RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.wsj.com/articles/death-of-a-dictator-11567796547

Africa’s postcolonial era produced many tyrants, but few as destructive as Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe. The perverse accomplishment of the dictator, who died Friday at age 95, was to make a thriving country impoverished, corrupt and oppressed.

Mugabe was born in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia and studied in South Africa. He became an enthusiastic Marxist and joined his country’s independence movement in the 1960s. The former schoolteacher turned into a guerrilla commander and served more than a decade in prison. After Zimbabwe became an independent state, he was elected Prime Minister in 1980.

Widely reviled at the end of his life for his many abuses of power, he was feted across the globe earlier in his career by politicians and intellectuals who should have known better. He became a champion of anticolonialism on the left and was even knighted by Britain in 1994. By then the military he controlled had killed thousands of political opponents and civilians.

https://amgreatness.com/2019/09/05/a-fine-mess/

It comes to something when the one of the most serene and sensible of political voices stems from a newspaper dedicated to the violent overthrow of capitalism.

Yet, The Morning Star—Britain’s only Communist newspaper, and once reliant on bulk orders from the Soviet Union—this week offered much in the way of common-sense; a commodity vanishingly rare in modern Britain.

“The Morning Star believes that the referendum result should be respected, and Britain should leave the EU on October 31, with or without a deal,” the paper proclaimed, parroting almost verbatim the mantra of  Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a man the same newspaper routinely daubs “fascist.”

Yes, dear reader, the beacon of democratic propriety appears to be a Leninist newspaper that papered over the barbarism of the Soviet Union and still harbors fantasies of violent revolution.

The ‘Rebel Alliance’ vs. the People

Over the past week, the formerly serious country of Great Britain perhaps seared its joke status into history.

First, Remainers armed with cheese, olives, and a good bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, blocked London streets in picnic fashion, without threat of harm or arrest, to protest an apparent “coup.”

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274826/duped-us-travelers-cuba-infected-zika-virus-humberto-fontova

“A new analysis of Zika-infected travelers who returned to the United States or Europe in 2017 or 2018 has found that 98% had visited Cuba, which did not report any cases to world health officials at the time the country’s outbreak apparently peaked.”

“It was startling,” says Kristian Andersen, a genomic epidemiologist at Scripps Research in San Diego, California, who led the work conducted by 38 researchers from five countries. The group estimates that Cuba had 5,707 unreported cases, with most occurring in 2017 (the year, by the way, when Obama’s “opening” made U.S. travel to Cuba very chic — and very important to the Stalinist regime’s coffers, especially those of the secret police and military who majority own Cuba’s tourism infrastructure).

“Of 91 travel-associated Zika cases identified in Florida from June 2017 to October 2018, the team found that all but one infected individual was returning from Cuba. …Likewise, 63 of 64 travel-associated cases caught in Europe during that time frame involved travel to Cuba. Cuba’s unrecognized [no–it was fully recognized by the Stalinist regime which kept it hush-hush!] Zika outbreak may have ‘silently’ spread the virus to other parts of the world and continues to infect international visitors today.” (Zika News)

So what’s the big deal, some might ask? Well, “Zika virus can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus and can cause a birth defect called microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects… Zika primarily spreads through infected mosquitoes. You can also get Zika through sex without a condom with someone infected by Zika, even if that person does not show symptoms of Zika.” (Center For Disease Controls.)

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14805/despots-deals

The European Union wants the world to welcome Iran back into the international community because as far as the Europeans are concerned, it appears that the stronger Iran is, the better: a renewed Iran would further Europe’s hope of seeing Israel and the Jews wiped off the face of the earth. Heard just a few months ago were calls such as, “send Jews to the ovens,” “Hitler didn’t finish the job,” and “kill the Jews.”

The Trump administration has created the impression in the Arab and Muslim world that it is ready to beg the leaders of Iran to engage in direct negotiations with Washington. This approach is exceptionally harmful to US interests: it sends a message to many Arabs and Muslims that Americans are prepared to surrender again and humiliate themselves for the sake of any kind of deal with the Iranians. As Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said last month, America should “bow down” to Iran. Seems it is.

Advice to the Trump administration is: Stay strong. As Osama bin Laden correctly observed, “When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse.”

Strength and more strength is the only way to earn the respect of those running the show in Beijing, Kabul, Moscow, Pyongyang, and especially in Tehran, Gaza and Beirut.

The European Union says it will support talks between the US and Iran, but only if the current nuclear deal with Tehran is preserved.

The idea of direct talks between the US and Iran seems to have developed after President Donald Trump recently said he was ready to meet Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.

“We are always in favor of talks, the more people talk, the more people understand each other better, on the basis of clarity and on the basis of respect,” EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said last month.

The EU wants the world to welcome Iran back into the international community because — this might sound harsh, but it is increasingly hard not to believe it — they are hoping that the leaders of Tehran will focus their efforts on achieving their goal of annihilating Israel. As far as the Europeans are concerned, it appears that the stronger Iran is, the better: a renewed Iran would further Europe’s hope of seeing Israel and the Jews wiped off the face of the earth. Heard just a few months ago were calls such as, “send Jews to the ovens,” “Hitler didn’t finish the job,” and “kill the Jews.”

https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/russia-nuclear-missile-engine/

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The fatal explosion that occurred recently during testing of the Russian Burevestnik nuclear cruise missile raises many questions. Could it have been avoided? Was it a fundamental failure of the ambitious armaments plan declared by President Putin in 2018? Whatever the answers to these questions, the renewed trend toward an unconventional armaments race could deteriorate into a second Cold War.

On August 8, during a test of the nuclear-powered engine of the 9M730 Burevestnik cruise missile (petrel in Russian; nicknamed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall in the West), held on a floating platform in the White Sea near the Nyonoksa missile test site in the far north of Russia, a mysterious explosion occurred that killed eight people. The blast raised questions about the status of a new generation of five advanced weapons introduced by Putin in 2018, of which Burevestnik, described by the Russian president as supersonic and of unlimited range, occupied pride of place.

Five of the eight people killed in the explosion were Rosatom (Russian State Atomiс Energy Corporation) employees, and three more employees were injured. According to the company’s announcement, the disaster occurred while testing an “isotopic energy source for a liquid propulsion system.”

Shortly after the explosion, the weather monitoring agency Roshydromet reported a significant spike in radiation 40 km from the blast site. Also, in the city of Severodvinsk, which is near the explosion site in the Archangelsk district, the radiation level was reported to have jumped to 16 times the normal level. This led the alarmed residents to rush to stock up on iodine, which reduces the effects of radiation exposure.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/hooray-zimbabwean-dictator-robert-mugabe-dead-at-95/

“Zimbabwe was once considered “the jewel of Africa.” Once Mugabe was ruling it, however, Zimbabwe became the second poorest country in the world, “with unemployment and poverty rates of around 80 percent and one of the lowest life expectancies on Earth.” That is his real legacy. Not the wonderful speeches he gave when he was powerless, but what he did once he was in power. This guy was truly a curse on his own people. Thank God he and his wife were not only removed from power two years ago, but he’s finally dead.”

Today must become a public holiday in Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe, the country’s old dictator, has finally died. The freedom fighter turned autocratic-oppressor-of-his-own-people was 95-years-old when he breathed his last breath.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14818/islamist-terrorism-yemen

Recent tensions within the coalition between the Saudis and the Emiratis, over which faction they support in the Yemeni government, has added yet another political dimension to the country’s bitter civil war — one Islamist terrorists have been quick to exploit.

The Saudis and Emiratis are now trying to heal the rift by hosting a peace conference involving the rival factions, in Jeddah.

While the political uncertainty continues, however, al-Qaeda and ISIL are taking advantage of the political vacuum to reestablish their own operations in the country, a deeply worrying development that certainly does not bode well for UN-sponsored attempts to end the country’s long-running civil war between the government and the Iranian-backed Houthis.

So long as groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL are able to act with impunity in Yemen, the more remote are the prospects become of ending this dreadful conflict anytime soon.

As if war-torn Yemen did not have enough violence to contend with at present, the recent spate of terror attacks in its southern port points to the return of Islamist terror groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL, which are still plying their deadly trade in the country.

In the latest wave of terror attacks last month, a suicide bombing in Aden has claimed the lives of three members of Yemen’s security forces while, in a separate attack, a senior Yemeni security official survived a roadside bomb attack against his convoy in the centre of the city.

Initially Yemeni security officials said the attack had been carried out by al-Qaeda, which has claimed responsibility for a number of recent attacks in government-controlled territory in the south of the country. In early August, for example, an al-Qaeda attack on a military base claimed the lives of 19 Yemeni soldiers.

In what is, however, a graphic illustration of the ease with which rival Islamist terror groups are now able to operate in this lawless country, it was ISIL, not al-Qaeda, that eventually claimed responsibility for last weekend’s attacks.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14811/brexit-saga-continues

The lack of concern for a ‘hard Brexit’ shown by both the voters and commentators during the referendum in 2016, was due to a few factors. Those who wanted out, the ‘Leavers’, were interested in only one thing — a clean break, whilst the ‘Remainers’ were so certain they would win the vote, they felt it unnecessary even to contemplate the ‘wrong’ result.

In 1973, when Britain joined the ‘European Economic Community’, as it was then known – there was no similar referendum on joining Europe. The people were simply never consulted.

After experiencing firsthand the broken promises and negative effects of an EU membership in which the British public had no say, it was an easy vote, when the referendum came around in 2016, to ‘Leave’. It was time to flee from an authoritarian system that had no direct elections, no transparency, no accountability, and no mechanism either for un-electing anyone or for leaving. It was, sort of, a Roach Motel: one can come in but not go out.

Alarm began at the introduction of the Euro currency in 2002, and the eradication of our partners’ domestic currencies: these moves magnified the true aim of the European Commission — to control, and make uniform, every aspect of our lives.

What we have learned in Great Britain from the ‘Remainers’, and the US as well, is: there are a multitude of ways to snub the result of a democratic vote.

Britain’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson was accused by his opponents of staging a ‘constitutional coup’ by suspending parliament to block MPs from preventing Britain from finally leaving the Europe Union on October 31.

The Labour party’s leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, chimed in — claiming that the new prime minister is behaving like a ‘tin pot dictator’ — thereby inflating the hysterical reaction to Johnson’s bid finally to push through the will of the people.

It has been three years since Britain held a referendum on whether or not to remain in the EU. There was never any talk of a ‘deal’. The vote was simply: leave or remain. The nitty gritty, should we vote to leave, could supposedly be worked out in the run-up to the departure date.

The lack of concern for a ‘hard Brexit’ shown by both the voters and commentators during the referendum in 2016, was due to a few factors. Those who wanted out, the ‘Leavers’, were interested in only one thing — a clean break, whilst the ‘Remainers’ were so certain they would win the vote, they felt it unnecessary even to contemplate the ‘wrong’ result.

https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/insight/

For decades, the concept of a “Shiite Crescent” anchored by the radical Shiite supremacists in Iran and passing through Iraq, Syria, and Hezb’allah to the Mediterranean Sea has been understood. It would provide Iran not only with closer access to Israel, but also spread across the northern borders of two key Sunni adversaries — pro-American Jordan, and its most important enemy, Saudi Arabia, guardian of Mecca and Medina. It would further split off Sunni Turkey (a historic foe) from the other Sunni Middle East states.

The Crescent is, for Iran, a single battlefront and the Islamic Republic has spent decades successfully undermining and wrecking each subsidiary member.

Iraq is hardly a functional country. But as a staging ground for Iranian militias and weapons depots headed west, Iraq is a prize. Syria is largely a dead zone. But as a launching pad for Iranian military bases and attacks on Israel, Syria is a bonanza. Lebanon is a corrupt satrap of Syria and Iran, governed by a terror organization with a foreign legion and an international money/drug/weapons racket. But its very weakness and its border with Israel make Lebanon invaluable.

Each member of this “gang of four” maintains a state of war with Israel and threatens it on a regular basis. Israel’s attacks on weapons centers Lebanon, Syria and Iraq are not an escalation of a fragile situation — they are a defensive response to a  high-tech military buildup orchestrated by Iran across the region.

Israel has the support of the United States for its defensive actions. But until now, U.S. foreign and defense policy have actually made things worse for Israel and others in the region by empowering Iran – and even now, when the administration is aware of its malign nature, and has reimposed economic sanctions on Tehran, it needs a strategy against Iranian gains on the ground.

https://www.meforum.org/islamist-watch/59302/british-jewish-newspaper-buckles-to-hamas

On August 23, the Jewish Chronicle (JC), Britain’s largest Jewish newspaper and one of the oldest Jewish newspapers in the world, published an apology and handed 50,000 pounds (more than $60,000) to Interpal, a British Muslim charity linked closely to Hamas, the murderous Palestinian terrorist organization in Gaza.

The apology and the payout come in the wake of a March 2019 article in the JC(since taken down), in which journalist Orlando Radice reported that Interpal was itself “deemed by the US a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organization in 2003.” Radice also claimed that the chairman of Interpal, Ibrahim Hewitt, “has been widely described as an Islamic extremist who believes that adulterers should be stoned to death and has compared gay people with pedophiles.”

The JC is not the first publication to end up paying money to Interpal to avoid a lawsuit. In June 2019, the Daily Mail and Mail Online gave the charity more than $145,000.

In this specific case, what did the JC get wrong? What exactly is Interpal? And why has the newspaper now handed over $60,000 to a charity considered by the U.S. government to be a terrorist organization?