RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://quadrant.org.au/news-opinions/middle-east/315166/

Now, we’re not saying the $400 million plane offered to Donald Trump by Qatar is a Trojan Horse. But we’re not not saying it, either.

Let’s just say, if it walks like a horse, costs more than the GDP of Tonga, and comes with gold taps and suspiciously diplomatic aftershave, maybe, just maybe, you shouldn’t park it in your metaphorical garage without a quick X-ray scan and a chat with Homeland Security.

Because Qatar, lovely little peninsula that it is, has had, well, connections. Not the “Let’s-network-over-hummus” kind, but the “hosts-the-Hamas-leadership-in-Doha” kind. Yes. Since 2012. Back when kale was just becoming a thing. They rolled out the plush carpets for Khaled Mashal, and later welcomed Ismail Haniyeh with open arms, an espresso, and possibly a beachfront view. That is, until his death in 2024 (Haniyeh’s, not the espresso’s). Qatar’s been called Hamas’s most generous foreign backer, which is quite the résumé line, even by Middle Eastern standards.

So when Qatar offers a US President a flying palace, you have to ask, Why?

Because it’s not exactly standard gift-giving protocol. It’s not a Montblanc pen. It’s not even a Cartier watch. It’s a jet. With bedrooms. And offices. And probably a button labelled “Espionage Lite.”

Still, one could argue that any self-respecting world leader with a Davos calendar and a penchant for dramatic entrances might fancy arriving in a jet that screams “Bond villain chic.” And maybe, just maybe, they assumed Donald wouldn’t notice the strings.

But let’s pause here and consider the man himself. This is the same Donald Trump who, on a state visit to Saudi Arabia, was famously filmed not drinking the beverage handed to him. Possibly because he suspected poison. Possibly because it was coconut water. But either way, the man has his limits. After the attempt on his life (which, to be fair, would put most of us off sharing baba ghanouj), you’d think he’d employ a full-time taster by now. Or at least travel with a few tins of Trump Tower-endorsed baked beans, Shane Warne-style.

So why take the jet?

Has he not heard of the Trojan Horse? Surely Melania’s explained the general idea of history. At the very least, someone must’ve mentioned the Soviet Spy Seal?

https://amgreatness.com/2025/05/31/on-congressional-and-corporate-collusion-with-the-prc/

As an American citizen and a Michigan resident opposed to communist China’s subnational incursions into our country, specifically, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), generally, I was both heartened and saddened by Steve Cortes’s May 22nd American Greatness article, “Don’t Fund Chinese Companies in the Tax Bill.”

I was heartened because a strong proponent of American workers and religious freedom once more warned against the suicidal insanity of corporate and political elites economically empowering a genocidal communist regime engaged in unrestricted warfare against our nation with the express intent of destroying the “hegemon” and, further, the rules-based international order. So, too, Mr. Cortes did his part to help pierce the corporate media’s muted coverage of how my home state of Michigan is a regrettable example of American elites’ prioritizing corporate and government revenues over America’s national security.

Mr. Cortes begins by citing the strategic threats posed by the PRC’s access to our economy and government:

“First, it compromises our industrial base because threats of espionage and sabotage follow those acquisitions and capital flows… Second, granting access to U.S. markets grants legitimacy and financial power to one of the most brutal and repressive regimes on earth, one that grows increasingly blunt in its anti-American posture. America should not be in the business of financing an enemy.”

His logic is eminently sound, as is his analysis of both the pending tax bill:

“Now, the new reconciliation bill, deemed the “Big Beautiful Bill,” just passed in the House—and it fails to fix loopholes created by the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). As this legislation moves to the Senate, it leaves the window open for Chinese companies to benefit from massive U.S. tax credits, specifically the 45x Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit, an uncapped incentive program for certain manufacturing projects.”

His solution is eminently sensible:

As a first step, the Senate must mandate no U.S. tax credits to any PRC-affiliated companies. None. Moving further, they should stop PRC companies from further infiltrating America’s industrial base and block U.S. companies from working domestically with any company listed by the Department of Defense as a Chinese Military Company or that is considered a foreign entity of concern.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21655/iran-duping-trump-with-iaea-inspections-what

Iran knows exactly what it is doing. It is playing a game it has mastered for decades: stall, confuse, buy time, bring in the well-intentioned but toothless International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). All the regime needs to win the negotiations is to entrench enforceability and retain the ability to work in secret down the pike.

Iran could, at any moment, declare itself part of the nuclear weapons club. The mullahs could also negotiate a deal that grants them partial sanctions relief, re-entry into the global financial system, and access to international trade — all while keeping key parts of their nuclear program intact.

Giving Iran any daylight to enrichment is not diplomacy — it is surrender.

US President Donald Trump seems shocked that he is being duped by the superstar of KGB (now the FSB) whose entire purpose is to dupe Americans and the West: You mean he is not really my good friend Volodya? Russian President Vladimir Putin has not gone crazy; we were crazy for believing him. The same holds true for Communist China’s President Xi Jinping.

Iran does not want “peace.” Iran wants victory. Why don’t we? The only “peace” Iran is interested in is one strictly on its terms. With nuclear weapons, there will be “peace,” all right — the Iranian regime’s survival, power and domination — that kind of peace.

Meanwhile, Trump’s “deadlines” with Hamas and Iran have come and gone, thoroughly eroding his credibility with Putin, Xi, Kim, NATO and everyone else. There have been no consequences, no accountability and no results.

This is not about compromise or Munich 2.0. This is about survival. Ours, not theirs. Stop being played.

Once again, the United States has sat down with Iran for yet another round of nuclear negotiations — this time the fifth. And once again, we are told that there will be another round in the “near future.” Sound familiar? It should. Iran’s cat-and-mouse diplomatic theater is not a breakthrough; it is a rerun. Just as the past rounds, this latest episode concluded without any meaningful agreement, while Iran continues to advance in its nuclear program, intercontinental ballistic missiles — not needed to attack Israel — and rebuild its air defense.

Iran knows exactly what it is doing. It is playing a game it has mastered for decades: stall, confuse, buy time, bring in the well-intentioned but toothless International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). All the regime needs to win the negotiations is to entrench enforceability and retain the ability to work in secret down the pike.