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WORLD NEWS

The Possible Limits of China-Russia Cooperation by Lawrence A. Franklin

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16517/china-russia-cooperation

China even recently claimed that Vladivostok, the most prominent city in Russia’s Far East, is historically Chinese territory.

China seems to see Russia less as an economic partner than as a source for extraction of energy and raw materials.

While disapproving Russia’s assaults on sovereign states, China seems to have no problem asserting its own will in and around other states, for instance, in the South and East China Seas, India, and the Galapagos Islands.

China is already successfully challenging Russia for influence among the post-Soviet states in Central Asia, particularly in Tajikistan.

Mainly, this bilateral condominium might be doomed to collapse because there is no trust in the relationship.

China and Russia’s coordinated policies in foreign affairs and economic endeavors belie deep-seated fissures that might well prevent their current period of cooperation from evolving into a sustained alliance.

Despite China’s planned participation in Russia’s annual Caucus 2020 exercises on September 21-26, Sino-Russian history is so replete with war, unequal treaties and racism, there seems little probability that their present military cooperation will succeed in developing into a military alliance.

Horton Hears a WHO By Allan J. Favish

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/09/horton_hears_a_who.html

The editor-in-chief of the United Kingdom-based medical journal The Lancet, Richard Horton, continues to mislead the world, this time about the Communist Party of China’s and the World Health Organization’s responsibility for the worldwide spread of the Wuhan virus, aka the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).  I have written about their responsibility for AT here, here and here.

Several months ago Horton mislead the world about a drug being used to treat the virus. On June 5, 2020 The Lancet retracted an article that falsely maligned the use of the drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the Wuhan virus.  The article was used by the propaganda division of the Democratic Party, aka the mainstream media, to attack President Donald Trump.

It is time for another retraction, but this time, for statements made during an interview.  On September 4, 2020, at 17:57 into an interview on C-SPAN, Horton praised the performance of the Chinese government and the World Health Organization regarding their response to the virus.  This exchange occurred:

Q: You have, as you mentioned, been at this field for 30 years.  You think back to the earlier pandemics, Ebola, SARS, that have come into being, and your own publication’s response to it.  You say it’s been nine months.  It feels like to all of us like it’s been a lifetime, I think.  But can you comment about the speed with which the scientific community is responding to this compared to even recent past?

A:  Yes, you know, it’s interesting because there’s been a lot of, so much criticism of China and the World Health Organization.  And I understand why because this virus has turned all of our lives and our children’s lives upside down.  And it’s understandable that we’re angry about it.

Europe As Coronavirus Rebounds, Europe Rejects New Lockdowns European countries bet on personal responsibility and targeted measures, instead of sweeping restrictions that froze their economies in the spring

https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-coronavirus-rebounds-europe-rejects-new-lockdo

As a second wave of coronavirus infections gathers momentum across Europe, the Continent’s governments are determined to avoid large-scale lockdowns and instead seek less disruptive ways to live with the new disease.

France and Spain are on the leading edge of a resurgence in Covid-19 cases across Europe in the wake of the summer travel season, in some cases reaching levels of incidence on par with those in the U.S.

In response, authorities are enacting tailored, localized measures to combat outbreaks, while exhorting citizens to protect themselves and others by behaving prudently.

That marks a contrast with the broad shutdowns imposed when Covid-19 first hit Europe earlier this year. Those moves eventually contained the spread of the virus, but sent the region’s economies into their sharpest economic contraction since World War II.

The new wave of infections is concentrated among younger people. Most of those testing positive in recent weeks have no or only mild symptoms. Health experts caution that the pandemic could turn more dangerous in the winter, as people spend more time indoors.

Still, politicians are largely ruling out new lockdowns.

Video: Osama’s Post-9/11 Safe Haven in Iran. And who knew the whole time.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/09/video-osamas-post-911-safe-haven-iran-frontpagemagcom/

With the 19th anniversary of 9/11 having just passed, Frontpage Mag editors have deemed it vital to run the special Glazov Gang episode in which Clare Lopez discusses Osama’s Post-9/11 Safe Haven in Iran, revealing who knew the whole time.

Don’t miss it!

Video: Helping Saudis Slip Away The highly disturbing facts about an eerie evacuation right after 9/11.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/09/video-helping-saudis-slip-away-frontpagemagcom/

With the 19th anniversary of 9/11 having just passed, Frontpage Mag editors have deemed it vital to run the special Glazov Gang episode in which Clare Lopez discusses Helping Saudis Slip Away, unveiling the highly disturbing facts about an eerie evacuation right after 9/11. 

Don’t miss it!

The New Middle East by Sara Al Nuaimi

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16515/the-new-middle-east

In 2015, the UAE passed a law against religious discrimination by creating ministries of tolerance, happiness and youth to develop an enlightened community — everyone included.

A year later, schools in the UAE started teaching students peace and tolerance.

When the UAE prioritized national belonging over extremist obsessions, the decision immediately led to making peace with Israel.

My one hope as an Emirati is that we become a light for the world. It could make the entire region — the lives of everyone, including the Palestinians — so unimaginably great.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have taken a serious step in moving out of the draconian shackles of mindless and mumbling caliphate fantasies that some extremists mention as wiping out the Jewish people in a final conquest for the globe.

The UAE’s groundwork to weed out this hogwash began five years ago. In 2015, the UAE passed a law against religious discrimination by creating ministries of tolerance, happiness and youth to develop an enlightened community — everyone included. A year later, schools in the UAE started teaching students peace and tolerance.

By 2019, we were open and receptive to a memorable year in our national history — it was named the Year of Tolerance. It was then that the construction of the Abrahamic Family House was announced. It will include in one place a synagogue, a church and a mosque. That same year, Pope Francis made an epic visit to the UAE where, in the capital’s sports stadium, the first Papal Mass in Abu Dhabi was held, attended by close to 180,000 people.

When the UAE prioritized national belonging over extremist obsessions, the decision immediately led to making peace with Israel.

Japan’s New Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga could bring renewed energy for economic reform.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/japans-new-prime-minister-11600195666?mod=opinion_lead_pos4

Yoshihide Suga becomes Japan’s prime minister this week, having been elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday. His elevation comes at an important moment for the world’s third-largest economy, and presents new opportunities.

Mr. Suga succeeds Shinzo Abe, who resigned for ill health. He inherits an economy that contracted nearly 28% on an annual basis in the second quarter due to the pandemic. The 2020 Summer Olympics, intended to mark a national renaissance, were postponed. Tokyo has rolled out fiscal stimulus worth some $2.2 trillion, or 40% of gross domestic product—despite a debt-to-GDP ratio already at 230% before the crisis.

Mr. Suga seems set to respond by extending his predecessor’s reform program. Mr. Abe promised to revive the Japanese economy by firing “three arrows” of fiscal and monetary stimulus and policy liberalization. Only the first two arrows launched as hoped, although Mr. Abe did make progress on labor-law and corporate-governance reform and more open immigration. He also tried to negotiate high-quality trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership to spur domestic competitiveness.

Mr. Suga played a leading role in the development and implementation of this agenda as Mr. Abe’s long-serving cabinet secretary. Now he’s coming with ideas of his own, including an emphasis on reforming inefficient regional banks. Japan has too many and they earn too little profit. Mr. Abe’s monetary explosion hasn’t helped, and Mr. Suga has long believed that consolidation would boost their ability to lend to smaller companies. He also appears to want to remove policy hurdles to consolidation and mergers among smaller firms in the hope that this might stimulate productivity gains.

The Long Road to Israel’s Very Good Month The Jewish state has become too valuable to the Arab world to be treated as a pariah. Walter Russell Mead

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-long-road-to-israels-very-good-month-11600124843?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=9

Not since May 1948, when both the U.S. and the Soviet Union recognized the state of Israel in the critical weeks of its war for independence, has Israel had a diplomatic month like this. On Aug. 13, the United Arab Emirates and Israel signed an agreement to normalize relations, with the formal ceremony to be held Tuesday in Washington with President Trump. On Sept. 11, Bahrain followed suit. The Palestinian Authority, holding the rotating chair of the Arab League, introduced a resolution condemning the U.A.E. move at a Zoom session of Arab foreign ministers, but in a shocking departure from past practice, the motion failed to pass. On Sept. 13 another Arab nation, Oman, issued a statement of support for Bahrain’s decision to normalize relations.

Meanwhile, defying pressure from the European Union and in exchange for Israeli recognition of Kosovo’s independence, Kosovo became the first Muslim-majority country in the world to agree to place an embassy in Jerusalem in another Trump-brokered deal. (The status of a similar pledge from Serbia isn’t clear.)

With Saudi Arabia allowing flights from Israel to the U.A.E. to pass over its territory and Morocco reported to be close to allowing direct flights to the Jewish state, something of a tipping point seems to have been reached in the Middle East. Resentment of Zionism and sympathy for the Palestinians will no longer be allowed to interfere with what embattled Arab rulers see as a vital relationship.

These changes are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Arab opposition to Israel’s existence has never been as unanimous or implacable as casual observers sometimes assume. Geopolitically, conservative Arab states have long understood that their interests and Israel’s are connected.

A Pilotless Pilot Program By Seth J. Frantzman

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/a-pilotless-pilot-program/

Israel–U.S. drone cooperation could revolutionize what soldiers carry into battle.

The U.S. and Israel reached a new milestone in defense cooperation this month as Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced that an Israeli start-up named Xtend would be part of a pilot program with the U.S. Department of Defense to use its Skylord drones. The program will initially include several dozen of the small drone systems, which are designed for air defense against drone or other threats.

If this all sounds a bit futuristic and confusing, using drones to confront other drones, it is because the current threats that we face from drones and other types of enemy innovations are increasing daily. Xtend’s innovation is in using augmented reality, basically wearable goggles like the ones hi-tech gamers use, to guide the drones to find and destroy threats. Imagine soldiers guarding the perimeter of a base and being alerted to a terrorist drone threat, like the kind ISIS used in the battle for Mosul. Now, instead of taking cover or plinking away with rifles at a hard-to-hit small drone, the soldier can put on virtual-reality glasses and guide their own drone in for the kill.

The Combating Terrorist Technical Support Office at the Department of Defense is supporting this project. It is part of a much wider ecosystem of defense and research-and-development cooperation between Israel and the U.S. For instance, the military is evaluating Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, which can be used against rockets and other threats. Americans have been killed this year in Iraq by pro-Iranian groups firing rockets at bases where soldiers are housed. An Iron Dome–style system could help protect them. Similarly, American tanks use the Trophy defense system developed by Israel. The technology goes both ways: Israel is among the most active users of the American-made F-35.

Son of Murdered French Holocaust Survivor Mireille Knoll Blasts French Judiciary for ‘Unconscionable Treatment’ of Jews

https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/09/14/son-of-murdered-french-holocaust-survivor-mireille-knoll-blasts-french-judiciary-for-unconscionable-treatment-of-jews/

The eldest son of the Holocaust survivor who was brutally murdered during an antisemitic assault in her Paris apartment castigated France’s judiciary for its alleged indifference to violence against Jews in an emotional speech in the French capital this past weekend.

Allan Knoll — whose 85-year-old mother, Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll, was stabbed and then burned to death in March 2018 by two intruders who believed that because she was Jewish, she would be hiding large amounts of cash — addressed a small rally on Sunday in the Place de la Republique in Paris.

The demonstration was organized by “The Group Against Silence,” a collective of activists that is campaigning for justice in the case of Sarah Halimi — a 65-year-old Jewish widow who was slain in her Paris apartment by an antisemitic assailant eleven months before Mireille Knoll suffered a similar fate.

But while Knoll’s accused killers will face trial, the individual charged with Halimi’s murder — 29-year-old Kobili Traore — was excused from a criminal trial last December after a court in Paris deemed that his ingestion of cannabis on the night of the killing had rendered him temporarily insane.