Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Con Coughlin • March 26, 2023 at 5:00 am
Just as Iran has used Ukraine's brutal war to test the effectiveness of its drone and missile technology, so China's emerging industrial-military complex is reportedly looking for opportunities to conduct a rigorous evaluation of its new weapons systems; Chinese arms manufacturers are reportedly keen to test the effectiveness of their new weapons systems in Ukraine. Chinese drones, which reports say are due to be delivered to the Russian Defence Ministry next month, would enable the Russians to deliver warheads weighing between 35 and 50 kilograms. China's People's Liberation Army is in the midst of a massive military build-up, outspokenly aimed at making China the world's dominant military power by the middle of the century. Global defence spending fell by 1.7 percent in 2021, and the US defence budget for 2024, with a supposed increase of 3.2 percent, after factoring in an inflation of 6 percent, is actually a net cut. Meanwhile, Chinese defence spending grew by 5.1 percent to $293 billion. As part of its military build-up, which began in 2013, Beijing is aiming to integrate artificial intelligence in its command and control structures by 2035. In addition it is investing heavily in new fleets of warships and warplanes. The Chinese military is said to be actively preparing to launch a military offensive to capture Taiwan, most likely before or during the US presidential election in November 2024, while the US is still under the administration of President Joe Biden, regarded worldwide as stunningly weak, and while the country is likely to be distracted. Biden's repeated statements that he seeks "competition not conflict" with China, and that "We don't want a conflict" with Russia, can only be viewed as pleas not to escalate, rather than as a thundering deterrence. "[T]he entire military must... concentrate all energy on fighting a war, direct all work toward warfare and speed up to build the ability to win." — Chinese President Xi Jinping, to China's armed forces' operational command center, Fox News, February 15, 2023.
For all Chinese President Xi Jinping's declarations of support for Russia during his state visit to Moscow, China's real motive in seeking closer ties is evidently to exploit the Ukraine conflict to test its military firepower. Pictured: Xi shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 21, 2023. (Photo by Mikhail Tereshchenko/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
For all Chinese President Xi Jinping's declarations of support for Russia during his state visit to Moscow, China's real motive in seeking closer ties is evidently to exploit the Ukraine conflict to test its military firepower. Just as Iran has used Ukraine's brutal war to test the effectiveness of its drone and missile technology, so China's emerging industrial-military complex is reportedly looking for opportunities to conduct a rigorous evaluation of its new weapons systems; Chinese arms manufacturers are reportedly keen to test the effectiveness of their new weapons systems in Ukraine. A year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Russia's military, having lost an estimated 200,000 men and around 90 percent of its heavy armour, including around 50 percent of its pre-invasion tank fleet, finds itself in a dire predicament.
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by Amir Taheri • March 26, 2023 at 4:00 am
Perhaps a more interesting sign has come with the purges carried among security forces with some of the more hardline officers moved aside or sent into early retirement. If there is indeed a change of course, the most important part of the scheme is the prospect of normalization with Saudi Arabia. Soon, however, it became clear that, flush with massive oil revenues due to high prices and rising exports, the Tehran leadership was reverting to its dream of hegemony in "West Asia." Are we heading for a Deja-vu of the Deja-vu?
Pictured: Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issues a message for the Iranian New Year (Nowruz) on March 21, 2023. (Image source: khamenei.ir)
Is the leadership in Iran trying to change course or are we witnessing a new tactic? The signals coming from Tehran make both assumptions plausible. To begin with, the official discourse has shown a certain degree of moderation. In his special message for the Iranian New Year (Nowruz) last Tuesday, for example, "Supreme Guide" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei abandoned his usual themes of "wiping Israel off the map", "rubbing America's nose in the dust" and leading the "Resistance Front" to victory. Nor did he repeat the usual claims that the Islamic Republic was benefiting from foreign sanctions and that its achievements had aroused "the jealousy of big powers." Instead, he designated the coming year as "The Year of Curbing Inflation" and implicitly admitted that Iran remains a poverty-stricken country. "We are not the only country hit by inflation and difficulties of life," he said. "Even the rich and advanced nations now face difficulties of their own."
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by Majid Rafizadeh • March 25, 2023 at 5:00 am
The deal grants China significant rights over the Iran's resources and help to Iran in increasing its oil and gas production. Leaked information revealed that one of the terms is that China will be investing nearly $400 billion in Iran's oil, gas and petrochemicals industries. In return, China will get priority to bid on any new project in Iran that is linked to these sectors. China will also be able to pay in any currency it chooses. The Biden administration's failure to lead is effectively handing the US over to China, Russia and Iran on a platter, actively creating a new world order with China at the top and the US potentially wherever China wants. Where is our commitment to a "Manhattan Project" to strengthen our defense? Why is the requested defense budget for 2024 only 3.2% higher than the 2023 budget? This means in real terms, factoring in the current inflation of 6%, that the current defense budget is a cut. Worse, it comes in below the budget increases planned for the Environmental Protection Agency (19%), Department of the Interior (12%), and Department of Veterans Affairs (5.4%). In 2022, US defense spending as a percentage of GDP was 3.1%, compared to the 8% of GDP it was in 1970. Thanks to the monumental serial ineptitude of the Biden Administration, China's President Xi Jinping, backed by his troika of oil suppliers -- Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran -- doubtless feels on the verge of fulfilling his fondest dream: Displacing the US as the world's leading superpower. The saddest part is that the reason is us: Why are we deliberately not protecting our Republic?
Iran and China have become more empowered and emboldened than ever. The Chinese Communist Party and the ruling Islamist mullahs of Iran have been violating US sanctions without facing any consequences from the Biden administration. Pictured: Iran's then Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (right) and China's top diplomatic official, Wang Yi, at the signing of the China-Iran comprehensive strategic 25-year partnership agreement on economic and security cooperation, in Tehran, Iran on March 27, 2021. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
Thanks to the extremely dubious leadership of the Biden Administration, Iran and China have become more empowered and emboldened than ever. The Chinese Communist Party and the ruling Islamist mullahs of Iran have been conveniently violating US sanctions without facing any consequences from the Biden administration. Since the Biden administration assumed office, here are a few of the critical developments: First, China rose to be a leading player in the Middle East. Beijing recently brokered an agreement between two of its major oil suppliers: Iran and Saudi Arabia. According to Deutsche Welle:
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by Burak Bekdil • March 24, 2023 at 5:30 am
[W]hen the earthquakes struck, the Kızılay [Turkish Red Crescent] had, through a little-known business arm, sold thousands of tents to a Turkish charity, and scored a profit of $2.5 million, instead of dispatching the tents immediately to the victims free of charge. The Turkish Union of Pharmacies was one of the quickest to respond to the earthquake. The organization wanted to set up "tent pharmacies" in the earthquake zone to distribute the most urgently needed medicines for free. It needed tents. It had none. It appealed to Kızılay for help. Kızılay helped by selling them tents -- at $7,000 each. Turkey is a poor country, where per capita income is barely $9,000. The earthquake zone is one of the country's poorest. It was not a surprise that the Erdoğan administration pledged to build new homes for the earthquake victims. Nice? Nice. A local chamber of architects found out that the cost to build each apartment would be $40,000. The government said each apartment would be sold for $80,000.
When the recent earthquakes struck Turkey, the Kızılay (Turkish Red Crescent) had, through a little-known business arm, sold thousands of tents to a Turkish charity, and scored a profit of $2.5 million, instead of dispatching the tents immediately to the victims free of charge. Pictured: A man cleans from mud a Kızılay tent in Adiyaman, southeastern Turkey on March 16, 2023. (Photo by Ilyas Akengin/AFP via Getty Images)
Compare the response of two countries, one Middle Eastern, the other European. In Turkey, twin earthquakes on February 6 took more than 50,000 lives, even though there was warning about the impending earthquake. In Greece, a train crash on March 1 killed more than 50 people. Greece's Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis, immediately resigned, saying: "I feel it is my duty [to step down], and a minimal gesture of respect to the memory of the people who perished so unfairly, and to take responsibility for the long-standing errors of the Greek state and the political system."
In Turkey, not a single official resigned, including Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, who has refused to answer any one of the 64 parliamentary motions, filed by the opposition, who had warned about the earthquake.
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by Alan M. Dershowitz • March 23, 2023 at 5:00 am
Let us understand what the National Lawyers Guild is. The Guild, in addition, refused to support Soviet or Cuban dissidents. The Guild has never abandoned its Marxist-Leninist provenance. It supports Antifa, which also employs violence to disrupt speakers. The National Lawyers Guild is not a liberal organization. It does not support civil liberties, due process or freedom of speech. It is the epitome of "free speech for me but not for thee." Many decent people question whether hateful, offensive and even speech deemed "dangerous" by some, should be protected. The answer resides in history. Whenever governments are empowered to ban such expression, they use that power expansively, to censor speech critical of their leaders or partisans. The appetite of the censor is voracious. What are seen as legitimate opinions by dissenters are deemed by others — especially those in power — as hateful, offensive or dangerous. Freedom of speech for all is anything but free. It can be hurtful and risky. But in the end, it is worth the costs. It deplores capitalism and the free market: "don't fund capitalism, fund the groups working to dismantle it." And it opposes due process for those with whom it disagrees, for instance, declaring of a "Mass Defense Program" that sends out "legal workers, law students, and lawyers providing legal support for protests": "We will only show up to actions and in support of movements that directly align with our values." Since its inception, the National Lawyers Guild has relied on "useful idiots" – well-meaning left-wingers and liberals who have no idea what the Guild really represents. It disguises its most extreme positions when presenting itself to the public, but advertises them to its members. It also hides from the public the fact that despite its name, the membership Guild consists primarily of non-lawyers. When it was truly a lawyers' organization, it was slightly more centrist. And then in the 1970s, the Guild opened its membership to "jailhouse lawyers" (who are not lawyers), legal workers (who are not lawyers), law students (who are not yet lawyers) and anyone else who works with or for lawyers or law firms. The Guild has more than 100 chapters in American law schools. Its membership includes many law professors. It apparently plans to organize nationwide disruptions of the kind we have seen at Stanford. The Guild creates the illusion that these disruptions are spontaneous reactions to conservative provocations. They are anything but. As the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall observed: "The freedom to speak and the freedom to hear are inseparable; they are two sides of the same coin." These disrupters violated both rights. Thus far disruptions have occurred at Yale, Stanford and Georgetown law schools. But you can be sure that they are coming to a law school near you. The NLG will not be satisfied until no conservative speaker is allowed to speak at any law school. That is its objective, and it may well succeed, because cowardly administrators — especially deans of diversity, in order to avoid the embarrassment of what happened at Stanford, Yale and Georgetown — will try to make sure that conservative speakers are not invited. They understand that it is much harder to object to the less visible non-invitation of conservative speakers than to publicly disrupting them. We who support freedom of speech for all sides must organize as well. We cannot count on the American Civil Liberties Union anymore: its silence supports the censorship of the National Lawyers Guild. Our voices must be heard against censorship-by-disruption, by non-invitation or by any other improper means.
The disruption by several dozen Stanford University law school students of a speech to be given by federal judge Kyle Duncan was organized by the local chapter of National Lawyers Guild as part of a nationwide effort to suppress conservative speech. Pictured: An abortion rights rally at Stanford Law School, on May 3, 2022. (Image source: Suiren2022/Wikimedia Commons) It turns out that the disruption by several dozen Stanford University law school students of a speech to be given by federal judge Kyle Duncan was not a spontaneous exercise of freedom to protest. It was a well-planned and carefully orchestrated effort to prevent other Stanford students from hearing the judge's conservative views. The disruption was organized by the local chapter of National Lawyers Guild as part of a nationwide effort to suppress conservative speech. Although not all the participants were associated with the NLG, the main organizers were. The Guild praised "every single person" who participated in the disruption, and called it "Stanford Law School at its best," suggesting it would confront "judicial architects of systems of oppression" with "social consequences for their actions." Here the consequences went beyond "social" to censorial.
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by J.B. Shurk • March 22, 2023 at 5:00 am
[E]conomic writer Charles Hugh Smith has repeatedly warned [about] the "crapification" of the U.S. economy.... customers with scant other buying options are forced to accept that few purchases will last. Politicians seem to be heading in a similar direction.... Western governments are filled to the brim with people entirely lacking in real-world experience or specialized knowledge. In recent decades, a noticeable trend in the West has been to elevate politicians, as young and inexperienced as possible, into offices as high as possible.... Such a system -- in which those who have proven themselves the least are given responsibilities that would test even those who have proven themselves time and again -- hardly looks ideal. If Western politicians seem just as second-rate these days as what customers all too often find in stores, there may be a simple reason why: International financial titans make, sell, and own both... and may be planning to own you, too.
Western governments are filled to the brim with people entirely lacking in real-world experience or specialized knowledge. In recent decades, a noticeable trend in the West has been to elevate politicians, as young and inexperienced as possible, into offices as high as possible. Pictured: National leaders, including US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau strike a deep, contemplative pose at the G20 summit on November 16, 2022 in Nusa Dua, Indonesia. (Photo by Hebestreit/Bundesregierung via Getty Images)
If you are a consumer today, inflation is only one of the problems harming you. As prices go up, quality continues to go down. What most stores have to offer you might crassly be called "cheap crap." In fact, economic writer Charles Hugh Smith has repeatedly warned that the "crapification" of the U.S. economy is the natural result of a "neoliberal-hyper-financialization-hyper-globalization model," in which quasi-monopolist manufacturers mass-produce goods with the cheapest possible components, while customers with scant other buying options are forced to accept that few purchases will last.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • March 21, 2023 at 5:00 am
Today, China is victorious by sponsoring the historic agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, while the US has a new president who comes to destroy agreements reached by his predecessor, and even brags about it during his election campaign and his presidency." — Saeed Al-Mryti, Saudi political activist, Twitter, March 14, 2023. "[N]o matter how hard analysts try to beautify the situation for US policy, what Saudi Arabia has done today is a direct and successful blow to the Biden administration and its policy in the Middle East." — Jubran Al-Khoury, Lebanese political analyst, annahar.com, March 12, 2023. It is thus no surprise that Iran and its terror proxies – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah – are expressing profound satisfaction over the Saudi-Iranian agreement. In their eyes, the agreement is an indication of the growing weakness of the US and the failed policy of the Biden administration in the Middle East. Thanks to the US administration's fragility, the Iranian-led axis of evil has been significantly emboldened as America's erstwhile Arab allies are rushing towards the open arms of the mullahs in Tehran.
Many Arabs and Muslims are celebrating the Saudi-Iranian agreement to restore diplomatic relations as a devastating blow to the Biden Administration, a victory for Iran and China, and a sign of Washington's failed policies in the Middle East. Pictured: An Iranian newspaper with a front page report on the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic relations, on March 11 2023. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
Many Arabs and Muslims are celebrating the Saudi-Iranian agreement to restore diplomatic relations as a devastating blow to the Biden Administration, a victory for Iran and China, and a sign of Washington's failed policies in the Middle East. According to these Arabs and Muslims, the Saudi-Iranian pact is the direct result of the Biden Administration's antagonism towards America's traditional Arab allies, especially Saudi Arabia, and the American policy of appeasement towards the mullahs in Iran. Lebanese-born American scholar Walid Phares wrote that in the past two years he has been issuing warnings that the Biden administration's dealings with the Arab allies "were neither at the required level nor with the necessary depth." According to Phares, the Obama Administration "went too far in its partnership with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, while turning its back on the Arab countries, with the aim of establishing partnerships with Islamists in the region."
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by Nima Gholam Ali Pour • March 20, 2023 at 5:00 am
[T]hose who took to the streets and protested the regime were all too aware that the most inhuman punishments and executions awaited them as retaliation for their struggle for freedom. Such courage and sacrifice for democracy and human rights must not be swept aside -- these heroic people need and deserve immediate support. More than 19,600 Iranians have been arrested during the protests; several have been executed. The information, coming from human rights organizations, about how Iran treats political prisoners is terrifying. In addition, more than 1,000 schoolgirls have been poisoned as "retaliation" and to shut down schools in a move to stop education for girls. As the Wall Street Journal remarked, compared to Iran, Saudi Arabia is Switzerland. Several members of parliament in Europe and North America have become political sponsors of political prisoners in Iran. The purpose of the political sponsorship is for parliamentarians to use their status and put pressure on the regime in Iran to release the political prisoners and draw attention to their cases. It is also a way to show the regime in Iran that the world sees and condemns them and cares -- with action -- about those Iranians who are fighting every day for the same freedom that we take so for granted. This author has chosen to become a political sponsor for Soheila Hejab, who is now in prison after being accused of "propaganda against the state", "gathering and collusion", and "disrupting public order to create chaos". Like many other prisoners in Iran, Hejab has not received medical care; her health is rapidly deteriorating. This article is a plea for more parliamentarians in democratic countries sponsor political prisoners in Iran -- to show that their protests are not in vain and that the world has heard their cries for freedom, democracy and human rights. If the brave individuals who stood up to the mullahs are now ignored simply because the regime in Iran has a security apparatus that has temporarily succeeded in silencing them, fewer will feel compelled in the future to stand up to oppressors -- in Iran or other dictatorships -- thus empowering the normalization of dictatorships. When fewer people stand up to oppressors, dictatorships and oppression become "normal": that is the biggest threat to democracy. The best way, therefore, to work for democracy and human rights is to support those who today risk their lives to overthrow dictatorships such as the one in Iran. If these brave people are prepared to risk their lives and the lives of their families for democracy, the least we can do is to give them totally committed support from the West. We need to label the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a Foreign Terrorist Organization and expel Iranian supporters of the regime from Western and European countries. In addition to that, individual parliamentarians can stand behind and "adopt" a political prisoner to draw attention to their cases, legitimize the democratic revolution and above all, delegitimize the savage, expansionist regime of Iran.
Those who took to the streets in Iran and protested the regime were all too aware that the most inhuman punishments and executions awaited them as retaliation for their struggle for freedom. Such courage and sacrifice for democracy and human rights must not be swept aside -- these heroic people need and deserve immediate support. Pictured: Iranian policemen chase anti-regime protestors and beat them with batons in Tehran, on September 19, 2022. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
The protests in Iran against the regime's Islamist dictatorship have largely been quelled for the time being, but the conflict remains. It is between a regime that implements medieval and barbaric laws and a young generation that wants to live in a modern and civilized society; and between a regime that rejects the notion of, and constantly defies, an international community, and the Iranian people, who are increasingly longing for Iran to become part of the international community. The conflict is also one between democracy and dictatorship: a democracy where the mullahs' gender apartheid imposed upon the public is abolished, where Iranians would be allowed to vote in free and democratic elections, and where the government would respect human rights.
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by Con Coughlin • March 19, 2023 at 5:00 am
From the start of the conflict one of [Putin's] key assumptions has been that the Western powers were too weak and divided to sustain their support for the Ukrainian cause, and so it is proving. This depressing picture will undoubtedly be interpreted by Putin as justifying his view that the West would eventually lose interest in the Ukraine conflict and that, for all the public pledges of support, the Western alliance does not want Ukraine to win after all. There are also wider global security implications: if Putin is able to get his way. In Ukraine, he will be encouraged in the belief that he can expand his territorial ambitions into other parts of Europe. Other adversaries of the West will not fail to see a second US retreat as yet another vacuum -- a green light for their territorial expansion, as well. For example, an investigation undertaken by the Dossier Centre, a group funded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a long-standing critic of Putin, has warmed that the Kremlin plans to take over Moldova by the end of the decade, a threat also delivered in early February by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as a year ago by Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko "standing in front of a battle map that appears to show a planned invasion of Moldova, along with Ukraine." Moscow has also threatened to attack airfields in Poland, a NATO member state, which would require a military response from the entire NATO alliance, thereby provoking all-out war between Russia and the West. At that point, the conflict would very much become a "vital interest" for Washington. Fortunately there are still countries such as Poland that have no intention of abandoning the Ukrainian cause. On the contrary, the plucky Poles have just reaffirmed their commitment to Kyiv by becoming the first NATO member state to send warplanes to Ukraine: Warsaw is planning to send four MIG-29 fighters. It is a move that the Biden Administration and other allies should be encouraged to replicate. That is leadership -- and what many Americans seem starved for: a Churchill, not a Chamberlain. A reminder: it would have been so much less costly in life and treasure to have stopped Hitler before he crossed the Rhine. In an attempt to persuade DeSantis to change his mind, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited the Florida Governor to visit him in Kyiv. It is an invitation DeSantis would be well-advised to accept.
No one will be more delighted at the deepening scepticism expressed about America's continued involvement in the Ukraine conflict than Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo by Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
No one will be more delighted at the deepening scepticism expressed about America's continued involvement in the Ukraine conflict than Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a time when the Russian leader is desperate to turn the conflict in Moscow's favour, any indication that the US and its allies are losing interest in their support for Kyiv will simply encourage Putin in the belief that he can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Recent comments by a number of prominent Republicans have indicated that, far from backing the Ukrainians in their existential battle for survival against unprovoked Russian aggression, their primary objective is to scale down American involvement at the first available opportunity.
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by Raymond Ibrahim • March 19, 2023 at 4:30 am
"[T]he soldiers of the Caliphate... captured five Christians and slaughtered them, praise be to God." — barnabasaid.org, February 15, 2023, Mozambique. "I went to the police station to report my daughter's kidnapping, but they refused to accept my complaint and forced me out of the building." He made repeated attempts to file a criminal complaint... the police ignored his pleas." — Morning Star News, February 13, 2023, Pakistan. " [I]n all cases involving forced marriages of underage minority girls.... The accused first rapes the victim and then uses the cover of an Islamic Nikah [marriage certificate] to escape punishment..." — Morning Star News, February 13, 2023, Pakistan. "Sunita is just 19, but now her whole life has been physically and mentally scarred [by acid thrown in her face].... Even if he is convicted for his crime.... We all know how our society treats acid attack survivors...." — Morning Star News, February 13, 2023, Pakistan. "Kill them wherever you find them [a verbatim quote of Koran 9:5]. If you are a tradesman, use a nail gun to nail the heads and crucify them on woodwork. If you are a truck driver, run them over...." — Islamic State operative, terrorism-info.org.il, February 6, 2023, Sweden.
An Iranian migrant was arrested after he made death threats against at least two Christian priests in Paris, at the parishes of Saint-Sulpice and Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Pictured: Saint Sulpice Church in Paris, France. (Photo by Sam Tarling/Getty Images)
The following are among the murders and abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of February 2023: The Muslim Slaughter of Christians Democratic Republic of Congo: On February 12-13, Muslim terrorists massacred 22 people in the 95% Christian-majority nation. The terrorists were members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), "a Ugandan armed group that has operated in east Congo for decades.... It has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and stages frequent deadly raids on villages." Although Reuters claims that "There was no indication as to the motive" of the attacks, others are more forthright. Discussing the ongoing terrorization of the DRC, the human rights group, Open Doors, wrote:
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by Amir Taheri • March 19, 2023 at 4:00 am
China, Russia and Iran spend almost twice as much on the military as they do on the health and well-being of their citizens. Their military expenditure as a percentage of GDP is more than twice the average of OECD countries, while their healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP is less than half of the OECD average.
For the first time in more than six decades, China has experienced an actual fall in its population, set to lose its ranking as the world's most populous nation to India. The need to tackle the demographic deficit may be present, at least in filigree, in Beijing's increasingly belligerent discourse about Taiwan. Pictured: Chinese soldiers in a military parade on October 1, 2019 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
Since the Chinese sage Sun Tzu authored The Art of War around 2,500 years ago, almost all writers on military affairs have asserted that a rapid rate of population growth is the sine qua non for a nation's decision to go to war. More recently, this theory was elaborated by the Swiss mercenary, General Antoine-Henri Jomini, in a series of books that have been "must reads" in most military academies since the 19th century. Echoes of the same theory are present in On War, the military "bible" written by Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian general and military historian, in the 19th century. Thus, the Indo-European tribes left their ancestral homeland in Central Asia because they could no longer feed a rapidly growing population. Seeking more fertile land and pastures for their herds, they embarked on invasions to their west and south to find the resources they coveted.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • March 18, 2023 at 5:00 am
A radical regime, whose mission is to "Export the Revolution" and bring Islamist rule to the rest of the world, will not alter its aims through policies of appeasement. Currently, thanks to the Biden Administration's appeasement where it would not matter and inaction where it would, the Iran's ruling mullahs are closer than ever to acquiring nuclear weapons. The Biden administration would do well to realize that a nuclear Iran is not just an existential threat to Israel; a nuclear Iran is major threat to the region, Europe, America, the world. The regime has made its intentions clear. Especially now that it is aligned with Putin's Russia and the Chinese Communist Party, it would like to conquer the US. As recently as November, Khamenei vowed, "Death to America will happen. In the new order I am talking about America will no longer have any important role." The headline of a report by Iran's state-controlled Afkar News reads (in Farsi): "American Soil Is Now Within the Range of Iranian Bombs". The report boasts about the damage that Iran could inflict, and clams that the Islamic Republic can use "a high-altitude electromagnetic bomb to attack the United States. "The same type of ballistic missile technology used to launch the satellite could carry nuclear, chemical or even biological weapons to wipe Israel off the map, hit US bases and allies in the region and US facilities, and target NATO even in the far west of Europe...." — Afkar News, August 15, 2020. American politicians shortsightedly fail to harden America's electric grid, probably because it will not show up as an accomplishment that donors will respond to, electorally or financially, during their election campaigns. Tragically, through its appeasement policies and failure to take on the Free World's adversaries in a serious and credible way, the Biden Administration has been empowering at least one predatory regime that is determined to accomplish its mission of Jihad to rule the world at any cost; even if that requires wiping out other states. And now, thanks to the catastrophic policies of the Biden Administration -- suppressing US fossil fuel production, thereby enriching Russia so it could launch a war against Ukraine; and by snubbing America's historical ally, Saudi Arabia -- it has brought US national security to the brink.
Iran's regime has made its intentions clear. Especially now that it is aligned with Putin's Russia and the Chinese Communist Party, it would like to conquer the US. As recently as November, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed: "Death to America will happen. In the new order I am talking about, America will no longer have any important role." (Image source: MEMRI) A radical regime, whose mission is to "Export the Revolution" and bring Islamist rule to the rest of the world, will not alter its aims through policies of appeasement. The appeasement policies of the Obama Administration empowered and emboldened Iran's ruling mullahs, and the Biden Administration seems determined to pursue the same path. Recall when, upon reaching the JCPOA "nuclear deal" with Iran in 2105, then US President Barack Obama pointed out that he was "confident" that the deal, with its lifting of sanctions on Iran, would "meet the national security needs of the United States and our allies"? It was even outlined in the JCPOA preamble that all parties "anticipate that full implementation of this JCPOA will positively contribute to regional and international peace and security."
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by Judith Bergman • March 17, 2023 at 8:00 am
On March 10, Chinese President and Communist Party General-Secretary Xi Jinping brokered a surprise agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to reestablish diplomatic relations between the two countries, effectively knocking the US off the Middle Eastern chessboard and showing himself as a power-broker on the world stage. Xi is, in fact, on his way to Russia, possibly as soon as next week, with a 12-point peace plan -- ostensibly to see if he can pull off the same wizardry with Ukraine, but more likely to nail down plans to seize Taiwan. China as the world's new power-broker anywhere, especially in the Middle East -- until Biden squandered America's alliances there -- is conceivably a seismic turning point: possibly the beginning of China fulfilling its dream of replacing the US as the dominant superpower in a new world order. For the Biden Administration, this is a blow for which it has only itself to thank. In addition to ignoring Saudi security concerns about Iran's escalating nuclear weapons program, Biden also let Iran's terrorist proxies off the hook. He removed Yemen's Iranian-sponsored Houthi terrorist group from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in February 2021, and refused to put it back even after the Houthis resumed missile and drone attacks on the United Arab Emirates, as well as more attacks on the Saudi Arabia. Is it any wonder, then, that in the vacuum the US created, the Saudis felt pushed towards China and Iran? What, after all, was their alternative? It is likely that the Saudis were hoping that the Americans, even at the last minute, would pledge completely to terminate their negotiations with Iran over the nuclear deal, which permits Iran unlimited nuclear weapons. China and other aggressors also cannot avoid seeing America's non-stop ineptitude, whether the focus in the US military on teaching critical race theory and "climate change" rather than on how to win or deter wars; billions for "climate change," which must give China, which is building "six times more coal plants than other countries," a good laugh, while the US military budget has been in a steady net-decline, outpaced by Biden's 6% inflation. Someone has not been minding the store. Will more countries be willing to reject an international order based on democratic values -- not to mention the world's reserve currency -- of the US?
(Image source: iStock)
On March 10, Chinese President and Communist Party General-Secretary Xi Jinping brokered a surprise agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to reestablish diplomatic relations between the two countries, effectively knocking the US off the Middle Eastern chessboard and showing himself as a power-broker on the world stage. Xi is, in fact, on his way to Russia, possibly as soon as next week, with a 12-point peace plan -- ostensibly to see if he can pull off the same wizardry with Ukraine, but more likely to nail down plans to seize Taiwan. China as the world's new power-broker anywhere, especially in the Middle East -- until Biden squandered America's alliances there -- is conceivably a seismic turning point: possibly the beginning of China fulfilling its dream of replacing the US as the dominant superpower in a new world order. For the Biden Administration, this is a blow for which it has only itself to thank.
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by Lawrence Kadish • March 17, 2023 at 3:00 am
(Photo by Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images)
Once I built a railroad, I made it run
Made it race against time
Once I built a railroad, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime? Once I built a tower up to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime
Once I built a tower, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Written by E. Y. Harburg and Jay Gorney during the height of 1930s, the song became America's grim national anthem during The Great Depression. As we watch the instability of our banking system unfold, those 90 year old lyrics may be more relevant than we wish to acknowledge. Part of today's banking crisis was instigated by the Federal Reserve whose micro-management of interest rates created a balance sheet gap for some regional banks, institutions that have played a crucial role in powering our economy by working with small and middle size businesses.
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by Bassam Tawil • March 16, 2023 at 5:00 am
[T]he Biden Administration officials recently proposed a plan "to provide 5,000 Palestinians with commando training in Jordan" and then deploy them to areas under the control of the PA. The 5,000 officers will bring with them 5,000 rifles to Palestinian cities and towns -- where almost every Palestinian already has a weapon. Any time the US has funded, armed and trained Palestinian militias, the target has invariably ended up not terrorist groups but Israelis. Why is there any reason to think that this time will be different? In addition, the plan would require Israel "to sharply curtail IDF counterterror operations." The Biden administration, in other words, wants Israel to stop defending itself and rely on the Palestinian leadership and the new Palestinian "commandos" to go after the terrorists. Palestinian officials, meanwhile, are busy glorifying terrorism and paying visits to the families of terrorists. This would leave the Israelis with the rights to neither self-defense nor hot-pursuit. Terrorists will be able strike inside Israel, then run back to the Palestinian areas where they will be "home free;" instead of being arrested, they will be celebrated. The Biden plan also reportedly "foresees the deployment of foreign forces, including U.S. military forces, on the ground." Israel, roughly the size of New Jersey, would have on its border a Palestinian terrorist army, well-trained, well-funded, and "protected" by a superpower. [The Israelis] would find themselves in the impossible position of risking harming the Europeans and Americans forces stationed there. These troops, mingled among the Palestinians, would essentially be "human shields," deliberately placed in harm's way to prevent Israel from taking any action. What, then, is the Biden Administration really doing? An international military presence to help the Palestinians in the West Bank would handcuff the Israelis. This appears to be the real plan. Worse, if "foreign countries" were allowed into the West Bank to work with the new US-trained Palestinian militias, who would get to decide which foreign countries? Or perhaps the US will try to persuade the Palestinians to reintegrate Gaza, run by Hamas, an Iranian proxy, into the West Bank, as the US Department of State's new Special Representative for Palestinian Affairs, Hady Amr, recommended in his Brookings report? It would be suicidal for Israel to permit "foreign forces," who any day could be hostile, on border of Jerusalem. Why would, or should, any country, especially such a small one, place its border security in the less-than-reliable hands of someone else? Would Germany? Would France? All that is needed is for Abbas to order his security forces to go after the armed groups, in accordance with the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement (Oslo II) of 1995. Abbas, however, has so far refused to issue such an order. He is most probably afraid that if he does so, his people, who view the terrorists as "heroes," would revolt against him, denounce him as a "traitor" a "collaborator" with Israel, and kill him, as happened to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat after he signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. The Palestinian Authority is not prepared to send its forces to arrest Palestinian terrorists so long as they do not pose a threat to Abbas or his associates. Abbas's security forces proved that they can be tough, but only against human rights activists, not terrorists. If the Biden Administration were serious about the Palestinian Authority reining in its terrorists, it could simply demand that the Palestinians honor Article XIV of the Oslo II agreement, which states that, "except for the Palestinian Police and the Israeli military forces, no other armed forces shall be established or operate in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip." The Biden Administration could also remind the Palestinians of Article XV of the same agreement that states that "both sides shall take all measures necessary in order to prevent acts of terrorism, crimes and hostilities directed against each other..." Above all, the Biden Administration needs to keep all foreign troops out of the area. They are simply decoys -- to protect the terrorists from counterattacks.
The Biden administration is fooling itself into believing that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the PA leadership will suddenly change their policy towards the terrorists just because they are getting an additional 5,000 "commandos." These "commandos" will simply join the tens of thousands of Palestinian security officers who are doing nothing to enforce law and order or prevent terrorism. Pictured: Terrorists from the Fatah-affiliated al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades march in Nablus on March 14, 2023, to show support for Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli custody. (Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP via Getty Images)
The Biden administration believes that the best way to de-escalate tensions between Israel and the Palestinians is by allowing the Palestinian Authority (PA) to recruit more officers to the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank. According to reports, the Biden Administration officials recently proposed a plan "to provide 5,000 Palestinians with commando training in Jordan" and then deploy them to areas under the control of the PA. The 5,000 officers will bring with them 5,000 rifles to Palestinian cities and towns -- where almost every Palestinian already has a weapon.
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