RUTHFULLY YOURS

Last Monday, a man walked into a Canadian Armed Forces recruiting office in Toronto and began to attack the military personnel working there. After first assaulting the soldier stationed at the reception desk, he pulled out a knife and, while yelling “Allah told me to do this,” slashed two military workers who had come to their comrade’s assistance. Other center personnel then joined in the melee and subdued the attacker, Ayanle Hassan Ali, 27, a Montreal-born man of Somali descent, holding him for police.

The surprising thing about this attack is not that it took place. Islamic terrorist attacks are now so common worldwide that they are almost routine. And this one also did not garner much media attention internationally, probably because no one was killed.

But what was noteworthy about Monday’s attack is the growing, and annoying, tendency to downplay such crimes, omit the word terror in describing them as well as any connection the attacks may have to Islam.

The most conspicuous example of this was provided by Toronto’s police chief, Mark Saunders. At a news conference on the day of the attack, he refused to say what Ali was yelling while trying to murder Canadian military personnel.

The Left made the argument that if international sanctions were lifted against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the country would open up politically and respect fundamental rights, international law and standards.

Nevertheless, the reality indicates that the ruling clerics are heading toward more radicalism, extremism, fundamentalism, and forceful implementation of Sharia and Shiite laws. The ruling mullahs seem to be proud that their country has hit the highest rate of execution since 1989. The official number shows that Iran perforned nearly two times more executions in 2015 in comparison to 2010 when the hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in office, as well as roughly 10 times more than the number of executions in 2005.

Approximately 1000 people were executed in 2015, according to the latest report from the United Nations investigator, Ahmed Shaheed, the special rapporteur for human rights in Iran. The unofficial number is definitely much higher.

The peak of the executions in 2015 was between April and June in which nearly 4 people were executed every day on average. Most of the executions were carried out in prisons located in urban areas, such as Ghezel Hesar and Rajai Shahr in Karaj, and Adel Abad in Shiraz, through various traditional methods.

Iran has surpassed China in the number of executions being carried out per capita. Most of the executions in Iran are being done by hanging. In addition to the alarming increase in executions, fundamental rights, including those for ethnic and religious minorities, appear to have regressed in 2015 as well.

TEL AVIV—Meir Dagan, who as chief of Israel’s intelligence agency was widely credited with disrupting Iran’s nuclear program, died Thursday, the Israeli government said. He was 71.

Mr. Dagan served as director of the agency, the Mossad, from 2002 until his retirement in 2011. During that time, Israel is believed to have carried out deadly assaults on Iran’s nuclear scientists and cyberattacks against its nuclear enrichment facilities. As a matter of policy, Israel neither confirms nor denies such operations.

In retirement, Mr. Dagan became a vocal critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ultimately unsuccessful efforts to stop the nuclear deal between Tehran and the U.S. and five other world powers. He said Mr. Netanyahu exaggerated the threat of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons for political gain.

In a statement, Mr. Netanyahu called the former spy director a “great fighter” who had devoted his life to Israel and the Jewish people.

“He led the organization in daring, pioneering and groundbreaking operations,” the Israeli premier said.

Mr. Dagan’s died from complications of cancer, said a spokesman for the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. He underwent a liver transplant in Belarus in 2012.

Mr. Dagan was appointed to head the Mossad by Ariel Sharon, then prime minister. When he stepped down nine years later, in 2011, he was praised by Israeli officials for restoring the daring image of the spy agency. CONTINUE AT SITE

KERRY’S RESPONSE ““We call again on North Korea to refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international commitments and obligations.” That’ll learn em…..rsk
SEOUL—North Korea fired a midrange ballistic missile into the sea early Friday as it continues annual military exercises and protests new U.S.-led sanctions.

The missile was launched from an area northwest of Pyongyang at 5:55 a.m. local time and flew about 800 kilometers (500 miles) before crashing off the Korean Peninsula’s eastern coast, a spokesman for Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Military officials said that the projectile was likely one of North Korea’s Rodong-type missiles and appeared to have been fired from a mobile launcher. The last test firing of a Rodong missile was in 2014, they said.

North Korea fired another projectile from the same area around 20 minutes later but it disappeared from radar screens shortly after launch, the officials said. Further analysis is needed to conclude whether it broke up or there was an error in the radar system, they said.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement condemning the launches.

“We call again on North Korea to refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international commitments and obligations,” he said.

North Korea is barred from testing ballistic missiles and nuclear explosives under United Nations’ resolutions, but leader Kim Jong Un recently pledged to continue testing both. CONTINUE AT SITE

HAVANA, Cuba—About 30 antigovernment protesters gathered at this city’s Mahatma Gandhi Park on Sunday and unfurled a banner in anticipation of President Barack Obama’s groundbreaking visit next week. “Obama, Cuba has a dream,” it read. “Cuba without Castros.”

They were soon surrounded by an angry crowd, followed by Cuban security officers who tore the banner from their hands, hustled them into police cars and took them away.

Some arrested demonstrators said they were kicked, hit, pushed to the ground and stripped naked before being released hours later. Their treatment was part of a more general crackdown on dissidents as the U.S. president prepares to arrive in Havana on Monday.

‘The Cuban government keeps trying to stop us, to demonize us, and we all live in fear.’
—Berta Soler of the dissident group Ladies in White

Since the U.S. began normalizing relations with its long-standing political foe in December 2014, tourism here has flourished, making central Havana bustle with new restaurants, hotels and gift shops. But in crumbling neighborhoods outside the elegant tourist areas, residents say the repression by President Raúl Castro’s government hasn’t let up for those daring to speak out.

“Here in Cuba nothing has changed,” said Berta Soler, a member of a dissident group calling itself the Ladies in White, moments before she was arrested with those carrying the banner. “The Cuban government keeps trying to stop us, to demonize us, and we all live in fear.”

Ladies in White, whose members wear white to symbolize peace, are among the dissidents targeted in a wave of arrests around the island in recent days, say human-rights activists here and abroad. That comes in part because the dissidents have stepped up their activities as they strive to be noticed ahead of Mr. Obama’s visit. CONTINUE AT SITE