RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/06/world-has-gone-mad-2020-katie-hopkins/

You’ve probably asked this yourself over the last few weeks or days: where is this all heading and how will it end up?

It’s a question being asked on both sides of the Atlantic, whether you are watching the people’s republic of CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) in Seattle or Black Lives Matter protestors ripping statues from their foundations in Bristol, UK. It makes you wonder: how do we make it stop?

And just when you think we have reached peak madness, something even crazier comes along. As we speak, Algerian and Chechen Muslims are waging street battles with Kalashnikovs on the streets of Dijon in France. Armed warfare in sleepy Dijon is about as surprising as a vegan wedding in Texas.

Because, like many others, you are probably struggling to keep up with it all, I thought I would create a showreel of 2020, a kind of lightning recap of the year to date, with hysteria ratings as a handy guide to how outraged you should be*. I do not apologize if you find this kind of flippancy offensive; it is a human truth that humor is essential in times of crises. And if you don’t think we are in crises you are either ex Special Forces or in a deep vegetative state.

1) The Chinese virus from Wuhan.

Pictures of Chinese people shoving bats into soup and sucking them up with chopsticks and a side order of live rat help explain where the global plague might have come from, but did nothing to stop the World Health Organisation’s eagerness to defend China, deny the existence of Taiwan and talk rubbish about plague.

To the apparent delight of China (and socialists disguised as Democrats), lockdown spread faster than the plague itself, paralysing entire Western economies and straining the pants of the petty corona-Stasi tighter than the wallet in Bernie Sanders’ pocket.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/503105-flights-to-and-from-beijing-canceled-amid-new-coronavirus-outbreak

Both of Beijing’s major airports have seen a large portion of their flights canceled, as China’s capital tries to snuff out the country’s latest coronavirus outbreak.

More than 60 percent of flights at Beijing Capital International Airport were canceled Wednesday, while around 50 percent were canceled at Daxing, the city’s other main airport, according to multiple reports.

The Associated Press reported that 1,255 flights to and from both airports had been canceled, roughly two-thirds of those scheduled. Reuters reported that the majority of those flights were domestic.

Beijing officials reported 31 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total of new cases since Thursday up to 137. The source of the outbreak has been determined to be Xifandi, a market that sources nearly all of the city’s fresh produce.

Since the outbreak was identified, Beijing has locked down surrounding neighborhoods and closed schools and some bars and restaurants.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/06/iran-builds-target-aircraft-carrier-michael-ledeen/

As tensions mount between Washington and Tehran, the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, aided by its Chinese and Arab allies, staged a variety of imminent threats. In keeping with its failed policies of the past, Tehran has apparently constructed a phony model of an American aircraft carrier in an Iranian port in order to stage “attacks” on it:

The head of the Imam Reza Islamic Center in Berlin has declared in an interview with an Iranian state-controlled news outlet on June 3 that Tehran’s Islamic revolution has no borders.

The Middle East Media Research Institute first revealed the video of Sabaheddin Torkilmaz, the head of the Imam Reza Islamic Center, on its website…

Torkilmaz stressed the anti-Western worldview of the Islamic Republic of Iran, stating: “The world needs to know that the system of the Rule of the Jurisprudent stands in opposition to the system of liberal democracy in the world and in opposition to the democracy in America.”

“Since the Revolution [in 1979], Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine – and now Yemen and countries in Africa and in Latin America – have been inspired directly by Imam [Khomeini].” He added: “We need to examine what was the purpose of the Revolution.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-china-india-clash-11592435121?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

Monday’s skirmish along the China-India border was the deadliest in decades. It’s impossible to confirm what triggered the fighting, but the big picture is clear: Tensions between New Delhi and Beijing are escalating while the latter steps up its regional bullying.

Both countries have sent thousands of troops to their disputed border in the Himalayas, though a “de-escalation process” was under way when the deadly confrontation began Monday night. Reportedly no firearms were used, but the Indian government said at least 20 Indian soldiers died. China won’t confirm any deaths but probably suffered some after hours of high-altitude, hand-to-hand combat.

Each country says the other instigated the confrontation, but the clash fits China’s recent habit of pressing territorial claims on all fronts. In the South China Sea, China has militarized artificial islands and is asserting its claims with force. Chinese vessels, often backed by the country’s coast guard, hound foreign ships operating in contested waters. This led to standoffs with Indonesia and Malaysia earlier in the year. This spring a Chinese government vessel sank a Vietnamese fishing boat.

In the East China Sea, Chinese ships have appeared near the disputed Senkaku Islands every day for more than two months, leading to protests from Japan. Chinese jet fighters intruded into Taiwanese airspace this month while state-run media and senior generals muse about a possible invasion. Beijing is exerting more political control over Hong Kong.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16127/isis-terrorists-iraq

Iraqi security officials say the number of ISIS fighters in Iraq is now between 2,000-3,000, which includes around 500 militants who have made their way to Iraq after escaping from prisons in Syria.

The upsurge in ISIS in activity in Iraq should certainly act as a wake-up call for the Trump administration as it reviews America’s military commitment to Iraq following the recent appointment of former Iraqi intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi as the country’s new pro-Western prime minister.

The reason Iraq is able to have elections in the first place is because of the enormous sacrifices made by American and other coalition forces to rebuild the country after the overthrow of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, an achievement that the Trump administration cannot allow to be damaged by a resurgent ISIS.

With the primary focus of the Trump administration understandably concentrated on a variety of pressing domestic issues, from the forthcoming presidential election campaign to tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, there is growing concern that ISIS fanatics are seeking to exploit the situation to rebuild their terrorist infrastructure throughout the Middle East.

In countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, there is mounting evidence that the ISIS leadership is seeking to move on from the catastrophic defeats it has suffered in recent years and rebuild its fighting strength.

In Afghanistan, the most deadly manifestation of the group’s new-found strength was demonstrated when U.S. officials blamed ISIS for last month’s brutal attack on a maternity ward in the country’s capital Kabul in which 24 people died, including a number of mothers, children and new-born babies.

The deepening chaos in Libya caused by the country’s bitter civil war has also raised fears that ISIS is seeking to exploit the situation to rebuild its operational strength in the pivotal North African country. Last year U.S. drones carried out a series of attacks against ISIS positions in the Libyan desert, and Western intelligence officials remain concerned that the group is placing sleeper cells in some of the country’s major cities.

By far the greatest concern among Western security officials, though, is the prospect of ISIS rebuilding its infrastructure in Iraq, the country where the country’s former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi famously proclaimed the establishment of his so-called caliphate in June 2014.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16119/iran-arms-embargo

Who will benefit from lifting the arms embargo? Russia and China. They would most likely be the preferred weapons exporters to Iran. With prospects for multi-billion dollar deals, Moscow and Beijing would doubtless be delighted to sell weapons to Iran.

Tehran will likely utilize the sophisticated weaponry to advance its hegemonic ambitions in the region, increase its military adventurism in the Middle East, and ship arms to its proxies and militia groups to destabilize the region and trigger an arms race across the Middle East.

Among the many concessions that the Obama-Biden administration gave to the ruling mullahs of Iran, was one setting a date when Iran’s arms embargo would be lifted. The Obama administration agreed to add a provision in the nuclear deal — which, by the way, Iran never got around to signing — allowing the lifting of an arms embargo.

Now, again thanks to the Obama-Biden administration, the arms embargo is set to expire in October 2020.

It is important to point out that the Obama administration erased years of efforts and significant political capital that the international community had invested to impose the arms embargo in the first place.

From December 2006 to 2010, the five members of the United Nations Security Council finally agreed to pass series of resolutions (Resolution 1737, Resolution 1747, and Resolution 1929) imposing significant restrictions on Iran’s arms activities.

The UN Security Council resolution 1929 stated:

“Iran shall not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using ballistic missile technology, and that States shall take all necessary measures to prevent the transfer of technology or technical assistance to Iran related to such activities”.

The ban encompassed a wide range of weapons, including large-caliber artillery, combat aircraft, battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, attack helicopters, some missiles and missile launchers, and warships.

The mullahs, in addition, scored a major political victory when the US administration in 2015 added a section to the nuclear deal permitting the lifting of the arms embargo through two sunset clauses.

It was mind-boggling that the Obama-Biden administration decided to include such an appeasing and dangerous provision in the nuclear deal. Both Democrats and Republicans were, in fact, stunned by the move. At the time, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and the leading Republican in Congress, John Boehner, pointed out : “It blows my mind that the administration would agree to lift the arms and missile bans.”

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/06/16/african-nations-demand-un-investigation-into-american-police-brutality-no-really-n540615

This would be hilarious if it wasn’t racist to think so. Delegates from several African nations have requested that the UN Human Rights Council investigate “systemic racism” in the U.S. as well as American “police brutality.” They will also examine reports of “violence against ‘peaceful protesters”” The UNHRC agreed and will begin hearings soon.

Some of these nations are part of the same crew that demanded the UN investigate elections in the U.S. as leftists invited representatives from some of the most corrupt autocracies in the world to pass judgment on the fairness of U.S. elections.

This time, it’s representatives from nations like Angola, DR Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Qatar who will be judging the United States for human rights abuses.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-and-the-climate-11592235174?mod=opinion_featst_pos3

As Covid-19 continues to disrupt the world economic and political order, the global climate-change movement faces a choice: Learn the lessons of the pandemic or fail.

On the one hand, the lockdowns in response to Covid-19 led to the sharpest reduction in emissions on record, with 2020 global CO2 emissions projected to fall by nearly 8% compared with 2019, according to the International Energy Agency. According to the United Nations Environment Program, that tracks almost exactly with what’s needed. UNEP estimates that emissions will need to fall by 7.6% year after year from 2020 through 2030 if the world is to have any chance of keeping the average temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

As environmentalist group Extinction Rebellion co-founder Clare Farrellwrote in April, “the things we were told we simply can’t change when we were on the streets last year are perfectly possible (necessary!) to change if we decide to prioritise. Coronavirus is showing us what’s possible, at least.”

Yet Ms. Farrell warned against premature celebrations. “People are using this crisis to celebrate the fall in emissions when the truth is, they will need to drop way more than coronavirus has caused them to if we’re to stand a chance.”

It’s actually even worse. Most of the measures that led to the drop in emissions aren’t economically sustainable. The economic damage inflicted by lockdowns has been so savage that political leaders around the world are pushing to reopen their economies as the pandemic continues to rage. It’s hard to imagine that countries would put themselves through this much disruption and pain to stave off future threats to the planet.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/deadly-sino-indian-border-clash-sparks-fears-of-renewed-conflict/

For decades, China and India have managed to maintain an uneasy peace on their disputed border. That peace may now be in jeopardy.

For the first time since 1975, the long-running Sino–Indian border dispute has turned deadly, claiming the lives of at least 20 troops. For decades, the two sides have avoided active military hostility, despite occasional brinkmanship. While China and India appeared to be pulling back in recent weeks, the deaths could reignite the border stand-off that started in early May.

“During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday with casualties on both sides,” the Indian Army said in a statement Tuesday. An Indian officer and two soldiers died in the clash, and another 17 Indian troops later succumbed to their injuries due to the sub-zero temperatures of the Himalayan border region.

The editor of the Global Times, a Chinese state-run newspaper, said that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had also suffered casualties, but did not specify whether any of its troops had died. “I want to tell the Indian side, don’t be arrogant and misread China’s restraint as being weak,” Hu Xijin said in a tweet. “China doesn’t want to have a clash with India, but we don’t fear it.”

On June 6, the two sides agreed to a de-escalation plan in commander-level talks. The agreement reportedly included a roadmap to disengagement from three of the four stand-off points in the disputed border zone, according to Dhruva Jaishankar, the director of the Observer Research Foundation’s U.S. Initiative. In the ensuing days, officials in the border region conducted further dialogue to facilitate de-escalation.