RUTHFULLY YOURS

Brexit, like the Trump phenomena in the U.S., was, at least in part, a consequence of elitist politicians, along with corporate and banking CEOs. Together they have constructed a crony capitalist system that works for them, but not for those they claim to represent. In granting extraordinary salaries and benefits to public union employees, they have assured themselves of money and support from that sector as well. (In America there are about 22 million government workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – 10% of all registered voters.) Western democracies no longer fit Lincoln’s description of the United States, when he spoke at Gettysburg in 1863: “…government of the people, by the people, for the people…”

President Obama has been right to point out that there is “one percent and a ninety-nine percent,” but it is not just the rich versus the poor that is the problem; it is also those that use government as a springboard for personal wealth and power, and the rest of us. The former move back and forth from Congress to K Street, from corporate offices and Wall Street to Administrations. Such movements were not unknown in years past, but never have corruption and arrogance been so widespread. Think of the Clintons, and then recall what ex-President Truman said, in response to an offer of a corporate board seat: “You don’t want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it’s not for sale.” And the same can be said for Congressional seats, Cabinet posts and Ambassadorships. The concept of service is but a distant memory. Political correctness is ubiquitous, and risks First Amendment rights. A lack of border control has caused immigration to become a wellspring of terrorism, instead of a fount of cultural diversity. It has brought multiculturalism, instead of pluralism. A recent McKinsey study noted that stagnant incomes bother people more than inequality. People in England, like the United States, are tired of the hypocrisy and lies told by politicians, alienated from those they represent.

Europe’s migration crisis remains in the news as migrants and refugees continue to flood the continent:

And as this recounting of incidents from the past week shows, wishful thinking by the European political and media elites is not resolving the problem:

France: Corsica tense after clashes between North Africans and locals over burkini pics

UK: Is missing Bradford schoolboy now a jihadist fighter?

Germany: Officials in Hamburg monitoring ‘sharia police’ patrolling city after wave of refugees

Holland: Iraqi man hacks fingers of neighbor off with machete after dispute

Scotland: How Pakistan inspired Glasgow shopkeeper killer after perceived insult to Mohammad

Scotland: Supporters shout “praise for the prophet Muhammad as Muslim ‘blasphemy’ killer is sentenced

Denmark: Iranian asylum seeker threatens bombing of refugee center where he was staying

Germany: After four Islamist attacks authorities racing to figure out how to help youth before they radicalize

UK: British man convicted of making offensive comments about Muslims on Facebook

France: Police warn jihadi terrorists could be hiding in Britain-bound refugees in Calais

Greece: Yazidis targeted for genocide by ISIS being persecuted in refugee camps

Sweden: Somali migrant who stabbed asylum worker to death sentenced to psychiatric care

Italy: Milan overrun by ‘invasion’ of thousands of immigrants

Germany: Police arrest Syrian refugee after tip he was planning ‘Islamist-inspired attack’

Belgium: Manhunt for jihadi teen who called for extermination of Christians

Switzerland: Rise in number of child victims of forced marriage

Hungary: 3000 extra police dispatched to help protect border

UK: Home Office guidelines say Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members qualify for asylum

France: Teen cleared of being ‘third man’ in Charlie Hebdo attack arrested for trying to join ISIS

Belgium: Algerian man who stabbed two Charleroi police officers wasn’t deported despite two deportation orders

Holland: Two Turkish men assaulted by Erdogan supporters in Amsterdam

UK: London schoolgirl turned ‘jihadi bride’ killed in Syrian airstrike

Austria: Authorities see rise in attacks by asylum seekers

Belgium: Liege neighborhood on lockdown after man of ‘Turkish origin’ roams streets with machete day after terror attack

Germany: Federal chief of domestic intelligence says Islamists use refugee camps for recruitment, 340+ cases so far

Italy: Tunisian national deported after planning bombing attack on Leaning Tower of Pisa

France: Terrifying moment Calais migrants ambush British van driver with metal bars

Germany: Video of migrants clashing with police in Berlin goes viral

UK: Prime Minister May allowed terror suspect wanted in two bombings in India and killing of schoolgirl to remain in country

Sweden: Summer inferno of sexual assaults, almost all coming from Afghanistan, Eritrean and Somali refugees

Belgium: Police arrest three new terror suspects during raids in Brussels

Germany: Intelligence warns of ISIS hit squads among refugees

UK: Election fraud in Muslim-majority areas of London becoming a problem aided by political correctness, report claims

Sweden: Eight immigrants convicted of murder in restaurant attack, tried to kill 25

Italy: Pro-migrant group calls off rally after weapons found on protesters

France: Malian expelled on suspected jihadist links, 81 such expulsions since 2012

UK: Imams using prisons to radicalize recruits

XXXI Olympiad competitors are joyfully showcasing their skills and sportsmanship, while delighted fans revel in their amazing efforts. But opening ceremonies featuring colorful history, dance, song and athletes were rudely interrupted by an unprecedented propaganda film.

As audiences around the world were getting pumped up in eager anticipation for the upcoming events, a slick but deceitful video soured the mood by inserting partisan climate change politics.

Fossil fuels are warming our planet, and the manmade heat is melting its ice caps, narrators intoned. Animated maps showed Greenland “disappearing very quickly” and Amsterdam, Dubai, Miami, Shanghai, Lagos and Rio being swallowed up by rising seas.

Well, yes, if average global temperatures really did soar 4 degrees Celsius (7.5 Fahrenheit), and if all of Greenland’s ice melts, oceans certainly could rise 20 feet and other terrible things certainly could happen.

But wild assumptions, computer models and animations are not reality. Few of us are really worried about being eaten by raptors and Tyrannosaurs cloned from DNA in fossilized amber, even though Jurassic Park sure made them look real. Ditto for Hollywood sharks, werewolves, cave monsters – and global warming.

In the Real World outside the animators’ windows, average planetary temperatures barely budged for 18 years. After climbing a headline-grabbing 0.55 degrees C (1 deg F) in 2015, a strong El Niño year, they plummeted a media-ignored 0.5 degrees C the first seven months of 2016, as La Niña approached. That’s a far cry from the 4/7.5 temperature spike that animated the animators’ fear-mongering. The sun has entered a low-sun-spot phase, possibly heralding a new colder period for Planet Earth.

It’s instructive to know what the enemy thinks, even if it could be seen as giving them oxygen.

And north of the Border this weekend a branch of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign has been holding an anti-Israel hatefest, where foot soldiers of the Israel-demonising movement got to see some of their idols up close and personal.

But not this idol:

Needless to say, the chieftain attended:

Representative videos.

More here

And Israel-haters get to roleplay in Edinburgh, goodies and baddies, Palestinians versus the IDF (still from the video spruiked by Chieftain Mick):

At the level of regional strategy, Egypt has a central role in the anti-Iran coalition of Sunni Arab states, which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE. The violence of the Arab Spring brought to the fore the inevitable confrontation between a revisionist, aggressive Shi’ite Iran and the Arab countries deploying to defend themselves against Iranian aggression, mainly in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Africa.

There might, however, be a confrontation — unfortunately with the United States. Even as the Iranians proceed with developing nuclear weapons and using proxies to destabilize the Arab and Muslim states, the American shoulder grows colder towards both Israel and the el-Sisi government in Egypt. The current U.S. administration is known throughout the Middle East for empowering its enemies and being treacherous to its friends.

The traditional Arab stance, used by autocratic leaders to bamboozle their dissatisfied populace by pointing them at an external villain instead of at our own leaders, has clearly begun to change. Israel as the greatest enemy, is, correctly, being replaced by Iran.

The presence of the Egyptian foreign minister in Israel last month came as a surprise to many. Critical Egyptian public opinion and the Egyptian media indicate that, in the years since the Israeli-Egyptian peace was signed, the formal agreement has yet to trickle into public consciousness and that there is still considerable suspicion on both sides of the border. The same is true of the peace between Israel and Jordan.

Under the reign of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, relations had reached a new low, with Egypt covertly aiding Iran’s proxy, Hamas, against Israel.

The visit of Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to Israel in early July 2016 could be an indication that the frozen peace between Israel and Egyptians, signed by Begin and Sadat in 1979, might be thawing.[1]

At the level of regional strategy, Egypt has a central role in the anti-Iran coalition of Sunni Arab states, which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE. The violence of the Arab Spring brought to the fore the inevitable confrontation between a revisionist, aggressive Shi’ite Iran and the Arab countries deploying to defend themselves against Iranian aggression, mainly in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Africa.