RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19527/china-arming-russia

Just as Iran has used Ukraine’s brutal war to test the effectiveness of its drone and missile technology, so China’s emerging industrial-military complex is reportedly looking for opportunities to conduct a rigorous evaluation of its new weapons systems; Chinese arms manufacturers are reportedly keen to test the effectiveness of their new weapons systems in Ukraine.

Chinese drones, which reports say are due to be delivered to the Russian Defence Ministry next month, would enable the Russians to deliver warheads weighing between 35 and 50 kilograms.

China’s People’s Liberation Army is in the midst of a massive military build-up, outspokenly aimed at making China the world’s dominant military power by the middle of the century. Global defence spending fell by 1.7 percent in 2021, and the US defence budget for 2024, with a supposed increase of 3.2 percent, after factoring in an inflation of 6 percent, is actually a net cut. Meanwhile, Chinese defence spending grew by 5.1 percent to $293 billion.

As part of its military build-up, which began in 2013, Beijing is aiming to integrate artificial intelligence in its command and control structures by 2035. In addition it is investing heavily in new fleets of warships and warplanes.

The Chinese military is said to be actively preparing to launch a military offensive to capture Taiwan, most likely before or during the US presidential election in November 2024, while the US is still under the administration of President Joe Biden, regarded worldwide as stunningly weak, and while the country is likely to be distracted.

Biden’s repeated statements that he seeks “competition not conflict” with China, and that “We don’t want a conflict” with Russia, can only be viewed as pleas not to escalate, rather than as a thundering deterrence.

“[T]he entire military must… concentrate all energy on fighting a war, direct all work toward warfare and speed up to build the ability to win.” — Chinese President Xi Jinping, to China’s armed forces’ operational command center, Fox News, February 15, 2023.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/in-a-dutch-election-globalists-lose-big/

During the year or so between my first visit to the Netherlands, in August 1997, and my move to Amsterdam from New York, I not only put myself through a one-man crash course in Dutch; I also read every book I could find about Dutch history, society, art and culture, customs and character. But one key fact that I somehow missed entirely, and that only recently found its way onto my radar, is that the Netherlands is, after the U.S., the world’s largest exporter of agricultural products.

At first blush it seems impossible. Yes, the U.S. being #1 is a no-brainer: nobody has anywhere near as much first-class farmland. But the Netherlands, which is 1/231 the size of the U.S.? Really? To travel across the Randstad, the crescent-shaped urban conglomeration that contains most of the major cities, is to imagine that this little land must be a significant agriculture importer. How, then, can it possibly beat out giants like Russia, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, and Australia? Well, as it happens, most of those giants are near the top of the export list: Brazil for coffee; Indonesia, palm oil; China, rice; Canada, oats. But if they’re not at the very top of the list, it’s because Russia and Canada are largely tundra, Brazil and Indonesia mostly jungle, and Australia almost entirely desert.

But the Netherlands? What’s the secret? One word: innovation. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Much of its current farmland wouldn’t exist if not for the reclamation of land from the sea – a practice that is now some seven hundred years old and that, thanks to extraordinary technological innovations during the previous century, has more than doubled the country’s area.

Last year, in an article for Dutch Review, Jesse Rintoul summed up some of the more impressive recent examples of innovations in Dutch farming. The University of Wageningen, thanks to “an alternative soil composite made of coco peat and rock wool,” managed to grow bananas in the Netherlands’ not-exactly-banana-republic climate. A company called Nijsen/Granico produces “about 90,000 tons of animal feed a year entirely from human food waste.” And in Rotterdam, there’s a “floating farm” that feeds cows “with leftovers from local restaurants.” The Dutch, notes Rintoul, have sought to “produce twice as much food using half as many resources.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19512/world-economic-forum-crap

[E]conomic writer Charles Hugh Smith has repeatedly warned [about] the “crapification” of the U.S. economy…. customers with scant other buying options are forced to accept that few purchases will last.

Politicians seem to be heading in a similar direction…. Western governments are filled to the brim with people entirely lacking in real-world experience or specialized knowledge.

In recent decades, a noticeable trend in the West has been to elevate politicians, as young and inexperienced as possible, into offices as high as possible…. Such a system — in which those who have proven themselves the least are given responsibilities that would test even those who have proven themselves time and again — hardly looks ideal.

If Western politicians seem just as second-rate these days as what customers all too often find in stores, there may be a simple reason why: International financial titans make, sell, and own both… and may be planning to own you, too.

If you are a consumer today, inflation is only one of the problems harming you. As prices go up, quality continues to go down. What most stores have to offer you might crassly be called “cheap crap.” In fact, economic writer Charles Hugh Smith has repeatedly warned that the “crapification” of the U.S. economy is the natural result of a “neoliberal-hyper-financialization-hyper-globalization model,” in which quasi-monopolist manufacturers mass-produce goods with the cheapest possible components, while customers with scant other buying options are forced to accept that few purchases will last.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19492/biden-pushing-arabs-towards-iran

Today, China is victorious by sponsoring the historic agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, while the US has a new president who comes to destroy agreements reached by his predecessor, and even brags about it during his election campaign and his presidency.” — Saeed Al-Mryti, Saudi political activist, Twitter, March 14, 2023.

“[N]o matter how hard analysts try to beautify the situation for US policy, what Saudi Arabia has done today is a direct and successful blow to the Biden administration and its policy in the Middle East.” — Jubran Al-Khoury, Lebanese political analyst, annahar.com, March 12, 2023.

It is thus no surprise that Iran and its terror proxies – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah – are expressing profound satisfaction over the Saudi-Iranian agreement. In their eyes, the agreement is an indication of the growing weakness of the US and the failed policy of the Biden administration in the Middle East. Thanks to the US administration’s fragility, the Iranian-led axis of evil has been significantly emboldened as America’s erstwhile Arab allies are rushing towards the open arms of the mullahs in Tehran.

Many Arabs and Muslims are celebrating the Saudi-Iranian agreement to restore diplomatic relations as a devastating blow to the Biden Administration, a victory for Iran and China, and a sign of Washington’s failed policies in the Middle East.

According to these Arabs and Muslims, the Saudi-Iranian pact is the direct result of the Biden Administration’s antagonism towards America’s traditional Arab allies, especially Saudi Arabia, and the American policy of appeasement towards the mullahs in Iran.

Lebanese-born American scholar Walid Phares wrote that in the past two years he has been issuing warnings that the Biden administration’s dealings with the Arab allies “were neither at the required level nor with the necessary depth.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19474/threat-to-democracy

[T]hose who took to the streets and protested the regime were all too aware that the most inhuman punishments and executions awaited them as retaliation for their struggle for freedom. Such courage and sacrifice for democracy and human rights must not be swept aside — these heroic people need and deserve immediate support.

More than 19,600 Iranians have been arrested during the protests; several have been executed. The information, coming from human rights organizations, about how Iran treats political prisoners is terrifying.

In addition, more than 1,000 schoolgirls have been poisoned as “retaliation” and to shut down schools in a move to stop education for girls. As the Wall Street Journal remarked, compared to Iran, Saudi Arabia is Switzerland.

Several members of parliament in Europe and North America have become political sponsors of political prisoners in Iran. The purpose of the political sponsorship is for parliamentarians to use their status and put pressure on the regime in Iran to release the political prisoners and draw attention to their cases. It is also a way to show the regime in Iran that the world sees and condemns them and cares — with action — about those Iranians who are fighting every day for the same freedom that we take so for granted.

This author has chosen to become a political sponsor for Soheila Hejab, who is now in prison after being accused of “propaganda against the state”, “gathering and collusion”, and “disrupting public order to create chaos”. Like many other prisoners in Iran, Hejab has not received medical care; her health is rapidly deteriorating.

This article is a plea for more parliamentarians in democratic countries sponsor political prisoners in Iran — to show that their protests are not in vain and that the world has heard their cries for freedom, democracy and human rights.

If the brave individuals who stood up to the mullahs are now ignored simply because the regime in Iran has a security apparatus that has temporarily succeeded in silencing them, fewer will feel compelled in the future to stand up to oppressors — in Iran or other dictatorships — thus empowering the normalization of dictatorships. When fewer people stand up to oppressors, dictatorships and oppression become “normal”: that is the biggest threat to democracy.

The best way, therefore, to work for democracy and human rights is to support those who today risk their lives to overthrow dictatorships such as the one in Iran. If these brave people are prepared to risk their lives and the lives of their families for democracy, the least we can do is to give them totally committed support from the West.

We need to label the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a Foreign Terrorist Organization and expel Iranian supporters of the regime from Western and European countries. In addition to that, individual parliamentarians can stand behind and “adopt” a political prisoner to draw attention to their cases, legitimize the democratic revolution and above all, delegitimize the savage, expansionist regime of Iran.

The protests in Iran against the regime’s Islamist dictatorship have largely been quelled for the time being, but the conflict remains. It is between a regime that implements medieval and barbaric laws and a young generation that wants to live in a modern and civilized society; and between a regime that rejects the notion of, and constantly defies, an international community, and the Iranian people, who are increasingly longing for Iran to become part of the international community.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19504/desantis-ukraine

From the start of the conflict one of [Putin’s] key assumptions has been that the Western powers were too weak and divided to sustain their support for the Ukrainian cause, and so it is proving.

This depressing picture will undoubtedly be interpreted by Putin as justifying his view that the West would eventually lose interest in the Ukraine conflict and that, for all the public pledges of support, the Western alliance does not want Ukraine to win after all.

There are also wider global security implications: if Putin is able to get his way. In Ukraine, he will be encouraged in the belief that he can expand his territorial ambitions into other parts of Europe. Other adversaries of the West will not fail to see a second US retreat as yet another vacuum — a green light for their territorial expansion, as well.

For example, an investigation undertaken by the Dossier Centre, a group funded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a long-standing critic of Putin, has warmed that the Kremlin plans to take over Moldova by the end of the decade, a threat also delivered in early February by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as a year ago by Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko “standing in front of a battle map that appears to show a planned invasion of Moldova, along with Ukraine.”

Moscow has also threatened to attack airfields in Poland, a NATO member state, which would require a military response from the entire NATO alliance, thereby provoking all-out war between Russia and the West. At that point, the conflict would very much become a “vital interest” for Washington.

Fortunately there are still countries such as Poland that have no intention of abandoning the Ukrainian cause. On the contrary, the plucky Poles have just reaffirmed their commitment to Kyiv by becoming the first NATO member state to send warplanes to Ukraine: Warsaw is planning to send four MIG-29 fighters.

It is a move that the Biden Administration and other allies should be encouraged to replicate. That is leadership — and what many Americans seem starved for: a Churchill, not a Chamberlain. A reminder: it would have been so much less costly in life and treasure to have stopped Hitler before he crossed the Rhine.

In an attempt to persuade DeSantis to change his mind, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited the Florida Governor to visit him in Kyiv.

It is an invitation DeSantis would be well-advised to accept.

No one will be more delighted at the deepening scepticism expressed about America’s continued involvement in the Ukraine conflict than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19503/persecution-of-christians-february

“[T]he soldiers of the Caliphate… captured five Christians and slaughtered them, praise be to God.” — barnabasaid.org, February 15, 2023, Mozambique.

“I went to the police station to report my daughter’s kidnapping, but they refused to accept my complaint and forced me out of the building.” He made repeated attempts to file a criminal complaint… the police ignored his pleas.” — Morning Star News, February 13, 2023, Pakistan.

” [I]n all cases involving forced marriages of underage minority girls…. The accused first rapes the victim and then uses the cover of an Islamic Nikah [marriage certificate] to escape punishment…” — Morning Star News, February 13, 2023, Pakistan.

“Sunita is just 19, but now her whole life has been physically and mentally scarred [by acid thrown in her face]…. Even if he is convicted for his crime…. We all know how our society treats acid attack survivors….” — Morning Star News, February 13, 2023, Pakistan.

“Kill them wherever you find them [a verbatim quote of Koran 9:5]. If you are a tradesman, use a nail gun to nail the heads and crucify them on woodwork. If you are a truck driver, run them over….” — Islamic State operative, terrorism-info.org.il, February 6, 2023, Sweden.

The following are among the murders and abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of February 2023:

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19502/do-babies-still-win-wars

China, Russia and Iran spend almost twice as much on the military as they do on the health and well-being of their citizens. Their military expenditure as a percentage of GDP is more than twice the average of OECD countries, while their healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP is less than half of the OECD average.

Since the Chinese sage Sun Tzu authored The Art of War around 2,500 years ago, almost all writers on military affairs have asserted that a rapid rate of population growth is the sine qua non for a nation’s decision to go to war.

More recently, this theory was elaborated by the Swiss mercenary, General Antoine-Henri Jomini, in a series of books that have been “must reads” in most military academies since the 19th century. Echoes of the same theory are present in On War, the military “bible” written by Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian general and military historian, in the 19th century.

Thus, the Indo-European tribes left their ancestral homeland in Central Asia because they could no longer feed a rapidly growing population. Seeking more fertile land and pastures for their herds, they embarked on invasions to their west and south to find the resources they coveted.

The ancient Romans and Persians were also pushed towards conquest because of high birth rates that made the seizure of new lands a life-and-death necessity.

The Arab invasion of the Persian and Byzantine Empires in the Middle East and Asia Minor also came when the Arabian Peninsula could no longer feed its rising population. The same analysis has been applied to the Mongol invasion that brought hungry tribes from far away Mongolia to the heart of Europe and the Middle East.

Rapid population growth was also a key factor in pushing the British on a path of empire-building from the 16th century onwards. In fact, the ability to export large numbers of peoples to new lands is often cited as one of the key factors in empire-building since time immemorial.

Finally, the Nazis claimed that post-Weimar Germany needed to invade Europe in search of “Lebensraum” (living space) to secure agricultural and energy resources needed to be a big power.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/03/18/garbage-in-the-streets-of-paris-and-riots-over-pension-reform-pose-a-challenge-to-macrons-authority-n1679547

France is in an uproar because French workers will now have to toil an extra two years before they’re eligible for their overly-generous pension. And the change was made thanks to a rarely used article in the French Constitution — Article 49.3 — which provides that the government can pass a bill without a vote at the National Assembly, after deliberation at a Cabinet meeting.

The catch is that French President Emanuel Macron must now navigate a “no confidence” vote that will be held sometime this weekend. He is expected to weather the storm easily, but not without some damage to his standing. Macron is in the middle of his second term, and since he can’t run again, he will try to push through as much of his agenda as possible.

Meanwhile, French workers are livid over the changes. The retirement age has been raised from 62 to 64 because of overly generous governments in the past almost bankrupting the pension system. Macron’s “fix” only kicks the can down the road until the real crunch comes in a few years.

Reuters:

Riot police clashed with protesters on Friday evening in Paris as a demonstration took place at the capital’s Place de la Concorde, near the Assemblee Nationale parliament building, resulting in 61 arrests.

This led the Paris Prefecture on Saturday to ban rallies on Place de la Concorde and the nearby Champs-Elysees.

A further rally was however slated for later on Saturday on Place d’Italie in southern Paris.

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2023/03/putin-russia-and-the-purpose-of-power-daryl-mccann/

Motivating Vladimir Putin is the inviolability of Russia’s imperial past, be it the Great Northern War (1700–21) or the Great Patriotic War (1941–45). No sacrifice by the people of Russia, let alone Ukrainians, appears too high a price to pay to the gods of war as long as the greater glory of Russia is restored. Putin’s concept of the “Russian world” (Russkiy Mir) is simultaneously a language and a geographical location, a civilisation and an all-powerful state, a nation-state and an empire and, most perilous of all, his personal destiny and the fate of Russia. We can see, in retrospect at least, that the likelihood of a new incarnation of the Cold War increased as Putin began to contemplate his place in the textbooks of future generations of schoolchildren. The grandiloquence of this one man, served by the lethal but compliant siloviki, casts a terrible shadow over the world.

An unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine was not inevitable. But Putin’s early career in the KGB, an enduring enmity towards the West, and more than two decades of holding the reins of power in the Kremlin, doubtless increased the chances. On June 9, 2022, with the death toll of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians soaring, Putin told the young engineers, entrepreneurs and scientists attending the annual St Petersburg Economic Forum:

Peter the Great waged the Great Northern War for twenty-one years. On the face of it, he was at war with Sweden taking something away from it … He was not taking away anything, he was returning. That’s how it was. The areas around Lake Ladoga, where St Petersburg was founded. When he founded the new capital, none of the European countries recognised this territory as part of Russia; everyone recognised it as part of Sweden. However, from time memorial, the Slavs lived there along with the Finno-Ugric peoples, and this territory was under Russia’s control. The same is true of the western direction, Narva and his first campaigns. Why would he go there? He was returning and reinforcing, that is what he was doing.

We can only assume he believed his bloody assault on Ukraine was a question of “returning and reinforcing” what rightfully belonged to Greater Russia—however many years it took, however many lives were lost and whether or not “European countries recognised [his conquest] as part of Russia”.