RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2020/02/cardinal-george-pell-australias-dreyfus/

The new legal year began this month with various ceremonies, among them the traditional celebration of a “Red Mass” in the Roman Catholic cathedrals of the state capitals. In Melbourne, the judges and lawyers who attended St Patrick’s must have pondered the strange combination of circumstances that have made that imposing Gothic building the alleged locus delicti of Australia’s most publicised and divisive legal case in living memory; and have seen Cardinal George Pell, the prelate whose archiepiscopal seat the cathedral once was, convicted for child sexual abuse – offences committed, it is said, in a sacristy just across the transept from the assembled jurists participating in the Mass.

The Pell case is one of those indicators, like climate change, of where one stands politically. The Left is pretty much anti-Pell en bloc, not so much for any privileged access to evidence, but because he is a conservative, someone who can therefore do no good – just like President Trump, who even if he could somehow fulfil the leftist dream and abolish “global warming” overnight would get no thanks for it. Those who have publicly stated their belief in Pell’s innocence tend to be conservative (Pell’s two most eloquent champions have been Keith Windschuttle, Editor-in-Chief of Quadrant, who has dissected the evidence with a forensic skill unusual even in the highest levels of the legal profession, and columnist Andrew Bolt) but they believe him not because of shared political or other views but because conservative thinking requires good reasons for its conclusions and is not swayed by shallow emotionalism and the shouts of the mob, and the evidence adduced against Pell is about as far from conclusive as any evidence accepted by an Australian court could ever have been.

On March 11, the full bench of the High Court will come together to hear the long awaited appeal by Pell, former Archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney, then cardinal in charge of reforming (i.e. cleaning up) the finances of the Vatican, now prisoner no. CRN 218978 at Barwon, Victoria. When it does, the hearing will push whatever is obsessing the media at the time – coronavirus, the horrors of a Trump re-election, the collapse of the British economy after Brexit (that’ll be the wishfully thought-up fake news from the Nine media and the Guardian) off front pages round the world.

https://www.fasfreedom.com/2020/01/russia-and-the-return-of-civilizations-in-the-near-east-part-i/

Part I:

As the new year begins, the Middle East looks eerily similar to the way it has for the last several new years’ eves. Despite civil war in Syria and Libya, those who based their prognosis on the persistence of the reigning paradigm appear vindicated. That paradigm rested on several assumptions. First, the savviness of the rulers of the Arab states, along with the predictability of the traditional opposition (namely the Muslim Brotherhood) survived as the foundation for understanding the region. Second, the outlier power, both geographically and religiously, namely Iran, remains the greatest challenge. Third, the outlier revolt, namely ISIS or al-Qaida, while disturbingly resilient, failed to genuinely challenge the predominance of the ruling elites or established opposition of any Arab nation, and thus remains contained. And fourth, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains at the edge of eruption and thus begs resolution.

And yet, as George Elliot observed in Silas Marner, “The sense of security more frequently springs from habit than from conviction, and for this reason it often subsists after such a change in the conditions as might have been expected to suggest alarm. The lapse of time during which a given event has not happened, is, in this logic of habit, constantly alleged as a reason why the event should never happen, even when the lapse of time is precisely the added condition which makes the event imminent.”

In fact, the warning signs of change are present that very little of what has been will continue to be. In short, as we enter the new year and decade, our understanding of the architecture of the Middle Eastern politics will founder, our imagination will be challenged, and an entirely new “shape” driven by hitherto ignored or nigh-invisible forces will define the Middle East.

In an article making waves, especially among those who are still seeking to realize their dream first articulated during the initial “Arab Spring” that Google and the internet would transform the region, Jonathan Alterman at the Brzezinski Center, believes his studies reveal a rise of individualism informing the current wave of demonstrations in the fertile crescent capitals.

Were such individualism to emerge, then it would indeed upturn the established order. And yet, such a rise in individualism would be startling since it contradicts the essence of familial, social, political, economic and religious life among Arabs Muslims, the culture of which is an amalgam of tribal and communal structures of safety and protection and a theological sense of being on the historically right side of revelation – itself also an intangible structure of protection. Neither pillar serves as a firm foundation for individualism, and in fact, gravitates against it. Thus, if there is indeed a rise in individualism, it would mean a cultural, religious and indeed civilizational shift in these communities. As such, the optimism in the liberal West that the Arab world is finally beginning to modernize would be warranted.

But cultures and civilizations do not easily change. In fact, the historical record shows that their persistence over eras and upheavals is stunning. Indeed, as Alexis de Tocqueville observed in the Ancient Regime, the underlying culture even after such a cataclysmic event as the French Revolution survived; its structures and patterns just assumed new masters derived from the disillusioned back benches of the old elites. Two thousand miles away, and a century later, the same observation could have been made about the Middle East after the Ottoman collapse: Arab-Ottoman elites, many of whom naturally even spoke Turkish rather than Arabic, who had become increasingly frustrated with the rise of Turkish nationalism rose to take over the residue of the Ottoman imperial administration after the war and became the new elite (in many ways not even new, but now just independent) of the old but now fragmented structures. Students of Russian history would probably make the same observations of the transition from Czar to commissar. Simply put, cultures, absent a millennially traumatic event or population shift, do not change much, and even then, only slightly.

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/02/10/chinas-stranglehold-on-pharmaceuticals-threatens-americans-health-and-u-s-national-security/

As the cases of the Wuhan coronavirus (formally 2019-nCoV) continue to increase, and China and other countries aggressively perform screening, isolation, treatment and tracking of patients’ contacts, demand for various essential medical items is unprecedented, and shortages have been reported. For example, American dentists, who go through large numbers of surgical masks daily, are already finding their supply chain interrupted.

Ironically, most of the world’s supply of masks and respirators, along with other materials essential for health care, comes from manufacturers in China. That creates a vulnerable link in the global supply chain that supports everyday health care in hospitals around the world. However, those problems could pale if shortages spread to the pharmaceutical sector: China has become the world’s largest producer and exporter of the essential “active pharmaceutical ingredients” (APIs) used in the manufacture of drugs, not only in China but also in other countries, including the United States. 

Most of the medicines that Americans take — as much as 90% — are generic drugs that are manufactured abroad. 

APIs in China are currently produced without sufficient quality control to ensure drug safety and efficacy, according to the findings of a report late last year from the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission, which was established by Congress in 2000 when China was permitted to enter the World Trade Organization.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-middle-east-conflict-you-havent-heard-about-11581277914?mod=opinion_major_pos6

Iran isn’t the only flashpoint in the Middle East. Less noticed are tensions between Egypt and Turkey over the fate of Libya, where a messy civil war has been raging since 2014. This antagonism could further destabilize the Middle East, which could set off another refugee crisis in Europe. The fight may also disrupt maritime commerce in the Mediterranean and lead to a resurgence of ISIS in Libya.

Two events set off the quarrel. One was Turkey’s decision last month to deploy troops to Libya in support of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and his internationally recognized Government of National Accord, known as the GNA. Then there’s Turkey’s maritime accord with the GNA in November. Egypt has substantial energy interests in the eastern Mediterranean, and the agreement sets out exclusive economic zones for Turkey and Libya that would hamstring further exploration by Egypt in a region rich in natural gas.

There is no shortage of foreign involvement in Libya’s civil war. Egypt—like Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia—backs Libyan militia leader Khalifa Haftar and the Libyan National Army under his command. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has provided logistical support to Mr. Haftar as he fights militias loyal to the GNA. There are reports of more direct support from Egypt, including weapons shipments. Turkey, along with Qatar, backs the GNA, which has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood—an archenemy of Egypt’s secular, military government.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mini-merkels-mega-meltdown-11581380318?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

German politics was thrown into new turmoil Monday when Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union, announced she won’t run for Chancellor next year. The defense minister, known as AKK, was Chancellor Angela Merkel’s preferred successor.

The final straw for Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauer and her critics was a conflict with the CDU’s local branch in Thuringia in the former East Germany. State elections there in October were inconclusive, as has become the norm in Germany. The CDU and center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) hemorrhaged votes while the neo-communist Left and far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged. After months of negotiations, local CDU leaders agreed to cooperate with the AfD and the free-market Free Democratic Party to form a state government—defying Mrs. Merkel and Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauer’s blanket ban on CDU alliances with the AfD.

Yet Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauer—called “mini Merkel” for her close relationship with Germany’s long-time leader—never enjoyed full control of the party. Her selection as leader in late 2018 represented an attempt to suppress debate within the party by rejecting the free-market convictions of Friedrich Merz or the more assertive tone on cultural issues from Jens Spahn, both of whom challenged AKK.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cold-war-over-venezuela-11581379011?mod=opinion_lead_pos9

There weren’t many bipartisan moments in last week’s State of the Union address. Most Democratic legislators sat on their hands as President Trump hailed overall rising wages as well as record low unemployment for African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanics. But in a move that testifies to the humanitarian and geopolitical concerns Venezuela presents, Democrats and Republicans rose together to applaud Juan Guaidó, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, who is recognized as the country’s legitimate ruler by nearly 60 nations including the U.S.

Days after U.S. legislators applauded Mr. Guaidó, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Caracas, offering aid and comfort to the beleaguered government of Nicolás Maduro. The message seemed clear: Russia is prepared to stand up to the U.S., even in the Western Hemisphere, to protect its Venezuelan allies.

For the Trump administration’s foreign policy, the tangle with Russia over Venezuela is a local problem with global consequences. When I interviewed him recently, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo identified a short list of administration priorities for 2020. Real progress toward change in Venezuela and an improved relationship with Russia are both high on the list. With both Russiagate and Ukrainegate in the rearview mirror, it would appear that the administration has a new freedom to reach out diplomatically to the Kremlin—but that hardly comports with the rock-star treatment given to Mr. Guaidó in Washington last week.

More than three years into the Trump administration, the U.S.-Russia relationship remains icy. The U.S. has placed sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would connect Germany to Russian natural gas. In northeastern Syria, American and Russian forces have engaged in tense standoffs even as Vladimir Putin doubles down on his support for Bashar Assad. The week before the State of the Union, Mr. Pompeo visited Ukraine, bringing promises of aid and support. This looks and feels more like a Cold War than another “reset” of the U.S.-Russia relationship. What’s going on?

https://amgreatness.com/2020/02/09/victor-orbans-lesson-in-prudence-for-western-intellectuals/

There is more to be said about this remarkably discrete teaching, but this is the necessary introduction. Intellectuals need to learn from the politicians.

To judge by what scares liberals internationally, the unassuming Israeli academic Yoram Hazony is the most dangerous intellectual active today. The National Conservatism Conference he organized in Rome last week has already been demonized in The Guardian and elsewhere. The one British member of Parliament in attendance, Daniel Kaczynski, was forced by the Tories to apologize publicly for being in the same room as the most successful politician on the continent, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

For his part, Orbán was a model of moderation and spoke in his typical direct style, cutting through the false pieties and not mincing words about unflattering realities, not even those concerning him or his country. He was interviewed by Hudson Institute scholar Christopher DeMuth and the entire conference hung on his every word, though it is unclear if his subtlety was well understood.

Orbán stated plainly that he’s been in politics for decades, about half in opposition and half in power, and he understands both sides. Although he was welcomed as a leader, he chose to speak as a follower. He said Hungary is a small country in need of allies and in need of the European Union, despite the enmity of the national conservatives for the EU. He also said small countries cannot afford not to have smart leaders, in the only moment he came close to bragging.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/02/cyrus-video-trump-takes-out-terrorists-frontpagemagcom/

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