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Anti-Israel Socialist Wins New York City’s Democratic Mayoral Primary A bleak future for New York City if Zohran Mamdani becomes mayor.

Posted By on June 26th, 2025

https://www.frontpagemag.com/anti-israel-socialist-wins-new-york-citys-democratic-mayoral-primary/

New York City, the city I have lived in and loved for many years, is on the verge of a catastrophe. Zohran Mamdani, an avowed socialist and Israel hater, is the presumed winner of the June 24th Democratic primary for the position of New York City mayor. Normally, the winner of the Democratic primary wins the general election in this overwhelmingly Democratic city, which means that this socialist, 33-year-old state assemblyman is poised to become New York City’s next mayor. The odds of the unpopular current mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, or the GOP nominee and founder of the Guardian Angels Curtis Sliwa beating Mr. Mamdani in the general election are slim to none.

Zohran Mamdani’s platform is downright scary.

Crime will run rampant in the city under the leadership of Zohran Mamdani, who is anti-police. In the past, he has advocated defunding the police. His current platform uses euphemisms that would amount to essentially the same thing by prioritizing the creation of a new so-called “Department of Community Safety,” which will take “a public health approach to safety” instead of relying primarily on law enforcement officers to combat crime. Mr. Mamdani will have an enthusiastic ally, Alvin Bragg, the pro-criminal Manhattan District Attorney who won the primary vote for DA.

The city’s economy will crash under the leadership of this Marxist who touts city-owned grocery stores, fare-free buses, free childcare, a rent freeze, and other government handouts. All this largesse will come at the expense of already overburdened, successful taxpayers who are the engine of any vital economy, many of whom will leave the city behind for greener pastures.

As Margaret Thatcher wisely said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money.”

Jews in New York City will be even less safe than they are now with a mayor who sides with antisemites in refusing to acknowledge that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state. Zohran Mamdani also refused to condemn the antisemitic phrase “globalize the intifada” when given a chance. He claimed that the phrase spoke to “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights,” and he outrageously compared it to how the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis has been described.

ANTI-SEMITISM, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Towards Jihadist Pogroms in Europe? by Drieu Godefridi

Posted By on June 26th, 2025

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21704/towards-jihadist-pogroms-in-europe

Europol reports indicate that Europe is now home to tens of thousands of radicalized individuals. The attacks in Paris (2015) and Brussels (2016) demonstrate the feasibility of complex operations by small groups.

Will people who criticize Islam be dragged through the courts by a desperate regime, while those who outspokenly fantasize about murdering Jews are granted a blank check?

Is quoting Islamic law “inflammatory”? The answer is completely arbitrary. The European Court of Human Rights often upholds convictions if statements about Islam are deemed to disrupt “religious peace” or “target Muslims”. This subjective determination reflects a legal trend in Europe to prioritize “social cohesion” over freedom of speech, unlike the U.S. First Amendment.

“Whomsoever God has cursed, and with whom He is wroth, and made some of them apes and swine, and worshippers of idols — they are worse situated, and have gone further astray from the right way.” — Qur’an 5:65.

“And He brought down those of the People of the Book who supported them from their fortresses and cast terror in their hearts; some you slew, some you made captive. And He bequeathed upon you their lands, their habitations, and their possessions, and a land you never trod. God is powerful over everything.” — Qur’an 33:26.

In such a cultural context, in this atmosphere of hatred, can it not be considered legitimate or even desirable, from that perspective, to participate in collective action against Jews?

Let us never forget that the vast majority of Muslims in Europe are peaceful and take no part in terrorist activity. But even if only 0.01% of Europe’s Muslims were to take up the cause and seek revenge for the supposed “genocide” committed by “the Jews”, this would still represent thousands of potential “jihadists”.

Europe in 2025 has been facing rising tensions linked to Islamist radicalization, These have been fueled by conflicts in the Middle East, jihadist propaganda on social networks and gaps in security coordination among countries.

Imagine a handful of individuals, mostly radicalized European Muslims, between the ages of 18 and 35, operating in major European cities such as Brussels, Paris or Berlin, and determined to avenge “the Palestinians”. This network decides to strike Jewish Europeans, massacre as many as possible, spread terror among Jews and non-Muslims – all “kuffars”, unbelievers in Allah — and to pit one community against another. They gather in unmonitored mosques, on encrypted internet forums or through recruiters in the Middle East. Together, to maximize the psychological and media impact, they plan a coordinated attack, inspired by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Their target: a high-profile public event, such as a cultural festival, a march against antisemitism, a pro-Israel rally, or a so-called “republican march”, as it is known in France. Their attack could be paired with a secondary target, such as a Jewish community center or synagogue, to remind the international community who the villain is supposed to be.

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

ASRA NOMANI: Iran’s ideological foot soldiers wage proxy war in America Network of 93 groups with ties to Democratic organizations operates as proxy campaign for Islamic Republic even as peace talks advance

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/asra-nomani-irans-ideological-foot-soldiers-wage-proxy-war-america

Even as President Donald Trump announces a “Complete and Total ceasefire” between Israel and Iran, there is a chant that is certain to echo for weeks to come: “There is only one solution! Intifada revolution!”

That was the fierce battle cry of a young Palestinian American man from the Party for Socialism and Liberation, as he pumped his fist in the air in front of the White House on Sunday, with protesters waving flags of Iran and Palestine beside him.

A phalanx of young Iranian American girls stood nearby, watching intently, some of them chanting quietly along, others fidgeting with their head scarfs, tight around their faces in the sweltering 90-degree heat.

This scene – a disturbing portrait of youth absorbing radicalization – was one front in a national propaganda war that a network of 93 groups with an estimated $100 million in annual revenues has unleashed on America in a coordinated proxy campaign for the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to my latest reporting for the Pearl Project, a nonprofit journalism initiative named for Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. I identify all of the groups by name in a Pearl Project database I am updating in real time to document the professional protest industry sowing chaos in America. You can be certain the list will keep growing even amid talk of peace in the Middle East.

Protesters supported Iran and called for a “global intifada” even as President Trump was engineering a ceasefire between Ireal and Iran. (Pearl Project)

This pro-Iran network includes socialist revolutionaries, Islamist activists, foreign-influenced nonprofits and even political operatives from Democratic groups including Indivisible Action, 50501 and Progressive Democrats of America — groups that have fused their interests to topple power in America and created a coalition running cover for America’s enemies. They are the red-green alliance that I call the Woke Army. They aren’t buying the ceasefire because war stokes their agendas.

About five of 10 of the groups are self-described Marxist, socialist, or communist, openly praising the Chinese Communist Party, Marx and Lenin. Another two of 10 of the groups are aligned with Islamist interests. The final three of 10 are socialist- and Islamist-adjacent groups, a disturbing place for Democratic groups to be. 

They do not disclose their donors, making them classic “dark money” groups.

Early Sunday, at a press conference with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Cain warned that “it would be a very bad idea for Iran or its proxies to attempt to attack American forces.” Most Americans assumed he meant military operations.

But the truth is: some of those proxies are already here. Not with bombs, but with bullhorns.

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China’s Renaming Spree: Will the World Just Surrender to Silent, Obdurate Infiltration? by Rahul Mishra

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21703/china-renaming-spree

Just as China has been attempting to redraw maritime boundaries in the South China Sea —renaming reefs, building artificial islands and militarizing waters in defiance of international rulings — it is now exporting a similar playbook to land borders. These moves are about more than maps. They are about creating a norm of impunity, where might makes right and ambiguity is weaponized.

Over the past two decades, China has transformed contested reefs, shoals and rocks into militarily fortified islands, backed by creative “historical” narratives, domestic law, and a selective reading of international norms. The region is now a textbook case of how intangible symbolic acts, when repeated enough to become normalized, can evolve into tangible material dominance.

In 2020 alone, China, in the same way it has renamed places in Arunachal Pradesh, renamed more than 80 features in the South China Sea. These were not acts of housekeeping, but of strategic myth-making, designed to weave a narrative of historical ownership and administrative control. Each new name is backed by maps, public pronouncements and military deployments. Over time, this creates “facts on the ground” — realities that others must deal with, regardless of legality.

Finally, China employs narrative warfare, by leveraging state media and diplomatic messaging to delegitimize counter-claims and cast China as the aggrieved party.

China’s renaming campaign is a test of whether the world will allow international borders to be changed — not by war, but by quiet, obdurate manipulation. The question is not about words. It is about the survival of an international rules-based order that is being eroded by passively doing nothing to confront unyielding infiltration.

If the international community does not push back against China’s provocations — which may seem minor — it risks enabling a model of complete surrender that bypasses diplomacy, multilateralism and international law.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

The Morning After: Is Israel in the Clear? Caveat: The ayatollah regime is still with us. P. David Hornik

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://pdavidhornik.substack.com/subscribe?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=email-subscribe&r=

Morning. A little more than 24 hours ago, yesterday morning, we were in the bomb shelter in the basement of our building — for the third time in quick succession. Iran was firing missiles in a staggered sequence, and our Home Front Command seemed confused by it.

It was during that third time in the bomb shelter, here in Be’er Sheva, that we heard the tremendous bang of an interceptor hitting a missile not far overhead. Out of two missiles arriving here in that sally, that was the one that was downed. The other was not downed — instead pulverizing an apartment building and killing an 18-year-old soldier who had been training in an elite unit, his girlfriend, his mother, and an older woman who was an active protester for the hostages in Gaza.

That was how the “ceasefire” began for us — with Iran sneaking in some last missiles and snuffing out four lives, including two very young people.

When, about three hours later, the ceasefire having formally begun, Iran fired still more missiles, this time at northern Israel, our leaders thought — as any leaders would have — that we had to react. That was when, with the warplanes on the way to Iran, President Trump had his now-famous, profane tantrum at Israel and lambasted our prime minister over the phone, and all the planes were recalled except one that executed a minor, purely symbolic attack.

So where do we stand? Is it time to celebrate the defeat of Iran, the demise of its nuclear and ballistic-missile endeavors? Or too early for that, with disturbing reports saying too much of Iran’s means of destruction have survived?

Here in Israel we barely had time to ponder those questions before — just about 24 hours after the deaths in Be’er Sheva — we got the news that, yesterday, seven soldiers had been killed in Gaza when “a Palestinian terror operative planted a bomb on the Puma armored combat engineering vehicle the soldiers were in.”

If anybody was feeling jubilant, it was enough to shatter it.

And it has been that way since the Israel–Iran war — the war pitting Israel against Iran and its proxies — began with the calamity of October 7, 2023. An indescribable rollercoaster of feelings, from abysmal despair to amazement and glee at our astounding intelligence and military achievements.

And this is what it’s like when you’re at the cusp of civilization and can’t just theorize about, make excuses for, or even endorse barbarism, but have no choice but to fight it — while getting widely reviled for doing so.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

What will China Do Post-Iran? As Iran reels and Russia weakens, China watches and endures—its challenge to the US is deeper, longer-term, and unlike any adversary of the past century. By Francesco Sisci

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://amgreatness.com/2025/06/25/what-will-china-do-post-iran/

Iran may be unraveling under the massive Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities and command centers. It’s uncertain whether the ayatollahs will survive the humiliation or how they will spin the narrative about the loss of their strategic atomic program.

With that, Russia, entangled in a war in Ukraine that it doesn’t seem able to win, will feel the pressure. Iran has been an essential supplier of military goods and a significant political partner in the complex diplomatic game surrounding the fight.

China, the third pole of this hazy coalition, has now kept its distance from Iran. Unlike with Ukraine or Gaza—where it rushed to pledge support for causes that proved to be lost (Moscow’s invasion or Hamas’s attack)—this time Beijing remained mostly silent, issuing a few bland statements about peace.

Beijing appears to be rethinking its foreign policy and shifting its stance.

This is a new kind of domino effect—unlike the Cold War—because China is fundamentally different from the USSR.

In Iran, the Shia-led regime established in the 1980s stands at odds with the enduring cultural legacy of Persia.

Despite all their efforts, the ruling clerics haven’t managed to wipe out the Persian legacy, which may be stronger than ever. If the ayatollahs were to fall, ancient Persia could reemerge from a very shallow underground.

In Russia, generals and oligarchs can survive. Russia might be better off without Vladimir Putin. If Putin were to fall, Russia could quite easily endure. This isn’t about a U.S.-controlled “regime change.” It’s about a natural historical evolution, without any need for direct U.S. meddling.

OPINION, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The West’s Metaphysical Blind Spot Arman Rahimian

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://quadrant.org.au/news-opinions/middle-east/the-wests-metaphysical-blind-spot/

In the wake of Israel’s pre-emptive strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and the wider war that erupted just two weeks ago—a revealing fracture has split the American and the Australian right. Some of its loudest voices—Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, and an army of self-styled realists—now openly question Israel’s actions and America’s commitment to its ally.

Their scepticism, on the surface, is understandable. Decades of American misadventures abroad have left voters instinctively wary of foreign entanglements. But beneath this wariness lies a deeper blind spot that cripples the West’s ability to deal with regimes like Iran: modern Westerners have forgotten what it means to wage politics according to an uncompromising metaphysic.

Iran sits on one of the world’s greatest oil reserves. Its people are literate, resourceful, and capable of great cultural and technological feats. Yet it remains an economic backwater—poor, unstable, and brutal. For the Western materialist mind, this defies reason. Surely, if the regime wanted prosperity, it could have it.

But that is precisely the point: it does not. The Iranian state is not an ordinary government seeking wealth or security. It is an eschatological machine—an empire run by clerics whose sole claim to legitimacy is their absolute commitment to an idea: the destruction of Israel and, in time, the humiliation of the West.

This is not rhetoric for domestic consumption alone; it is the regime’s raison d’être. Westerners, whose secular technocracies run on the premise that all problems can be traded or regulated away, cannot comprehend this. They see a nuclear deal here, a sanctions relief there, and imagine they are negotiating with rational actors who prize prosperity above purpose.

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Wars are won on the factory floor To survive the geopolitical turmoil of the 21st century, the West needs to revive its industrial base. Joel Kotkin

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/06/24/wars-are-won-on-the-factory-floor/

As recent events in Iran have so aptly demonstrated, technological progress married to industrial might produces the most tangible form of power. In the recent conflict in the Middle East, this meant that a second-tier power like Iran was clearly outmatched – first by Israel, then by America.

The West needs to learn this lesson and apply it to its rivalry with a far more formidable foe: China. Unlike the theocrats of Tehran, China’s ambitions are distinctly material. And, until recently, China has made tremendous headway facing relatively little, and largely ineffective, Western opposition.

Fortunately, in America at least, there is an emerging industrial renaissance, led by a wave of new firms investing in key technologies, such as drones, satellites, fuel-efficient jet engines and robotic drilling. These and similar companies remain the West’s best hope of slowing China’s bid for global pre-eminence – a campaign that now extends into space and advanced military systems.

China, the most important ally of Tehran’s beleaguered mullahs, cannot be easily dismissed. Since its accession to the World Trade Organisation in 2000, China has grown to the point where it boasts as many factory exports as the US, Japan and Germany combined. In 2023, the Middle Kingdom forged roughly half the world’s steel and became the world’s largest automobile market – including for electric vehicles, whose batteries are linked to an industrial economy that’s highly dependent on coal-burning power stations. It also accounts for more than half of all shipbuilding.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Eric Kober There’s No Hope for the Center-Right in New York’s Mayoral Race Reformers’ failure to gain traction can be explained, in part, by the political bases of Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo.

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://www.city-journal.org/article/theres-no-hope-for-the-center-right-in-new-yorks-mayoral-race

Many center-right commentators argue that the 2025 New York City Democratic primary candidates have failed to confront the city’s core challenges: excessive spending, high taxes, and heavy regulation. They contend that residents receive inadequate services in return and that the city, rather than fostering economic competitiveness, relies on its fading prestige to retain affluent residents and major firms in finance and professional services. This view has more influence online and on podcasts than among the electorate. Investor and philanthropist Whitney Tilson, who has made many of these arguments, is polling at 1 percent in the primary.

The center-right’s failure to gain traction can be explained, in part, by the coalitions behind the two leading candidates. Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo has assembled a base made up of groups largely content with the status quo and looking to him to preserve it. His principal challenger, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, draws support from those dissatisfied with the current system—but who see the solution as more public spending and higher taxes.

A recent analysis by local political commentator Michael Lange demonstrates how this situation materialized. Lange divides New York City’s State Assembly districts into seven categories, ranking them from most favorable to Mamdani to most favorable to Cuomo.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

The Persistent Presence of Absence The public school exodus continues unabated. By Larry Sand

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://amgreatness.com/2025/06/25/the-persistent-presence-of-absence/

The fact that many children are ditching America’s public schools is undeniable. Most recently, Nat Malkus, Deputy Director of Education Policy at the American Enterprise Institute, reported that while chronic absenteeism spiked during the COVID pandemic, it remains a serious problem. In 2024, rates were 57% higher than they were before the pandemic. (Students who miss at least 10% of the school year, or roughly 18 days, are considered chronically absent.)

Malkus goes on to explain that in 2018 and 2019, about 15% of K–12 public school students in the U.S. were chronically absent—a number so high that numerous observers and the U.S. Department of Education are labeling it a “crisis.”

In total, nearly one in twelve public schools in the United States has experienced a “substantial” enrollment decline over the last five years.

The problem is especially egregious in our big cities. In Los Angeles, more than 32% of students were chronically absent in the 2023-2024 school year.

In Chicago, dwindling enrollment has left about 150 schools half-empty, while 47 operate at less than one-third capacity.

Additionally, schools identified by their states as chronically low-performing were more than twice as likely to experience sizable enrollment declines as other public schools.

In February 2025, FutureEd disclosed that data from 22 states and the District of Columbia for the 2023-24 school year show significant differences across grade levels, with absenteeism particularly severe in high school.

“In most states, 12th graders have the highest rates of chronic absenteeism, often far exceeding state averages. In Mississippi, for example, the overall absenteeism rate was 24%, but among seniors, it soared to 41%. Several other states have senior absenteeism rates above 40%, with rates in the District of Columbia and Oregon exceeding 50%.”