RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/coronavirus-pandemic-china-beijing-becoming-authentically-belligerent/#slide-1

No more nice-guy façade.

George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis last week when a police officer used brutally excessive force to arrest him. It was the latest in a string of high-profile cases nationwide in which citizens, most of them African Americans, died from reckless police force. Once again, protests over police brutality turned violent and rioting ensued.

The U.S. is torn apart over the national mass quarantine. Liberal blue states accused red opened-up states of recklessly endangering national health by allowing their populations to go back to work before the virus has left.

Red states countered that blue states were hypocritical in wanting federal money to subsidize their locked-down residents while expecting other states to generate needed federal revenue. They also contended that there was no longer scientific evidence to justify the lockdown.

The nationwide protests and rioting have inadvertently adjudicated the issue: States cannot jail the law-abiding barber who wears a mask at work but allow the arsonist without a mask to roam the streets, burning with impunity.

There is mounting evidence that an array of federal officials had plotted to disrupt Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and his presidential transition, leaving Trump supporters furious.

Meanwhile, likely Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is sequestered in his basement. He often appears confused. Yet Biden seems content that the more people do not see or hear him, the more they like the idea of him as president. Indeed, the more inert Biden has become, the higher his poll numbers have risen against Trump and his tweeting.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16085/iran-venezuela-terrorism

The recent upsurge in Iranian activity in Venezuela certainly needs to be taken seriously by the Trump administration if Tehran is to be prevented from strengthening its terrorist activities on America’s southern flank.

To date Mr Trump, having last year threatened to launch military action in support of Juan Guaido, the country’s charismatic opposition leader, now appears to have backed away from any further entanglement with Caracas, a move that might explain Washington’s disinclination to act over Iran’s recent oil shipments.

But that could change if, as now seems likely, the White House comes to realise that Iran’s real intention is to expand its terrorist network in Latin America rather than simply offering economic help to another rogue regime.

The arrival in Venezuela this week of the last of five Iranian tankers carrying gasoline to the oil-starved socialist state is not just about Iran seeking to help a fellow nation stricken by the effects of U.S. sanctions.

It is all about strengthening Tehran’s long-standing terrorist infrastructure in Latin America so that it can be used to expand Iran’s terror operations throughout the globe.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16061/india-world-health-organization

Fortunately, India’s Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, a physician, is the new chairman of the 34-member World Health Organization Executive Board. He and his colleagues on the board could prevail upon the WHO Director General to take steps aimed at implementing the resolution of the World Health Assembly.

One, however, is not sure if and when [WHO Director General] Tedros will pay attention to implementing this resolution. He does not seem enthusiastic about the probe. He would, he said in his opening remarks at the WHA, “initiate an independent evaluation at the earliest appropriate moment.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the WHA any inquiry should wait until the virus was contained — an outcome that could, of course, take years, if ever. Xi also pledged $2 billion over two years to the WHO, to control the spread of Covid-19, presumably including control of the WHO along with it.

Vardhan and others in the WHO executive board cannot procrastinate. All serious allegations against China and the WHO must be investigated and made transparent to the world without delay.

It is heartening to note the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly (May 18-19, 2020) approved a resolution calling for an independent inquiry into the current pandemic outbreak and the World Health Organization’s role in responding to it.

The resolution — brought forward by the European Union, moved by Australia and supported by more than 116 nations — including India and Japan — demands that WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus “identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population…” The resolution also calls for an impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation into the WHO-coordinated international health response to the pandemic.