RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/01/iran_fires_ballistic_missiles_at_us_troops__beginning_or_end.html

With reports rapidly emerging from Iran and Iraq, there are a few concrete facts:

The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday night that Iran launched “more than a dozen ballistic missiles” into Iraq. Iran targeted Iraqi military bases in Al-Assad and Erbil that are known to host U.S. and coalition troops. The Pentagon further said that there are no U.S. casualties.

This last is an interesting point because Iran has proven in the past that it can direct its ballistic missiles accurately. This may indicate, as is discussed at greater length below, that these missiles are a feint to hide Iran’s ultimate revenge for Soleimani’s death.

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said President Trump has been briefed and is monitoring the situation but has not yet formally announced a plan of action. Trump himself tweeted out late Tuesday night that he would issue a statement Wednesday morning, as well as saying that all is well:

In an official statement, the Pentagon offered assurance that it would safeguard American personnel and their partners:

These bases have been on high alert due to indications that the Iranian regime planned to attack our forces and interests in the region. As we evaluate the situation and our response, we will take all necessary measures to protect and defend U.S. personnel, partners, and allies in the region.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/colonel-richard-kemp/

‘Death to America! The great Satan!’ Predictable chants on the streets of Tehran following President Trump’s strike against Iranian General Qassim Soleimani. Comments by many political leaders in Britain suggest their own feelings may not be much different. Jeremy Corbyn’s reaction, in any case now politically irrelevant, was so predictable it can be passed over. The candidates to replace him also lined up to condemn Trump’s action, led by Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry who spoke of ‘Trump’s reckless lurch towards war’. Clive Lewis condemned ‘this cowboy action’.

Is it strategic naïveté that leads these people to side with Tehran over Washington? Ill-judged comments like this can only embolden Ayatollah Khamenei in his plans to retaliate against America. Desperate to split the EU further from the US, he knows the value of such backing, demanding that European leaders condemn President Trump.

These Labour politicians are far from alone, with academics and so-called experts in international law wheeled out in the media to accuse the US of acting illegally and even committing war crimes, despite ignorance of the intelligence that led to the attack order. At one point I expected the BBC to play martial music in the days immediately after Soleimani’s death, so sombre was their coverage of his funeral. Their correspondent in Beirut on Monday came across more like a spokesman for Tehran. Next maybe we should expect to see Soleimani transformed into an anti-imperialist icon, with Left-wing politicians donning t-shirts bearing his image Che Guevara-style.

Ankara has rendered the important American base at Incirlik all but useless.

Shi’a Arabs–who owe their ascendancy to America’s defeat of their various Sunni Arab tormentors–have told us our days are numbered in Iraq. The American-equipped Iraqi Shi’a army had earlier fled ISIS, leaving it many modern American weapons, and the Kurds were then mostly the only ones left resisting the Jihadis–only to be abandoned later by Washington afterwards…Shame!

So, what is America now to do?

For reasons of justice, practicality, and necessity, the time for American bases in Iraqi Kurdistan and an open embrace of Kurdish friends and allies has arrived….

We have supplied Arabs, Turks, Iranians, Pakistanis, Afghanis, and others with trillions of dollars in military and other aid and support since at least World War II–many who openly hate America. So doing likewise for a people who mostly like America should be a no-brainer.

For decades, most of the world has proclaimed the need for a second state for Arabs in the original post-World War I,1920 Mandate of Palestine. Since 1922, Jordan sits on almost 80% of that land. Arabs have nearly two dozen states today–most created by conquest and forced Arabization of other non-Arab peoples’ territories.

Around the same time that most of Palestine was gifted to Arab nationalism in one of its numerous subspecies, Kurds were promised independence in the northern part of the much larger Mandate of Mesopotamia. A collusion of British petroleum politics and Arab nationalism aborted those dreams…a solely Arab-dominated Iraq arose instead. Search “British Petroleum Politics, Arab Nationalism, and the Kurds” to see what you find…

https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/07/xis-china-ends-2019-with-the-worst-religious-persecution-in-the-countrys-history/

Increased religious persecution in China has failed to curtail the growing number of Christians, which has reached more than 100 million today — more than the 90 million members of the Chinese Communist Party.

Dec. 30, 2019, was a day when people who live in the free world were busy planning ahead and getting ready for New Year’s Eve celebrations. But for China’s outspoken Wang Yi, the founding pastor of China’s most famous house church, the Early Rain Covenant Church, there was no such celebration. After being detained by Chinese authorities for more than a year without an actual charge, in a closed-door legal proceeding Wang was sentenced to nine years in prison for trumped up convictions of “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business activities.”

Throughout the proceeding, Wang’s lawyer wasn’t allowed to defend him. In addition to jail time, Wang will be stripped of his political rights for four years, and the Chinese government will confiscate about $7,000 worth of his personal assets. According to Bob Fu, president of China Aid, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization advocating for basic rights of Chinese Christians, Wang’s sentence is the harshest of any house church leaders in China.

Why Pastor Wang Engaged in ‘Faithful Disobedience’

I had first written about the injustice Wang and his church faced in early December 2019, which marked the one-year anniversary of his detainment. Wang and more than 100 of his church members were arrested during a raid just before Christmas, which the government initiated to “root out” a number of prominent Christians and house churches back in 2018.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/thousands-prepare-bury-iranian-general-killed-us-68109548?cid=clicksource_4380645_null_headlines_hed

By NASSER KARIMI, AMIR VAHDAT and JON GAMBRELL

TEHRAN, Iran — A stampede broke out Tuesday at the funeral for a top Iranian general slain in a U.S. airstrike, and at least 56 people were killed and more than 200 were injured as thousands thronged the procession, Iranian news reports said.

The stampede took place in Kerman, the hometown of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, as the procession began, said Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran’s emergency medical services.

There was no information about what set off the crush. Online videos showed people lying apparently lifeless, their faces covered by clothing. Emergency crews performed CPR on others as people wailed and cried out to God.

“Unfortunately as a result of the stampede, some of our compatriots have been injured and some have been killed during the funeral processions,” Koulivand said.

State TV reported the death toll of 56, with 213 injured, citing Koulivand.

Soleimani’s burial was delayed, with no new time given, because of concerns about the massive crowd that had gathered, the semi-official ISNA news agency said.

A procession in Tehran on Monday drew over 1 million people in the Iranian capital, crowding both main avenues and side streets in Tehran. Such mass crowds can prove dangerous. A smaller stampede at the 1989 funeral for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini killed at least eight people and injured hundreds.

Soleimani’s death in a drone strike Friday has sparked calls across Iran for revenge against America, drastically raising tensions in the Middle East. The U.S. government warned ships of an unspecified threat from Iran across the region’s waterways, crucial routes for global energy supplies. Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force launched a drill with 52 fighter jets in Utah, just days after President Donald Trump threatened to hit 52 sites in Iran.

Earlier in the day, Hossein Salami, the new leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, vowed to avenge Soleimani’s death as he addressed a crowd of supporters gathered at the coffin in a central square in Kernan.

“We tell our enemies that we will retaliate but if they take another action we will set ablaze the places that they like and are passionate about,” Salami said.

“Death to Israel!” the crowd shouted in response. Israel is a longtime regional foe of Iran.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15270/europe-people-smuggling-gangs

Current conditions in Hungary are ripe for a repeat of the migration crisis in 2015 and… the country is now in a “state of crisis”…. More than 100,000 migrants are now gathered in the Western Balkans and although “the situation is still under control,” it is “beginning to look like the big crisis in 2015.” — Szilárd Németh, a senior official at Hungary’s Defense Ministry, December 1, 2019.
Illegal immigration throughout Europe continues unabated. In France, for instance, nearly 20,000 migrants have been arrested so far in 2019, according to the police website France Bleu, which also reported that 189 people smugglers have been arrested since January 1.
In Britain, The Telegraph newspaper reported that Albanian people smugglers were posting advertisements on social media platforms, including Facebook, promoting their ability to get people into Europe. The ads are accompanied by TripAdvisor-style feedback comments from “satisfied” customers…. people smuggling gangs generate profits of up to £6 billion (€7 billion; $8 billion) a year…
The light sentences reflect the leniency of the Spanish justice system, which appears to encourage, rather than deter, people smuggling gangs.

Hungarian police recently discovered two tunnels used to smuggle migrants into Hungary from Serbia. The tunnels were found at the same time that Hungarian police reported a five-fold increase in the number of migrants attempting to enter Hungary.

Hungary is not alone: Border authorities in countries across the European Union are struggling to stanch renewed flows of illegal migration. More than 126,500 migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East illegally entered the EU during 2019, according to the International Organization for Migration.

On November 29, Hungarian police detained 44 migrants who were found walking along a highway near Ásotthalom, a village in southern Hungary. Police later learned that the migrants had crossed into Hungary from Serbia by crawling through a 34-meter (112-foot) hand-dug tunnel.

The oval tunnel, only 50 cm (20 inches) wide and 60 cm (24 inches) high, had been dug as deep as six meters (20 feet) underground. It had gone undetected because of thick foliage in the area and because the soil that was dug out of the tunnel was dumped into a nearby canal.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15379/palestinians-syria-death-misery

The world, including the United Nations, Europe and other international human rights and “pro-Palestinian” organizations, have not moved to help the Palestinians of Syria in the past nine years — so, why should this year be any different?

How has this terrible dismissal come to pass? Simple: Because these Palestinians’ problems cannot be blamed on Israel. They are being killed and tortured in an Arab country, by their own brothers, and as far as the world is concerned, as long as there is no way to hold Israel responsible, it is fine for Arabs to commit atrocities against their Palestinian brothers.

The Arab countries have long proven that their sole interest in the Palestinians is to use them as puppets to serve the interests of Arab dictators and corrupt Arab regimes. The Palestinians in Syria have long known that, for them, no Arab country is a safe haven.

It appears it is going to be another bad year for the Palestinians in Syria as they continue to face death and fall victim to various repressive measures, including displacement, torture, and extra-judicial killings.

It is unlikely, however, that 2020 will witness any change in the international community’s attitude towards the plight of the Palestinians there. The world, including the United Nations, Europe and other international human rights and “pro-Palestinian” organizations, have not moved to help the Palestinians of Syria in the past nine years — so, why should this year be any different?

How has this terrible dismissal come to pass? Simple: Because these Palestinians’ problems cannot be blamed on Israel. They are being killed and tortured in an Arab country, by their own brothers, and as far as the world is concerned, as long as there is no way to hold Israel responsible, it is fine for Arabs to commit atrocities against their Palestinian brothers.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15378/us-iran-policy-soleimani

“… you should know that I… control the policy for Iran with respect to Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, and Afghanistan.” — The late Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, to US General David Petraeus, The Guardian, July 28, 2011.

Under Soleimani’s rule, Iran’s military was also implicated in the 9/11 attacks.

To the likely dismay of Washington’s critics, President Trump’s Iran policy has been heading in the right direction. Maximum pressure is the right policy to bridle this predatory regime.

The critics of President Trump’s Iran policy have been proven wrong once again: Not only have the US sanctions imposed significant pressure on the ruling mullahs of Iran and their ability to fund their terror groups, but in addition, President Trump recently ordered a game-changing military attack that killed both Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis near the Baghdad airport.

According to the US Department of Defense, Soleimani “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.”

The unexpected death of Soleimani should be regarded as a severe blow to the ruling mullahs. When it comes to authority in the Islamic Republic, Soleimani was considered Iran’s second man after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A staunchly loyal confidante to Khamenei, Soleimani enjoyed enormous influence over dictating the Iranian regime’s foreign policy. Soleimani was not bragging when he wrote in a message to US Gen. David Petraeus:

“… you should know that I, Qassem Suleimani, control the policy for Iran with respect to Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, and Afghanistan. And indeed, the ambassador in Baghdad is a Quds Force member. The individual who’s going to replace him is a Quds Force member.”