RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14065/germany-european-army-allegory

Since taking office in 2013, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has done little to alleviate the problems in the military. The best-known projects during her tenure were kindergartens for the soldiers’ families; the procurement of flat screen television sets and mini-fridges for the barracks; the announcement of efforts to make the German army “more attractive for gay, lesbian and transgender people”; buying uniforms for pregnant soldiers, and making battle tanks suitable for pregnant soldiers. As worthwhile as these efforts may be, they do little to address the core problems.

“Apparently the readiness of the Bundeswehr is so bad that the public should not be allowed to know about it.” — Tobias Lindner, a Greens Party member, serving on the budget and defense committees.

“We are committed to the emergence of a European army”, German chancellor Angela Merkel pledged in January, backing a plan first launched by French president Emmanuel Macron in 2017. Merkel thus confirmed a position she had voiced in November 2018, when, speaking to the European parliament in Strasbourg, she said: “We have to look at the vision of one day creating a real, true European army.”

Members of the opposition Free Democratic Party (FDP) in the German federal parliament (Bundestag) wanted to know what was meant by the term “European army” and submitted this question to the government.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14027/eu-appeasing-iran

Despite Iran’s destructive behavior, such as support for terror and militia groups across the region, the European Union has chosen to help the ruling mullahs of Iran, ostensibly to maintain the flimsy, illegal, never-signed, unratified “nuclear deal” — but possibly even more as an embarrassingly transparent attempt, if the EU could be embarrassed, to navigate around US economic and political pressure and continue doing business with the regime.

If the EU does not change its position and continues its support of Iranian leaders and the nuclear deal, Tehran’s aggressive policies in the Middle East will persist, and Tehran will keep on pursuing its subversive agenda of attacking Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States via Yemen, Israel through Syria and Lebanon, and the US via Venezuela.

While President Donald Trump may have his critics, his hard-line sanctions are the only kind of political message the Iranian leaders can understand.

The European Union, in an unfathomable move, has been taking the side of the Iranian government, and turning its back on its old transatlantic partner, the United States, which recently announced plans to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), reportedly to take effect this week.

The Trump administration has taken a tougher stance towards Iran’s dark and hegemonic ambitions. Meanwhile, despite Iran’s destructive behavior, such as support for terror and militia groups across the region, the European Union has chosen to help the ruling mullahs of Iran, ostensibly to maintain the flimsy, illegal, never-signed, unratified “nuclear deal” — but possibly even more as an embarrassingly transparent attempt, if the EU could be embarrassed, to navigate around US economic and political pressure and continue doing business with Iran’s regime.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/04/slovakia-communist-central-planning-mindset/

Soviet troops are long gone, but red tape and disregard for the rule of law live on.

Bratislava, Slovakia — Thirty years ago, I traveled throughout Europe reporting on the fall of Communism for the Wall Street Journal.

So this year I looked forward to retracing my steps in the countries that kicked central planning to the curb. Most are now full members of the European Union and will elect members to its parliament next month. I wanted to see how things had worked out.

For my first leg of travel this year, I accompanied the Free Market Road Show, a merry rotating group of economists, journalists, and business leaders who for the last dozen years have traveled through up to 45 cities a year holding public forums and attracting media coverage. Their message is simple: The path to prosperity is to enhance the rule of law, lower taxes, respect individual freedom, decentralize government, and limit burdensome regulations. The show’s sponsor, the Austrian Economics Center, believes that the road show has helped shift public opinion toward that view. Certainly the center’s director, free-market economist Barbara Kolm, has prospered. Last year, she was named vice president of the Austrian Central Bank.

Our first stop on the Road Show was a mere 40 miles from the Road Show’s headquarters in Vienna, which evoked a warm memory for me. On New Year’s Eve in 1991, I stood in front of the castle in Bratislava and witnessed the birth of a new nation: Slovakia, which was peacefully separating from Czechoslovakia with a show of fireworks and a 21-gun salute.

https://www.israelhayom.com/2019/04/14/iranians-march-to-protest-us-blacklisting-revolutionary-guards/

Thousands of Iranians carrying signs reading “I’m a Guard too” and “Down with USA” marched on Friday to protest against the U.S. designation of the elite Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organization.

State television showed crowds shouting: “What’s America thinking? Iran is full of Guards” after leaving Friday prayers at Tehran University on their way to a rally in a nearby square. Similar state-sponsored protests were held across Iran, it said.

Iranian officials have condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision on Monday to blacklist the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps , a step is likely to raise tensions in the Middle East.

Tehran retaliated by naming the regional United States Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organization.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/13/gordon-ramsay-accused-cultural-appropriation-asian-restaurant/

He has described his latest venture as inspired by the “culture, flavours and the incredible cooking” of Asia.

But Gordon Ramsay has now found himself caught up in a row over cultural appropriation after his new restaurant was accused of tokenism and lazy stereotyping.

The award-winning chef is opening Lucky Cat, which he calls “an Asian eating house” inspired by 1930s Tokyo, describing it as part of his “long time vision”.

During one of the venue’s preview nights last week diners were treated to dishes such as mini wagyu pastrami burger with ‘Asian’ chilli jam, English asparagus with a smoked ponzu emulsion and smoked duck breast with plum and Japanese nashi pear.

Ramsay said on the night: “I’ve toured and worked in much of Asia over the years and the culture, the flavours, and the incredible cooking never fail to inspire me. We’ve got a great team behind this project and we’re ready to bring something really special to London this summer.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/13/shamima-begum-cruel-enforcer-isils-morality-police-say-syrian/

Shamima Begum, the Bethnal Green schoolgirl, served in the Islamic State’s “morality police” and also tried to recruit other young women to join the jihadist group, well-placed sources have told The Telegraph.

She was allowed to carry a Kalashnikov rifle and earned a reputation as a strict “enforcer” of Isil’s laws, such as dress codes for women, sources claimed.

The claims are at odds with Miss Begum’s own account of her four years with the group, which she joined at the age of just 15.

Miss Begum, now aged 19, has insisted she was never involved in Isil’s brutality but spent her time in Syria as a devoted housewife to a jihadist fighter.

Miss Begum, whose discovery in a refugee camp in northern Syria in February sparked a public outcry, said she concentrated on bringing up the couple’s children. They subsequently died of malnutrition.

Her husband, Dutch fighter Yago Riedijk, offered a similar story, saying Miss Begum “sat in the house” and that she would pose no danger to the British public if allowed back to the UK.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1114060/latest-terror-attack-news-Europe-plots-leaked

Details of plots to carry out assaults across the continent funded and controlled by ISIS leaders were found on a hard drive dropped by a terrorist in Syria earlier this year. ISIS was defeated in its final stronghold last month, but as the West was quick to claim victory the documents give insight into sinister plans including to recreate the Paris 2015 attacks. Documents outline how the terror group still runs a sophisticated international network, moving fighters across borders and funding their operations from computer hacking to assassinations.

One letter obtained by The Sunday Times, signed by six ISIS leaders and addressed to the group’s “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,breaks down there international strategy into operations and borders.

The operations abroad will be directed by Abu Khabab al-Muhajir, who already controls one cell in Russia and two in Germany.

In order to fund the operations, the letter said: “Killing infidel venture capitalists, hacking banks through bank accounts, bank robberies or robberies of places that are pre-studied.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14044/europe-churches-vandalized

In Germany, four separate churches were vandalized and/or torched in March alone. “In this country,” PI-News, a German news site, explained, “there is a creeping war against everything that symbolizes Christianity: attacks on mountain-summit crosses, on sacred statues by the wayside, on churches… and recently also on cemeteries.”

In virtually every instance of church attacks, authorities and media obfuscate the identity of the vandals. In those rare instances when the Muslim (or “migrant”) identity of the destroyers is leaked, the desecraters are then presented as suffering from mental health issues.

“Hardly anyone writes and speaks about the increasing attacks on Christian symbols. There is an eloquent silence in both France and Germany about the scandal of the desecrations and the origin of the perpetrators…. Not a word, not even the slightest hint that could in anyway lead to the suspicion of migrants… It is not the perpetrators who are in danger of being ostracized, but those who dare to associate the desecration of Christian symbols with immigrant imports. They are accused of hatred, hate speech and racism.” — PI News, March 24, 2019

Countless churches throughout Western Europe are being vandalized, defecated on, and torched.

In France, two churches are desecrated every day on average. According to PI-News, a German news site, 1,063 attacks on Christian churches or symbols (crucifixes, icons, statues) were registered in France in 2018. This represents a 17% increase compared to the previous year (2017), when 878 attacks were registered — meaning that such attacks are only going from bad to worse.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14066/iran-ventriloquist-dummy

Russia has imposed the Caspian Convention it dictated, but vetoes Iran’s membership in the Euro-Asian “economic family” and the Shanghai Group. Russia’s interest is keeping Iran out of the international gas market, thus holding Moscow’s Damocles Sword above the EU’s head.

As for Turkey, its chief interest in the Islamic Republic is to secure support for killing Kurds, something that runs counter to Iran’s own national interests.

As long as the Islamic Republic believes that it can do whatever it likes without risking any punishment it would make little difference through which dummy the ventriloquist utters his text.

Though it is too early to assess the impact of President Donald Trump’s decision to harden US policy towards the Islamic Republic of Iran, one thing is already clear. Trump’s rhetoric and the reactivation of sanctions suspended by President Barack Obama, plus new measures against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are making it harder for the leadership in Tehran to pursue its forked-tongue diplomacy designed to hoodwink bleeding heart liberals in the West while fanning the fires of hatred in the global anti-West constituency.

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/438733-ukraines-race-a-sign-of-our-time
Ukraine’s presidential election, in which a popular comedian with no political experience is projected to beat a seasoned incumbent with considerable baggage, reflects global trends that continue to shake the global order.

Across the world, economic stagnation, immigration, and other challenges are fueling disgust with traditional politics, leaving voters increasingly attracted to candidates who offer a fresh face and a new approach – even if (or especially if) the candidates are novices and their agendas are vague.

The question is whether, over time, novice leaders (whether in the United States, Ukraine, or elsewhere) adapt to the post-war arrangements that have served the world well for three-quarters of a century, or those arrangements fall victim to unorthodox approaches that new leaders promise and voters seem increasingly willing to try.

That’s a timely question as freedom and democracy are declining around the world, Washington is cooling toward its Western allies and eschewing multilateral trade opportunities, Beijing is promoting an authoritarian alternative to U.S.-led freedom, China and Russia are working more closely in an anti-U.S. axis, and nuclear weaponry threatens to proliferate and further destabilize the world.

On April 21, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian who pretends to be President in a Ukrainian TV show, squares off against the actual incumbent President, Petro Poroshenko, who has served since 2014. In their battle, Zelensky and Poroshenko symbolize the unsettling global politics of our time.

First, it’s a battle between old and new.

Zelensky is what the ancient philosophers called a “Tabula Rasa” (a blank slate), for he has offered few ideas about what he would propose or whether he can work the mechanics of a parliamentary government.