RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16079/turkey-islam-criticism-prison

According to the Koran and the recorded sayings (hadith) and biographies (sira) of Islam’s founder, “To leave Islam, to insult Muhammad or Allah, to deny the existence of Allah, to be sarcastic about Allah’s name, to deny any verse of the Koran” or to commit other acts of blasphemy are all punishable by death.

More alarming is that these pressures and bans come not only from governments. Many of the people in the countries mentioned above also appear enthusiastically to support strict or even deadly blasphemy and apostasy laws.

According to a 2013 Pew survey, overwhelming percentages of Muslims in many regions — Southeast Asia (84%), South Asia (78%), the Middle East and North Africa (78%), and Central Asia (62%) — favor making sharia, or Islamic law, the official law of the land. According to sharia, blasphemy and apostasy are punishable by death.

Critics of Turkey’s government and Islam continue being targeting by the country’s authorities.

On May 17, Turkish photographer Fırat Erez, a former supporter of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AKP) Party, was arrested in the city of Antalya after saying “Islam is immoral” on his Twitter account.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16083/eu-trade-china-hong-kong

The British government announced that it was considering granting citizenship to the nearly three million residents of Hong Kong. The move infuriated China, which fears a massive brain drain from Hong Kong that would jeopardize the city’s role as a global financial and trading hub.

Germany, which takes over the six-month rotating EU presidency on July 1, has announced that it will prioritize relations with China. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is particularly determined to proceed with a major EU-China summit to be held in the German city of Leipzig in September. She is reportedly under intense pressure from German automobile manufacturers, who are concerned about maintaining their access to the Chinese market.

“Europe can and should respond more forcefully than it has so far…. [If Germany cancelled] its looming summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Leipzig in September 2020 unless Beijing withdraws its national security legislation…. That would send a strong signal that it will not be business as usual…” — Noah Barkin, a senior fellow in Berlin at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

“German Chancellor Merkel does not seem to fully appreciate how continued Communist Party rule endangers peace, security and public health, not just in China, but around the world.” — Andreas Fulda, a senior fellow at the University of Nottingham’s Asia Research Institute.

“The European Union… has the choice. Should we make a pact with an authoritarian regime or should we work to strengthen a community of free, constitutionally governed market economies with liberal societies? It is remarkable that German politics, with its love of moralizing, seems to throw its values out the window when dealing with China…. If current… policy on China continues, this will lead to a gradual decoupling from America and a step-by-step infiltration and subjugation by China. Economic dependence will only be the first step. Political influence will follow. In the end, it is quite simple. What kind of future do we want for Europe? An alliance with an imperfect democracy or with a perfect dictatorship? It should be an easy decision for us to make. It is about more than just money. It is about our freedom…” — Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer, Europe’s largest publishing company.

The European Union has issued a predictably weak and equivocal declaration on China’s growing interference in Hong Kong. European leaders, apparently fearful of retaliation by Beijing, have signaled that economic interests will take priority over the EU’s much-trumpeted founding values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Europe’s continued appeasement of China indicates that the EU will be a weak link in efforts by Western democracies to confront the leadership in Beijing.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/06/how-strong-islamic-republic-iran-ari-lieberman/

The Islamic Republic of Iran frequently boasts of its military prowess. Periodically, the regime will showcase what it characterizes as an indigenously produced piece of military hardware, bragging about its supposed sophisticated features and uniqueness. But it’s often the case that the unveiled weapon system is either a painfully obvious, unworkable plastic model dressed up to look like something really cool or a poor replica of vintage American hardware, readily apparent to anyone with rudimentary knowledge of military hardware.

In 2013, Iran showcased its Qaher F313, which it touted as a fifth generation fighter with stealth capabilities similar to the American F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Military experts immediately identified the aircraft as a fake, and a poor one at that. Andrew Davies of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute dryly noted that “It looks like it might make a noise and vibrate if you put 20 cents in.”

In 2018, the Iranians tried to pull off a similar hoax with their unveiling of a purportedly domestically produced twin seat fighter jet called the “Kowsar.” The Iranians boasted that the aircraft was “completely indigenously made,” and featured “advanced avionics.” The plane was showcased before Iran’s “moderate” president, Hassan Rouhani, who boasted that the United States is fearful of Iran’s power.

Rouhani’s bombast notwithstanding, the plane was actually a copy of an American F-5F, which was unveiled by the Northrop Corporation in 1974, and is based on the single seat version of the F-5E, which had its first test flight in 1972. Iran purchased a number of these aircraft during the Shah’s reign and cannibalized many of them for spare parts. It is now trying to pass off half-century old, copied technology as its own. Rather than projecting military prowess, Iran’s efforts here come across as not only disingenuous but desperately pathetic.