RUTHFULLY YOURS

The death of Tariq Aziz has affected people in different ways. George Galloway — an old friend of the former Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq — naturally mourned him. Channel 4 newscaster Jon Snow felt that Aziz had been a “nice guy in a nasty situation”. Nobody much seemed to recall that Aziz had been at the heart of a regime which killed more Muslims than any other in modern times. But apart from that, his death brought only one other thing to mind — an object lesson in misreading your opponents.

After his capture Aziz was questioned by both coalition and Iraqi representatives. Segments of these sessions were released years ago and included a nugget of Aziz’s surprise at the UK joining the war against Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003. One reason for his surprise was that he knew the Archbishop of Canterbury had opposed the war. You can see how he got there. Leading cleric of the established church: how could any government ignore such a force? Everyone now knows how much the US and UK misread the Iraqi regime in 2003. But the misreading was regrettably mutual.

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I recently signed up to Netflix in the hope of finding things to watch when wishing to relax. Inevitably I go straight to “documentaries” and watch a newish film called The Last Nazis. The filmmakers — youngish men and women — are ostensibly in search of the few remaining Nazi criminals and on their “journey” find one old man who tells them that he can remember nothing while plying them with drink and another who gives them a meal while playing a sweet old man act. They fail to discover anything about their subjects and — ill-briefed and apparently unwilling to ask any probing questions — they plainly cannot do their job. The film is a dud, a wash-out: they didn’t get the story.

Except that then you realise that in their view they did. For this is not about the Nazis, it is all about them.

The family goes nuclear: Chinese birthrates have defied the one-child policy, with up to 30 per cent of births uncounted

Beijing is Brobdingnag peopled by Lilliputians. The superhuman scale of its buildings and public spaces, starting with the Great Hall of the People abutting Tiananmen Square, is calculated to overwhelm rather than uplift. Its main urban arteries are freeways that pedestrians can traverse only by bridge, with businesses displaced onto access roads. People dress to blend in, not to stand out. The surface impression reinforces every Western prejudice about conformist, colourless China. But the first impression is woefully wrong.

France preparing to resume business with Iran- Foreign minister will reportedly travel to Tehran quickly if accord signed; 100 companies plan September delegation.

France is gearing up for the resumption of its substantial economic dealings with Iran, under the assumption that a nuclear agreement with Tehran is likely in the near future, Reuters reported Monday night.

Around 100 French companies are reportedly planning to participate in a delegation to Tehran in September to review business opportunities in the Islamic republic.

And a French diplomat told Reuters that Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius planned to visit the Iranian capital soon after an agreement is signed in a bid to normalize relations.

Jimmy Carter Tries To Rewrite Israel’s History by David Harsanyi
The former president wants to take credit for Middle East peace. To do so he has to skip over a momentous historic event.

Jimmy Carter’s new book, “A Full Life: Reflections at 90” is a breezy and predictable reminiscence of the 39th president’s life, from his rural Georgia upbringing to his post-presidential charitable work. You should take it out of the library. I can’t admit to reading every word, but I did have a particular interest in the parts focusing on Carter’s perception of his own presidency. And, as you might have guessed, according to Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter is one of the dynamic and indispensable leaders this country has ever known.

HURRY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST

You can’t buy a Confederate flag on Amazon.com any longer even though it is a part of our history. (The flag was designed by the late Democratic Congressman, William Porcher Miles of South Carolina and first hoisted above the Capitol Dome by Democratic Governor, Fritz Collins, in 1962.

However, here are some of the things you CAN buy on Amazon:

1) An “I Love Hezbollah” Infant Bodysuit

CafePress I Love Hezbollah Infant Creeper Infant Bodysuit

by CafePress

$19.99

2) A Hamas flag

HAMAS FLAG, 3’x5′ PLO Palestine banner, Green

by Islam

$19.99$8.47+ $4.49 shipping

Today, the latest publicity stunt by pro-Palestinian activists ended harmlessly as the Israel Navy intercepted a ship off the coast of Gaza that was attempting to break the blockade of the strip in order to draw attention to what is passengers claim is a humanitarian crisis. But, like previous Gaza flotillas, the effort has little to do with the plight of the people of Gaza and everything to do with the long war being waged to end Israel’s existence. More to the point, the continued focus on Gaza by those calling themselves advocates for human rights at the very moment that a genuine human catastrophe is occurring inside Syria without much of response from the international community tells us all we need to know about the hypocrisy of Israel-bashers.

The fact that it was Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who today pointed out the fact that flotillas aren’t sailing to Syria doesn’t make it any less valid. Hundreds of Syrians have been slaughtered by the Assad regime that is backed by Iran and Hezbollah terrorists with more being killed by its tacit ISIS allies. The carnage has created millions of refugees who are living in squalor inside the country or in camps in neighboring Jordan.

DEIR EL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — One bomb hit a Hamas security checkpoint in northern Gaza. A few days later, another exploded in a trash can. Another blew up next to a Gaza City high-rise, and a small one targeted a chicken store owned by a Hamas intelligence official, Saber Siyam.

The four attacks in May — among at least a dozen this year, documented by a local human rights group — were aimed not at infidels, collaborators or criminals but at the ruling Islamist group, Hamas. The suspected perpetrators were Hamas’s emerging rivals: extremist Islamist groups that see Hamas as insufficiently pious, and that vow loyalty to the Islamic State.

While the extremists are unlikely to challenge Hamas’s firm grip on the Gaza Strip in the foreseeable future, they complicate matters by occasionally shooting rockets into Israel that could touch off a wider conflagration, if the rockets kill or maim Israeli citizens.

The Obama administration has clearly stated it will not enforce the ant-boycott language of the Trade Bill it signed, which extends protection to the disputed territories.

This week the United States officially put on notice its trade partners that it will not countenance boycotts or other economic warfare against Israel.

After signing the relevant trade legislation into law, however, the White House signaled to all its trade partners that they are still free to boycott goods made in the disputed territories, despite the clear language of the legislation the president signed.

Shutting down the background check system of the Office of Personnel Management employees will do little to prevent the abuse of millions of personal files of former, current and wannabe government workers that have already been stolen. But a shutdown was ordered anyway. Incredibly, OPM Director Katherine Archuleta described the shutdown as a “proactive, temporary suspension.” Proactive? After millions of files were compromised?

The shutdown, reportedly, will last 4-6 weeks or longer to allow the OPM investigation into the hacking of its systems and supposedly to minimize its vulnerability to future cyber attacks.

In hearings before Congress, OMP officials’ explanations of their system’s vulnerability to cyber attack were alarming. They suggest that most, if not all, government cybersecurity efforts are next to meaningless.

Among the columns today is “The Left vs. Robert E. Lee By Greg Richards…. “. It brought to mind one of the best biographies I ever read many years ago.

LEE by Douglas Southall Freeman (Author), Richard Harwell (Editor), James M. McPherson (Foreword) Read it before it is expunged by the frenzied folk who wish to erase any unbiased accounting of one of the great and noble generals of the Civil War.

http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Douglas-Southall-Freeman-ebook/dp/B001D1UO7Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435659920&sr=1-1&keywords=douglas+southall+freeman

“Douglas Southall Freeman’s Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Robert E. Lee was greeted with critical acclaim when it was first published in 1935. Stephen Vincent Benét said “There is a monument—and a fine one—to Robert E. Lee at Lexington. But this one, I think, will last as long.” This reissue of Richard Harwell’s abridgment fulfills Benét’s prophecy, chronicling all the major aspects and highlights of the general’s military career, from his stunning accomplishments in the Mexican War to the humbling surrender at Appomattox.

More than just a military leader, Lee embodied all the conflicts of his time. The son of a Revolutionary War hero and related by marriage to George Washington, he was the product of young America’s elite. When Abraham Lincoln offered him command of the United States Army, however, he choose to lead the confederate ranks, convinced that his first loyalty lay with his native Virginia. Although a member of the planter class, he felt that slavery was “a moral and political evil.” Aloof and somber, he nevertheless continually inspired his men by his deep concern for their personal welfare.

Freeman’s achievement is the full portrait of a great American—a distinguished, scholarly, yet eminently readable classic that has linked Freeman to Lee as irrevocably as Boswell to Dr. Johnson.”