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March 2022

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Pompeo: We Should Prepare Taiwan To Defend Itself Like We Failed To Do For Ukraine Posted By Tim Hains

By on March 14th, 2022

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/03/13/pompeo_we_should_prepare_taiwan_to_defend_itself_like_we_failed_to_do_for_ukraine.html

Former Trump administration Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke about his recent trip to Taiwan and Singapore on FNC’s Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures”

MIKE POMPEO: I’ve talked about the fact that Ukraine is an absolute tragedy. We’ve been behind. What I’m really worried about is cascading series of crises. Overnight there were missiles fired near him U.S. consulate in Iraq.

When I was in Twiwan, they were worried about the same thing. A series of cascading crises that effects them and their lives. I made the statement when I was in Taiwan we ought to do the simple thing of recognizing their independence. Everybody knows they have never been part of mainland Communist China. They don’t want to be.

We ought to be doing the things that we failed to do last summer for the Ukrainian people we ought to be doing for Taiwan.

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Biden Eyes Venezuelan Oil The administration seeks engagement with Maduro’s criminal regime.By Mary Anastasia O’Grady

By on March 14th, 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-eyes-venezuelan-oil-russia-ukraine-gas-prices-maduro-national-imports-11647195311?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

War profiteering is the world’s second-oldest profession, and it’s silly to feign shock over efforts by petroleum companies and financiers to use the bloodshed in Ukraine to make money in Venezuela.

It’s harder to understand why the Biden administration would rush to help the oil industry and its bankers at the expense of the long-suffering Venezuelan people and U.S. national security. But that seems to be where we’re headed.

On March 5 representatives from the White House and the State Department visited Caracas to negotiate with dictator Nicolás Maduro. The meeting wasn’t public. But judging from press reports, citing people familiar with the matter, it’s pretty clear that the administration is thinking about lifting the U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil imports and that it wanted to see what it could get in return.

The White House plays down that speculation. The meeting just happened to take place amid surging gasoline prices and ahead of Mr. Biden’s Tuesday announcement that the U.S. will forbid Russian oil imports.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Iran Sends Its Missile Regards The U.S. pursuit of a new nuclear deal looks increasingly bizarre.

By on March 14th, 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-sends-its-missile-regards-northern-iraq-consulate-nuclear-deal-putin-regime-weapons-11647200353?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

The Biden Administration’s hell-bent pursuit of a new nuclear deal with Iran grows harder to understand with each provocation from Tehran. The latest came Sunday in a missile attack near a U.S. consulate under construction in northern Iraq.

Iran typically commits mayhem through proxy militias, but this time Tehran took credit. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the regime’s paramilitary group, said it carried out a missile attack on what it claimed were Israeli targets inside Iraq. The group said it was in response to an Israeli airstrike in Syria last week that killed two IRGC commanders.

Notably, however, the missiles landed in Kurdish territory in northern Iraq. The Kurds are America’s best allies in that country. No one was killed but at least two individuals were injured. It’s likely the IRGC wants to send a message about the vulnerability of U.S. interests and allies in the region as the two sides close in on a renewed nuclear deal.

The deal would hand Iran tens of billions of dollars in money and investment. Iran also wants the U.S. to remove the IRGC from its list of terrorist groups as part of the deal. Iran knows the U.S. is preoccupied at the moment with Ukraine and Russian aggression.

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Wartime Confidantes by Lawrence Kadish

By on March 14th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18327/wartime-confidantes

By anyone’s definition, US President Joseph Biden has become an American war president.

Which begs the question – who are his closest confidantes at a time of extreme peril?

Lincoln had Edwin Stanton who was an unflappable War Secretary Lincoln could depend upon during the darkest days of the Civil War.

Woodrow Wilson sought the advice of “Colonel” Edward House, who served as his diplomatic representative in dealing with our European Allies during World War I and in the months that followed the armistice.

FDR depended on the likes of Harry Hopkins, General George Marshall, and Admiral William Leahy – smart strategists who understood the existential threat that faced America and the free world during World War II.

And Joe Biden? Who is advising this president to confront and outplay Russian President Vladimir Putin at a time when Russian rocket strikes are creeping ever closer to our NATO ally, Poland? Who is giving Biden the type of insight and analysis he needs, given that any misstep could see an exchange of weapons of mass destruction?

Vice President Kamala Harris, whose unimpressive performance during her recent diplomatic mission to Eastern Europe must have given our allies much pause for thought?

This author raised the question of Biden’s unofficial circle of advisors in the Fall of last year when the issues were domestic and Washington’s policies had created such massive national debt that it was capable of triggering historic inflation. (And here we are.) While history teaches us that failed economic models can destroy a nation (such as Germany in the 1920s and the Soviet Union in the 1980s), war can leave a field of ruin where great cities once stood.

We reported then that published reports revealed that John Podesta, Clinton’s former chief of staff and senior counselor to Obama, was actively lobbying Democratic Congressmen on behalf of Biden’s “Build Back Better ” agenda. We also noted that Podesta’s older brother, Anthony, a longtime Democratic lobbyist and fundraiser, was the subject of a New York Times story that reported Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei had hired Podesta despite the fact that Huawei was identified as a national security threat by the Trump administration, and even the Biden administration.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on March 13th, 2022

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

 

This newsletter could well be titled “Israel Abroad.” First, Michael Ordman highlights the enormous contributions Israel is making in providing material help to Ukraine’s beleaguered citizens. Second, Israeli medical innovations and technology are used in hospitals throughout the world; famine and drought in Africa are prevented with agricultural tools and techniques developed in Israel; traffic is relieved with Israeli systems in South Korea; 5G networks from Israel are deployed in Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, the U.S, and Greece; Finland’s defense ministry has decided to purchase defense systems from Israeli companies. Finally, the increasing number of Jewish refugees who find a haven in Israel evokes the grim memory of the infamous Evian conference of July 1938 when the Dominican Republic was the only Western nation that would grant some refuge to the millions of Jews trapped in Europe and targeted for genocide. Their last words were “hear oh Israel. “As Michael Ordman records, Israel heard and has responded. rsk

 

 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Medics rush to Ukraine. Israeli emergency NGO United Hatzalah chartered a plane and sent 40 paramedics, EMTs, doctors, psychologists, and therapists, to join its volunteers already treating local Ukrainians. The plane also delivered tons of medical supplies, donated food, plus other aid, and brought back 150 refugees to Israel.
https://israelrescue.org/blog/united-hatzalah-charters-plane-to-send-additional-teams-and-supplies-to-ukrainian-border-and-return-150-israeli-refugees-to-israel/
 
10 seriously ill children rescued from Ukraine. The Israeli embassy in Bucharest, Romania helped rescue 10 Ukrainian children with serious illnesses and bring them to Israel for treatment. Israeli medical personnel flew on a special plane to safely transport the children to Schneider Children’s hospital in Petah Tikvah, Israel.
https://worldisraelnews.com/israel-airlifts-10-hospitalized-kids-from-ukraine-for-care/
https://www.jns.org/israels-romanian-embassy-evacuates-pediatric-cancer-patients-to-israel/

Health monitoring for Ukrainian women. (TY UWI & I24 News) The Gynescope  from Israel’s Illumigyn (see here previously) is being used by medics from Israel’s Sheba Medical Center to diagnose cervical cancer in Ukrainian women.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqw1VZ2IUjo
 
Israeli field hospital for Ukraine. Israel is sending a medical delegation to Ukraine, to set up a field hospital. It will be operated by Sheba Medical Center, Clalit Health Services, and medics from other hospitals. The field hospital will include wards for children and adults, an emergency room, a delivery room, and a first aid clinic.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/323322  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4ulTXTmM2c
https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-israel-sets-up-virtual-hospital-in-ukraine/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH59FSvDNHU
 
Delegation from Moldovia visits Israel. To help understand how a hospital is run during an emergency, a delegation of senior medical officials from Moldova visited Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. The visit had been planned long before the start of the recent Russian / Ukrainian conflict.
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/rambam_news/Moldovan_delegation_at_Rambam.aspx
 
MS patient regains ability to walk. Malia Litman, from Dallas Texas, was unable to walk due to her MS condition. Then she discovered the stem cell treatment being trialed at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.  Thanks to the treatment, she was able to dance with her son Zachary at his wedding.
https://tjpnews.com/malia-litman-a-hadassah-medical-miracle/
 
Linking diet, bacteria, and the heart. An international study, led by Ben Gurion University Professor Iris Shai, has shown that the green Mediterranean (MED) diet modifies the bacterial population in the gut. These changes in the microbiome can bring substantial health benefits, including reduced cardiac risk.
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/bgu-research-green-mediterranean-diet-mediates-weight-loss-reduces-cardiac-risk/2022/03/10/
https://genomemedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13073-022-01015-z
 
Space medicine course. Professor Sara Eyal of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has launched Israel’s first university course for therapy development research in space, or “space medicine.”  Her first session attracted some 40 students from different disciplines such as medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and biology.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-first-space-medicine-university-course-gets-underway-in-jerusalem/
 
Healthcare agreement with Bahrain. Israel and Bahrain have signed an agreement for health care cooperation in epidemics and emergency management, education, and research.  It will cover the fields of information sharing, digital health, medical innovation, and genetic research.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-and-bahrain-sign-agreement-on-health-collaboration/

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Award-winning American journalist, 50, is shot dead by Russian troops in Kyiv suburb and his wounded colleague is hospitalized

By on March 13th, 2022

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10608037/New-York-Times-journalist-51-shot-dead-Russian-troops-Ukraine.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailus

An American freelance filmmaker has been shot dead by Russian troops while filming refugees in Irpin, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.  

Brent Renaud, 50, was in a car with other journalists in Irpin, near Kyiv, when Russian troops opened fire. He was shot dead and one of his colleagues was injured.

Initially, he was thought to have been on assignment for The New York Times because he was carrying a press badge that listed the newspaper as his publication but it has since emerged he was working on a global film about refugees.

Renaud’s death was announced by Andrey Nebitov, the head of Kyiv’s police department, who said in a Facebook post that he paid ‘with his life for trying to highlight the aggressor’s ingenuity, cruelty and ruthlessness.’ He also shared a video, taken by a police officer at the scene, who said a third journalist was wounded.

Another US journalist who survived the attack spoke to a reporter for Italian paper Internazionale from the hospital.

Juan Arredondo said Renaud had been shot in the neck and ‘had to be left behind’.

‘We had crossed the first bridge in Irpin. We were going to film other refugees leaving we got into a car. Somebody offered to take us to the other bridge. We crossed a checkpoint and they started shooting at us. The driver turned around, there were two of us. My friend is Brent Renaud. He has been shot and left behind. I saw he has been shot in the neck. We got split,’ he said.

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CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, HISTORY, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Ukraine-Russia Is Grayscale, Not Black and White Perhaps the BRICs are the last line of defense against the New World Order Bill Hennessy

By on March 13th, 2022

https://www.hennessysview.com/p/ukraine-russia-is-grayscale-not-black?token=

We’ve been hearing about the New World Order since 1991. President George H. W. Bush declared the purpose of Desert Storm was to implement that new world order. He did not provide details.

Klaus Schwab did. “By 2030, you will own nothing and be happy about it.”

The New World Order is about surrendering your life, liberty, property, and pursuit of happiness to experts. You won’t have to worry about a thing. There will be no wars because the New World Order won’t allow wars. There won’t be crime because no one will have anything to steal. There won’t be rape because there won’t be sex because the drugs and surgeries will make us all sterile and frigid. Where will babies come from in the New World Order? That’s not your concern—now, go back to your Instagram feed like a good little boy.

Sometimes I wonder if a few of the world’s countries are trying opt out of that New World Order. A few countries like the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China.) Together, those four countries represent about half of humanity. Throw in chunks of Africa, and they’re the majority.

Yet, China, Russia, Brazil, and India hardly share a common worldview. They’re very different in the ways the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Sweden are the same. What we call the “Western World” is really the remnants of the Catholic World. Though all the countries of the Western World are now semi-officially atheist and anti-Christian, their historical cultures, their legal systems, their protocols, their languages all derive directly from the Church.

These formerly Christian countries were, by and large, the ones responsible for the New World Order and all its precursors: the League of Nations, the United Nations, NATO, and, even, the UN. Some of us suspect the New World Order is really just the Medieval Church world minus God. Or, rather, that ancient world, but with the creature in charge instead of the Creator. And that’s terrifying. Man without God is nothing but a predatory animal with nuclear weapons. We’d be better off letting dogs run the place.

[Aside: the Catholic Church’s hierarchy is more New World Order than Old World Order these days, too. If forced to choose between the Social Kingship of Christ and Klaus Schwab’s worldwide ant farm, the pope and his department heads would take the first flight to Davos.]

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

There is no climate crisis If there were, the IPCC wouldn’t be quietly turning the dial towards one: Rupert Darwall

By on March 13th, 2022

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/ipcc-there-is-no-climate-crisis/

“No climate crisis” is, of course, not the spin the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is putting on its new 3,676-page report released last month. “The choices we make in the next decade will determine our future,” the IPCC says. “Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future.”

It could hardly be plainer. The report is political advocacy barely masquerading as science.

The IPCC Working Group II report is not meant to be about policy; that’s the job of Working Group III, which has yet to produce its contribution to the sixth assessment report. “The focus of our new report is on solutions,” the IPCC says of the Working Group II report. “It highlights the importance of fundamental changes in society.” The solution to climate change, the IPCC claims, is renewable energy, circular economies, healthy diets, universal health coverage and social protection. The only surprise is that the IPCC didn’t include abolishing the Second Amendment in its climate catechism.

“Scientific evidence shows that addressing the risks and impacts of climate change successfully involves a more a diverse set of actors than previously thought” and involves partnerships with “traditionally marginalized groups, including women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and ethnic minorities (high confidence).” How on earth did the IPCC exclude the LBGTQ+ community? “Different interests, values and worldviews can be reconciled if everyone works together,” the IPCC says. This isn’t science. It’s climate kumbaya.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

“Why Are His Killers Still Out?”: Persecution of Christians, January 2022- Raymond Ibrahim

By on March 13th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18325/persecution-of-christians-january

On Jan. 3, Muslims, including some from neighboring Somalia, murdered six Christians; most were burned alive in their homes. — Morning Star News, January 7, 2022, Kenya.

An elderly great-grandmother, locally known as Mama Fide, was burned alive during the raid: “Grandma was unable to escape when the attack took place because she was very old and blind.” — Morning Star News, January 30, 2022, Nigeria.

Because Nigerian and Western mainstream media insist that Fulani herdsmen raids on Christians are not ideologically driven, but are rather for resources and land, one Twitter user wrote, “After [Joel’s experiences, including being asked if he’s Christian or Muslim], some people will come and say there’s no jihad agenda,” to which Joel replied, “Well, they clearly have an agenda and it’s clearly working and they are so proud of it, telling me no one can stop them.” — International Christian Concern, persecution.org, January 16, 2022, Nigeria.

On Jan. 3, a Muslim judge changed the life sentence that a Christian man convicted of “blasphemy” had been carrying out in prison, to a death sentence. Zafar Bhatti, 56, who had been languishing in jail since 2012 after being accused of sending blasphemous text messages, was sentenced to life in prison in 2017, under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws against defaming Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. The change in sentencing came after one of his lawyers sought bail. — Morning Star News, January 10, 2022, Pakistan.

On Jan. 10, a Christian politician was arrested for a tweet that was deemed offensive to Islam. He is facing up to 10 years imprisonment. — ucanews.com, January 11, 2022, Indonesia.

[T]he church walls collapsed even as, ironically, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi was visiting the Coptic Pope during Christmas Mass to congratulate the Christians of his nation and speak of Christian/Muslim solidarity. — copticsolidarity.org, January 15, 2022, Egypt.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Putin and His One-Man War by Amir Taheri

By on March 13th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18324/putin-one-man-war

It is hard to know what went on in Putin’s mind. But the past two weeks have shown that he has planned his war according to KGB rules rather than classical military strategy. He has relied on massive and indiscriminate use of force, and where Gerasimov and the professional military are concerned about losses among their men, he has been focused on wreaking as much havoc as he can.

His model is Ivan the Awe-Inspiring (Grozny). He wants to terrorize people into abject submission, as his forces did in parts of Syria where he and his allies hang on to an illusion of power.

In a classical war, the immediate aim is formulated with three words: conquer, cleanse, control. Putin’s idiosyncratic style of war, however, measures success by the size of debris created and the piles of civilian dead left behind.

Even the aero-naval bases that Putin has secured on the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean remain vulnerable.

No war is won by one side unless the opposite side admits defeat, at least as the best of all bad options. This is, perhaps, why since 1945, no one has really won a war on a once-and-for-all basis.

But what Putin cannot do is to rebuild Ukraine as he pleases. Over 2,000 years ago, historian Tacitus quoted the Celtic resistance leader fighting Roman invaders as saying: They make a desert and call it peace!

When he launched his invasion of Ukraine over two weeks ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared like a man who knew what he was doing. In his televised session with the High Council of National Security, he gave the impression that he had a precise war plan with clear objectives.

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