Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Raymond Ibrahim • November 24, 2024 at 5:00 am
"In sub-Saharan Africa, there are 16.2 million Christians who are displaced by violence and conflict...." — opendoorsuk.org, Nov. 1, 2024 A Muslim security guard at a private school raped a 6-year-old Christian girl. "The girl... identified the school's security guard, Husnain, as the attacker. She said that he had covered her mouth to silence her during the assault." When her parents... reported the matter to the principal, he... threatened them with "problems if they took any action." — persecution.org, Nov. 15, 2024, Pakistan. On Oct. 4, a Muslim man was arrested for plotting to bomb a church in Bergamo, ansa.it, Oct. 4, 2024, Italy. Egypt's Mansoura University had some years earlier quietly republished a book — with Al Azhar's complete approval — dedicated to proving that, according to Islamic law and the fatwas of learned sheikhs, all churches in Egypt should be destroyed. — copticsoidarity.org, Oct. 5, 2024, Egypt. Somalia's constitution establishes Islam as the state religion and prohibits the propagation of any other religion.... The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to mainstream schools of Islamic jurisprudence." — copticsolidarity.org, Oct. 24, 2024, Somalia. The driving out of the Armenian population and destruction of ancient and medieval Christian sites has caused human rights advocates to label Azerbaijan's actions as 'ethnic cleansing.' Despite this and its reputation as a significant environmental polluter, Azerbaijan was given the honor of hosting COP29 [a climate change conference]." — persecution.org, Nov.11, 2024, Azerbaijan. Another report notes how Azerbaijani textbooks indoctrinate children to hate Armenians.... — armenianweekly.com, Oct. 30, 2024, Azerbaijan. Muslim groups are forcing more and more Christians to pay jizya, compulsory tribute -- essentially "protection" money -- that Christian and Jewish subjects of an Islamic state are required to render to their Islamic overlords per Koran 9:29. — acninternational.org, Oct 29, 2024, Mali. If the authorities do not act, the population will pay taxes directly into the coffers of the terrorists.... — acninternational.org, Oct 29, 2024, Mali. Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko [of Senegal] is asking all schools to allow young girls to wear the Muslim veil, or hijab. This includes the nation's Catholic schools, which actually have a ban on the hijab (due to security and other considerations). Because of this ban, the prime minister also referred to the nation's Catholic schools as "foreign." — fsspx.news, Oct. 3, 2024, Senegal. On Oct. 17, police arrested a Christian man after he said on social media that the Koran was of not of divine but human origin—and that it promoted "racism" (or discrimination.) When police arrived at Rudi Simamora's home, hundreds of angry Muslims had already surrounded it. — morningstarnews.org, Oct 22, 2024, Indonesia.
On October 4, an Egyptian Muslim man was arrested for plotting to bomb the Church of Sant'Alessandro in Bergamo, Italy (pictured). According to one report, "The man... posted photos of himself armed and ready for action against the 'infidels.' He said he belonged to the terror group Islamic State Khorasan Province." (Photo by MarkusMark/Wikimedia Commons)
The following are among the abuses and murders inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of October 2024. The Muslim Slaughter of Christians Burkina Faso: On Sunday, October 6, Muslim terrorists launched a surprise attack on the town of Manni, which is home to a large Christian community. More than 200 people were massacred during the jihad. According to one report, "[T]he terrorists first cut mobile phone networks before attacking the local market, where many people had gathered after Mass. They then opened fire indiscriminately, looted shops and set fire to several buildings, burning some victims alive... [On] the next day, the perpetrators returned to attack medical staff and kill the many wounded in the city's hospital. A new incursion took place on Tuesday, 8 October, when the terrorists again invaded the town of Manni, massacring all the men they could find."
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by Amir Taheri • November 24, 2024 at 4:00 am
American columnist Anne Applebaum believes that the war will end when Putin's career ends. British-American historian Niall Ferguson suggests that to end the war, Putin must be roundly defeated on the battleground. Others speculate that Putin will end the war after invading Moldova and annexing Transnistria which, when added to his annexation of Crimea, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, would secure him a place in the gallery of Russian military heroes from Peter the Great to Josef Stalin. Anti-American figures cynically advise Europeans to learn to fight their own wars, forgetting about "Big Brother America", thus encouraging Putin's dream of decoupling Europe and the United States. In The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump writes, "I like thinking big. I always have. To me it's very simple: If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big."
Can Donald Trump bring peace to Ukraine in a day, as he asserted during the presidential campaign, even before he enters the White House? Pictured: Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on September 27, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent/Getty Images)
Can Donald Trump bring peace to Ukraine in a day, as he asserted during the presidential campaign, even before he enters the White House? The short answer is: no. To be sure, his election has helped change the tone of the protagonists. Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky says he is ready to work for peace in 2025. Russian President Vladimir Putin, too, has readmitted the word "peace" into his vocabulary. The trouble is that both leaders have also attached modifiers that cast a long shadow of doubt in the noble word. Zelensky's modifier is "just" when in reality there has never been and will never be a peace that is accepted as just by both sides of a war. Peace will be possible only if it is considered or imposed on its own, naked and free of adjectival ornaments. There are, as yet, no signs that either Zelensky or Putin is prepared to drop the conditions they attach to any movement towards peace.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • November 23, 2024 at 5:00 am
European governments, rather than risking confrontation with Iran's regime, have preferred to maintain business relations and avoid taking any position that might upset the mullahs. Those countries are complicit in the suffering of the Iranian people. The unalleviated silence emboldens the regime, rather than holds it accountable. After nearly four decades of maintaining diplomatic relationships with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the time is long overdue for Western nations to take a real stand. If these countries genuinely believe in the principles of "democracy" and "freedom" that they so often preach, they would look a lot more credible if they demonstrated this professed commitment by genuinely supporting Iranians yearning for freedom. This would mean cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, imposing and enforcing serious primary and secondary sanctions on the regime, putting military options on the table, and fully supporting Israel and, one hopes, the incoming US administration, in putting a permanent end to Iran's nuclear program as well as to its brutal, expansionist regime. Only then will the actions of these nations align with their suspect rhetoric about "human rights," and show that they are willing to deliver real backing to those risking their lives for change in one of the world's most repressive states.
In recent years, Iranians have launched countless uprisings, each filled with hope and courage, only to be met with violent repression from the regime, and mainly indifference from abroad. Each wave of protests saw security forces killing thousands of demonstrators, and imprisoning and torturing many more. The time is long overdue for Western nations to take a real stand. Pictured: Iranian policemen chase anti-regime protestors and beat them with batons in Tehran, on September 19, 2022. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
For decades, the brave people of Iran have arisen time and again, demanding a future free from oppression and authoritarian rule. In recent years, Iranians have launched countless uprisings, each filled with hope and courage, only to be met with violent repression from the regime, and mainly indifference from abroad. Each wave of protests saw the regime's security forces killing thousands of demonstrators, and imprisoning and torturing many more. These movements have shown the strength of the Iranian people's resolve, but despite their cries for freedom, support from the West— usually merely vocal, about the ideals of democracy — has remained disappointingly muted. In the eyes of many Iranians, this silence from democratic nations that supposedly champion human rights stands in intolerable contrast to their principles and has repeatedly left Iranian protesters feeling abandoned in their struggle.
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by Daniel Greenfield • November 22, 2024 at 5:00 am
The transformation of the medieval world into the modern world came about with the idea that man could and should transform his lot in life. The liberal individualism of the Enlightenment however was soon countered by reactionary movements, feudal and socio-feudal, seeking to put the genie of individual autonomy back in the box through collectivist movements. Socialism postured as progressive when it was reactionary. Its leaders, most often hailing from the upper class and upper middle class, reverted newly liberated societies in Russia and China back to feudalism under the guise of liberating them. The Bolsheviks took Czarist feudalism and rebranded it as collective farming, forbidding the "liberated" farmers from owning property or livestock, and even from leaving their farms to seek a better life in the big cities. The empowerment of the individual had given way to the enslavement of man in the service of an ideal society. Individuals were once again worthless, except as they fit into a larger plan. The ultimate struggle will be less about movements and more about individuals. The more the system fails, the more repressive it will become. And only millions of individuals can defeat it.
Socio-feudalism has the destruction of individual autonomy as its central goal. Socialists justify the elevation of the collective over the individual through fatalism about the role of man: All evidence to the contrary, man has no ability to change his lot in life. He is only an atom in the larger phalanxes of life. As Robert Owen, the father of British Socialism, told the US Congress in an address in 1825, man "never did, nor is it possible he ever can, form his own character." Pictured: The decaying remains of houses in Owen's failed utopian socialist town of New Harmony, Indiana. (Photo by iStock/Getty Images)
The transformation of the medieval world into the modern world came about with the idea that man could and should transform his lot in life. The liberal individualism of the Enlightenment however was soon countered by reactionary movements, feudal and socio-feudal, seeking to put the genie of individual autonomy back in the box through collectivist movements. Among the most prominent of these was what would eventually be called socialism. While early socialist movements had been a radical Christian heresy emphasizing communal living, these experiments invariably failed on a local level, leaving behind a trail of wrecked lives.
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by Gordon G. Chang • November 21, 2024 at 5:00 am
AstraZeneca confirmed this month that Chinese investigators had detained Leon Wang, president of the company's China business. [I]t is highly unlikely that AstraZeneca is the only pharmaceutical company guilty of shenanigans. Selective prosecution of foreigners is a Communist Party specialty. Xi Jinping... hits foreign companies whenever he can. He took down the U.S.-based Mintz Group in March of last year and has not let up since. [F]oreign pharmaceutical businesses are at special risk because they occupy a sector that Xi Jinping is determined to control. He is, infamously, the driving force behind Made in China 2025, the predatory ten-year plan to achieve dominance in ten key technology areas. One of those ten sectors is medicine and medical devices. He [Xi Jinping] does not really believe in free trade, however: He really wants China to have unfettered access to other markets while denying others access to China's. So Trump, despite his tariff promises, is not the one attacking the rules-based trading order. The real culprit is Xi Jinping.
China is both a predatory and criminal trader, and becoming even more so in recent months. President-elect Donald Trump, despite his tariff promises, is not the one attacking the rules-based trading order. The real culprit is Chinese President Xi Jinping. Pictured: Trump, on a state visit to China, takes part in a welcoming ceremony with Xi on November 9, 2017 in Beijing. (Photo by Thomas Peter-Pool/Getty Images)
"The attempt to block economic cooperation under all sorts of pretexts and break up the interdependence of the world is nothing but backpedaling," declared China's President Xi Jinping at the just concluded APEC summit in Peru. "Stand up to protectionism and unilateralism," said Ren Hongbin, a former Commerce Ministry official and now chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, also at APEC. "There is the rhetoric of the decoupling and derisking," he warned. "The artificial severance of the global supply chain is detrimental for everyone" Beijing's campaign against the next president of the United States has just begun. China is trying to position itself as the defender of free trade and tar Donald Trump as the global disruptor. The Chinese Communist Party narrative is far from the truth, however. China is both a predatory and criminal trader, and becoming even more so in recent months.
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by Nils A. Haug • November 20, 2024 at 5:00 am
The reason for the axis's actions appears to be a desire for a new world order with themselves at the helm. They seem to believe that through their combined effort, America's unipolar global leadership in the political, economic and military spheres can be upended. [T]he driving forces underlying this developing clash of major powers have many facets, one of which appears to be religion, always a convenient pretext as so much can never be proven. [I]n autocratic or totalitarian regimes comes the imperative to forcefully assert the regime's idea of religion, of its "truth," often upon an unwilling populace. Associated with such systems is the intention of ultimately establishing global compliance with their beliefs, which sometimes appear to be a "religion" of state supremacy. Standing in Iran's path is the Jewish state of Israel, whose inhabitants inconveniently refuse to vacate it. To many Islamists, continual jihad appears to go hand-in-hand with the need for acquiring land. "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day," the Quran commands Muslims in Surah 9:29. To this effect, the February 2024 issue of the Urdu-language al-Qaeda publication Nawa-i-Ghazwa-e-Hind indicates, "Allah has declared Jihad as the path for the enforcement of religion." In plain words, jihad is required to forcibly establish Islam as the one "true" faith – a global religion. Hamas's primary concern, however, does not appear to be an independent state for Palestinians -- as it identifies with the Muslim Brotherhood -- but a Sharia-based global Islamic Caliphate through jihad. For Hamas, as for the Muslim Brotherhood, a Palestinian state would be merely the first-step in a wider agenda. The Muslim Brotherhood is the catalyst movement behind the modern global jihadist movement, and should rightly be designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Its founder, Hassan al-Banna, said, "it is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet." Hassan Nasrallah espoused the same idea: "We won't stop until every country on Earth is ruled by the law of Allah and the people of Islam, like our prophet promised." The West, meanwhile, due to a variety of weak and compromised political decisions, has tried to prevent Israel from acting alone in direct conflict with jihadists, whether Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran itself. All the same, the nation of Israel, despite nearly 4,000 years of unremitting challenges to its existence, appears to be enduring just fine.
Driven by disparate ideologies, a new axis of hegemonic dictatorships includes Russia, with imperialist aims over vast regions, Slavic and otherwise; China, with a desire for world domination; Iran, striving for a global Islamist Caliphate; and North Korea, apparently intent on seizing the Korean peninsula, for a start. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23, 2024. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
The volatile world political order currently reflects a clash between an axis of hegemonic dictatorships flexing their increasing military prowess, and an alliance of Western nations, including Israel, the West's sole democratic partner in the Middle East. Driven by disparate ideologies, the axis includes Russia, with imperialist aims over vast regions, Slavic and otherwise; China, with a desire for world domination; Iran, striving for a global Islamist Caliphate; and, to a lesser degree, North Korea, apparently intent on seizing the Korean peninsula, for a start. The reason for the axis's actions appears to be a desire for a new world order with themselves at the helm. They seem to believe that through their combined effort, America's unipolar global leadership in the political, economic and military spheres can be upended.
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by Lawrence Kadish • November 19, 2024 at 4:00 pm
Chinese hackers recently sought to target the mobile phones of then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and intercepted data meant for our law enforcement agencies. (Image source: iStock)
It's an old saying repeated by military strategists who consistently warn, "Don't prepare to fight the last war..." Their inference is that, while there are lessons to be learned from studying the last conflict, the next one may well be profoundly different than what you previously endured, catching a nation totally unprepared. For America, the "next one" may already be upon us. It is not the scenario we anticipated, namely enemy aircraft coming over the pole to attack with nuclear weapons, or a catastrophic exchange of ICBMs. Even the lessons gained from the current Russian war on Ukraine may not be fully applicable to America's defense of the homeland. Consider the current assault as revealed in media reports. Chinese hackers sought to target the mobile phones of then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and intercepted data meant for our law enforcement agencies.
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by Robert Williams • November 19, 2024 at 5:00 am
Mainstream Britain might finally be waking up to the fact that it elected a totalitarian government that increasingly seems to behave like the Chinese Communist Party. Since 2014, British police have reportedly recorded more than 250,000 non-crime hate incidents in England and Wales. The non-crime incidents, logged in a system, can even show up, when employers ask for a copy of a prospective employee's criminal record. Daily Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson... was visited by police earlier this November, informing her that she was accused of a "non-crime hate incident." A tweet she had posted more than a year ago, the police told her, was "stirring up racial hatred." She asked who accused her and why, but the police told her she could not be told what her offending tweet was, nor the "victim's" name. She is now under investigation for spreading material allegedly "likely or intended to cause racial hatred". There are lots of things... the mainstream British media has ignored for decades: Mass migration from the Muslim world; rampant violence and terrorism; Muslim grooming gangs, raping, torturing, sometimes killing, hundreds of thousands of British children and young women, while the police covered up their crimes. "As a Rotherham grooming gang survivor, I want people to know about the religious extremism which inspired my abusers. Grooming gangs are not like paedophile rings; instead, they operate almost exactly like terrorist networks, with all the same strategies. As a teenager, I was taken to various houses and flats above takeaways in the north of England, to be beaten, tortured and raped over 100 times." — Ella Hill, survivor of abuse by Rotherham grooming gangs, The Independent, March 18, 2018. Hundreds of people were handed prison sentences for up to several years, for social media posts about the brutal murder of three little girls in Southport this summer. They were jailed for criticizing mass migration and Islamization, but the government said they were stirring up racial hatred. Now, it turns out that the murderer of the three girls, who still has not gone on trial, was in fact an Islamist terrorist, a fact that Starmer's government covered up and lied about. Will the British mainstream media fight to see that the many -- who were jailed for speaking their minds about these murders on social media -- are now freed? Tommy Robinson was severely punished by British authorities for making documentaries about the grooming gang scandals. A few weeks ago, he was imprisoned, again, for refusing to be silenced, and moved to one of Britain's most notorious prisons, which houses some of the most murderous Islamist terrorists. Nobody in mainstream British media seems the least bit concerned about his safety. Meanwhile, actual crimes in the UK continue to soar. Police do not even bother to properly investigate crimes, such as burglaries, whereas Allison Pearson's lone non-crime tweet is being investigated by three of Britain's largest police forces.... According to the Criminal Bar Association, "the backlog of criminal cases is on track to reach 80,000 by March 2025." Niyak Ghorbani, an Iranian podcaster.... has probably been arrested more times for exposing terrorism in the UK than he was for protesting the Islamic regime while he still lived in Iran. Most recently, the police informed a man that saying "God bless you" is a crime, if it causes "distress" to someone who has a different belief – such as Muslims.
Mainstream Britain might finally be waking up to the fact that it elected a totalitarian government that increasingly seems to behave like the Chinese Communist Party. Children as young as nine are currently being investigated by the police for non-crime hate incidents. (Photo by iStock/Getty Images)
Mainstream Britain might finally be waking up to the fact that it elected a totalitarian government that increasingly seems to behave like the Chinese Communist Party. Children as young as nine are currently being investigated by the police for non-crime hate incidents. According to the Daily Mail: "A nine-year-old child is among the youngsters being probed by police over hate incidents... Officers recorded incidents against the child, who called a fellow primary school pupil a 'retard', and against two schoolgirls who said another student smelled 'like fish'. The youngsters were among multiple cases of children being recorded as having committed non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs), The Times discovered through freedom of information requests to police forces."
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by Bassam Tawil • November 18, 2024 at 5:00 am
According to Israeli intelligence, more than 450 terrorists belonging to terrorist organizations in Gaza, mainly Hamas, are also employed by UNRWA. "By not firing them, the UN Secretary-General and UNRWA's Commissioner General are brazenly demonstrating their determination to continue employing members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad even after having been presented with incriminating evidence to this effect. It is time for donor governments to wake up and stop funneling their taxpayers' money to members of designated terrorist organizations." – www.idf.il, August 5, 2024 UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini recently told the UN General Assembly that his agency provides tolerant, respectful and anti-extremist education in Gaza. However, IMPACT-se's new report unveils institutional teaching material taught in five UNRWA schools in Gaza, where Hamas commanders have been exposed masquerading as school principals. A poem taught to seventh-graders... calls on knights, symbolizing Arab leaders, to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem "from the fist of unbelief, from Satan's aides – revenge to the Jews." What is disturbing is that the UN chief and other donor countries refuse to see what many Palestinians already see, namely that UNRWA has long been playing a significant role in inciting hatred against Israel and raising another generation of Palestinian children on the glorification of violence and terrorism. It is time for this agency, as well as the entire UN, to be dismantled and removed, or at least, as suggested years ago, to have nations pay only for what they want and to get what they pay for. It is also time for the Palestinian "refugees" to move on with their lives and stop relying on Western taxpayers' money.
According to Israeli intelligence, more than 450 terrorists belonging to terrorist organizations in Gaza, mainly Hamas, are also employed by UNRWA. Several terrorists who participated in the October 7 atrocities were officially employed by UNRWA. Pictured: Israeli soldiers inspect the entrance to a Hamas terror tunnel directly outside an UNRWA compound in Gaza City, on February 8, 2024. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel, in which terrorists from Gaza murdered 1,200 Israelis, there has been increased evidence of the role the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) plays in supporting and funding Palestinian terrorism. In early November, Israel passed a new law that will ban UNRWA's operations in Israel, and prevent Israeli officials from cooperating with the agency. Given UNRWA's longtime support for Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the ban will benefit not only Israel, but also those Palestinians who are not affiliated with the Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group.
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by Con Coughlin • November 17, 2024 at 5:00 am
The October 7, 2023 attacks carried out against Israel by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists.... was the direct result of Tehran's ability to fund the terrorist movement to the tune of $100 million a year, an operation that would not have been possible without Biden's lenient attitude towards the ayatollahs. Trump may come to see as well that, unfortunately, due to the deep-seated commitment of Iran's regime in exporting its brand of Islam, as enshrined in its constitution, there can be no real long-term peace in the Middle East without regime change, especially if Iran has nuclear weapons -- not to mention the global arms race that would follow such an event. Not only would many of Iran's neighbours be relieved, but its captive citizens could then be free to choose leaders better aligned with their aspirations. A liberated Iran might even join the Abraham Accords....
After the success Donald Trump enjoyed negotiating the Abraham Accords towards the end of his first term in office, which saw a number of leading Arab states normalise relations with Israel, it is widely expected that his new administration will want to pursue a similar policy of ending hostilities in the Middle East. Pictured from left to right: Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump, and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan participate in the signing of the Abraham Accords in Washington, DC on September 15, 2020. (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Now that Donald Trump has secured his remarkable victory in the US presidential election, supporting regime change in Iran could soon emerge as one of his new administration's top priorities after he takes office in January. Trump's no-nonsense approach to confronting the ayatollahs' malign influence in the region was one of the defining characteristics during his first term in the White House. One of his more laudable foreign policy initiatives was to withdraw from the flawed nuclear deal with Iran agreed by former President Barack Obama in 2015. Denouncing the agreement as being "defective at its core", Trump declared in 2018 that his administration was unilaterally withdrawing from the deal while at the same time imposing a policy of "maximum pressure" against Tehran.
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by Amir Taheri • November 17, 2024 at 4:00 am
The real question, therefore, is what could Trump II do to restore America's prestige across the globe and reassert itself as the indispensable power that it still is? The answer is: plenty. In fact, Trump, even if he doesn't do anything, will repair some of the damage that the past three administrations shaped by Barack Obama have done to US standing and credibility as a world power. In those 12 years of Obama and Biden, US leaders went around the world to apologize for imaginary injustices done by Americans to various segments of mankind, mused about "leading from behind" and presented the United States as a room service that doesn't even ask you to sign the bill let alone offer a tip. Under the three Obama administrations, with Trump I as a brief interlude, the US saw Russia attack and occupy parts of Georgia and annex Crimea and eventually invade Ukraine, and the US did nothing. Obama drew a red line against the use of chemical weapons to kill Syrian people, but when Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia, did so, went into purdah. To divert attention from the Middle East, Obama conjured the "pivot to Asia" slogan, while letting China grab a bigger chunk of the world, including US markets, in the name of free trade. Also remember that regardless of what experts or even Trump himself say, the 47th president is likely to be as unpredictable as the 45th one, a feature that helped him in foreign policy last time and may do so again.
What could Donald Trump do in his second term to restore America's prestige across the globe and reassert itself as the indispensable power that it still is? The answer is: plenty. Trump, even if he doesn't do anything, will repair some of the damage that the past three administrations shaped by Barack Obama have done to US standing and credibility as a world power. Pictured: Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 14, 2024. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
What will Donald Trump's foreign policy look like in his second term? This is the question currently making the buzz in the commentariat around the world. Western European pundits claim that Trump will abandon the Ukrainian lamb to the Russian wolf or, at least, force the European shepherd to foot the bill for keeping it half alive. Indian oped-writers hope that Trump will cut China down to size, thus elevating India as Asia's new indispensable giant. Progressive Davos collectivists warn that unless checked, Trump will go through the globalist ideology like a bull in a china shop. In the past few days, I have run into even more interesting speculations regarding Trump II foreign policy -- from Iran and Israel.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • November 16, 2024 at 5:00 am
Iran launched from its own soil hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and attack drones at Israel, a country smaller than the state of New Jersey -- a demonstration of the regime's fundamentalist commitment to destroying the Jewish state. President-elect Donald J. Trump at present seems averse to regime change in Iran. Unfortunately -- due to the regime's commitment to "wipe Israel off the map" and, as stated in its constitution, to export its version of Islam across the world -- there does not appear to be the possibility for a real long-term peace in the Middle East without regime change. Anything short of that simply invites the regime to wait Trump out, as well as whoever succeeds him. Not enough can be said to warn nations of the dangers that can arise from a lack of robust leadership, the perils of underestimating the ambitions of adversarial states, and the paralysis of being unable to confront an adversary for fear of escalation. The adversary, not the leader of Free World, is supposed to fear "escalation." The repercussions of allowing Iran... to operate without meaningful deterrence, simply underscores the need for a "Golden Age" -- especially a new regime in Iran more aligned with the dreams of so many of its citizens -- and not a moment too soon.
Never underestimate the power of an administration's single term or the harm that policies – whether constructive or poorly-informed -- can have on the international stage. As President Joe Biden's administration approaches the end of its term, it is hard not to see the global volatility, emboldened adversaries, and fractured alliances. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Never underestimate the power of an administration's single term or the harm that policies – whether constructive or poorly-informed -- can have on the international stage. As President Joe Biden's administration approaches the end of its term, it is hard not to see the global volatility, emboldened adversaries, and fractured alliances. Those are lessons to be learned about the costs of weakness in leadership and the consequences of strategic missteps in foreign policy.
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by Alan M. Dershowitz and Andrew Stein • November 15, 2024 at 5:00 am
There is no moral or legal equivalence between non-violent mischief — such as tearing down flags and shouting racial insults — and committing life-threatening assaults upon people based on their religion and ethnicity. The anti-Israel rioters were hunting down Jews... Muslim extremists have a long history of hurling spears in response to non-violent insults. Recall the numerous deadly attacks — shootings, stabbings, bombings and lethal fatwas—against those who allegedly insulted the prophet by picturing him or authoring books about him. There was also violence against those who burned Korans or otherwise demeaned Islam. Even cartoons provoked deadly responses. The law in no Western nation grants the victims of non-violent insults the right to respond by violence. If a Jew were to physically assault the many Muslims who have repeatedly demeaned Judaism or its nation-state during recent protests, they would be appropriately punished, as some have been. [W]e are likely to see more anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish pogroms in other parts of the world as antisemitism moves from the fringes to the mainstream. Protestors – both pro- and anti-Israel – have the right to express their views verbally and even symbolically, but they have no right to attack individuals or groups based on religion, ethnicity or national origin. Those who engaged in physical assaults – and many were caught on video – must be prosecuted and, if convicted, imprisoned or deported. A clear line must be drawn between lawful, even if immoral, protests, and criminal violence.... It is a bright-line distinction that many in the media are deliberately trying to blur. The U.S. has a stake in stopping this violence: the call to "globalize the intifada" is not limited to Europe. Those who advocate globalization are inciting violence against Americans of Jewish heritage. The incitement may be too general to be denied First Amendment protection against criminal punishment, but the single standard demands that universities apply the same standard to calls for intifada than they would to calls for lynching of blacks or assaulting of gays. The real difference is that no university student or faculty member would ever call for the latter, and if they did, they would be disciplined or expelled. Yet today it is entirely acceptable, indeed expected, that radical students will call for the lynching and assaulting of Jews and Israelis. That, after all, is what an intifada entails.
We are likely to see more anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish pogroms in other parts of the world as antisemitism moves from the fringes to the mainstream. Unless something proactive is done, it's coming to a theater – or stadium – near you. Pictured: Police officers chase rioters who attacked Jews and Israelis in Amsterdam on November 7, 2024. (Photo by Wahaj Bani Moufleh/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
On university campuses throughout the world, there have been chants demanding that the violent intifada – which killed thousands of Israeli children, women and other civilians – be "globalized." Last week, we witnessed the first significant manifestation of that demand in Amsterdam, where large groups of predominantly Arab and Muslim rioters physically attacked Israelis and Jews who had been cheering for an Israeli soccer team. Although some of the media tried to blame the attacks on Israelis, the evidence strongly suggests that this pogrom was planned well in advance and would have taken place even if there had been no provocation by Israeli fans.
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by Uzay Bulut • November 14, 2024 at 8:00 am
"Hindus targeted in #Bangladesh again. This time in Chittagong. Is administration led by Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus unable or unwilling to help Hindus?" — India Today, November 7, 2024. Since the collapse of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government in August, the world has witnessed the full Islamization and Talibanization of Bangladesh. "Ever since the Bangladesh prime minister was forced to flee... images, videos and accounts are streaming in of atrocities against the Hindu minority in Bangladesh, whose numbers have dangerously depleted over decades almost to the point of extinction...." — Sreemoy Talukdar, firstpost.com, August 8, 2024. "One viral video clip shows radical Islamist lunatics inspecting the genitals of a murdered man, possibly lynched to death, and expressing satisfaction that he was a Hindu." — Sreemoy Talukdar, firstpost.com, August 8, 2024. In many instances, members of Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, are behind these attacks and rights violations. Jamaat-e-Islami was banned by the Awami League government on August 1. Four days later, PM Hasina was forced to resign and her government collapsed. Jamaat-e-Islami has now gained strength under Bangladesh's Islamist interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus. Islamist radicals are the ones who brought Yunus to power. The influence of the Hizb-ut Tahrir -- another in Islamist organization that aspires to re-establish the Islamic Caliphate and globally implement Sharia law -- also keeps increasing. "The interim government led by Mohammad Yunus has largely failed to stop the violence against the minorities and has made matters worse by lifting bans on radical Islamist groups and releasing terror suspects from jail that rule the roost on the streets of Bangladesh." — Raja Muneeb, firstpost.com, September 5, 2024. If a power such as the US sits back, does nothing and watches as the Talibanization of Bangladesh unfold -- as the Biden administration has done -- it is likely that the chaos will not remain within the borders of Bangladesh. India will not allow another Islamist state on its borders to wipe out Hindus, Christians and secular Muslims in Bangladesh. India might justifiably decide that its security is threatened enough.
Since the collapse of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government in August, the world has witnessed the full Islamization and Talibanization of Bangladesh. On November 5, the Hindu community came under attack from the police and military in Chittagong, the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Pictured: Members of Bangladesh's religious minorities protest the attacks, looting, vandalism and arson targeting temples across the country, in Dhaka, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Mehedi Hasan/Middle East Images via AFP)
Islamist violence against minorities, including Hindus and Christians, has been ongoing since the violent removal of Bangladesh's secular Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5. Non-Muslims in the country are facing heightened risk amid the country's ongoing political and social crises. On November 5, the Hindu community came under attack from the police and military in Chittagong, the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Videos posted by news website OpIndia show policemen and soldiers hunting down Hindus. Videos also show law enforcement authorities deliberately destroying closed-circuit cameras. Many accounts on Twitter have also reported on the attacks: Amy Mek posted: "[T]he world remains silent, passively witnessing a Hindu genocide in Bangladesh. "Trump has already issued a warning to Bangladesh, urging them to halt these attacks on Hindus—a reminder that strong leadership is needed to address this crisis."
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by Drieu Godefridi • November 13, 2024 at 5:00 am
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen... postponed publication of [Mario] Draghi's report until the day after her reappointment -- yet another illustration of the intractably anti-democratic nature of the unelected, untransparent, unaccountable and unable-to-be-removed European institutions. The remedies proposed by Draghi are... a "targeted" industrial policy, tax cuts here and administrative simplification there. And extra EU spending of "only" €800 billion ($857 billion) a year! European businesses are regressing because they are being slashed by taxes, tormented by a thousand constantly changing regulations, and are paying between two and ten times more for energy than their global competitors -- fatal for 100% of European industry... [F]orcing businesses and families to opt for more expensive energy sources... does not create any "opportunities", apart from... "windfall effects" for the recipients of public subsidies. They only create a further worsening of the overall economic situation. [I]n another report published recently under the aegis of the same European Commission, it was acknowledged that the EU's starry-eyed energy transition objectives -- "zero carbon" by 2050 -- would require a whopping €1.5 trillion a year for 20 years. Whatever the verbal packaging, this bagatelle has a cost that will put a strain on European businesses and impoverish European households. If we stick to the findings of Draghi's report, however, getting the EU out of its rut is possible, but presupposes the following measures: 1) a drastic reduction in the overall tax burden on businesses (and households), 2) a drastic simplification of European law, which ultimately paralyses and kills initiative, 3) abandoning the authoritarian energy transition in favor of voluntary diversification of the energy mix, and 4) giving innovative entrepreneurs enticing incentives: fighting not their national neighbors but their global competitors. Draghi's report proposes an initiative which, while not new, should be implemented without delay: the creation of a European legal vehicle enabling European entrepreneurs to tackle the entire European market head-on, such as introducing a new EU-wide statute for innovative ventures... This simple measure, coupled with administrative simplification, would be consistent with the founding spirit of the European Economic Community, which is the EU common market. On the whole, Draghi's report seems worth more for the accuracy of its findings than for the practicality of its recommendations.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen postponed publication of Mario Draghi's report until the day after her reappointment -- yet another illustration of the intractably anti-democratic nature of the unelected, untransparent, unaccountable and unable-to-be-removed European institutions. Pictured: Draghi and von der Leyen hold a press conference to promote Draghi's report on the future of European competitiveness at EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on September 9, 2024. (Photo by Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images)
"The future of European competitiveness," a report by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi published by the European Commission on September 9 "to save the European economy," has been unanimously welcomed by the European media, as likely to propel the European Union out of the nasty rut it has been in for 20 years. Let us humbly offer a dissenting opinion: it does not seem that Draghi's report, even if implemented -- which is doubtful -- will solve anything on a European macroeconomic scale. The problem seems that Draghi refuses to take leave of the Germano-environmentalist myth of a zero-carbon Europe.
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