Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Con Coughlin • July 20, 2019 at 5:00 am
Yet, while Iran shows no sign of scaling down its aggressive stance towards the US and its allies in the region, Europe continues to cling to the wreckage of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to give the nuclear deal its proper name, in the misguided belief that the deal remains the best means of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The determination of the Europeans to stick with the nuclear deal at all costs was very much in evidence earlier this week during a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels at which they came up with the decidedly bogus notion that Iran's breaches of the 2015 nuclear deal were not significant and therefore did not require the Europeans to withdraw from the JCPOA. Europe's insistence on sticking with the nuclear deal, and its refusal to support Washington's attempts to provide naval protection for international shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, could ultimately prove self-defeating. Europe is far more dependent on energy supplies from the Gulf than the US, and any further attempts by Iran to disrupt oil and gas supplies from the Gulf would have catastrophic consequences for Europe's economy.
While Iran shows no sign of scaling down its aggressive stance towards the US and its allies in the region, Europe continues to cling to the wreckage of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in the misguided belief that the deal remains the best means of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. "Technically all the steps that have been taken, and that we regret have been taken, are reversible... We invite Iran to reverse the steps and go back to full compliance," Federica Mogherini, EU foreign policy chief, recently told EU foreign ministers. Pictured: Mogherini (left) stands with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, during her August 2017 visit to Iran. (Image source: European External Action Service/Flickr)
With tensions rising in the Gulf by the day as a result of Iran's increasingly provocative conduct, the refusal of the major European powers to back the Trump administration's determination to confront Iran is looking increasingly untenable. In the past few months Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks on oil tankers operating in the Gulf, and forced a British Royal Navy warship to intervene when a number of fast patrol boats operated by the naval division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attempted to harass a British-owned tanker sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, the main shipping route into the oil-rich Gulf. Additionally, US military officials at Central Command (CentCom) are currently investigating claims that Iran was behind the mysterious disappearance of the oil tanker Riah while sailing in Iranian waters at the weekend.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • July 19, 2019 at 5:00 am
The Lebanese authorities' measures against Palestinians again highlight the discrimination Palestinians have long been facing in this Arab country. "Palestinians in Lebanon," according to a 2017 report by the Associated Press, "suffer discrimination in nearly every aspect of daily life..." Lebanese law restricts Palestinians' ability to work in several professions, including law, medicine and engineering, and bars them from receiving social security benefits. In 2001, the Lebanese parliament also passed a law prohibiting Palestinians from owning property. Yet, somehow, Lebanon's discriminatory and racist measures against Palestinians do not seem to bother pro-Palestinian groups around the world. These groups regularly turn a blind eye to the misery of Palestinians living in Arab countries. Instead, they set their sights on Israel, scrutinizing it for imagined abuses against Palestinians. It is high time for the pro-Palestinian groups on university campuses in the US, Canada, Britain and Australia to organize an "Arab Apartheid Week" instead of accusing Israel of "discriminating" against Palestinians. It is also high time for the international media to take notice of anti-Palestinian measures taken by Lebanon against the Palestinians at a time when Israel is increasing the number of Palestinian workers allowed to enter Israel for work. Who will address the following question: Why are the UN and other international institutions remaining silent as Palestinians are being thrown out of their jobs in an Arab country while more than 100,000 Palestinians enter Israel on a daily basis for work? Will we see an emergency meeting of the Arab League or the UN Security Council to denounce Lebanese apartheid and racism? Or are they too busy drafting resolutions condemning Israel, which has opened its doors wide open to Palestinian workers?
Somehow, Lebanon's discriminatory and racist measures against Palestinians do not seem to bother pro-Palestinian groups around the world. These groups regularly turn a blind eye to the anguish of Palestinians living in Arab countries. Instead, they set their sights on Israel, scrutinizing it for imagined abuses against Palestinians. Pictured: Burj Barajneh, a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon administered by UNRWA. (Image source: Al Jazeera English/Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)
More than 100,000 Palestinians from the West Bank have permits to work in Israel, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources. In addition, the sources said, thousands of Palestinians enter Israel every day without permits. On July 15, the number of Palestinian workers who entered Israel, according to the Israeli Defense Ministry, was estimated at more than 80,000. Last week, as part of efforts to reach a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas, Israel was reported to have agreed to increase the number of Palestinian merchants and businessmen allowed to go from the Gaza Strip to Israel from 3,500 to 5,000. Reports said that the latest Israeli gesture were the outcome of attempts by Egypt and the United Nations to prevent an all-out military confrontation between Israel and Hamas.
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by Burak Bekdil • July 19, 2019 at 4:00 am
"Turkey's decision to proceed with the acquisition of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system presents a serious national security threat to the United States and to our NATO allies. By purchasing and integrating a sophisticated Russian missile defense system into NATO hardware, Turkey not only stands to jeopardize NATO security in the region but also presents Russia with a victory in its ongoing effort to sow division and distrust among NATO member states." — U.S. Representative John Sarbanes (D-Md.) July 12, 2019. The S-400 can engage targets at a range of up to 400km (250 miles). It has been designed to shoot down NATO's aerial assets -- including U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets. What Erdogan fears most is the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, passed by the US Senate in 2017: the CAATSA sanctions. The unemployment rate in Turkey is 13%, with 4.2 million people looking for work. The economy is in recession and the lira rate unstable.
Last week, Turkey took delivery of the first parts for the Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile systems it ordered. The S-400 can engage targets at a range of up to 400km (250 miles). It has been designed to shoot down NATO's aerial assets -- including U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets. Pictured: A Russian S-400 missile battery. (Image source: Vitaly Kuzmin/Wikimedia Commons)
Ever since Turkey officially selected the Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system for its long-range air-aircraft and anti-missile architecture at the end of 2017, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has not changed his rhetoric that the purchase was "a done deal;" and that "it is Turkey's sovereign choice to deploy which air defense system is on its soil." In response, the U.S. administration threatened to suspend Turkey's membership in the multinational Joint Strike Fighter program, which is building the F-35 Lightning II fifth-generation fighter jet. The U.S. has also threatened Turkey with more sanctions within the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. Industry officials say the CAATSA sanctions may cost Turkish companies more than $10 billion in lost (sub-) contracts. Turkey has committed to buy at least 100 F-35s and has already paid $1.4 billion.
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by Lawrence Kadish • July 18, 2019 at 5:00 am
John Adams, the nation's second President, understood that studying history, and specifically conflict between nations, would give us the means of avoiding the next battle, conflict between nations and of protecting our shared future. "... I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine." – Letter by President John Adams to Abigail Adams, May 12, 1780. The reality is we remain at war -- with those who brought down the Twin Towers and attacked the Pentagon, who apparently consider a diverse, interdenominational nation an outrage that must be erased from the globe.
A portrait of US President John Adams, as painted by Gilbert Stuart circa 1800/1815. (Image source: National Gallery of Art)
President John Adams has something to say to students this fall but it is unlikely he will be given the chance. Across the United States, this summer will be used by educators to convene conferences on curriculum, classroom content and study guides to present to students in September. Likely absent from most of their agendas will be a comprehensive study of the most seminal event in the last century -- World War II -- which continues to define the world we live in, our geopolitical borders, our society, the role of technology and America's leadership role around the globe. Social studies teachers will be the first to admit despair. In many school districts, a single 45-minute period is all that is offered in the course of an entire class year for the study of this global conflict, Gloria Sesso, chairperson of the Long Island, N.Y. Committee for the Social Studies, told Gatestone.
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by Alan M. Dershowitz • July 18, 2019 at 4:00 am
Alan Dershowitz. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images for Hulu)
I recently learned, from a source close to The New Yorker magazine, that its editor, David Remnick, has commissioned a hit piece against me for the explicit purpose of silencing my defense of President Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and the State of Israel. Remnick despises Trump and Netanyahu, and is well known for his strong anti-Israel bias. Remnick explicitly told people that I must be silenced because mine has been the most persuasive voice in favor of what Remnick feels pose dangers to values he holds dear, and that he will use the credibility of The New Yorker to accomplish this goal.
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by Soeren Kern • July 17, 2019 at 5:00 am
The report, considered the most important indicator of internal security in Germany, draws a bleak picture and raises questions about the government's apparent passivity in face of mounting threats.... Meanwhile, the Erdoğan-aligned Islamist movement Millî Görüş (Turkish for "National Vision"), which has around 10,000 members in Germany, is the second-largest Islamist group in the country (the Salafist movement is now the largest Islamist grouping in Germany). Millî Görüş is strongly opposed to Muslim integration into European society. "The BfV has found that all Islamist organizations active in Germany harbor anti-Semitic ideas and disseminate them in various ways. These ideas represent a considerable challenge for peaceful and tolerant coexistence in Germany." — Annual report of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV), 2019 "The goal of HAMAS is the establishment of an Islamist state in the entire territory of 'Palestine' — also through armed struggle. A strategy paper written in 2017 states: 'Resistance to occupation by all means is a legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws. At the heart of it lies the armed resistance.' By 'Palestine' HAMAS means the area between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan, which also includes the territory of the State of Israel. Western countries such as Germany are seen by HAMAS as a haven where the organization focuses on collecting donations, recruiting new supporters, and propagating its propaganda." — Annual report of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV), 2019 The BfV noted a "high number" of attempts by "covert Pakistani procurement structures" illegally to obtain technology for use in Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. The BfV also observed a "significant increase" in attempts by Iran to obtain technology for its missile program, which was not part of the Iran nuclear deal. The BfV reported that Syrian intermediaries were also continuing efforts to obtain products for weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons.
Foreign intelligences services, especially those from Turkey, Syria and Iran, have increased their activities in Germany during the past 12 months, according to a report presented on June 27 by Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and Thomas Haldenwang, president of Germany's BfV domestic intelligence agency. Pictured: Seehofer (left) and Haldenwang (right) at a press conference on June 18, 2019, with Federal Crime Office head Holger Muench. (Photo by Michele Tantussi/Getty Images)
Foreign intelligence services, especially those from Turkey, Syria and Iran, have increased their activities in Germany during the past 12 months, according to Germany's BfV domestic intelligence agency. The foreign intelligence services are not only pursuing dissidents among the large diasporas in Germany, they are also targeting Jewish and Israeli interests in the country. At the same time, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood appear to be operating with impunity in Germany, while, according to the BfV, the number of Salafists in the country has tripled in recent years and now exceeds 11,000. Overall, the BfV estimates that Germany is home to more than 26,000 Islamists, an unknown number of whom pose an immediate threat of attack.
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by Joseph M. Humire • July 17, 2019 at 4:00 am
Argentine President Mauricio Macri is taking a historic step and preparing to officially designate Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization in Argentina, the first designation of its kind in Latin America. Hezbollah, Lebanon's "Party of God," is first and foremost the primary terrorist proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. By calling and legally designating them for what they are -- a foreign terrorist group -- Argentine officials can now begin to anticipate Hezbollah's actions by communicating with more than 57 nations worldwide in the same counterterrorism language. The purpose of anti-terrorism is to anticipate terrorist actions in order to neutralize them. It is hopeless to wait until an attack takes place and then take action. By designating Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization President Macri is leading Latin America in the global fight against Islamist terrorism. In doing so, he is also honoring the memory of the 85 Argentines who died in the 1994 AMIA attack and reminding us all that Iran and Hezbollah are very much a global threat.
Argentina's President Mauricio Macri is taking a historic step and preparing to officially designate Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization in Argentina, the first designation of its kind in Latin America. (Photo by Amilcar Orfali/Getty Images)
This week we honor the 85 victims of the largest Islamist terrorist attack in Latin America's history: the bombing the Asociación Mutual Isrealita Argentina (AMIA) on July 18, 1994. Twenty-five years have passed since the morning when a Renault van packed with 300 kilograms of explosives detonated in front of the AMIA building in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It took more than a decade — until 2006 — for the Argentine government to formally charge the Islamic Republic of Iran and its terror-proxy, Hezbollah, for carrying out the attack. Now, 13 years after that, Argentine President Mauricio Macri is taking a historic step and preparing to officially designate Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization in Argentina, the first designation of its kind in Latin America.
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by Judith Bergman • July 16, 2019 at 5:00 am
As indicated by the US in its statement, the problem with these government-led drives for more censorship in the name of fighting "terrorist and violent extremist content online" is where one draws the line as to what constitutes "hate speech", and the extent to which such drives can manage to uphold the rights of citizens to free speech. In Europe, hate-speech laws have increasingly been used to shut down the speech of citizens who disagree with government migration policies. The claim of preventing the spread of terrorist content has also been used as an excuse in attempts to shut down political opponents.... At the same time, the different signatories to the Christchurch Call to Action appear to have different views on what constitutes terrorism in the first place, further complicating how one should define 'terrorist content'.
It is often argued that Facebook is a private enterprise and therefore free to censor whatever it wishes. However, Facebook and the other internet giants, such as Google, YouTube (a subsidiary of Google), and Twitter, have come to control the flow of information on the internet, to such a degree – as virtual monopolies -- that they have become the 'public square' of our times. That outcome makes them far more than merely private enterprises and endows them with a special responsibility: Those who cannot publish on Facebook or Twitter, effectively no longer have full freedom of speech.
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by Burak Bekdil • July 16, 2019 at 4:00 am
The fight for Tripoli has killed more than 750 people – not a stunning number when compared to 9/11, but not small enough to be ignored like a bomb blowing up in Paris, Istanbul or Berlin. Earlier, during the first signs of the Arab Spring, Erdoğan took to the idea of bringing together Muslims of the Middle East and uniting them under a Turkish empire that was being reborn – with him as the new caliph. Erdoğan was the rock star in Beirut or Cairo not because poor Arabs were desperately waiting for the return of Turks to lead them -- Turkey has serious friction with Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates -- but simply because they were programmed to cozy up to any anti-Zionist man, animal or plant. Add to that picture a rising alliance of all those Arab states with Western states and corporate actors in exploring hydrocarbons in the Eastern Mediterranean, and it becomes hard to find anyone who wishes to play on the Turkish side.
It looks as if the Turkish strategy team loves to bet on the loser. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's calculations on a policy of building sectarian Islam throughout the Middle East has cost him a number of Muslim countries, yet he keeps on making the same mistake. (Photo by Amilcar Orfali/Getty Images)
It looks as if Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's will and power to fight all of the world's infidels – Muslims with different rituals, secular Muslims, Christians and Jews – will never cease. Earlier, during the first signs of the Arab Spring, Erdoğan took to the idea of bringing together Muslims of the Middle East and uniting them under a Turkish empire that was being reborn – with him as the new caliph. His violent anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist rhetoric worked well to earn him Arab popularity. But the message he got was wrong. Erdoğan was the rock star in Beirut or Cairo not because poor Arabs were desperately waiting for the return of Turks to lead them -- Turkey has been experiencing serious friction with Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates –- but simply because all of them are programmed to cozy up to any anti-Zionist man, animal or plant.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • July 15, 2019 at 5:00 am
By choosing to hold the protests under the banner of the "Three No's," the organizers of the "Great March of Return" have again proven that the weekly demonstrations are not about improving the living conditions of Palestinians or easing restrictions imposed on the Gaza Strip. Instead, the message the organizers are sending to the Palestinians and the rest of the world is: "We don't recognize Israel's right to exist and therefore we will never make negotiate or make peace with it." Hamas's two other "No's" – no to recognizing Israel and no to making peace with Israel – do not come as a surprise. In fact, Hamas appears to be reminding Palestinians of its true objectives as outlined in its 1988 charter: "There is no solution for the Palestinian question expect through Jihad (holy war). Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors...[Hamas] believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered." This is all that Hamas has to offer the Palestinians 12 years after its violent takeover of the Gaza Strip? Sadly, thousands of Palestinians continue to heed Hamas's call for trying to breach the border with Israel every Friday while ignoring that it is their leaders who are mainly responsible for dragging them from one disaster to another.
On the one hand, Hamas is sending Palestinians to clash with Israeli soldiers along the Gaza-Israel border under the banner of "No to negotiations [with Israel]." On the other hand, Hamas is begging the Egyptians and the UN to help arrange a ceasefire with Israel. Pictured: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh greets protesters in Gaza, at the border fence with Israel, on May 15, 2018. (Image source: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
When the Palestinians launched the weekly protests along the Gaza-Israel border in March 2018, they said that their No. 1 goal was to force Israel to lift the "blockade" on the Gaza Strip. The protests, however, according to the organizers, have another goal: achieving the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees and their descendants to their former homes inside Israel. The protests, held under the banner "The Great March of Return," have since been hijacked by Hamas and other Gaza-based Palestinian armed groups who are using them to advance their political agendas. The weekly demonstrations are no longer aimed either at lifting the "blockade" on the Gaza Strip or paving the way for millions of refugees and their descendants to return to their former homes.
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by Uzay Bulut • July 15, 2019 at 4:00 am
The root of these violations appears to be Turkey's denial of its extermination of the indigenous Christian peoples from 1913 to 1923. "[Denial] is the final stage that lasts throughout and always follows genocide. It is among the surest indicators of further genocidal massacres." — Dr. Gregory H. Stanton; President, Genocide Watch; "The Ten Stages of Genocide", 2016 To this day, Turkey refuses to acknowledge its past and present crimes against the indigenous peoples whose rights it has vowed to protect. This is among many things that differentiates Turkey from civilized nations that have taken serious steps to improve the rights of their native peoples.
In May, the doors of homes of some Armenian Christians in Istanbul's Samatya district were marked with Star of David graffiti and threatening messages, among them the words: "Attention, Israel." This was a few days after a woman from Armenia in the same district was the victim of a knife attack carried out by two masked assailants shouting, "This is [only] the beginning." Pictured: The upper facade of the Armenian Church of Saint George of Samatya (right), in the Samatya district of Istanbul, Turkey. (Image source: Stilbes/Wikimedia Commons)
Ankara's hair-raising human-rights record, including an ongoing attempt to erase all vestiges of other religions and cultures in Turkey, is one reason that it has been prevented from realizing its long-standing dream of membership in the European Union. It does enjoy status, however, as a member of NATO, and remains a signatory to the 2007 "United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples," which reads in part: "Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State. [Article 5]... "Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions...[Article 31]"
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by Alan M. Dershowitz • July 14, 2019 at 5:00 am
Experienced lawyers with whom I have discussed the case -- both prosecutors and defense attorneys -- worry that the thumb of media and political pressure will be placed on the scales of justice when it comes to the exercise of prosecutorial discretion and the decision to try or settle a case. Consider the situation of a prosecutor today or tomorrow who has a weak federal case involving sexual allegations. He has two options: the first is he can try to make a deal based on the relative strength of his case and of the defense case. But if he makes that deal, he risks criticism for being too soft on sex offenders. His second option is to take the weak case to trial and risk losing. But even if he loses, the risks to him personally are less great because he can blame the loss on the judge or the jury. A deal, on the other hand, is totally attributed to the prosecutor, as evidenced by the Acosta resignation. So, a simple cost-benefit analysis will incline a prosecutor to litigate rather than settle. In the post-Acosta world, prosecutors will bring cases to trial even if the likelihood of a conviction is questionable, as it was in the Epstein case. The result of this change will be more trials, more crowded courtroom dockets and fewer convictions. That is not good for defendants, victims or for the rule of law.
The forced resignation of Alex Acosta based on the plea deal that he made with Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers may have serious unintended effects on our system of criminal justice. Pictured: President Donald Trump shakes hands with Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, following the announcement of Acosta's resignation, on July 12, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
The forced resignation of Alex Acosta based on the plea deal that he made with Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers (of which I was one) may have serious unintended effects on our system of criminal justice. The criticism of Acosta -- whether warranted or not -- for making the deal will cause other prosecutors to go to trial in relatively weak cases in which the chances of losing are considerable.
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by Amir Taheri • July 14, 2019 at 4:00 am
Erdogan may be intelligent enough to understand that things do not always go the way one likes. He led a remarkable economic resurgence in Turkey but is now presiding over what looks like an economic meltdown with rampant inflation, falling productivity and shrinking job opportunities. Rather than calming things down, his authoritarian moves, including the sacking of the Central Bank governor, have intensified the crisis. His trademark "no-enemies" foreign policy has been replaced by a policy that seems designed to turn everyone, including NATO allies and European Union partners, not to mention Arab states, against Turkey. His party's claim of being "whiter than white" is hard to sustain as his entourage sinks deeper in the grey of corruption. More importantly, his success in persuading the "backward" half of Turkey that it could gain power through elections no longer enjoys the same level of support it once did even in deep Anatolia. Good or bad, the once-successful Erdogan recipe seems not to be working anymore. The bashkhan has read his text, played his part and has nothing new to utter. The play has to go on but, for him, the finger may be pointing to exit.
Pictured: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
If we regard history as a stage on which the drama of human existence is played, we may pay heed to a piece of advice to actors by Max Reinhardt, the legendary Austrian theater director: How and when you leave the stage is as important as when and how you enter it!
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by Judith Bergman • July 13, 2019 at 5:00 am
In 2017, a Swedish police report, "Utsatta områden 2017" ("Vulnerable Areas 2017") showed that there are 61 such areas -- also known as no-go zones -- in Sweden. They encompass 200 criminal networks, consisting of an estimated 5,000 criminals. Most of the inhabitants are non-Western immigrants and their descendants. In March, the Swedish National Forensic Centre estimated that since 2012, the number of shootings classified as murder or attempted murder had increased by almost 100 percent. "Sweden is at war and it is the politicians who are responsible. Five nights in a row, cars have been set on fire in the university town of Lund. Such insane acts have occurred on hundreds of occasions in various places in Sweden over the past fifteen years. From 1955 to 1985, not a single car was ignited in Malmö, Gothenburg, Stockholm or Lund.... None of these criminals is starving or lacking in access to clean water. They have a roof over their heads and they have been offered free schooling.... They do not live in dilapidated houses.... It is called upbringing and this is missing for thousands of girls and boys in Swedish homes today." — Björn Ranelid, Swedish author, Expressen, July 5, 2019. "Very few things were better in Sweden [before].... We have built a strong country, where we take care of each other. Where society takes responsibility and no man is left alone". — Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. Sadly, many Swedes probably feel terribly left alone in a country that increasingly resembles a war zone.
In March, Sweden's National Forensic Centre estimated that since 2012, the number of shootings in the country classified as murder or attempted murder had increased by almost 100 percent. (Image source: iStock)
In 2018, Sweden experienced a record number of lethal shootings, 306 in all. Forty-five people were killed and 135 injured nationwide, most deaths occurring in Region South, where Malmö is located. In March, the Swedish National Forensic Centre estimated that since 2012, the number of shootings classified as murder or attempted murder has increased by almost 100 percent. The Centre also found that the most popular weapon used in the shootings is the Kalashnikov assault rifle. "It is one of the world's most manufactured weapons and used in many wars," said the Centre's team manager, Mikael Högfors. "When they are no longer needed... they are smuggled into Sweden".
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by Gordon G. Chang • July 12, 2019 at 5:00 am
Huawei is in no position to resist Beijing's demands to illicitly gather intelligence. For one thing, Beijing owns Huawei. The Shenzhen-based enterprise maintains it is "employee-owned," but that is an exaggeration. Founder Ren Zhengfei holds a 1 percent stake, and the remainder is effectively owned by the state. Moreover, in the Communist Party's top-down system, no one can resist a command from the ruling organization. The concern is that the Chinese government and military will be able to use Huawei equipment to remotely manipulate devices networked on the Internet of Things (IoT), no matter where those devices are located. So, China may be able to drive your car into oncoming traffic, unlock your front door, or turn off or speed up your pacemaker. On Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross echoed earlier administration comments when he promised his department would only issue exemptions "where there is no threat to U.S. national security." That sounds reassuring, but it is not possible to divide Huawei into threatening and non-threatening components. Huawei management can take profits from innocuous-looking parts of the business to support the obviously dangerous parts. Money is fungible, so the only safe course would be to prohibit all transactions with the company. Beijing, buoyed by the talk of the American climb-down, is now fast selling Huawei equipment around the world, which means, in the normal course of events, the Chinese will soon control the world's 5G backbone.
Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecom giant, is in no position to resist Beijing's demands to illicitly gather intelligence. For one thing, Beijing owns Huawei. Moreover, in the Communist Party's top-down system, no one can resist a command from the ruling organization. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross outlined the scope of exemptions to be granted to sales and licenses to Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecom giant. At the end of last month, President Donald Trump publicly promised to give the Chinese company a reprieve from newly implemented U.S. restrictions. Trump's move, announced after his meeting with Chinese ruler Xi Jinping at the conclusion of the Osaka G20 summit, was a strategic mistake. Moreover, it was a humiliation for the United States, almost an acknowledgment of Beijing's supremacy. The U.S. Commerce Department, effective May 16, added Huawei, the world's largest networking equipment manufacturer and second-largest smartphone maker, to its Entity List. The designation means that no American company, without prior approval from the Bureau of Industry and Security, is allowed to sell or license to Huawei products and technology covered by the U.S. Export Administration Regulations.
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