WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Bashar al-Assad, Putin’s Loyal Lapdog What happens to Syria’s strongman if Putin is deposed? Hugh Fitzgerald

Posted By on March 14th, 2022

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/03/bashar-al-assad-putins-loyal-lapdog-hugh-fitzgerald/

While most of the world recoils in horror at Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a handful of fellow dictators have been loyal to the Kremlin. One is the unspeakable Alexander Lukashenko, the semi-literate dictator of Belarus, and Putin’s lapdog who has even threatened to use nuclear weapons – presumably given to his country by Russia – to fend off the West. Lukashenko has said that his country would use such weapons “”and more” as conflict escalated against its ally Russia, according to AFP.

“If such stupid and mindless steps are taken by our rivals and opponents, we will deploy not only nuclear weapons, but super-nuclear and up-and-coming ones to protect our territory,” Lukashenko said last week.

Got that? Lukashenko will stand by his man, Vladimir Putin, and is prepared to deploy on his territory not just Russian “nuclear” weapons, but “super-nuclear and up-and-coming ones” to “protect our territory.”

“Protect” our territory against whom? It’s the Russians who have been doing all the invading in Lukashenko’s neighborhood. No member of NATO has threatened Belarus; no NATO member has any intention of invading Belarus.

And then there is Bashar Assad, who was saved from defeat in the Syrian civil war by the Russians, who in 2015 began to bombard the rebels who were then close to winning the war. Thus Assad owes his victory in the civil war and, very likely, his life, to his friend Vladimir Putin.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Biden’s Banana Republic The tragic case of Matthew Perna, and its terrible implications. Robert Spencer

Posted By on March 14th, 2022

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/03/bidens-banana-republic-robert-spencer/

Imagine a country that imprisons peaceful protestors on false charges of participating in an attempt to overthrow the government, as part of efforts to discredit and ultimately criminalize all opposition to the ruling party’s agenda. People who entered a public building when police held the door open for them are being held in solitary confinement and given draconian punishments far out of proportion to what they actually did. This is the sort of thing that happens in Third World countries, right? This is the sort of thing tinpot dictators do in banana republics, where the rulers gained power by underhanded means and have no respect for due process, the rule of law, or the rights of their citizens – right? Maybe so, but all this and worse is happening right now in the land of the free and the home of the brave, where up until quite recently, it all would have been unthinkable.

Take, for example, the case of Matthew Perna, who traveled from his home in Pennsylvania to Washington on January 6, 2021, to protest the widely reported election irregularities, which only now are being confirmed by investigators. He pleaded guilty on December 9 to entering the Capitol and committed suicide on February 25, while awaiting sentencing.

Perna’s obituary tells an appalling story of injustice and railroading. Perna, it says, “attended the rally on January 6, 2021, to peacefully stand up for his beliefs.” He was no revolutionary or radical activist: “After learning that the FBI was looking for him, he immediately turned himself in.” What did he do on January 6 to attract the attention of the FBI? Nothing much: “He entered the Capitol through a previously opened door (he did not break in as was reported) where he was ushered in by police. He didn’t break, touch, or steal anything. He did not harm anyone, as he stayed within the velvet ropes taking pictures.”

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB Comments turned off

Benghazi II? Biden White House oddly silent about Iran’s missile attack in Irbil By Monica Showalter

Posted By on March 14th, 2022

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/03/benghazi_ii_biden_white_house_oddly_silent_about_irans_missile_attack_in_irbil.html

While global focus has been on Russia’s scorched earth campaign across Ukraine, Iran’s malevolent mullahs haven’t been napping.

According to the Washington Post:

BAGHDAD — Iran claimed responsibility Sunday for a barrage of ballistic missiles that hit northern Iraq just after midnight, striking several kilometers from a U.S. compound and drawing sharp condemnation from the Iraqi and U.S. capitals.

The semiofficial Fars news agency said that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps had launched “powerful missiles” in response for what it described as “recent crimes of the fake Zionist regime,” an apparent reference to the killing of two of its members last week in Syria, which it has blamed on Israel.

The attack appeared to mark a significant escalation in proxy and political conflicts on Iraqi soil as talks between Iran and the United States over the future of a 2015 nuclear deal shattered by President Donald Trump falter.

Other reports say that it was a U.S. military base or U.S. military/intelligence complex inside Irbil airport, as the WaPo reports, that got hit. Whatever it was, it was close.

Which is some amazing timing given that Joe Biden is poised to give the mullahs the deal of a lifetime with his determination to revive the Obama-era Iran deal, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), even if he’s got Vladimir Putin brokering it. President Trump scrapped it and took out Iran’s terrorist leadership instead. It’s not know why Biden is still sticking to this bad idea, especially with Putin involved. Perhaps the mullahs think Biden will give them their pallets of cash without the deal. But most likely, they smell weakness from the White House and are comfortable giving handsy Joe a beating. One is certain, though: The attack shows that they have absolutely no fear of Biden or losing the deal he wants to hand them.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

Why George Washington University Must Oppose Chinese Communist Oppression By Ezra Meyer

Posted By on March 14th, 2022

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/03/why-george-washington-university-must-oppose-chinese-communist-oppression/

It seems like a no-brainer, but on one American campus, critics of a campaign against a tyrannical regime charge racism.

I n early February, posters criticizing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for their subjugation of the Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Hong Kongers emerged on the campus of George Washington University. The posters, put up anonymously and highlighting the CCP’s reprehensible actions, soon turned controversial.

Student groups complained to university president Mark Wrighton that the posters were offensive and depicted racist caricatures. In a leaked email, Wrighton responded by saying that he too was “personally offended” by the posters. This email received significant press coverage, leading to a statement from Wrigthon in which he clarified his prior ignorance of the posters’ true meaning and reaffirmed his and the university’s commitment to free speech.

Throughout this time, I, along with a number of other students and student groups, have been pressuring the university to divest all of its endowment holdings from companies that enable the CCP’s genocide and persecution of the Uyghur people. Without the exposure of this initial email, we would never have known the extent of the uphill battle we face with the administration.

Universities are supposed to be forums of open and free exchanges of ideas and opinions. On too many campuses across the country, we’re seeing free speech and expression discouraged and even stifled.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

GOOGLE ATTACKS US FOR REPORTING ON OUR OWN POLL! CALLS IT “HARMFUL INFORMATION”

Posted By on March 14th, 2022

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/03/14/google-attacks-us-for-reporting-on-our-own-poll-calls-it-harmful-lnformation/

The other day we received a notice from Google’s AdSense ad network that one of our articles violated its policies and, as a result, they wouldn’t allow any of their network’s ads to appear on that article until we “fixed” the violation.

What was the violation?  According to Google, the article contained “unreliable and harmful information.” What does that mean? Dig deeper and here’s how Google describes this particular violation:

“We do not allow content that:

makes claims that are demonstrably false and could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process.
promotes harmful health claims or relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative scientific consensus.
contradicts authoritative scientific consensus on climate change.”

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Pompeo: We Should Prepare Taiwan To Defend Itself Like We Failed To Do For Ukraine Posted By Tim Hains

Posted By on March 14th, 2022

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/03/13/pompeo_we_should_prepare_taiwan_to_defend_itself_like_we_failed_to_do_for_ukraine.html

Former Trump administration Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke about his recent trip to Taiwan and Singapore on FNC’s Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures”

MIKE POMPEO: I’ve talked about the fact that Ukraine is an absolute tragedy. We’ve been behind. What I’m really worried about is cascading series of crises. Overnight there were missiles fired near him U.S. consulate in Iraq.

When I was in Twiwan, they were worried about the same thing. A series of cascading crises that effects them and their lives. I made the statement when I was in Taiwan we ought to do the simple thing of recognizing their independence. Everybody knows they have never been part of mainland Communist China. They don’t want to be.

We ought to be doing the things that we failed to do last summer for the Ukrainian people we ought to be doing for Taiwan.

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Biden Eyes Venezuelan Oil The administration seeks engagement with Maduro’s criminal regime.By Mary Anastasia O’Grady

Posted By on March 14th, 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-eyes-venezuelan-oil-russia-ukraine-gas-prices-maduro-national-imports-11647195311?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

War profiteering is the world’s second-oldest profession, and it’s silly to feign shock over efforts by petroleum companies and financiers to use the bloodshed in Ukraine to make money in Venezuela.

It’s harder to understand why the Biden administration would rush to help the oil industry and its bankers at the expense of the long-suffering Venezuelan people and U.S. national security. But that seems to be where we’re headed.

On March 5 representatives from the White House and the State Department visited Caracas to negotiate with dictator Nicolás Maduro. The meeting wasn’t public. But judging from press reports, citing people familiar with the matter, it’s pretty clear that the administration is thinking about lifting the U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil imports and that it wanted to see what it could get in return.

The White House plays down that speculation. The meeting just happened to take place amid surging gasoline prices and ahead of Mr. Biden’s Tuesday announcement that the U.S. will forbid Russian oil imports.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Iran Sends Its Missile Regards The U.S. pursuit of a new nuclear deal looks increasingly bizarre.

Posted By on March 14th, 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-sends-its-missile-regards-northern-iraq-consulate-nuclear-deal-putin-regime-weapons-11647200353?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

The Biden Administration’s hell-bent pursuit of a new nuclear deal with Iran grows harder to understand with each provocation from Tehran. The latest came Sunday in a missile attack near a U.S. consulate under construction in northern Iraq.

Iran typically commits mayhem through proxy militias, but this time Tehran took credit. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the regime’s paramilitary group, said it carried out a missile attack on what it claimed were Israeli targets inside Iraq. The group said it was in response to an Israeli airstrike in Syria last week that killed two IRGC commanders.

Notably, however, the missiles landed in Kurdish territory in northern Iraq. The Kurds are America’s best allies in that country. No one was killed but at least two individuals were injured. It’s likely the IRGC wants to send a message about the vulnerability of U.S. interests and allies in the region as the two sides close in on a renewed nuclear deal.

The deal would hand Iran tens of billions of dollars in money and investment. Iran also wants the U.S. to remove the IRGC from its list of terrorist groups as part of the deal. Iran knows the U.S. is preoccupied at the moment with Ukraine and Russian aggression.

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Wartime Confidantes by Lawrence Kadish

Posted By on March 14th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18327/wartime-confidantes

By anyone’s definition, US President Joseph Biden has become an American war president.

Which begs the question – who are his closest confidantes at a time of extreme peril?

Lincoln had Edwin Stanton who was an unflappable War Secretary Lincoln could depend upon during the darkest days of the Civil War.

Woodrow Wilson sought the advice of “Colonel” Edward House, who served as his diplomatic representative in dealing with our European Allies during World War I and in the months that followed the armistice.

FDR depended on the likes of Harry Hopkins, General George Marshall, and Admiral William Leahy – smart strategists who understood the existential threat that faced America and the free world during World War II.

And Joe Biden? Who is advising this president to confront and outplay Russian President Vladimir Putin at a time when Russian rocket strikes are creeping ever closer to our NATO ally, Poland? Who is giving Biden the type of insight and analysis he needs, given that any misstep could see an exchange of weapons of mass destruction?

Vice President Kamala Harris, whose unimpressive performance during her recent diplomatic mission to Eastern Europe must have given our allies much pause for thought?

This author raised the question of Biden’s unofficial circle of advisors in the Fall of last year when the issues were domestic and Washington’s policies had created such massive national debt that it was capable of triggering historic inflation. (And here we are.) While history teaches us that failed economic models can destroy a nation (such as Germany in the 1920s and the Soviet Union in the 1980s), war can leave a field of ruin where great cities once stood.

We reported then that published reports revealed that John Podesta, Clinton’s former chief of staff and senior counselor to Obama, was actively lobbying Democratic Congressmen on behalf of Biden’s “Build Back Better ” agenda. We also noted that Podesta’s older brother, Anthony, a longtime Democratic lobbyist and fundraiser, was the subject of a New York Times story that reported Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei had hired Podesta despite the fact that Huawei was identified as a national security threat by the Trump administration, and even the Biden administration.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

Posted By on March 13th, 2022

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

 

This newsletter could well be titled “Israel Abroad.” First, Michael Ordman highlights the enormous contributions Israel is making in providing material help to Ukraine’s beleaguered citizens. Second, Israeli medical innovations and technology are used in hospitals throughout the world; famine and drought in Africa are prevented with agricultural tools and techniques developed in Israel; traffic is relieved with Israeli systems in South Korea; 5G networks from Israel are deployed in Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, the U.S, and Greece; Finland’s defense ministry has decided to purchase defense systems from Israeli companies. Finally, the increasing number of Jewish refugees who find a haven in Israel evokes the grim memory of the infamous Evian conference of July 1938 when the Dominican Republic was the only Western nation that would grant some refuge to the millions of Jews trapped in Europe and targeted for genocide. Their last words were “hear oh Israel. “As Michael Ordman records, Israel heard and has responded. rsk

 

 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Medics rush to Ukraine. Israeli emergency NGO United Hatzalah chartered a plane and sent 40 paramedics, EMTs, doctors, psychologists, and therapists, to join its volunteers already treating local Ukrainians. The plane also delivered tons of medical supplies, donated food, plus other aid, and brought back 150 refugees to Israel.
https://israelrescue.org/blog/united-hatzalah-charters-plane-to-send-additional-teams-and-supplies-to-ukrainian-border-and-return-150-israeli-refugees-to-israel/
 
10 seriously ill children rescued from Ukraine. The Israeli embassy in Bucharest, Romania helped rescue 10 Ukrainian children with serious illnesses and bring them to Israel for treatment. Israeli medical personnel flew on a special plane to safely transport the children to Schneider Children’s hospital in Petah Tikvah, Israel.
https://worldisraelnews.com/israel-airlifts-10-hospitalized-kids-from-ukraine-for-care/
https://www.jns.org/israels-romanian-embassy-evacuates-pediatric-cancer-patients-to-israel/

Health monitoring for Ukrainian women. (TY UWI & I24 News) The Gynescope  from Israel’s Illumigyn (see here previously) is being used by medics from Israel’s Sheba Medical Center to diagnose cervical cancer in Ukrainian women.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqw1VZ2IUjo
 
Israeli field hospital for Ukraine. Israel is sending a medical delegation to Ukraine, to set up a field hospital. It will be operated by Sheba Medical Center, Clalit Health Services, and medics from other hospitals. The field hospital will include wards for children and adults, an emergency room, a delivery room, and a first aid clinic.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/323322  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4ulTXTmM2c
https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-israel-sets-up-virtual-hospital-in-ukraine/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH59FSvDNHU
 
Delegation from Moldovia visits Israel. To help understand how a hospital is run during an emergency, a delegation of senior medical officials from Moldova visited Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. The visit had been planned long before the start of the recent Russian / Ukrainian conflict.
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/rambam_news/Moldovan_delegation_at_Rambam.aspx
 
MS patient regains ability to walk. Malia Litman, from Dallas Texas, was unable to walk due to her MS condition. Then she discovered the stem cell treatment being trialed at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.  Thanks to the treatment, she was able to dance with her son Zachary at his wedding.
https://tjpnews.com/malia-litman-a-hadassah-medical-miracle/
 
Linking diet, bacteria, and the heart. An international study, led by Ben Gurion University Professor Iris Shai, has shown that the green Mediterranean (MED) diet modifies the bacterial population in the gut. These changes in the microbiome can bring substantial health benefits, including reduced cardiac risk.
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/bgu-research-green-mediterranean-diet-mediates-weight-loss-reduces-cardiac-risk/2022/03/10/
https://genomemedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13073-022-01015-z
 
Space medicine course. Professor Sara Eyal of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has launched Israel’s first university course for therapy development research in space, or “space medicine.”  Her first session attracted some 40 students from different disciplines such as medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and biology.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-first-space-medicine-university-course-gets-underway-in-jerusalem/
 
Healthcare agreement with Bahrain. Israel and Bahrain have signed an agreement for health care cooperation in epidemics and emergency management, education, and research.  It will cover the fields of information sharing, digital health, medical innovation, and genetic research.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-and-bahrain-sign-agreement-on-health-collaboration/