FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

No more dithering over Ukraine Help Ukraine win while ensuring NATO forces do not fight the Russians Charles Lipson

Posted By on March 27th, 2022

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/no-more-dithering-over-ukraine/

The extraordinary skill, courage and effectiveness of Ukraine’s fighting forces have given the US and NATO an extraordinary opportunity to reestablish military deterrence in Europe and show the Kremlin that unprovoked military aggression will be repelled and ultimately defeated. But President Biden and NATO leaders are dithering. They are simply not acting with the urgency needed to fully support Ukraine’s military.

It’s the same failure they displayed for the year prior to the invasion, when Putin was building up tens of thousands of troops along Ukraine’s border. Even now, the US and NATO are hesitating to provide the full complement of essential weapons to Ukraine, including air-defense systems, MIG fighters and a lot more drones, anti-tank and anti-ship weapons. Those are needed now.

Putin’s threats seem to have deterred Washington and Brussels from providing the weapons Ukraine needs to take back its country. It was certainly prudent for Western powers to resist some Ukrainian demands. A no-fly zone, which Volodymyr Zelensky repeatedly sought, is too dangerous because it could lead to lethal encounters between NATO and Russian pilots. That, in turn, would risk escalation between nuclear powers. But if NATO is not going to shoot down Russian planes itself, why not give the Ukrainians the weapons to defend their own skies?

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Beau Biden Foundation rakes in millions, spends fraction on kid programs By Melissa Klein

Posted By on March 27th, 2022

https://nypost.com/2022/03/26/how-the-beau-biden-foundation-spends-its-cash/

The Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children raked in $3.9 million in 2020, but spent only a fraction of that on its purported mission to help kids, The Post has learned.

The Delaware-based charity, which was started in honor of President Biden’s late son, got an infusion of $1.8 million from the Biden Foundation before that group shut down in 2020, according to the charities’ latest tax filings. The Biden Foundation was started by Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, to champion “progress and prosperity for American families.”

The Beau Biden charity also took in $225,000 from entities tied to a top political donor and bundler to President Biden.

Despite the $2 million-plus windfall, the organization put only $544,961 in 2020 toward its stated purpose of protecting children from abuse, according to tax filings.

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

President Biden’s Putin speech in Poland is a catastrophe Michael Goodwin

Posted By on March 27th, 2022

https://nypost.com/2022/03/26/president-bidens-putin-speech-in-poland-is-a-catastrophe/

He came, he saw, he confused. 

Joe Biden’s call-to-arms speech in Poland was long on soaring rhetoric about the virtues of democracy but woefully short on what more the West will do to help Ukraine defeat the Russian invasion. But by the time he got to the finish, most of that was forgotten. 

What mattered most and what will be remembered for a long time was a single line the president of the United States said about the president of Russia: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” 

In the context of the speech and the slaughter of Ukrainian civilians, it’s impossible to understand that line as anything other than a call for regime change, a move that would dramatically raise the stakes with Russia at a time when Biden has been at pains to lower them.

It also raises the question of whether toppling Putin, a subject never before mentioned by the White House, is suddenly the new policy of the United States and NATO. 

Ah, no. 

Shortly after the speech, a Biden aide told pool reporters that “the president’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Democrats’ Common Sense Problem: Voters Think They’ve Abandoned It Ruy Teixeira

Posted By on March 27th, 2022

https://theliberalpatriot.substack.com/p/the-democrats-common-sense-problem?s=r

The Democrats are bleeding voters, particularly working class voters of all races. There are lots of reasons for this and I’ve written about some of them. One important throughline here is what we might call the common sense problem. As in, Democrats seem to have abandoned it in many areas. This helps explain why there hasn’t been a ”Trump disenchantment dividend” for the Democrats as the former President’s popularity has fallen and for that matter a “nutty GOP politicians” dividend as various Republican pols do and say fairly crazy things. Voters just aren’t sure the Democrats are that well-grounded either.

Awhile ago, I tried to codify some of voters’ common sense views and values into ten short statements to illustrate how Democrats are losing the plot relative to the median voter. I’ll go through some of them here with the aid of some new data demonstrating how widely this common sense is embraced by ordinary Americans in contrast to their rejection by woke liberal activists and some politicians associated with the Democratic party.

1. Equality of opportunity is a fundamental American principle; equality of outcome is not. Americans love equal opportunity! But lately more and more Democrats have embraced, implicitly or explicitly, the idea that we must equalize outcomes as well by emphasizing policies that promote “equity” as opposed to simple equality.

But Americans’ common sense is that opportunities should be made equal if they are not and then let people achieve as they will. There is no guarantee, nor should there be, that everyone will wind up in the same place.

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Did Biden just escalate in Ukraine? Because of the US president’s recent remarks, it is likely that this conflict will drag on by Brandon J Weichert

Posted By on March 27th, 2022

https://asiatimes.com/2022/03/did-biden-just-escalate-in-ukraine/

On Friday, reports began emanating from Russia’s military command that they were changing the objectives of what many Western analysts claim has been Moscow’s flagging invasion of Ukraine.

Whether or not the West’s instant claims that Russia had failed at the outset of its illegal invasion of its proto-democratic neighbor Ukraine, the fact remained that Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, was clearly under political pressure to succeed in Ukraine as quickly as possible.

In fact, earlier last week, it was reported that Putin had ordered his military to have the unpopular war wrapped up by May 9 – just 11 weeks after the massive invasion began – and the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War.

Meanwhile other analysts, such as this author, have fretted that the longer the conflict wore on inconclusively, the more likely the Kremlin was to order unconventional escalation involving cyberspace attacks on the United States, potential tactical nuclear strikes on NATO supply depots in Poland, and the use of chemical or biological weapons against targets of opportunity in Ukraine.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

“Oh Allah… Destroy the Jews, the Christians, the Hindus, the Russians, and the Shiites!”: The Persecution of Christians, by Raymond Ibrahim

Posted By on March 27th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18360/persecution-of-christians-february

Authorities called on ten other Muslim converts to Christianity, who were earlier cleared of all charges, to take “re-education” classes led by Islamic clerics… Earlier, the prosecutor in the case against these Christians had said that “apostasy” from Islam was punishable under Islamic law, or sharia, “and in the hereafter,” even though it was “not criminalised in the laws of Iran.” . – articleeighteen.com, February1, 2022, Iran

“It’s not clear why or how he [a Christian] came to be arrested. Other charges, relating to violations of Egypt’s cyber-crime law and using religion to promote extremist thought, were added later without offering Gerges or his defence team an opportunity to respond…. A law banning ‘insulting the heavenly religions’, criminalising blasphemy, has been repeatedly used to silence Egypt’s religious minorities….” — worldwatchmonitor.org, February 9, 2022, Egypt

“He accused me of being an infidel by converting to Christianity, and that Allah will reward them in Jannah [garden paradise] if they kill me. He said to me that it is now the right time for me to receive punishment from Allah, whereby I was going to be burned alive and the birds of the air will enjoy me as their meat….They started beating me up as others gathered firewood, while another was sent to go for petrol because they wanted to use it to burn me alive…. They found me behind the house about 100 meters away, tied and with firewood around me.” – Morningstarnews.org, February 16, 2022, Uganda

“Jihadists came by motorbike….The invaders told the Christians that “they don’t want to see crosses.” – catholicnewsagency.com, February 11, 2022, Burkina Faso

“The man, Mohammed Derrab, remains in detention for anti-conversion charges brought against him.” — –International Christian Concern, persecution.org, February 28, 2022, Algeria

“The threats come as a result of failure to comply with the 2006 ordnance that requires non-Muslim worship to operate only in licensed buildings. However, the licensing commission has yet to issue a single permit.” –International Christian Concern, persecution.org, February 28, 2022, Algeria

The following are among the abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians throughout the month of February, 2022:

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

From Guernica to Mariupol by Amir Taheri

Posted By on March 27th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18359/mariupol-guernica

To justify his invasion, Putin has cited irredentist demands coupled with kith-and-kin claims and national security interests. If adopted as acceptable behavior, Putin’s scenario would be applicable to numerous other cases across the globe.

The most obvious example is that of China, where the Communist regime can threaten Taiwan on the basis of Putin’s arguments. But the same arguments could also be used against Russia by China and Japan. Russia occupies large chunks of Chinese territory along with the Japanese Kuril Islands archipelago.

And what about Mexico trying to “liberate” California and Texas from the Yankee Imperialists?

If we adopt the Putin Doctrine, we end up with a lawless world in which Hitler’s slogan “Force is Right” operates. We would take a giant leap back into an age in which war was the principal arbiter of relations along nations.

It would be absolute folly to ignore the message of Mariupol and not to try and stop the spiral to global hell created by a senseless war.

Whatever the outcome of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the crisis it triggered may have one lasting effect: the return of war as a routine instrument of politics on a global scale.

BOOKS Comments turned off

Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage  Rep. Dan Crenshaw

Posted By on March 27th, 2022

In 2012, on his third tour of duty, an improvised explosive device left Dan Crenshaw’s right eye destroyed and his left blinded. Only through the careful hand of his surgeons, and what doctors called a miracle, did Crenshaw’s left eye recover partial vision. 

And yet, he persevered, completing two more deployments. Why? There are certain stories we tell ourselves about the hardships we face – we can become paralyzed by adversity or we can adapt and overcome. We can be fragile or we can find our fortitude. Crenshaw delivers a set of lessons to help you do just that. 

Most people’s everyday challenges aren’t as extreme as surviving combat, and yet our society is more fragile than ever: exploding with outrage, drowning in microaggressions, and devolving into divisive mob politics. The American spirit – long characterized by grit and fortitude – is unraveling. We must fix it.

That’s exactly what Crenshaw accomplishes with Fortitude. This book isn’t about the problem, it’s about the solution. And that solution begins with each and every one of us. We must all lighten up, toughen up, and begin treating our fellow Americans with respect and grace. 

Fortitude is a no-nonsense advice book for finding the strength to deal with everything from menial daily frustrations to truly difficult challenges. More than that, it is a roadmap for a more resilient American culture. With meditations on perseverance, failure, and finding much-needed heroes, the book is the antidote for a prevailing “safety culture” of trigger warnings and safe spaces. Interspersed with lessons from history and psychology is Crenshaw’s own story of how an average American kid from the Houston suburbs went from war zones to the halls of Congress – and managed to navigate his path with a sense of humor and an even greater sense that, no matter what anyone else around us says or does, we are in control of our own destiny.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Overall demographic reality west of the Jordan River Yoram Ettinger

Posted By on March 27th, 2022

https://bit.ly/3Lbac3Q

In 2022, in contrast to conventional demographic wisdom, Israel is not facing a potential Arab demographic time bomb in the combined areas of Judea, Samaria (the West Bank) and the pre-1967 Israel. In fact, the Jewish State benefits from a robust Jewish demographic tailwind. 

In 2022, the political and demographic establishment in Israel and the West persist in reverberating the official Palestinian numbers without due-diligence (auditing), ignoring a 50% artificial inflation of the population numbers.

In 2022, Israel is the only Western democracy endowed with a relatively high fertility rate, which facilitates further economic growth with no reliance on migrant labor.  Moreover, Israel’s thriving demography provides for bolstered national security (larger classes of recruits) and a more confident foreign policy.   

In 2022, for the first time – in defiance of projections made by Israel’s demographic establishment since the early 1940s – Israel’s Jewish fertility rate exceeds Israel’s Muslim fertility rate. Moreover, Israel’s Jewish fertility rate is higher than all Arab countries other than Yemen, Iraq and Egypt.

In 2022, Israel is facing a potential wave of Aliyah (Jewish immigration) of some 500,000 Olim from the Ukraine, Russia, other former Soviet republics, France, Britain, Germany, etc. 

In 2022, the Westernization of Arab demography persists as a derivative of modernity, urbanization, women’s enhanced social status, women’s enrollment in higher education and increased use of contraceptives. 

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Of Boiling and Jumping Frogs Our rulers think they have anesthetized those portions of the population they have not simply bought off. They might find that there is quite a lot of jump left in the frog yet. By Roger Kimball

Posted By on March 27th, 2022

https://amgreatness.com/2022/03/26/of-boiling-and-jumping-frogs/

“When average families can no longer pay their rent or mortgage, gas up their car, or even put food on the table, all bets are off. Our rulers think they have anesthetized those portions of the population they have not simply bought off. They might find that there is quite a lot of jump left in the frog yet. If so, they may be the ones in hot water.”

It’s said that if you toss a frog into a pot of hot water it will instantly jump out. If, however, you toss it into a pot of cold water and then very gradually increase the heat to the boiling point, the frog will linger languidly in the increasingly hot bath as it is slowly cooked alive. 

Despotic politicians who also abhor the fuss of public unrest have long noted the application of this apologue to human affairs. In early March 2020, if Anthony Fauci had said that we were about to shut down the economy for two years, force people to wear paper masks, “socially distance,” and forcibly prevent people from going to church, or visiting their dying friends and relatives, there might well have been a revolt. 

But that isn’t how it happened. Fauci and the health police got everything they wanted, they destroyed thousands of middle-class businesses, enriched the entitled class, and, more generally, made fools and peons of us all. But they did it slowly. “Two weeks to flatten the curve.” Remember that? Remember when, early on, Fauci said that it would be fine for young, healthy people to go on a cruise? Remember when he pooh-poohed the effectiveness of masks? 

Whatever else they demonstrated, the regime’s COVID policies, and the public’s response to those policies, showed that entire populations could be herded and shorn like sheep. All you needed was a public health pretext—not a genuine emergency, mind you, just a pretext—and battalions of aspiring Gauleiters willing to enforce the rules and, bang, instant and prolonged hysteria. 

Like a well masticated stick of chewing gum, COVID has lost its savor. New gambits must be devised to cow the public. “Climate change” and green energy are hardy perennials, but the economic devastation wrought by their advocates has stripped the sheen off those baubels of elite, virtue-signaling.