RUTHFULLY YOURS

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.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16528/turkey-erdogan-fueling-hostility

The current problem is greater than the Turkish government’s violations against territorial waters and airspace of Greece, its continued occupation of northern Cyprus, or its threatening Europe with mass Muslim immigration or Islamist terrorists, among other hostile actions.

The problem includes Erdogan’s fueling of hatred and hostility within society against Europe and the rest of the West.

This attitude does not seem fit either for Turkey’s European Union candidacy or its NATO membership.

On September 13, a group of Islamists in Istanbul’s Beyazit Square protested against French President Emmanuel Macron. They held placards warning that Macron and the satirical French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, “will pay a heavy price.”

The protesters were condemning Macron for his stance supporting Charlie Hebdo’s decision to republish cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed and France’s commitment to freedom of expression, and against Macron’s support for Greece in the face of escalating Turkish aggression in the eastern Mediterranean during the ongoing crisis between Greece, Turkey and Cyprus.

Charlie Hebdo, along with a kosher supermarket in Paris, were the targets of a massacre by Islamist gunmen in January 2015. The magazine recently reprinted the images to mark the start of the trial earlier this month of the alleged accomplices in the mass murder.

“It is never the place of the president of the Republic to pass judgement on the editorial choice of a journalist or newsroom, never,” Macron said. “Because we have freedom of the press.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-korea-marks-75th-anniversary-of-ruling-partys-founding-with-military-parade-11602332808?mod=world_major_1_pos3

North Korea celebrated 75 years of communism with a military parade at which it unveiled an intercontinental missile that experts say is likely larger than anything else like it on Earth.

The Saturday event, the country’s first military parade in two years, signaled a shift back to the more strident approach Pyongyang long took before softening its stance amid nuclear talks with the Trump administration that are now stalled.

The well-orchestrated ceremony, which included rumbling tanks, goose-stepping soldiers and fireworks, happened overnight and aired on a tape-delayed broadcast on state television. It seemed to flaunt the regime’s confidence in its coronavirus pandemic response: thousands of unmasked spectators crowded close together.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, wearing glasses and a gray suit, entered as fireworks shot off into the pitch-black sky. He strolled to a balcony that overlooked the massive flag-waving crowd packed with soldiers and elites, including his sister, Kim Yo Jong. Tearing up at times during an emotional 25-minute speech, Mr. Kim thanked his military for contending with recent floods and the pandemic, repeating the country’s claim it has zero Covid-19 cases.

State TV showed spectators crying and repeatedly shouting “Man-sei!” or “Long live!” Mr. Kim didn’t mention President Trump or the U.S. nor did he issue any direct threats. He expressed hopes that after the pandemic passed, North and South Koreans could once again join hands.

“Our war deterrence will never be used as a means for pre-emptive strike. But if,” said Mr. Kim, pausing for a moment, “and if any forces infringes upon the security of our state, I will enlist all our most powerful offensive strength.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-world-of-geopolitical-opportunity-11602540176?mod=opinion_lead_pos10

As pandemic and polarization sweep the country, the U.S. has fallen into one of its periodic episodes of self-flagellation and existential doubt. That is not a bad thing. Constant self-examination and a refusal to settle for the status quo are part of the dynamic culture that makes America work. Whether we have a Biden administration or a Trump second term, however, U.S. policy makers need to look past the angst and despair.

In some ways, America’s global position is stronger than in 2016. This is not an endorsement of President Trump’s foreign policy. As is often the case in U.S. history, our opportunities have less to do with anything our diplomatic establishment has or has not done than with the intersection of the dynamism of American society and the advantages of the U.S. geographical position.

America’s dynamism made and keeps us a superpower. Today, two made-in-the-U.S. industries are quietly but continually renewing American power. The first is tech. Even as China scrambles to catch up, U.S. tech wizards (with talented immigrants thankfully among them), continue to lead the way. There are problems with the Silicon Valley ecosystem and justified concerns about whether tech giants are limiting and suppressing competition. But the unique American mix of technical genius, marketing and management savvy along with a sophisticated financial network continues to support the entrepreneurs who are changing the world.

That is good news not only for the civilian economy. Increasingly, information and communication are the foundations of military power. As long as U.S. companies and scientists remain on the cutting edge of key technologies, American defense planners start any conflict with advantages that others can only envy.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/public-health-experts-rethink-lockdowns-as-covid-cases-surge-11602514769?mod=itp_wsj&mod=&mod=djemITP_

As Covid-19 cases surge across large parts of Europe and the U.S., officials are reluctant to force another round of nationwide lockdowns of the sort imposed in March.

But this time—unlike in the spring—public-health experts broadly and increasingly agree, with some worried that the general public won’t cooperate with another monthslong, generalized lockdown against a disease whose transmission is now much better understood.

The World Health Organization has long favored interventions that come with less economic and social disruption than lockdowns, recommending that governments pursue a strategy called “test, trace, isolate,” of sequestering people exposed to the virus. Western governments have found themselves with too few tests and not enough contact-tracing staff to follow that plan of action.

Still, in recent days, WHO leaders have become more vocal in their encouragements that governments could do more to improve public-safety measures that would reduce the need for a second round of nationwide lockdowns.

“What we want to try and avoid, and sometimes it’s unavoidable, we accept that, but what we want to try to avoid are these massive lockdowns that are so punishing to communities, to societies and everything else,” Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies program, told reporters on Friday.

https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/india-china-aggression/

 Despite military and political parleys between India and China to reach an understanding on their border dispute, the situation is careening toward a flashpoint. An estimated 50,000 Chinese PLA troops now control a combined area of about 1,000 square kilometers in India’s eastern Ladakh. India has few options with which to confront China’s unilateral redrawing of the LAC.

In what is the most serious dispute between India and China since they went to war in 1962, over 50,000 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers have breached the de facto border called the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to overrun numerous strategic areas in India’s eastern Ladakh.

The situation is growing increasingly dangerous. Indian intelligence estimates that through its sustained push, China now controls a combined area of about 1,000 square kilometers in this border region. Beijing has thus unilaterally redrawn the LAC.

China’s military offensive in Ladakh is not merely tactical, but has the strategic object of realizing specific long-term objectives. The PLA’s moves are, after all, being directed by the top leadership: the Central Military Commission (CMC), which is chaired by Chinese president Xi Jinping.

Chinese Han culture is goal-oriented. Its military might well believe that if it invades a territory at will and meets little resistance, it is under no obligation to retreat on request.

India’s fears that the Chinese would not retreat were quickly proved justified. Reports emerged of PLA troops laying optical fiber cable in areas they had occupied. Such a network will facilitate secure lines of communication between forward troops and bases in the rear, as well as enable data transfer of images and documents.

On top of the worrying situation in Ladakh, there are apprehensions that China might open another front in India’s eastern sector. Beijing has long claimed the entire 83,743 square kilometer area of Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls ”South Tibet.” Ladakh is on the western fringe of the 3,488 km LAC that divides the two nuclear powers; Arunachal lies to the east.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/10/10/coronavirus-rages-in-europe-what-went-wrong-n1034334

A treasured anti-Trump meme since the pandemic began begins with the notion that European reaction to the coronavirus was far better than America’s. If only we had done it the way they did it in Germany/France/Netherlands we would have saved thousands of lives.

It’s true, Europe’s response was far more draconian than the response in the U.S. Their lockdowns were more severe. Restrictions on movement were enforced. You couldn’t go outside your home in France unless you were going to the grocery store or the pharmacy.

As the lockdowns lifted, Europeans celebrated and pitied us poor Americans for not getting it.

Now, the coronavirus is back with a vengeance and Europe isn’t ready for it.

Fox News:

Epidemiologists and residents alike are pointing the finger at governments for having failed to seize on the summertime lull in cases to prepare adequately for the expected autumn onslaught, with testing and ICU staffing still critically short. In Rome this week, people waited in line for 8-10 hours to get tested, while front-line medics from Kiev to Paris found themselves once again pulling long, short-staffed shifts in overcrowded wards.

“When the state of alarm was abandoned, it was time to invest in prevention, but that hasn’t been done,” lamented Margarita del Val, viral immunology expert with the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center, part of Spain’s top research body, CSIC.

“We are in the fall wave without having resolved the summer wave,” she told an online forum this week.