The deal is a clear win for China; the $400 billion will be invested over 25 years, which is a small amount of money for the second-largest economy in the world. China will also have full authority over Iran's islands, gain access to Iran's oil at a highly discounted rate and increase its influence and presence in almost every sector of Iranian industry, including telecommunications, energy, ports, railways, and banking. China, incidentally, is the world's largest importer of oil.

Even some of Iran's politicians and state-owned newspapers have begun criticizing the deal. A headline in the Iranian newspaper Arman-e Melli, for example, surprisingly criticized the government: "Iran is not Kenya or Sri Lanka (to be colonized by China)."

The ruling mullahs are selling off the country to China, just as some African governments did. Beijing appears more than happy to make deals with dictators, ignore their human rights abuses and plunder their nations to advance its own global hegemonic ambitions.

Crimes against humanity that meet the UN definition of genocide are being inflicted by Chinese troops on their Turkic Uyghur minority in the so-called Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Charges include torture, forced sterilization and hair shaved from inmates and made into commercial products. Last month, US Customs seized 13 tons of human hair and other "beauty products" worth approximately $800,000 "from Uighurs in camps."

The most detailed description of the brutalities visited upon the Uyghurs by Han Chinese thugs was revealed by U.S.-based lawyer and Uyghur activist Nury Turkel, who claimed that Uyghur detainees in China have had fingernails pulled out, were subjected to electric shocks, and were sexually assaulted.

Uyghurs, many of whom were CCP regulars and members of Xinjiang's intellectual elite, were once tolerated, but now are no longer trusted. Some, like the former President of Xinjiang University Tashpolat Tiyip, have been arrested and accused of being "two faced" betrayers of China. Many Uyghurs have been plucked from their families and forced to work in prison-like factories where they are becoming part of Xinjiang's growing urban manufacturing class, producing items for companies that are suppliers for "international tech giants such as Apple and Lenovo."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas... is saying that he fully supports China's right to hold more than one million Muslims in re-education camps and crack down on human rights activists and journalists in Hong Kong. Yet Abbas, a Muslim, sees no reason why he or anyone else should ask the ICC to launch an investigation into China's "war crimes" against Muslims.

Why have Palestinian leaders chosen to side with China? Money and political support. The Palestinians are hoping that China will replace the US as an "honest broker" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Iran, Egypt, Syria and dozens of other countries that could not tolerate a magical realist novel can live with the mass sterilisation of Muslim women. They will give concentration camps a conniving wink of approval, but draw the line at cartoons in a Danish newspaper." — Nick Cohen, The Guardian, July 4, 2020.

The Palestinians' hate for Israel and the US has blinded them to the point where they are prepared to support the penning up of more than a million Muslims in re-education camps in China. Such a show of support ought to serve as a re-education for the international community about the warped Palestinian perspective of justice.

Year after year, the career officials who run the bureaucracy in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the permanent bureaucracy, who are globalists... preferred to spend money on building labs in Africa, fighting disease in Afghanistan, training scientists in China, instead of preparing our own American stockpile.

The CDC should also be advising schools and workplaces, like businesses, about the antimicrobial coatings that could be put on desks, chairs, and doorknobs to prevent the virus traces from being transferred from one person to another on their hands.

There are now several different technologies, most notably diluted hydrogen peroxide, that can be installed in buildings to automatically continuously destroy bacterial and viral traces on surfaces, and also deactivate viruses in the air. Just what we need. Yet in the CDC guidelines there is no discussion of them. They are non‑toxic. They can work automatically and continuously. They are already in use by major commercial places such as Walmart, Pepsi bottling plants, computer companies that need clean rooms to construct computers. They all know about this.

The CDC also did not mention anything about public restrooms... We know that this virus, like many hospital pathogens... is found in fecal matter. When the toilet flushes... that can take traces of the virus into the air.... The simplest solution is to put a lid on each of those toilets and a sign, "Please close the lid before flushing."

I want to go on to two other things. One is the danger that we are losing respect for science. It is because we have seen our scientists get too involved in politics.... Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine... attempt[ed] to debunk the use of hydroxychloroquine. They wanted to discredit President Trump because it is among his favorite drugs, but they ended up making fools of themselves because they put aside their usually rigorous standards of peer review and data examination and published two garbage articles with bogus data in order to accomplish a political goal.

Here is the most interesting. Three vaccine developers from Britain and Norway report that they see in the genetic makeup of this virus... a segment that they believe was lab engineered rather than evolving in nature. As soon as they proposed this, a bevy of prestigious American scientists... were outraged and signed an open letter... declaring their solidarity with the Chinese scientists, health researchers, and the World Health Organization against people who might be investigating other sources of COVID‑19 that diverge from the Chinese official story. Can you imagine? There they are trying to censor the research. They are claiming it is a conspiracy theory. ABC News comes on and says it has been debunked. It has not been debunked. I am not saying it is true, but I am saying, at this point, what we need to battle this virus is the truth, not censored research. Scientists need to be scientists. They do not need to be censoring politicians.

I think we have to recognize, as our current president does, that China is an enemy.

Again, I have to say it is the president who has been very dynamic on this issue. Never mind the career bureaucrats in any of these agencies. He is the one who went to Virginia himself and made sure that we started contracts to build a domestic supply chain.

"The Next Pandemic" (McCaughey's new book) is out from Encounter Books. It is really quite short, more like a broadside. I list a lot of these new technologies that should be employed to make our workplaces, schools, and mass transit safer.

After China's many transgressions over the past 50 years... the military containment of Chinese expansionism and Communist Party Chairman Xi Jinping's stated goal of world domination needs to be the highest foreign policy priority of the Free World.

Countries could also be enjoined to cancel all commercial activity with China. Why fund one's enemy and make him stronger?

China's walk-in-the-park takeover of Hong Kong -- an illegal appropriation -- undoubtedly served to whet China's expansionist appetite.

The firm tone of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's July 13 declaration that the U.S. rejects China's fake claims in the South China Sea as mostly illegal will probably be seen as "just words." The U.S. might need to convince Beijing that the U.S. and its allies have the political will to implement this containment.

China's leaders are surely hoping that the current U.S. administration's aversion to war will enable the Communists to pick off new territory with relative ease; the U.S. should not even let them think of such a possibility.

The Chinese Communist Party's narrative is that the U.S. administration is threatening all the people of China. One Chinese state CCTV anchor added that the "U.S. fights for greed and arrogance," but that "China will fight for a new world." It certainly will -- if we let it.

Saeb Erekat's continued lies and fabrications about Israel promote anti-Semitism and embolden terrorists.

As a veteran negotiator, it would be a good idea for him to use his experience to persuade the Hamas terrorists to release the remains of the two soldiers instead of waging a propaganda campaign on behalf of a terrorist who woke up one morning and decided to kill Jews.

With negotiators like Erekat, one can understand why the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been stalled for so many years.

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that more than two-thirds of Americans support the Black Lives Matter movement. While Gatestone Institute and doubtless many others wish that blacks and all minorities benefit from the equal opportunities and protections offered by the U.S. Constitution, the high level of backing raises the question: How much does the public really know about BLM?

BLM's leaders openly admit that they want to abolish the nuclear family, police, prisons and capitalism.

Black Lives Matter uses Thousand Currents, which is an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) organization, as its fiscal sponsor. Donations made on the Black Lives Matter website are processed by the left-wing ActBlue Charities, a donation platform affiliated with the Democratic Party, and then transferred to Thousand Currents, which then distributes them back to Black Lives Matter.

"If this country doesn't give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. All right?... I just want black liberation, and black sovereignty. By any means necessary." — Hawk Newsome, leader of BLM's Greater New York chapter, New York Post, June 25, 2020.

BLM is also obsessed with U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who, arguably, has done more for African Americans than any other president in recent memory.

"In reality, this has nothing to do with black lives and everything to do with liberal Marxist anarchists having hijacked, as they always do, an important social issue with which they will undermine the very communities and people they claim to represent." — Tammy Bruce, US commentator, The Washington Times, June 14, 2020.

SODEV, another pollster, found that 60.5% of youths supporting Erdoğan said they would prefer to live in Christian Switzerland with half the salary they would have earned in Muslim Saudi Arabia.

"These kind of social engineering efforts targeting the younger mind almost always end up with opposite results, primarily because the new generation do not like to be told what's good and what's bad for them. Freedoms for most youth are more important than prayers. This is what conservative politicians often miss." — Turkish university professor who asked not to be named.

In just the first 65 days of the COVID-19 pandemic, 510 Turks were arrested for "spreading baseless and provocative messages in social media." Before that, by the end of 2019, Turkey had banned access to 408,494 web sites, 7,000 Twitter accounts, 40,000 tweets, 10,000 YouTube videos and 6,200 Facebook accounts.

Erdoğan might sit down and ask himself: Why do the youths whom he wanted to make "devout" want to flee their Muslim country and live in "infidel" lands?

"Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 83 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen. This report estimates that more than 80,000 Uyghurs were transferred out of Xinjiang to work in factories across China between 2017 and 2019, and some of them were sent directly from detention camps. The estimated figure is conservative and the actual figure is likely to be far higher." — "Uyghurs for Sale," the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), March 1, 2020, with subsequent updates.

Corporate giants might be more successful at convincing the public that they truly care about social justice, inequality and the communities they claim to "serve" if this "care" did not only manifest itself in statements filled with virtue-signaling but in business practices as well -- such as not using forced labor and children in the supply chain.

Finally, pledging funds to Black Lives Matter, a self-described Marxist organization whose stated goal is "alternatives to capitalism", fails to convince one of much else than a corporate desire to ride the latest wave of wokeness to score easy profits and points.

Some think the packages [of seeds marked as "jewelry"] could be part of a "brushing scam" — an effort to create fake customer reviews on online retail platforms — but that appears unlikely. For one thing, there is no indication these seeds — there are several varieties of them — are either branded or are offered for sale.

"DO NOT plant them," officials in every state have warned.

There is also an infamous statement attributed to General Chi Haotian. In a secret speech to senior Communist Party officials sometime around 2002, Chi, then the Chinese defense minister, stated there was a need for "new living space" because of the exhaustion of existing Chinese territory. Chi suggested the "mass colonization" of the land occupied by United States as the best option.

"We are not as foolish as to want to perish together with America by using nuclear weapons," he said. The way to "clean up" the U.S., Chi argued, would be through biological attacks.

"For forty years, the Chinese have used unconventional tactics to further their ambitious goal of defeating the United States," said Brandon Weichert of the Weichert Report to this publication. "They employed economic warfare, lawfare, information warfare, and cyber warfare. Beijing looks like it attempted biowarfare with the novel coronavirus from Wuhan. Now, they may be trying their hand at ecological warfare."

"If the embargo is not renewed, this will allow Iran to import and export arms with impunity. They are already buying and selling arms on the black market, but ending the arms embargo will allow them to do so officially." — Senior Israeli official who asked not to be named. Private interview with the author.

"When the embargo... is lifted next year we can easily buy and sell weapons... This is one of those important impacts of this (nuclear) agreement." — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, November 11, 2019.

In addition, Iran's ability to make new arms' purchases would enable Tehran to continue its support for proxies in the Middle East, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as enabling it to fuel conflicts from Venezuela to Syria, and to the far reaches of Afghanistan.

The Palestinians were extremely happy to accept the billions of dollars from Western donors. Yet when the Palestinians headed to the ballot boxes to cast their votes in the 2006 election, they did not choose Palestinian candidates who talked about peace with Israel. Instead, the majority of the Palestinians knowingly and proudly voted for the Hamas candidates who promised them that they would never recognize Israel's right to exist and would continue to engage in Jihad (holy war) until the "liberation of all Palestine, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river."

The donors should have understood in 2006 that their dollars and euros do nothing to shape hearts and minds, and that the only way to create a change is through education -- education for peace and tolerance and not education for Jihad, terrorism and anti-Israel brainwashing.

It is important to note that Hamas and many Palestinians are nothing but honest about their deadly intentions. They are straightforwardly saying: "We refuse, utterly and unequivocally, to change our policies or abandon our weapons for the sake of your money. If you think you can bribe us into changing our behavior because that is what you in the West so often do, sorry, it will not work."

Meanwhile, Palestinians will continue to take money from the West, if the West is foolish enough to keep giving it -- perhaps the Europeans want the Arabs to finish the job that Hitler started? -- but the next time Palestinians head to the ballot box, Western donors can expect them once again to vote for jihad.

The ruling mullahs of Iran are excited. They are convinced that a new US president, like his previous boss, former President Barack Obama, will throw them the lifeline so badly needed for their survival, their hold on power, and their ability to advance their nuclear and other imperialist plans -- both in Venezuela against the United States, and in the Middle East.

Iran's economic conditions have become so dire that even some officials are warning of possible revolt and the collapse of the Islamic Republic.

It is important to note that without Iran's financial and military assistance, many militia and terror groups could not survive. As Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, admitted, "... Hezbollah's budget, its income, its expenses, everything it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets, are from the Islamic Republic of Iran."

These religious leaders say they are also worried about other "epidemics" that post a threat to Arabs and Muslims, such as peace with Israel and women's rights.

The Muslim "scholars" also seem concerned about the possibility that Palestinian women may be coming closer to being given rights that are now accorded only to men. For these religious figures, the prospect of women being treated equally and with respect appears to be more of a threat than the coronavirus.

Across the globe, people are preoccupied with preventing the spread of the coronavirus and rescuing the global economy. The world's best minds are racing against time to invent a vaccine that will save the lives of millions of people threatened by COVID-19. The pandemic has caused panic about basic living conditions, health and livelihood.

Palestinian Islamic leaders, meanwhile, are busying themselves with the religious implications of menstruation. For these leaders, it is peace with Israel, not the virus, that is imperiling the health of Arabs and Muslims.

These Muslim leaders appear to be more interested in preventing women from working under unbiased conditions than about those individuals suffering from the pandemic. They also seem to be more interested in demonizing Israel than in dealing with the demon called COVID-19.

The Erdogan regime has been militarily targeting Syria and Iraq, sending its Syrian mercenaries to Libya to seize Libya's oil, and continuing to bully Greece. It is now provoking ongoing violence between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"Until the Syrian people are free, peaceful and safe, we will remain in this country." — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Reuters, July 21, 2020.

"Crimes committed against Yazidis [in Syria] include forced conversion to Islam, rape of women and girls, humiliation and torture, arbitrary incarceration, and forced displacement." — Yazda.org, May 29, 2020.

One of Turkey's main targets also seems to be Greece.... If such an attack took place, would the West abandon Greece?