The Rise of Radical Islamism in Bangladesh: A New Theocratic State? by Anna Mahjar-Barducci

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21790/the-rise-of-radical-islamism-in-bangladesh-a-new

The rise of radical Islamic influence under Yunus’s watch threatens to transform Bangladesh from a secular democracy into a theocratic state.

The passive response of Mohamad Yunus’s interim government’s to these demands signals either weakness or tacit approval of the country’s Islamization.

Yunus’s interim government lifted the bans imposed on Jamaat-e-Islami, its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, and “all associated organizations.” At the same time, the interim government banned Sheikh Hasina’s secular Awami League party. Yunus also freed hundreds of jihadists, and in the post-Hasina era, Islamist flags and “Islamic State” banners have been seen on the streets of Dhaka.

Islamist candidates from Jamaat-e-Islami will be allowed to run in the next elections, but not the secular Awami candidates.

The new Cyber Security Ordinance 2025, which has been criticized for potentially suppressing dissent, and the amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act, which have enabled the banning of all activities of the Awami League, demonstrate how quickly the country is descending into chaos.

Even with Bangladesh Bank’s desperate measure of raising the policy rate to 10%, citizens continue to bear the brunt of economic mismanagement. The promise of economic recovery under a Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist, who has been a darling of the American Democratic administrations, has turned into a nightmare for millions of Bangladeshis who struggle with basic necessities as their purchasing power decreases daily.

Meanwhile, [Yunus’s] courtship of China and Pakistan, reveals a foreign policy that lacks strategic thinking. In April 2025, Yunus invited China to establish an economic base in Bangladesh, stressing that Dhaka is the “sole guardian of the ocean” in the subcontinent…. On June 19, 2025, China hosted a first trilateral meeting with Bangladesh and Pakistan, aimed at enhancing cooperation in trade, and revealing an intent to isolate India in the subcontinent.

The economic indicators paint a grim picture of Bangladesh under Yunus’ stewardship.

The political situation under Yunus reveals a government sliding into being another failed state, ripe for terrorists, and unable to chart a constructive course.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamad Yunus’s transition from economist to head of Bangladesh’s interim government has proven fatal for Bangladesh. Since assuming power in August 2024, Yunus has presided over a nation sliding into political chaos, radical Islamism, economic distress, and social fragmentation. Bangladesh has devolved into a governance crisis that threatens Bangladesh’s economic stability and democratic future.

Fateh Would Be as Terrible a Mayor of Minneapolis as Mamdani Will Be as Mayor of NY A harrowing forecast. by Hugh Fitzgerald

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fateh-would-be-as-terrible-a-mayor-of-minneapolis-as-mamdani-will-be-as-mayor-of-ny/

The news from Minneapolis is not good. “Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Omer Fatah Criticized Israel After Oct. 7, Accused Jewish State of ‘Genocide’ in Gaza,” by Corey Walker, Algemeiner, July 23, 2025:

Minneapolis mayoral candidate and Democratic Socialist Omar Fateh, who recently secured the Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) Party’s endorsement for mayor of Minneapolis, is drawing scrutiny over his statements regarding Israel amid a heated mayoral campaign.

Fateh’s victory at the DFL convention shattered expectations when he amassed a majority of delegate votes, surpassing incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, who is Jewish. Moreover, Fateh’s unexpected victory has also drawn fresh attention towards his views on Israel-Palestine.

Following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel, Fateh published a letter that was broadly critical of the Jewish state and called for an “immediate ceasefire.” Fateh drew an equivalency between Israel’s defensive military operations and the Hamas slaughter of 1200 people and abduction of 250 others.

“I am overwhelmed with sorrow for the victims of this violence as well as anger towards both the Israeli Government and Hamas who have senselessly injured and killed thousands of people in a matter of days,” Fateh wrote.

Radicals who blocked Israeli ship didn’t represent Syros, locals say David Isaac

https://www.jns.org/radicals-who-blocked-israeli-ship-didnt-represent-syros-locals-say/

The island’s leadership calls it “the crisis.” The scene at Syros last week, when passengers from an Israeli cruise ship were prevented from disembarking at the Greek island by anti-Israel demonstrators, rose to the level of an international incident.

Israel’s foreign minister called his counterpart to intervene. The ambassadors of Israel and Greece became directly involved. Greece’s Minister of Citizen Protection promised to throw the book at anyone trying such a stunt again.

The stunt was tried again. On Monday, protesters, though fewer in number, gathered at the port in Rhodes to protest the arrival of an Israeli cruise ship. As it turned out, it was the same cruise ship that couldn’t stop at Syros—the MS Crown Iris operated by Mano Maritime, a Haifa-based shipping firm. This time, police were prepared, and the Israeli tourists disembarked peacefully.

Less reported is that the ship was received in a special ceremony by the mayor of Rhodes, the governor of the South Aegean Region, representatives of the Dodecanese Chamber of Commerce and other personages, who welcomed the passengers in a show of appreciation for Israeli tourism.

Greece is an enormously popular tourist destination for Israelis, to the point where many shopkeepers even speak some Hebrew.

There Goes The West

https://issuesinsights.com/2025/08/01/there-goes-the-west/

President Donald Trump has told Canada that if it recognizes Palestine as a state, it’s jeopardizing a trade pact with the U.S. The threat is more than leverage for talks. It’s a reminder that the West is giving up on civilization and needs to be rousted from its slumber.

“Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine,” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social. “That will make it very hard for us to make a trade deal with them.”

Canada is not the only Western nation that feels the need to recognize the terrorist-controlled Gaza Strip, which, with the Israel-occupied West Bank, is considered by some to be Palestine, a country that has never existed. Both France and the United Kingdom have said they will recognize Palestinian statehood next month. As loony as that sounds, there might be a practical reason for it. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron “are likely terrified of their local Muslim populations — and probably not without reason,” says Stephen Green.

It’s unfortunate, but more than 75% of the United Nations member countries already formally recognize Palestine. (But the U.N. doesn’t consider Hamas a terrorist group.) Now the holdouts in the West are beginning to surrender, even though Hamas, designated widely as a terrorist organization, governs the Gaza Strip.

Much of the West seems no longer interested in maintaining even a veneer of civilization. In the name of diversity, inclusion, and tolerance, and for the purposes of virtue signaling and assuaging their guilt for enjoying the benefits of civilization, Western “leaders” have actively imported migrants who have not just disrupted society but have taken it backward. They are ceding ground to those who actively despise everything about the West other than its wealth. The results have been appalling.

Too Little, Too Late, Harvard Is Told About Its Response to Antisemitism Claims

https://www.thefp.com/p/exclusive-too-little-too-late-harvard?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

After months of negotiations, the Trump administration tells Harvard that it could face a civil-rights lawsuit.

Harvard may now face litigation from the Justice Department for alleged antisemitic harassment. After concluding that Harvard would not voluntarily comply with civil-rights law, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday referred its investigation to the Justice Department, according to a letter sent to Harvard president Alan Garber.

On June 30, the Office of Civil Rights at HHS found Harvard in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in federally funded programs. Both before and after that finding, the government engaged in “extensive communications with Harvard about the steps needed to address antisemitism on its campus,” according to today’s letter.

The Free Press mobile app is here! The Free Press app gives you access to everything we write, record, and film, all in one place. It’s fast and easy to use, and the best way to make sure you never miss a Free Press story.

“Rather than voluntarily comply with its obligations under Title VI, Harvard has chosen scorched-earth litigation against the Federal government,” wrote Paula M. Stannard, the director of the HHS Office of Civil Rights. “The parties’ several months’ engagement has been fruitless.”

An HHS official told The Free Press that since the matter is now also in the Justice Department’s hands, a court could order penalties beyond the suspension of future funds. These could include a “consent decree or injunction” that would force Harvard to enforce its own policies on discrimination, harassment, and protest.

The Disgraceful Campaign Against a Top FDA Official

https://www.thefp.com/p/the-disgraceful-campaign-against-vinay-prasad-health-politics-trump?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

It’s America’s loss that Vinay Prasad will not be able to make the changes necessary to restore trust in public health officials.

Three months ago, Dr. Marty Makary, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, named Dr. Vinay Prasad to serve as the head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, a division that “regulates biological products for human use” and oversees their safety and effectiveness. In making the announcement on X, he described his new hire, a well-known oncologist, Substacker, and frequent critic of the public-health establishment, like this: “Dr. Prasad brings the kind of scientific rigor, independence, and transparency we need at CBER.”

We have long admired Prasad for precisely the reasons Makary cited, and have been proud to publish his pieces on such subjects as scientific fraud and the loss of trust in public health. One of his early policy decisions as the head of CBER was to end the unnecessary and divisive federal recommendation that young children be vaccinated against Covid-19. Dr. Prasad was an outspoken critic of government overreach during the pandemic, and with this act, it seemed possible that he could help restore the public’s lost faith in federal health institutions. 

Which is why we were so dismayed to read on Tuesday that he had abruptly left the agency. (You can read the backstory here, reported by our Gabe Kaminsky.)

Technically Prasad resigned, but it was under pressure from an ugly and unfounded smear campaign carried out by strange bedfellows, including Wall Street Journal editorial writer Allysia Finley, right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and, it would appear, by Sarepta Therapeutics, a company whose recently approved drug he had halted when two teenage patients and a young boy in Brazil died after taking it. 

What the Trump-Sadiq spat tells us about modern politics The populist Yank vs the hyper-woke Londoner – it’s the Western crisis distilled. Brendan O’Neill

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/07/30/what-the-trump-sadiq-spat-tells-us-about-modern-politics/

My favourite feud is back on. It’s Donald Trump vs Sadiq Khan. The wisecracking American president vs London’s pipsqueak mayor. The brash Yank voted into power by 77million souls bored rigid with elite opinion and the woke irritant in City Hall who embodies elite opinion. He’s a ‘nasty man’, said Trump of his old foe on Monday, re-igniting their bitchy spat that’s been rolling for nearly 10 years now. And I’m here for it.

It was while he was holding court at his luxury resort of Trump Turnberry in Scotland that Trump took yet another swipe at Sadiq. After playing a round of golf he had Keir Starmer over for a gab and some tea. Trump let rip. Wind turbines are crap, he said. They’re ‘ugly monsters’, they’re ‘made in China’ and they ‘kill the birds’. Even the Guardian had to admit a lot of this was true in its haughty rolling ‘fact-checking’ of the president.

He called on a visibly squirming Sir Keir to cut taxes and sort out the migrant crisis. He suggested he start fracking for gas in Aberdeen. He even seemed to hit on Starmer’s wife. ‘She’s very… she’s a great woman’, he said. ‘I don’t want to say more, I’ll get myself in trouble.’ Dude. The next day he doubled down on his bemusement at Britain’s embrace of the End Days cult of Net Zero. Starmer, he said, should be throwing open that ‘TREASURE CHEST’ of oil and gas in the North Sea and bringing down ‘energy costs for the people!’. He’s not wrong.

But it was his pop at Sadiq that got even robotic Starmer limply waving a manicured hand in vague protest. At Turnberry a reporter asked Trump if he’ll be visiting London. Trump, of course, has not once heard the word London without instantly thinking of its rubbish mayor. ‘I’m not a fan of your mayor’, he said. ‘I think he’s done a terrible job.’ Then the jibe: he’s a ‘nasty person’. Starmer stiffly intervened. ‘He’s a friend of mine’, he said, gingerly, in that lawyerly nasal whine, further proof that he’s the last man in Britain you’d want on your side in a fight at a pub.

The Cincinnati Cop-outs Black teens beat white bystanders in downtown Cincinnati as police, media, and public figures stay silent—revealing a dangerous double standard on racial violence. By Victor Davis Hanson

https://amgreatness.com/2025/07/31/the-cincinnati-cop-outs/

Recently, a large group of black youths began pummeling several white adults in downtown Cincinnati.

The original altercation apparently broke out between a black and white male in he-said/he-said fashion.

But that dispute soon turned into a virtual free-for-all.

Numerous male and female black youths sucker-punched a middle-aged woman and a man. Others continued to kick or body slam the victims, who were sprawled on their backs and seemingly unconscious.

There were many disturbing aspects to the beat-downs.

One, the violence broke out along racial and age fault lines. After the initial one-on-one dispute, groups of black youths swarmed solitary older white bystanders to pound them.

Two, the surrounding assembled group of black youths not only failed to intervene to restrain the bullies. They also recorded the beatings for social media and were heard cheering on the one-sided violence.

Three, there was neither a police presence nor any timely Good Samaritan interventions.

Instead, what ended the attacks was simply the fact that at least two of the targets appeared nearly comatose. So their assailants apparently concluded that their agenda of beating whites into unconsciousness was mostly complete.

Four, oddly few of the usual black spokespeople who habitually comment on interracial violence were to be seen.

During the fake Jussie Smollett attack, self-appointed leaders from Al Sharpton to Kamala Harris immediately issued warnings about so-called systemic white racism that had reared its ugly head to victimize Smollett.

Yet when it was revealed Smollett had concocted the entire charade—and even hired his own assaulters—there were few if any retractions from those once so eager to shout “racist!”

Who’s Really Starving Gaza? The world deserves to stop being lied to. by Aynaz Anni Cyrus

https://www.frontpagemag.com/whos-really-starving-gaza/

The Hunger Narrative

“Israel is starving Gaza.”

That’s the line. You’ve seen it splashed across headlines, painted on protest signs, shouted from international stages. The UN calls it a “man-made famine.” Celebrities post black squares with #LetGazaLive. Social media reels show crying children with empty bowls, overlaid with dramatic music and a single, pointed caption: Genocide by hunger.

The accusation is explicit, and it’s powerful. What better way to cast Israel as a monster than to say it withholds food from children? No need to mention rockets, tunnels, or terrorists when you can show an empty plate and let the world assume who’s holding it back.

But there’s a problem.

That narrative has a kill switch. It’s called truth.

And the truth is this: yes, Israel has restricted aid into Gaza, especially during periods of intensified fighting. Prime Minister Netanyahu has publicly said that only “minimal” humanitarian aid will be allowed in—not zero, but not full access either. Tactical pauses have been announced to let trucks through. Convoys still move daily. Airdrops are happening. Israel even restored power to water pumps that serve Gaza civilians.

So no—this isn’t a total blockade. It’s a controlled, reduced flow of aid during a war against a terror regime that hijacks every resource it can. Israel’s goal, as stated, is military pressure—not civilian starvation.

But the global narrative ignores all that nuance.

Because the truth makes for bad propaganda.

Meanwhile, Hamas does everything it can to intensify the suffering, block the flow, and profit off the corpses. And that’s what the next section is about.

What Israel Is Actually Doing

Despite what you’ve been told, aid is entering Gaza.

Investigating Barack Obama and the 2016 Trump Presidential Campaign Revenge or justice? by Victor Davis Hanson

https://www.frontpagemag.com/investigating-barack-obama-and-the-2016-trump-presidential-campaign/

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard just released a trove of apparently once-classified documents — with promises of much more to follow.

The new material describes the role of the Obama administration’s intelligence and investigatory directors — purportedly along with former President Barack Obama himself — in undermining the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. In addition, their efforts extended to sabotaging the 2016-2017 presidential transition and, by extension, the first three years of the Trump presidency.

The released documents add some new details to what over the last decade has become accepted knowledge.

Congressional committees, special prosecutors, and the inspectors general had all previously issued reports that largely confirmed the general outlines of the skullduggery that began in 2015-16.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign, later aided by the top echelon of the FBI, CIA, and the Director of National Intelligence, sought — falsely — to seed a narrative that Trump had colluded directly with Russia to win unfairly the 2016 election.

When that campaign gambit failed to alter the 2016 results, the Obama administration doubled down during the transition to undermine the incoming Trump presidency.

Next, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “all-star” legal team found no evidence of direct Trump-Putin collusion to hijack the election. But his investigation did sabotage 22 months of Trump’s first term, marked by constant leaks and hysterical rumors that Trump was soon to be convicted and jailed as a “Russian asset.”

By 2020, the frustrated intelligence agencies and former “authorities” now absurdly further lied that Hunter Biden’s incriminating laptop had “all the earmarks” — once again — of Russian interference.

So, what could be new about Gabbard’s latest release?