RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18856/erdogan-turkey-russia

Erdoğan is bringing NATO member Turkey more and more into Russia’s orbit.

Turkey is once again blackmailing the U.S. that “it would further deepen its defense cooperation with Russia if Congress blocks its request to buy 40 F-16 Block 70 fighter jets from the U.S.”

“Europe Should Be Grateful to Erdoğan”: The quote is the praise Russian dictator Vladimir Putin bestowed upon Turkey’s Islamist strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Translated into realpolitik, what Putin is saying is: “Russia is grateful to Erdoğan’s anti-Western ideology.” He is right. Erdoğan is bringing NATO member Turkey more and more into Russia’s orbit.

Erdoğan is overtly challenging the alliance of which his country is a member. Here is a brief account of how Erdoğan steered Turkey further away from Western interests, in favor of his Eurasian adventurism, in just a couple of months:

In early July, Erdoğan told a group of top party executives that Putin, during a meeting in Tehran, suggested a deal in which Turkish drone maker Baykar, whose chief engineer is Erdoğan’s son-in-law, cooperates with Russia. “Putin told me that he wants to work with Baykar,” Erdoğan said.
At the end of July, a Russian state-owned company was caught transferring money to a subsidiary that is building a $20 billion nuclear power plant on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, thereby alleviating concerns that the project could be delayed by war sanctions. Rosatom Corp. sent around $5 billion to the Turkey-based builder, formally known as Akkuyu Nuclear JSC.
The beginning of August. Putin proudly announced that the trade between Russia and Turkey doubled in the first five months of 2022, and had surged 57% in the last year.
After a face-to-face meeting with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Erdoğan said that Turkey would now pay Russia in rubles for its natural gas purchases. Meanwhile, Erdoğan happily accepted Putin’s invitation to join the September meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Uzbekistan. The SCO, launched in 2001, consists of Eurasian member states and declares its mission as combating radicalism and other security concerns in China, Russia and four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics.
As part of the Sochi deal, Erdoğan announced, five Turkish banks adopted Russia’s Mir payments system, another blow to Western sanctions on Russia. Turkey had earlier abstained from joining the U.S. and Europe’s sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.
In a joint statement after the Sochi summit, Erdoğan and Putin “reaffirmed their determination to act in coordination and solidarity in the fight against all terrorist organizations in Syria.” Shortly after that statement, the Turkish government stepped up its lethal drone attacks against U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria ahead of a threatened full-scale invasion. A Turkish drone attack was reported to have killed four people in a town on the Syria-Turkey border.
Dmitri Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said that “Military-technical cooperation between the two countries is permanently on the agenda, and the very fact that our interaction is developing in this sensitive sphere shows that, on the whole, the entire range of our interrelations is at a very high level.”
A few days after Peskov’s opaque statement, Dmitry Shugayev, the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said that a contract had been signed to deliver a second shipment of the S-400 missile system to Turkey, with the production of some components to be localized [some parts made locally] in Turkey. Now that is a real challenge.

Turkey had earlier been expelled from the U.S.-led, multinational partnership that builds the F-35 fifth-generation fighter jet, and been taken under the scope of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/charles-in-charge/

“In any event, could Charles ever possibly be the kind of monarch his mother was – perfectly proper, totally disciplined, always at a lofty but at the same time somehow humble remove? Well, his manifest grief over her death has certainly won him a great deal of good will, both at home and abroad. And his promise to put his pet causes behind him, the good (support for traditional architecture) along with the bad (climate change and, good God, homeopathy) was a relief. But there’s reason to fear that he won’t be keeping that promise for long. In a September 17 address to a gathering of “faith leaders” at Buckingham Palace, he spoke of his “duty to protect the diversity of our country by protecting a space for faith itself.” He came very close to apologizing for his own Anglicanism and for the Anglican oaths he would take at his coronation. From any other freshly installed king, this little speech might sound like routine stuff; but Charles isn’t just any king. He’s a king, alas, with a long history of intense admiration for Islam.”

Yes, I watched the queen’s obsequies on Monday from start to finish – first the funeral at Westminster Abbey, then the committal service at Windsor, and in between the magnificent procession through the fabled streets of London. And yes, I was moved. And impressed. Never in our lifetimes has there been such a remarkable ceremonial display. It made the opening and closing ceremonies of any given OIympics look like the grand opening of a carwash. And for me the day’s events, which I viewed mostly on GB News, were greatly enhanced by the contributions of various historians and royal know-alls, above all the brilliant David Starkey.

Born and raised in America, I never had much truck with royalty. Yes, I was fascinated by the history of the English monarchs – especially the Tudors, Starkey’s specialty. But except for a brief, weird flirtation, back when I lived in Amsterdam, with the Dutch queen Beatrix, who has since abdicated, I always had a proper republican allergy to the idea of ordinary people – “subjects”! – bowing down to their purported betters. The whole set-up wasn’t just inequitable and outrageously unfair to taxpayers – why should British citizens support a so-called “royal family” who live not just in one 775-room palace but in several of them, apparently for variety’s sake? – but also to the royals themselves, who are doomed by an accident of birth to live exceedingly unnatural lives combining privilege on an unimaginable scale with a degree of inhuman deprivation, on a number of fronts, that would be considered cruel and unusual punishment if imposed on death-row murderers.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18892/iran-acquires-25-million-acres-of-venezuela

The land grant will ostensibly be used to grow staple crops… Iran’s current use of Venezuela, however…, combined with Iran’s militia, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), raise the possibility that Iran and its surrogate terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah and Hamas , might be using the vast acreage for military and terrorist operations.
The land grant will ostensibly be used to grow staple crops…allowing water-starved Iran to better feed its population. Given Iran’s current use of Venezuela, however… a branch of Iran’s armed forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and its terrorist ally, Hezbollah, could be using the acreage for military and terrorist operations.
The Maduro regime has apparently been so welcoming to Iranian intelligence agents that some of Hezbollah’s long-established Latin American network at the tri-border nexus of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay has been overtaken by Hezbollah activities on Venezuela’s Margarita Island, [a tourist area] northeast of the country’s mainland.
Iran, along with the Chinese Communist Party, is in the process of strengthening Venezuela’s military against the US, for instance by deliveries of combat drones , considered a threat by Columbia.
Iran’s alliance with Venezuela most importantly provides Tehran with opportunities to target US interests in Latin America and potentially the southern United States.
China, Russia and Iran were reported to be running war drills in Latin America last month. According to The Centre for a Secure Free Society, this is a “strategic move that seeks to preposition forward deployed military assets in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Iran, along with Venezuela, seems to be using its influence with Latin American regimes to develop an anti-US coalition in America’s backyard. In addition, Commercial satellite imagery in late May, 2021, confirmed the presence of seven Iranian naval attack boats on the deck of the Makran, an Iranian fast attack craft.
Iran’s massive interference in Venezuela’s affairs should raise concerns about the hemisphere’s democracies and whether Caracas is still sovereign.
Iran and Venezuela also appear to have established an air bridge between Tehran and Caracas. The flights are manned by an Iranian crew and enable both regimes to maintain secrecy in the possible global transport of weapons and terrorist operatives.
Tehran’s cooperation with Venezuelan intelligence agencies, although less visible, is also intense. The Islamic Republic’s support for Hezbollah terrorist operations is pervasive throughout Latin America.
Occasionally Iranians have been apprehended by US border guards illegally crossing America’s long, porous border with Mexico. These illegal aliens could be fulfilling passive missions such as filling up Iran’s Hezbollah cells in the U.S., while others could be commissioned to execute intelligence or terrorist-support operations.
Latin America’s Iranian Hezbollah network appears poised to strike democratic interests throughout the hemisphere.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18908/world-economic-forum

No matter how noble its stated intentions, the “Great Reset” is at its heart a program for driving political power away from individual citizens and toward the controlling interests of a small international class of financial elites…. For citizens to reclaim power, they must not only embrace the basics of free markets once again but also rekindle a fondness for questioning the motivations of political authorities.

It is not just kings, generals, and popes who possess great power. Wherever a person, group, or institution is capable — through enticement, coercion, or brute force — of bending an individual’s free will, the structures and instruments of power exist. A local school board, after all, may well have more immediate and intimate influences over a person’s family than the United Nations Human Rights Council and its revolving door of despots who tend to promulgate international resolutions shielding their own crimes.

Limited regulation keeps the costs of market transactions low. Respect for private property and fair and impartial application of commercial laws encourage capital investment. Refraining from taxing the fruits of an individual’s labor fosters an exponentially more productive labor force. Providing populations with the tools to pursue and obtain knowledge and skills at minimal expense promotes not only an educated workforce but also politically competent citizens.

The small number of multinational corporations that control most television and print news sources around the globe also control the sociological levers capable of manufacturing or shifting public opinion. Power in any form — political, economic, cultural, spiritual… must always be guarded against as a potential foe.

“The welfare of the people has always been the alibi of tyrants….” — Albert Camus, Resistance, Rebellion and Death.

The great mass murderers of the twentieth century attest to this truth. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, and Mao killed tens of millions, but they did so, they assured the world, not for their own glory but for the benefit of “the people.”

It is no secret that money influences politics, no matter how profusely politicians may assert their civic independence from the lobbyists and benefactors filling their campaign war chests.

Tens of thousands of laws, rules, and regulations make it nearly impossible for any entrepreneur to navigate markets without inadvertently committing infractions or becoming a future target of an ever-growing army of regulatory code enforcers. Citizens are taxed on their wages, incomes, purchases, property, investments, improvements, sales, etc., and should they still possess anything of worth upon their ultimate demise, some agent of the State is likely to take one final cut of their bequeathed estates. The same unit of labor is thus taxed repeatedly along the government’s conveyor belt of confiscation.

Notably, today’s plutocrats have little interest in truly free markets…. The World Economic Forum, for instance, demands governments take urgent action to combat or address climate change, cybersecurity, online misinformation, artificial intelligence, overpopulation, the use of hydrocarbon energy, farm ownership, food supplies, the elimination of private vehicle ownership, and the imposition of citizen control protocols to defend against future pandemics. Regulation of people and markets is now of paramount importance to those with wealth and power.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18906/iran-cyber-attacks

The small country of Albania appeared to have more courage and stronger leadership than the Biden administration: it recently sent a strong message to the Iranian regime after Iran’s cyberattacks against Albania in July. Albania severed diplomatic relations with Tehran and ordered Iranian diplomats and embassy staff to leave within 24 hours.

“This extreme response… is fully proportionate to the gravity and risk of the cyberattack that threatened to paralyze public services, erase digital systems and hack into state records, steal government intranet electronic communication and stir chaos and insecurity in the country”. — Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Reuters, September 7, 2022.

“The IRGC clearly makes the country one of the best and most advanced nations when it comes to cyberwarfare. In a case of escalation between Iran and the West, Iran will likely aim to launch a cyberattack against critical infrastructures in the US and its allies, (targeting) energy infrastructure, financial institutions and transportation systems.” — Institute for National Security Studies.

Cyber warfare could have consequences at least as severe as military actions: cyberattacks can take control of or disrupt an entire nation’s infrastructure — public services, hospitals, transportation, internet, municipal or governmental institutions, the energy sector, steal people’s private information, take control of another country’s missiles, unmanned vehicles (drones), and even its military’s intelligence, command, control and communications.

That is just what the West needs: the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism and cyberattacker extraordinaire, soon to have an unlimited quantity of nuclear weapons, precision ballistic missiles to deliver them, and up to a trillion dollars – and in a deal negotiated by — of all countries — Russia! And the US government seriously thinks that this mix will prevent war? Let us instead follow the example of spunky Albania, punish bad behavior rather than reward it, and make sure that Biden’s atrocious new “Iran deal,” reportedly “off the table at least for the time being,” is off the table forever.

Not only is the Biden administration is turning a blind eye to the Iranian regime’s terror activities and plots abroad, it has also been completely silent about the mullahs’ escalating cyberattacks.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18907/european-energy-in-crisis

In response to Russia severely restricting or cutting off gas supplies, EU governments will take dramatic actions over the coming months. Germany recently announced it would keep two of the nuclear plants it was shuttering as backups, just in case. EU leaders will then go back to the voters and describe the amazing job they did while failing to mention they were the ones who made the decisions that put their countries in this crisis in the first place.

The entire current crisis was avoidable if the EU had developed a rational plan instead of one based on a daydream, no matter how enticing.

The U.S. needs urgently to examine what is happening in Europe and develop a rational energy transition plan. Any long-term solution must include strategies for reliable power production, affordable sustainable energy and a massively strengthened electrical grid.

Europe’s plan was built on the hope that consumers would accept higher prices, that Russia and Putin would be reliable, and that battery storage technology would be robust enough to cover the times when “the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.”

This strategy, sadly always doomed to failure, provides a cautionary tale for “solutions” based solely on hope.

The U.S. should not repeat the same mistakes as the EU by continuing down a path that cuts domestic fossil fuel production, bans gasoline-powered vehicles, and ignores that the power generation capacity and energy infrastructure are not in place to achieve an unrealistic and unfortunately unsustainable green agenda.

Europe is facing a growing energy crisis. Individuals and industries are being battered by rising energy costs. On August 31, Russia shut down the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to Germany for initially what was supposed to be 72 hours, but followed by an announcement of “technical difficulties” that would prevent a resumption. Russian energy giant Gazprom also announced that natural gas supplies to French energy company Engie SA would be immediately reduced. These actions have created significant uncertainty and the threat of much higher energy prices in Europe as the cold winter season approaches.