RUTHFULLY YOURS

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 should have been a rude awakening from the dogmatic slumbers of the previous decade. Instead, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the West went on a vacation from history. The seeming triumph of liberal democracy and free-market capitalism convinced many that all we had left to do was to oversee the inevitable triumph of the Western paradigm throughout the world. Unfortunately, the “world,” especially the Islamic ummah, had other plans, ones that our own bad ideas and cultural dogmas have advanced.

Most broadly, the centuries-long belief that all peoples everywhere are embryonic Westerners should have been shattered by the slaughter in Manhattan and at the Pentagon. The attacks were a horrifically graphic reminder that our core ideals––human rights, sex equality, tolerance of difference, peaceful coexistence, personal and political freedom, material prosperity, the separation of church and state, free speech, and consensual government founded on law––were historical anomalies rather than the destiny of all humanity.

Sensing weakness in the West, the absence of conviction and resolve, illegal migrants of all kinds pour into Europe. More drown. The problem gets bigger. And worse. Nations can only be generous if they feel secure. Australia has absorbed that lesson. The international community … not so much.
In 1957 I took out my first subscription to a “small magazine”. I did so through my school, St Mary’s College in Crosby, Lancashire, which encouraged its boys to take the Times and magazines such as the Spectator and the New Statesman as first steps to becoming leaders of society. My English teacher, Mr Hughes, had never heard of the magazine I chose, however. It was called Crossbow, the house journal of the Bow Group, itself quite a new body of young Tory intellectuals who wanted to continue talking politics late at night despite having left university. Perhaps because so many Bow Groupers worked in the London media, Crossbow’s launch had been covered by the BBC news. It still exists, incidentally, though mainly on the internet, where a search for it may mis-direct you to a magazine for electric crossbow enthusiasts.

Mr Hughes eventually tracked down the magazine, and its first issue devoted to “An Expanding Economy”, arrived at school. It left me cold. I was too young for the charm of economics. And how could an economy expand anyway? Or, come to that, contract? But its second issue inspired me—and it went on to inspire the world too.

Four young Tory activists—Crossbow editor Tim Raison, celebrated British athlete Christopher Chataway, Picture Post journalist Trevor Philpott, and financial writer Colin Jones, then on the Economist—launched a campaign in Crossbow to make 1960 a World Refugee Year when governments and voluntary bodies would devote special efforts to clearing the backlog of refugees and DPs (displaced persons) living in camps mainly in Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong. The idea caught fire, public opinion was aroused, US$92 million was raised in donations (a huge sum then), voluntary bodies were enthusiastic, an amazing array of celebrities from Clement Attlee to Dame Edith Evans endorsed it, the United Nations adopted WRY in a resolution, the Soviet bloc stayed aloof but passive, governments (many initially sceptical) got on board, national migrant quotas were expanded or special ones established, and by the end of 1960 the last refugee camps in Europe had been closed. It was an astonishing achievement for a magazine that probably counted its subscribers in the high hundreds.

If you wish there were no 22nd Amendment, enabling Barack Obama to continue his successes, here and abroad, then the next best thing for you is to vote for Donald Trump.

Huey Long said, “If fascism comes to America, it will be called anti-fascism.” In truth, if fascism comes to 21st-century America, it should be called game show hucksterism.

If six years of an immature, pampered narcissist have not been enough for you – if you enjoy rule by a clique of incompetent über-wealthy cronies, with little regard for the constitution, led by a man with distorted knowledge of history, geopolitics, economics, basic science, world religions and conflicts, yet thinks he knows everything; who easily lies about his faith, and anything else, at any time or any place; who believes that language is as flexible as Humpty Dumpty’s words or merely Orwellian expedients; who has no fixed values and cannot be relied upon to keep his word; who was created by a craven, money-driven, valueless media; who has had the skids of life greased for him; who enjoys luxury to excess; who credits himself with every success, real or imagined; who never acknowledges a failure, even when his own words refute his lie; who never constructs a reasoned argument in debate; who never treats with respect those with a different opinion; who is intolerant of dissent and is highly insulted by even the mildest criticism; who appeals to our basest instincts and grossly disrespects women who dare disagree with him; who does not seek to advance with ethical compromise, but rather prefers to bully – a man with no humility – then Trump is your man. President Trump will not only be Obama’s third term – he will be Obama’s hard-earned and well-deserved legacy.

Barack Obama and Donald Trump have more in common than once favoring single-payer national health plans. They are both thin-skinned. Neither ever says he’s sorry or expresses regret. Instead they blame and deride others.

Now for Obama this behavior has been VASTLY (caps deliberate) more consequential. His refusal to acknowledge having called ISIS the jayvee team, the lies surrounding Benghazi, the further prevarications surrounding Obamacare and the absolute failure to admit anything wrong after he abrogated his chemical-weapons red line with Assad (resulting in hundreds of thousands of Syrians now swarming into Europe) are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Maybe it’s time to amend one of Hollywood’s more famous lines: Self-love means never having to say you’re sorry.

Unfortunately, Donald Trump is prey to to the same self-love, or is it insecurity, as is Obama, although on a far lesser scale. At first we could excuse his crass comments about fellow Republicans, because at least he wasn’t a politically correct wimp and everybody — myself included — has had it up to wherever “here” is with political correctness. But his recent assaults are wearing thin.

As Muslims swarm into Europe, the long-term implications are clear as violence erupts and demands are made.

For example, the tiny Greek island of Lesbos, situated 6 miles from the Turkish shore, has a population of 85,000. But life for Greeks who live there has changed in hideously threatening ways, as they have been overwhelmed with 25,000 Muslim invaders. With no end in sight. The invaders arrive on inflatable boats, which they slash once they reach the shore. Breitbart reports on German news coverage (RTL):

…they are being held on the Island while the police issue emigration documents, a delay which can take days. The wait is causing tension between groups as Afghans accuse Syrians of getting preferential treatment by the authorities, leading to vicious violent clashes.

As rocks, bottles and municipal bins fly, one tearful local woman told RTL “We are in danger, every day, every minute. We need someone to protect us. They come into our houses. I want to go to work, but I can’t. Our children want to go to school, but they can’t. They have stolen our lives!” (snip)

The main town of Lesbos, Mytilene, now resembles a war zone as the migrants rip apart the infrastructure and use the town as a urinal. Mayor Galinos helpless in the face of such an onslaught is out of ideas, and is calling on the European Union to do something.

“This is a ticking time bomb that will go off soon,” he said. “We have managed to avert some catastrophes, but we need help, more ferries. This island is so small, we can’t solve a worldwide humanitarian crisis by ourselves. The European Union needs to act.” (snip)

Junior interior minister Yiannis Mouzalas told local radio “the situation is on the verge of explosion.” It is a scene being replicated on islands all along Greece’s coastline.

From a statement by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) after Senate Democrats on Thursday used a filibuster to block a vote on a resolution disapproving of the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran:

Political fealty to President Obama’s hoped-for legacy in foreign affairs means this dangerous deal will likely move forward, despite the overwhelming and bipartisan opposition to it in Congress and the clear will of the American people. Obstruction on the part of a minority of legislators is not the foundation on which lasting, consequential arms control agreements are built. A majority of Americans oppose the Iran deal because it compromises the safety and security of not only the United States, but also of the rest of the world.

History will remember this stunning display of partisan loyalty and willful blindness. And it will remember this Senate as the one that—when given the chance to stop the world’s worst sponsor of terrorism from obtaining the world’s worst weapons—blinked when confronted with that evil.

The Senate held its first showdown vote on the Iranian nuclear deal Thursday, with 58 Senators having declared their opposition, including four Democrats and Republican non-hawks like Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky. The American public is also overwhelmingly opposed, with a Pew poll this week finding 21% approval for the agreement versus 49% disapproval.

So it says something about President Obama’s contempt for Congress that he browbeat and threatened 42 Democrats to filibuster the vote so he can duck having to veto a resolution of disapproval. The President may think he can spin 42 Senate votes into political vindication, and we’re sure he’ll get media support for that view. But Americans should read a filibuster as a tacit Democratic admission of no confidence in an agreement they fear voting on.

President Obama told Americans he was staying out of the civil war in Syria, but the Syrian war is not staying out of America. The White House announced Thursday that Mr. Obama now wants the U.S. to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next year.

That’s a sixfold increase from the number already in the U.S., and don’t expect that to be the last arrivals. The conflict may get worse, especially as Russia ignores U.S. objections and moves in to prop up Bashar Assad’s rule. Mr. Obama will be under growing pressure from a besieged Europe to accept tens of thousands given America’s larger space and economy.

Americans are generous, and there’s little doubt the U.S. can absorb these people who might otherwise be killed. But rest assured that Islamic State and al Qaeda will attempt to place some of their agents among those who will seek asylum. The burden will be on the Obama Administration to vet them.

The terror threat is growing, but our nation’s leaders are even deeper in denial than they were 14 years ago.

The anniversaries and other reminders of the Islamic extremist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, stir a torrent of thoughts and emotions. But we should try to focus on those most relevant today.

A sensitive and appropriate 9/11 museum has now been built. A new tower has emerged as a great work of architecture adding to the world’s most-iconic skyline. Lower Manhattan, specifically the immediate vicinity of the World Trade Center, which many of us feared might be abandoned in the wake of these attacks and constant threats of future attacks, has more than doubled in population.

It has gone far beyond the goals we set in 1994 when we secured passage of a law allowing the use of many of the older buildings and sites in the area for residential as well as office and commercial uses. All of this is a good sign that New Yorkers have not only met but exceeded the challenge I gave on the evening of Sept. 11, 2001: that New Yorkers should become stronger as a result of the attack.

It has been 5,113 days since the al Qaeda attacks on New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and the failed third assault that was intercepted into a farm field in Shanksville, Pennsylviania, by American patriots. To borrow a phrase from a past generation that certainly applies to this event, it is a day that will live in infamy. But few would believe where our country is today given the events of that fateful day. Today Americans stand viciously divided in our politics as a society that rationalizes Islamofascist aggression (and, in the case of Iran, facilitates it), even as we harbor ideological factions that stand in protest of our law enforcement officers. We have moved away from the cohesive and united front we embraced shoulder-to-shoulder at the smoking pile of rubble that was the remnants of the World Trade Center; the tomb that holds so many souls.