All Aboard the Crazy Train Or at least that’s how populism’s rise feels to those at the World Economic Forum. By Walter Russell Mead

https://www.wsj.com/articles/all-aboard-the-crazy-train-11579554512?mod=opinion_featst_pos3

Davos, Switzerland

“As the millionaires, billionaires and Greta Thunberg assemble in Davos this week to debate the future of the world, they face a crisis of relevance. What if, with all of their competence, experience, cosmopolitan vision and, yes, goodwill, the Davoisie are merely passengers, comfortably ensconced in first-class seats, on a train whose route they do not know and cannot control?”

For half a century the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum has brought a mix of business leaders, politicians, pundits, academics, activists, “social entrepreneurs” and celebrities to this small village high in the Swiss Alps. For the year-round inhabitants, the conference is a mixed blessing. Security barriers and heavy traffic turn the narrow streets into a nightmare. With well-situated one-bedroom apartments renting for as much as $5,000 a night, however, many a Davos-dweller can escape the madness and pocket a nice profit. The resort’s hotels also make out well; with corporations and governments competing to reserve ballrooms and salons for their events, local hoteliers can clear more in a week than they likely could make during the whole ski season in the old pre-WEF days.

There is something inescapably ridiculous about a gathering this self-important; certainly Marie Antoinette and her friends dressing up as shepherdesses to celebrate the simple life has nothing on the more than 100 billionaires descending, often by private jet, on an exclusive Swiss ski resort for four days of ostentatious hand-wringing about the problems of the poor and the dangers of climate change. This year an earnest young aide at registration told me that, to reduce the event’s carbon footprint, no paper maps of the town were being distributed; one could almost feel the waves of relief from the nearby Alpine glaciers at this sign of green progress.

Yet smirk as one may, and sometimes as one must, this year’s WEF arrived at a difficult time for the Davoisie—those who are at home in the thin air of this global gathering. Leaders the world over are now having to come to grips with a new age of populism, nationalism and protectionism.

For the Davoisie the rise of populism is a huge problem. A world increasingly separating into rival blocs as supply chains begin to decouple isn’t a hospitable environment for global governance, Third Way capitalist reform and their many other hopes and projects.

Calling All Trial Witnesses We doubt Democrats want to hear from Hunter and Joe Biden.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/calling-all-trial-witnesses-11579652544?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

The Senate impeachment trial began Tuesday with political theater over rules. Senate Republicans prefer an expeditious trial while Democrats who rushed to impeach in the House are suddenly demanding witnesses and crying “coverup.” So let’s break down what’s really going on in the fight over witnesses.

By our deadline, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell looked set to keep his caucus together for his organizing resolution. His framework provides Democratic House impeachment managers 24 hours over three working days to make their case, followed by the same for a White House defense. Bill Clinton’s trial also provided each side 24 hours, though neither ended up using even half.

But Democrats are demanding that the Senate also call former National Security Adviser John Bolton ; acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney ; Mulvaney adviser Robert Blair ; and White House budget official Michael Duffey.

This is more than a little disingenuous. House Democrats could have gone to court to challenge President Trump’s assertion of executive privilege over testimony, and the House did sue initially to compel former Bolton deputy Charles Kupperman. But House Democrats abandoned their demands when litigation didn’t fit their rushed political timeline. They declared instead that the existing evidence more than justified impeachment. Yet now their “overwhelming” evidence has become a GOP “coverup.”

Protesters in Puerto Rico Call for Governor’s Resignation After Aid Found in Warehouse By Rick Moran

https://pjmedia.com/trending/protesters-in-puerto-rico-call-for-governors-resignation-after-aid-found-in-warehouse/

Hundreds of protesters in Puerto Rico demonstrated outside the governor’s mansion and capitol building in San Juan, calling on Governor Wanda Vazquez to resign. The protest stems from a video showing tons of disaster relief supplies — some of it from Hurricane Gloria in 2017, that was discovered in a warehouse. A video of a crowd storming the warehouse went viral on social media last week, leading to nationwide outrage.

Associated Press:

“We have to get rid of all the corrupt officials,” said Mari Rivera, a government employee who said that Gov. Wanda Vazquez “needs to stop blaming others and show her face.”

About 600 people banged on pots and some waved Puerto Rican flags as one of them yelled into a bullhorn, “Wanda, turn over the disaster supplies!”

Evangelical preacher Ramón Marrero, who drove up from the southern coastal town of Guayama with his wife and daughters, said they came “to show our indignation, our annoyance, our rebellion.”

The scene reminded many of the beginning of protests that escalated over the summer and led to the resignation of former Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, with demonstrators once again vowing to remain in the streets until Vázquez also steps down.

Rossello was forced out after private chats with close associates were leaked, painting an unflattering portrait of the governor.

But this is a far more serious situation, with questions swirling around the unused supplies.

Holocaust remembrance, Palestinian irrelevance Ruthie Blum

https://www.jns.org/opinion/holocaust-remembrance-palestinian-irrelevance/

Bemoaning all the apparent attention on the Jews prior to the Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem, a columnist for the official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper “Al-Hayat Al-Jadida” proposed murder as a solution to stop the proceedings.

(JNS) As the nearly 50 heads of state from around the globe began preparing for their arrival in Israel this week to attend the Fifth World Holocaust Forum—on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the 1945 liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp from the Nazis—the powers-that-be in the Palestinian Authority have been busy trying to figure out how best to channel their anger and envy.

Unfortunately for P.A. head Mahmoud Abbas and his disgruntled Fatah henchmen, however, nobody really cares—least of all U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who will be representing the White House at the somber Jan. 23 “Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Anti-Semitism” event hosted by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem.

The significance of the major happening is magnified by the recent spike in worldwide anti-Semitism, even in America, where the rearing of its ugly head in heavily Orthodox neighborhoods has been almost as shocking as its explosion on university campuses.

To the dismay of the aging Abbas, who alternates between denying the Holocaust—as he did in his Ph.D. thesis—and accusing the Jewish state of committing Nazi-like crimes against the Palestinians, very few members of the diverse group of dignitaries gathering in the Israeli capital that he does not recognize will be taking a break in their whirlwind visit to pay their respects, or even lip service, to him.

Bemoaning the above, a regular columnist for the official P.A. daily newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, proposed murder as a solution.

The 21st Century Israeli Economic Surge Yoram Ettinger

https://bit.ly/30JE01o

1. 2000 to 2019:

*Population – from 6.2 million to 9.1 million (47% growth);
*Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – from $132BN to $404BN (206% growth);
*GDP per capita – from $21,000 to $44,000 (110% growth);
*Export – from $47BN to $117BN (149% growth);
*Women in the workforce – from 48% to 60% (25% growth);
*University/college students – from 70,000 to 316,000 (351% growth);
*Incoming tourists – from 2.31 million to 4.87 million (108% growth);
*Water desalination – from 2% to 26% (1,300% growth);
*Foreign exchange reserves – from $24BN to $119BN (396% growth);
*Government debt per GDP – from 77% to 58.5% (24.7% reduction);
*US “aid” per GDP – from 2.3% to 1% (57% reduction);
*Defense budget per GDP – from 9% to 5% (44% reduction);
*Tax burden – from 43% to 32% (26% reduction);
*Number of vehicles per 1,000 people – from 277 to 396 (43% growth);
*Emigrants per 100,000 people – from 340 to 160 (51% reduction).

Source: Dr. Adam Reuter, the Chairman and Founder of “Financial Immunities,” Israel’s largest financial-risk management firm, and the co-author of Israel – Island of Success.

Gallup: Majority Opposes Trump Removal By Matthew Continetti

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/gallup-majority-opposes-trump-removal/

As if we needed further evidence of our divided country: Gallup’s latest poll shows that a majority, 51 percent to 46 percent, opposes removing President Trump from office.

The polls are as divided as America. A CNN-SSRS poll conducted shortly after Gallup’s survey has a majority favoring conviction, 51 percent to 45 percent. The CNN-SSRS poll was of registered voters. Gallup’s was of adults. The RealClearPolitics average of polls is a tie: 47 percent for removal, 47 percent against it. The FiveThirtyEight average has 49 percent supporting impeachment, and 46 percent opposing it.

So America is split. And perhaps a little confused. What’s remarkable is how stable this division and confusion is. The “Pro’s” have held a slight advantage in FiveThirtyEight’s calculations since October. The “No’s” have held the slightest of edges in the RealClearPolitics average since December. Throughout it all, President Trump’s approval rating has waxed and waned within the low- to mid-forties.

 

Gallup’s number is positive for Trump. The pollster has him at 44 percent job approval. “Trump’s recent job approval ratings — though below the historical average 53% for post-World War II presidents — are among the highest of his presidency,” writes Jeffrey M. Jones.

They are also above his average 40 percent approval during his term. “Trump’s job approval ratings are nowhere near as high as Clinton’s were during his impeachment saga, but they are among the best Trump has registered as president.” They are also right about where Barack Obama’s approval was as he kicked off his successful reelection campaign.

Government in the Shadows By Victor Davis Hanson

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/01/anti-trumpers-conduct-shadow-government/

Goodbye to the peaceful transfer of power.

T he frenetic opposition to Donald Trump by the Washington establishment, the new progressive, hard-left Democratic party, and in particular the veterans of the Obama administration has led to the ruination of a number of hallowed protocols and customs.

Impeachment has been redefined as a mere vote of no confidence and will become a rank political ploy for years to come once an opposition party gains a majority in the House. It is taking on the flavor of a preemptory device, a vaccination, rather than a medicine, as if to prevent future hypothetical crimes in the absence of current impeachable offenses.

Whistleblowers are now mere political operatives, who work with the opposition party to disseminate second- and third-hand rumor to prompt impeachment frenzies.

The FISA court has been disgraced. It was revealed to be either incompetent or actively partisan in its failure to question the Steele dossier’s legitimacy, in ignoring the warnings of Devin Nunes’s memo, and in the court’s selection of hard-core anti-Trump partisan David Kris to monitor FBI compliance with the recommendations of the Horowitz report. At this point, the existing FISA courts should probably be dismissed and the laws authorizing their creation rewritten.

Austrian Coalition Agreement: The “Road to Serfdom” by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15469/austria-coalition-agreement-serfdom

Most of what the People’s Party and the Greens grandly announce in their pact paves the road to an illiberal democracy, even a totalitarian country, by introducing a dictatorship of political correctness.

“[There is a] major restriction, if not ultimately, the abolition of the most important fundamental and human right, freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is the central basis and prerequisite for any democracy based on the rule of law. This is exactly why Turkey or Russia are not democracies — there are elections there, but people are constantly being locked up for [their] opinions.” — Andreas Unterberger, Austria’s most widely read political blogger, January 3, 2020.

Now, a number of institutions, funded by taxpayer money, will be established to monitor those people whose opinions are no longer acceptable…. the measures introduced in the coalition agreement which target only “right-wing extremism or extremists” will lead to a new wave of turning people in that is reminiscent of a very dark era in Austrian history.

“This is the first time since 1945 that the fight against thoughts has become official government policy in Austria.” — Andreas Unterberger.

While most of the world’s attention was focused on the death of a terrorist leader, Iran’s Qasem Soleimani, and the ensuing missile retaliation in the Middle East, a small country in the heart of Europe was once again ruled by an elected coalition government. Following snap elections in late September 2019, the Austrian population exhibited great patience until the start of a new decade, when, on January 2, the Austrian People’s Party and the Greens proclaimed, to paraphrase the Vatican: “Habemus gubernationem!” (We have a government!)

Given that the two parties entering this government are polar opposites in terms of political orientation, left vs. right, it is not surprising that the negotiations for a “viable” and lasting government took 100 days until their successful conclusion. Moreover, given what the Greens stand for — the climate, preventing “right-wing extremists” (namely the Austrian Freedom Party) from entering government ever again, and transparency — it would seem irreconcilable with the People’s Party’s goals: migration and law and order. At first, only the Austrian and European mainstream media and the European Union enthusiasts in Brussels were optimistic about this new coalition. The latest polls, however, indicate rising approval among the population.

How long this enthusiasm will last, remains to be seen. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz praised the 326-page coalition agreement as “incorporating the best of both worlds”, and although it contains the proverbial “good, bad and ugly”, regretfully only little can be considered good. In fact, most of what the People’s Party and the Greens grandly announce in their pact paves the road to an illiberal democracy, even a totalitarian country, by introducing a dictatorship of political correctness. As argued by Andreas Unterberger who runs Austria’s largest political blog:

“[There is a] major restriction, if not ultimately, the abolition of the most important fundamental and human right, freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is the central basis and prerequisite for any democracy based on the rule of law. This is exactly why Turkey or Russia are not democracies – there are elections there, but people are constantly being locked up for [their] opinions.”

Afghanistan Is Joe Biden’s War Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2020/01/20/afghanistan-is-joe-bidens-war/

It’s easy for the Democratic frontrunner to claim now that he would order troops home if he’s elected president. But first, the former vice president needs to account for the disaster that he and Barack Obama left for Donald Trump to clean up.

Joe Biden often brags that he was Barack Obama’s foreign affairs consigliere during their eight years together in the White House.

“One of the reasons Barack Obama picked me as vice president is because he lacked the background in foreign policy,” Biden told an NPR reporter in December. “He knew what he wanted to do, he knew how to get it done. But notice every time we had a problem on Capitol Hill, who went up and got it fixed?” Biden, of course, was referring to himself.

But as Obama’s legacy on international affairs implodes under the glare of Donald Trump’s brighter achievements, the role of Obama’s self-proclaimed BFF and global guru deserves long-delayed scrutiny. And no other Obama-era debacle merits more scrutiny than the war in Afghanistan, America’s longest-running war that continues to cost young lives and tens of billions in U.S. tax dollars each year.

In an explosive series published last month in the Washington Post, “The Afghanistan Papers” provides firsthand accounts from the war’s closest managers. Dozens of interviews offer insight into how the conflict has been mishandled from the start; how intelligence has been politicized; and how top officials, including former commanders-in-chief, have deceived the public and Congress about the real status of the war.

U.S. Army Purchases Israeli Spike NLOS Missiles How Obama’s perfidy led to the marriage of an Israeli missile with an American gunship. Ari Lieberman

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/01/us-army-purchases-israeli-spike-nlos-missiles-ari-lieberman/

The United States Army announced that it will purchase the Israeli Spike Non-Light-Of-Sight missile (NLOS) for its fleet of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters (and possibly for its MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial platforms) as an interim solution for a missile with greater standoff capabilities. Built by Raphael Advanced Defense Systems, the Spike NLOS has a range of 25 kilometers, which is more than double than that of the American Hellfire missile.

The missile, which features an advanced tandem warhead design is capable of penetrating reactive armor as well as the latest variants of composite armor. The “Non-Line-Of-Sight” is a reference to the Spike’s “over the horizon” capabilities, which enables the missile to engage an enemy target through indirect, standoff positions. This feature, along with the Spike’s range makes the pilot much less vulnerable to air defense systems, including anti-aircraft missiles and anti-aircraft artillery.

The Spike NLOS can be guided via a laser designator or real-time wireless data link. The operator can also abort the mission after launch or change targets. This is an important feature that enables the operator to limit collateral damage should civilians suddenly appear or alternatively, to direct the missile toward a more valuable or dangerous target. The dynamic and fluid nature of the modern battlefield makes this feature invaluable. The Hellfire does not have this capability.

Israel produces a wide variety of Spike missiles with different ranges for different combat situations. Some variants are light-weight and can be shoulder fired while other variants are heavier and can be launched from combat ships and areal platforms. Variants of Israel’s Spike are in service with 31 militaries worldwide but there is no better advertisement for the Spike than getting the U.S. Army’s imprimatur.