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July 2023

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Palestinian state – consistent with US interests? Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger

By on July 5th, 2023

http://bit.ly/44cJNfV

According to the late Prof. John Galbraith, the enemy of conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of facts, which may expose conventional wisdom as useless or dangerous.  Prof. Galbraith also suggests that conventional wisdom does not accommodate itself to the real world, but to a certain view of the world.

Indeed, the march of Middle East facts has exposed the alarming flaws of the Palestinian-oriented Western conventional wisdom, which has attempted to reshape Middle East reality in accordance with its own worldview.

For example:

*Since 1948, contrary to Western conventional wisdom, Arab countries have never flexed their military (and barely their financial and diplomatic) muscle on behalf of the Palestinian cause, as evidenced by the July 2023 war/battle between Israel and Palestinian terrorism, the previous 2021, 2014, 2012 and 2008 wars against Gaza Palestinian terrorism, as well as the 2nd (2000-2005) and 1st (1987-93) Intifada and the (1982) war against the PLO in Lebanon.

*Since 1948, Middle East reality has demonstrated that in contradiction of Western conventional wisdom, Arab national interests transcend – and often conflict with – the Palestinian issue. Therefore, no Arab-Israel war (1948/49, 1956, 1967 and 1973) erupted due to – or on behalf of – the Palestinian issue. Moreover, the six Israel-Arab peace accords with Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and the Sudan were concluded because they bypassed the Palestinian issue, eliminating the Palestinian veto power, which has been enshrined by Western conventional wisdom, torpedoing all Western peace proposals.

*Moreover, no Israel-Arab peace treaty has been suspended due to Israel’s wars/battles against Palestinian terrorism. Arabs concluded peace with Israel, in order to advance their own interests, and do not sacrifice these interests on the altar of Palestinian interests.

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Should US Troops Stay in Syria? by Lawrence A. Franklin

By on July 5th, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19775/us-troops-syria

The primary agenda of the Russian-Iranian meeting was reportedly “to discuss expelling the United States from Syria, which may indicate Russia’s intent to facilitate Iranian-backed attacks on US forces.”

Above all, the US presence is important as a blocking force to deny Iran an uninterrupted land bridge to Lebanon and the eastern Mediterranean, and to check the Iranian regime’s long-term expansionist dream of “exporting the revolution.”

Iran already effectively controls three countries in addition to its own – Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen – and has been broadening its influence throughout Latin America.

Any drawdown of the US troop presence at al-Tanf will also tempt adversarial “great powers” in Syria — such as Iran, Russia and especially Turkey — to attack US allies in the region, starting with the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The US presence, in addition, greatly helps safeguard the liberty of countless Syrians from the tyrannical Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad…

The pro-democratic forces in Syria and border regions in Iraq also help to prevent the remnants of the Islamic State (ISIS) from reconstituting itself into a robust terrorist entity, as they have already started to do.

US Assistant Secretary of Defense Celeste Wallander, during her September 2022 visit to the region, characterized the mission of these forces as “to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS.”

Departure also would likely further decrease confidence in US pledges to defend vulnerable democracies throughout the world. Both Taiwan and archipelago countries in Southeast Asia would probably be the most affected by any US plan that abandoned the Kurds to Turkey, Iran and ISIS.

A withdrawal of US forces from their current Syrian redoubts will almost certainly imperil the sovereignty of Iraq, Syria as well as the mission of Kurdish troops. These missions include: guarding prisons that hold hundreds of incarcerated ISIS jihadists as well as monitoring the expansive displaced persons camp at al-Hol, which hosts tens of thousands of the wives and children of ISIS jihadists.

If the Kurds are not able to execute their mission of suppressing ISIS, the failure would quickly lead to a rapid expansion of the terrorist group.

[C]losure of the US mission in Syria would cause alarm among allies and risk accelerating an already precipitous decline in US influence throughout the Middle East…. There is little doubt that the image of US primacy on the world stage, as after the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, will deteriorate even further. Ally and adversary alike will seek non-American alternatives to protect their national interests.

Although continued US troop presence in Syria is not without risk, withdrawal from the region would no doubt trigger an even greater risk to America’s interests — while remaining in Syria accomplishes much at minimal cost.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

There’s nothing racist about ending affirmative action The US Supreme Court has put an end to a genuine form of ‘systemic racism’. Wilfred Reilly

By on July 5th, 2023

https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/07/05/theres-nothing-racist-about-ending-affirmative-action/

Race-based affirmative action, in US colleges at least, is over.

At the end of last week, the Supreme Court ruled that race cannot be used as a weighting factor in the collegiate admissions process. This brings an end to the era when an Asian applicant would need a far higher score to get into Harvard than a black applicant.

The Supreme Court case centred on the affirmative-action policies of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (UNC). But the court’s judgement will also affect the more than 40 per cent of US universities that currently take race into account in admissions. In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said that UNC’s and Harvard’s affirmative-action programmes ‘lack sufficiently focussed and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful endpoints’.

It was a blunt verdict, and one from which Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented in almost histrionic terms. According to Sotomayor, ‘The majority’s vision of race neutrality will entrench racial segregation in higher education’. For Brown Jackson, this was a ‘tragedy’ that would ‘impede [the] achievement of our great nation’s full potential’. However, all data indicate that a substantial majority of Americans would agree with Roberts’ take. Critics of the ruling may try to denigrate it as furthering the cause of ‘racism’ or ‘white supremacy’. But that’s hard to maintain when the case against Harvard and UNC was brought by Students for Fair Admissions – a group composed entirely of East and South Asian plaintiffs.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

What Israel is fighting against The Islamists in Jenin pose an existential threat to Israelis – and to Palestinian nationhood.

By on July 5th, 2023

https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/07/04/what-israel-is-fighting-against/

Israel’s large-scale military incursion into Jenin on the northern West Bank has drawn widespread international condemnation. Starting on Monday morning, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) deployed over 1,000 troops with armoured vehicles, military bulldozers, drones and helicopter gunships to move into a refugee camp. The military operation is expected to last for a few more days. It is Israel’s largest operation in the West Bank in over 20 years.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), the organisation that officially controls the Palestinian population centres in the West Bank, set the tone for the criticism. A spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called the operation ‘a new war crime against our defenceless people’.

According to this narrative, the massively powerful IDF is engaged in yet another brutal and senseless attack against the Palestinians. At the time of writing, the Israeli military has killed at least 10 Palestinians in Jenin and wounded over 100, with 20 people in critical condition. Another Palestinian was killed yesterday, in an Israeli military raid on the West Bank town of Ramallah. About 3,000 Palestinian civilians have fled Jenin in the face of the onslaught.

Israel, in contrast, argues that its operation, unofficially named Bayit Vagan (Home and Garden), is focussed on what it calls ‘terrorist infrastructure’. According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry: ‘Over the past two years, Jenin has become a major hub of terrorism and an Iranian stronghold close to Israeli population centres. Most of the terror attacks against Israelis originated from Jenin.’ The IDF’s goals include targeting armed men, arresting wanted men, as well as destroying weapons labs and command-and-control centres. Israel says it is trying its best to minimise civilian casualties.

Israel’s latest incursion marks an uptick in a conflict that has been escalating for a while. This year so far, about 29 people on the Israeli side (including foreigners) have been killed and 270 have been wounded by Palestinian military groups.

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BOOKS Comments turned off

A Heretic’s Manifesto: Essays on the Unsayable Brendan O’Neill

By on July 5th, 2023

https://www.amazon.com/Heretics-Manifesto-Essays-Unsayable/dp/1913019861/ref=sr_1_1?crid=DN5PRJGF07PR&keywords=
Brendan O’Neill is the chief political writer for spiked magazine, based in London. He was spiked’s editor from 2007 to 2021.

Can a woman have a penis? Is the West forever stained by racism? Are we all going to die from climate change? To the liberal establishment of London, New York or Sydney, the answer to all of these questions is ‘Yes’. And anyone who disagrees is a racist, climate-denying transphobe.”

Our elites have become convinced of some very strange and extreme ideas. And yet there is precious little pushback against them. Critics are cowed by the threat of shaming, cancellation, even arrest. The new orthodoxies of our age are risible, and yet the space for dissent is shrinking.

We need more heretics. Throughout history, it has been those brave enough to puncture the prevailing groupthink who have propelled society forward. But they are in shockingly short supply today. In this collection of original essays, Brendan O’Neill remakes the case for heresy – and commits a few heresies of his own along the way.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

In 4th of July Ruling, Federal Judge Prohibits Biden Regime From Colluding With Social Media Companies to Censor Opposing Views By Debra Heine

By on July 5th, 2023

https://amgreatness.com/2023/07/04/in-4th-of-july-ruling-federal-judge-prohibits-biden-regime-from-colluding-with-social-media-companies-to-censor-opposing-views/

In a highly significant ruling on the 4th of July, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the White House, FBI, Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), State Department, and other agencies from colluding with Big Tech to censor speech on social media.

In his 155-page ruling U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty of Louisiana compared the Biden regime to an “Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth’” and called its censorship activities “almost dystopian.”

The judge’s injunction came in the Missouri v. Biden lawsuit led by the Republican attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana.

Last September, then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Attorney General Jeff Landry of Louisiana released communications between federal officials and social media companies revealing how the Biden regime and Big Tech coordinated to silence opposing views on a number of topics—including COVID-19 vaccines, the origin of the pandemic, election integrity, and Hunter Biden’s laptop—in what they called “a vast censorship enterprise.”

The communications, which were obtained pursuant to a court order, revealed that Biden officials held weekly censorship meetings with social media companies to suppress posts about the COVID vaccines that countered the regime’s “safe and effective” narrative.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

In France, Muslim Mayhem and (Attempted) Murder Muslim migrants repay the French for their tolerance and inclusion. by Hugh Fitzgerald

By on July 5th, 2023

https://www.frontpagemag.com/in-france-muslim-mayhem-and-attempted-murder/

To hear his friends tell it, and of course his mother, Nahel Merzouk, the 17-year-old Algerian-French young man who was shot by the police, was a splendid fellow, never in any trouble, so why did the police have to go and do what they did? But it turns out that, having nearly run over a bicyclist and a pedestrian, Nahel was finally forced to stop by two police officers. As one of them leaned over to talk to him, his pistol aimed downward into the car, Nahel suddenly accelerated the car with that policeman still leaning into, but not in it. As the car’s sudden movement forward knocked the officer off-kilter, in a split-second attempt to halt the driver, the policeman shot at what he thought was Nahel’s leg, which was where his gun had been pointed. But it no longer was, and the bullet instead hit Nahel’s chest.

The maghrébins all over France went on the rampage. Frenzied mobs in Paris, Marseille, and Bordeaux and hundreds of other cities and towns, pillaged and destroyed stores, choosing judiciously to hit the luxury-goods emporia on the rue de Rivoli, as well as Apple stores, the famed department store La Samaritaine, and high-end sneakers stores, making off everywhere with armfuls of loot. In one southern city, the Swarovski store was emptied, with everything smashed or stolen. So, too, was the optician’s store on the same block, where thousands of pairs of glasses were taken or destroyed, and next to it, a computer-and-phone store emptied of everything. And so on, store after store, destroyed and its merchandise stolen or smashed, all to express “the rage” of young Muslims over the death of the “angelic” Nahel Merzouk. By Sunday, Muslim mobs have torched many thousands of cars, and hundreds of buses all over the country. They tried to burn down the largest library in Marseille, the Alcazar, and as they did in so many other places, those mobs shouted “Allahu akbar.”

Are the French police too aggressive with drivers during traffic stops? Hardly. In the three years since 2020, there have been 21 fatalities among drivers. That comes to seven drivers a year who are shot. In the U.S., in the five years between 2017 and the beginning of 2022, there were a total of 600 fatalities, or 120 a year. 120 a year in the U.S., 7 a year in France.

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IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Flood at the Border Sinks Biden 200,000 people from all over the world crossed illegally last month. by John and Andy Schlafly

By on July 5th, 2023

https://www.frontpagemag.com/flood-at-the-border-sinks-biden/

President Biden avoids and keeps far away from our nation’s wide-open southern border, where 200,000 people from all over the world crossed illegally last month and every month since Biden took office almost 30 months ago. But his chief Democrat rival, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., went to the border town of Yuma, Arizona on June 6, and had some choice words for Biden’s failed policy.

“It was like a dystopian nightmare,” Kennedy said, “with all of these desperate people flooding across the wall, in a situation that clearly could have been prevented. People from all over the world, from Africa, from Uzbekistan, from Senegal, from Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Nepal, Tibet, India, Bangladesh, Peru, Colombia, we saw all of these people, these hundreds and hundreds of people coming across.

“We’ve watched about 150 people come across in the last hour,” Kennedy continued. “Altogether, people have come across right here from 117 nations in the last couple of years. In 3 years, in total, 7 million people have come across the border illegally into our country.

“And from here, they’re put on these buses, and they’re brought to the border patrol station where they’re processed. After four or five days, they’re released on their own recognizance into our country, and most of them are never seen or heard from again.”

Where did all these millions of foreigners go after they were turned loose by the Biden administration? A clue is provided by a shocking new study from the Center for Immigration Studies, which finds that students from immigrant-led households comprise 23% of public school enrollment nationwide, and in many regions the proportion is more than 65%.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

California Dems Trash America’s Gay Hero Senate Dems walk out on Ric Grenell, America’s first openly gay presidential cabinet member. by Lloyd Billingsley

By on July 5th, 2023

https://www.frontpagemag.com/california-dems-trash-americas-gay-hero/

“As Pride month nears an end,” Katy Grimes of the California Globe reports, “Republican lawmakers announced they were honoring Ambassador Grenell, the first openly gay presidential cabinet member, for his accomplishments and stellar career in service to the country.”

As Bruce Bawer noted in 2020, Grenell is “America’s gay hero,” with distinguished service as US ambassador to Germany and director of national intelligence. It was acting DNI Grenell who “declassified the list of Obama Administration officials who, in the interval between the 2016 election and the Trump inaugural, requested the ‘unmasking’ of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s choice for National Security Advisor, so they could listen in on his phone calls.” That service cut no slack with California Democrats.

Cheers rang out in the California Senate, Grimes explains,  “until five Senators walked out during Republican Senator Brian Jones’ introduction of Grenell.” The walkout followed a “nasty Tweet” on June 26 from San Francisco Democrat Sen. Scott Wiener:

“This is their way of celebrating Pride, by bringing in a guy who is truly a self-hating gay man, who takes tons of anti-LGBTQ positions  There are plenty of gay Republicans who don’t do the unhinged things that [Grenell] does. I’m not lumping all gay Republicans together – he is a particularly vile person.”

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

This rush to electric cars is a colossal mistake Only China and the rich will benefit from this hasty transition to an all-electric future. Joel Kotkin

By on July 4th, 2023

https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/07/03/this-rush-to-electric-cars-is-a-colossal-mistake/

We may soon regret the radical and absolutist embrace of electric vehicles (EVs). Governments across the world are planning to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars, and to take older, gas-guzzling vehicles off the road. The Biden administration is proposing strict new pollution limits, as well as vast state subsidies, to accelerate the US’s transition to EVs.

Replacing the massive $3 trillion global car industry is an extremely high-risk economic gamble, particularly for the West. It could also threaten the mobility of all but the richest among us. And all this is being risked for environmental benefits that may prove far less robust than is often claimed. This is not to say that EVs won’t help us to reduce CO2 emissions or to clean the air. The problem is that, at least in the immediate future, they should not be the only option available to consumers.

Toyota, for instance, has argued that there are other, more affordable and quicker ways to reduce emissions than transitioning exclusively to EVs. While Toyota is investing in electric batteries, it also hopes to continue offering hybrid and hydrogen-powered cars in the coming decades. For stating this openly, it has come under fire from green lobbyists and politicians. New York City’s comptroller, Brad Lander, has even decided to restrict the city’s pension fund’s investments in the Japanese car company, due to its unwillingness to faithfully follow the green party line.

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