RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17630/china-crisis-testing-us-presidents

Trump’s adoption of a realistic relationship with China successfully slowed any CCP plans for military expansion in the South and East China Seas. What ended any possibility of a warming trend in US-China diplomatic ties was Beijing’s repeated lies that there was no human-to-human transmissibility of its Wuhan virus. Soon, Chinese propaganda organs were labeling America racist for closing US airports to flights from China, even as the CCP itself had already stopped all domestic flights out of Wuhan.

China’s deceit, and its continued refusal to help investigate the cause of the release of the Wuhan virus, not only killed more than 4.3 million people worldwide, but shattered countless economies. To date, there have been no reprisals and no accountability.

To date, Communist China has not been held accountable for any of its damage or duplicity, or for obstructing all investigations into the origins of the Wuhan virus, or for enslaving and torturing more than a million Uyghurs, or for destroying Tibet and Hong Kong. Instead, China is being rewarded for unspeakable behavior by being allowed to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

This event presents Biden with an opportunity: there is still time to move the Olympics to a country more deserving — one that will not potentially use the DNA of the world’s greatest athletes to genetically-engineer its future newborns. Will the US finally stand up to Communist China’s provocations, let alone future ones — whether to Australia, Taiwan, Japan, India, Malaysia, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Jamaica or the Bahamas — that are already on the way?

China has tested the mettle of all recent US presidents, usually early in their terms of office, and China’s Communist Party (CCP) has already certainly been testing President Joe Biden. Just four days into the Biden presidency, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fighter aircraft violated Taiwan’s Air Defense Zone. The provocation was a clear message to remind the new president of China’s “Red Line”: not to build upon the Trump administration’s increased military cooperation with Taiwan.

Beijing’s harsh rhetoric, accusing the US of hypocrisy on human rights at the March 2021 meeting in Alaska with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, was probably an indication that China is still calculating to what degree it can intimidate the Biden administration into settling for policies more accommodating to Chinese military, political, security and commercial interests.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17621/forced-conversion-child-marriage-pakistan

Governmental and law enforcement agencies are aware of the problem, but they do not officially accept it. Instead, they claim that Islam has not set a minimum age for conversion, so if a girl wants to convert to Islam of her own free will, no one can do anything about it.

By stating this, they transfer all blame to the victims and discharge themselves of any responsibility. They also accuse minorities and NGOs of making it a problem and claim it is a false allegation to enhance their own prominence.

It is the responsibility of the state to stop this practice even if they have to introduce new laws to ensure that the rights of minorities and children are not being violated. It is also the responsibility of politicians, courts, civil society and the ulema [Islamic clergy] because failing, in the name of religion, to enforce the laws already in place cannot be justified.

Forced conversion to Islam of young Christian and Hindu girls, some under the age of 12, seems to be an everyday occurrence. To those who are in a position to stop this practice, it appears not to matter. Almost no day goes by without news of these events.

This major and growing problem in Pakistan affects religious minorities. Human rights organisations working on this issue estimate that every year 1,000 Hindu and Christian girls are forced to convert to Islam — an estimate that could be far higher as many cases remain unreported. Most of the time, these girls are lured by much older men by the promise of a better life and sometimes are pushed into prostitution or even sold.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17629/tunisia-islamists-downfall

Tunisia is the third Arab country after Egypt and Sudan to say that it is fed up with the rule of the Islamists. With the exception of Qatar, most of the Arab countries have long regarded the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups as a major threat to security, stability and peace.

The Palestinians… seem to be the only Arabs who continue to believe in the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates, particularly Hamas, the terrorist group that has been ruling the Gaza Strip since July 2007.

Sawsan Al-Sha’er, one of Bahrain’s most influential journalists and intellectuals, expressed relief over the ouster of the Islamists of Tunisia and said that this should serve as a reminder to all Arabs that Islamist parties – Shiite and Sunni alike – care about nothing else but reaching power.

“The Arabs have discovered that these parties do not have a … development program, or a future vision; the only project they have is to reach a position of decision-making and seize power. The religious parties do not recognize sovereign borders, the state’s constitution, laws, and regulations. In all the Arab countries in which these parties have reached decision-making positions, they bypassed all constitutional and political frameworks, and they do not see anything wrong with that….” — Sawsan Al-Sha’er, Al-Ain, August 1, 2021.

According to Al-Sha’er, the Islamists want to… make them subject to foreign powers, especially Iran.

“What happened in Tunisia is similar to what happened in Egypt in 2013, when the Egyptian people rose up against the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood and overthrew them after discovering their subversive project, confirming once again the failure of the Islamists in managing the affairs of the state…. it confirms that the Arabs can no longer tolerate this group and its policies.” — Amal Abdullah Al-Haddabi, Al-Ain, August 3, 2021.

Al-Haddabi pointed out that during the past decade, successive Tunisian governments that were dominated by the Islamists failed to score any achievements for the people.

Another reason the Tunisian Islamists failed, was because they “failed to believe in democracy in its true meaning, including freedom of the media, the independence of the judiciary and economic and social rights.” — Abdel Aziz Khamis Khamis, Saudi journalist, Sky News Arabia, August 2, 2021.

The jubilation in the Arab countries over the toppling of the Ennahdah Party sends a clear message to the rest of the world against embracing or appeasing the Islamists. Sadly, this is a message that continues to be ignored by the many Palestinians and leaders in the West who continue to support Hamas and other Iranian-backed Islamist groups that seek to eliminate Israel and keep the Palestinians mired in misery.

The removal of Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda [Renaissance] Party from power has been welcomed not only by Tunisians, but by many Arabs who have accused the Islamists, specifically the Muslim Brotherhood organization, of spreading chaos and instability in the Arab world.

The Ennahda Party was inspired by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and the ideology of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/08/australian-penal-colony-once-more-katie-hopkins/

Australia is in a very dark place.

The army has been drafted in to force people to stay in their homes, going door-to-door to check for compliance. Police helicopters circle overhead, threatening anyone in parks or public spaces with police action and fines; there is genuine fear over being caught outside without a permissible excuse.

No one is allowed more than 5 kilometers from their home address, only one person per household may leave to purchase supplies once a day, and Sydney-siders are not permitted to speak to friends or stop to browse; they may only get what they need and return home.

And this is all for 239 cases from 110,000 tests.

Other states are not faring much better. Queensland just locked down over five cases. Melbourne has been brutalized by its leader, Dan Andrews, who sees himself as something of a leader among tyrants, setting the bar for just how bad it can get and how harshly you can treat people and force them to comply.

And not a word of dissent is permitted. Not a single alternative viewpoint has made the editorials or commentariat.

The best effort has been made by Sky News Australia, loved by many as the last bastion of real talk. I made lunch plans with Rowan Dean of the popular show Outsiders when I knew I would be in Sydney. He is a good man, and is trying to keep some semblance of honesty in TV programming. For the crime of offering different opinions, Sky News Australia has been banned from YouTube for a week.

Videos from Alan Jones and the Outsiders program discussing hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin have been deleted by YouTube for violating community guidelines.

Others have been deleted by Sky News itself, including a September 2020 Outsiders clip of host Rowan Dean stating that “the jury is in on hydroxychloroquine – it saves lives,” and Jones saying there had been “rank dishonesty” around hydroxychloroquine and Australians were being denied access.

I am reminded of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch. I was deported from the country for my efforts to highlight the cruelty of keeping 35,000 people separated from their loved ones, and with them now banning media for non-compliance there is no one left to speak out for ordinary Australians.

I posted this brief explainer on my YouTube channel in support of those being imprisoned in their homes under this unofficial Marshall law.

ttps://issuesinsights.com/2021/08/09/who-will-be-the-vindicator-to-cancel-china/

“U.S. trade deficit hits record $75.7 billion in June … So far this year, the goods deficit with China, the largest that the United States runs with any country, totals $158.5 billion, an increase of 19.2% compared to the same period in 2020.” — APNews

For once the Bidenites have something right: Paramount Leader Xi isn’t about to scribble a check amounting to nearly half our annual gross domestic product. 

And why should he when China shockingly came out of COVID in an even stronger position vis-à-vis the U.S. economically?

Not to mention that the Chinese are the tightwad tyrants who of late, according to the Wall Street Journal, have “blown up what would have been the world’s largest initial public offering, launched probes into some of (China’s) biggest technology companies, and wiped out more than $1 trillion in market value while investors scramble for cover.”

The goal? “(E)nsuring companies do more to serve the Communist Party’s economic, social and national-security concerns.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17610/persecution-of-christians-june

A Muslim father-of-four abducted a 13-year-old Christian girl, forced her to convert to Islam, and then “married” her…. He had also promised to pay the girl Rs.10,000 (US $63) per month for her services, but stopped paying her after a couple of months…. . She told her grandmother that she wanted to go home and was willing to sign anything to do so…. The following day, a visibly battered Nayab appeared before court and reaffirmed that she was 19-years-old and had converted to Islam of her own free will. — Pakistan.

[N]early a million people have been displaced since 2017 and thousands slaughtered…. “They say their goal is to set up a caliphate similar to ISIS in Iraq and Syria…. They ask, ‘Are you a Christian? Or are you a Muslim?’ If you’re a Christian, you’re killed. If you’re a Muslim, then you get the opportunity to quote some Quranic verses. And if you can quote them sufficiently, you save your life. Otherwise, you also get killed [sometimes by crucifixion].” — Todd Nettleton, The Voice of the Martyrs USA, Mission Network News, June 28, 2021, Mozambique.

Five Muslims entered the hospital he worked in, seized and left with him, and then killed him and left his body in the bush… “His killers, who are herdsmen, came to the hospital, specifically asked for [the Christian doctor] …. collected his money, took him away, and killed him without asking for ransom. “What did he do wrong?…. Everyone loved him, always smiling, and he was one of the most hard-working persons I have ever known. His hospital boomed because he was saving lives. If you had any problems, Emeka would be there to help.” — Morning Star News, June 21, 2021, Nigeria.

“Armed groups are destroying schools and hospitals. Teachers and pupils are being killed. They are even killing the sick as they lie in their hospital beds. Not a day goes by without people being killed… Many people are traumatized… A large-scale project is underway to Islamize or expel the indigenous populations. Anyone who has been kidnapped by these terrorist groups and managed to escape from them alive has told the same story. They were given the choice between death and converting to Islam.” — Bishop Paluku, Catholic World Report, July 28, 2021, Democratic Republic of Congo

The following are among the abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of June 2021:

Pakistan

The Rape, Forced Conversion, and Child Marriage of Christians

A Muslim father of four abducted a 13-year-old Christian girl, forced her to convert to Islam, and then “married” her. According to the father of Nayab Gill, when the beauty school she was attending shut down due to the Covid-19 lockdown, Saddam Hayat, a local Muslim who ran his own beauty shop, “told me that rather than wasting time, Nayab should learn salon skills to help her in supporting the family financially. He even offered to pick her up from home and drop her off after work, assuring us that she was just like his daughter.”

Hayat had also promised to pay the girl Rs.10,000 (US $63) per month for her services, but stopped paying her after a couple of months. When the girl went missing on May 20, her frantic parents turned to Hayat, who claimed not to know where she was, and kindly offered to help them find her. He even instructed Nayab’s simple and trusting mother to fill out the missing person’s report in a way that did not implicate him.

“On May 26, we were informed by the police that Nayab was in the Darul Aman [women’s shelter] since May 21,” her father continued. “In an application submitted to a magistrate’s court, Nayab claimed she had willfully converted to Islam a month ago …”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17620/lebanon-ticking-bombs

Lebanon’s problems are deeply political. The consensus on which the Lebanese state was founded from the start has been badly shaken. Formal government structures have been duplicated, and at times replaced, by shadowy organs answerable to no one except, perhaps, foreign paymasters. The minimum rule of law that had survived many upheavals including a full-scale civil war has been replaced by the rule of the gunman.

The outside world cannot abandon Lebanon to its fate.

On the positive side, the region and beyond in the world needs Lebanon as a haven of contact, dialogue and peace, while a Lebanon turned into a platform for “exporting revolution” and real terror, along with drugs and dirty money, could harm everyone around or close to the Mediterranean basin.

In international politics, what do you do when you don’t know what to do but wish to appear to be doing something?

The answer is: you convene an international conference.

The gimmick started with the notorious Versailles Conference after the First World War that morphed into a series of photo-ops while real decisions were taken elsewhere and behind the scenes. More recently we had the grand Madrid Conference that was supposed to produce an unlikely peace in the Middle East but became an introduction to a new era of conflict in the war-torn region. Last week we have had a virtual version of the international conference on Lebanon, the second in 12 months and designed to mark the anniversary of the deadly explosion that tore Beirut apart.

The explosion shocked many, including France’s President Emmanuel Macron, out of years of inattention to the many time-bombs that were ticking in Lebanon for almost three decades.

The first conference ended with classical clichés about solidarity with the Lebanese people and sugar-coated with pledges to provide $295 million for helping rebuild the shattered capital. The second conference noted that none of those clichés have acquired any meaning and that the money promised has either not been disbursed or ended up in the pockets of the usual suspects. The only rebuilding that has taken place, albeit on a modest scale, has been done by NGOs with some help from Switzerland and a few other countries.