RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/02/venezuela-crisis-historic-lessons-spanish-civil-war/

What history tells us about the future of the crisis in Caracas

Today Venezuela is at an impasse, a term allegedly coined by Voltaire to refer to a situation devoid of exits. It has infinite inflation, four immobilized branches of government, two presidents, and the worst humanitarian crisis to hit the Americas in decades. There is sporadic violence on the streets and in improvised prisons hidden away from YouTube. What today resembles a civil war without weapons could easily escalate into bloodshed. Yet it is foreign powers and not domestic actors that will determine the country’s fate.

The Bolivarian divide runs so deep that the republic now has two presidents: Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó. Maduro, elevated to power by the late Hugo Chavéz, insists that he has begun his second constitutional term, sworn in by the Supreme Court, backed by the courts and, crucially, the country’s armed forces. Guaidó is recognized by the National Assembly, the unicameral legislature that Chávez himself created when he wanted to do away with a Senate keen on opposing his accumulation of power. Hundreds of thousands of exiled Venezuelans, including former Chavista officers and representatives, support him, too.

The international media have paid scant attention to Venezuela. With rare exceptions, the crisis has seemed far away, complex, and entirely domestic to the outside world. Yet that perception is misguided: Venezuela’s crisis is no longer a mere constitutional battle; it is a power struggle among international powers.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-ally-against-islamic-state-urges-trump-to-leave-troops-in-syria-11550520213

AN AIRBASE IN NORTHEAST SYRIA—The Kurdish commander leading the fight against Islamic State in Syria urged the U.S. to reconsider its decision to withdraw all its forces and instead leave a small contingent in the country.

Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which has seized all but the last remnants of Islamic State-held territory, said on Monday that the U.S., France and Britain should aim to leave as many as 1,500 troops from at least double that now.

Such a residual force, Gen. Abdi said, could safeguard Kurdish forces from Turkey and help eliminate Islamic State militants, who are increasingly retreating underground. Turkey views the Kurdish YPG militia—a part of the Syrian Democratic Forces—as a threat.

“I feel that American forces must remain sided with us,” he told reporters. “We don’t want them to leave Syria, but in the end it is an American decision.”

Some Islamic State militants over the weekend sought to negotiate a deal for safe passage from their last remaining territory, as they held civilians hostage.

Since President Trump in December ordered all of the more than 2,000 American troops out of Syria, many observers have speculated that the SDF, feeling betrayed by the U.S., would seek to ally itself with the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s regime or with Moscow.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/party-that-promised-to-clean-up-italian-politics-find-it-a-messy-business-11550574383

ROME—Italy’s 5 Star Movement rose from a grass-roots campaign against political corruption to an election-winning party. The realities of life in government since last summer, however, are putting it under growing strain.

A vote by the party’s members on Monday to block the criminal prosecution of far-right coalition ally Matteo Salvini posed a sharp dilemma: Preserve the 5 Star’s commitment to allowing the investigation and prosecution of politicians, or protect the governing coalition with Mr. Salvini’s League.

Prosecutors want to put Mr. Salvini, who is also Italy’s interior minister, on trial for allegedly kidnapping 177 undocumented migrants last summer, when he refused to let them disembark from a ship in a Sicilian port for five days. Italy’s Senate would have to lift Mr. Salvini’s immunity from prosecution for a trial to proceed.

A Senate subcommittee is expected to recommend Tuesday that Mr. Salvini keep his immunity. A full Senate vote is expected in March.

The 5 Star Movement, which holds the balance in the Senate, had passed the decision to its grass-roots activists, more than 50,000 of whom voted on Monday on a party website. About 59% heeded the call of 5 Star leader Luigi Di Maio to protect Mr. Salvini from prosecution. Mr. Di Maio argued that Mr. Salvini acted to protect the interests of the state.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/02/labours-split-corbyns-decline/

Seven anti-Corbyn politicians break from the Labour party over concerns of anti-Semitism — but Brexit implications lurk in the background.

Seven members of Parliament have quit the British Labour party, citing anti-Semitism, far-left thuggery, and Brexit mishandling under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. The Conservative party may be increasingly shambolic, but polling shows that Labour is even less popular. The seven defectors have named themselves the “Independent Group,” and they hope more MPs will join them. Time will tell.

“I cannot remain in a party that I have today come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic,” said Luciana Berger, who has endured sustained anti-Semitic attacks and accordingly had a bodyguard at the party’s annual conference last year. Chris Leslie added, “We did everything we could to save it, but it has now been hijacked by the machine politics of the hard Left.”

Jeremy Corbyn expressed his disappointment “that these MPs have felt unable to continue to work together.” But even his own deputy, Tom Watson, conceded, “I love this party but sometimes I no longer recognize it.”

Since April, the Labour party has received 673 official complaints, according to its National Executive Committee, of anti-Semitism and has suspended 96 individuals. Much of this is visible at the grassroots level, for instance, in the movement Momentum (Jeremy Corbyn’s unofficial fan club), which was described last year by a Labour backbencher as “a party within a party” full of “Trots, Stalinists, Communists, and assorted hard-left” activists for whom “anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is fundamental to their politics and their values.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-labour-revolt-against-corbyn-11550508910

A British political party splintered on Monday, and for once it wasn’t the ruling Conservatives. Seven members of the Labour opposition resigned from the party in protest over leader Jeremy Corbyn’s inconstant dealing on Brexit and tolerance for anti-Semitism.

The rebel Members of Parliament include Chuka Umunna, the party’s former spokesman on business affairs, and Luciana Berger, who has endured anti-Semitic abuse by Corbyn supporters. All seven have held senior party positions and hail from the centrist wing in charge during the Tony Blair era. They aren’t forming a new political party and will keep their seats while voting as independents.

All seven cited the excuse-making of Mr. Corbyn and his allies regarding abuse of Jewish members, spread of anti-Jewish tropes and sympathy for anti-Israel terrorists. The number of such cases referred to the party for disciplinary proceedings has skyrocketed under Mr. Corbyn, yet last summer he resisted formalizing an internationally accepted definition of anti-Semitism in party rules. The willingness of the rebels to leave raises questions about why so many others are still working for Mr. Corbyn.

As for Brexit, this is the latest evidence that Britain’s impending departure from the European Union is scrambling domestic politics. Both major parties remain deeply divided on Brexit and the bigger question of what the British economy should be after it leaves. Theresa May’s Conservatives are split between free-market Brexiteers and Remainers who are woolier on economics.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/spreading-like-a-poison-anti-semitic-acts-increase-in-france-11550433296

A spate of anti-Semitic incidents has accompanied France’s yellow-vest protests in recent weeks, raising fears that the movement is stirring up hatred in the nation that is home to Europe’s largest Jewish population.

On Saturday, protesters clad in reflective yellow vests were filmed accosting Alain Finkielkraut, a prominent public intellectual, as he walked with his stepmother on the street in Paris, calling him a “dirty Zionist s—” and other insults. A video of the incident went viral online, prompting condemnation from French President Emmanuel Macron and leaders across the French political spectrum.

“The anti-Semitic insults targeting him are the complete negation of who we are and what makes us a great nation,” Mr. Macron said in a tweet. “We will not tolerate them.”

The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into the incident.
Police intervened to protect philosopher and writer Alain Finkielkraut after he was targeted by a group of protesters shouting anti-Semitic slurs in Paris on Feb. 16.

Since the yellow vests, or gilets jaunes, took to the streets in November, a dark undercurrent of violence, conspiracy theories and, at times, outright racism has flourished at the margins of the movement. French police have arrested thousands of rioters and looters; dozens have been charged with assaulting police.

Concerns about anti-Semitism mounted after the previous weekend’s protests. Someone spray painted “Juden” on a Bagelstein, a French chain of bagel restaurants. A Nazi swastika was also spray painted on a portrait of Simone Veil, a French Auschwitz survivor who became president of the European Parliament.

Last week, the government said anti-Semitic incidents in France rose 74% in 2018 compared with the previous year. “Anti-Semitism is spreading like a poison,” said Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13726/multiculturalism-germany-january

Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees reported that only 35% of the migrants who arrived in Germany since 2015 have found work.

Two Germans, both 16 years of age, were killed by an oncoming train after being pushed onto railway tracks by youths of Greek and Turkish origin. German media not only downplayed the immigration background of the suspects by describing them as indigenous Germans; they also reported that the teenagers “fell onto the tracks.”

“Regional or national terms such as ‘German Islam,’ ‘French Islam,’ ‘Belgian Islam’ or ‘European Islam’ contradict the universality of Islam, which enlightens all eras and places at once.” — From the final statement of the “Second Meeting of European Muslims,” held at the Cologne Central Mosque.

January 1. Four teenage migrants — three Afghans and one Iranian — assaulted more than a dozen passersby in Amberg. Twelve people between the ages of 13 and 42 were injured in the attacks; a 17-year-old was hospitalized for a head injury. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the four perpetrators cannot be deported for legal reasons:

“Anyone who indiscriminately beats uninvolved passersby shows that he is not seeking protection in our society. The drunken perpetrators can expect no understanding in our country, but only the full hardness of the rule of law. Currently, deportation is not legally possible in any case. We are working hard to change that.”

January 2. Chief Prosecutor Claudia Vanoni, in an interview with Berliner Zeitung, said that anti-Semitic attacks are becoming commonplace in Berlin: “I have the impression that anti-Semitism is becoming louder, more open and aggressive.” She blamed most of the anti-Semitic attacks on “right-wing offenders.” When asked about anti-Semitism from Muslims, she said: “I hear more often in conversations with Jewish organizations that Jews view anti-Semitism among Muslims as an ever-greater problem in Germany. Statistically, one cannot prove that clearly.” When asked if she was in contact with Muslim organizations, she replied: “Not yet.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13724/christians-persecution-december

Saudi Arabia, America’s close friend and ally, failed to live up to its promise to eliminate extremist content — that promotes hostility for, and violence against, religious minorities — from its 2018-19 school year curriculum.

“Examples of this content include demeaning non-Muslims and encouraging jihad against them. The execution of apostates is prescribed and children are encouraged not to associate with non-Muslims. Saudi Arabia not only continues to use these textbooks domestically, but exports them to other parts of the Middle East.” — Report from International Christian Concern, December 1, 2018.

British authorities decided to deport a Christian man back to Pakistan, where he was previously beaten and threatened with death, “despite UK playing host to [Muslim] hijackers, extremists and rapists,” to quote from one headline. Asher Samson, 41, “first arrived in the UK in 2004 to carry out his theology training in order to become a pastor, but later applied for asylum after receiving threats from Islamic extremists during visits home…” According to Samson, “If they do send me back my life will be really in danger… I’m so scared… People know who I am, they know I am a Christian…” — The Independent, December 24, 2018.

The Slaughter of Christians

Egypt: A Muslim policeman charged with guarding a Coptic Christian church shot and killed two Christians — a father, 49, and his son, 21 — on the night of December 12 in Minya. Eyewitnesses say a quarrel had ensued before the officer pulled out his gun and opened fire on the two men. Video footage of the incident shows the killer-cop brandishing his gun as he stalks around the bloodied but still moving Christians on the ground. He loudly curses them — or all Copts in general? — as “mother-f*****s.” Thousands of angry Christians attended the funeral, chanting kyrie eleison (“Lord have mercy!”), and, “Where are the rights of the martyrs!” Coptic Solidarity said in a statement:

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13723/iran-islam-patriotism

As it marked its fourth decade in power, the Iranian regime implicitly admitted the bankruptcy of its narrative, according to which the 1979 revolution was prompted by a desire to “revive Islam” which, after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, with the exception of the brief caliphate of Ali ibn Abi-Taleb, had been in agony.

Dropping the regime’s usual pan-Islamist narrative, President Rouhani adopted a pan-Iranist discourse, according to which much of Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistani Baluchistan, the Caucasus, Oman, the Musandam Peninsula, and territories now covered by Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait must be regarded as Iranian land stolen by foreign invaders.

The crowd in Tehran continued gossiping, laughing and eating while Rouhani was trying to play Persian nationalist. Was he not the man who signed the Caspian Sea Convention dictated by Russia?

What do scoundrels do, when caught red handed in their shenanigans? According to an old proverb they wrap themselves in a flag and seek refuge in patriotism.

Something close to that seems to be happening to the Khomeinists dominating Iran, thanks to their control of the nation’s finances and monopoly on guns. As it marked its fourth decade in power, the regime implicitly admitted the bankruptcy of its narrative, according to which the 1979 revolution was prompted by a desire to “revive Islam” which, after the death of the Prophet, with the exception of the brief caliphate of Ali ibn Abi-Taleb, had been in agony. Thus, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was given the title of “Ihyagar” or “Reviver” of Islam.

Last Monday, however, Hojat al-Islam wa al-Moslemeen Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran, told a different story to marchers in Tehran marking the 40th anniversary of the mullahs’ seizure of power.

He shouted: “The Islamic Revolution was firstly made to protect Iran.”

How so, you might wonder.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13651/sweden-isis-pensioners

Perhaps the Council of Europe considers Åberg’s successful efforts of turning in fellow Swedes to the police for perceived thought crimes an example that other European countries should emulate?

The pensioner explained during questioning, “I was angry when I read about how it worked with immigrants and how they avoid punishment for everything they do. They get acquitted, though they steal and do other things. It is unfair that those who commit gross crimes can go free….” The pensioner said that she would not have written what she did, had she known that it was illegal. She evidently labored under the misconception that she was still living in a democracy. In January, she was sentenced to a fine of 4,000 Swedish kroner ($443). She lives on a monthly pension of only 7,000 Swedish kroner ($775).

Swedish authorities clearly cannot — or will not — prosecute or convict the jihadists whom they so generously welcome to the country; yet they have no qualms charging and prosecuting harmless elderly pensioners. One might add that a culture that respects the human rights of returning ISIS fighters more than that of the elderly women who are afraid of them, is all but done.

“Violence-promoting Islamist extremism currently constitutes the biggest threat to Sweden,” according to a January 15 press release from the Swedish Security Service (Säpo). “The level of the terror threat remains elevated, a three on a five-point scale. This means that a terrorist act is likely to occur,” said Klas Friberg, head of Säpo.