RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16884/paris-coronavirus

One remembers lazy afternoons spent discussing the fate of mankind and providing answers to non-existent existential questions, and warm evenings visiting exhibitions of structuralist paintings with no structure, rounding up all that at sunrise with a generous bowl of onion soup in the fruit and vegetable market in Les Halles.

Having nowhere to go and nothing interesting to do, being in Paris these days feels like being in Moscow in the 1960s when the only excitement was provided by rumors about the arrival of new supplies of potatoes or a one-day availability of hot chocolate in Cafe Pushkin.

The roots of this unbelievable population control, something even Lenin could not dream of, may be found in the culture of dirgisme (overall control) that assumes the governments know best even when they admit they don’t.

“You are lucky to be in Paris at this time,” says a friend phoning from New York. “Here, we are like rats in a box, going round and round.”

In the past few weeks I have heard similar lamentations from friends in London and Berlin, not to mention Beirut and Tehran.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16882/persecution-of-christians-november-2020

“They tried to force some of our Christians to convert to Islam. They also tried to force my wife and our four children to convert to Islam, but when they refused to convert, they shot my wife in the head while our four children were cut into pieces with a Somali sword. — Morningstar News, Democratic Republic of Congo.

“Islamic militants turned a village soccer field in northern Mozambique into an execution ground when they beheaded more than 50 people during three days of savage violence…. More than 2,000 people have been killed and about 430,000 left homeless in the region since 2017.” — Barnabas Aid, Mozambique.

For two months after kidnapping a deaf and mute Christian teenage girl her, five Muslim men repeatedly gang-raped and tortured her. All this time, police ignored the parents’ pleas to intervene. It was only when a local authority took up the case, and only after months of court meetings, that the girl was located and returned to her parents. One of the kidnappers insisted the girl had willingly converted to Islam and married him. — British Pakistani Christian Association, Pakistan.

The following are among the abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of November 2020:

The Slaughter of Christians

Indonesia: On Nov. 27, Islamic terrorists beheaded a Christian priest and killed three other Christians by slitting their throats in Lembantongoa village. During the raid, a Salvation Army church and six Christian homes were also torched. While acknowledging that an Islamic militant group was responsible, authorities claimed that the attack was not “religiously motivated.” One human rights researcher said that this “latest strike was a ‘clear escalation’ of violence against Christians.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16861/turkey-europe-tensions-sanctions

Erdoğan also said that he sees Turkey’s future in Europe — the same Europe he just had accused of being “Nazi remnants and fascists.”

The heart of the matter was how tough the EU would go in sanctions at a time when Turkey’s national economy was in free-fall. What Brussels decided, it turned out, was: Not so tough

Legally speaking, the man Erdoğan referred to as a “terrorist” is only a suspect without a court verdict. This, however, is Erdoğan’s sick understanding of constitutional rights: He is the elected leader, so he believes he can take the liberty to declare suspects guilty or not guilty while their court cases are in progress.

If Turkey’s Islamist strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, spent more sleepless nights the first week of December than he had over his concerns for U.S. sanctions, it was because of the more imminent and potentially punishing European Union sanctions that would take shape at a summit on December 10-11. He must have had a relatively peaceful sleep when the summit was over. He might have thought that he had managed to get away from a huge European sanctions bomb, at least until March. It may, however, be a bit premature for him to sigh with relief.

After the EU leaders gave Turkey an unambiguous warning in October, Erdoğan chose to escalate tensions, bringing what otherwise would have been mere diplomatic issues to the level of a mini-clash of civilizations. Erdoğan calculated that he could play the tough Ottoman sultan until the last moment and that the EU would never dare burn their bridges with Turkey. He was right and wrong. He bought time, the EU did not burn their bridges, the sanctions at the December summit were not powerful enough to change Turkey’s course. Nevertheless, Erdoğan now has another deadline by which he must choose between a further clash of civilizations and sustainable de-escalation.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16872/jihad-at-christmas-coldly-kill-them-with-hate

Christmas is an attractive time for jihadists for three unattractive reasons.

Many of the examples of failed terrorist plots show that Western security authorities have had considerable success in protecting us all, including the numerous Muslim victims of Islamic jihad. We might have even greater confidence in government officials and security officials if they and the media told us the truth about the religious doctrine that really lies behind these attempts to murder us and destroy our way of life, no better illustrated than by their obsession with Christmas.

[M]any of those responsible for our security have themselves been indoctrinated with politically correct falsehoods which can only obstruct their efforts to prevent innocent people from being coldly killed with hate and rage at Christmas or anytime else.

Last week Islamic State terrorists released a “religious” song for Christmas, “Coldly Kill Them With Hate and Rage”. Taking the form of Islamic religious chant, the song, according to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute, exhorts jihadists everywhere to murder non-Muslims, “pagans, atheists and polytheists”, from “West Africa all the way to east Asia… through air, land and sea”. Published on Telegram, the post includes the hashtag #MerryChristmas and a photograph of a Christmas tree with dynamite attached.

Christmas is an attractive time for jihadists for three unattractive reasons. First and foremost, they are fighting a religious war and by far their numerically greatest enemies are Christians whose most prominent festival is Christmas. Second, large crowds joining festive events and filling shopping centres present a target-rich environment. Third, publicity: mass murder at this time of year guarantees additional outrage among Western countries and Christian communities everywhere. The Islamic State song enjoins its followers to “make their media cry and broadcast”. The propaganda value is particularly powerful for jihadists intent on recruiting and motivating fighters and funders for their cause and creating division between communities aimed at inciting vengeance attacks against their fellow Muslims.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16869/help-morocco

Morocco’s General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST) announced last month that the Moroccan authorities have dismantled 207 terrorist cells since 2002.

As for Morocco… it is the Islamists, and not Israel, who have “corrupted the minds of Moroccans, sowed the seeds of discord among them, brought Moroccan education to the brink of bankruptcy and legitimized ignorance.” — Ahmed Assid, professor of philosophy and activist, kifache.com, December 15, 2020.

“The rhetoric of hostility and the threat of throwing the Jews into the sea won Israel widespread international sympathy. The Palestinians have missed many opportunities, and they have been chasing the illusions given to them by the [Arab] regimes…” — Sa’id Al-Kahal, a secular Moroccan author, hespress.com, January 23, 2020.

If the new US administration wants peace in the region to hold, it needs to maintain pressure on the mullahs in Tehran and not return to the policy of appeasement. Failure to do so would facilitate the mission of the Islamists to destabilize the Middle East, and especially the courageous countries that are finally opting for peace.

Will Morocco face Islamist terror attacks after its decision to normalize its relations with Israel? Iran and its Islamists proxies in Morocco, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip have condemned the Israel-Morocco normalization deal as a “betrayal of Islam,” a move that could lead to a wave of terror attacks by various Islamist groups, particularly Islamic State (ISIS).

Now that Morocco has decided to make peace with Israel, ISIS and other terrorist groups are likely to increase their plans to thwart the agreement by launching terror attacks in the country.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16871/eu-human-rights-china

One year later, the EU now has a Magnitsky-system. No sanctions, however, have been suggested, whether by member states or by [High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy] Borrell himself.

“Sanctions are triggered when a Member State puts forward a proposal,” Borrell answered, without acknowledging that he himself has the authority to put forward such a proposal. “For the time being, no one has done it…. Let us see in the future; for the time being my concrete answer is clear”.

Crucially, the EU does not want to jeopardize the finalization of the EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement, which the EU and China have sought to realize for seven years now.

The US has sanctioned at least 28 Chinese officials over their actions in Xinjiang.

More proof that China is committing grave human rights abuses against Uighurs in Xinjiang has emerged. New evidence suggests that Uighurs, in addition to being detained in reeducation camps and coerced into working in textile manufacturing factories, are also forced to pick cotton.

Twenty percent of the world’s cotton is sourced in Xinjiang, in addition to 85% of China’s cotton being produced there. China is the world’s largest producer and exporter of yarn, and the largest producer and exporter of textiles and apparel.

In addition, China has been discovered to use technology that arbitrarily selects Uighurs for detention through a data program that collects data about them and flags to officials those it deems potentially threatening for possible detention.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16873/austria-court-headscarf-ban

The case highlights the constitutional restraints that European governments face in regulating political Islam and promoting integration.

“A regulation that only affects a certain group of female students and that remains selective in order to ensure religious and ideological neutrality as well as gender equality misses its regulatory goal and is irrelevant. §43a SchUG therefore violates the principle of equality in connection with the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.” — Austria’s Constitutional Court, December 11, 2020.

“The prohibition of the wearing of Islamic headscarves in elementary schools was never intended to be a restriction of religious freedom, but rather as a protective mechanism against sexualization and Islamic oppression of underage children…. Unfortunately, this judgment is a step backwards in terms of civilization.” — Leader of the Freedom Party in Upper Austria, Manfred Haimbuchner.

The Austrian Constitutional Court has ruled that Austria’s ban on the wearing of headscarves in public schools violates the freedom of religion and the freedom of expression and therefore is unconstitutional.

The case highlights the constitutional restraints that European governments face in regulating political Islam and promoting integration.

The headscarf ban, introduced in June 2019 by a governing coalition comprised of the center-right People’s Party (ÖVP) and the populist Freedom Party (FPÖ), was an extension of a groundbreaking October 2017 “Integration Law” that sought to improve the integration of Muslims into Austrian society.

The 2017 law banned face coverings — including burkas, niqabs or masks — in public spaces. The 2019 law extended that ban to preclude children under the age of ten from wearing headscarves in primary schools.

The 2019 law, which did not explicitly refer to Muslims or Islam, banned “any clothing that is ideological or religious and that involves covering the head.” The law defined head coverings as “any type of clothing that covers the entire head hair or large parts of it.” The text explained that the law was necessary to promote “the social integration of children according to local customs and traditions, the preservation of the basic constitutional values ​​and educational goals of the Federal Constitution, as well as the equality of men and women.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16867/iran-diplomats-terrorists-europe

The EU would to itself a big favor to realize that Assadi was likely not acting alone. High-level Iranian leaders and diplomats most probably instructed him to carry out the terrorist operation.

It was because of his diplomatic position that Assadi was reportedly able to bring the explosives from Tehran to Vienna without being caught. In other word, Iranian diplomats are key enablers of Khamenei’s fundamentalist agenda abroad.

Unless or until Iran’s mullahs stop their terror activities, the EU would do itself and the Free World another big favor by cutting off its diplomatic ties with a regime that is murdering European citizens and carrying out terror plots on European soil.

While the European Union appears excited that Joe Biden will be the next US President and then they can immediately rejoin the nuclear deal and lift sanctions against the mullahs, Tehran continues its terrorism on the European soil.

As the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, is urging the US to rejoin the JCPOA, one of Iran’s active diplomats in Belgium is currently on trial, accused of orchestrating a terrorist operation in Europe in 2018. French officials foiled a planned bomb attack in Paris against a large “Free Iran” convention attended by tens of thousands of people, including many high-level speakers such as former US House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Canada’s former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former Foreign Minister John Baird.

If the terrorist plot were successful, it would have possibly been one of the largest terrorist acts sponsored by the Iranian regime. Where is the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, on this issue? Completely silent.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16868/hungary-europe-borders

“Hungary will only be a Hungarian country as long as its borders remain intact. Therefore, not only our thousand-year-old statehood but also the future of our children obliges us to protect our borders.” — Judit Varga, Hungarian Justice Minister, December 17, 2020.

“While the Action Plan would give immigrants more rights and entitlements, it does not seem to take into consideration the security risks associated with mass migration.” — Zoltán Kovács, spokesman for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, December 17, 2020.

“If you are thinking that all of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. The Action Plan looks similar to George Soros’ plan to have Europe admit ‘at least a million asylum-seekers annually for the foreseeable future.’…. Those migrants that Europe should be admitting, according to the Soros plan, their distribution should be permanent and mandatory. He also made it clear that his plan aims to protect immigrants and that national borders are an obstacle to this.” — Zoltán Kovács, December 17, 2020.

“The Union, according to the plan, would give more support to immigrants than to its own citizens by supporting businesses established and run by the former. Moreover, the plan, by supporting the employment of migrants, would put unemployed EU citizens in an even more difficult position.” — Zoltán Kovács, December 17, 2020.

“But the Commission’s Action Plan goes even further, seeking to bring in some 34 million migrants to become EU citizens (nearly 8 percent of the current EU population). That is, 34 million migrants would be granted citizenship and the right to vote…. Who says this is what Europe wants or needs? When have the citizens of Europe voted for this?” — Zoltán Kovács, December 17, 2020.