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Daniel Johnson: Politics, Civilisation and Survival

Neither the Right nor the Left is doing a good job of defending, representing or embodying the values of our civilisation. Meanwhile, our public opinion is seduced by the dream of a world without enemies, by the pathologies of relativism—cultural, moral and epistemological.
The future of Western civilisation will depend on how well the present can mobilise the intellectual resources of the past to meet the challenges of the future. Today, we are threatened by an unprecedented array of external adversaries and dangers, ranging from Islamist terror and Russian or Chinese aggression to the fall-out from failed states. We also face internal threats—above all the collapse of confidence in Judeo-Christian values and democratic capitalism. Can either the Left or the Right rise to the challenge of the present crisis? Or are both political traditions mired in self-destructive mind-sets that prevent them from grasping the scale of the task, let alone reversing the decline?

I want to begin with the Right, because the crisis of conservatism in Europe, America and here in Australia seems too deep to be explained by the vagaries of individual personalities or parties. Most leaders of the centre-Right in the Western democracies appear to be the prisoners of their own anxieties: the fear of proscription by the self-appointed guardians of self-righteousness; the fear of humiliation for failure to flatter those who parade their status as victims; and the fear of oblivion for simply ignoring the clamour to do something when there is nothing useful to be done. The watchword of many a conservative statesman used to be masterly inactivity; now it is miserly depravity. There seems no place for the old-fashioned conservative who steers a steady course, is frugal and firm yet decent and honest; who, rather than pick people’s pockets, leaves their money to fructify there—in short, the John Howards of this world. When Theresa May, a strong prime minister in this tradition, took office two months ago after the vote for Brexit, she felt the need to make gestures to the nanny state: an “industrial policy” and an “equality audit”. Why does she think the British state, whose record of central planning and social engineering is lamentable, should repeat the follies of the past? Could it be that Mrs May still feels the need to appease the gods of socialism, in which nobody, least of all she, still believes? It seems scarcely credible. Yet the same phenomenon is observable everywhere. Conservatism as a living tradition, a coherent conceptual framework for freedom under the law, has been hollowed out and filled with the detritus of defunct ideologies.

Much of what is popular in so-called “populism” is drawn from the discarded stock of conservative thought, dressed up in revolutionary rhetoric. A good example is patriotism, which has always been at the heart of conservative theory and practice, but is now expressed by politicians of the centre-Right only gingerly, accompanied by apologies and caveats, leaving the demagogues with their cynical appeals to xenophobia to exploit the natural pride that people feel in their country. Two centuries ago, Samuel Johnson already made the distinction between true and false patriotism when he famously remarked: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” He probably had in mind William Pitt the Elder, the Earl of Chatham, known as the “Patriot Minister”, who was by no means a scoundrel; but we have plenty of false patriots who are. What has made them plausible, however, is the feeble expression of true patriotic pride by mainstream conservatives.

The nation-state is nothing to be ashamed of, especially those of the Anglosphere, and there is no virtue in politicians making apologies for historical events that took place before they or the putative victims were born. There is a phoniness about the way some liberal conservatives now talk about the past: for them society is no longer, in Burke’s immortal formulation, “a partnership between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born”. Instead, it is a perpetual conflict between the old and the young, the not yet past and the only just present, in which right is invariably on the side of the latter, the newcomers. It is a society in which the sagacity and generosity of age are not only denied their due, but positively excluded from consideration, in favour of the principle that the youngest are wisest. The Left is now less inclined than the Right to worship youth; the Bernie Sanders phenomenon is by no means unusual. What makes this pursuit of the ignis fatuus of novelty so counter-intuitive is that we live in ageing societies, the older members of which are both more prosperous and more likely to vote.

The ‘Taiwan Card’ Is a Busted Flush, Beijing Believes By David P. Goldman

President-elect Trump’s brief telephone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen drew a stronger reaction from the American mainstream media than it did from Beijing. The official China Daily entitled its editorial yesterday “No need to over-interpret Tsai-Trump phone call,” writing:

For Trump, it exposed nothing but his and his transition team’s inexperience in dealing with foreign affairs. If he could make the unusual action due to lack of proper understanding of Sino-US relations and cross-Straits ties he will have to recognize the significance of prudently and appropriately addressing these sensitive issues after being inaugurated.

Is Beijing just trying to put a good face on a troubling situation? Probably not, according to some perspicacious China analysts. The military balance in the region has shifted towards China’s favor since 1996, when Bill Clinton sent two aircraft carriers into the Taiwan Straits in response to Chinese missile tests. Beijing thinks the “Taiwan card” is a busted flush.

First, China probably has two different ways to sink an American carrier, through quiet diesel-electric submarines, and with carrier-killer surface-to-ship missiles. There is some controversy about China’s ability to hit a moving target in open ocean, but if China cannot do so now, it likely will develop the capacity soon.

Second, China will acquire Russia’s S-400 air defense system, with a 400-kilometer range that can sweep the skies over Taiwan. The Russian system can handle 100 targets simultaneously. The system probably will not be in place until 2018, but China is patient. Within a few years China probably will have the capacity to control both the surface and the air around Taiwan.

Iran to Trump: Death to America Will Live On by Majid Rafizadeh

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made it clear that Trump’s presidency causes “no difference” to Iran-US relationships. He called the Americans’ election “a spectacle for exposing their crimes and debacles.”

“Thank God, we are prepared to confront any possible incident.” — Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

From the perspective of Iranian moderates, reformists and hardliners, the US is not a superpower anymore; but a weak actor in the Middle East and on the global stage.

Iranian leaders also made it clear that Tehran will continue supporting Hezbollah and other groups that have been designated as terrorist groups by the US Department of State. These groups pursue anti-American and anti-Israeli agendas.

Ideologically speaking, Iran’s hardliners, primarily Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who enjoy the final say in Iran’s domestic and foreign policies, have made it clear that Iran will not change the core pillars of its religious and revolutionary establishment: Anti-Americanism and hatred towards the “Great Satan” and the “Little Satan”, Israel.

Supporters of Ayatollah Khamenei and the IRGC enthusiastically shouted “Death to America” in response to a recent speech that Khamenei gave, applauding the 1979 hostage-taking and takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran.

Iran’s major state newspapers carried anti-American headlines this week, quoting the Supreme Leader. In his latest public speech to thousands of people, which was televised via Iran’s state TV, Khamenei made it clear that Trump’s presidency will cause “no difference” to Iran-US relationships. Khamenei pointed out that, “We have no judgment on this election because America is the same America”. In his speech, Khamenei attacked President-elect Donald Trump and the American people. The Ayatollah called the US election “a spectacle for exposing their crimes and debacles.”

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL: MICHAEL ORDMAN

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Micro robots to clean pipes in the brain. Israel’s Microbot develops miniature robots for cleaning drainage pipes in the body, for example in the urethra or the brain thereby removing the necessity for surgery to replace them. Microbot has just completed its merger into Nasdaq-listed US company Stem Cell.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-microbot-completes-merger-with-stem-cell-1001163847

US approval for upright proton therapy. Israel’s P-Cure has received US FDA approval for its image-guided proton therapy solution that treats patients in a comfortable upright position. Patients to benefit from this clinical breakthrough will initially be those treated for cancers of the lung, breast, chest, the head and neck, and lower torso. http://www.israel21c.org/making-proton-therapy-available-to-more-cancer-patients/
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/09/prweb13668102.htm

Huntington’s treatment gets US approval. (TY Atid-EDI) The SD-809 (deutetrabenazine) treatment by Israel’s Teva for Huntington disease has been approved by the US FDA. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161020005246/en/Teva-Announces-FDA-Acceptance-Resubmitted-Drug-Application

Israeli tech for disabled displayed in London. Israeli charity for the disabled, Beit Issie Shapiro, organized an event at Google’s London campus in which Israeli firms explained their technology for empowering the disabled. This included the Sesame phone, robots for autistic kids and smartphone navigation of wheelchairs.
http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/israeli-innovation-helping-disabled-showcased-at-google-hq/

MDA’s underground blood center breaks ground. (TY Sarah) I reported previously (3 Apr) on the huge $25 million donation to help fund Magen David’s new underground blood services center in Ramla. The groundbreaking event for the state-of-the-art rocket-proof site took place on Nov 17.
https://afmda.org/new-110-million-israel-national-blood-center-breaks-ground/

Yad Sarah and United Hatzalah build closer ties to save lives. Shift managers from Israel’s emergency response organization United Hatzalah visited medical charity Yad Sarah’s Jerusalem headquarters to gain a better understanding of their operation. http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/485739/yad-sarah-and-united-hatzalah-increase-cooperation-to-save-lives.html

Top three medical prizes. Israeli startups took the top honors in the App Competition, during Medica, the world’s leading annual medical trade fair. UpRight won €2,000 for its app and device to optimize posture, Biop Medical came 2nd with its cervical cancer testing device. TytoCare came 3rd with its telemedicine solution.
http://www.thetower.org/4228oc-israeli-startups-take-home-top-3-prizes-for-health-apps-at-leading-intl-medical-trade-fair/

Anglo-Israel cardiovascular conference. Tiberias is hosting the 6th Anglo Israel Cardiovascular Symposium – a two-day international conference of notable cardiologists and heart surgeons from Israel and the UK. One of the symposium founders – Dr. Romeo Vecht – was previously the cardiologist for the King of Jordan.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/anglo-israel-cardiovascular-conference-defies-academic-bds/2016/12/01/

Daughter of top EU official raped and murdered in Germany – AfghanMuslim migrant admits killing

Maria Ladenburger, the daughter of a high-ranking EU official, was returning from a party in the university city of Freiburg in Germany when she was assaulted on a cycle path.

She was raped and then drowned before her body was found in the River Dreisam.

The shocking incident happened on October 16 but details have only been released after an arrest on Friday.

The suspect, an Afghan migrant, was caught after police found DNA on a scarf near the path.

The scarf reportedly belonged to Maria.

They also found a strand of hair on a nearby blackberry bush.

Officers then trawled CCTV to see find people with a similar hairstyle, which led them to the suspect.

Following his arrest the suspect, aged 17, pleaded guilty to the attack and will be sentenced next year.

However, prosecutors say he can still change his plea and it’s unknown if he has admitted raping Maria.

The unnamed migrant arrived in Germany last year as an unaccompanied minor and lived with a local family in the city.

ISIS-affiliated media post shocking graphic on conducting proper knife attacks by Lisa Daftari

A pro-Islamic State media group posted to its Telegram channel a graphic advising followers on the proper knives to use and areas to stab when conducting a knife attack.

The Yaqeen media group advises jihadis:

• Do not use a short knife

• Do not use a long knife

• Choose a good middle sized knife that does not fold

• You can stab it or cut it open or both

The graphic then advises, “These 3 places are lethal areas in the arm that can be cut,” with arrows pointing to the armpit, elbow and wrist.

A second set of arrows point to the stomach: “Soft area that can be easily cut and torn.”

This comes after Monday’s Ohio State University knife attack in which 18-year-old Abdul Razak Ali Artan rammed his car into a group then subsequently exited his vehicle and stabbed individuals with a butcher knife leaving 11 injured. Artan was then shot dead by a nearby police officer.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack Tuesday on its social media channels.

UK: Another Massive Charity Commission Whitewash by Samuel Westrop

In its report, the Charity Commission makes note of the iERA’s promotion of hate preachers, but treats the charity as a victim of such extremism, rather than an instigator.

According to the Commission, bureaucracy is the solution — the iERA’s extremism will be solved by more “adequate procedures… to prevent abuse of the charity, its status, facilities or assets.”

Those more familiar with the iERA will know that asking this Salafist charity to produce and follow its own counter-extremism plan is akin to demanding that the Ku Klux Klan introduce affirmative action hiring processes.

Extremist charities are not private institutions: charitable status affords extraordinary legal and financial benefits, including the opportunity for radical Islamist organisations to claim government subsidies. But no government should allow extremist networks to exploit charitable status. Shut these charities down, and ban those Islamist activists from ever again becoming trustees of a charitable organisation.

On November 4, the British charity regulator, the Charity Commission, published a report of its inquiry into the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA), a British Salafist group and religious training organisation. The inquiry was initially welcomed by moderate Muslim groups and counter-extremism analysts, but many will be disappointed with the Charity Commission’s recommendations.

More than a dozen pieces have been written for the Gatestone Institute examining the iERA’s links to extremism, as well as the failure of government, media and even Jewish organisations to tackle this fast-growing Salafist group. In 2014, one of these articles exclusively revealed that the “Portsmouth Five,” a notorious group of ISIS recruits from southern England, were all members of an iERA youth group.

Will Mahmoud Abbas Pay Salaries to the Arsonists? by Itamar Marcus

While Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas was accepting praise for sending Palestinian firefighters to help put out fires in Israel, the PA Finance Ministry was busy doing the paper work to start paying salaries to the Palestinian arsonists who were arrested for setting many of those same fires. So far Israel has arrested 23 suspected arsonists connected to the hundreds of fires that raged across Israel in the last week of November, burning more than 500 homes and 32,000 acres of forests and national parks. According to Palestinian law documented by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), anyone imprisoned for “resisting the occupation” receives a high monthly salary. Therefore, all of those convicted and imprisoned for arson will receive PA salaries “from the day of arrest until the day of release.”

A fire rages in central Haifa, November 24, 2015. (Image source: Haaretz video screenshot)

Of course, it is not only arson-terrorists who receive a PA salary. All Palestinian, Israeli Arab and Arab terrorists from any country who are imprisoned are rewarded with high salaries from the PA. (See PMW Special Report) According to PA law and practice, “resisting the occupation” includes any Arab imprisoned for attacking Israelis by any means, including throwing a stone at a car, driving a car into people at bus stops, building bombs for suicide bombers to blow up at cafes, or shooting and stabbing civilians to death in their sleep. Since the PA automatically includes anyone who attacked Israelis or their possessions as “fighters” who are “resisting the occupation,” there is no justification under Palestinian law and practice not to include last week’s arsonists among the Palestinian “heroes” who receive monthly salaries.

Significantly, these salaries for terrorists rise the longer terrorists are in jail. Terrorists convicted of murder and serving life sentences will reach a high salary of NIS 12,000 a month – more than four times the average Palestinian salary.

Angela Merkel: False Prophet of Europe by Vijeta Uniyal

With his initiative for tighter gun laws, to prevent weapons getting into “the wrong hands,” Justice Minister Maas does not mean to target the Islamists who pose an existential threat to Germany, but an obscure German group called the “Reichsbürger.”

As the German newspaper Bild describes the law proposed by Maas, “a 13-year-old child bride would have to testify against her husband, saying that her well-being as a child is under threat. If neither the child nor the Child Welfare Service lodges a complaint, for all practical purposes the marriage would be declared legitimate.” This law clearly does not take into account the possibility of private coercion against a child, let alone the blinding likelihood of outright threats.

Justice Minister Maas evidently cares more about “gender image” than he cares about truly oppressed women and vulnerable children. In a recently drafted new law by his ministry, Mass refused to ban child marriage.

With both France and Germany going to polls next year, there is the possibility of a democratic, peaceful “European Spring.”

In her first message to President-elect Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel lectured him on gender, racial and religious equality. As the New York Times put it, Merkel “named a price” for Germany’s cooperation with the Trump-led administration, namely the “respect for human dignity and for minorities from a man who has mocked both.”

If this was anything more than political posturing, and Chancellor Merkel truly cared about “human dignity” or the rights of those most vulnerable, she might have started closer at home.

After a year-long investigation into the mass-sexual attacks in Cologne, where an estimated 2,000 migrant men — mostly from Arab and Muslim countries — molested at least 1200 women, almost all the men have managed to walk free.

Europeans Increasingly Skeptical of the EU by Srdja Trifkovic

Excerpts from Srdja Trifkovic’s latest Sputnik Radio interview, in which he comments on the findings of a new poll which indicates that an increasing number of Europeans want their countries to leave the European Union. More than half (53%) of the respondents in Italy said they would like their government to hold a referendum on EU membership. Similar sentiments are felt in France, Germany, Spain and Poland. [Audio]
[…] We are witnessing an overall public backlash against the European Union. It is increasingly perceived not as an institution geared to facilitating the flow of goods, services and people, but as a means of political and ideological control by an elite that is alienated from ordinary people… In Italy’s case it is clear that the level of dissatisfaction with the political establishment is very high. If someone like Beppe Grillo, a comedian who has never conducted a serious campaign, gets as many votes as he did [25.5% in 2013], we are looking at a discredited establishment, where politics is seen as part joke and part tragedy.

In Poland the disenchantment is to a large extent due to the attempt by Brussels to impose immigration quotas on former Soviet bloc countries. They rebelled together, the Visegrad Group, starting with Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban, but including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland’s [prime minister] Beata Szydlo. They simply do not want to submit a key element of their sovereignty—the decision on who will reside inside their frontiers—to the unelected Eurocrats in Brussels…