refer to as S’olhTemexw (Our Sacred Land); therefore, we express our gratitude and respect for the honour of living and working in this territory.”

Dr. Keith Carlson, director of UFV’s Peace and Reconciliation Centre, and his colleagues certainly would never dream of suggesting that the Stó:lō peoples practice “systemic Islamophobia” on their unceded traditional territory, but those evil white Canadians certainly do, apparently, and so the good Dr. Carlson is here to fix the problem. To do so, the upcomingwebinar offers a hodgepodge of the currently trendy academic shibboleths and superstitions.

The webinar will “draw on lived experience, post-colonial studies, and critical race theory to help understand the roots of Islamophobia and the structures that continue to sustain it.”

Islam is not a race, and Muslims are not all of one race. There are Muslims, and Islamic jihadis, of all races. To bring critical race theory into a discussion of “Islamophobia” is like a child who has a new toy and has to bring it everywhere, no matter how inappropriate the setting, and demonstrates the Left’s determination to racialize every issue and portray everyone who disagrees with their agenda as a “racist.”