RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272672/venezuela-edge-precipice-joseph-klein

Venezuela, an oil-rich country that was once amongst the most prosperous countries in the Latin American region, is now in a state of economic and political chaos. Venezuela’s socialist leaders – first, Hugo Chávez and then his successor, Nicolas Maduro – have turned the country into an economic basket case because of their gross mismanagement, corruption and destructive economic policies. The inflation rate could reach an unheard of 10 million percent in 2019. There is a humanitarian crisis of monumental proportions, with the country’s population suffering from severe hunger and a health crisis. Millions of Venezuelans have fled the country. Amidst all this chaos, Maduro was sworn in as president for a second term two weeks ago following an “election” last year that many inside and outside of the country believe was rigged.

Many Venezuelans have had enough of Maduro’s dictatorship. As a result, he is now being forced to square off with a potentially formidable opposition leader who is popular with the Venezuelan people and is gaining international support. Juan Guaido, the new leader of the democratically elected opposition-controlled National Assembly, has declared himself to be the interim president until new national elections can be held.

Mr. Guaido claims that he is acting under the authority of the country’s constitution. Tens of thousands of protesters have rallied in the streets on his behalf. The Trump administration officially recognized Mr. Guaido as the legitimate interim president. President Trump tweeted on Wednesday the following expression of support: “The citizens of Venezuela have suffered for too long at the hands of the illegitimate Maduro regime. Today, I have officially recognized the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the Interim President of Venezuela.” The Trump administration made it clear that all options remain on the table if Maduro clamps down too hard on the opposition.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13620/france-germany-european-army

“Populism and nationalism are increasing in all our countries. For the first time, a country — Great Britain — is leaving the European Union. Worldwide, multilateralism is under pressure….” – German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“Converging this much with Germany is an abandonment of sovereignty — a betrayal. If we had not alerted the public, this text would have been signed on the sly. The text provides in particular for the need to legislate in the event of obstacles to Franco-German cooperation…. I do not want more convergence with Berlin, be it in social or security matters, or in closer consultation in the UN Security Council.” – Marine Le Pen, Le Temps.

“Emmanuel Macron is calling for a grand debate to involve citizens in the public life of our country. At the same time, however, the President of the Republic negotiated a treaty on the sly even though it concerns conditions essential to the exercise of our national sovereignty. Neither the French people, nor the Parliament, nor the Constitutional Council were consulted… For many reasons, this treaty undermines our national sovereignty.” – Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, leader of the party Debout La France! (Stand Up, France!).

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have signed a new Franco-German friendship treaty aimed at reinvigorating the European Union, which has been buffeted by the European debt crisis, mass migration and Brexit — as well as innumerable conflicting interests and priorities among its 28 member states.

France and Germany, the self-appointed guardians of European integration, have said that the new treaty is a response to the growing influence of populists in Austria, Britain, France, Italy, Hungary, Poland and other European countries who are seeking to slow, and even reverse, European integration by recouping national sovereignty from the European Union and transferring those powers back to national capitals.

The continental showdown, which threatens to split the European Union down the middle between Eurosceptic nationalists and Europhile globalists, will heat up in coming weeks, ahead of elections for the European Parliament in late May 2019.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cuba-out-of-venezuela-11548376414

International support for a return to democracy in Venezuela has been growing since Juan Guaidó took the oath of interim president on Wednesday. The crucial but underreported question now is whether dictator Nicolás Maduro’s protectors in Cuba and Russia will intervene to stop this democratic uprising.

The Venezuelan military holds the key to whether Mr. Maduro will step down peacefully. Common sense and reporting in the country suggest that a good part of the army is ready to side with the Venezuelan people. The rank and file have families who are also suffering the privation caused by nearly two decades of socialist rule.

Yet Cuba controls Mr. Maduro’s personal security detail and has built a counterintelligence network around the high command. Venezuela’s 1,000 or so flag officers operate in silos and are spied on by minders. An officer who sides with the opposition is putting his life and perhaps his family at risk. The head of the armed forces expressed support for Mr. Maduro on Thursday, but the real test may come if soldiers are ordered to fire on protesters or Venezuelans trying to protect Mr. Guaidó.

Nations that want better for Venezuela should focus as much on Havana as Caracas. If civilized countries want to end the starvation and mass migration of Venezuelans, they have to convince the Cuban regime to back off. That means targeting Havana with diplomatic pressure, as well as sanctions such as travel restrictions and frozen bank accounts.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13581/mohammad-al-issa

Dr. Mohammad Bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa is special. His thoughts are definitely constructive and pro-peace. One of his wishes, Al-Issa said, is that the prospective meeting in Jerusalem will be “a step toward what will some day be a more broad cross-faith acceptance of different faiths.” As a previous Minister of Justice in Saudi Arabia, he speculated that the time will come when people of different religions can go to any country, including Saudi Arabia, and publicly practice their faith.

One might agree with Al-Issa when he says that extremists attempt “to hijack the true religion, specifically through poisoning the minds of some young people with the idea of clash of civilizations and embedding the overstated idea of conspiracy.” There is, nevertheless, plain as day, the role played by that set of Quranic verses, hadiths, and the resultant interpretations and fatwas that regrettably still fuel a hatred of non-Muslims and “unbelievers.”

A project that the new Saudi Arabian crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, might consider is assembling a panel to see if anything in the hadith might be inauthentic.

The question facing many Muslims and their religious leaders who have similar attitudes is: will they be able to begin directly discussing the root causes of Muslims’ extremism and hatred of non-Muslims?

Dr. Mohammad Bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, Secretary General of Muslim World League, has been one of the most outstanding Muslim leaders; he has recognized the brutality of the Holocaust and criticized any denial of it.

Last January, he wrote a letter to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In the letter, he labeled the Holocaust as “an incident that shook humanity to the core, and created an event whose horrors could not be denied or underrated by any fair-minded or peace-loving person.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/01/finally_signs_of_hope_for_venezuela.html

Is it too soon to cheer for the Venezuelan people, who have taken their future into their own hands – at grave risk? Is it too soon to cheer the Trump administration for offering the interim government of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó support and recognition? Is it too soon to cheer the solidarity of the Western Hemisphere (minus Cuba and, sadly, Mexico)?

No. It is not.

Regardless of what happens tomorrow, this is a moment to hope, pray, hold our breath, and cheer. Video is available showing tens of thousands of Venezuelans marching through Caracas in support of Guaidó; other clips show security forces using live ammunition on people running through the streets. Thus far, the Venezuelan military has appeared loyal to Maduro, and at least eight people were reported killed in the streets.

Secretary of state Mike Pompeo said, “We call on the Venezuelan military and security forces to continue protecting the welfare and well-being of all Venezuelan citizens, as well as U.S. and other foreign citizens in Venezuela.” It can be taken as a warning.

The Russians are there. Perhaps sensing trouble, in December, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that “two Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers, an Antonov An-124 heavy military transport aircraft and an Ilyushin Il-62 long-haul plane arrived at in Caracas.” Venezuela’s defense minister said up to 100 Russian personnel would arrive as part of a joint exercise. Not to be left out, Iranian naval deputy commander Rear Admiral Touraj Hassani Mogaddam announced, “Among our plans in the near future is to send two or three vessels with special helicopters to Venezuela in South America on a mission that could last five months.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tens-of-thousands-protest-venezuelan-president-maduro-11548264274?mod=hp_lead_pos

By Maolis Castro in Caracas, Venezuela, and Juan Forero and Kejal Vyas in Bogotá, Colombia

President Trump took on Venezuela’s leftist authoritarian president and his regime’s Russian and Chinese backers on Wednesday by recognizing the opposition leader of the oil-rich country’s congress as its legitimate head of state.

The U.S. move came just minutes after Juan Guaidó, the National Assembly’s 35-year-old leader, declared himself interim president and took an oath of office before a crowd of tens of thousands in the capital.

President Nicolás Maduro responded by vowing to stay in office and said he was severing diplomatic relations with the U.S.

“The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out” against Mr. Maduro “and demanded freedom and the rule of law,” Mr. Trump said. He said he would “use the full weight of United States economic and diplomatic power to press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy.”

http://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-and-jihad/tashny-sukumaran

Religion is a tricky subject for Kuala Lumpur-based freelancer Muhammad Ali. Born to a conservative Muslim family, he became an atheist but cannot express his beliefs publicly in Malaysia. The multiracial country is largely Muslim and apostasy from Islam is a criminal offence in some states, while the law decrees that only a sharia court can decide if a person is Muslim – their own agency counts for nothing.

Several years ago, there was a proposal to introduce the death penalty for leaving the religion, although this was swiftly dispensed with when the Pakatan Harapan coalition formed government, dethroning the more conservative Barisan Nasional last May.

In nearby Indonesia, where most of its 260 million people are Muslim, non-believers who comment on Islam and atheists vocal about their views face the spectre of blasphemy laws.

How both Southeast Asian countries handle the matter of Muslims leaving their faith became a topic of interest after Saudi Arabian teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun barricaded herself in a Bangkok hotel room two weeks ago and lobbied for asylum. She said she had renounced Islam and fled from her family; apostasy in the kingdom can be punishable by death. Canada has since taken her in.

In Malaysia, besides the threat of prison, apostates face re-education in rehabilitation camps or whipping by state religious authorities. For Muhammad and many other atheists, this means “always looking over my shoulder”.

In 2017, he and his friends were viciously doxxed after a photo of them at an atheist gathering was shared online, with a federal minister even going so far as to say apostates – or murtads – had to “be hunted down”.

https://www.businessinsider.com/r-

BERLIN (Reuters) – Berlin has revoked Iranian airline Mahan’s right to operate in Germany, a senior government source told Reuters on Monday, giving both safety concerns and the suspicion that the airline was being used for military purposes as reasons.

The government suspects the airline, which has been on a United States sanctions list since 2011, is used for military purposes by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as well as for terrorist activities.

Several European Union countries accuse Iran of carrying out spying operations or planning attacks on the continent. The government source said that the flight did not constitute general sanctions against Iran.