Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Majid Rafizadeh • November 26, 2022 at 5:00 am
The mullahs are freely expanding their nuclear weapons program, now enriching uranium to nearly weapons-grade level. Iran is also seeking assistance from its ally, Russia, to bolster its nuclear program, according to the US intelligence officials. Iran has been providing attack drones to Russia that are being used in Ukraine and is preparing also to deliver ballistic missiles. As a result, it should not come as a surprise that the Islamic Republic is going to seek something in return from Russia for these weapons deliveries. The regime continues to keep the IAEA's cameras at Iran's nuclear facilities turned off. By doing so, it is effectively preventing the IAEA from monitoring its nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment. Iran's regime also refuses to answer the IAEA's questions about uranium particles found at three of its undeclared nuclear sites. To what lengths will the Biden administration go to protect Iran's mullahs, allow them to crush anti-regime protestors, and collude with Russia to help Iran acquire nuclear weapons capability?
Iran's mullahs are freely expanding their nuclear weapons program, now enriching uranium to nearly weapons-grade level. Iran is also seeking assistance from its ally, Russia, to bolster its nuclear program, according to the US intelligence officials. (Image source: iStock)
It has been nearly a year since nuclear negotiations with Iran stalled; since then, the Biden administration appears to be sitting idly by watching the ruling mullahs advance their nuclear weapons program. The mullahs are freely expanding it, now enriching uranium to nearly weapons-grade level. Iran is also seeking assistance from its ally, Russia, to bolster its nuclear program, according to the US intelligence officials. Kamal Kharrazi, Iran's former foreign minister, pointed to Iran's major advances in an interview to Al Jazeera: "It's no secret that we have become a quasi-nuclear state. This is a fact. And it's no secret that we have the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb... In the past, and within just a few days, we were able to enrich uranium up to 60%, and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium."
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by Cynthia Farahat • November 25, 2022 at 8:00 am
Bahgat Saber, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, operates from his New York apartment and often streams live videos from Times Square. During his multi-hour videos, Saber routinely incites terrorism, assassinations, kidnapping and torture in an extremely graphic manner. The calls for violence in his videos are viewed by millions of people across the world. In October, when Saber called for bloodshed, he broadcast a code used by al-Qaeda to activate their cells for open warfare... this time, he specified targeting opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood's Islamist project anywhere in the world. When fatwas -- religious opinions or edicts -- entail orders for assassination, they are called "blood fatwas." Basically, they are contract killings masquerading as religious pronouncements. Akram Kassab, a New York City-based Muslim Brotherhood theologian and member of the Muslim Brotherhood's International Union of Muslim Scholars — designated by the UAE as a terror group — issued an assassination fatwa from a Muslim Brotherhood television channel, Al-Ann, on May 18, 2015. Ahmed Abdel-Basit Mohamed, also known as "Basit," was sentenced to death in Egypt for his role in deadly terrorist attacks there. He now lives freely in the US. Basit confirmed the Egyptian government's accusations when he publicly bragged about his involvement in a terrorist attack in Egypt in which 506 people were wounded or killed. According to Basit's LinkedIn profile, he is currently an Adjunct Professor of Astronomy at Manhattan College. The Muslim Brotherhood is directly connected to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Muslim Brotherhood members such as Saber and Basit operate inside the US and openly support jihad. The US withdrawal from Afghanistan turned that country into a transnational jihadist training camp under the oversight of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated regime in Qatar, now hiding behind the US airbase there while acting against America's interests. How long will the US continue to ignore its self-declared enemies who, while enjoying the hospitality of the US, plot to destroy her?
In videos posted to YouTube and social media, Bahgat Saber, a Muslim Brotherhood propagandist based in New York City, routinely incites terrorism, assassinations, kidnapping and torture in an extremely graphic manner. The calls for violence in his videos are viewed by millions of people across the world. (Image source: MEMRI) A Muslim Brotherhood propagandist based in New York City has called for jihad both in the United States and internationally. Bahgat Saber, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, operates from his New York apartment and often streams live videos from Times Square. During his multi-hour videos, Saber routinely incites terrorism, assassinations, kidnapping and torture in an extremely graphic manner. The calls for violence in his videos are viewed by millions of people across the world. In October, when Saber called for bloodshed, he used a code-phrase employed by al-Qaeda to activate their terrorist cells for open warfare. In a video titled, "Ride, O horses of Allah." Saber started his video with, "We are working in the upcoming phase on Ride, O horses of Allah" — which is al-Qaeda's call for activating terrorism.
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by Lawrence Kadish • November 24, 2022 at 8:00 am
Our election integrity is under assault, as is our Constitution. We have lost confidence in our rulers. We have lost confidence in how we elect our rulers. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
"Tsekung asked about government and Confucius replied: 'People must have sufficient to eat; there must be a sufficient army; and there must be confidence of people in the ruler.' 'If you are forced to give up one of these three objectives, what would you go without first,' asked Tsekung. Confucius said, ' I would go without the army first.' 'And if you were forced to go without one of the two remaining factors, what would you rather go without,' asked Tsekung again. 'I would rather go without sufficient food for the people.... [A] nation cannot exist without confidence in its ruler.'"
— From The Wisdom of China and India by Lin Yutang.
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by Alan M. Dershowitz • November 24, 2022 at 5:00 am
It was a strange mixed verdict because those she was acquitted of defrauding needed more protection from the law than those she was convicted of defrauding. This is not to deny that even these financial gamblers are entitled to legal protection against fraud, despite the well-known caution of caveat emptor. It is to question the proportionality of a double-digit sentence in the face of the acquittal on the far more serious charge. A wealthy investor who loses a million dollars, representing one percent of his net worth, has lost less than a middle-class investor who loses $100,000, representing half of his assets. Yet the sentencing guidelines undervalue these realities. The irony is that Holmes might well have gotten a shorter sentence if she had been convicted only of the more serious crimes.... The guidelines give far too much weight to the quantity of financial losses, and too little to the qualitative realities of the risky investment world.
Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes arrives at federal court on October 17, 2022 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Elizabeth Holmes, the Silicon Valley wonderkid who founded and ran Theranos, the blood testing company, was sentenced last week to 11 years in prison. A jury acquitted her of the most serious charges related to defrauding government and military officials regarding the use of the Theranos device by soldiers. But it convicted her of defrauding highly sophisticated, experienced and mega-wealthy investors.
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November 24, 2022 at 4:00 am
Very Happiest Thanksgiving!
We have so much to be thankful for. All of us at Gatestone
Liberty Is Worth the Fight
Freedom's future always depends upon the courage of a lonely few.
by J.B. Shurk • November 23, 2022 at 5:00 am
Aside from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's efforts to create an official "Disinformation Governance Board" to "combat" free speech antithetical to the government's point of view, reports show that DHS employees have regularly met with Facebook and Twitter to suppress and censor certain facts and opinions in online discussion of numerous issues dominating public debate — including such broad topics as the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Covid-19, and "racial justice." To censor dissenting views on experimental, yet coerced, medical treatments, two-tiered economic shutdowns (during which "Big Box" stores are inexplicably "allowed" to operate while economically vulnerable neighborhood shops are not), is mass censorship in the name of public health, shielding from scrutiny monstrous tyranny draped in the false cloak of the "greater" or "common good." Many politicians cavalierly embrace totalitarianism once again. Citizens, once aware of the attendant dangers to peace when large corporations and national governments work hand in glove to push "politically correct" ideas upon society, are apparently so far removed from the twentieth century's vivid lessons in fascist, communist, and Nazi propaganda that they fail to see the harm in bureaucrats and officeholders dictating to the public what it may believe. Many Westerners have forgotten that freedom of speech and personal liberty — far from menacing "microaggressions" deserving of sanction — are the surest safety valves for mediating animosities inherent within any society before outright violence is unleashed in their stead. Governments already acclimated to universal public surveillance and warrantless online tracking see central bank digital currencies, human tracking implants, and the imposition of social credit scores all on the horizon and believe the time for total control over citizens is near, so long as they are the ones doing the controlling. Their concern is not our personal liberty but their power. For human freedom to flourish, only the people are capable of keeping government power in check. It is therefore imperative that Westerners not lose sight of the most important battle already raging — one pitting individual freedom against total state control.
Many Westerners have forgotten that freedom of speech and personal liberty — far from menacing "microaggressions" deserving of sanction — are the surest safety valves for mediating animosities inherent within any society before outright violence is unleashed in their stead. (Image source: iStock)
"There comes a time," Martin Luther King Jr. advised, "when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right." Moral imperative, in other words, outweighs personal security, political correctness, and the psychological comfort of identifying with the crowd. During troubling times of human violence and suffering, it is always the lonely few — either blessed with innate courage or made resolute through private, grinding struggle — who dare to take a stand against encroaching evils tacitly accepted by the many. Such is the power of individual free will when man chooses principle as his guide.
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by Judith Bergman • November 22, 2022 at 5:00 am
In the next two years, between 2022 and 2024, China, according to its joint plan with Latin American and Caribbean states, and as part of its quest to become the world's global tech leader, envisages providing states in the region with 5,000 government scholarships and 3,000 training places in education and research in the Chinese homeland. This cooperation also extends to space, as well as nuclear energy and nuclear technology. The plan also aims to strengthen cooperation in 5G telecommunications equipment and artificial intelligence. Significantly, the action plan also mentions building networks of sister cities and sister provinces between Latin American/Caribbean countries and China. "Under the administration of Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, the association [for sister-cities] has been revitalized as China seeks to groom local business, political, and media leaders in countries around the world..." — "China's Influence & American Interests," a 2018 report by the Working Group on Chinese Influence Activities in the United States, Hoover Institution Press, November 29, 2018. China's trade with Latin America reached $450 billion last year, up from $180 billion in 2010. The World Economic Forum has estimated that trade with the region will exceed $700 billion by 2035, more than double what it was in 2000. Crucially, 21 out of the 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have joined the Belt and Road Initiative. The BRI seeks dramatically to enhance China's global influence... by making countries worldwide increasingly dependent on China. Latin America, as one headline noted recently, is fast "becoming China's backyard."
China already wields considerable influence in Latin America, but a joint new action plan promises to take that influence to new levels; it shows the extent to which China is aiming to "take over" Latin America and the Caribbean. Pictured: Chinese President Xi Jinping hosts Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Beijing, China on September 1, 2015. (Photo by Parker Song-Pool/Getty Images)
China is deepening its involvement in Latin America and the Caribbean, as Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu made clear last year at a summit between China and Latin American and Caribbean states. The summit resulted in a joint action plan that will not only tighten economic cooperation between China and Latin America and the Caribbean in various fields such as agriculture, food, science, technology, industry, infrastructure, aviation, energy and tourism, but also deepen China's influence in the region through cooperation in education, research and sports. The action plan directly mentions, for instance, that Latin American and Caribbean members of the forum "support China in hosting the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games" that took place in March.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • November 21, 2022 at 5:00 am
Hamas leaders [who have relocated to Doha]... are using Qatar as a base for calling for the destruction of Israel. Yet this does not seem to bother the rulers of Qatar or its allies in the West, including the US. This is the same Qatar whose leaders claim that they condemn all acts of terrorism and violent extremism. It is disquieting, to say the least, that a county that hosts the leadership of a Palestinian group that carried out thousands of terror attacks against Israel is talking about Qatar's desire to help eliminate terrorism and extremism. It is also disquieting that Qatar... continues to pour millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip, thereby emboldening Hamas, whose leaders and charter champion violence and call for the destruction of Israel. Haniyeh is not the only Hamas leader living under the patronage of Qatar. Several other Hamas leaders, including Khaled Mashaal, Hussam Badran, Izzat al-Risheq and Sami Khater, have also been welcomed to move their offices and homes to the Gulf state. In addition to hosting the Hamas leaders and their families, Qatar has been providing millions of dollars to Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.... [T]he Qatari aid indirectly helps Hamas to hold on to power. Qatar's beneficence exempts Hamas from its responsibilities towards the Palestinians living under its rule in the Gaza Strip and allows the terror group instead to direct its resources and energies towards building tunnels to attack Israel and manufacturing weapons, including rockets, in preparation for their next war to try to destroy Israel. The Hamas leaders have often been criticized by Palestinians and other Arabs for leading comfortable lives in Qatar while calling on their people in the Gaza Strip to continue the jihad (holy war) against Israel. Qatar, however, evidently cares nothing about the interests of ordinary Palestinians, such as boosting their economy and improving their living conditions. What it cares about is embracing the leaders of Hamas to make Qatar appear to the Arabs and Muslims as the main supporter of the Palestinian "resistance" – a euphemism for the "armed struggle" against Israel. In spite of Qaradawi's public support for terrorism and inflammatory rhetoric, the Qataris continued to host him and many of his followers, as well as the leaders of Hamas -- in this way turning the emirate into a center for spreading global jihad and terrorism. It is this detrimental role that, in 2017, prompted four Arab countries -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt -- to break diplomatic relations with Qatar. The four countries also barred Qatari citizens and closed all their borders to Qatar. The Saudis accused Qatar of "embracing various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilizing the region, including the Muslim Brotherhood group, Daesh (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda..." — Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, DC, June 5, 2017. Qatar has long hosted the largest US airbase in the Middle East, but Qatar is not hosting the base out of love for the Americans. Rather, it is a way of distracting attention from its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups. Qatar might even have convinced some Americans that it is doing the US a favor by allowing the airbase to be there. How comfortable it must be to export terrorism while having the protection of the US military right on your own soil. Qatar, however, is no friend of the US or its Arab allies. In fact, Qatar's endorsement of global jihad remains a source of intense concern for many Arabs, who are asking when the US will wake up and see how the Qataris have been using their wealth to subvert America by showering it with gifts, including financial contributions to US universities and think-tanks. As long as Qatar continues to fund and host the Hamas leadership, and as long as it continues to use Al-Jazeera to encourage jihad and extremism, the only real game that the emirate is playing, apart from the World Cup, is one of successfully deceiving the Americans.
Hamas leaders are using Qatar as a base for calling for the destruction of Israel. Yet this does not seem to bother the rulers of Qatar or its allies in the West, including the US. This is the same Qatar whose leaders claim that they condemn all acts of terrorism and violent extremism. Pictured: Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh addresses a rally in Doha, Qatar on May 15, 2021. (Photo by Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images)
A recent meeting in Doha, Qatar, between the Palestinian group, Hamas, and Afghanistan's Taliban, has served as yet another reminder of Qatar's double game of harboring and sponsoring Islamic extremists while simultaneously pretending to be an ally of the US and other Western countries. This meeting, which took place on October 26, was attended by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh who, together with several officials from that Islamist group, relocated from the Gaza Strip to Qatar over the past few years. Last year, Haniyeh, now based in Doha, was quick to telephone Taliban leaders to "congratulate" them on the "defeat of the American occupation of Afghanistan." Haniyeh said that Hamas sees the US withdrawal from Afghanistan as a prelude for the elimination of "all forces on injustice," especially Israel.
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by Giulio Meotti • November 20, 2022 at 6:00 am
Today, 90% of British demographic growth comes from immigration. The same shift is taking place in Sweden. In 2015 alone, Sweden welcomed 163,000 immigrants, the equivalent of 1.65% of its total population. Combined with other years, it is a demographic revolution: As of 2015, approximately 17% of the population were foreign-born. "Therefore, there has been a huge cultural change in the immigrant population, as its largest group has gone from being Finnish to being Muslim... with immigration unchanged, ethnic Swedes will be a minority in 2065." — Kyösti Tarvainen, professor at the Aalto University of Helsinki, Folkbladet, April 13, 2021. That is why Swedish people recently voted in a conservative government. It is their last chance to stop an unprecedented national self-destruction. "Brussels is no longer Belgium.... There are more Brussels residents of Moroccan origin than Flemings or Walloons". — Philippe Van Parijs, Belgian academic and economist, De Standaard, September 5, 2022. A country facing demographic suicide (1,707 kindergartens in Italy closed down in the last ten years) cannot afford to be overwhelmed by mass immigration without losing its national identity. The West is at stake. The choice Europeans urgently need to make is whether they would like to transform their countries into a wholly different culture -- as the people who inhabited Turkey did after center of Christendom fell to the Ottoman Empire, or as Egypt did from being the land of the Christian Copts to that of a state where the Copts now face non-stop persecution. Unfortunately, Europe, whether it likes it or not, has virtually no time left to decide whether or not it wishes to continue embracing open borders, multiculturalism and globalism, and, through passivity, find that its hard-won Judeo-Christian values, freedoms and identity will be quickly made extinct.
A country facing demographic suicide (1,707 kindergartens in Italy closed down in the last ten years) cannot afford to be overwhelmed by mass immigration without losing its national identity. That is why the new Italian government just returned to blocking ships carrying illegal migrants. Pictured: Illegal migrants that were brought aboard the Ocean Viking rescue ship between Africa and Italy, whom the Italian government refused permission to disembark, on November 10, 2022. (Photo by Vincenzo Circosta/AFP via Getty Images)
Twenty years ago, the United Nations published a document titled "Replacement Migration: Is it A Solution to Declining and Ageing Populations?". It was not a right-wing conspiracy theory, but a sophisticated working plan for Western democracies dealing with demographic aging. It has since gone mainstream. Just read what Richard Thaler, a Nobel laureate in economics, said this month: "We need more immigrants to pay pensions". A recent article by Elsa Fornero, former Italian Minister of Labor, also explains the mentality of those who govern Europe and how they prepare the demise of its civilization:
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by Amir Taheri • November 20, 2022 at 4:00 am
The word "life" is also getting fresh attention as a concept, reminding us that the true task of politics is to strive for a more humane and fulfilled life for everyone. Traditional macho-male issues like the quest for national glory, the flexing of military muscles, and emphasis on law-and-order have been nudged aside to open a space for "female" issues such as health, education and socio-economic solidarity. The mullahs tried but failed to cancel many of the rights, including the right to vote and get elected, granted to women by the Shah. But they implemented a policy of marginalizing the women in public life. The Islamic Republic has seen a single woman cabinet minister, half a dozen "assistants to the president", two woman ambassadors in remote and, to Iran, insignificant capitals, and, as far as I know, four mayors of small towns. Women are no longer allowed to sit as judges. The current uprising, however, has forced the morality police to adopt a low profile as more and more women discard the official hijab with at least the tacit support of many, if not most, men. The triple theme of "women, life and freedom" expresses the aspirations of contemporary humanity beyond Iran's official frontiers.
The three-word slogan -- "woman, life, freedom" -- launched by Iranian protesters in the past two months seems to have found a global resonance that few expected. Pictured: Protestors attend a rally organized by the "Women Life Freedom Collective" in solidarity with women and protesters in Iran on October 22, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
The three-word slogan -- "woman, life, freedom" -- launched by Iranian protesters in the past two months seems to have found a global resonance that few expected. You see it on giant posters in Tokyo, on a wall in the central railway station in Amsterdam, in neon-light messages in Rio de Janeiro, and scribbled on walls from Indonesia to Argentina. Hundreds of thousands of women from all walks of life across the globe have cut their hair in solidarity with the Iranian protesters. Suddenly, the global limelight is on womanhood as both a reality and a concept. The word "life" is also getting fresh attention as a concept, reminding us that the true task of politics is to strive for a more humane and fulfilled life for everyone. The Persian word for freedom (azadi) has done even better.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • November 19, 2022 at 5:00 am
Reports from the Oslo-based non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights state that in recent anti-regime protests, 326 people have died and 15,000 have been arrested. Executions have already begun. The least the Biden administration can do to show support for the Iranian people is immediately to convene a session at the United Nations to address the ruling mullahs' gruesome crackdown. Is the Biden administration not taking action because they are concerned that it may scuttle the prospects of the reviving the nuclear deal with the ruling mullahs later? Continuing to back the nuclear deal by refusing to declare it dead — permanently — sends the message to the Iranian people: that the West does not care about, or stand with, their struggles against a savage dictatorship. The Biden administration needs to stop all negotiations that could lead to economic, financial or political benefits for the Iranian regime. Another path that the Biden administration could take is immediately to initiate the process of restoring UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Reports from the NGO Iran Human Rights state that in recent anti-regime protests, 326 people have died and 15,000 have been arrested. Executions have already begun. The least the Biden administration can do to show support for the Iranian people is immediately to convene a UN session to address the ruling mullahs' gruesome crackdown. Pictured: Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody, in Tehran on September 21, 2022. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
As Winston Churchill pointed out, "I never 'worry' about action, but only about inaction". The Biden administration's inaction has only been legitimizing the Iranian regime's savage crackdown on its population, and sending a message to the Iranian people that Washington does not stand with them or with their aspirations for establishing a democratic system of governance; rule of law and justice; freedom of speech, of the press and of assembly; and human rights for all. Iranians have been protesting for nearly two months while risking their lives every hour. They have been chanting "Death to the dictator", "Death to [Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei" and "This year is a year of blood, Seyyed Ali [Khamenei] will be gone". Reports from the Oslo-based non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights state that in recent anti-regime protests, 326 people have died and 15,000 have been arrested. Executions have already begun.
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by Burak Bekdil • November 18, 2022 at 5:00 am
Turkey's skies remain open to Russian airlines and its doors remain open to hundreds of thousands of Russians and their money. Turkey's exports to Russia are surging. Russian cash helped to plug the growing hole in Turkey's foreign currency reserves — and at a time when Erdogan needs foreign money to shore up the country's ailing economy before the presidential and parliamentary elections in June 2023. Some analysts see this as a scheme to open up room for parking Russian funds in Turkey. The Erdogan-Putin bond has two main pillars. One is pragmatism: They both strategically, politically and economically benefit. The other is ideological: They both hate Western civilization.
Turkey's skies remain open to Russian airlines and its doors remain open to hundreds of thousands of Russians and their money. Turkey's exports to Russia are surging. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation leaders' summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022. (Photo by Alexandr Demyanchuk/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
If they had met as presidents of other countries, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin would probably have hated each other. Historically, Turkish Islamists have hated both Tsarist and Soviet Russia. Similarly, Russians have never been fond of the Turks. Today, however, Erdogan, with a foot in NATO, is exhibiting a pro-Russian tilt never seen before. What is the secret of this ostensible marriage? Turkey has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, thereby throwing Putin a lifeline. Turkey's skies remain open to Russian airlines and its doors remain open to hundreds of thousands of Russians and their money. Turkey's exports to Russia are surging. In July alone, exports to Russia shot up by a dizzying 75% year-on-year.
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by Lawrence Kadish • November 17, 2022 at 3:00 pm
(Image source: iStock)
Congress needs to appoint an independent non-partisan monitor with subpoena power to review the disbursements of nearly half a trillion dollars in federal funds that will be distributed by a former Clinton associate and Democratic operative on behalf of the Biden Administration. Failure to have an independent "inspector general" act as a daily auditor could turn appropriations allegedly slated for environmental projects into one of the largest political slush funds ever suffered by the American taxpayer. What will surely be some very selective disbursements are likely to come in the midst of a presidential election cycle and at a time when Democrats are understandably seeking every advantage. No surprise, given that their standard bearer is now the oldest citizen to hold the office of president while many voters might still view as puzzling how his current vice president came to be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office.
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by Con Coughlin • November 17, 2022 at 5:00 am
For decades Tehran has consistently lied about the true extent of its nuclear ambitions, so it should come as no surprise that Iran's instinctive response when confronted about its military support for Russia has been to issue a denial. Iran's belated admission that it is actively supporting the Russian war effort is certainly an alarming development, one that completely destroys the argument that Iran's malign activities are solely confined to the Middle East. The implications of Iran's deepening involvement in the Ukraine conflict can no longer be ignored, as they now constitute a direct threat to European security, a development that Nato leaders need to take on board as a matter of urgency. Nato has already demonstrated a welcome display of unity in providing vital military support for Ukraine in its battle to defeat Russian aggression. Nato leaders must now take similar measures to support all those states, whether they are in Europe or the Middle East, who want to protect themselves against Iran's intimidating conduct.
Iran's belated admission that it is actively supporting the Russian war effort is certainly an alarming development, one that completely destroys the argument that Iran's malign activities are solely confined to the Middle East. Pictured: An Iranian-made Shahed-136 suicide drone, deployed by the Russian military, which was shot down by Ukrainian forces near the town of Kupiansk, Ukraine. (Image source: Strategic Communications Directorate of the Ukrainian Armed Forces)
Iran's belated admission that it has provided Russia with sophisticated drones to boost its war effort in Ukraine should serve as a wake-up call to all those Western policymakers who claim the threat posed by Tehran's aggressive regime is only limited to the Middle East region. Despite credible reports that Russian forces have been deploying Iranian-made drones to launch attacks against Ukraine's critical infrastructure, inflicting electricity and water shortages on the country's civilian population, Tehran has consistently denied the weapons originated from Iran. Only last month, Iran's representative to the United Nations strongly denied claims that Iranian drones were responsible for inflicting misery on the Ukrainian people, and insisted that Iran's primary objective was to achieve a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • November 16, 2022 at 5:00 am
The Islamists, in other words, failed in their latest attempt to instigate unrest and violence in Egypt with the hope of returning to power. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and many other Egyptians seem to prefer less democracy and freedom of speech to the return of the Islamists to power. "The Muslim Brotherhood's eyes are on [wanting] the authority to control the people who rejected them." — Moneer Adib, Egyptian counter-terrorism expert, Al-Ain, November 14, 2022. "They lied to the Egyptians when they said that they were good for Egypt and when they claimed that they had magical solutions to the economic, social and religious problems." — Ahmed El-Messiri, Egyptian former Muslim Brotherhood member, Al-Ain, November 11, 2022. Habusha warned that the Islamists' "desperate attempts" to undermine Egypt and its people are not accepted because the Egyptians said no to the organization 2013. The collective sigh of relief expressed by Egyptians over the failure of the Islamists to ruin their country and return to power is a refreshing approach in Egypt and other Arab countries. It is good to see that the Egyptians are eager to keep the Muslim Brotherhood away from their lives and centers of power. It now remains to be seen whether the Palestinians will follow suit and get rid of the Iranian-backed Islamists in the Gaza Strip, where they have destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad continue to hold the two million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip hostage, offering them terror attack tunnels and weapons instead of schools and hospitals. It also remains to be seen whether the apologists in the West who continue to search for ways to appease Iran's mullahs and other Islamists will learn from the Egyptians' horrific experiences and distance themselves from the terrorists.
Islamists have failed in their latest attempt to instigate unrest and violence in Egypt with the hope of returning to power. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and many other Egyptians seem to prefer less democracy and freedom of speech to the return of the Islamists to power. Pictured: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivers a speech at the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on November 7, 2022. (Photo by Joseph Eid/AFP via Getty Images)
Is the banned Muslim Brotherhood organization trying to return to power in Egypt? Many Egyptians believe that the Muslim Brotherhood was behind calls to Egyptians to hold nationwide protests during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), which is now in progress at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh. The Islamists, they say, justified their call by arguing that the planned demonstrations were designed to protest human rights violations and bad economic conditions in Egypt. Fortunately for the majority of the Egyptians, only a few people heeded the Muslim Brotherhood supporters' call to take to the streets on November 11. The Islamists, in other words, failed in their latest attempt to instigate unrest and violence in Egypt with the hope of returning to power. The Muslim Brotherhood regime of former President Mohammed Morsi ended in 2013, when the Egyptian army stepped in to prevent the country from being engulfed in anarchy.
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