RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.jewishpolicycenter

Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress and the presidents alike have had no sustained policy review to establish militarily achievable objectives, coherent political goals, or even a workable definition of “the enemy” to guide lawmakers and military leaders.

Republicans and Democrats both removed governments with no plan for succession or the societal stresses and open warfare that would ensue. Without an updated Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), we “plinked terrorists” in various countries with drones or airplanes, assassinating at least four American citizens, and killing others as “collateral damage.”

American soldiers have been killed fighting in various countries, including several in Africa. We are spending billions “training” various militaries and militias and hoping they will fight who and how we want them to. Iran’s backing of rebels in Yemen is called the “Saudi war” to avoid dealing with the implications. The “Israel-Palestinian conflict” is to be resolved by creating an extra Arab state while the Palestinians definitively and publicly want to resolve it by eliminating the Jewish one.

President Trump ran against American military involvement in Syria and Afghanistan, and for a hard line on Iran. There is still no complete policy — and sometimes not even a particularly well-articulated policy — but it does appear that America’s focus has changed from retail to wholesale. From executing individual terrorists and recapturing pieces of territory to operating against the malign influence that funds and organizes large-scale Shiite — and Sunni — terror. From terror groups to a terror country.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/02/china_caves_to_president_trump_in_us_trade_war.html

China caved to President Trump’s Trade War demands as state-media published plans that foreign investors will no longer be subject to compulsory technology transfers.

As China’s Vice Premier Liu He was holding a televised meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office to announce big increases for U.S. agricultural exports to China, its Xinhua News Agency announced that China’s President Xi Jinping hopes to meet with Trump just before a March 5 vote by China’s National People’s Congress to ratify elimination of rules for foreign investment mandatory foreign technology transfers.

With the clock running down on Trump’s threat to increase a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese exports to a 25 percent tariff on March 1, China is agreeing to meaningful structural trade reforms that the U.S. has been demanding for over a decade.

The move will open a wide swath of China’s internal markets that have been closed to U.S. service industry firms. The breadth of China’s “reform” regime supposedly includes elimination of non-tariff trade barriers such as eliminating state-sponsored cyber-intrusions and converting U.S. intellectual property rights, according to the Epoch Times.

With the draft legislation supposedly setting a goal of guaranteeing equal treatment of foreign companies already reviewed by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in December, Xinhua stated: “Once adopted, the unified law will replace three existing laws on Chinese-foreign equity joint ventures, non-equity joint ventures (or contractual joint ventures) and wholly foreign-owned enterprises.”

https://quillette.com/2019/02/01/the

The day after Venezuela’s National Assembly voted to declare its president, Juan Guaidó, interim President of the Republic, I received a text from a former friend. “If the U.S. topples Vz [Venezuela],” he wrote, “I will hold you responsible.” I would have been happy to accept this responsibility had I done anything important enough to deserve it. But the idea was absurd and he knew it. If the Venezuelan regime falls—and I hope that it does—it won’t even be possible to credit (or blame) the United States. It is the Venezuelan people who finally are taking their destiny in hand and rejecting an intolerable status quo.

The message was not a serious attempt to apportion responsibility for Venezuela’s current upheaval; it was an attempt to shame me for my treacherous betrayal of the Bolivarian cause. An early supporter of the Revolution, I had traveled to Venezuela in 2013 to cover the April presidential elections. By the time I returned to the US, I was disillusioned and depressed. I decided I needed to start writing and speaking about what I had seen there. In an article I wrote for the radical magazine Counterpunch around that time, I argued that “the so-called ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ is bankrupt: morally, ideologically, and economically,” and I asked what we, as leftist solidarity activists, should do in response. “Should we continue to make excuses for incompetence, corruption, and irresponsibility and thereby make ourselves accomplices?” I asked. “Or should we tell the truth?”

Hugo Chavez, 45th President of Venezuela

I had resolved to tell the truth. Having been so wrong about something so consequential, I felt it was the least I could do. By then, Venezuela was already in a terrible mess. Many of those I had helped to convince of the possibilities offered by Bolivarian socialism were deeply suspicious of the mainstream media and deserved to hear what was going on from a writer they trusted. But, as it turned out, the people I wanted to reach didn’t want to hear such things. And the people I asked to publish my articles didn’t much want me to write about them either. As a result of my voltafaccia, former comrades and friends contacted my editors and publishers in (occasionally successful) attempts to have my articles spiked. I was denounced and slandered online and in print. Phone calls and emails to people I had thought of as friends now went unanswered. On those occasions when I encountered one of them in public, they looked the other way. Abruptly, I found myself excommunicated, and people I’d known for 30 or 40 years made it clear that they no longer wanted to be part of my life.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/02/venezuela-crisis-people-want-country-back/The people — the victims of this twisted socialist dream — just want their country back.

Caracas, Venezuela — “There are colectivos on every corner.”

My bodyguard points them out to me, the seemingly inconspicuous men standing a few feet away. The men belong to the colectivos, the heavily armed Maduro-loyalist gangs policing this city, always ready to intimidate and attack anti-government protesters.

Just after he points them out, one of them walks up to me and asks for my phone and passport. I hand him a copy of my passport and show him my phone. Without even bothering to search it, he tells me to delete whatever is on there.

I do as he says while he watches me, and when I am finally allowed to go I realize he didn’t think to check my phone’s trash. So I post the videos and photos, all in succession, while my bodyguard drags me away.

It’s only my second day in Caracas but already my third run-in with the alternative law in this city. There’s a growing sense of unease in me as I realize how truly totalitarian this country has become, creating a culture of desperation and fear. You fear everyone, not just the regime, but also all those who are on its payroll, wielding weapons in the name of this twisted socialist dream.

We are headed to the National Assembly where the self-appointed interim president, Juan Guaidó, is rumored to be making an appearance. Ever since the uprising against President Nicolás Maduro started almost two weeks ago, the country has been waiting for the other shoe to drop and for the nation’s fate to be determined through either violence or legislation, or both. Guaidó represents hope, but the path to freedom for Venezuela is paved with blood, tears, and radical uncertainty. Every other day here there are protests from both sides that result in riots and massive regime-led pushback, and it seems as if the people of Caracas are waiting for that final straw that will break the camel’s back.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/02/north_korean_military_proliferation_in_the_middle_east_and_africa.html

President Trump, to meet in late February with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a second attempt at ridding the dictatorship of nuclear weapons, maintains he is making historical progress and North Korea no longer poses a nuclear threat to the U.S. Yet, earlier this week America’s top intelligence official, Dan Coats, rebutted that view. In a congressional hearing, Coats said North Korea wouldn’t completely give up nuclear weapons because its leaders view them as “critical to regime survival.”

Given today’s political urgency, a clear-eyed, comprehensive look at North Korea’s military capabilities and its long-standing and wide-ranging proliferation couldn’t be more timely and it is offered by retired Marine, author and political science professor, Bruce Bechtol. His new book, North Korean Military Proliferation in the Middle East and Africa: Enabling Violence and Instability (University Press of Kentucky, 2018), uses open-source intelligence reports, defectors’ testimony, field interviews and the work of fellow experts, to quantify the full extent of North Korea’s military capabilities and what it will take to stop the regime’s illicit activities.

Bechtol enumerates North Korea’s nuclear proliferation that includes weapons, capabilities, training, advice, assistance with fabricating facilities, equipment repairs and military backup. He profiles North Korea’s diversified capabilities that go beyond nuclear weapons programs to include myriad ballistic missile systems, maritime technology advances, airborne platforms, WMDs and cyber-warfare expertise. He lists the countries and non-state actors that benefit from their relationships with the rogue regime and details the country’s illicit financial networks and creative shipping arrangements that enable the regime to skirt sanctions and carry out global proliferation.

The Hermit Kingdom’s first nuclear weapons test occurred in 2006. By 2015, it had the capability to launch a nuclear weapon on a ballistic missile that could hit the U.S. In 2016, it put a satellite into space using a missile with a range of 7,200 miles. Other tested ballistic missile systems, according to Bechtol, include a solid-fuel missile with an advanced GPS system for pinpoint guidance, a three-stage mobile ICBM able to carry a miniaturized nuclear warhead, and a two-state and a liquid-fueled mobile missile able to reach higher altitudes and distances than previous missiles.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13655/palestinians-lebanon

Protests by the Palestinians in Lebanon are unlikely to draw any attention from the international community, including so-called pro-Palestinian groups that are active especially on university campuses in the US and Canada, among other places.

The real “pro-Palestinian” groups are those who are willing to raise their voices against the mistreatment of Palestinians at the hands of their Arab brothers. The real “pro-Palestinian” groups are those who are prepared to defend the rights of women and gays living under Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The real “pro-Palestinian” groups are those that are prepared to advocate for democracy and free speech for Palestinians living under the repressive regimes of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The real “pro-Palestinian” groups are those who are prepared to condemn Lebanon for its racist and discriminatory measures against Palestinians, living and dead.

Hiding at a university campus and spewing hatred against Israel does not make one “pro-Palestinian.” Rather, it makes one just an Israel-hater. Will the “pro-Palestinian” groups listen to the urgent messages coming from the people in Lebanon they claim to represent?

A Palestinian who tries to bring a bag of cement or other construction materials into a refugee camp to build a house is subjected to arrest, interrogation, trial by military court and a fine.

Is this happening in the Gaza Strip? No. Is it happening in the West Bank? No. This inhumane and unjust practice is taking place in an Arab country where more than 500,00 Palestinians live: Lebanon.

Moreover, this ban on the entry of construction material is punishing not only the living, but also the dead. Palestinians say that because of the prohibition, they cannot even find enough stones and cement to build graves.

The wretched condition of the Palestinians living in Lebanon is often ignored by both the international community and the Western main stream media. The only Palestinians the international community seems to care about are those residing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip — those whose grievances can be blamed on Israel.

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/01/let

What I do not understand is Venezuelans voting for the very policies which subsequently devastated their country. What I understand even less are the polls indicating Australian voters are buying Bill Shorten’s Chavez-lite policies and class-war rhetoric.

Venezuela, the richest country in South America not so long ago, is sliding into the abyss of civil war and bloodshed. The shops are empty and astronomic inflation has rendered the national currency, Bolivar, worthless. Oil production, the economy’s mainstay, is reduce to a trickle and default on overseas loans is likely. Venezuela’s military, up to its neck in drug-trafficking, has been shooting people on the streets, with 26 are dead by the latest count. The country is in torment and turmoil. Whether one calls the massive protests and demonstratikons a rebellion, a revolution or an insurrection makes no difference; suffering is the same no matter what name you give it.

This tropical country, blessed with abundant fertile soil, an extensive coastline and one of the world’s largest known oil reserves, is motherless broke. People are emigrating in droves to anywhere they can, voting with their feet. The only governments which support the present regime are the usual suspects: Moscow, Moldova and the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, plus China, Turkey, North Korea, Cuba and Zimbabwe.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/427885-venezuelas-guaido-says-police-showed-up-at-house-looking-for-his-wife

The self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela says police forces loyal to President Nicolás Maduro showed up at his house asking for his wife in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó told reporters at a public event Thursday that the move was meant to intimidate him as he seeks international support for his bid to oust Maduro as the country’s president.

“I will hold you responsible for any intimidation of my baby, who is just 20 months old,” the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly said.

In a tweet, the interim president wrote that police forces had returned to his house, though it was unclear for what purpose.

“At this moment the FAES is in the apartment of my wife Fabiana,” Guaidó tweeted, adding that Maduro would be held responsible for his daughter’s safety.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been a vocal supporter of Guaidó’s bid to oust Maduro, tweeted that Cuban-trained “shock troops” were in Guaidó’s home and that there would be “severe” consequences for any violence.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/opinion/juan

CARACAS, Venezuela — On Jan. 23, 61 years after the vicious dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez was ousted, Venezuelans once again gathered for a day of democratic celebration.

Pérez Jiménez was fraudulently elected by a Constituent Assembly in 1953. His term of office was scheduled to expire in 1958. But rather than calling for free and transparent presidential elections, he was undemocratically re-elected after holding a plebiscite on his administration late in 1957. Following widespread protests and a rupture within the military establishment, the dictator left the country and Venezuela regained its freedom on Jan. 23, 1958.

Once again we face the challenge of restoring our democracy and rebuilding the country, this time amid a humanitarian crisis and the illegal retention of the presidency by Nicolás Maduro. There are severe medicine and food shortages, essential infrastructure and health systems have collapsed, a growing number of children are suffering from malnutrition, and previously eradicated illnesses have re-emerged.

We have one of the highest homicide rates in the world, which is aggravated by the government’s brutal crackdown on protesters. This tragedy has prompted the largest exodus in Latin American history, with three million Venezuelans now living abroad.

I would like to be clear about the situation in Venezuela: Mr. Maduro’s re-election on May 20, 2018, was illegitimate, as has since been acknowledged by a large part of the international community. His original six-year term was set to end on Jan. 10. By continuing to stay in office, Nicolás Maduro is usurping the presidency.

My ascension as interim president is based on Article 233 of the Venezuelan Constitution, according to which, if at the outset of a new term there is no elected head of state, power is vested in the president of the National Assembly until free and transparent elections take place. This is why the oath I took on Jan. 23 cannot be considered a “self-proclamation.” It was not of my own accord that I assumed the function of president that day, but in adherence to the Constitution.

https://premium.telegraph.co.uk/newsletter/article1/land-grabs-in-hong-kong-as-beijing-challenges-the-freedoms-of-former-british-colony/?

Late on a recent morning, a woman slowly rode a bicycle beneath the trees along the sun-dappled shores of Sha Tau Kok, a small village on the Hong Kong-China border.

It was a rare moment of tranquility amid modern China’s bustling urban sprawl. But now this crescent of greenery is at the centre of increasingly fraught tensions between the former British Colony and president Xi Jinping’s Communist government in Beijing.

Six years ago, mainland authorities occupied a small parcel of land in the village – reportedly for military use – after diverting the course of a river.

Carrie Lam, chief executive of Hong Kong, initially said her administration was unaware of any such land occupation.

But the apparent cross-border land-grab angered local residents, who have in turn criticised hamstrung city officials for failing to stand up to Beijing.

“How could the government not be aware?” Mr Yau, a local landowner, told local media when the border breach emerged last November. Mr Yau, who did not give his first name, said he feared losing the land his family grew rice on for generations.
The waterfront near Sha Tau Kok, a village at the heart of a land dispute between Hong Kong and mainland China
The waterfront near Sha Tau Kok, a village at the heart of a land dispute between Hong Kong and mainland ChinaCredit: Sophia Yan/Telegraph

The Hong Kong government said in a statement that it was looking into the issue and that mainland personnel had agreed to refrain from using the land “until a consensus is reached on the boundary issue”.