Iran Mullahs Escalate Threats Against Jews, Biden Administration Appeases Mullahs Even More - Majid Rafizadeh

 

by Majid Rafizadeh

Since the Biden administration assumed office, it has pursued the maximum appeasement policy with the ruling mullahs of Iran.

• These US rewards to Iran for terrorism, destabilizing the region, treating its own people with brutality and cheating on 2015 nuclear deal would significantly increase Iran's revenues; these, in turn, will doubtless be funneled into the pockets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Quds Force and their militia and terror groups including Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah for still more expansionism and terror.

• Additionally, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi openly called for the destruction of Israel as he addressed anti-Israeli rallies: "This great movement that we are witnessing today in the form of protests is a symbol of the solidarity of the Muslim people that will lead to the destruction of the Zionist regime."

• Since the Biden administration assumed office, it has pursued the maximum appeasement policy with the ruling mullahs of Iran.

• Instead of standing with its staunch allies in the Middle East, the Biden administration appears determined to stand with the Iranian regime. The ruling mullahs nonetheless appear intent on taking over their oil-rich neighbors, and eliminating Israel and the United States -- all as America seems to imagine, falsely, that it can bribe its way into being spared.

These US rewards to Iran for terrorism, destabilizing the region, treating its own people with brutality and cheating on 2015 nuclear deal would significantly increase Iran's revenues; these, in turn, will doubtless be funneled into the pockets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Quds Force and their militia and terror groups including Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah for still more expansionism and terror. Pictured: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi delivers a speech in Tehran, on January 3, 2022. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)

When it to comes to the Iranian regime, all the Biden administration seems to care about is appeasing the ruling mullahs, reaching a weak nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic, and enhancing the global legitimacy of a country that the US itself called "the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism."

These US rewards to Iran for terrorism, destabilizing the region, treating its own people with brutality and cheating on 2015 nuclear deal would significantly increase Iran's revenues; these, in turn, will doubtless be funneled into the pockets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Quds Force and their militia and terror groups including Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah for still more expansionism and terror.

Since the Biden administration assumed office, it has pursued the maximum appeasement policy with the ruling mullahs of Iran. These acts have included removing one of Tehran's terrorist proxy groups, the Houthis, from the List of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, as well as lifting sanctions on Iranian entities involved in missile production, the Mammut Industrial Group and its subsidiary Mammut Diesel, which had been sanctioned by the Trump administration. Appeasement also included turning a blind eye to the theocratic establishment's military adventurism in the region, such as launching barrages of missiles in Iraq where US troops were stationed; sending precision guided missiles to Syria, and smuggling weapons to the Houthis in Yemen.

How has the Iranian regime responded to America's attempts at propitiation? By launching more missiles near US bases in Iraq and by ratcheting up its threats against US allies in the Middle East, primarily Israel. Only last week, at the end of April, reports surfaced that Israel's Mossad has recently foiled terrorist attempts by the Iranian regime to assassinate an Israeli diplomat who works at the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, as well as an American General stationed in Germany and a journalist in France. The names of the individuals targeted were not revealed.

Also late last month, Mansour Rasouli, a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was arrested in a European country in relation to the planned terrorist attack. He was reportedly a member of Unit 840 of the Quds Force, an elite branch of one of the five militias of the IRGC, and the one that conducts foreign operations to export the mullahs' Islamic revolution abroad. Rasouli reportedly received $150,000 to prepare the assassinations, and was promised an additional $1 million after he killed the three targets. It is at the moment unclear if the Biden administration is considering removing the IRGC, designated as a terrorist organization by the Trump administration, from the List of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The Biden administration might be retaining just the Quds Force on the list, an act that that would create a grievously fictitious loophole that the ruling Iranian regime will be sure to exploit to the fullest.

Recently, Israel's intelligence services foiled an assassination attempt against an Israeli businessman, Yair Geller, in Turkey. The Iranian cell, consisting of nine individuals, was reportedly run by Yassin Tahermkandi, age 53, an Iranian-based intelligence officer, and Saleh Mushtag Bhighus, his Turkish counterpart. Iran's regime also targets foreign political leaders and diplomats whom the regime opposes, and recently has called for the assassination of high-level American officials . The Iranian regime apparently also has "target packages," which presumably include foreign citizens, residents who are human rights defenders, critics of the Iranian leaders, political activists, and dissidents.

On April 29, 2022, the ruling mullahs of Iran and Hezbollah also held "al-Quds Day," or Jerusalem Day, where demonstrators chant "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" while the Iranian regime shows support for Palestinians and promotes the destruction of the Jewish state. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, one of Iran's proxy militias, praised recent deadly rocket attacks against Israel coming from Gaza and Lebanon. He also threatened other Arab nations that they will be attacked by Iran if they allow Israel to use their territory as a military base.

Additionally, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi openly called for the destruction of Israel as he addressed anti-Israeli rallies:

"This great movement that we are witnessing today in the form of protests is a symbol of the solidarity of the Muslim people that will lead to the destruction of the Zionist regime."

Other high level officials joined him, including General Esmail Ghaani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's expeditionary force, as well as the Quds Force, who announced his support for any group that will attack Israel. "We support any front that is formed against this criminal regime," he announced, "and we will support any community that is ready to fight this criminal regime". IRGC commander General Hossein Salami stated that his government will not give up until it reaches its goal of destroying Israel:

"You know we are people of action and reaction. Our answers are painful and we set the stage for our goals. We will not give up on you, wait; You have seen our answers."

And on occasion of the recent Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Iranian regime's state-controlled daily newspaper Kayhan published a front-page article praising Hitler and bashing the Jews, which stated:

"[T]he logic that Hitler showed by expelling them [the Jews] from Germany is that he is smarter and more courageous than all current European leaders".

The editor-in-chief of Kayhan, Hossein Shariatmadari, is considered to be close advisor and representative of the Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. European nations, it adds, have "endorsed the myth of the Holocaust" because they are looking for an "excuse for [their] cowardice and humiliation." The Iranian regime also sponsors Holocaust denial cartoon contests.

Instead of standing with its staunch allies in the Middle East, the Biden administration appears determined to stand with the Iranian regime. The ruling mullahs nonetheless appear intent on taking over their oil-rich neighbors (such as here and here), and eliminating Israel and the United States -- all as America seems to imagine, falsely, that it can bribe its way into being spared.

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Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18507/iran-threats-jews

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How Concerned Should We Be about the Iranian Drone Threat? - Seth J. Frantzman

 

by Seth J. Frantzman

Iran's 2019 attack on a Saudi energy facility revealed its strategy of using kamikaze drones against sensitive infrastructure.

 

Iranian drones, such as the Shahed 129, above, threaten the region's stability by giving Iran an instant air force.

The US House of Representatives voted last week to pass the Stop Iranian Drones Act.

"It shall be the policy of the United States to prevent Iran and Iranian-aligned terrorist and militia groups from acquiring unmanned aerial vehicles, including commercially available component parts, that can be used in attacks against United States persons and partner nations," the bill says.

The move was an important step in highlighting the increased Iranian drone threat to the region. It is also important because the bipartisan legislation was sponsored by Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Gregory Meeks (D-New York), Ted Deutch (D-Florida) and Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina). US lawmakers are beginning to understand how drones, and various versions of what are called UAVs and unmanned aerial systems (UAS), are playing an emerging role in the Middle East.

Iran got its start in drone warfare relatively early, back in the mid-1980s. The country had recently gone through the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and was fighting a vicious war against Iraq. Iraq had a plethora of military equipment, especially Soviet arms. Iran, by contrast, was stuck with American military supplies left over from the shah's era. Without spare parts, it couldn't fight the war without mass human wave attacks and high casualties. Some Iranians understood that drones, which Israel had used with effect against Syrian air defenses in 1982, were the wave of the future. In those days drones resembled large model airplanes, operated by remote control. In Iran's hands the drones were used to do surveillance of the front.

Fast-forward 20 years to the 2000s and we find Iran beginning to build larger, more sophisticated drones. These were often modeled on captured drones or blueprints of foreign UAVs. This included Iran's attempt to copy the American Predator and secretive Sentinel drone. Iran's copies were slower, had less of a range and had worse cameras than the US models. But Iran was showing that, despite sanctions, it had success with these futuristic weapons.

The IRGC got the upper hand by leveraging the fallout of sanctions from the Iran deal to showcase new drones to the ayatollah.

Iran's investment in drones in the last decade appears to be an outcome of the Iran deal and the US decision to leave that deal. In 2015 Iran's regime believed that, through sanctions relief, it might get access to trade and more advanced weapons and hi-tech from abroad. However, it soon realized this might not happen, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps took advantage of the regime waiting for sanctions relief and the relief's failure to materialize to showcase new drones to the ayatollah. The result was that the IRGC got the upper hand in an arms race and received some benefit from a window of appeasement of Iran after 2015 that enabled it to move more drones to the Houthis in Yemen and to Hezbollah. As the Syrian regime began to turn the tide in Syria, Iran also moved more drones to Syria's T4 air base in 2017 and then to the Golan area in 2018 and 2019.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, as the pro-Iranian Shi'ite militias such as Kataib Hezbollah became empowered after the war against ISIS, they also received new drone technology. Soon the Hashd al-Sha'abi or PMU, the umbrella group that Kataib Hezbollah operates under, was using drones. Kataib Hezbollah used them to threaten Saudi Arabia and later the UAE between 2019 and 2022. These groups also began to threaten US forces in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan autonomous region. Iran also used drones in Syria to threaten US forces, first in 2017 and then in 2021 when it threatened the Tanf garrison of US forces that are in Syria near the Jordanian border.

What is clear is that Iran set its goal as perfecting several cheap kamikaze munitions, called "loitering munitions," which are a combination of drone and cruise missile technology. The Houthis in Yemen turned this into the Qasef line of drones, modeled on one of Iran's lines of Ababil drones. Hezbollah and Hamas also operated similar drones, as does the PMU in Iraq.

Iran's 2019 attack on a Saudi energy facility revealed its strategy of using kamikaze drones against sensitive infrastructure.

Soon these drones were threatening Saudi Arabia. In September 2019 Iran went one step further and carried out an attack on Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq energy facility, using drones and cruise missiles. This lifted the veil on a new Iran strategy using kamikaze drones against sensitive infrastructure.

Iran also began to test Israel's defenses with drones flown from Syria in February 2018, the aforementioned Hezbollah drone use near the Golan in August 2019, a drone flown from Iraq in May 2021 and other threats emanating from Iran in early 2021, as well as early 2022. This coincided with the rising Iran drone threat against US forces in Iraq in 2021 and the use of a drone against a commercial ship in July 2021.

Iran uses drones in part because this gives it a kind of instant air force, when it can't acquire new warplanes. These cheap weapons also enable it to threaten the whole Middle East over thousands of kilometers, attacking at a place and time of its choosing. It can base drones, such as the V-shaped Shahed 136, in places like Yemen and threaten Israel without even needing to use the drones. Drones also let Iran empower proxies and partners such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

When Iran moves the technology to these groups, it can deny that it is behind the drone attacks. Furthermore, drone attacks enable Iran to not risk its own soldiers, and it can claim plausible deniability when its drones slam into ships or other places.

When Iran uses drones, if there are no casualties, the country being attacked can also refrain from retaliating, meaning the use of drones sometimes means less urgency for countries to go to war.

Hezbollah's use of drones to penetrate Israeli airspace is aimed primarily at achieving a propaganda public relations coup.

This new drone war has been on display, with Hezbollah using drones to try to penetrate Israel's airspace as well. Hezbollah wants a propaganda public relations coup in these incidents. It may not even care about how well its drones perform.

While Hezbollah has a large number of drones, the real goal of Iran and its proxies may sometimes be to test Israel's defenses, rather than use them to destroy things.

Nevertheless, the threat is rapidly rising. Hamas used new drones in the May 2021 conflict. The attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria, and against a ship in the Gulf of Oman in July 2021, as well as reports the US downed drones over Iraq that were heading to Israel, are all examples of the rising threat.

 

Seth J. Frantzman is a Ginsburg-Milstein Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum and senior Middle East correspondent at The Jerusalem Post.

Source: https://www.meforum.org/63215/how-concerned-should-we-be-about-the-iranian

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Russia and China: The Worst Moment in History Coming Soon - Gordon G. Chang

 

by Gordon G. Chang

It cannot be a good sign that Russia, China, and North Korea at the same time are threatening to launch the world's most destructive weaponry.

• Russia has a nuclear doctrine known as "escalate to deescalate" or, more accurately, "escalate to win," which contemplates threatening or using nuclear weapons early in a conventional conflict.

• It cannot be a good sign that Russia, China, and North Korea at the same time are threatening to launch the world's most destructive weaponry.

• Because the Western democracies have largely stood down and are clearly not fighting in Ukraine, Beijing and Pyongyang want similar successes.

• "Like Vladimir Putin, the Communist Party of China has lost its fear of American power... China's nuclear threats expose... perceived American weakness, expose the risk of the lack of a U.S. regional nuclear deterrent, and expose the inadequacy of U.S. leadership." — Richard Fisher of the Virginia-based International Assessment and Strategy Center, to the author, March 2022.

• Whatever the reason for the threats, Putin and Xi have told everyone what they intend to do. Unfortunately, Western leaders are determined not to believe them.

• In response to Russian threats, President Joe Biden on February 28 said the American people should not worry about nuclear war. On the contrary, there is every reason to worry.

• In line with Western thinking, presidents and prime ministers have almost always ignored nuclear threats, hoping not to dignify them. Unfortunately, this posture has only emboldened the threat-makers to make more threats. The later the international community confronts belligerent Russians, Chinese, and North Koreans, the more dangerous the confrontations will be.

• The world, therefore, looks like it is fast approaching the worst moment in history.

Russia has a nuclear doctrine known as "escalate to deescalate" or, more accurately, "escalate to win," which contemplates threatening or using nuclear weapons early in a conventional conflict. It cannot be a good sign that Russia, China, and North Korea at the same time are threatening to launch the world's most destructive weaponry. Pictured: Mobile intercontinental ballistic missile launchers at a military parade in Moscow, Russia, on June 24, 2020. (Photo by Sergey Pyatakov - Host Photo Agency via Getty Images )

On May 1, on Russian TV, the media executive often called "Putin's mouthpiece" urged the Russian president to launch a Poseidon underwater drone with a "warhead of up to 100 megatons." The detonation, said Dmitry Kiselyov, would create a 1,640-foot tidal wave that would "plunge Britain to the depths of the ocean." The wave would reach halfway up England's tallest peak, Scafell Pike.

"This tidal wave is also a carrier of extremely high doses of radiation," Kiselyov pointed out. "Surging over Britain, it will turn whatever is left of them into radioactive desert, unusable for anything. How do you like this prospect?"

"A single launch, Boris, and there is no England anymore," said Kiselyov, addressing the British prime minister.

The threat followed one on April 28 made by Aleksey Zhuravlyov, chairman of Russia's pro-Kremlin Rodina Party. On the "60 Minutes" program carried on Channel One, Russian TV, he urged Putin to nuke Britain with a Sarmat, the world's largest and heaviest missile.

The program noted that a missile launched from Russia's Kaliningrad enclave would take 106 seconds to hit Berlin, 200 seconds to reach Paris, and 202 seconds to obliterate London.

The NATO designation of the Sarmat is "Satan II."

Putin himself has gotten in on the fun. Just before sending his forces across Ukraine's border, he warned of "consequences you have never encountered in your history." On February 27, he put his nuclear forces on high alert. On March 1, the Russian leader actually sortied his ballistic missile submarines and land-based mobile missile launchers in what was called a drill. On May 4, the Russian Defense Ministry announced "electronic launches" in Kaliningrad of its nuclear-capable Iskander mobile ballistic missile.

Russia has a nuclear doctrine known as "escalate to deescalate" or, more accurately, "escalate to win," which contemplates threatening or using nuclear weapons early in a conventional conflict.

China, which on February 4 issued a joint statement with Russia about their no-limits partnership, has this century been periodically making unprovoked threats to destroy the cities of states that have somehow offended it. In July of last year, for instance, the Chinese regime threatened to nuke Japan over its support for Taiwan. In September, China issued a similar threat against Australia because it had joined with the U.S. and U.K. in the AUKUS pact, an arrangement to maintain stability in the region. This March, China's Ministry of Defense promised the "worst consequences" for countries helping Taiwan defend itself. The threat appeared especially directed against Australia.

This month, North Korea said that, in addition to using nuclear weapons to retaliate against an attack, it might launch nukes to attack others.

It cannot be a good sign that Russia, China, and North Korea at the same time are threatening to launch the world's most destructive weaponry.

Why are the planet's most dangerous regimes all making such threats?

First, Putin showed the world these warnings in fact intimidate. As Hudson Institute senior fellow Peter Huessy told me in March, escalating to win assumes nuclear threats will "coerce an enemy to stand down and not fight." Because the Western democracies have largely stood down and are clearly not fighting in Ukraine, Beijing and Pyongyang want similar successes.

Second, Putin and Chinese ruler Xi Jinping could make such threats because they do not respect nations perceived as enemies. "The bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan and the unwillingness to effectively support Ukraine since our 1994 guarantee and especially over the past year have led nuclear-armed enemies to ratchet up threats to the U.S. and its allies," Huessy, also president of GeoStrategic Analysis, said to Gatestone at the beginning of this month. "They sense a growing American weakness."

"Like Vladimir Putin, the Communist Party of China has lost its fear of American power," Richard Fisher of the Virginia-based International Assessment and Strategy Center said to me shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "China's nuclear threats expose the Party's arrogance in the face of perceived American weakness, expose the risk of the lack of a U.S. regional nuclear deterrent, and expose the inadequacy of U.S. leadership."

Third, internal considerations may make such threats easy to make. Many say the most dangerous moment since World War II was the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. Perhaps even more perilous was the Checkpoint Charlie standoff in Berlin the preceding October. Yet both Kennedy and Khrushchev knew there must never be a nuclear exchange. The issue today is whether Putin and Xi know that as well. Maybe they do not.

These threats may reveal that the leaders of these regimes share a last-days-in-the-bunker mentality. Both Russia and China, albeit in different ways, are ruled by regimes in distress, which means their leaders undoubtedly have low thresholds of risk.

Whatever the reason for the threats, Putin and Xi have told everyone what they intend to do. Unfortunately, Western leaders are determined not to believe them.

In response to Russian threats, President Joe Biden on February 28 said the American people should not worry about nuclear war. On the contrary, there is every reason to worry.

In line with Western thinking, presidents and prime ministers have almost always ignored nuclear threats, hoping not to dignify them. Unfortunately, this posture has only emboldened the threat-makers to make more threats. The later the international community confronts belligerent Russians, Chinese, and North Koreans, the more dangerous the confrontations will be.

The world, therefore, looks like it is fast approaching the worst moment in history.

"A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought," Biden stated in June of last year. Maybe. Putin, who jointly issued those words with the American president, may think he can wage one and even win.

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Gordon G. Chang is the author of The Coming Collapse of China, a Gatestone Institute distinguished senior fellow, and a member of its Advisory Board.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18506/russia-china-nuclear-escalation

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Welcome to Biden's Ominous 'Disinformation' Governance Board - Robert Spencer

 

by Robert Spencer

Will the freedom of speech survive?

 

America has crossed the Rubicon. The Biden administration has established a Disinformation Governance Board, which is bad enough in itself, and even more ominously, it is part of the Department of Homeland Security. This sends the unmistakable signal that what the administration designates as “disinformation” will be treated as a national security issue, with the purveyors of this alleged disinformation being regarded as terrorists.

This is flagrantly unconstitutional, but it’s easy to imagine the Jesuitical arguments that Biden’s lawyers will make: “The First Amendment says that ‘Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech,” but Congress was not involved here; the Disinformation Governance Board has been established, not by Congress but apparently by the fiat of the president or the Homeland Security Secretary, within the Department of Homeland Security. Maybe they’ll also say that the freedom of speech is not being abridged at all, for the Founding Fathers surely didn’t intend to include “disinformation” within that freedom, did they? Surely they never intended that “disinformation” or “hate speech” would be allowed to proliferate, right?

The chief of Biden’s Thought Police, Nina Jankowicz, has already hinted at that argument. On Wednesday, she tweeted that “a HUGE focus of our work, and indeed, one of the key reasons the Board was established, is to maintain the Dept’s committment [sic; is misspelling disinformation?] to protecting free speech, privacy, civil rights, & civil liberties.” Yes, she actually wrote that the Disinformation Governance Board was established in order to protect free speech. It’s likely that she isn’t just trying to gaslight the rubes, either. She almost certainly really believes that what she is doing is protecting the freedom of speech by getting rid of all the “disinformation” and “hate” that is blocking the way of the truth and giving the truth a clear path.

The only problem with this is that what Jankowicz herself and others among the Leftist political and media elites have more than once dismissed as “disinformation” turned out to be true. Jankowicz falsely claimed in 2017 that Republicans funded the notorious Steele Dossier that was a central element of the Russian Collusion hoax, and she insisted that Hunter Biden’s laptop was a “Trump campaign product.” Jankowicz is now defensive about passing on the claim from fifty-one (she said fifty, more disinformation) compromised intelligence officials that Hunter’s laptop was a “Russian influence op,” but is there really any doubt that if the Disinformation Governance Board had been up and running during the 2020 presidential campaign, it would have enthusiastically endorsed the intel wonks’ claim and denounced those who said that the laptop was real as purveyors of “disinformation”?

Even worse, in a larger sense, “disinformation” and “hate” are entirely subjective categories, based on the point of view of the person who is doing the evaluating. While Nina Jankowicz regarded Hunter’s laptop as Trump/Russia disinformation, it was convenient for her politically to do so, as she is aligned with Biden and his henchmen. Her evaluation of the laptop was clearly based on the fact that it would have worked to the advantage of her political opponents. There is no indication, none whatsoever, that Nina Jankowicz would ever come to the conclusion that something that aided the Left and hurt dissidents from the Left’s agenda was “disinformation,” or that something that advanced conservative causes was anything but “disinformation” and probably “hate” as well.

Yet despite the fact that the Disinformation Governance Board is quite obviously a partisan tool, Biden’s handlers likely don’t anticipate that it will get much pushback outside of rock-ribbed conservative sites. The Left has been preparing for this for a long time and softening up Americans to the idea that some legal, non-criminal, non-violent speech is actively harmful and must be suppressed. In October 2019, the Campaign For Free Speech (CFS), a pro-First Amendment advocacy group, released poll results showing that “51% of Americans think the First Amendment is outdated and should be rewritten” and that “48% believe ‘hate speech’ should be illegal.”

Who gets to decide what “hate speech” is? Nina Jankowicz, apparently. And what she will decide is entirely predictable. Now it remains to be seen whether there is still sufficient understanding of the importance of the freedom of speech in America today to stop the Disinformation Governance Board or whether it will overcome initial resistance to become an integral part of American public life, after the manner of the Department of Education.

When Jimmy Carter established that cabinet-level department, Ronald Reagan vowed to close it. When Reagan became president, however, he quickly found that shutting down the department was impossible, as too many Republicans, as well as Democrats, liked — and benefited from — the idea of a federal education bureaucracy. Will the Disinformation Governance Board follow the same trajectory? Will we see a Republican presidential candidate in 2028 or 2032 under fire for proposing a reduction in its funding? If we do, by that point it will hardly matter. America as a free society will be a dimming memory.

 

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 23 books including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad and The History of Jihad. His latest book is The Critical Qur’an. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/05/will-freedom-speech-survive-robert-spencer/

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Biden disinformation czar Nina Jankowicz's book says she won't be 'silenced' by 'harassment' from men online - Kyle Morris , Andrew Murray

 

by Kyle Morris , Andrew Murray

Jankowicz claimed some of the pushback she receives violates her 'basic democratic and human rights'

 

The Biden administration's disinformation czar claimed in a book she authored this year she will not be "silenced" on social media as she pushed back against what she considered to be "harassment" from men whenever she shared opinions online.

She claims the "infrastructure of the internet is built for men."

In her recent book, "How to Be a Woman Online," Nina Jankowicz raises concerns on a number of subjects surrounding the backlash women face online, placing great focus on how men respond to what she has to say.

WHITE HOUSE ‘DISINFORMATION CZAR’ NINA JANKOWICZ MAKES TIKTOK ACCOUNT PRIVATE

"We accept that harassment of women is simply the cost of their social media engagement, or worse, that women are expected to endure harassment and silencing in the name of ‘free speech.’ It is long past time for that to change," she wrote in one passage of the book released in April.

Nina Jankowicz will be the executive director of the Department of Homeland Security's Disinformation Governance Board. (Arkadiusz Warguła/iStock)

Jankowicz also suggested that the negative feedback she receives from men online violates her "basic democratic and human rights" and is meant to "silence" her and other women, concluding that comments from men "change how women engage online."

"[T]he relentless stream of online misogyny to which I and millions of other women who deign to engage in public discourse have been subject sometimes rattles me," she wrote. "I may have a slightly thicker skin than some, but watching thousands of strangers criticize my appearance, experience, and expertise is not easy. Watching them objectify me is not easy. Watching them deny me and other women our basic democratic and human rights is not easy. And watching these attacks be ignored as 'the cost of doing business' in an age where an online presence is all-but-required is enraging.

"To be a woman online is an inherently dangerous act," she claimed. "The attacks we endure are meant to silence us. They are meant to encourage us to stay home in 'traditional' women’s roles and not engage in politics, journalism, activism, academia, or public life more broadly. … However nonsensical, however baseless and uninformed, there is plenty of evidence that suggests these attacks change how women engage online."

BIDEN DISINFORMATION CZAR NINA JANKOWICZ: CRITICAL RACE THEORY A SIGN OF REPUBLICANS ‘WEAPONIZING’ EMOTIONS

Bringing race into the equation of "online misogyny," Jankowicz wrote that she, as a "straight, cisgender, white woman," cannot imagine how a woman "who is part of another ethnically, racially, or sexually marginalized group" deals with online experiences. According to Jankowicz, those women are "even more likely to be targeted, and the attacks are likely to be more vicious."

Highlighting a term from activist Van Badham called "the engagement boner," Jankowicz described her view of online encounters with men, telling readers that it "is helpful to be acquainted with their various incarnations before you encounter them so you do not mistake their initial approach as anything other than bad-faith.

Social media icons (Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

"They burst violently into your mentions and your life like the Kool-Aid man, demanding your attention, hawking opinions that they believe are unarguably, manifestly correct and indispensable," Jankowicz continued. "'PAY ATTENTION TO ME!' they bellow. ‘MY OPINION MATTERS!’ What drives much of this behavior, whether it is laden with misogynistic slurs or couched in outwardly polite language, is what Van Badham calls ‘the engagement boner’ — when users get so excited about interacting with someone whose opinion they value that they cross the line into pestering, harassing, or abusive behavior.

"The engagement boner rears its ugly head in any genus of troll you encounter online," she added. "The trolls may write differently, or lash out differently, or become grotesquely fixated on different parts of your appearance or background, but ultimately, what motivates them is engagement with you. This, they hope, will encourage you to finally shut up and make room for their infinitely more worthy thoughts."

Noting in the book that she has never "really been afraid" to voice her opinions around men, Jankowicz reflected on the time she "pecked a little boy in the face while dressed up as a ‘bird princess’ on Halloween" when she was in the first grade. 

While there is little context for the pecking incident, Jankowicz included a message she wrote in her first-grade journal which stated, "Today I am a bird … I am sad peple macke [sic] fun of me."

MAYORKAS DENIES KNOWING HIS ‘DISINFORMATION CZAR’ CALLED HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP ‘RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION’

"But I continued to do my best not to let anyone walk all over me," she added.

Jankowicz also offered broad generalizations in her book as she claimed the "infrastructure of the internet is built for men and with men’s safety in mind," suggesting that there are no "social mores and boundaries" for men to follow when making comments on social media.

"Women are expected to stoically endure astronomical levels of abuse to simply participate in conversations while navigating a set of social mores and boundaries that simply don’t exist for men," she said. "When men encounter behavior they don’t like online, they curse. They block. They willingly and openly dogpile and troll. And the world thinks them more manly for it."

Reflecting on her own experiences, Jankowicz wrote in the book that she is dedicated to ensuring that women have an "equal voice" on social media and said she refuses to "be silenced about our collective experience of harassment, abuse, and inequity, online or off."

"We have a collective tenacity that, if activated, can challenge the norms that so many have written off as an unfortunate but immutable characteristic of women’s online engagement," she said. "I am committed to harnessing that tenacity with every tweet, every TikTok, every keystroke, and every click.

Nina Jankowicz will be the executive director of the Department of Homeland Security's Disinformation Governance Board. (@wiczipedia Twitter account)

"I will continue to invest in the time-consuming and sometimes-expensive practices, where my resources allow, to enable myself and others to speak out," she continued. "I will familiarize myself with platform policy and use it to create a more equitable online environment. I will build a circle of solidarity that is inclusive and supportive, committed to amplifying other women. I will seek help from friends, family, colleagues, and professionals when I need it.

"I will do this because the internet is a critical public space for discussion, politics, activism, and expression," she added. "Until women — all women, no matter their race, sexual identity, religion, or ability — have an equal voice there, we aren’t truly equal anywhere."

Republicans have derided both Jankowicz and the Biden administration's new disinformation board established through the Department of Homeland Security, arguing it is little more than a "ministry of truth." Republicans on Capitol Hill have pointed to Jankowicz's past endorsements of disinformation as well as her efforts to suppress accurate news events that were harmful for Democrats.

Fox News' Anders Hagstrom contributed to this article.

 

Kyle Morris , Andrew Murray covers politics for Fox News. On Twitter: @RealKyleMorris.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/recent-book-biden-disinformation-czar-nina-jankowicz-online-treatment-women

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Terror groups threaten missile strikes if Israel resumes assassinations - Khaled Abu Toameh

 

by Khaled Abu Toameh

There have been growing talks in Israeli media that Israel may assassinate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar following the Elad terror attack.

 

YAHYA SINWAR, leader of Hamas in Gaza, gestures on stage during a rally in Gaza City on May 24

(photo credit: ATIA MOHAMMED/FLASH90)

Palestinian terror groups have threatened to launch terrorist attacks inside Israeli cities if the government resumes the policy of targeted killings, the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen TV station reported on Saturday.

According to the report, the terror groups “informed the mediators that the return of the assassination policy means the return of bombings inside the occupied cities.”

The threat came amid growing talk in the Israeli media that Israel may assassinate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in response to Thursday’s terror attack in the city of Elad, which resulted in the murder of three Israeli men.

Al-Mayadeen quoted unnamed sources as saying that Hamas relayed to the Egyptians a message to the effect that the terror group was not worried about Israel’s threats to assassinate its leaders.

“The price for such foolishness is known to the enemy,” the sources said. “The resistance will burn the cities of the center [of Israel] and will direct massive missile strikes on Gush Dan if it carries out its threats.”

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar speaks to the media following a meeting with U.N. mediators, in Gaza City June 21, 2021. (credit: MOHAMMED SALEM/REUTERS)

Egyptian sources were quoted over the weekend as saying that Cairo rules out the possibility that Israel would resume the policy of targeted assassinations.

The sources told the Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed online news website that Egyptian mediators had previously warned Israel that harming Sinwar or any other leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad would mean that the Jewish state “has taken a decision to launch an all-out military confrontation.”

The sources added that the Egyptians were recently contacted by the US administration with the goal of preventing an escalation.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is based in Qatar, said in a statement shortly after the Elad terror attack that Israel’s threats to assassinate Sinwar and other terror leaders “will not deter us from defending our land, our holy sites, our right to return and the liberation of our prisoners.”

Haniyeh added that the “resistance” against Israel “will continue until we achieve our full goals.”

Hamas political bureau member Izzat al-Risheq, said on Friday that the Israeli “threats and incitement to assassinate Yahya Sinwar or any of the movement’s leaders don’t frighten us.”

Risheq said that the threats were part of a “failed Israeli attempt to reassure the terrified settlers.”

The threats, he added, would only increase Hamas’s “determination to defend Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque.” 

 

Khaled Abu Toameh

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-706080

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Video: Miranda Devine and the 'Laptop From Hell' - Frontpagemag.com

 

by Frontpagemag.com

Author and NY Post columnist speaks at Freedom Center's Wednesday Morning Club.

 

New York Post Columnist Miranda Devine, author of Laptop From Hell, recently spoke at the Freedom Center's Wednesday Morning Club in Los Angeles on April 26, 2022. Don't miss her speech below, in which she delves into the secrets of Hunter Biden's laptop and exposes the massive international money-laundering operation of the Biden family:

 

Frontpagemag.com

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/05/video-miranda-devine-and-laptop-hell-frontpagemagcom/

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Stealth Newspaper Campaign Exposes Jew Hatred at UCLA - Sara Dogan

 

by Sara Dogan

Over 4,000 copies were distributed on the Westwood campus.

 

In a stealth campaign to circumvent campus censors and reach students directly, the David Horowitz Freedom Center distributed over 4,000 newspapers containing its new report on the rising tide of Jew Hatred and its links to the Hamas-funded campus hate group Students for Justice in Palestine on the UCLA campus.

The newspapers were distributed across the university’s Westwood campus, with copies made available in classroom buildings, dining facilities, student centers, and in distribution boxes for the UCLA Daily Bruin, the university’s chief student-run publication.

Titled “Unearthing the Ivory Tower’s Hidden Scourge,” the Freedom Center’s report names the “Top Ten Jew-Hating Colleges and Universities” and documents the pervasive Jew hatred that is thriving on America’s college campuses. Colleges named in the report include UCLA, the University of Michigan, Rutgers University, and the University of Chicago, among others.

false

The report reveals that campus Jew hatred is most often fomented by the Hamas funded campus hate group Students for Justice in Palestine and supported and funded by a complex network of university resources, faculty, departments, and administrators.

A poster printed on the back page of each newspaper highlights the parallels between the Hamas-funded Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel and the Nazi movement to exterminate the Jews. The poster features images of Rep. Ilhan Omar and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, accompanied by a notorious tweet from Omar stating “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” 

 

false

The bottom half of the poster states, "The Hamas-funded Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel is a terrorist originated-and-funded plot to isolate and weaken the world’s only Jewish state. Support for BDS is fueled by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the Hamas-linked student organization which is the leading promoter of BDS on American campuses. Hamas’s goal, as stated in its charter, is the genocide of the Jews and the destruction of the Jewish state. This goal and the aims of the BDS movement are one and the same." Text at the bottom of the poster labels BDS "A True and Deserving Successor to Hitler’s Nazi Party."

Authorities at UCLA have thus far not commented on the Freedom Center's stealth newspaper campaign, but recent coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the UCLA Daily Bruin proves just how sorely pro-Israel perspectives are needed on the Los Angeles campus.

A recent op-ed published in the Daily Bruin by student Rachel Burnett endorsed the purpose behind the larger BDS movement, but stopped short of supporting the entire movement, declaring it "not targeted enough toward Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza," and opposing academic boycotts of Israel. This tepid defense of Israeli universities is sadly what passes for pro-Israel speech on UCLA's campus. The op-ed was accompanied by an editorial note stating "The author of this op-ed used the term 'land of Israel/Palestine,' to reflect her personal views"--lest anyone mistake Burnett's wording as implying official editorial recognition of Israel.

Another student op-ed  published by The Daily Bruin last June was titled, "UCLA must stop repressing pro-Palestinian counter-narratives." The article demonized Israel as promoting a “draconian legal system [that] systematically erases indigenous Palestinians and normalizes occupation, the very definition of a settler colonial state.” It also endorsed the genocidal and Hamas-funded BDS movement against Israel. 

The UCLA student government has also been united in its enmity for the Jewish state. In March 2021, the body unanimously passed "A Resolution Calling for the UC to Divest from War" which referred to "ethnic cleansing in Palestine by the Israeli government." Jewish students and Hillel objected not only to the language in the resolution which demonized Israel and supported the genocidal BDS movement, but also to the fact that they were given no opportunity to express their views before the resolution’s passage.

With pro-Israel speech and perspectives so effectively censored on the UCLA campus, the Freedom Center's stealth newspapers provided a sorely needed dose of reality to the thousands of students and faculty on campus. 

Read the full report on the Top Ten Jew-Hating Colleges and Universities at https://stopcampusjewhatred.org/

 

Sara Dogan

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/05/stealth-newspaper-campaign-exposes-jew-hatred-ucla-sara-dogan/

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Russia's military-industrial complex in panic over low salaries, mass layoffs - Jerusalem Post Staff

 

by Jerusalem Post Staff

Employees at Russian military-industrial complex complain about extremely low wages and mass layoffs, pointing out that for a long time indexation was not carried out at all.

 

A general view shows the oil refinery of the Lukoil company in Volgograd, Russia April 22, 2022. Picture taken April 22, 2022.

(photo credit: REUTERS/REUTERS PHOTOGRAPHER)

Russia's Armed Forces are losing civilian contractors due to lack of adequate financial compensation, according to a letter sent from the trade union of civilian personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the Siberian region to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin.

In the letter, employees complain about extremely low wages and mass layoffs, pointing out that for a long time indexation was not carried out at all.

This is not the first appeal of the Russian trade unions regarding the negative consequences of international sanctions for the Russian military-industrial complex. Earlier, the Arkhangelsk trade unions warned about possible social unrest due to the sharp decline in wages and living standards.

What is the union's stance on the war?

Officially, the union strongly supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine by organizing various propaganda events. However, the union does not acknowledge the connection between the sanctions imposed due to the war and the inability of the military budget to finance their work properly.

A Russian facility responsible for the production of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) has been shut down due to import restrictions and Western sanctions. This is because, as noted by employees, "almost nothing Russian" is used during the critical state of production when electronic components are used. 

Most of the Russian military's electronic components were provided by Germany, but with sanctions in place, Germany is no longer providing Russia with any supplies.

With the factories closed, however, the workers are given one of two choices: Go on unpaid leave or join the Russian army to serve in the war with Ukraine, preferably as a SAM operator, and get a monthly salary of 50,000 rubles (around $600).

Earlier in April, a Vladivostok shipyard was allegedly unable to meet 25 billion rubles' worth of government orders to build two tankers, two missile boats, and to maintain and repair other vessels.

"It is obvious that the Russian military-industrial complex remains dependent on imported high technologies," Ukraine's GUR said. "Without the supply of which Russia is unable to continue production of modern weapons."

 

Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/banking-and-finance/article-706060

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Biden: 'So Many Muslims Are Targeted With Violence' and 'Oppressed for Their Religious Beliefs' - Raymond Ibrahim

 

by Raymond Ibrahim

Complaining about fake violence against Muslims while ignoring real violence by Muslims.

 

Day by day, it seems that the ruling class and their media mouthpiece are dedicated to one principle: find problems where none exist and ignore real problems that are in desperate need of attention.

Consider the words of U.S. President Joe Biden, spoken during Eid al-Fitr with Muslims at the White House on May 2. He said:

[T]oday, around the world, we’re seeing so many Muslims being targeted with violence. No one, no one should discriminate against oppressed or be oppressed for their religious beliefs…. Muslims make our nation stronger every single day, even as they still face real challenges and threats in our society, including targeted violence and Islamophobia that exists.

Now, let’s briefly parse these surreal claims:

[T]oday, around the world, we’re seeing so many Muslims being targeted with violence.

Where are the statistics for this claim? Rather, what we’re used to seeing is Muslims targeting non-Muslims with violence. According to one tally, for example, during just this last Ramadan, or basically the month of April 2022, Muslims launched 177 terror attacks “in the name of Islam” that murdered 1,086 people. Again, that’s just during one month—Islam’s “holiest” month. The same tally finds that there were zero attacks and zero deaths by non-Muslims operating under the name of their religions.

No one, no one should discriminate against oppressed or be oppressed for their religious beliefs.

Of course, everyone agrees with this—except, apparently, the one group that Biden was speaking to and presenting as “oppressed,” namely, Muslims: systematic discrimination and oppression are endemic to the Muslim world, and that’s because systematic discrimination and oppression are integral parts of the religion of Islam and codified in sharia.

If you’re a non-Muslim, you are openly treated as inferior and with fewer rights. That’s if you’re lucky; otherwise, you’re outright persecuted and possibly killed for your faith. As a recent report found, 360 million Christians around the world are persecuted for their religious identity—and the overwhelming majority of that persecution occurs in Muslim nations. In fact, the persecution Christians experience in 39 of the worst 50 nations is due to Islam. Yet never a word about this from Biden. Instead:

Muslims make our nation stronger every single day, even as they still face real challenges and threats in our society, including targeted violence and Islamophobia that exists.

While one can point to several ways Muslims potentially make the U.S. weaker every day—from terror attacks and violent crimes to engaging in propaganda and subverting the nation from within—it would be useful to explain one reason as to how “Muslims make our nation stronger every single day.” Sure, it sounds nice, but some concrete examples, please.

As for Biden’s complaint about “targeted violence and Islamophobia that exists,” as seen, whatever that may be, it is a tithe of the targeted violence that Muslims launch on others.

As for the “Islamophobia that exists”—and which  has existed since Islam was born, for obvious reasons—it is simply a manifestation of the fact that more and more people are learning the truths of Muhammad’s creed, despite the talking points of Biden and the rest.

 

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/05/biden-so-many-muslims-are-targeted-violence-and-raymond-ibrahim/

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At least 3 killed in terror attack in Elad - Israel National News

 

by Israel National News

2 terrorists go on stabbing spree with an axe and a knife in haredi city of Elad.

At least three people have been killed and four others wounded in a terrorist attack in the haredi city of Elad Thursday night.

Several Magen David Adom (MDA)and United Hatzalah ambulances were called to the scene of the incident. According to MDA's statement, there are seven victims in total, three of whom have passed away. Of the other four victims, three are in serious condition, one is in moderate condition, and one is in light condition.

According to preliminary reports, the terrorist attacked people with an axe on a city street before moving to a nearby park to continue his killing spree. Police spokesperson Eli Levy said that there were reportedly two attackers, one armed with an axe, and one with a knife.

United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Moshe Sa'adon, the head of the Elad chapter for the organization who was one of the first responders to arrive at the scene said, "Unfortunately, one of the people injured in the stabbing incident was pronounced dead at the scene. We had performed CPR on him in an attempt to save his life but were unsuccessful.

"Additionally, together with other first responders, I treated two other people who were in critical condition and three additional people in serious condition. There is also one person in moderate to serious condition and a number of people who sustained light injuries."

Two other victims were later declared dead.

One witness wrote on Twitter: "I was in an attack in Elad. The terrorists approached me and a friend with huge axes. My whole arm was covered in blood but I was miraculously saved. Thank G-d."

Elad Mayor Yisrael Porush called on residents to remain in their homes: "Everyone should stay at home and close the doors to their balconies, as it is not yet clear if the perpetrators have been caught. Security forces are doing their job and we should not make it more difficult for them."

The mayor added: "The incident occurred in the city's main park, which covers a large area and makes it harder for police. To the best of my understanding, there is more than one area of focus in this incident."

 

Israel National News

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/327033

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Russia Threatens to Nuke Britain, France, and Germany - Robert Spencer

 

by Robert Spencer

A dramatic escalation.

 

Russia threatened a dramatic escalation of its war in Ukraine Thursday when Russia’s Channel One featured a video depicting Russian missiles reaching Berlin, Paris, and London.

Zhuravlyov declared: “One Sarmat [missile] and that’s it – the British Isles are no more.” The show’s cohost, Evgeny Popov, responded: “No one will survive in this war when you propose the strike with a Sarmat. Do you understand that no one will survive? No one on the planet.” Zhuravlyov, however, was undeterred, saying optimistically that “we’ll start with a blank slate,” and boasting that Russian missiles “can’t be intercepted. Their abilities are limited. They say they can shoot it down, we’ll see about that.”

The show’s other host, Popov’s wife Olga Skabeyeva, then added: “Sarmats are not in Kaliningrad yet. From Kaliningrad to Berlin is 106 seconds, from Kaliningrad to Paris is 200 seconds. You’re interested in London, 202 seconds to London.” Zhuravlyov responded happily: “They need to be shown this picture. ‘Guys, look at this picture — count the seconds, can you make it? Hello, it’s already here.’ That’s the way. Let them think about it. Get a stopwatch, count [to] 220 seconds. That’s how you talk to them, they don’t understand anything else.”

This latest round of nuclear threats came after James Stephen Heappey, Britain’s Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, said that Ukraine should strike inside Russia: “It is completely legitimate for Ukraine to be targeting in Russia’s depth in order to disrupt the logistics that if they weren’t disrupted would directly contribute to death and carnage on Ukrainian soil.” He also voiced support for other countries supplying Ukraine with weaponry: “There are lots of countries around the world that operate kit that they have imported from other countries; when those bits of kit are used we tend not to blame the country that manufactured it, you blame the country that fired it.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wondered if NATO would consider the same actions on Russia’s part to be justified: “Do we understand correctly that for the sake of disrupting the logistics of military supplies, Russia can strike military targets on the territory of those NATO countries that supply arms to the Kyiv regime? After all, this directly leads to deaths and bloodshed on Ukrainian territory. As far as I understand, Britain is one of those countries.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry added a threat: “We would like to underline that London’s direct provocation of the Kyiv regime into such actions, if such actions are carried out, will immediately lead to our proportional response. As we have warned, the Russian armed forces are in round-the-clock readiness to launch retaliatory strikes with high-precision long-range weapons at decision-making centres in Kyiv.” On Wednesday, Putin himself directly threatened retaliation against countries that are aiding Ukraine: “We have all the tools for this, that no one else can boast of having. We won’t boast about it: we’ll use them, if needed.”

This echoed what he said when he launched the invasion on February 24: “Now a few important, very important words for those who may be tempted to intervene in the ongoing events. Whoever tries to hinder us, or threaten our country or our people, should know that Russia’s response will be immediate and will lead you to consequences that you have never faced in your history. We are ready for any turn of events. All necessary decisions in this regard have been made. I hope that I will be heard.”

He was not heard. France 24 reported on Sunday that “rather than hiding it,” the Pentagon “began openly talking this week about how it is training Ukrainian troops, including inside Germany, to use the weapons they are receiving. And instead of saying, as it did in February, that it wants only to help Ukraine survive, Washington now says its goal in the war is to debilitate Russia for the long term.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declared: “We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”

Will this, then, become a nuclear war? We’re closer to that than we have been for nearly sixty years.

 

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 23 books including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad and The History of Jihad. His latest book is The Critical Qur’an. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/05/russia-threatens-nuke-britain-france-and-germany-robert-spencer/

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