RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.newsweek.com/lets-scare-china-help-ourselves-our-friends-same-time

Americans blame China for the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether the virus was manufactured in a lab, was part of a bio-weapons program, derived from the “wet markets,” or something else, it is clear that Chinese government activity and deliberate obfuscation, arrests of scientists and deletion of crucial information has cost the world millions of lives impacted and countless economies damaged.

China has, as yet, paid no price. And that, inevitably, emboldens tyrannical regimes in their pursuit of dictatorial rule at home and abroad. It was true of the Soviet Union, and it is true of China.

Xi Jinping, China’s despot, has taken advantage of the necessary inward turn of Western national governments to increase China’s hold on Hong Kong, passing the “Security Law” that, in violation of the terms of the end of Britain’s lease on the island colony, puts Beijing in direct control. Early reports indicate that four activities are criminalized: secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign or external forces.

Those words should be inside quotation marks because all are subject to very wide interpretation. Communist legal interpretations, in particular, differ greatly from those of free societies. In this case, they will be interpreted by a nominally Hong Kong-led national security commission, with a Beijing-appointed advisor. Beijing will have the power to extradite people to the mainland for adjudication of the above national security crimes. It appears that “violators” (protesters) of the law can receive life in prison; the minimum term is 10 years.

In May, when it appeared that the law would pass, the Trump administration said it would no longer consider Hong Kong to be separate from China—thus ending the special economic, customs and travel status of which China has taken advantage. Taiwan, the United Kingdom and Canada announced that they would permit up to millions of people to come to their countries, if necessary.

https://www.meforum.org/61173/turkey-and-qatar-love-in-bloom?utm_source=Middle+East+Forum&utm_campaign=32ec283bff-MEF_Bekdil_2020_07_01_07_23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_086cfd423c-32ec283bff-33723125&goal=0_086cfd423c-32ec283bff-33723125&mc_cid=32ec283bff&mc_eid=bb334ea86b

Few Qataris who fought the Ottoman colonialists to gain their independence in 1915 and end the 44-year-long Turkish rule in the peninsula would ever have imagined that their grandchildren would become Turkey’s closest strategic allies.

Qatar, a tiny but extremely wealthy sheikdom, has a constitution based on sharia (Islamic religious law), while Turkey’s constitution is strictly secular (officially, if not in practice). In Qatar, flogging and stoning—unthinkable in Turkey—are legal forms of punishment. In Qatar, apostasy is a crime punishable by death, while in Turkey it is not a criminal offense.

But the ideological kinship between the two Sunni Muslim countries, which is based on passionate political support for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood (and a religious hatred of Israel), seems to have produced a bond that threatens Western interests.In 2014 Turkey and Qatar signed a strategic security agreement that gave Ankara a military base in the Gulf state, which is already home to the largest US air base in the Middle East (al-Udeid). Turkey stationed some 3,000 ground troops at its Qatari base in addition to air and naval units, military trainers, and special operations forces.

https://amgreatness.com/2020/06/30/wall-street-journal-reporter-daniel-pearls-murderer-headed-for-release/

The New York Post reports that a British-born man sentenced to death for kidnapping and beheading Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl could walk free.

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was found guilty of masterminding Pearl’s murder, and sentenced to death in 2002. He has been in jail ever since awaiting the outcome of a series of appeals and legal arguments. His death sentence was overturned in April after Pakistani prosecutors failed to prove he was the killer, The Guardian reported at the time.

“The court has commuted Omar’s death sentence to a seven-year sentence. The murder charges were not proven, so he was given seven years for the kidnapping. Omar has already served 18 years, so his release orders will be issued sometime today. He will be out in a few days,” defense lawyer Khawaja Naveed told Reuters back in April, according to The Guardian.

Pearl’s family, the U.S. Government and media rights groups were outraged over the decision and appeals were filed to reverse the ruling, the outlet reported.

In response, Saeed Sheikh was instead held on a 90-day detention order, expiring Thursday, under a public ordinance that allows defendants to be held in custody longer if their release could lead to violence and chaos, the outlet reported.

However, Pakistan’s supreme court refused a government request to suspend the lower court’s decision to release Saeed Sheikh on Monday and refused to promptly hear an appeal on the ruling, which is now scheduled for Sept. 25, the outlet said.

Pakistan’s prosecutor, Faiz Shah, declined to say whether they will seek an order extending Saeed Sheikh’s detention, meaning the man could be walking free as early as Thursday, the outlet reported.

“The prosecution’s cases are won or lost not on the basis of emotion, they are won or lost on the basis of evidence and in this case the prosecution did a woeful job,” Mahmood Sheikh, Saeed Sheikh’s lawyer, no relation, told The Guardian.

“If Daniel Pearl’s parents have any grievance or complaint it should be against the Pakistani authorities for the prosecution’s failings.”

In January 2002, Pearl was an intrepid journalist investigating Islamic militants in Karachi when he was kidnapped by Saeed Sheikh. He was eventually beheaded in a filmed execution that was shared around the world, according to The New York Post.