RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/04/28/watch-radical-islamists-rally-in-hamburg-calling-for-caliphate-in-germany/

The German city of Hamburg saw over a thousand Muslims rally on Saturday against the freedom of the press and other liberal values of the country while calling for the imposition of an Islamic caliphate.

Around 1,100 gathered in the central Hamburg district of St. Georg — a progressive area of Germany’s second-largest city often identified as a gay neighbourhood — to demonstrate against what they perceived as an attempt by the media to portray all Muslims in Germany as radical Islamists.

However, the rhetoric reported from the event indicated the radical positions of the group itself, with chants of Allahu Akbar (God is great or Our God is greater than yours). Meanwhile, signs at the rally declare that a “Caliphate is the solution” and others read: “Germany = dictatorship of values”, NTV reports.

The rally was also attended by members of the Muslim Interactive group, a successor to Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international Islamic fundamentalist political party seeking to institute a caliphate which was officially banned in Germany in 2003 for extremism.

Muslim Interaktiv, which was founded in 2020, previously organised a demonstration in St. Georg in October in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks on Israel, despite the city placing bans on anti-Israel demonstrations at the time. The group has also been active outside of Germany, having organised a February 2023 protest against Qur’an burnings in Sweden.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20609/will-the-west-get-ever-serious-about-sanctions-on

[D]espite the clear and present threat Iran poses to the security of both the Middle East and the wider world, Western governments are still proving reluctant to take any measures needed to cripple the Iranian economy.

A key factor in the reluctance of Western leaders to punish Iran for its aggression is the appeasement policy the Biden administration has pursued towards Iran in recent years in the naive hope that, by going easy on Iran, the Iranian regime might be persuaded to agree to a new deal on its nuclear activities.

“The Iranians have mastered the art of sanctions circumvention. If the Biden administration is really going to have an impact, it has to shift the focus to China.” — Fernando Ferreira, head of geopolitical risk service at the Rapidan Energy Group in the US, Financial Times interview, April 17, 2024.

If the West is really serious about holding Iran to account for its aggressive activities, then it ….

should include the possibility of imposing secondary sanctions against any country that continues to do business with Tehran in defiance of Western sanctions.

Without Chinese oil imports, for example, the Iranian oil industry would most likely collapse, thereby increasing the pressure on the Iranian regime to mend its ways.

If attempts by Western leaders to impose further sanctions against Iran in retaliation for its direct attack against Israel are to have any validity, they will need to be a great deal more effective than those implemented in recent decades.

For decades, the US and its allies have been imposing sanctions against Tehran in an attempt to restrain its malign support for terror organisations, such as Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Wide-ranging sanctions have also been imposed against Tehran to curb its nuclear programme, which most Western intelligence agencies believe is ultimately aimed at fulfilling the Iranian regime’s quest to acquire a nuclear weapons arsenal.

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/society/2024/05/otherwise-what-was-it-all-for/

My father returned from the war with ten quid in his pocket. He’d been flying Spitfires and Hurricanes over Europe and later in Burma. He was invalided out, worn out by what he’d seen and done. One dream had kept him going during the three years away from Australia—to marry his fiancée, settle down and become a farmer.

He arrived in Melbourne, with his faded RAAF uniform hanging off a lanky body scrawny from bouts of malaria and burnt near-black from the tropical sun. His aim was to buy a wedding ring, as the long-awaited event was planned for two days hence. My mother’s family was not about to allow time for any pre-marital hanky-panky!

Dad found a jeweller’s shop near Flinders Street station and went in to purchase a ring. The shop was run down and gloomy and the counters dusty. Buying jewellery had obviously not been a priority for Melburnians during the hard years of war. The elderly jeweller shuffled out from a back room.

“I need a wedding ring, please. Doesn’t have to be fancy, just something simple will do the trick.”

The old man looked at him thoughtfully. “You have been over there, to my side of the world?” 

“Yeah, just got off the boat, and I’m getting married in a couple of days. She’s been waiting three years.”

“Well,” said the jeweller slowly, setting the dust motes dancing as he pulled out a tray of rings. “I am thinking, perhaps one of these?”

Dad’s heart sank when he saw the prices.

“I only have ten quid,” he said, embarrassed.

“Let me see, this one here should suit. It’s excellent quality, and wide enough to last a lifetime or more. That’s what you want, is it not? One day your great-great granddaughter will wear it.”

Dad shifted from one foot to another. “It’s just fine. In fact, it’s more than just fine. It’s a beautiful ring, but …”

“I’ll wrap it for you then.” The jeweller polished the ring carefully and found a small box.

“I can’t afford it,” said Dad loudly.

“You see my name up there, on the sign? Ezra Lieberman. You know what that means? Of course you do. So this ring is a gift, an offering of thanks, from someone who was too old to go and fight for his people. Now leave me, my friend, and get married and live happily ever after. Otherwise, what was it all for?”

And so Dad left, with the tiny box in his pocket. He married my mother as planned, brought up a large family and eventually owned the farm they so desired.

Eighty years later, as shrieking ghouls from earlier times rise up to stalk our streets, his great-granddaughter will wear this ring when she marries her beloved. And that is just as it should be. Otherwise, what was it all for?