RUTHFULLY YOURS

Since 1963’s nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Moscow’s policy seems to be comply if convenient, otherwise violate.

On July 29, the Obama administration announced that Russia has violated its obligation under the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty “not to possess, produce or flight test a ground-launched cruise missile with a range capability of 500 to 5,500 kilometers; or to possess or produce launchers of such missiles.” The administration’s sudden candor is welcome. Yet its new compliance reportalleging that the Russians tested a missile prohibited under the INF treaty—doesn’t address other apparent treaty violations.

The INF violation fits into a long pattern of Soviet-Russian misbehavior that can only be described as “compliance if convenient.” Moscow appears to observe arms-control commitments when convenient but violates them when not. This contrasts sharply with America’s scrupulous adherence to the letter and often the supposed “spirit” of treaty commitments, long after Moscow has ceased to do so.

Unclassified presidential and State Department reports have documented Moscow’s violation of all the major arms-control agreements, particularly those limiting nuclear arms and testing. Moscow violated the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty shortly after it came into force, when Soviet nuclear tests vented radioactive debris beyond the boundaries of the Soviet Union. Washington did not publicly address most treaty violations. Over time the U.S. appears rarely to have threatened any real consequences for Moscow’s noncompliance—perhaps helping to explain why Russia violates treaties with such abandon.

One exception was President Reagan, who presented a refreshingly realistic take in 1982: “Simply collecting agreements will not bring peace. Agreements genuinely reinforce peace only when they are kept. Otherwise, we are building a paper castle that will be blown away by the winds of war.” Reagan followed up with annual reports that depicted the scope and significance of Soviet violations.

Obama’s foreign policy is disastrously reactive—like the police response in Ferguson, Mo.

Bill Bratton has no doubt as to what went wrong with policing in the U.S. in the bad old days of the 1970s and ’80s. “The biggest mistake,” he insists, was too much “focus on response to crime and not enough focus on trying to prevent it.”

In a lengthy Monday morning interview with The Wall Street Journal, New York’s top cop refuses to be drawn into second-guessing his colleagues in Ferguson, Mo. When I ask about the seeming militarization of police forces in the U.S., he replies that each community “equips its police based on the needs for its city.” If people can lawfully own Kalashnikov-style weapons, the cops inevitably are going to go one better.

What Mr. Bratton mainly wants to underscore is that crime in the Big Apple continues to plumb historic lows, never mind recent tabloid headlines. He wants to underscore, also, the reason for it: broken-windows policing methods. Such is his belief in broken windows that he comes to the meeting flanked by the man who helped come up with the idea: George Kelling, the legendary criminologist.

Broken windows stresses that endemic criminality is not primarily a function of the usual “root causes”—poverty, racism, bad schools, broken families and so on. The real problem is disorder itself.

VP cancels six-day trip to Scottish city after its council flies PLO flag ‘in solidarity with Gaza.’

Six hundred Americans have decided to boycott Glasgow – but this time, the move is in support and solidarity for Israel. A Fortune 500 company was due to bring the American delegation into the city – as well as thousands of dollars of tourist revenue – as a reward for the salesmen and women and their spouses, according to the Scottish Express. However, the Vice President of the corporation, Richard Cassini, cancelled the trip entirely after Glasgow’s city council decided to fly Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO, or the terror umbrella group behind the Palestinian Authority) flags in “solidarity with the people of Gaza.” “I was, until I read the article in the Scottish Express, and substantiated by the press all over the world, spearheading an event in Glasgow for 600 business visitors to be guests of your wonderful city,” Cassini wrote to Glasgow’s Lord Provost, Sadie Docherty. “We were scheduling six days in Glasgow, three for business and three for leisure time.” “Having read your statement endorsing Hamas and its leadership due to the number of Muslims in your city, I have decided to cancel all plans for our trip,” he continued. “We are a Fortune 500 Company, so costs were really not a serious consideration, location was.” “Hopefully, the Muslim population that you so sincerely endorse will have the spending power of the very people you have chased away so well,” he concluded. Over 1,500 emails and calls have been sent to the Glasgow City Council over the move, according to a spokeswoman, and the council claims that a delay in responses is due to the need to respond to each complaint individually. But Cassini has taken Docherty to task for not responding to the move, several days after the trip was cancelled, and sent her a follow-up email firing, “It appears that being Provost of a wonderful city such as Glasgow does not require the holder of said title to have any manners, or upbringing whatsoever.”

Antibodies may help immune system kill flu by keeping virus from
hiding in cells, research shows

It may be far from your mind in the mid-summer heat, with beaches full of sunbathers — but researchers in Jerusalem have developed antibodies that may boost the body’s resistance to the winter flu. The antibodies – proteins that fight disease – may help the immune system eliminate influenza by interfering with the ability of the virus to hide in the body’s cells, the researchers found. Recently published in the journal Science, the findings could point the way to more effective flu-fighting drugs. “Altogether, the novel antibodies we have developed will allow our immune system to respond more efficiently to a wide variety of influenza infections,” said Yotam Bar-On, a doctoral candidate in immunology and cancer research, who led the study under Prof. Ofer Mandelboim at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The flu is a major global health problem. Seasonal epidemics, which typically peak in the weeks after the New Year, result in up to about 5 million serious infections and about 500,000 deaths annually. In the United States, flu epidemics result in some 3.1 million days in the hospital and an average of $10.5 billion in direct medical costs every year. “It is thus urgent to develop new drugs for fighting influenza infection, which requires an understanding of the virus’s life cycle and its interaction with the host’s immune system,” said Bar-On. The body has its own ways of battling the flu. Natural killer cells, which are part of the immune system, have been shown to be capable of eliminating flu-infected cells.

A Muslim mob in Uppsala, Sweden last week set upon and severely beat a Jewish mother of four, for wearing a Jewish Star of David necklace, Israel’s NRG News reported Sunday.

“One of the attackers signaled me to ‘Shut up or we’ll kill you,’” Anna Sjögren, in her 40s, said of the ordeal, which transpired on Thursday. So far, she said she’s too traumatized by the assault to file a police complaint.

While walking in one of the city’s largely Muslim populated neighborhoods, “A Muslim girl saw that I was wearing the Star of David on my neck and she started swearing at me and spat in my face. I got very upset and pushed her off” Sjögren told the World Zionist Organization Center for Countering Antisemitism.

Sjögren said that someone standing next to the girl then threw a sharp object at her face. “I’m not sure who it was. Everything happened so fast,” she said.

“There were at least ten witnesses to the attack. All ten of them were wearing hijabs or scarfs in the colors of the PLO. Some surrounding witnesses claim that I ‘tripped’ and fell and that no one hurt me. It’s just unbelievable.”

Sjögren’s jaw was severely damaged, her eyes swollen, and she sustained injuries all over her body, according to the report.

AT THE RECENT 2014 Aspen Ideas Festival, former 9/11 Commission Chairman and Governor of New Jersey, Tom Kean, noted that cybersecurity has exponentially grown as a threat since the original 9/11 Commission Report was issued.

The Governor is right–much has changed in the last decade. While dire terrorism threats remain, cyberterrorism and cybercrime have elevated as persistent, sophisticated, and dangerous threats to security and commerce.

The new reality is that almost all of our critical infrastructures operate in a digital environment, including the health care, transportation, communications, financial, and energy industries. While the information technology landscape has greatly evolved, so have the vulnerabilities. Ten years after 9/11 we are all reliant on the Internet’s connectivity for vital human services in almost every aspect of our daily lives.

security privacy cyberIn addition to its primary role in combating terrorism, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has assumed the lead civilian agency role in government for addressing cybersecurity. The agency’s role has evolved in correlation with the growing and complex threat, especially to the critical infrastructure.

Developments in the last few years have shaped DHS’s policy role. In July of 2010, The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) designated DHS with the primary responsibilities of overseeing the federal-wide information security program and evaluating its compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002. As a result, DHS became responsible for overseeing the protection of the .gov domain and also for detecting and responding to malicious activities and potential threats. DHS was also charged with annually reviewing the cyber security programs of all federal departments and agencies.

In October of 2012, President Obama issued an Executive Order further delineating DHS’s increased cybersecurity role toward developing standards and enhancing information sharing with critical infrastructure owners and operators. The Executive Order was aimed at identifying vulnerabilities, ensuring security, and integrating resilience in the public/private cyber ecosystem and had three areas of major focus: 1) Increase information sharing with the private sector, including classified cyber threat data; 2) Create a voluntary framework based on industry best practices to improve the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure providers; and 3) Protect privacy and civil liberties throughout the sharing and framework. DHS created eight working groups to implement the Executive Order.

Confronting the Muslim Brotherhood in the American Heartland — on The Glazov Gang
One group’s brave battle against the Brotherhood’s malicious plans in Omaha, Nebraska.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/frontpagemag-com/confronting-the-muslim-brotherhood-in-the-american-heartland-on-the-glazov-gang/

Following are two reviews of Dr. Norman Berdichevsky’s book: Modern Hebrew: The Past and Future of a Revitalized Language

Among the many almost incredible feats of Israel in 1948, was the in gathering of Jews from all over the world who spoke myriad languages, with different alphabets, dialects and idioms. Within years they all learned fluent Hebrew.

In America we struggle with “bi-lingual” education. In the case of Spanish it has simply led, with some exceptions into a population that speaks neither proper Spanish nor proper English. Trust me, I speak, read and write both languages fluently and correctly (give or take occasional problems with “who” versus “whom”). Only days after arriving in America I was sent to a public school in Portland, Oregon where there was no “bi-lingual” program. My brother and I faced a “sink or swim” situation, and within a month we understood and made ourselves understood in English.

Perhaps our educators should take the time to study the system of “ulpans”- which were offered to all immigrants in Israel, instead of fostering terrible and useless programs foisted on immigrant students.

As my late Aunt Sadie- my American statue of liberty in an apron- used to say: “Learn English foist!”

rsk

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/madness-in-mesopotamia?f=must_reads

President Obama’s order for air strikes that are to last “several months” against the northern and eastern edges of the Islamic State In the Levant (ISIL) is a small part of a political effort to promote a “more inclusive” Iraqi government in Baghdad. This undercuts the missions that American air power could accomplish in short order – namely strengthening Kurdistan, America’s only ally in the region beside Israel, and saving the masses of refugees now fleeing ISIL. Nor is it part of any strategy for dealing with ISIL.

Obama’s objective is neither more nor less than that of George W. Bush: birthing “a united, democratic Iraq.” U.S. aid is meant to stimulate the forming of a new Iraqi government “that represents the legitimate interest of all Iraqis.” In short, Obama is using the air strikes as bait with which to influence intra-Iraqi political bargaining. The only change from the Bush administration is the diminution of the bait.

But settling the quarrels of Mesopotamia’s Shia, Sunni, and Kurds is a fool’s errand. Since these peoples dislike one another and wish to live in (at least) three separate states, a united Iraq is possible only if one of them lords it over the others. America killed Iraq by introducing democracy, which has ensured separation of these three groups. Nothing that Obama might do can revive Iraq. Expecting new attempts to yield results different from those of previous ones is as good a definition of madness as any.

The insincerity of Obama’s August 7 official declaration of purpose – protecting Americans in Erbil, Kurdistan’s capital, and rescuing uncounted thousands of Yezidi and Christian refugees from ISIL – was clear from the conditionality of his commitment: to strike ISIL forces ranged against Kurdistan (“should they move toward the city”) and to help the refugees (“if necessary, to help forces in Iraq as they fight to break the siege…”). Obama knows very well that the Kurdish army is not going to allow ISIL inside Kurdistan’s borders, and that no Iraqi forces are fighting to rescue the refugees. U.S. strikes in these areas have been token gestures at best. Obama is not worried that Kurdistan will fall any more than he is concerned for the lives of the refugees.

Obama’s commitment to “the only lasting solution…reconciliation among Iraqi communities,” however, was unconditional and central to his order. On Sunday, August 10 Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)explained the President’s position on Face the Nation: “we have to begin at the fundamental core, which is leadership in Baghdad, Iraqi leadership, which will work together in a unified way to defend and protect their country and defeat ISIS.”

Of course the majority of Muslims disapprove of their more ardent co-religionists’ massacres, fatwahs and suicide bombings. Trouble is, tribal loyalty mutes what should be a loud and constant disavowal of the fanatics’ methods and madness. Patronising Western apologists for “the religion of peace” don’t help either

I had finished my self-imposed quota of wine for the night and felt desolate enough to believe that watching Q&A couldn’t make it worse. I was wrong. What tipped the balance was the discussion of the rights of certain Australian citizens (don’t mention that they are Muslims) going overseas to behead people and then return. First let’s start with Greg Combet and a sensible old-fashioned perspective:

“It’s just unbelievably shocking. I mean this is where you move from rights into responsibilities. And, to the extent that there are Australians going over there fighting for the Islamic State, involved in beheadings and murder, dreadful treatment of people, persecution, I’m not too concerned about their rights, to be honest.”

Now to a dumb post-modernism perspective volunteered by Jennifer Robinson, the “human rights lawyer” who represents Julian Assange:

“I think that there is a real question about the way in which – the way in which these people are incited to engage in this sort of act and start thinking more broadly about what is it in our society that’s driving people to engage in these acts.”

moderate muslim poster girlAh, you see, it is our fault. Ms Robinson didn’t stand alone in the dumbness stakes. Sussan Ley, assistant minister for education, said this:

“We must recognise several things about Muslim Australians. One is that Islam is a religion of peace. It absolutely is. I was attending some Eid Festival celebrations in my hometown of Albury on the weekend and talking to people who are concerned about the image that they have in the wider Australian community. But we must be also careful that we don’t encourage young Muslims towards a more radical interpretation of their faith. We must be inclusive. We must reach out to particularly young Muslim Australians who feel aggrieved by some of the things that they see around them, that they feel reflect unfairly on them.”

Ah, you see, once again it is our fault. And exactly where did this ‘religion of peace’ come from?