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WORLD NEWS

Huawei Plays Matador to Trump’s Bull David Goldman

https://www.newsweek.com/opinion

Bulls usually lose bullfights not because they fail to charge, but because they charge at the matador’s cape rather than at the matador himself. President Trump has no qualms about charging at China’s national champion Huawei, but he is charging at the equivalent of the matador’s cape.

Consider Huawei’s handset business, which depends on high-end chips manufactured by Taiwanese foundries. Because the Taiwanese use some American equipment to manufacture the chips, the U.S. has imposed an effective blockade on Huawei’s outsourcing, and China does not (yet) have the domestic capability to make high-end chips. A similar ban blocks Huawei’s access to key American chip-design software.

Huawei will lose market share in the low-margin handset business, and Chinese competitors like Xiaomi will pick up the slack (which explains why the latter’s stock price has jumped this year from HK$8 to HK$22). Huawei will have little difficulty using older chips for 5G base stations, installing the lion’s share of the six million units that China has ordered to build out its 5G network over the next two years.

Huawei’s most important business, though, will emerge unscathed from U.S. sanctions. American strategists think that Huawei is a telecom equipment company. Among other things, Huawei is the world’s largest telecom equipment manufacturer, with a 31 percent market share during the first half of 2020—more than the combined share of the second and third position companies, Ericsson and Nokia. Huawei, though, is first and foremost a big data and artificial intelligence (AI) company—the most inventive and imaginative one in the world. Let’s call this combination “BD/AI,” for short.

Erdogan Declares War on Arabs by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16608/erdogan-declares-war-on-arabs

“Some countries in our region did not exist yesterday, and they may not exist in the future….” — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressing parliament on October 1, 2020.

“His [Erdogan’s] crimes against the Arab peoples must be exposed, such as his massacres against the Syrian people, against the Kurds in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and in Libya….” — Abdel Aziz Razan, a Saudi adviser at the Center for Arab-Russia Studies, Okaz, October 4, 2020.

Such powerful responses made by Saudis and other Arabs to Erdogan’s contemptuous statements show that the Arabs now understand it is Erdogan and his friends in Iran whom they should fear. In the eyes of these Arabs, Erdogan and his Iranian connections represent the real threat to their security and stability.

In light of such reactions, perhaps more Arab countries will follow the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in signing diplomatic agreements with Israel. The State of Israel, as it turns out, is a strategic and strong ally that can help Arab countries stop Turkey and Iran from spreading their contagion of terror in the Middle East.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is continuing to insult and threaten Arabs, specifically those living in the Gulf.

Many Arabs are concerned about Erdogan’s threats against their countries and his ongoing meddling in their internal affairs. Some Arabs are saying that the time has come to stand up to Erdogan and end his “malicious” schemes against Arab countries.

In the past few days, many Arabs took to social media and other platforms to condemn Erdogan’s latest offensive remarks and veiled threats against their countries.

China’s Turning Point A major catastrophe on the horizon? Michael Ledeen

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/china-faces-historical-turning-poin

China appears to be on the brink.

The communist regime is threatening our ally, Taiwan — one of several Asian countries seeking closer ties with the United States while China’s domestic turmoil grows.

In a recent column in China’s state-sponsored Global Times, editor-in-chief Hu Xijin warned, “As the secessionist forces’ arrogance continues to swell, the historical turning point is getting closer.”

“The only way forward is for the mainland to fully prepare itself for war and to give Taiwan secessionist forces a decisive punishment at any time,” he wrote.

Taiwan’s opposition party has been seeking closer cooperation with the United States. But, Hu wrote: “The more trouble Taiwan creates, the sooner the mainland will decide to teach Taiwan independence forces a hard lesson.”

China has been angered by the ongoing tour of Asia by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is seeking support for U.S. efforts to contain China. Recently, the Taiwanese Kuomintang Party, or KMT, renewed its effort for the government to reestablish diplomatic ties with the U.S.

The EU’s Discrimination Against Israel An inherited instinct to scapegoat the Jews. Fri Oct 16, 2020 Joseph Puder

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/eus-discrimination-against-i

The European Union (EU) discriminating policies against Israel are not new. The EU court approved the labeling of products from Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem. This labeling is reminiscent of the “Yellow Star of David” Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany and in Nazi occupied Europe. Israel considers the EU court decision to be unfair and discriminatory. It pointed out that other countries involved in land disputes are not similarly sanctioned. Now the EU has come up with a new discriminating formula in which to single out Israel. It is spelled by the EU as “housing demolitions” in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria for most Israelis).

According to Professor Hillel Frisch of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, “Entering the phrase ‘housing demolition’ in the EU’s official website yields a shocking result: 18 of the first documents to appear concern Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. In other words, 80% of the EU reports on this worldwide phenomenon involve a population and an area less than one-tenth of 1% of the world’s population or landmass.”

Ironically, an EU report from 2005, acknowledge widespread discriminatory demolition and eviction within the EU against Gypsy, Roma, and Sinti populations in such countries as Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Portugal.  Housing demolition as a punitive practice occurs throughout the world.  India accuses Pakistan of the practice in Hindu areas in Pakistan’s Punjab region. Egypt evicted thousands of Bedouins in the Sinai to clear the way for housing projects for Egyptians from outside the Sinai Peninsula. In the U.S., likewise, evictions and demolition of homes occur for the purpose of urban renewal.

Israel has continued a practice that dates back to the British Mandate, when British authorities demolished homes of terrorists. Israel has continued the practice as a deterrent against would be terrorists. These terror practitioners know that it would cost their family their home. Moreover, Israel, in following the rule-of-law, has the right to demolish illegally built homes whether the occupants are Arab-Palestinians or Jews.

Iran’s Next Move: Arms Transfers to South America? by Joseph M. Humire

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16643/iran-weapons-south-america

In August, [Colombia’s] President Ivan Duque… claimed that the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela is looking to acquire medium-to-long-range missiles from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

For two decades, Iran has built a covert procurement and acquisition network in Latin America through joint military projects with Venezuela. The network is seemingly aimed at acquiring prohibited parts, minerals, metals, and technology for Iran’s strategic weapons programs, banned by the UN arms embargo… While gasoline is needed in Venezuela, the fuel shipments from Iran are likely an excuse to operationalize its once latent IRGC network in the country.

With the Bolivian election less than a week away… and on the same date as the expiration of the UN arms embargo — October 18 — there is a chance that Iran could restart its strategic cooperation with Bolivia if Morales’ political party, the MAS, returns to power.

For casual observers, the ramped-up presence in Venezuela… will seem as if Iran’s recent activities are a product of “maximum pressure” against Iran and Venezuela. To informed analysts, however, it is clear that Iran has gradually built up the IRGC’s presence and capabilities in the region for almost 20 years — while using commercial and energy contracts, military-industrial cooperation, high-technology transfers, and other Iranian niche industries to cover its tracks.

Come October 18, the Iran-Latin America problem may become more complex if any of the three situations — lifting the UN arms embargo, a Morales-MAS electoral victory in Bolivia, or a missile transfer to Maduro in Venezuela — comes to pass.

By the end of October, the security landscape in South America could change, with the Islamic Republic of Iran setting up arms sales in South America, from Venezuela to Bolivia. But first, any of these three things must happen:

The United Nations would have to ignore its security council resolutions and effectively let the decades-old Iran arms embargo expire on October 18.
Evo Morales’ political party Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) in Bolivia would have to win the presidential elections, set for the same date (October 18).
Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro regime would need to initiate a potential weapons transfer from Tehran, as reported in late August by Colombian President Ivan Duque.

Is Dr. Iman Foroutan Iran’s rising star? Foroutan has taken upon himself to end the brutal mullah-led Iranian regime. He has the support of many Iranians the world over. Amil Imani

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/289142

It is said that “powerlessness frustrates and absolute powerlessness frustrates absolutely; absolute frustration is a dangerous emotion to run a world with.”

Sometimes I wonder why I am so restless, why I cannot cease thinking! It seems like the world we live in reveals to us incessantly, at certain moments or in certain circumstances, just how little we are and how vast the universe is. This world of ours is very complex. The world we live in is a world of many brutal voices. It is a world of heavy blows and delirious trances, but it is the only world that we know.

Everyone knows that life is too short and no one lives forever. We all know that the situation in Iran is dire and at any moment this brutal regime could collapse. Although Iran is saturated with great minds and leaders who could navigate the ship to safety, as they have done for the past 2,500 years, society invents its own heroes who will rise to the occasion. Heroes appear when circumstances call upon them. Heroes are those extraordinary people who make sacrifices and become agents of historical and social change.

Neither President Trump, nor Dr. Foroutan was obligated to engage, endanger, and inconvenience their lives. But, perhaps they both were predestined to be the agents of change. It would be fantastic to see a meeting between these two men, a landmark step towards regime change in Iran.

For those who have not heard of this brave son of Iran, it is time for you to get to know him. He has the support of many Iranians both in Iran and abroad.

Dr. Iman Foroutan is an Iranian patriot who has selflessly dedicated his life to free his beloved homeland from the hands of tyrannical butchers: The Mullahs of Iran. For the past twenty-one years, each and every day, Iman has labored tirelessly, with utmost courage, and integrity in the defense of liberty, freedom and for the rights of Iranians inside Iran. He hopes more and more people will join him in this powerful movement to end the rule of the Islamic regime.

Cuba, China, Russia All Elected to UN Human Rights Council — Yes, Really by Rick Moran

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/10/14/cuba-china-russia-all-elected-to-un-human-rights-council-yes-really-n1049404

It isn’t just that the UN’s Human Rights Council is the most hypocritical international organization in the world. They are fully aware of their political biases against Israel and the United States and never miss an excuse to bash either one of them for “human rights abuses.”

But they’re oblivious to the mockery they make of the human rights cause by electing the most oppressive, authoritarian, murderous regimes on the planet.

The United Nations has elected Cuba, China, and Russia, to sit on the Human Rights Council — where they will issue statements of condemnation, recommend sanctions, and supposedly defend the lives of the truly oppressed.

That’s right — Cuba, China, and Russia will sit in judgment on the human rights records of the rest of the world.

Lord, what fools these mortals be.

Fox News:

Cuba, China and Russia on Tuesday were elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council — a move that the U.S. branded a “mockery” of the body’s intended purpose and as proof that Washington was right to leave the council in 2018.

The three countries, all with a history of authoritarianism and human rights abuses, were elected by the U.N. General Assembly, along with countries including Bolivia, France, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Senegal, Uzbekistan and the United Kingdom.

CHINA

China Panic: The Mageshima island has become the US military base in the near South China Sea
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odl-LbiQdac
U.S. Navy Arrest and Sink 300 Chinese Fishing Ships Off South America Coast in Security Worries 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9vTjgIDUQo

Why Palestinians Will Not Accept Advice from Arabs by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16555/palestinians-advice-arabs

Palestinian leaders are continuing to act not only against the advice of [former Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak and other Arabs, but also against the interests of their own people.

“The Palestinian leadership has lost its credibility in the eyes of the new Arab generation, which is a generation of technology….” — Abdullah Al-Ghathami, professor of criticism and theory at King Saud University, Twitter, September 25, 2020.

Pointedly,…. the Fatah delegation in Istanbul last week met with officials from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, as well as Turkish and Qatari intelligence officers…. and discussed… ways of “coordinating positions to direct blows to the interests of the Arab countries, especially the Arab Gulf states and Egypt.”

The report added that “analysts specializing in the Palestinian issue commented that Qatar and Turkey will use Abbas to harm the interests of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Sudan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.”

The report also revealed that Qatar recently gave Abbas and some of his aides more than $50 million for their personal bank accounts inside banks in Israel and the Palestinian Authority areas.”

Shortly after Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in January 2005, Egypt’s then President Hosni Mubarak was asked what advice he would give Palestinian leaders.

Mubarak, in an interview with the Al-Arabiya television network, replied:

“There has to be a new thinking about the Palestinian issue. Otherwise, we [Arabs] will continue to say no. We have been saying no for the past 50 years, and that is why we missed many opportunities. We said no to the [UN’s 1947] Partition Plan, and in 1967 we said no to recognizing Israel in return for a withdrawal [to the 1949 armistice lines]. At the time, we said that what was taken by force can only be restored by force.

The End of Appeasement in Britain? by Richard Kemp

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16591/appeasement-britain

For many decades, British society has been subjected to an almost continuous assault on our history, our way of life and our national institutions by the hard left…. the very policy Churchill warned against so frequently.

Forced to confront the so-far largely unopposed aggression against the West by the Chinese Communist Party and Vladimir Putin’s Russia, we are on the brink of not just one but two cold wars.

Standing up to their hostility will have to become the linchpin of a new grand strategy, comparable to the successful struggle against global communist encroachment over several decades…. If that is to succeed, we must see no more appeasement.

“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Winston Churchill’s words following the British victory over Germany in the Battle of Egypt in November 1942 might also describe recent political developments in Britain’s modern-day culture wars. For many decades, British society has been subjected to an almost continuous assault on our history, our way of life and our national institutions by the hard left.

The centre and right became so demoralised by this highly successful campaign that for years their response was appeasement, the very policy Churchill warned against so frequently when the fascist mirror image of this ideology threatened us in the 1930s. Now there are the glimmering signs of a fightback against the progressive liberal consensus that resulted, engulfing many mainstream politicians, the judiciary, civil service, much of the media, big business and education.