Authored by M.K. Bhadrakumar via Consortium News,

The hypothesis that the Anglo-Saxon axis is pivotal to the proxy war in Ukraine against Russia is only partly true. Germany is actually Ukraine’s second largest arms supplier, after the United States.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged a new arms package worth €700 million, including additional tanks, munitions and Patriot air defense systems at the NATO summit in Vilnius, putting Berlin, as he said, at the very forefront of military support for Ukraine. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stressed, “By doing this, we’re making a significant contribution to strengthening Ukraine’s staying power.” However, the pantomime playing out may have multiple motives. Fundamentally, Germany’s motivation is traceable to the crushing defeat by the Red Army and has little to do with Ukraine as such.

The Ukraine crisis has provided the context for accelerating Germany’s militarization. Meanwhile, revanchist feelings are rearing their head and there is a “bipartisan consensus” among Germany’s leading centrist parties — CDU, SPD and Green Party — in this regard. 

In an interview last weekend, the CDU’s leading foreign and defense expert Roderich Kiesewetter (an ex-colonel who headed the Association of Reservists of the Bundeswehr from 2011 to 2016) suggested that if conditions warrant in the Ukraine situation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should consider cutting off “Kaliningrad from the Russian supply lines. We see how Putin reacts when he is under pressure.”

Berlin is still smarting under the surrender of the ancient Prussian city of Königsberg [now Kaliningrad] in April 1945. 

Stalin ordered 1.5 million Soviet troops supported by several thousand tanks and aircraft to attack the crack Nazi Panzer divisions deeply entrenched in Königsberg. The capture of the heavily fortified stronghold of Königsberg by the Soviet army was celebrated in Moscow with an artillery salvo by 324 cannons firing 24 shells each.  

Nothing Forgotten in Berlin 

Evidently, Kiesewetter’s remarks show that nothing is forgotten or forgiven in Berlin even after eight decades. Thus, Germany is the Biden administration’s closest ally in the war against Russia.

The German government has stated its understanding for the Biden administration’s controversial decision to supply Ukraine with cluster ammunition. The government spokesman commented in Berlin, “We are certain that our US friends did not make their decision lightly, to deliver this sort of munition.” 

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier remarked, “In the current situation, one should not obstruct the USA.” Indeed, the top CDU figure, Kiesewetter, suggested in an interview with the Green Party-affiliated daily taz that Ukraine should be given “guarantees, and if necessary, even provided with nuclear assistance, as an intermediary step to NATO membership.”

Coinciding with the NATO summit in Vilnius on Tuesday and Wednesday, Rheinmetall, the great 135-year-old German arms manufacturing company, has disclosed that it is opening an armored vehicle plant in western Ukraine at an undisclosed location in the next 12 weeks.

To begin with, German Fuchs armored personnel carriers will be built and repaired while there are plans afoot to manufacture ammunition and possibly even air defense systems and tanks.

Rheinmetall’s CEO told CNN on Monday that like other Ukrainian arms factories, the new plant could be protected from Russian air attack. Germany has more than doubled the 2022 allocation of €2 billion for upgrading Ukraine’s armed forces. It now touches around €5.4 billion with further plans to increase to €10.5 billion.

Contending with Poland 

Now, is this all about Russia? Germany cannot be unaware that Ukraine has simply no hope on earth to defeat Russia militarily. Germany is playing the long game. It is creating equity in western Ukraine where it is not Russia but Poland that is its contender.

Ever since the Tsarist army advanced into Galicia in 1914, Russia has had a difficult history with Ukrainian nationalists. If the current war in Ukraine spreads to western Ukraine, that cannot be Russia’s choice but out of some necessity forced upon it.  

The Soviet victory in Ukraine in October 1944, the Red Army’s occupation of Eastern Europe and Allied diplomacy resulted in a redrawing of Poland’s western frontiers with Germany and Ukraine’s with Poland.

Simply put, with compensation of German territories in the west, Poland agreed to the cession of Volhynia and Galicia in western Ukraine; a mutual population exchange created for the first time in centuries a clear ethnic, as well as political, Polish-Ukrainian border. 

It is entirely conceivable that the ongoing Ukraine war will radically change the territorial boundaries of Ukraine in the east and south. Possibly, it can re-open the post-World War II settlement with regard to western Ukraine as well.

Russia has repeatedly warned that Poland aims to reverse the cession of Volhynia and Galicia in western Ukraine. Such a turn of events will most certainly bring to the fore the issue of the German territories that are part of Poland today. 

Perhaps, it was in anticipation of turbulence ahead that last October, eight months after the Russian intervention began in  February 2022, that Warsaw demanded WWII reparations from Berlin — an issue which Germany says was settled in 1990 — to the tune of €1.3 trillion.

Under the Potsdam Conference of 1945, the “former eastern territories of Germany” comprising nearly one quarter (23.8 percent) of the Weimar Republic with the majority was ceded to Poland. The remainder, consisting of northern East Prussia including the German city of Königsberg (renamed Kaliningrad), was allocated to the Soviet Union.

Make no mistake about the importance of the eastern border for German culture and politics. Indeed, there is always something volatile about a “handicapped” Great Power when a whole new intensity appears in political, economic and historical circumstances, which prompts those in power to turn ideas into reality, and revanchist and imperialistic discourses that were quietly but steadily streaming below the surface of the carefully considered diplomatic efforts begin to probe pan-nationalist expansion.

In retrospect, Germany’s — in particular, then foreign minister and current President Steinmeier’s — diabolical role to align Germany with the neo-Nazi elements during the regime change in Kiev in 2014 and the subsequent German perfidy in the implementation of the Minsk Agreement (“Steinmeier formula”), as admitted as recently in February by former Chancellor Angela Merkel should not be forgotten. 

Suffice it to say, even as Russia is winning the Ukraine war, the concern of the German foreign policy makers once again faces the need to redefine what was German.

Thus, the war in Ukraine is only the means to an end. Recent reports suggest that Berlin may be moving, finally, toward meeting Ukraine’s pending demand for Taurus cruise missiles with a range exceeding 500 kms and unique “multi-effect war head” that can be a game changer in the combat dynamics on the battlefield and create the prerequisites for victory. 

Equally, German soldiers already comprise about half of the NATO battlegroup already present in Lithuania. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said two weeks ago while on a visit to Vilnius that Germany is preparing the infrastructure to permanently base 4,000 soldiers (“a robust brigade”) to Lithuania so as to have the capability to maintain military flexibility at the eastern flank. The decision has support from both Germany’s governing coalition and its main opposition.

The CDU foreign policy expert and member of the Bundestag, Kiesewetter called the idea of establishing a German base in the Baltics a “decision of reason and reliability.”

Indeed, there have been past attempts, historically speaking, to create German rule in the Baltics based on revisionist claims towards the new states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania where German colonists had settled as far back as in the 12th and 13th centuries.

M.K. Bhadrakumar is a former diplomat. He was India’s ambassador to Uzbekistan and Turkey. Views are personal.

Authored by Frances Hui via RealClear Wire,

The government of Hong Kong is offering a bounty of up to $1 million to anyone who can help find eight activists who fled to other countries and continue to fight against its authoritarian government. 

I am not one of the eight, but all of us who fight for democracy in Hong Kong are in danger from a Chinese government that is chasing us for showing that it has broken its promises to keep Hong Kong a vibrant and free city-state. 

I became an activist for democracy in Hong Kong at the age of 14, when I started participating in pro-democracy marches – hardly a radical thing to do. But eventually, when I was 21, I realized I had to leave Hong Kong, knowing that I would be arrested under the newly imposed National Security Law and face charges up to life in prison. Most of the friends I made throughout my activism have either fled or languish in jail. 

But leaving doesn’t solve the problem. The government of Hong Kong, directed by China, has sent people to harass us. The eight who are targeted are living in the U.K., the U.S., or Australia. Now, with the bounties, there will be more reason for people to stalk us. And I don’t see any evidence that the democracies that have provided refuge realize how serious this is. Instead of taking steps to hold China accountable, they are trying to create warmer relations. 

Four years ago, I was harassed and followed by Chinese spies in Boston, where I organized rallies in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. Although one of the Chinese agents involved, a U.S. citizen, was recently indicted, more needs to be done. Many communities living overseas have endured constant surveillance and harassment by China’s 110 overseas secret police stations. China continues to deny their existence, and very few countries have made them shut down. The outposts of the Hong Kong government, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices, located in 14 cities worldwide, have also been working closely with Chinese consulates to brush off their ongoing records of human rights violations in the city state while maintaining close relationships with world democracies.

It’s the first time Hong Kong has issued official arrest warrants on overseas activists, with bounty eight times more than it would pay for help in arresting a child rapist and three times more than it would offer for a murder. John Lee, the chief executive, said that the eight activists would be “pursued for life.”

Many Hong Kong activists fled Hong Kong in the past three years as the government jailed dissidents who voiced opposition to Beijing. Many have said publicly they will not return to Hong Kong. So why is the government placing these bounties?

The rationale likely rests in geopolitics. The list of wanted activists was evenly distributed among the U.S., the U.K., and Australia, all of which have begun re-engaging with China recently after three years of diplomatic freeze. It’s as if Hong Kong is saying, can we go this far? Further? What will you tolerate? It is testing these democracies, and they are letting China win. 

Despite China’s persistent repression of dissidents both within and beyond its borders, these countries have continued to prioritize improved ties and deeper economic interests over addressing human rights abuses. Instances of repression, such as the attack on Hong Kong protester Bob Chan in the Chinese consulate ground in Manchester, have not prompted strong action from the U.K. government. Attacks continue to happen against Hongkongers, including two who were recently kicked and manhandled by a group of pro-CCP activists at a rally in Southampton to mark the anniversary of the 2019 Hong Kong movement. Meanwhile in the U.S., the Biden administration has hinted its intention to invite the U.S.-sanctioned John Lee to attend the APEC Summit in San Francisco in November.

By neglecting China’s human rights abuses, countries are exacerbating the situation. If they fail to defend their residents and refuse to impose economic and political consequences on China, this stalking and harassment will persist. This lack of action will also set a dangerous precedent, raising the bar for accountability on human rights abusers, like Russia and Iran, and sending a message to the world that their countries are no longer safe for free speech.

The international community, including the countries in which the activists reside as well as all Interpol member states, should prioritize human rights in their policy toward China. Diplomatic engagements should not be pursued that compromise the security of its people.

So far, the U.K, the U.S., and Australia have done nothing to punish China or Hong Kong for this outrageous decision to hunt down people who have entered those countries legally, seeking refuge. It must do something, soon, or the next list will be far longer, and China will understand that it can pursue close relationships without upholding the democratic values of the West.

Frances Hui is the first public activist from Hong Kong to receive political asylum in the U.S. She continues her advocacy in Washington, D.C., at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation and We The Hongkongers.

Three weeks ago, at the Aspen Ideas Festival, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink revealed that he had abandoned the term “ESG” (every virtue signaler’s beloved “environment, social, and governance” acronym) because it has been highly politicized and even “weaponized,” and he is “ashamed” to be part of the debate.

BlackRock CEO Drops “ESG” Term After Blowback https://t.co/6sArVLGCbq

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 27, 2023

Many applauded the decision, which they viewed as actually representative of the truth: after all, Fink acknowledged at the event that Ron DeSantis’ decision to yank $2 billion in assets from the world’s largest money manager in late 2022 over “woke” policies hurt his firm. DeSantis of course, is not alone: lawmakers from red states have retaliated and called out BlackRock for its toxic woke capitalism push in corporate America. Besides Florida, states like Louisiana, South Carolina, Utah, Arkansas, West Virginia, Missouri, and Texas have withdrawn funds from the asset manager which previously said it would not longer invest in “fossil fuels” and other causes that were unworthy of ESG’s consummate virtue signaling.

Fast forward to today when we learn that Blackrock named the boss of Saudi Aramo, Amin Nasser, as the fund’s independent director.

Yes, the same Saudi Arabia whose Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman dismembered WaPo’s Jamal Khashoggi without prejudice, a move which not only led to a chilling collapse in US-Saudi relations which has lasted to this day (as Saudi Arabia openly mocks Biden’s demands for increased oil production) but which also leaves quite a bit to be desired on the “social” vertical of the ESG religion; and yes, the same Saudi Arabia which also happens to be the world’s largest producer of oil, and whose “Environmental” rank may leave just a little to be desired, especially to idiots such as these.

Perfect execution. Be a hero—drag the disruptive “activists” out of the way by their hair. Allow traffic to move again. This is how you can help your community. pic.twitter.com/5b1oBfFnUh

— Charles Cooper 🛰 (@coopsimms) July 15, 2023

But not to Blackrock, and consummate WEG globalist Larry Fink, who after years of hiding behind the ESG smokescreen if and when it was convenient to convince the peasants just what a lovable, cuddly $10 trillion money manager Blackrock actually is, finally revealed that it was all just one giant lie, and its so-called ESG standards were nothing more than a joke.

Nasser has led the world’s biggest oil producer since 2015, including overseeing its public listing, and provides BlackRock with “a unique perspective” on key issues facing the company and its clients, CEO Larry Fink said Monday in an emailed statement.

“His leadership experience, understanding of the global energy industry and the drivers of the shift toward a low-carbon economy, as well as his knowledge of the Middle East region, will all contribute meaningfully to the BlackRock board dialogue,” Fink said in the statement.

Not that we have anything against Nasser: unlike Fink, he never pretended to be something he never was. Nasser joined Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant as a petroleum engineer in 1982, and decades later having worked his way up from the ground floor, led Aramco’s initial public offering in 2019.

His expertise in the Middle East will fill the gap left by Bader Alsaad, chairman of the board of the Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development, who is not standing for reelection on BlackRock’s board in 2024, the asset manager said on Monday.

BlackRock – which will henceforth be the butt of every anti-ESG joke, if the concept of ESG even exists for any other purpose than manipulating mentally-challenged idiots into believing random propaganda…

!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 18, 2023

… has sought to strike a balance on the issue of climate change, continuing to invest in fossil fuel companies, while nudging them to adopt energy transition plans.  In a note to clients earlier this month, the asset manager estimated its average annual investment in the energy system would jump to $4 trillion through 2050, up from $2.2 trillion in recent years.

BlackRock, which had about $9.4 trillion assets under management as of end-June, has projected that by 2030 at least three quarters of its investments will be with issuers of securities that have scientific targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions on a net basis.

Spoiler alert: that will not happen, and instead – as today’s “shocking” appointment reveals – BlackRock will soon reveal that while it was pushing others to live in virtuous misery, it was gradually preparing for the next fossil-fuel revolution. And none other than Nasser will be there to make that revelation.

While Aramco, which like BlackRock has tiptoped the virtue signaling line for the benefit of a handful of globalist idiots, and unveiled a $1.5 billion sustainability fund to focus on areas including carbon capture and storage, greenhouse gas emissions, as well as hydrogen, the reality is that as Nasser said the current global energy transition plan was flawed.

In February Nasser – who also serves on several boards, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Presidential CEO Advisory Board and the JP Morgan International Council – went so far as to warn that an increased focus on ESG was undermining investment in oil and gas to the point where it posed a threat to the world’s energy security.

“We need to realize that today alternatives are not ready to shoulder a heavy load of the growing energy demand and therefore we need to work in parallel until alternatives are ready.”

The message from Blackrock is simple: “all that shit we said about ESG? Well, we still mean it… but over the next 30 years we will be investing in all those companies we told you to boycott and avoid. And if you believed us… well, you’re the idiots.”

Authored by Nanette Holt via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Since his separation from Fox News, political commentator Tucker Carlson hasn’t spoken much publicly—until this weekend.

In a rare spurt of appearances, he enjoyed the adulation of thousands of enthusiastic conservatives at political gatherings in two states.

On July 14, he publicly grilled most of the top-tier Republican presidential candidates—with the exception of former President Donald Trump—at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa. As the nation’s first state to caucus, it’s been the midwestern mecca of political activity in recent weeks.

Then, Mr. Carlson caught a flight to Florida, where he lives in cooler times of the year, to speak the next day at the Turning Point Action Conference in West Palm Beach.

Speaker line-ups at Turning Point events often read like a who’s who of conservative politics, sometimes even drawing leading figures from other countries.

This time, the two-day conference attracted about 6,000 people—mostly college-age conservatives—from around the country to hear from GOP firebrands. Attendees also mingled, attended Republican strategy workshops on winning elections, and shopped for patriotic merchandise and Trump gear.

Mr. Carlson was one of the crowd favorites.

Tight Security for Trump Speech

On Day 1, conference-goers crammed into the Palm Beach Convention Center’s main hall after spending hours in line. They inched forward in the blazing sun, waiting to be inspected in screenings overseen by the U.S. Secret Service.

Once inside, attendees heard from a string of outspoken supporters of Mr. Trump, the reason for the tight security. His champions included congressmen Byron Donalds and Matt Gaetz, both Republicans representing Florida.

“We ride or die with Donald John Trump,” Mr. Gaetz said, above the roaring crowd, when it was his turn to speak. He also proclaimed he’d be introducing “in the coming days a national prayer-in-school law,” an announcement that brought more raucous cheers.

Also riling up the crowd was Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who spoke in the standing-room-only space. He said he’s been criticized for not attacking his chief opponent, apparently alluding to Mr. Trump.

“I’m not running against anyone in this race,” Mr. Ramaswamy said. “I’m running for our country.”

The 37-year-old political newcomer received an enthusiastic standing ovation as he left the stage.

‘All the Cool People are Here’

As Mr. Carlson stepped out to plumes of yellow pyrotechnics shooting up from the front of the stage, attendees were on their feet again, cheering and holding up phones to capture video of the moment.

“Thank you,” he repeated over and over, shaking his head and chuckling. “I don’t think most unemployed people get a reception like that.”

As the cheering and clapping continued, he scanned the audience, clearly recognizing some, and exclaiming, “Roger Stone! All the cool people are here. It’s, like, unbelievable.”

As if surprised by the unrelenting chorus of whooping, he said with incredulity, “Wow. I haven’t been around a ton of people in a while. But I never miss this event. Ever. And I meet the nicest people, really, that I ever meet at these.”

In contrast, Mr. Carlson expressed disdain for the work he’d done the day before discussing presidential candidates’ campaign platforms.

He usually despises politicians, Mr. Carlson said, because “they tend to be soulless,” with sad personal lives, seeking to “win affirmation” from strangers, which he finds “pathetic.”

In person, though, they’re “charming,” he said. “I like almost all of them when I meet them.”

He didn’t want “to attack anyone on personal grounds” but “it’s tempting,” he laughed, as the crowd chanted, “Do it! Do it!”

Instead, he said, as if he couldn’t resist, he wanted to offer “general observations, which I think are more edifying than just, like, savaging Mike Pence.”

The crowd cheered more, egging him on. But Mr. Carlson insisted it “would be wrong because it’s too easy.”

Mr. Pence, the former vice president under Mr. Trump, stunned many conservatives when he argued in his Iowa forum appearance the day before that the United States has been too slow to provide tanks and pilot training to Ukraine.

Looking incredulous, Mr. Carlson stopped him and began describing the faltering economy of the United States and the country’s escalating crime, public filth, and suicide rates.

“Where’s the concern for the United States in that?” Mr. Carlson demanded during the interview.

“That’s not my concern,” Mr. Pence replied. “Tucker, I’ve heard that routine from you before but that’s not my concern.”

“I’m running for President in the United States because I think this country is in a lot of trouble. I think Joe Biden has weakened America at home and abroad. And as President of the United States, we’re going to restore law and order in our cities. We’re going to secure our border. We’re going to get this economy moving again. And we’re going to make sure that we have men and women on our courts at every level that will stand for the right to life and defend all the God given liberties enshrined in our Constitution,” he said.

“Anybody that says we can’t be the leader of the free world and solve our problems at home has a pretty small view of the greatest Nation on Earth. We can do both.”

Lesson Learned

He learned much from his day of interviews in Iowa, Mr. Carlson told the Turning Point crowd.

One was that what Republicans in Washington “actually care about” are “very different from the things that matter to the people who vote for them.”

He had believed that would change back in 2016, when the politicians saw that “Republicans elected a guy basically on the promise to blow up the Republican Party,” he said.

But even the election of Mr. Trump hasn’t turned many elected politicians to align with the people they represent, he has since observed.

He also realized that “almost everybody in elected office in the Republican Party has internalized the other side’s rules for debate.”

There’s “no more self-defeating way to go into politics or life than to accept the terms that your enemies offer before the conversation’s even begun,” Mr. Carlson said. “Because there’s really no way of winning.”

He used the example of the government’s responses to COVID-19, such as mandating masking, lockdowns, and vaccines. Most people went along with leaders’ demands, he said.

Those who resisted or questioned the policies were deemed “moral criminals—they’re outlaws,” he said.

So they were censored, silenced.

‘Thought Crimes’

On a June 7 podcast with English comedian Russell Brand, Mr. Carlson said he doesn’t know why he was fired suddenly by Fox News.

But his questioning of whether the federal government has been honest about Jan. 6 widely is one of the speculated likely cause for his termination.

For anyone wanting to explore alternative views on Jan. 6, “that conversation was literally banned,” he said at the Turning Point event. “It’s the guidelines of most social media companies that you can’t have that conversation.”

But a country that doesn’t allow discussions about “the process of electing its leaders is not a democracy, by definition,” he said. “You can’t have a democracy without free speech. Period.”

Meanwhile, serious crimes go unpunished, he said, such as defrauding investors of billions of dollars, or “burning down buildings, impoverishing people, starting totally counterproductive wars we can’t win that kill a lot of our citizens, leaving the border open so seven million people can walk across—those are not small things.”

And “what are the crimes that are punished?” he asked. “Thought crimes. Thinking the wrong things. Having the wrong beliefs. Saying unapproved words.”

And when words are deemed “wrong,” he’s realized, “those words are always true.”

He warned against “the people who censor your words and thoughts.”

He also warned against getting overwhelmed by reports that seem to be “the Mt. Everest of lunacy,” such as that men can give birth or breastfeed infants.

TUCKER: “No one is punished for lying. People are only punished for telling the truth. What are the crimes that are punished? Thought crimes. Thinking the wrong thing. Having the wrong beliefs. Saying unapproved words.”

pic.twitter.com/la2QnsvXqQ

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 16, 2023

Read more here…

If you think corruption and crime is out of control in your city, just think: it could be worse. You could live in Detroit, where a member of the Detroit Police Board of Commissioners was recently caught soliciting prostitution. 

And, like any good police commissioner, when caught in the act, he asked his brothers in blue to “help him out”, according to reporting by The New York Post. And credit to Detroit’s finest, because they didn’t let him go – nor did they cover the incident up. 

The commissioner, Bryan Ferguson, who “represented District 1 for the DPBC and was the former chair of Detroit’s police oversight board” tendered his resignation on Thursday of last week in light of the news. He was found with the sex worker on Wednesday, the report says.

In a prepared statement, he told The Detroit Free Press: “It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the residents of Detroit in police oversight.”

“After further consideration of the best interests of my family and the Board, I am choosing to resign as District 1 Police Commissioner effective immediately,” he continued, making no mention of the one resident that he was caught “servicing” the evening prior. 

He was caught “committing a lewd act with a known sex worker” by undercover agents. When confronted by the police, he told them his position and asked them to “help him out”. 

Police captain Jason Bates said: “At that time, Mr. Bryan Ferguson stepped out, identified himself as a Detroit police commissioner.” He added: “A title or position doesn’t make them above the law.”

Ferguson’s rock solid defense, according to the report? That the allegations are a “big misunderstanding”. He added that he has “nothing to hide” and that the woman just “hopped into his truck”. 

“This is rough. This is rough to tell. Because now I’m going to have to have this conversation with my family,” he added. He was issued a misdemeanor citation for indecent or obscene conduct involving a sex act with a prostitute, the report concludes. 

Authored by Roger L. Simon via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

It was sometime around 8 a.m. on July 15, the morning after I had interviewed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for our Presidential Roller Coaster 2024 series, when the following New York Post headline popped up on my iPhone:

“RFK Jr. says COVID may have been ‘ethnically targeted’ to spare Jews”

What in the Sam Hill, I thought. This didn’t remotely compute with the man I had been talking with only hours earlier. This must be “yellow journalism.”

It was.

I knew it as soon as I read the first few graphs:

“Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dished out wild COVID-19 conspiracy theories this week during a press event at an Upper East Side restaurant, claiming the bug was a genetically engineered bioweapon that may have been ‘ethnically targeted’ to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.

“Kennedy floated the idea during a question-and-answer portion of raucous booze and fart-filled dinner at Tony’s Di Napoli on East 63rd Street.

“‘COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,’ Kennedy said. ‘COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.’

“‘We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact,’ Kennedy hedged.”

Hedged?

That’s what the author, Jon Levine, wants us to believe, but I would imagine Kennedy, who has been researching medical matters for years and wrote that detailed book on the malfeasances of Dr. Anthony Fauci, is merely filling in something that has been known scientifically for a long time – that different ethnic groups are more prone to different diseases and therefore vulnerable in different ways.

What Kennedy was clearly doing in this after-hours discussion that was supposed to be off the record (they never are) was warning of the dangerous ability of viruses to be used as bioweapons against various ethnicities – something that several countries have in all probability been working on for years or decades in clandestine manners.

To claim that COVID-19 is the product of a cabal of Chinese and Jews is so ridiculous that it only speaks to what the author wants to believe or, more accurately, wants us to believe Kennedy meant.

Which Chinese and which Jews? It’s hard to imagine since Israel was locked down to such a degree it made California look like Florida. Also, Israeli scientists were working around the clock to invent a successful vaccine but got nowhere. If they had been in on the original design, you would think they would have been able to do something, or at least have a leg up.

The internet being what it is, this fake news accusation went around the world faster than Churchill’s famous line about the truth and the time it takes to put on your pants. The lie appeared almost immediately in numerous publications from the Daily Mail to the Daily Beast as if it had to be true that RFK Jr. was anti-Semitic.

But Kennedy doesn’t need me to defend him. He’s doing a fine job himself, including demanding a retraction from the Post and an apology from Levine, in his Twitter feed.

The insinuation by @nypost and others that, as as result of my quoting a peer-reviewed paper on bio-weapons, I am somehow antisemitic, is a disgusting fabrication. I understand the emotional pain that these inaccurate distortions and fabrications have caused to many Jews who recall the blood libels of poison wells and the deliberate spread of disease as the pretext for genocidal programs against their ancestors. My father and my uncles, John F. Kennedy and Senator Edward Kennedy, devoted enormous political energies during their careers to supporting Israel and fighting antisemitism. I intend to spend my political career making those family causes my priority.

I will fight relentlessly alongside my Jewish brothers and sisters and friends against Jew-hatred and the demonization of Israel. I have just recorded an interview with @RabbiShmuley, whom the same New York Post just this month called, “the most famous Rabbi in America.” I have called upon the Biden Administration not to consummate a second Iran deal that would give that genocidal government a legitimized nuclear program. In the same interview, I called upon the Democratic Party to return to the strong, unconditional support of Israel that was the hallmark of the party under the leadership of my uncle and my father.

Today I had a great conversation with Rabbi Shmuley on Judaism and anti-Semitism.

He had this to say:

“Two things bothered me about the reports I had read about what you had said at that dinner on the upper east side. I said number one, again, this perception that you’re anti-Semitic. I know you’re not. And in fact, I know precisely the opposite is true. I know that in your heart you feel a great closeness to the Jewish people, to the Jewish community, and to Israel. And the second thing that bothered me is, that you’re being portrayed as you said before, a crank, as a loony toon…but you’re brilliant. You know your facts.”

I will continue to stand alongside my Jewish brothers and sisters. Here is an excerpt from my great conversation with @RabbiShmuley about the inaccurate distortion propagated by the @nypost pic.twitter.com/0b5KIQlvpM

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) July 17, 2023

So what’s actually going on here? This isn’t, in the end, really about anti-Semitism, real or imagined. It was just low-hanging fruit, as the “canary in the coal mine” often is, the first of many—a harbinger of many dastardly smears of the candidate to come.

If there’s one thing the military-industrial complex (endless wars from Iraq to Ukraine) and the health care-industrial complex (Big Pharma, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, et al.) do not want, it’s a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presidency.

Big Tech probably isn’t very keen on it, either.

It would cost them all incalculable amounts of money, much of it courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer and a complaisant government.

Most of all, the current leadership of the Democratic Party—bent on exploiting every so-called progressive policy, no matter how looney, for maximum gain and power—don’t want anyone bringing their party back to sanity, under the leadership of Mr. Kennedy or anyone else.

Notable is that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is backing Joe Biden for reelection, not RFK Jr.

And then there’s the CIA, whose antipathy for RFK Jr. should be obvious to all those with even a passing knowledge of the lives and deaths of his father and uncle who wanted that organization splintered in a thousand pieces and cast to the winds.

In all, it’s no surprise then that the corporate media, in which we now must include the N.Y. Post of the increasingly untrustworthy Murdoch empire, is now the mouthpiece of anti-RFK Jr. propaganda. More and most probably worse will come.

What we are looking at is what we might call the coming ‘The Plot Against Kennedy” after Lee Smith’s best-selling “The Plot Against the President,” which detailed the subversion of Donald J. Trump before and after his presidency by many of the same parties.

The similarity between the treatment of Trump by corporate media that was always dishonest and is now, if anything, worse, and the beginnings of the treatment of RFK Jr. is all too obvious.

My interview with the candidate, in which we discuss the anti-Semitism accusation and other matters, including, of course, the CIA, will appear shortly.

Roger L. Simon’s new book—“American Refugees”—will be published by Encounter in September.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed an appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court in her election case as she claimed that 8,000 unreadable ballots were not configured properly during last year’s midterms.

In an appeal filed (pdf) with the state’s highest court, Ms. Lake alleged that the 8,000 ballots were either “duplicated or counted.” What’s more, they were also unreadable, her team contended.

“The ballot-on-demand printer investigation report by former Chief Justice McGregor (‘the McGregor Report’) found that ‘four printers randomly printed one or a few ‘fit to page’ ballots in the middle of printing a batch of ballots … [n]one of the technical people with whom we spoke could explain how or why that error occurred,’” said the appeal.

An expert for Mrs. Lake, a former Fox affiliate anchor, had “testified this ‘error’ could only result from malware or remote access and resulted in at least 8,000 misconfigured ballots, the vast majority of which were neither duplicated nor counted,” it added.

The defendants in the case, including Maricopa County officials and the Arizona secretary of state’s office, have not issued a public response or filing in the case.

Courts Have Little Appetite

While a number of her legal challenges have been rejected by state courts, Ms. Lake has said she would take her lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court if needed, although the top court has shown little appetite to take up election challenges since late 2020.

“This is, I believe, our best hope to get reform in our elections: my case,” she said in a recent interview.  “I believe it’s the greatest election case. We have the truth on our side. We have tons of evidence. Yes, we haven’t had a judge rule in our favor. But it takes a lot of courage to make the right ruling on this case.”

Ms. Lake has never conceded the race to Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs, who was sworn into office earlier this year. At the same time, Ms. Lake has signaled in media interviews that she may be exploring a run for the U.S. Senate seat that is currently held by former Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) in what could be a three-way race between Ms. Lake, Ms. Sinema, and Rep. Reuben Gallego (D-Ariz.).

Her challenge comes as another court, in a separate, case ordered Ms. Lake’s and former Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem’s teams to pay $122,200 in sanctions. U.S. District Judge John Tuchi in Phoenix wrote that former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz also has to pay about 10 percent of that fine because, according to Mr. Tuchi, Mr. Dershowitz signed off on a number of legal documents in the case.

“Failing to impose meaningful sanctions here might very well encourage others to follow suit by lending their credibility to documents filed in court without facing any real consequence if their certifications prove hollow or incomplete,” Mr. Tuchi wrote in his ruling. “The need for general deterrence is therefore significant.”

Mr. Dershowitz indicated to the Arizona Republic that he would appeal the order.

Ms. Lake and Mr. Finchem sued former Arizona Secretary of State Ms. Hobbs and officials in Maricopa and Pima counties in April 2022, in a bid to change the state and counties’ voting procedures. Mr. Tuchi dismissed the lawsuit in August. The Maricopa County officials named as defendants sought sanctions against Ms. Lake for trying to sow doubts about the then-upcoming 2022 elections.

Defamation Lawsuit

It comes also as Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County recorder, filed a defamation lawsuit at the end of June against Ms. Lake, saying that he’s faced “violent vitriol and other dire consequences” because of “lies” spread by her, including death threats and the loss of friendships.

Read more here…

Disney has once again beclowned itself, after a photo emerged of Snow White’s new ‘accomplices’ – just one of whom could even be considered dwarfs – which the company initially called “fake.”

On Friday, the Daily Mail posted that conservatives online were losing their minds over a photo of the seven… not dwarfs, but ‘magical creatures,’ so to ‘avoid reinforcing stereotypes’ after “Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage called it a “fucking backwards story” last year.

“I was a little taken aback when they [Disney] were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White, but you’re still telling the story of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs,” Dinklage said on Mark Maron’s “WTF” podcast. “It makes no sense to me. You’re progressive in one way and you’re still making that f***ing backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the f*** are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough.'”

Meet the cast of Disney’s new woke Snow White film. Snow White is Columbian now and the 7 dwarves look more like the 6 normal sized hipster pedos and 1 dwarf from Portland. Snow White no longer has “skin white as snow”. Absolutely ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/DKZInYty89

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) July 14, 2023

In response to the leaked picture, Disney originally told the Daily Beast: “The photos are fake and not from our production. We are currently trying to have the Daily Mail issue a correction.”

Except, they weren’t fake.

Disney then walked back their statement, verifying that the photos were indeed from their woke production, but weren’t official.

“Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that… the studio later said the photos were from the production but were not official photos,” added the Beast.

Disney said it changed the dwarfs to “avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film” in a statement to Hollywood Reporter. “[W]e are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community.”

Disney shared in January 2022 that the “seven dwarfs” would be referred to as “magical creatures” to “avoid reinforcing stereotypes” after criticism of the original depictions by “Game of Thrones” actor Peter Dinklage, who has dwarfism. -Fox News

Once again, Dinsey comes up short.

Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Although he has faced investigations and persecution since becoming a politician in 2015, former President Donald Trump declared that, yes, he would do it all over again “without even a question.”

That was Mr. Trump’s response when a successful businessman wondered whether he regretted leaving behind a cushy life as a billionaire real-estate mogul.

Mr. Trump recounted that conversation for a standing-room-only crowd at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

During his July 15 speech, Mr. Trump described his two recent indictment ordeals and told the audience: “I had a nice, easy life. What I do for you, you have no idea.”

The crowd of about 6,000 people sprang to its feet, cheering and applauding.

Still, Mr. Trump said the reward has been worth the cost. His presidency produced a stronger American economy, a more secure U.S. border, and more respect for the United States on the world stage, he said.

“And more importantly, now we’re going to do it again. And we’re going to do it even better,” the frontrunner for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination said.

Mr. Trump said he considers his supporters to be partners in a shared mission: “Side by side, we’re going to fight and we’re going to win.”

He was the main draw for the first day of the two-day Turning Point Action Conference, which promotes conservative politics. The goal is to provide knowledge and resources so attendees can “make an impact in their communities ahead of the 2024 election,” organizers say.

Mr. Trump told the audience:  “You are the ones who are going to take back America; you’re the ones who are going to Make America Great Again,” his famous campaign slogan.

Speech Clinched Voter’s Decision

After attending Mr. Trump’s speech, Jeffrey Antous of Tarpon Springs, Florida, said that hearing Mr. Trump express such resolve–and witnessing extraordinary enthusiasm from the crowd–convinced him that Mr. Trump is the right choice for president in the 2024 election.

Mr. Antous, who has been involved in politics since the 1970s, told The Epoch Times: “Because of his experience and his confidence, he’ll be able to walk back into the presidency and start repairing the damage that has been done over the past two and a half years.”

Since Democrat President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the nation’s energy prices, housing costs and inflation rates have climbed; illegal immigration and other problems have surged.

Mr. Trump and many of his supporters blame Mr. Biden’s policies, while Mr. Biden claims that his “Bidenomics” approach is improving conditions for minorities.

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump, who has already been indicted on state business records charges in New York and federal classified records charges in Florida, could soon face accusations in Georgia, too.

There, his lawyers have asked a court to put the brakes on a prosecutor who has been probing Mr. Trump’s dispute of Mr. Biden’s 2020 election win. In addition, a protest of the 2020 election, which turned violent at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, could produce more federal charges against Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump has vowed to continue his quest for the presidency regardless of those cases; he says he has gained support from people who agree with his contention that the prosecutions are politically motivated.

Prosecutors deny that allegation, and Mr. Biden denies suggesting whether federal charges should be brought against Mr. Trump, his chief political rival.

‘Learning Curve’ Cited

Mr. Trump’s nearest Republican challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, could be a great president because he’s “brilliant,” Mr. Antous said.

But now is not the time because Mr. DeSantis would need to learn the intricacies of Washington politics. “There’s no ‘learning curve’ for Donald Trump; he already knows what to do,” Mr. Antous said.

At the outset of Mr. Trump’s candidacy, Mr. Antous was not his fan. But Mr. Antous said he learned to respect Mr. Trump for his ability to analyze situations and “fix things–like this,” he said, snapping his fingers to signify speed.

Mr. Antous said he feels confident Mr. Trump can follow through on his pledge to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Mr. Antous said he is concerned about Mr. Biden’s recent order to prepare 3,000 U.S. reserve troops to be ready to deploy to Europe.

American parents “should not have to worry that their child will be sent to die” there, Mr. Trump told the Turning Point audience, asserting that he would broker a peace deal that would be fair to both Ukraine and Russia.

Read more here…

China and Russia are ‘answering’ recent US-Japan drills with provocative military exercises of their own in regional waters.

On Sunday the US, South Korea and Japan conducted joint naval missile defense exercises chiefly aimed at North Korea’s latest missile threats, which include the launch of an ICBM days ago. Pyongyang called the Wednesday launch off its east coast a “strong practical warning” to enemies. But Japan’s closer defense coordination with Washington has also put Beijing on notice. China’s defense ministry over the weekend confirmed that PLA naval vessels have set sail in preparation for new exercises with Russia. 

This includes Beijing sending five Chinese warships, including a guided-missile destroyer, to participate in the new exercises with Russian forces – but without specifying an exact location for the drills. 

Last month both countries conducted joint air patrol over the Seas of Japan and East China, demonstrating their deepened ties, also amid the war in Ukraine which Beijing has yet to outright condemn, to the frustration of the West.

China has considered itself ‘neutral’ concerning the Ukraine conflict while at the same time highlighting the dangers of NATO expansion east. For this reason Washington has accused it of quietly supporting Moscow.

Bloomberg has meanwhile cited US sanctions and punitive measures aimed at both Beijing and Moscow as a chief motivator to grow militarily closer. 

“China and the armed forces of Russian President Vladimir Putin conducted six joint military exercises together last year, the most in data going back two decades,” the publication notes.

“That accounted for two-thirds of all of China’s drills with foreign militaries in 2022, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs at the U.S. National Defense University (NDU).”

But Russia and China have conducted naval drills in other global hotspots as well, in the last months holding naval exercises with Iran in the Persian Gulf region.

The Chinese naval flotilla warships have set sail!

The China-Russia joint military drills this time will deepen the two militaries’ strategic coordination, and enhance their ability to jointly deal with various security threats. pic.twitter.com/0etCziT9Xq

— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) July 15, 2023

Moscow has also over the course of the Ukraine war deepened its ties with the Islamic Republic, and even established an Iranian drone manufacturing plant on its soil in southern Russia. President Putin has in the face of the West’s sanctions and efforts to impose total isolation turned to ‘pariah’ states like Iran to keep up its military tech needs, such as in the areas of drones and missiles.