Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Uzay Bulut • October 5, 2022 at 5:00 am
The Cypriot government says that Turkey is orchestrating this illegal immigration crisis, as most migrants coming to Cyprus travel from Turkey. They reportedly fly from Istanbul or Ankara to the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus, are then smuggled to the free, southern part of the Republic of Cyprus, and from there, under EU law, can apply for asylum. On September 11 of this year, the EU recognized the instrumentalization or "weaponization" of migration by Turkey.... In 1974, Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus and forcibly displaced the indigenous Greek Cypriots from the north in a violent ethnic cleansing campaign, accompanied by murders, rapes, forced disappearances and other atrocities. Since then, Turkey has implemented policies meant to erase the Hellenic identity and civilization of occupied northern Cyprus. More financial support or migrant housing centers are not the solution to the illegal immigration crisis in Cyprus. The unending number of illegal migrants are apparently intended to outnumber and replace the indigenous Cypriots. Cyprus suffers from both illegal Turkish occupation and the mass illegal migration. "This year... We had 4,250 births so far, as opposed to 12,000 migrant arrivals. This is not happening anywhere else in the European Union." — Costas Constantinou, director general of Cypriot Interior Ministry, Cyprus Mail, July 5, 2022. What the Republic of Cyprus appears to need is an end to the illegal Turkish military occupation and an end to the EU's appeasement of Turkey. "Turkey, which illegally occupies one third of our country, is exploiting immigration to change the demography of the island for political purposes.... Many argue that the time has come when the Cypriot government should follow the example of Denmark, Poland, Greece or Hungary to stop this ongoing nightmare." — Savvas Iacovides, veteran Cypriot journalist, to Gatestone, September 2022.
The Republic of Cyprus, 36% of which is illegally occupied by Turkey, is increasingly struggling with a massive wave of illegal migration from Turkey, the Middle East and Africa. Migrants from Syria stand outside a kiosk in the village of Chlorakas, Cyprus, on January 31, 2022. Migrants now make up make up one-quarter the village's residents. (Photo by Christina Assi/AFP via Getty Images)
The Republic of Cyprus, 36% of which is illegally occupied by Turkey, is increasingly struggling with a massive wave of illegal migration from Turkey, the Middle East and Africa. Cyprus now has the highest number of asylum applications per capita of any EU country. Nearly 5% of the island population, according to the country's officials, is now made up of asylum seekers. The Cypriot government says that Turkey is orchestrating this illegal immigration crisis, as most migrants coming to Cyprus travel from Turkey. They reportedly fly from Istanbul or Ankara to the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus, are then smuggled to the free, southern part of the Republic of Cyprus, and from there, under EU law, can apply for asylum. Since 2018, Cyprus has experienced a large increase in the number of people illegally arriving in the country and then applying for asylum.
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by Bassam Tawil • October 4, 2022 at 6:00 am
This latest wave of terrorism is the direct result of the massive campaign of incitement against Israel and Jews by many Palestinians, including those belonging to the Palestinian Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas. Palestinians have already made it clear that their true goal is to replace Israel, not live alongside it. The plan is to replace Israel with a fundamentalist Islamist state, controlled by the mullahs in Iran, who have no compunctions about beating an Iranian woman to death for not covering her hair. If Iran's mullahs are committing such atrocities against their own people, it is not hard to imagine what they will do to their much-hated enemies... Iranian missiles, eventually with nuclear warheads, are clearly being developed not just for Israel. Consider the "new Axis of Evil," Russia and Iran, complete with Iranian drones now being used by Russia against Ukraine. Imagine if those drones were, instead, nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles from Iran -- especially as Russia will reportedly be in charge of Iran's "compliance" and "excess" enriched uranium. An Iran with nuclear weapons would doubtless be a most welcome addition to Russia's proxy arsenal. The Biden administration would be doing a great service to Jews and Arabs alike by calling out the Palestinians for their continued campaign of incitement to violence against Jews.
The latest wave of terrorism is the direct result of the massive campaign of incitement against Israel and Jews by many Palestinians, including those belonging to the Palestinian Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas. "The Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher are ours. They are all ours, and they [Jews] have no right to defile them with their filthy feet. We salute every drop of blood spilled for the sake of Jerusalem. This blood is clean, pure blood, shed for the sake of Allah. Every martyr will be placed in Paradise, and all the wounded will be rewarded by Allah." — PA President Mahmoud Abbas. (Image source: MEMRI)
In the past few years, the Palestinians have made it a habit to step up their manufactured incitement against Israel and Jews on the eve of Jewish holidays. This year has not been an exception. In the days preceding the Jewish New Year holiday, celebrated in mid-September, Palestinian leaders, spokesmen and factions went on a frenzied campaign of threats, lies and misinformation that triggered a wave of violence and terrorism against Jews. At the core of the Palestinian campaign is the false claim that Jews are planning to "storm" and "desecrate" the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The mosque is located on the Temple Mount, the holiest site for Jewish believers, where Abraham performed the binding of son, Isaac. It was also, in antiquity, the site of the two Jewish Temples.
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by Drieu Godefridi • October 4, 2022 at 4:00 am
In this thesis [by Andrew Korybko, a 'Moscow-based analyst' financed by Russia's autocratic government], which charges Europe with being the victim of an American plot, everything is false. The truth is that Europe is a victim only of itself. It was not the Americans who destroyed the German, French or Belgian nuclear capabilities. It was not the Americans who banned the exploitation of shale gas in Europe. The truth is that Europe has destroyed much of its ability to supply itself with natural gas. Is it not high time for Europeans finally to face up to their responsibilities?
The truth is that Europe is a victim only of itself. It was not the Americans who destroyed the German, French or Belgian nuclear capabilities. Pictured: The entrance of the Flamanville nuclear power plant, one of dozens of nuclear power plants in France that have been shut down for extended periods this year, in order to undergo urgent maintenance and repairs. (Photo by Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images)
A common line of argument between Russian state propaganda and American conspiracy circles is proliferating these days, namely: the war in Ukraine was allegedly fomented by the Americans to destroy Europe. For example, the American conspiracy website Revolver News easily refers to the geostrategic considerations of a leading expert on the war in Ukraine, Andrew Korybko. Incidentally, Korybko is also a 'Moscow-based analyst' financed by Russia's autocratic government: a mere detail. In this thesis, which charges Europe with being the victim of an American plot, everything is false. It is a childish and disempowering falsehood -- which makes it attractive to unquestioning minds. The truth is that Europe is a victim only of itself. It was not the Americans who destroyed the German, French or Belgian nuclear capabilities.
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by Lawrence Kadish • October 4, 2022 at 2:00 am
Chinese fleets working 24/7 off the coasts of North and South America are a reflection of Beijing's intent to land a far bigger fish: global dominance at the expense of every other nation on the planet. (Image source: iStock)
The Chinese have proved in word and deed their intent to dominate the rest of the 21st Century. Unlike like the gruesome tactics of Vladimir Putin, the Chinese apparently seek to the acquire that global position without the need to fire a shot. Nuclear weapons in their arsenal? No question. A strong military? Yes, with a navy that has a significant ability to challenge our Pacific fleet. Space exploration? They are already there. Digital dominance? Well on their way, with the ability to monitor the thoughts, comments, and opinions of over one billion citizens. But is their economy with which they seek to relegate the United States to a second-rate world power -- with their knowledge that it was a bankrupt economy that ultimately dismantled the Soviet Union.
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by Con Coughlin • October 3, 2022 at 5:00 am
As one of the signatories of the original Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the flawed nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, Russia, as well as China, will ultimately have a say in any new agreement that emerges from the Vienna talks. Rather than seeking to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, Beijing and Moscow are more interested in forming an alliance with Iran to counter what they denounce as America's unilateralism, and thwarting "draconian" US sanctions. Given Moscow's open hostility towards the West, it is abundantly clear that the Kremlin wants to exploit the weakness of the Biden administration to ensure the negotiations provide an even more unsatisfactory deal than the one signed off by Barack Obama in 2015, one that completely fails to address the very real threat Iran's nuclear weapons will pose to the wider world. From Moscow's perspective, having a nuclear-armed Iran, one that is Russia's ally, will greatly enhance its ability to challenge the West. In return, Iran has formed a new "axis of evil" with Moscow, providing it with weaponry, such as sophisticated drones, to support its war effort in Ukraine, while at the time providing assistance to Tehran to evade the effects of Western sanctions. While these two despotic regimes seem determined to forge an ever closer alliance, however, their objectives are completely at odds with the demands of their respective citizens, whose primary concern is securing their freedom, not supporting the military aspirations of the ruling elites. There is growing concern in Washington that US President Joe Biden is preparing to sign a new deal with Tehran once the midterm elections have been concluded, and that his officials are prepared to sign a far weaker version of the deal than that originally agreed to in 2015. That would be a grave miscalculation on the part of the Biden administration. This should be the moment when the US and its allies are intensifying the pressure on both Iran and Moscow, not capitulating to their interests with a weak nuclear deal which will only encourage them to indulge in further acts of aggression against the West and its allies.
From Moscow's perspective, having a nuclear-armed Iran, one that is Russia's ally, will greatly enhance its ability to challenge the West. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi hold a meeting in Tehran on July 19, 2022. (Photo by Sergei Savostyanov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
The nationwide anti-government protests sweeping Russia and Iran demonstrate that, despite the efforts of these two rogue regimes to increase the level of military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, the overwhelming demand of the majority of ordinary Russians and Iranians is freedom from dictatorial rule. One of the more alarming global developments in recent months has been the deepening cooperation between Moscow and Tehran as they seek to challenge the West on a number of fronts. Russia has played a key role in supporting Iran's efforts to thwart the negotiating process aimed at reviving the controversial nuclear deal with Tehran since the start of the negotiations in Vienna last year. While Iran is providing Russia with military equipment to support its war in Ukraine, Russia is supporting Iran's refusal to comply with Western demands to come clean about the true extent of its nuclear arsenal.
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by Daniel Greenfield • October 3, 2022 at 4:00 am
The Inflation Reduction Act is a lie. It doesn't reduce inflation: it actually gooses it. The IRA is another inflationary leftist spending boondoggle that throws billions at green energy and $80 billion at the IRS to audit the middle class in the hopes of balancing out some of the crony cash. A week after signing the IRA, Biden announced a trillion dollar loan bailout for his party's base of perpetual grad students. Like the Inflation Reduction Act, this was a massive wealth transfer. Audit the middle class and send the checks to Tesla drivers and sociology grad students. Raise inflation rates with inflationary spending and transfer some of the wealth over to welfare voters. That's what the White House was really celebrating. The Biden administration isn't fighting inflation, it's deliberately increasing it even as its cronies in the Federal Reserve hammer home new interest rate hikes to force the economy into a recession. This two-step dance destroys savings, wrecks investments and allows for a massive wealth transfer to Democrat donors, special interests and voters. The more that the Democrat majority spends, the worse inflation gets and the more justification there is for higher rates. If a recession arrives, there'll be even more justification for government wealth transfers. "I'm kind of in a position that FDR was," Biden modestly claimed. FDR's position was to use the Soviet Union and Mussolini's Italy as templates for dramatically transforming America through massive spending, socialist controls and crackdowns on conservative political opponents. So far Biden has managed 2 out of 3. The Biden administration is not here to "save the economy".... The formula has always been really simple: create the crisis, worsen it, and then exploit it. Honest socialists like Bernie Sanders would at least admit that they're trying to replace the economy with socialism while pursuing massive wealth redistribution. Biden is pretending that he's a firefighter when, like FDR, he's actually an arsonist in a big helmet and black boots. Inflation is one of the fires being fed to justify tighter government controls and interventions that reduce economic independence and redistribute wealth. Devaluing money is the traditional tool of totalitarian leftist regimes. Runaway inflation provides them with a pretext for interventions such as wage and price controls, both of which were rolled out during COVID lockdowns on an unprecedented scale and still continue.... These trial runs involve government intervention creating artificial scarcity or higher prices by intervening in the production process, shutting down plants or oil and gas leases, and then stomping in to reshape the marketplace. Anyone living under actual socialism can tell you that it can get much worse. And will. When that happens, Biden will throw an even bigger party. And we'll be the ones paying for it.
The Inflation Reduction Act is a lie. It doesn't reduce inflation: it actually gooses it. The IRA is another inflationary leftist spending boondoggle that throws billions at green energy and $80 billion at the IRS to audit the middle class in the hopes of balancing out some of the crony cash. (Image source: iStock)
Biden threw a party to celebrate the Inflation Reduction Act on the White House South Lawn even as the latest figures showed that core inflation has continued to rise. Grocery prices had the steepest increase since 1979. Rent prices shot up again and medical costs are escalating. Even the most loyal media lapdogs could hardly stand this festival of lies. CNN cut away from Biden's masque of red ink to show what was happening to the stock market. Reuters acidly headlined its coverage, "Biden celebrates 'Inflation Reduction Act' as food, rent prices climb". So what's there to celebrate? The Inflation Reduction Act is a lie. It doesn't reduce inflation: it actually gooses it. The IRA is another inflationary leftist spending boondoggle that throws billions at green energy and $80 billion at the IRS to audit the middle class in the hopes of balancing out some of the crony cash.
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by Raymond Ibrahim • October 2, 2022 at 5:00 am
When the 12-year-old girl was produced at court and said that she had converted of her free will and married her Muslim kidnapper, the judge—ignoring the girl's young age and distraught demeanor—ordered the accused released and the girl returned to him, even though there was massive contrary evidence to indicate that the girl was being coerced to lie under duress. The evidence included a voice recording of her Muslim husband threatening to butcher the girl's two brothers if she failed to support him in court. — Morningstar News, August 23, 2022, Pakistan. "Police and judiciary tend to support those who commit crimes such as forced conversions, child marriages and sexual violence because they believe they will receive a heavenly reward for helping convert someone to Islam, regardless of how intentional or coercive the conversion is." — Sherkan Malik, human rights activist, Morningstar News, August 23, 2022, Pakistan. "In the rare cases where a girl is returned to her family, the culprits are never held accountable. In other words, the supposedly law-preserving authorities act as implicit, if not explicit, partner in such heinous crimes." — Report, copticsolidarity.org, August 9, 2022, Egypt. "I am writing to you out of deep concern for the safety and well-being of the indigenous Coptic women and minor girls in Egypt who have been increasingly targeted for trafficking, forced marriage, and forced conversion." — Petition, copticsolidarity.org, August 9, 2022, Egypt. [T]hroughout the month of August... a total of eleven Coptic churches in Egypt supposedly "caught fire," none of which was reported in the Western press.... In every one of those eleven fires, Egyptian authorities denied arson as a possible cause, citing instead "natural" or accidental causes such as faulty wiring, electric overloads, and so on, even though there was obvious foul play in at least one case.... — copticsolidarity.org, August 31, 2022, Egypt. "Constant killings and maiming of innocent Christians by terrorists and herdsmen bandits [Muslim Fulani] have become very common here in Taraba state," said Ayuba Matthew, a local. "So also, kidnappings of Christians has become a problem." — Morningstar News, August 17, 2022, Nigeria. "Incitement against the Copts is daily in Egypt! Accusing the Copts of being infidels [kuffar] is daily in Egypt! Mockery of Christianity and the sacred things of Christianity and the accusation that the Bible is distorted [moharraf] occurs daily in Egypt!" — Magdi Khalil, noted author, YouTube, August 15, 2022, Egypt. "They forced me to sing Christian songs as they began chopping off my husband's hand." .... Apparently fearful of worse repercussions, the "family has yet to file a police report." — Morningstar News, August 16, 2022, Egypt. A recent video report found that, although Christians make up only 1.6% of the Muslim nation's population, they account for 90% of Islamabad's sanitation workers.... [M]any sanitation job listings in Pakistan often advertise "for non-Muslims only": working in garbage all day is for "infidels," not ritually clean Muslims. — dw.com and Morningstar News, August 11, 2022, Pakistan. Although deemed by some Westerners as a relatively progressive Arab nation, Qatar continues to indoctrinate its children with hate for and violence against "infidels," including Christians and Jews.... — impact-se.org, July 2022, Qatar.
Although deemed by some Westerners as a relatively progressive Arab nation, Qatar continues to indoctrinate its children with hate for and violence against "infidels," including Christians and Jews. Pictured: The skyline of Qatar's capital Doha. (Photo by Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images)
The following are among the abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians throughout the month of August 2022: The Jihad on Christian Girls Pakistan: After refusing to review evidence from a Christian couple trying to recover their 12-year-old daughter from a married Muslim man accused of kidnapping her and forcing her to convert to Islam and marry him, Muslim judge Sadaqat Ali Khan threw the case out of court on Aug. 18. When the parents first reported the kidnapping, her kidnapper, Imran Shahzad and his wife Adiba, were brought in for questioning. However, when the 12-year-old girl was produced at court and said that she had converted of her free will and married her Muslim kidnapper, the judge—ignoring the girl's young age and distraught demeanor—ordered the accused released and the girl returned to him, even though there was massive contrary evidence to indicate that the girl was being coerced to lie under duress.
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by Amir Taheri • October 2, 2022 at 4:00 am
Today's Damavand [volcano] s made of a new generation of Iranians who don't give tuppence about the Islamic Republic's arcane narrative, and prefer life in the modern world, warts and all, to the North Korean-style society that "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei is trying to impose on Iran. The uprising was triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year old woman on a family visit to Tehran. Within 24 hours of her death, allegedly as a result of beatings by security agents, Amini's name was known to almost all Iranians and, within 48 hours, it had become a symbol of resistance to tyranny across the world. By the time of writing this column, we had received the names of 84 people, including nine women and six children, killed by security, while semi-official figures put the number of arrests at over 1,800. The uprising has spread to over 300 towns and cities, some of which are witnessing protests for the first time in recent history. Early in its existence, the Khomeinist regime established self-preservation as its highest goal. Khomeini called it "the obligation of obligations" (oujab al-wajebat in Arabic), asserting that to protect the regime, even Islam could be set aside. Regime protection forces, excluding the national army, number over 600,000 men. Islamic security is organized in nine different units, at least four of them trained and equipped for crushing street protests. All security units, including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), benefit from numerous advantages, notably salaries that are 30 percent higher than comparable ones in the national army. The latest uprising is different from previous ones in a number of ways.... This time, the almost unanimous call is for regime change. Until this writing, Khamenei, who shed tears for the death of George Floyd in the United States, has been silent on the eruption that threatens his regime.
The anti-regime uprising in Iran has spread to over 300 towns and cities, some of which are witnessing protests for the first time in recent history. Pictured: Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody, in Tehran on September 21, 2022. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
"The white giant in chains!" This is how Bahar, one of Iran's greatest contemporary poets, describes Mount Damvand, the towering volcano that looms over the horizon in the Tehran region. At the end of his qasida (ode) Bahar pleads with the volcano to end its silence with an explosion of fire and lava to "cleanse the world of tyranny and corruption". For the past two weeks, the nationwide uprising across Iran has reminded many Iranians of Bahar's poem with the question: Has the volcano begun its final eruption? Today's Damavand is made of a new generation of Iranians who don't give tuppence about the Islamic Republic's arcane narrative, and prefer life in the modern world, warts and all, to the North Korean-style society that "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei is trying to impose on Iran. The uprising was triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman on a family visit to Tehran.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • October 1, 2022 at 5:00 am
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stunningly made it clear to US lawmakers that the Biden administration will not stand in the way of Russia cashing in on the $10 billion contract as well as Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation. And the State Department spokesman Ned Price reiterated the Biden administration's stance by pointing out: "We, of course, would not sanction Russian participation in nuclear projects that are part of resuming full implementation of the JCPOA". "The Biden administration is so desperate for a deal with Iran they'll broker a $10 billion payoff to Russia and waive their own sanctions to make it happen." — US Representative Darrell Issa, Washington Free Beacon, May 2, 2022. In addition, the Biden administration is trusting Russia to conduct the nuclear negotiations on behalf of the US; to be the sole country to oversee compliance of the nuclear deal, and to keep Iran's highly enriched uranium -- able to return it to Iran if the mullahs request it, or possibly even use it themselves. Fifty bipartisan US lawmakers urgeed the Biden administration "not to permit Russia to be the recipient of Iran's enriched uranium nor to have the right to conduct nuclear work with the Islamic Republic, including a $10 billion contract to expand Iran's nuclear infrastructure. We should not let war criminal Vladimir Putin be the guarantor of the deal or the keeper of massive amounts of Iran's enriched uranium. Iran supports the illegal war in Ukraine and has been supplying Russia with drones used to kill Ukrainians." "This Iran Deal if and when it is announced will be a massive win for Vladimir Putin." — US Senator Ted Cruz, Fox News, March 9, 2022. "Mr President, you're the only one in America doing business with the Russians, stop doing business with the Russians. Don't have them negotiating for us, walk on this deal." — US Senator Jim Risch, Fox News, March 9, 2022. The Biden administration nevertheless appears determined to give Russia the biggest gift ever: an Iran nuclear deal, complete with enriched uranium for nuclear bombs to be used whenever Russia or Iran decide.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stunningly made it clear to US lawmakers that the Biden administration will not stand in the way of Russia cashing in on a $10 billion contract to expand Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Pictured: The reactor building of the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
The Biden administration is still hoping to revive the nuclear deal with the ruling mullahs of Iran and to keep the US Congress out of it, perhaps during the Christmas break when Congress is not in session. The Biden administration's nuclear deal will not only be a win for the ruling mullahs of Iran, but also for Iran's staunch ally, Russia. First of all, Biden's new deal will gift Russia by allowing it to cash in on a $10 billion contract to expand Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Russian President Vladimir Putin will most likely have a stake in the $10 billion contract. In fact, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stunningly made it clear to US lawmakers that the Biden administration will not stand in the way of Russia cashing in on the $10 billion contract as well as Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation. And the State Department spokesman Ned Price reiterated the Biden administration's stance by pointing out:
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by Judith Bergman • September 30, 2022 at 5:00 am
Of particular concern is that Russia has not only been strengthening its relations with old Latin American partners -- such as Cuba and Nicaragua, hailing back to the Cold War, and with Venezuela -- but that it is now forging new and stronger relationships with countries that were traditionally oriented towards the US, such as Brazil and Argentina. "Recent demonstrations of Russia's hostile intent toward the U.S. and our partners in the Western Hemisphere include Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov's January 2022 suggestion that Russia might deploy military forces to Venezuela or Cuba... and Nicaragua's June 2022 re-authorization for limited numbers of Russian troops and equipment to enter the country for training missions and other forms of support." — Dr. Evan Ellis, research professor of Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute and senior associate at the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, July 20, 2022. Russia's actions in Latin America have been significantly deteriorating the security situation there, as well as enabling China to gain influence. In June, Putin and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro confirmed their intention to strengthen their strategic partnership. "In 2020, Russia Today (RT)'s Spanish-language media outlets more than doubled their social media followers from 7 million to over 18 million. These disinformation campaigns are just one part of Russia's broader efforts to influence national elections throughout the region this year. Russia's relationship with its key regional partners— Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua—allow Moscow to expand its air and sea access to project military power throughout the region." — General Laura Richardson, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, March 8, 2022. "Agreements with Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Brazil allow Russian warships to make port calls on short notice. Russia doubled its naval deployments in this region, increasing from five (2008-2014), to 11 (2015- 2020). Russia seeks inroads in the hemisphere by providing security training through $2.3 billion in weapons and military equipment sales in the last 10 years, to include direct sales to Venezuela." — Gen. Laura Richardson, testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, March 8, 2022. While 21 Latin American and Caribbean countries have signed onto China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Biden's Build Back Better World, launched in June 2021 to counter China, has not even taken off yet. Unlike the BRI, financed by the People's Republic of China, Build Back Better has to rely on private investors' willingness to take risks. So far, Biden has nothing to show... while Russia and China continue to consolidate their gains.
"Recent demonstrations of Russia's hostile intent toward the U.S. and our partners in the Western Hemisphere include Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov's January 2022 suggestion that Russia might deploy military forces to Venezuela or Cuba..." — Dr. Evan Ellis, research professor of Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. Pictured: Venezuelan and Russian military personnel at a ceremony for the arrival of two Russian Air Force Tu-160 strategic bombers in Venezuela, on December 10, 2018. (Image source: RT video screenshot)
Russia has been seeking to expand its influence in Latin America, especially since Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine and Russia's subsequent international isolation. Russia's way of enlarging its influence in Latin America is comparable to its tactics in Africa, where it has primarily sought influence through arms deals, the use of its mercenaries, election interference, and disinformation. As early as March 2015, General John Kelly, U.S. Marine Corps Commander, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, saying:
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by Peter Schweizer • September 29, 2022 at 5:00 am
In the Biden administration's uncanny ability to put the wrong people in the wrong jobs, naming John Podesta to be the new "climate czar" might be its masterstroke. With so much money at stake, you might have expected the administration to choose someone with a strong background in energy technologies or perhaps someone possessing deep experience in the energy business who can spot the good (and bad) uses for all that money. Although Podesta is listed on the corporate records, he failed to disclose his membership on the board of Stichting Joule Global Foundation (the holding company) in his federal financial disclosure forms when he officially joined the Obama White House as a senior advisor in 2013. What is concerning here is the pattern Podesta has established of being involved on both sides of the table, and transiting Washington's revolving door. When the Biden administration chooses a "power broker" to be its decider over $370 billion worth of federal "investment" money that is intended to make green energy affordable, cost-effective or competitive with fossil fuels, we should not be surprised if large portions of that money will eventually be traced back to connections those companies have with that aforementioned power broker. This is why you do not want the federal government to have individuals who are not experts -- who are operators and lobbyists -- making important decisions like that. They will pass out cash to people who have made them money in the past, and who will make them money in the future, or who have employed their family members. It is corrupt and it is cronyism. When you give people the opportunity to hand out other people's money, they are going to give it to families and friends. With Podesta, there is certainly a history of doing just that.
In the Biden administration's uncanny ability to put the wrong people in the wrong jobs, naming John Podesta to be the new "climate czar" might be its masterstroke. With so much money at stake, you might have expected the administration to choose someone with a strong background in energy technologies or deep experience in the energy business. Pictured: Podesta, then Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign chairman, at the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
In the Biden administration's uncanny ability to put the wrong people in the wrong jobs, naming John Podesta to be the new "climate czar" might be its masterstroke. The White House announced recently that John Podesta will oversee $370 billion in clean energy investments included in the Inflation Reduction Act. This makes him the decision-maker for handing out money to make green energy a viable, cost-effective replacement for fossil fuels. Green energy subsidies and other government giveaways have been tried before, and failed, but not at this scale. With so much money at stake, you might have expected the administration to choose someone with a strong background in energy technologies or perhaps someone possessing deep experience in the energy business who can spot the good (and bad) uses for all that money.
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by Uzay Bulut • September 29, 2022 at 4:00 am
"We have only one sentence for Greece: Do not forget Izmir [the city of Smyrna]. Your occupying the [Aegean] islands will not stop us; we will do what is necessary when the time comes. You know what we say: 'Unexpectedly one night we shall come to [conquer] you." — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, sondakika.com, September 4, 2022. "The final years of the Ottoman Empire were catastrophic for its non-Turkish, non-Muslim minorities. From 1913 to 1923, its rulers deported, killed, or otherwise persecuted staggering numbers of men, women and children in an attempt to preserve 'Turkey for the Turks,' setting a modern precedent for how a regime can commit genocide against its own citizens in pursuit of political ends, while largely escaping accountability." — George N. Shirinian, Genocide in the Ottoman Empire: Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks, 1913-1923. The Turkish attacks against the Greeks and Armenians of Smyrna began [in 1922] with looting, rapes and massacres, and ended with a fire that destroyed the Christian districts of the city. "In September 1922, the richest city of the Mediterranean was burned, and countless numbers of Christian refugees killed. The city was Smyrna, and the event was the final episode of the 20th Century's first genocide — the slaughter of three million Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire. The slaughter at Smyrna occurred as warships of the great powers stood by — the United States, Great Britain, France and Italy." — Lou Ureneck, Smyrna, September 1922. The Republic of Turkey actually boasts of its genocide. Since the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, no factual information has been taught to Turkish schoolchildren about the extreme brutality, massacres, rapes, pillaging and other atrocities that indigenous Greeks and Armenians of Smyrna were subjected to at the hands of the Turks. The truth about the identity of the arsonists is categorically denied. For the past 100 years, Turkey has blamed the victims of the genocide for their own extermination. September 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the genocide in Smyrna. Although the Turkish government still takes pride in its slaughter, everyone else would do well to remember and honor the memories of the victims and prevent further Turkish aggression. One way for Western governments to do this is officially to recognize the 1913-23 genocide, but above all, stop Erdogan's continued threats against Greece.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is escalating his threats to invade Greece. Referring to Turkey's genocidal attack against Greeks and Armenians of the city of Smyrna in September 1922, he warned exactly 100 years later this month: "We have only one sentence for Greece: Do not forget Izmir [Smyrna]... we will do what is necessary when the time comes." Pictured: Thousands of local Greeks, fleeing the Turkish army of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, attempt to escape by ship at the port of Smyrna in September 1922. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
The president of a NATO member country, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is escalating his threats to invade Greece, another NATO member. On September 27, he said: "The weapons stockpiled [by Greece] in Western Thrace and the islands make no sense to us because our power is far beyond them, but we remind you that this means a covert occupation [of Turkey by Greece]... "We would like to remind Greece: Come to your senses. Do you think the support [for Greece] from the US and Europe will save you? It will not. You simply spin your wheels; it does nothing else."
Erdogan has been making similar hostile statements for months. On September 4, he again targeted Greece in a public speech:
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by Gordon G. Chang • September 28, 2022 at 5:00 am
Russia's nuclear doctrine is called "escalate to deescalate" or, more appropriately, "escalate to win," which means threatening or using nukes early in a conventional conflict. Even if Putin is now bluffing — most analysts think he is — he is getting what he wants with threats. Biden, for instance, has been cautious and even timid in providing military assistance to a beleaguered Ukraine. Putin has obviously noticed, which is the reason he has been making more such threats. Why, then, doesn't the United States have what it needs at this crucial moment: nuclear-tipped cruise missiles like Putin's? The arms-control community, arguing that such low-yield weapons would make nuclear war more likely, persuaded American presidents not to build them. President Trump authorized their development, but Biden cancelled the program. Unfortunately, arms-control advocates got it backwards. As evident from today's developments, America lacking low-yield nuclear warheads on cruise missiles is making nuclear war more likely, not less. "The United States will need to reduce its nuclear arsenal to encourage Russia to do the same," wrote Tom Collina and Angela Kellett on the 21st of this month on the Defense One site. Entice Russia into disarmament? Been there. Tried that. Failed miserably. Is it possible to work with Putin at this time? Even if we can put aside the morality of talking to a genocidal mass murderer — we cannot — it is reckless to believe Putin might actually honor arms-control agreements when he has continually violated them with impunity. Moreover, it is bad enough to argue for disarmament in peacetime, but it is the height of folly to do so during war — and when China and North Korea are making first-strike nuclear threats of their own. America's arms-control advocates have always been naïve. Now, they are delusional.
The use of nuclear weapons is fast becoming likely. Russian President Vladimir Putin's threat to use nukes — presumably against Ukraine but perhaps others as well — was made at the time he announced a military mobilization, Russia's first since World War II. Pictured: Mobile intercontinental ballistic missile launchers on parade in Moscow, Russia, on June 24, 2020. (Photo by Sergey Pyatakov - Host Photo Agency via Getty Images )
"If Russia crosses this line, there will be catastrophic consequences for Russia," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told NBC's "Meet the Press" on the 25th of this month, referring to threats to use nuclear weapons. "The United States will respond decisively." Sullivan was responding to, among other things, a warning Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered in a televised address on September 21. "I want like to remind those who make such statements regarding Russia that our country has different types of weapons as well, and some of them are more modern than the weapons NATO countries have," the Russian leader said. "In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us." "This is not a bluff," he added.
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by Judith Bergman • September 27, 2022 at 5:00 am
"The most game-changing challenge we face comes from the Chinese Communist Party." – Ken McCullum, MI5 Director General, Joint Address by the heads MI5 and FBI, July 6, 2022. Both directors emphasized that one of the greatest challenges to Western economies is China's theft of Western technology through a variety of means.... China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) uses its regional bureaus to "key in specifically on the innovation of certain Western companies it wants to ransack.... companies everywhere from big cities to small towns -- from Fortune 100s to start-ups.... We've even caught people affiliated with Chinese companies out in the U.S. heartland, sneaking into fields to dig up proprietary, genetically modified seeds, which would have cost them nearly a decade and billions in research to develop themselves." — Christopher Wray, FBI Director, address to London business leaders on National Security Threats Posed by the People's Republic of China, MI5 HQ, July 6, 2022. Wray emphasized that effectively all Chinese companies are in the pockets of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)... those [companies] that aren't owned outright are effectively beholden to the government all the same, as Chinese companies of any size are required to host a Communist Party cell to keep them in line.... almost like silent partners." Wray unconditionally warned businesses against partnering with Chinese companies. "Maintaining a technological edge may do more to increase a company's value than would partnering with a Chinese company to sell into that huge Chinese market, only to find the Chinese government, and your 'partner,' stealing and copying your innovation, setting up a Chinese competitor, backed by its government, that is soon undercutting you -- not just in China, but everywhere." — Christopher Wray, July 6, 2022. The deal [to purchase farmland near a military base in North Dakota] has caused concerns that the purchased land could be used to spy on the base, as China most likely has done on other bases. Additionally, there is widespread Chinese theft and spying in academia.... European scientists have been empowering China's military by sharing "militarily sensitive knowledge with the Chinese army on a large scale." Out of an astounding 353,000 scientific collaborations between Europe and China around 3,000 had taken place with the Chinese military, defined as "studies where scientists from Western European universities collaborated with Chinese colleagues directly linked to an institute that is part of the Chinese army." Despite the massive threat that China poses, the Biden administration nevertheless ended the Department of Justice's "China Initiative" in February 2022. That same month, the head of the FBI said in an interview that Chinese spying had become so prevalent in the US that on average, the FBI was opening on average two counterintelligence investigations a day, with more than 2,000 such cases already underway. Instead of the China Initiative, "the administration would be using a "broader approach one that looks across all of these threats [from China, Russia, and Iran; ed.] and uses all of our authorities to combat them." — Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen, Politico, February 23, 2022. All right. Where is it? No need to shut down the China Initiative; just increase investigations of other threats, which the US should presumably be doing anyway. The unmistakable signal that the Biden administration sent to China by closing down the China Initiative was one of weakness -- again -- this time, underscoring that the US does not consider countering China a priority at a time when China, according to two international prominent intelligence directors -- is unquestionably the greatest threat to US interests. Could there be a signal to an intransigent adversary more dangerous than that?
In an unprecedented move, the head of the FBI, Christopher Wray, and the head of Britain's domestic intelligence agency, the MI5, Ken McCallum, came together in July to warn against the "massive" threat that both intelligence services consider China presents. Both men emphasized that one of the greatest challenges to Western economies is China's theft of Western technology. (Image source: iStock)
In an unprecedented move, the head of the FBI, Christopher Wray, and the head of Britain's domestic intelligence agency, the MI5, Ken McCallum, came together in July to warn against the "massive" threat that both intelligence services consider China presents. "We consistently see that it's the Chinese government that poses the biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security, and by 'our', I mean both of our nations, along with our allies in Europe and elsewhere," Wray said in a joint address by the two directors at the London headquarters of MI5. "Today is the first time the heads of the FBI and MI5 have shared a public platform," McCallum said. "We're doing so to send the clearest signal we can on a massive shared challenge: China." "The most game-changing challenge we face comes from the Chinese Communist Party," McCallum said. "It's covertly applying pressure across the globe."
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • September 26, 2022 at 5:00 am
These two bodies [Palestinian Authority (PA) and its ruling faction, Fatah] are headed by one man: Mahmoud Abbas, who has zero compunction about his loyalists murdering and wounding Israelis. On the contrary, he encourages it and pays generously for it -- with money from Europe and the United States. Despite [an extremely long list of terrorist attacks against Israel], Fatah is also often mystifyingly referred to by some Israelis and Westerners as a "moderate" Palestinian faction as opposed to the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Fatah, however, has proved over the years that its actions and rhetoric are actually no different from those of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the terror groups that openly call for the elimination of Israel. In 1993, Yasser Arafat, then leader of Fatah and the PLO, committed "to a peaceful resolution of the conflict" with Israel and claimed that the PLO "renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence." His loyalists, however, continued to murder and wound Israelis even after making these commitments, signing the Oslo Accords and supposedly beginning an Israeli-Palestinian "peace process." The groups are so proud of their terrorism that they have started filming their gunmen preparing and carrying out the attacks. They are, in addition, calling on Palestinians to escalate the fight against Israel, while enthusiastically and warmly endorsing the terrorists. The growing involvement of Fatah and PA members in terrorism is one of the direct results of the Palestinian leadership's extreme incitement against Israel. Abbas and his aides continue to level the worst charges and libels against Israel. It is this kind of rhetoric, as well as generous payments, that encourage Palestinians to carry out attacks against Israelis. The fact that Abbas and his entourage do not even bother to rein in or denounce the terrorists is apparently seen by many Palestinians as a green light to continue the attacks. The international community, for its part, is so preoccupied with bashing Israel that no one is calling out these putative Palestinian "peace partners" over their role in terrorism. This silence is also encouraging these Palestinian "peace partners" to continue their attacks. That is why the Fatah-affiliated Lions' Den group has felt confident enough to publish a new threat: "O Jews, The Countdown For Your Demise Has Begun; Stabbings, Car-Rammings, Clashes." This is the "peace partner" that the Biden administration is hoping to assist in establishing a Palestinian state next to Israel. With a partner like this, it is easy to imagine what the situation in the Middle East will look like -- more violence, terrorism and bloodshed. Israel's "peace partners" are doing everything in their power to confirm the fears of Israelis about the presence of a Palestinian state just a handful of kilometers from their homes.
The Palestinian Authority and its ruling Fatah faction are headed by one man: Mahmoud Abbas, who has zero compunction about his loyalists murdering and wounding Israelis. On the contrary, he encourages it and pays generously for it -- with money from Europe and the United States. Pictured: Abbas addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 23, 2022. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images)
In the past few months, there has been a rise in the number of terrorist attacks against Israelis carried out by gunmen belonging to, or associated with, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its ruling faction, Fatah. These two bodies are headed by one man: Mahmoud Abbas, who has zero compunction about his loyalists murdering and wounding Israelis. On the contrary, he encourages it and pays generously for it -- with money from Europe and the United States.
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