RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16422/pakistan-american-murdered

Although Tahir Naseem’s teenage killer was apprehended and is being charged with murder, he is, among many people in Pakistan, a great hero.

“Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are often used against religious minorities and others who are the target of false accusations.” — Amnesty International, December 21, 2016.

Worse, if many have already decided on a guilty verdict for blasphemy before any of the facts are even presented, they will take “justice” into their own hands. Radicals have been also known to threaten or murder lawyers and public figures who defended the accused.

From the point of view of many in Pakistan, by killing the American blasphemer Naseem in court, all that the 15-year-old Khan did was to implement Pakistani law as stated in Section 295. His actions are then seen as a reflection of the zealous love he bears for Islam, and rather than being punished, Khan deserves only the highest praise.

A recent murder has cast a “fresh spotlight on Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.” On July 29, 2020, Tahir Naseem, 57, a U.S. citizen, was shot dead in a Pakistani courtroom during a bail hearing for a charge of blasphemy, which included “denigrating the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad,” Reuters reported. Although his teenage killer was apprehended and is being charged with murder, he is, among many people in Pakistan, a great hero:

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16458/black-christian-lives

In Nigeria, over the past twenty years, 100,000 Christians have been killed…. Nigeria is becoming the “biggest killing ground of Christians in the world”.

Nigeria, already the most populous African country, could have a population of about 800 million people in the year 2100, according to a study by The Lancet, and could become the ninth-largest economy in the world.

How many could be saved if the media, the chancelleries and international organizations had put pressure on the Nigerian leadership to protect its Christians? Why has the West never linked trade, diplomatic, military and political exchanges with Nigeria to protecting its Christians?

US President Donald Trump, in 2018, raised the issue with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. “We have had very serious problems with Christians who are being murdered in Nigeria”, Trump told him. President Trump, however, is almost alone among Western leaders to raise the issue. When his predecessor, President Barack Obama, met with Buhari, he never talked about the murders of Christians.

“Stop the killings”, “Enough is enough”, “Our lives matter”, said Nigerian Christians and church leaders gathered in London on August 20 to demonstrate against the massacre of Christians in their country. They sent British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a letter accusing the international media of “a conspiracy of silence”.

At the same time, a report by three organizations — the International Organization for Peace Building and Social Justice, the International Committee on Nigeria and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief — disclosed that in Nigeria, over the past 20 years, 100,000 Christians have been killed. Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, Fulani herdsmen and other Islamist groups are responsible for the deaths of more than 96,000 Christians in 21,000 separate attacks. According to the report, 43,242 Christians were killed by Boko Haram, Islamic State and Al Qaeda; 18,834 died in Fulani attacks and 34,233 from other armed groups. Nigeria is becoming the “biggest killing ground of Christians in the world”.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/merkels-nord-stream-2-hypocrisy/

German chancellor Angela Merkel’s support of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline is coming to a head following her statement yesterday that the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was “attempted murder.” The proper response here would be to end the project, which doubles the capacity of another pipeline that brings natural gas from Russia to Europe. It seems that in the near term, Merkel’s not going to budge, despite resistance from key figures within her own party.

What’s the problem with Nord Stream 2? For one, it would increase European energy dependence on Moscow. It would also circumvent Ukraine, contributing to the country’s strategic encirclement by Russia. This is why Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic States have vocally opposed the project, and it’s why the United States has implemented an aggressive sanctions regime that targets any entities involved in laying the pipeline, which is about 94 percent complete. The U.S. sanctions have over the past several months, however, prevented its completion.

Merkel has consistently defended Nord Stream 2, which is led by Gazprom — a Russian state-owned energy company — and has been promoted by former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who now serves as chair of the project. At best, Merkel and its other supporters, many of whom come from the left-wing SPD, can claim that Russia and the rest of Europe are interdependent, and that Moscow would only harm itself by using the pipeline for its political ends. Prior to Navalny’s poisoning this was an incredibly generous reading of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s intentions, and it’s now even more difficult to make that case.

The main question here is how large a role political considerations should play a role in the project. Merkel has said in recent days that Navalny’s poisoning should not be linked to the issue of Nord Stream 2. That argument, though, is inconsistent with what she said during a press conference with former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko in 2018:

In our view, the Nord Stream 2 project is not possible without clarity of how Ukraine’s transit role will continue. From this you can already see that this is not just an economic project, but that, of course, political factors must also be taken into account.

Of course, by political factors, she was at the time referring to Ukraine’s fears of encirclement. But was she sincere about that? After all, Merkel does not seem to have truly meant what she said here — in no sense have the country’s concerns been addressed since then. Just a couple of months ago, the Ukrainian government endorsed the U.S.’s Nord Stream 2 sanctions.

https://jamieglazov.com/2020/09/03/david-p-goldman-video-chinas-plan-to-control-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/

Hosted by Anni Cyrus, producer of The Glazov Gang and Founder of Live Up To Freedom.

This new webinar features David P. Goldman, the author of You Will Be Assimilated: China’s Plan to Sino-Form the World (2020), endorsed by Victor Davis Hanson, Larry Arnn and K.T.McFarland.

David discusses China’s Plan to Control the Fourth Industrial Revolution — And What We Must Do to Stop It.

Don’t miss it!

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2020/08/when-panic-is-mistaken-for-policy-2/

Since this so called “pandemic” began, apparently more than 500 Australians have died from COVID-19. To put this into perspective, this is less than half the number of Australians who die every year from skin diseases, and about one-fifth of those killed in car accidents. Most of these deaths are among people in or above their 80s and living in aged-care homes, although that hasn’t stopped Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews trying to rewrite facts with misleadings ads.We know also that those under 60 without pre-existing medical conditions face an extremely small risk of dying from coronavirus — indeed, very little chance of even getting very ill.

Every life matters, of course. However, according to a seminal study carried out by Justin Silverman and Alex Washburne, the coronavirus mortality rate may well be as low as 0.1 per cent, “similar to that of flu”.[1] Based on data coming from New York City (the hotbed of the “pandemic” in the U.S.), only 1.7 per cent of those in their 70s who contracted the virus have acquired any symptoms which were severe enough to require medical care.[2] For those under 18, hospitalisation from the virus was only 0.01. [3] 

This is only about hospitalisation and not death caused by the coronavirus. Of course, nothing is said here about the many others who never became sick enough to even get tested. The overwhelming majority who contract this virus do not have any significant risk of dying, says Dr Scott W. Atlas, a former chief of neurology at Stanford Medical Center. [4] The magazine Science reports that 86 per cent of infections are never documented. Even if most of us eventually catch the coronavirus, there will be mild or no symptoms for, well, practically everyone.

Accordingly, we should be taking special measures only for the most vulnerable – namely the elderly who are already suffering from chronic illnesses – and let the great majority get on with their lives.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16432/turkey-gas-discovery

“Turkey’s never-ending military challenge against world powers in seas and land” makes for hundreds of stories of Turkish heroism in the media, which is largely controlled by Erdoğan and his business cronies.

Now comes the promise of tens of billions of gas-dollars from the Turkish merchant of dreams. Experts say production at the Black Sea field could start in 7-10 years, at best. Erdoğan has promised 2023 for production. In that election year, Turkish voters may question the availability of natural gas, or, more realistically, they may ask Erdoğan why they are still paying high gas bills to heat their homes.

Turkey’s economy minister, Berat Albayrak, has said that the discovery of a large natural gas field off Turkey’s Black Sea coast will change Turkey’s [political] axis. “Neither the West, nor the East, Turkey’s new axis is Turkey,” said Albayrak, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law. The discovery, at an estimated 320 billion cubic meters (bcm) of deep sea gas, marks a historic day for Turkey, Erdoğan said, the beginning of a new era.

Erdoğan announced that production at the site could start by 2023 — when Turks will go to ballot box for presidential and parliamentary elections. Officials in Ankara hopes the discovery will meet Turkey’s natural gas needs for 7-8 years, and earn the national economy $65 billion.

There is unprecedented euphoria in the pro-Erdoğan media. There is massive propaganda talk of “a Turkish moment,” of “Turkey on the way to becoming a global power.” All this is understandable in a country with a per capita GDP of barely $9,000, an ailing economy and a plunging national currency — and in need of epic stories to keep voters within the realm of hope. How much of this newfound Turkish hope is fact-based? Could the “Turkish moment” really be coming? Will Turkey be a global power with 320 bcm of natural gas? There are a number of reasons to be cautious about the Turkish optimism.

Hydrocarbon discoveries in the shape of “breaking news” have been part of Erdogan’s propaganda machinery since 2004. “This is the ninth discovery since then… I was hoping for them to discover ready-to-use gasoline this time,” joked columnist Yılmaz Özdil.