RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/11/berlin-wall-gone-lessons-remain/

Socialism is not cuddly or compassionate, and it has been tried many times, to ruinous effect. Will today’s young people have to learn this all over again?

The Berlin Wall stood for 28 years until in 1989 a wave of citizen protest forced the East German Communist government to open its gates. We’ve now gone longer without the Berlin Wall than it existed.

As we marked the anniversary, on November 9, of its demise, I couldn’t help but recall with wonder how astonishingly quickly the ugly scar of the wall along with its guards, dogs, and mines were all swept away in a wave of euphoria.

I visited the Berlin Wall and crossed into East Germany several times during the 1980s while I worked at the Wall Street Journal. I will never forget the brave dissidents I met on the Eastern side who never accepted the wall, or the bureaucrats who ran the state machinery that sustained it.

While it now appears easy to simply divide the East German population into oppressors and the people they oppressed, I learned that the truth was a bit more complicated even for someone like me who grew up with anti-Communism in his bloodstream.

Here are some snapshots of people I met before the fall of the wall whom I will never forget.

One: Christa Luft, was the last person to serve as minister of economics in the East German government. Appointed just after the wall fell, she faced the daunting challenge of holding together a collapsing centrally planned economy. When I interviewed her just before Christmas 1989, I asked her how long East Germany could have preserved Communism if the wall hadn’t collapsed. With remarkable candor she said: “We had at most six months to a year.” The economy, she explained, was so inefficient at the end that if a machine tool broke down in Leipzig there would likely be no spare part available. A factory manager desperate to produce his quota of goods would often pay to have the needed part stolen for him from a factory in another city.

https://us7.campaign-archive.com/?e=a9fdc67db9&u=9d011a88d8fe324cae8c084c5&id=e1a77bd5a0

In prior posts where I have addressed the futility of jurisdictions in the U.S. trying to “save the planet” by reducing their use of fossil fuels, my focus has generally been on China and India. Those countries have huge populations (about 1.4 billion each) and still-poorly-developed energy infrastructure. Of course they are going to continue to build power plants until everybody has access to reliable electricity. And of course they are going to make use of coal, oil and natural gas, because those fossil fuels provide the cheapest and most reliable energy. The ongoing increase in emissions from China and India as they build out their electricity systems and as their people acquire automobiles regularly swamps any minor emissions reductions that any jurisdictions in the U.S. can achieve.

But let us also not overlook Africa. Africa’s population is currently about 1.3 billion, but growing much faster than that of China or India. The UN projects a population for Africa of 2.5 billion for 2050, and 4 billion for 2100. Meanwhile, close to half of the current 1.3 billion Africans lack access to electricity; and that number will only grow rapidly in the absence of rapid buildout of an electrical grid throughout the continent.

You may have seen predictions in certain quarters that Africa is going to “go green” as it gains access to energy. But what is the reality on the ground? We can get a good indication by looking at what happened last week at the Africa Oil Week convention, held this year in Cape Town, South Africa. Reuters had a report on the event, with the headline “No apologies: Africans say their need for oil cash outweighs climate concerns.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15117/algeria-persecution-christians

“[A] 2006 law states that any non-Muslim worship be conducted in specific, designated buildings. But since this law came into effect, no Christian places of worship have been designated by the government of Algeria.” — William Stark, regional manager of International Christian Concern (ICC), to Gatestone.

“Algeria’s blasphemy laws make it difficult for Christians to share their faith out of fear their conversation may be considered blasphemous and used against them.” — Open Doors, 2018.

Sadly… even Pope Francis is sugar-coating the plight of his co-religionists in the North African country…. “The time of peace to which he refers remains unclear.” — Bethany Blankley, Patheos, 2018

Although Christians make up a mere one percent of Algeria’s Muslim-majority population, they continue to be persecuted by the government in Algiers. The most recent example is the closure in mid-October of three churches and the forced eviction of their congregants by police.

William Stark, regional manager of International Christian Concern (ICC), told Gatestone that shuttering the churches is just part of a broader campaign that began two years ago to target places of Christian worship.

Stark said his organization’s sources in Algeria report that 12 churches have been closed by Algerian authorities since the beginning of 2019 alone:

“The closing of the latest three churches is most concerning, as it came only days after members of the l’Eglise Protestante d’Algerie (EPA) — an umbrella organization for Protestant churches — staged a peaceful sit-in against earlier church closures, and therefore suggests that it was an act of retaliation by Algerian authorities against those Christians willing to protest.

“One impetus for the protests is a 2006 law stating that any non-Muslim worship be conducted in specific, designated buildings. But since this law came into effect, no Christian places of worship have been designated by the government of Algeria.”

According to the ICC, one of the churches that was shut down — the Full Gospel of Tizi-Ouzou , with approximately 1,000 members — is the largest in Algeria. Its lead pastor, Salah Chalah, also happens to head the EPA.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15148/iran-soleimani-iraq

If the Tehran media are to be believed Soleimani defeated the Israeli army in 2006, crushed Bashar al-Assad’s opponents in Syria and dismantled ISIS’s so-called “Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria while installing stable governments in Beirut, Damascus and Baghdad.

To me, at least, it is clear that Soleimani has achieved virtually nothing in Syria apart from helping prolong a tragedy that has already claimed almost a million lives and produced millions of refugees. Regardless of what denouement this tragedy might produce, future Syria will in no way reflect the fantasies of Soleimani and his master Khamenei.

…Soleimani’s militias in Lebanon are likely to be in self-preservation mode rather than acting as the vanguard of further conquests. In other words, in medium-term, the Islamic Republic has already lost in both Lebanon and Syria.

An Iraq where gunmen in Soleimani’s pay paste portraits of Khomeini and Khamenei on every wall may look good to the octogenarian mullahs still in control in Tehran. However, an Iraq where peace and stability reign without the paraphernalia of Khomeinism is better for Iran’s own national security and interests.

For almost two decades, a former bricklayer from Kirman, southeast Iran, has been in charge of an empire-building scheme launched by the Islamic Republic in the early years of the new century.

The man in question is Qassem Soleimani, believed to be “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei’s favorite military commander. One of Iran’s only 13 major-generals, the highest rank in the regime’s military, Soleimani has the added advantage of commanding his own military force, known as the Quds Corps, that is answerable to no one but Khamenei. In addition, when it comes to his army’s budget, the general is given what comes close to a blank cheque.

According to Iran’s Customs’ Office, his Quds Corps also runs 12 jetties in two of Iran’s major seaports for imports and exports that never feature in any official data or reports. Obtaining Iranian citizenship is one of the toughest bureaucratic ordeals in the world. Millions of Iraqi, Afghan and Azerbaijani refugees, who lived in Iran for years, were denied Iranian citizenship even for their children born in Iran. And, yet, a nod from Soleimani or one of his aides could quickly secure an Iranian passport for his Lebanese, Iraqi, Pakistani, Bahraini, Afghan and other agents and mercenaries.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15147/christians-global-persecution

“It’s easy to go about our lives and forget that in places like Nigeria, Iran and North Korea being a Christian can often lead to death.” — Vernon Brewer, founder and CEO of World Help, Fox News, November 4, 2019.

“4,136 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons. On average, that’s 11 Christians killed every day for their faith.” — Open Doors, World Watch List 2019.

More than 245 million Christians around the world are currently suffering from persecution. — Open Doors, World Watch List 2019.

“Evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity… close to meeting the international definition of genocide, according to that adopted by the UN.” — Review led by Rev. Philip Mounstephen, the Bishop of Truro, April 21, 2019.

November 3 was International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP). Initiated over 20 years ago by the World Evangelical Alliance, 100,000 congregations around the world and millions of Christians participate on this day.

“This November let us unite in prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters,” IDOP noted in a brief video that highlights a few examples of recent persecution, including the Easter Sunday church bombings in Sri Lanka and the ongoing slaughter of Christians by Islamic groups in Nigeria and, increasingly, Burkina Faso.

https://gatesofvienna.net/2019/11/what-drives-the-jews-to-the-afd/

It is commonly assumed by the media — and also much of the general public — that Jews in Germany are afraid of the “right-extreme” AfD (Alternative für Deutschland, Alternative for Germany) because of its alleged Jew-hatred.

However, as most of us “Islamophobes” know, the real source of Jew-hatred in Germany and elsewhere in Western Europe lies on the Left, and especially among Muslims, who have formed an alliance with the Jew-hating Left.

The following video from Junge Freiheit features a discussion about Jews in the AfD, with two members of a group called the Federal Association of Jews in the AfD as special guests. They explain that the AfD actually enjoys widespread support from Jews in Germany, but news about this is routinely suppressed by the prominent Jewish interest groups that are in bed with the German establishment — or more precisely, with the international globalists who call the shots for the German establishment. Those mainstream Jewish groups, along with analogous Catholic and Protestant interest groups, routinely propagandize against the AfD.

Many thanks to MissPiggy for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15054/erdogan-campaign-against-west

“Europe is a cultural continent, not a geographical one… It is its culture that gives it a common identity. The roots that have formed it, that have permitted the formation of this continent, are those of Christianity. […] In this sense, throughout history Turkey has always represented another continent, in permanent contrast with Europe. There were the wars against the Byzantine empire, the fall of Constantinople, the Balkan wars, and the threat against Vienna and Austria. That is why I think it would be an error to equate the two continents.” — Pope Benedict XVI, Le Figaro Magazine, 2007.

In Germany, Turkey controls 900 mosques out of a total of 2,400. These Islamic centers not only serve members of the Turkish diaspora, but also stop them from assimilating into German society. Speaking with Turks in Germany, Erdogan urged them not to assimilate, and called the assimilation of migrants in Europe “a crime against humanity.”

Erdogan has also been expanding Turkey beyond its borders – starting with Cyprus, the Greek Islands, Suakin Island (Sudan) and Syria.

Mosques, migrants and the military are now Erdogan’s new weapons in his threats against the West.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “has earned the title of Caliph” according to Turkish journalist Abdurrahman Dilipak.

Erdogan is the head of NATO’s second-largest army; he has spies throughout Europe through a network of mosques, associations and cultural centers; he has brought his country to the top of the world rankings for the number of imprisoned journalists and has shut the mouth of German comedians with the threat of legal action. By keeping migrants in Turkish refugee camps, he controls immigration to Europe.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/protesters-cut-bolivian-mayors-hair-and-drag-him-through-the-streets-during-violent-protest/

The protests against the election of President Evo Morales in Bolivia are getting more violent as the opposition, claiming the election was stolen, stages mass protests throughout the country.

Clashes between pro-and anti-Morales demonstrators have turned deadly. A pro-Morales protester in the city of Cochabamba was killed during a clash with the opposition. Twenty-year-old Limbert Guzman became the third person killed during the violence.

In the small town of Vinto, a pro-Morales mayor was seized during a protest at city hall, dragged through the streets, and had her hair cut by demonstrators.

Fox News:

Meanwhile, in the town of Vinto, located about 210 miles from Cochabamba, the mayor of the governing Mas party was attacked by protesters after rumors that two members of the opposition had been killed by supporters of Morales, according to the BBC.

Vinto Mayor Patricia Arce Guzman was confronted at the town hall by protesters, who then dragged her out barefoot through the streets of the town as windows at the city building were broken and her office was set on fire.

Guzman was then forced to kneel down as demonstrators cut her hair, doused her in red paint, and forced her to sign a resignation letter all while yelling “murderess, murderess,” according to the BBC.

The violence stems from a hotly contested election that Morales won with 47 percent of the vote. But it was enough to avoid a runoff with the opposition candidate Carlos Mesa. What has riled the opposition was a 24-hour delay in the counting that the EU and the Organization of American States, independent monitors, expressed their grave concerns about after vote totals for Morales shot through the roof when the counting resumed.