RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/01/off_to_a_bad_start_putin_schools_biden_with_one_phone_call.html

According to Russian news service Ria Novosti, on Tuesday, the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, held a telephone conversation.  During the conversation, Biden and Putin agreed to a five-year extension of START-3, until 2026, “100% on Russian terms, without additions, in the form in which it was originally signed.”  As a result of the call, the authorized Duma committees were ordered to urgently take the necessary steps to extend START-3.  On that same day, Putin submitted to the State Duma a bill on the ratification of START-3 through 2026; it immediately passed.  Putin’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov enthused that “START-3 is being extended on Russian terms, for 5 years, without any conditions or additional requirements, without attempts to change the START verification regime, without those, in our view, absurd and unacceptable aspirations of the previous administration to make sure to draw the PRC [China] into this process without fail.”

Biden ran on a platform that was endorsed by the entire American security and foreign policy establishment. The platform stand was to rebuild international multilateralism, taking no actions without coordination with our allies. Trump was routinely condemned by the establishment for insisting on the “America First” approach in foreign policy. Biden’s promise of multilateral cooperation with allies didn’t last a week. Indeed, he showed even more disregard for America’s NATO allies than Trump ever did. Biden’s phone call to Russian President Putin was his first serious test of foreign and security policy; he flunked. In the course of that one phone call, he casually agreed to a five-year extension of the New START Treaty, a treaty that originally took months to negotiate.

On Tuesday afternoon January 26, C-SPAN broadcast Biden’s press briefing on Racial Equity, held in the White House State Dining Room.  Following his remarks, he ceremoniously signed four related executive orders.  After signing the fourth, Biden stood up abruptly and made to leave the room.  On his way out, a young reporter could be heard calling out, “Mr. President, what did you talk to Mr. Putin about?”  Over his shoulder Biden tossed back the quip, “You! He sends his best.” — and hightailed it out of the room before he could be pinned down with having to explain what he and Putin said during the call.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2021/01/russia-biden-office-positive-shifts-took-place-us-daniel-greenfield/

Awkward.

The Democrats and their media spent four years falsely accusing President Trump of being a Russian agent even while he was running against Reset Button Hillary. Biden ran on a promise to crawl back into Russia’s scam arms control treaty for five years with no preconditions. 

The Russians had been begging President Trump to at least extend it for one year. The Trump admin was offering it with a lot of conditions.

In his first phone call with Putin, President Trump blasted the START treaty as a bad deal that gave Moscow a free ride. 

The Trump administration was skeptical of New START, arguing that it had allowed Russia to build up advanced nuclear systems that aren’t constrained by the treaty. Trump’s arms control envoy, Marshall Billingslea, had also insisted that China be brought into the arms control process. Billingslea attempted to negotiate a shorter-term extension of New START, paired with a freeze on all nuclear warheads and a commitment to broaden future talks to include other nuclear powers. 

What was Biden’s position?

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2021/01/28/iran_tests_the_new_administration_658182.html

On 18 January, Iran detained businessman Emad Sharghi, preventing his alleged attempt to “flee” the country.  Sharghi, a dual Iranian-American citizen who works for a UAE-based aviation brokerage firm, has been harassed by Iranian authorities in the past, and was imprisoned previously in 2018.  In November 2020, Sharghi was convicted without a trial of espionage by Abdolqasem Salavati, a controversial Iranian judge who has convicted numerous dissidents.  Salavati is part of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Courts system, a parallel judiciary that handles cases relating to regime security.  Established in 1979, the Revolutionary Courts have overseen numerous domestic purges, acting akin to the Soviet Union’s NKVD-operated secret court system during the 1930s.  Although Sharghi was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison in November and arrested in December, he was soon released on bail.

Considering the direct control the regime holds over the Revolutionary Courts system and the mullahs’ record of involvement in U.S. presidential elections, it is likely that high-level decision-makers in the Islamic Republic ordered Sharghi’s arrest.  Moreover, his conviction occurred within a week of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s assassination. Fakhrizadeh was an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps brigadier general and physicist who oversaw Iran’s nuclear program.  Coupled with the assassination of IRGC General Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, Fakhrizadeh’s death demonstrates a significant degree of penetration into Iran’s security system.  Sharghi’s U.S. citizenship and arrest, therefore, is a direct message to the United States, much like Iran’s missile strike against a U.S.-used Iraqi airbase was after the Soleimani killing.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16989/arab-medical-apartheid

Lebanese citizens have launched an online campaign that says that they have the right to be vaccinated before any foreigner living in the country. The term “foreigner” mainly refers to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in Lebanon.

The campaign, which is being condemned by Palestinians and others as “racist” and “discriminatory,” has evidently failed to attract the attention of all those individuals and organizations who are making false, libelous accusations against Israel. They do not care about this racist campaign because an Arab country, and not Israel, is discriminating against Arabs (the Palestinians).

Israel, in fact, has vaccinated more Palestinians than any Arab country…. Given that tens of thousands of Arab Israelis and residents of east Jerusalem have received the vaccine without any problem, means that Israel is the only country that actually has so far given the vaccine to Palestinians.

While Israel has been falsely accused by some international media outlets and human rights organizations of “refusing” to vaccinate Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip against COVID-19, no one seems to be paying attention to what is happening in Lebanon, an Arab country that has long been hosting hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, Syrians and other Arabs.

First, the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement states that “powers and responsibilities in the sphere of health in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip shall be transferred to the Palestinian side.”

According to the agreement, “the Palestinian side shall continue to apply the present standards of vaccination of Palestinians and shall improve them according to internationally accepted standards and shall continue the vaccination of the [Palestinian] population.”

Second, the Palestinians said they had refused to accept vaccines from Israel, and that the Palestinian government was working to get the doses from the World Health Organization and companies around the world.

Third, despite the Palestinian denial, Israel recently acknowledged that it gave 100 vaccine doses to the Palestinians, with another delivery expected shortly.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/01/greek-archbishop-tells-truth-about-islam-muslim-robert-spencer/

Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and all Greece touched off a firestorm in mid-January when he dared to note, according to the Orthodox Times, that “Islam was not a religion but a political party.” He added: “They are the people of war.” In response, Muslim leaders the world over have rained down condemnations upon the archbishop. He spoke inaccurately when he said that Islam was not a religion at all, but proof that he was wrong about Islam having a political aspect has not been forthcoming.

Muslims in Greece were outraged. The Western Thrace Turkish Minority Consultation Council (BTTADK) declared: “We condemn the statement of the Archbishop of Greece, Mr. Ieronimos….We hope a more peaceful language to be used instead of anti-Islamic discourse in such difficult times of pandemic.” The Xanthi Turkish Union added that Ieronymos’ words were an “Islamophobic attack” and even a “hate crime.” It thundered: “The fact that these statements, filled with insults, came from the number one name in the Greek church increases the gravity of the situation. We see this move as one of the typical examples of the rising Islamophobia and xenophobia in Greece in recent years.”

For its part, the Western Thrace Imam-hatip Schools Graduates and Members Association (BIHLIMDER) asserted that the archbishop was displaying “ambition and jealousy,” and stated: “We are leaving the examination of the psychological state of this person, who uses words that even the most ordinary people wouldn’t use, to the experts. We are condemning such a hostile attitude.” Ahmet Ibram, deputy head of the province of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, said fancifully: “One of Islam’s basic beliefs is to have life based on peace between religions. It can never be accepted to have grudge and hostility against other religions’ members.”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry also issued a statement: “These provocative expressions of Archbishop Ieronimos, which incite the society to hostility and violence against Islam, also show the frightening level Islamophobia has reached. Such malign ideas are also responsible for the increase of racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia in Europe.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-genocide-test-faces-the-west-11611775797?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s determination that the People’s Republic of China is engaged in a systematic genocide of the Uighurs was one of the most significant recent developments in U.S. foreign policy. The State Department found that the atrocities have expanded to shocking reproductive coercion: “PRC authorities have conducted forced sterilizations and abortions on Uyghur women, coerced them to marry non-Uyghurs, and separated Uyghur children from their families.”

Because the announcement came shortly before President Biden’s inauguration, its far-reaching implications haven’t sunk in. The Trump administration would have done better to issue this finding before the election, but officially invoking the “genocide” label met significant resistance within the government, as it has in past presidencies. Mr. Pompeo deserves credit for pushing it through.

The new secretary of state, Antony Blinken, also deserves credit for not making genocide a political issue: He immediately concurred in his predecessor’s determination. It is now America’s official, bipartisan position that China is engaged in “ongoing” genocide—the gravest of all international crimes.

Joe Biden was ahead of the curve, accusing China of genocide in August. At the time a Biden spokesman added, “If the Trump administration does indeed choose to call this out for what it is, as Joe Biden already did, the pressing question is what will Donald Trump do to take action.” That question now passes to Mr. Biden.

The State Department has made a finding of genocide only six times, two of them in the past quarter-century: regarding Islamic State atrocities against religious minorities in Syria and Iraq (2016) and Sudan’s campaign in Darfur (2011). But ISIS and Sudan weren’t exactly major U.S. trading partners.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/01/the_ccp_an_international_thieving_mafia.html

What is not obvious to most is that China is actually run by about 50 very rich families who own and control most of the choice properties and businesses in China. The 91 million CCP members are effectively a total-control Mafia ruling approximately a billion and a half Chinese people. Yes, most of the very rich are members of the CCP or are officially communists but they more truly function like the criminal Mafia with worldwide ambitions.

The latest ambition of the CCP is stealing seafood from the territorial waters of less powerful nations worldwide. China has overfished its territorial waters in short-sighted fashion and its consumption of much national wildlife is similarly shortsighted. The Galapagos Islands (part of Ecuador), Argentina, Peru, West Africa, and North Korea, are just a few of the documented thefts of recent seafood worldwide by China. It seems that the only recourse will be to sink the Chinese militia armed fishing vessels or capture them in their criminal acts.

China is trying to steal international fishing rights in the South China Sea by building artificial islands manned by the Chinese military.

China is buying leases to strategic shipping ports worldwide to monopolize commercial shipping routes. The Chinese are clever fox predators rampaging through a worldwide chicken coup that has only recently become somewhat alarmed and is waking up to the global threat, thanks partly to the covid-19 virus and China’s blatant attempts at shifting blame elsewhere.

https://www.newsweek.com/china-winning-artificial-intelligence-race-opinion-1564169

Not only is China growing faster than any other big economy; it’s poised to take the lead in artificial intelligence applications to manufacturing, health care and transportation, leapfrogging the West in key new technologies. President Joe Biden’s chief Asia advisor Kurt Campbell says the U.S. should “balance between cooperation and competition” with China. We’re already far behind on the competition for leadership in a wide range of AI applications—an issue with urgent implications for American policy.

China is well on its way to building a planned 10 million 5G mobile base stations by 2024, wiring virtually the whole country for game-changing technologies. It has already deployed some of them in its response to COVID-19. Sensors connected to smartphones and linked to centralized databases monitor the vital signs of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens and visitors in real time. Three-dimensional facial imaging allows these systems to monitor the mobility of people and contact with others. Artificial intelligence algorithms extract information from these data to identify potential viral hotspots and guide forensic testing and preventive quarantines. China’s effective control over the virus—despite some localized outbreaks—provides further impetus to speed up the adoption of digital heath technology.

The 3D facial recognition component of China’s public health initiatives have drawn international concern. U.S. commentators focus on its implications for social control, but the technology has already been incorporated into a wide range of remote services. With 3D facial recognition, people in China can board trains, buy produce and obtain medical services without physical contact. The majority of the Chinese population is willing to accept the possibility of invasions of privacy provided the benefits are clear.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17000/germany-armin-laschet-merkel

“You get the impression that Armin Laschet still believes in a partnership with Putin’s Russia. He ignores the fact that there simultaneously is both a geopolitical and a value conflict with Moscow. This conflict requires a certain degree of severity, a policy of deterrence and also a policy of sanctions. It is wishful thinking that all foreign policy conflicts can be resolved through dialogue and goodwill.” — Ralf Fücks, former Green Party politician and head of the think tank, Center for Liberal Modernity.

“Mr Laschet’s first priority will be uniting the party. It will not be easy. He beat Mr Merz by 53 to 47 per cent of the vote. There is a large minority in the party who want it to take a clearer conservative direction. When he lost the 2018 leadership contest, Mr Merz retreated. This time, he seems determined to weigh on the party’s future.” — Editorial Board, Financial Times.

“The new CDU chairman faces a difficult task of maintaining coherence in a party that is struggling to find its identity while simultaneously trying to lure voters from the environmentalist Green Party and the right-wing AfD.” — Oliver Hackel, senior financial strategist, Kaiser Partner Privatbank.

“German politics is drifting away from Mrs. Merkel’s breed of consensus. Despite winning a leadership election among delegates to the CDU party conference, Mr. Laschet’s soft foreign-policy views are increasingly at odds with prominent CDU figures who advocate a sterner approach to Russia and China. The Greens are on the rise as a mainstream center-left party on the back of their foreign-policy hawkishness and hostility to crony capitalism at home.” — Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal.

Armin Laschet, premier of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, has been chosen as the new leader of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He is now in a position to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor after general elections this September.

Laschet, a Merkel loyalist and continuity candidate, narrowly beat conservative Friedrich Merz by 521 to 466 votes in a run-off vote by party delegates on January 16. The CDU had previously chosen Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Merkel, but she stepped down as party leader in January 2020 after a series of regional electoral defeats cast doubt on her ability to retain the chancellorship.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17001/turkey-greece-peace-talks

Ankara and Athens, starting in 2002, held 60 rounds of talks before their exploratory efforts came to a halt in 2016. After a five-year-long pause the rivals agreed to resume talks on January 25, starting the 61st round.

“The idea that a strategic — so-called strategic — partner of ours would actually be in line with one of our biggest strategic competitors in Russia is not acceptable.” — Antony Blinken, President Joe Biden’s then-nominee for Secretary of State, Arab News, January 26, 2021.

“Turkey has adopted a strongly militaristic approach, making efforts toward conflict resolution increasingly unlikely.” — Dimitris Tsarouhas, a professor of international relations, a Scientific Council member of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies in Brussels, and a World Bank consultant, Arab News, January 26, 2021.

When traditional Aegean rivals, Turkey and Greece, agreed to launch “exploratory talks” to resolve their disputes, Iraq’s president was Saddam Hussein, U.S. President George W. Bush called for a regime change in Iraq, 9/11 was only months in the past, the euro had just become the official currency of 12 of the European Union’s members, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the Mars Odyssey had found signs of water ice deposits on Mars.

Ankara and Athens, starting in 2002, held 60 rounds of talks before their exploratory efforts came to a halt in 2016. After a five-year-long pause, the rivals agreed to resume talks on January 25, starting the 61st round. Rounds 61 and onward will probably be the most fragile of all peace talks for a number of reasons.