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July 2022

BOOKS Comments turned off

Two Books Decry the Uyghur Tragedy in China In a remote part of Central Asia, an entire people is losing its land, its language, its freedom.By Tunku Varadarajan

By on July 16th, 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-books-decry-the-uyghur-tragedy-in-china-review-ilhan-tohti-nury-turkel-11657897576?mod=article_inline

The name Xinjiang was slapped on the Uyghur homeland in 1884, after its conquest by China’s last imperial dynasty. Located in the vastness of Central Asia, closer to Kashmir than Beijing, the region used to be called East Turkestan. And indeed the native Uyghurs—who are Turkic Muslims—detest the name Xinjiang, which derives from a Han Chinese word for “New Border Region.” This region makes up a sixth of the map of China. Its population, by contrast, is less than 1% of China’s total, though the Uyghurs endure a disproportionate share of the country’s suffering.

We Uyghurs Have No Say: An Imprisoned Writer Speaks

Many Uyghurs yearn for a return to an independent East Turkestan, but such aspirations are strikingly absent in the writings of Ilham Tohti, a 52-year-old economics professor who has been a fearless advocate for his people. His only demand from Beijing is for a full grant of autonomy to the Uyghurs under the terms of China’s constitution and for an end to the vassal-like subordination of Uyghurs by the Han Chinese. The government should “see to it that local people are treated equally,” he wrote in a piece published in 2007 on Uyghur Online, a now-defunct website he founded to “help all ethnic groups in China—as well as the world—understand Xinjiang and the Uyghurs.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Manchin’s Tax Message to Democrats Congress’s tax calculators reveal the high cost to all taxpayers of Build Back Smaller.

By on July 16th, 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-manchins-tax-message-to-democrats-chuck-schumer-joint-committee-on-taxation-congress-build-back-better-bill-11657835900?mod=opinion_lead_pos4

“Green-energy tax credits will accelerate the destruction of fossil fuels and leave the electricity grid less reliable. Inflation clocked in at 9.1% for June. Far from curing inflation, Mr. Schumer’s tax increases will hamper business investment that is needed to boost supply while the green-energy largesse fans higher energy prices. This is a Build Back Poorer plan, and Mr. Manchin is doing his party and the country a favor by walking away.

The wrath of progressive Washington is coming down again on Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin as he questions the wisdom of the giant tax increase that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants him to sign up for. The West Virginian hasn’t ruled out some deal on ObamaCare subsidies and drug prices, but he does seem to be frowning on an enormous tax increase on small business and middle-class Americans in a slowing economy.

Our guess is that more than a few Democrats are secretly pleased as they near a fateful date with the voters in November. They simply won’t say it out loud the way Mr. Manchin does. But if they’re looking for more reasons not to commit political harakiri, they can consult two new reports from Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT).

Republicans asked the committee to estimate the federal tax impact of the House’s Build Back Better bill revenue provisions, sans social spending (e.g., Affordable Care Act premium and child tax credits). The bill also raises the state-and-local tax deduction limit to $80,000 from $10,000 today. This is more or less the tax deal Mr. Schumer is trying to sell as part of Build Back Lighter.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Acute Danger of Iran’s Belligerence :Catherine Shakdam

By on July 16th, 2022

https://merionwest.com/2022/07/14/the-acute-danger-of-irans-belligerence/

“Our collective inability to push back against such a hateful worldview by holding Tehran accountable for the terror it is has funded and weaponized could soon prove to be a costly mistake.”

The Islamic Republic of Iran has seldom hid its desire to see Israel fall or, as its Leadership has put it, “annihilated.” But Tehran’s attitude toward its Jewish neighbor has grown significantly more heated as of late. It is a sign, no doubt, that due to its inability to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and see the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) rebranded as a legitimate apparatus, Iran may consider more radical actions.

Although Tehran has hidden behind its proxies for decades, and many have argued that it would never directly engage Israel militarily, we should not discount its newfound confidence as it believes to have Israel surrounded. Iran’s military strategy toward Israel was summarized in 2019 by Major General Yaakov Amidror, the former head of the Research Division of Israeli Military Intelligence, as “the ring of fire.” The term refers to Iran’s efforts to expand its precision guided missile project throughout the Middle East to encircle Israel and overwhelm its defenses.

For decades now, the Islamic Republic has architected a narrative around anti-Zionism, advocating not only for the destruction of Israel but also for the expulsion of its people, the Jews, from the region altogether–painting its motive as an act of grand liberation. Our collective inability to push back against such a hateful worldview by holding Tehran accountable for the terror it is has funded and weaponized could soon prove to be a costly mistake.

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN FROM ANTI-SEMITISM; DR. ALAN MENDOZA

By on July 16th, 2022

https://henryjacksonsociety.org/

The first duty of any parent is – and must always be – keeping their children safe. 

Whether from misadventure, bad influences, or just plain old childhood bumps and bruises, most parents will be the first to admit they have their hands full.   

For Jewish parents, however, there is another danger from which children must be protected.   For as most of us know and recognise, the scourge of Antisemitism afflicts Jews everywhere.  Sadly, that includes children. 

This week, the Jewish Chronicle devoted its front page, as well as a double-page spread, to new and terribly sad research from The Henry Jackson Society. 

HJS submitted 3,337 separate freedom of information requests to every high school in England to ask them about the volume of Antisemitism in their schools, as well as what – if anything – they were doing about it.  

Of these, 1,315 schools – about 40 per cent – responded.

One question asked how many incidents involving pupil misconduct, bullying, harassment, or similar events in which the term “Antisemitism” was recorded had taken place over the past five years. 

Alarmingly, the research revealed that instances of Antisemitic bullying at schools has almost tripled in the last five years.  We identified over 1,000 instances of such bullying. 

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

How Biden Ensured his Trip to the Middle East Would Fail Caroline Glick

By on July 16th, 2022

https://carolineglick.com/how-biden-ensured-his-trip-to-the-middle-east-would-fail/

Ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, the President published an op-ed in the Washington Post, where he placed his trip to into the context of his overall Middle East policy. A few days later, Israel’s opposition leader, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a brief statement on Biden’s then upcoming visit that spoke directly to the claims Biden made in his article. Taken together, the two communications explain why Biden’s visit was a failure before it even began – and what a successful policy looks like.

Biden’s article, “Why I’m going to Saudi Arabia,” was a political communication to his party’s progressive base. It served a twofold purpose. First, it was an apology to progressives, who are hostile to both Saudi Arabia and Israel. Second, Biden assured progressives that he was not changing course. His Middle East policy to date will remain his policy going forward.

That policy had three major pillars: hostility towards Saudi Arabia and particularly Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MBS); financial, nuclear and strategic appeasement of Iran; and support for the Palestinians, at Israel’s expense. Biden insisted that he remains true to these positions, but as president, he also has Russia and China to keep at bay.

As he put it, “As president, it is my job to keep our country strong and secure. We have to counter Russia’s aggression, put ourselves in the best possible position to out compete China, and work for greater stability in a consequential region of the world.”

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