RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/02/16/eu-must-develop-appetite-for-power-top-diplomat-says/

European Union governments need to be willing to intervene in international crises or risk prolonging paralysis in their foreign policy, the EU’s top diplomat said on Sunday.

The EU is the world’s largest trading bloc but it often fails to speak with one voice on foreign policy because its policy-making requires consensus among members. EU governments are divided on issues from Libya to Venezuela.

“Europe has to develop an appetite for power,” the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the Munich Security Conference, stressing that did not only mean military power.

“We should be able to act … not everyday making comments, expressing concern,” he told leaders, lawmakers, and diplomats.

With its economic power, the bloc has been able to boast of a “soft power,” but its influence in the world has waned, partly because US President Donald Trump’s “America First”‘ policies have undermined European priorities.

Trump’s decision to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, as well as the Paris climate accord, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital before a final peace settlement, and his criticism of NATO are at odds with European positions.

https://www.city-journal.org/france-anti-semitism

The most dangerous place to be a Jew in Europe today is France—that’s the conclusion of an as-yet unpublished, two-year report on anti-Semitism in 11 European countries, conducted by former NYPD commissioner Raymond W. Kelly for Ronald S. Lauder, the former U.S. Ambassador to Austria.

Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, has donated heavily to efforts combatting anti-Semitism in Europe and the United States. He asked Kelly, New York’s longest-serving police commissioner, to assess the growth of the anti-Semitism sweeping Europe and suggest practical ways to strengthen the security of Jewish communities and institutions.

Though the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe has been widely noted and condemned, Kelly’s report concludes that the threat to France’s 450,000 Jews—the world’s third-largest community, after Israel and the U.S.—is the most “acute.” Attacks and threats against French Jews surged 74 percent from 2017 to 2018, the report finds, and preliminary data for the first half of 2019 indicate “further intensification,” with another 75 percent increase last year. Moreover, the official estimates of some 500 attacks and anti-Semitic acts per year are “notoriously under reported,” according to the study, which contends that “no responsible individuals or even government representatives place much credence in these numbers.”

Kelly and two additional investigators, David Cohen and Mitchell D. Silber, both former senior NYPD counterterrorism officials, blame the French government for failing to respond to the almost-constant violence against and harassment of French Jews. Government funds to the Jewish community total just $3.7 million a year—“about one-fifth of what British Jews receive from their government, though France’s Jewish population is roughly double that of Britain.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15599/ouyar-hassan

For four decades, Ouyar Hassan has put up with an ochlocracy disguised as a theocracy. Wearing an Anatolian smile, he has seen Iran become the only country in the world, perhaps with the exception of Zimbabwe, poorer than it was 40 years ago. He has seen Iran top the list of infamy in the word for the number of political prisoners and executions. He has witnessed the establishment of widespread corruption not as an aberration but as a way of life. For four decades, Ouyar Hassan has turned up at polling stations to cast his vote in fake elections for an ersatz parliament and an actor playing President of the Republic.

For the first time since the mullahs seized power, almost all political groups associated with them from the beginning… have publicly called for a boycott of the polls. Even some of the so-called “moderate-reformists”, better known for their sheer opportunism than their moral courage, are calling for a boycott of the fake elections.

As usual, the authorities could try to manipulate the results in a number of ways such as refusing to register many would-be voters, pre-filling polling boxes and inflating the number of ballots cast in the provinces. Nevertheless, a massive boycott would be hard to camouflage. Such a massive refusal to play extras in a sinister masquerade would show that Ouyar Hassan is no longer prepared to let “those better than us” walk all over him.

Since the 19th century, caricature has been used to highlight in a humorous mode the key features of famous persons or even a whole nation. In the latter case, some well-known examples include Uncle Sam, with his top-hat and carefully trimmed Van Dyke, representing the United States. England is represented by John Bull with his bowler hat, belly and rosy cheeks. French are made fun of with Gaston Dupont, wearing a beret, and with a baguette under his arm and a Gauloise in his mouth, who doesn’t know whether his name should end with a D or a T neither of which are pronounced in any case. For its part, Iran is represented by Ouyar Hassan wearing a felt cap, long shirt and baggy trousers.

Ouyar Hassan, who first appeared in satirical magazines in the 1900s when 80 percent of Iranians lived in rural areas, is a peasant. He is constantly boasting about his glorious past but is terrified of his uncertain future. As for his present, his chief, not to say sole, concern is to survive on a day-to-day hand-to-mouth basis. To survive, Ouyar Hassan depends on his instincts, which dictate that he should have no opinions on anything, no expectations from anyone and, more importantly, not to antagonize the city where “those better than us” live and rule the world.

Since his first appearance, Ouyar Hassan has lived through two revolutions, two World Wars, two changes of ruling dynasty, and an eightfold increase in his nation’s population. In the meantime, Iran has been transformed into a highly urbanized country where people like Ouyar Hassan account for no more than 20 percent of the population.