Thanks to the Biden Administration's and EU's Appeasement, Iran's Mullahs Go Big on Cyberattacks - Majid Rafizadeh

 

by Majid Rafizadeh

Cyber warfare could have consequences at least as severe as military actions: cyber attacks can take control of or disrupt an entire nation's infrastructure -- public services, hospitals, transportation, internet, municipal or governmental institutions, the energy sector, steal people's private information, etc.

• The small country of Albania appeared to have more courage and stronger leadership than the Biden administration: it recently sent a strong message to the Iranian regime after Iran's cyber attacks against Albania in July. Albania severed diplomatic relations with Tehran and ordered Iranian diplomats and embassy staff to leave within 24 hours.

• "This extreme response... is fully proportionate to the gravity and risk of the cyber attack that threatened to paralyze public services, erase digital systems and hack into state records, steal government intranet electronic communication and stir chaos and insecurity in the country". — Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Reuters, September 7, 2022.

• "The IRGC clearly makes the country one of the best and most advanced nations when it comes to cyber warfare. In a case of escalation between Iran and the West, Iran will likely aim to launch a cyber attack against critical infrastructures in the US and its allies, (targeting) energy infrastructure, financial institutions and transportation systems." — Institute for National Security Studies.

• Cyber warfare could have consequences at least as severe as military actions: cyber attacks can take control of or disrupt an entire nation's infrastructure -- public services, hospitals, transportation, internet, municipal or governmental institutions, the energy sector, steal people's private information, take control of another country's missiles, unmanned vehicles (drones), and even its military's intelligence, command, control and communications.

• That is just what the West needs: the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism and cyber attacker extraordinaire, soon to have an unlimited quantity of nuclear weapons, precision ballistic missiles to deliver them, and up to a trillion dollars – and in a deal negotiated by -- of all countries -- Russia! And the US government seriously thinks that this mix will prevent war? Let us instead follow the example of spunky Albania, punish bad behavior rather than reward it, and make sure that Biden's atrocious new "Iran deal," reportedly "off the table at least for the time being," is off the table forever.

The small country of Albania appeared to have more courage and stronger leadership than the Biden administration: it recently sent a strong message to the Iranian regime after Iran's cyberattacks against Albania in July. Albania severed diplomatic relations with Tehran and ordered Iranian diplomats and embassy staff to leave within 24 hours. Pictured: A police officer stands guard outside the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tirana on September 7, 2022. (Photo by Gent Shkullaku/AFP via Getty Images)

Not only is the Biden administration is turning a blind eye to the Iranian regime's terror activities and plots abroad, it has also been completely silent about the mullahs' escalating cyberattacks.

The small country of Albania appeared to have more courage and stronger leadership than the Biden administration: it recently sent a strong message to the Iranian regime after Iran's cyberattacks against Albania in July. Albania severed diplomatic relations with Tehran and ordered Iranian diplomats and embassy staff to leave within 24 hours. Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama stated in a video:

"The in-depth investigation provided us with indisputable evidence that the cyberattack against our country was orchestrated and sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran through the engagement of four groups that enacted the aggression...

"The government has decided with immediate effect to end diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. This extreme response... is fully proportionate to the gravity and risk of the cyberattack that threatened to paralyse public services, erase digital systems and hack into state records, steal government intranet electronic communication and stir chaos and insecurity in the country".

Not only the Biden administration, but also NATO has not taken any actions against the Iranian regime, even though Albania is one of its members. A cyberattack actually could be grounds to trigger Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty.

In 2014, NATO members recognized cyber defense as part of NATO's core task of collective defense, which means that a cyber attack could be grounds to invoke Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty. According to Article 5:

"Collective defence means that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies. The principle of collective defence is enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty."

If the Biden administration remains silent and continues to negotiate with the Iranian regime to revive the nuclear deal, appease the Iranian leaders, and lift sanctions on Tehran, the Islamist mullahs will be emboldened and empowered to target ever more Western governments with its cyberattacks. Halting negotiations with this regime and sanctioning its economy are steps in the right direction.

Iran's cyber warfare program is most probably run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which, with the ruling mullahs, will be the sole beneficiaries of a new Iranian nuclear deal. As the Israeli-based Institute for National Security Studies has said:

"The IRGC clearly makes the country one of the best and most advanced nations when it comes to cyberwarfare. In a case of escalation between Iran and the West, Iran will likely aim to launch a cyberattack against critical infrastructures in the US and its allies, (targeting) energy infrastructure, financial institutions and transportation systems."

We should not underestimate the Iranian regime's cyberattacks. Cyber warfare could have consequences at least as severe as military actions: cyberattacks can take control of or disrupt an entire nation's infrastructure -- public services, hospitals, transportation, internet, municipal or governmental institutions, the energy sector, steal people's private information, take control of another country's missiles, unmanned vehicles (drones), and even its military's intelligence, command, control and communications.

As Daniel Coats, who served as the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, stressed at a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence:

"We face a complex, volatile and challenging threat environment. The risk of interstate conflict is higher than any time since the end of the Cold War -- all the more alarming because of the growing development and use of weapons of mass destruction by state and nonstate actors. Our adversaries, as well as the other malign actors, are using cyber and other instruments of power to shape societies and markets, international rules and institutions, and international hotspots to their advantage."

This was not the first time that the Iranian regime had launched a major cyberattack against another country. In November 2018, two people based in Iran were accused of being behind a series of cyberattacks inside the U.S.. The attacks included crippling the municipal government of Atlanta, Georgia, by targeting its hospitals, schools, state agencies and other institutions. Data from these major institutions was held hostage in exchange for ransom payments.

According to Brian Benczkowski, who served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the individuals "deliberately engaged in an extreme form of 21st-century digital blackmail, attacking and extorting vulnerable victims like hospitals and schools — victims they knew would be willing and able to pay."

The Justice Department also indicted seven Iranian citizens for distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against 46 companies, mainly in the banking and financial sectors. Several intelligence agencies and officials in 2017 revealed that a group of Iranian hackers, known as "Cadelle and Chafer," carried out damaging cyber attacks against Saudi Arabia.

Thanks to the EU and the Biden administration's appeasement policy towards the Iranian regime, the ruling mullahs have been emboldened to such an extent that they launched a major cyberrattack against a NATO member's governmental and public infrastructure, and have been attempting to murder US citizens and officials on American soil.

That is just what the West needs: the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism and cyberattacker extraordinaire, soon to have an unlimited quantity of nuclear weapons, precision ballistic missiles to deliver them, and up to a trillion dollars -- and in a deal negotiated by -- of all countries - Russia! And the US government seriously thinks that this mix will prevent war? Let us instead follow the example of spunky Albania, punish bad behavior rather than reward it, and make sure that Biden's atrocious new "Iran deal," reportedly "off the table at least for the time being," is off the table forever.

• Follow Majid Rafizadeh on Twitter

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/18906/iran-cyber-attacks

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Biden's Iran Deal: It's All About the Oil - Kenneth R. Timmerman

 

by Kenneth R. Timmerman

The Biden administration remains hell-bent on concluding a deal. And it's all about the oil

On Monday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called Iran's latest demands in the on-again, off-again nuclear negotiation, "a step backward," making a deal "unlikely." The Iranians want the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to shelve its investigation into Iran's undeclared uranium enrichment activities and figured they could get the U.S. to cave, as it did when John Kerry was leading the U.S. negotiating team in 2015.

Team Biden desperately wants the deal to go through, despite all the insistence from Tony Blinken that the U.S. will only agree to a deal that benefits U.S. national security. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy thinks he knows why.

"Are they trying to get Iranian oil back into the market to try to lower the gas price based on stopping production in America?" he asked Maria Bartiromo on Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Noting that the administration "has not briefed anyone" on the negotiations, despite numerous reports that a deal is just "days away," McCarthy pointed out that lifting sanctions on Iran and immediately releasing nearly $100 billion frozen oil money would only encourage more Iranian terrorism around the world. In addition, he said, Democrats believe a dramatic drop in gasoline prices would increase their chances in the midterms.

Israel has been observing the body language in Washington with increasing trepidation.  On Monday, Israeli interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid reportedly provided hot new intelligence on Iran's nuclear program to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz -- information so sensitive that it apparently caused Germany, France, and the United Kingdom to issue a statement expressing "serious doubts" over Iran's sincerity in the ongoing negotiations.

"We gave information to the Europeans that proved that the Iranians are lying while talks are still happening," an Israeli official told the Times of Israel.

Israel attempted unsuccessfully to discourage the Obama administration from concluding the initial nuclear agreement in 2015, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveling to Washington, D.C., to address a joint session of Congress to make the case against the deal.

On April 30, 2018, it was again Netanyahu who convinced President Donald Trump it was time to make good on his campaign promise to end "the worst deal ever" and withdraw U.S. support from the Iran nuclear agreement, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Program of Action (JCPOA).

In a press conference in Tel Aviv at the time, Netanyahu revealed that Israel's Mossad had broken into a warehouse in Tehran and stolen thousands of documents from Iran's secret nuclear weapons program, some of which Netanyahu described in detail. "Netanyahu's revelation provided concrete evidence that the Iranians had failed to comply with the terms of the deal -- and in fact showed that they had never intended to comply," former Trump senior aide Jared Kushner writes in his new memoir.

It's truly astonishing that any analyst capable of reading at a 6^th-grade level could conclude any differently, and yet the pro-Tehran lobbyists in Washington and their consorts in the media continue to lie, claiming Iran is not a threat.

Information on Iran's nuclear weapons intentions has been publicly available for over thirty years. I was involved in the early 1990s in making some of it public in a ground-breaking report for the Simon Wiesenthal Center. The Iranians predictably howled, calling the report Zionist propaganda and me an Israeli spy during a live segment on ABC Nightline.

As I recount in a new memoir, And the Rest is History, when I offered to Iran's then United Nations ambassador, Kamal Kharazi, to lead a team of non-governmental experts to Iran to investigate -- and potentially whitewash Iran -- he brushed it aside. "Mister Timmerman, if you come to Iran we will keep you for a very long time," he said.

Today, the International Atomic Energy Agency, under its formidable chief, the Italian Raphael Grossi, is refusing to back away from demands that Iran explain past nuclear weapons research and the presence of traces of weapons-grade uranium at supposedly civilian production sites. In June, the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors passed a motion censuring Iran for its non-cooperation. Predictably, Russia and China abstained.

The IAEA has been asking -- begging -- the Iranians for years for "technically credible explanations" to whitewash the evidence of nuclear weapons activity. The fact that the Iranian regime can't even provide that should be a clear indicator of their intent.

The Israelis continue to provide information from Iran's secret Nuclear Archive to governments and researchers. Their most recent revelation involves photographs of a fourth underground site used in "explosive testing of nuclear weapons components." They also produced a table detailing 192 underground tests.

These are not the activities of a country seeking to build nuclear power plants. But the Biden administration remains hell-bent on concluding a deal. And it's all about the oil.

Ship-tracking firms estimate that Iran has stockpiled anywhere from 60 to 93 million barrels in crude oil and condensate in tankers in the Persian Gulf, off Singapore, and near China, Bloomberg reported recently.  That oil "could be swiftly dispatched to buyers in the event an agreement gets hammered out," Bloomberg added.

While it could take weeks or even months for Iran to find buyers and insurance to move all that oil to markets, nevertheless it represents an enormous surge in global oil supplies -- nearly half of what the U.S. pledged to release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves.

The SPR releases are widely credited with bringing oil prices down over the past three months, with gasoline now at $3.70/gallon on average nationwide, instead of well over $5.00

But the SPR releases are currently scheduled to end in mid-October -- just three weeks before election day.

What better time for Iran to flood world oil markets than now? In addition to the surge of Iran's offshore stockpile, a new nuclear deal would allow Iran to return as a "normal" exporter, increasing the flow of Iranian oil "by between 500,000 bpd to 1 million bpd," according to analysts.

That would likely drive the price per barrel back into the $65 range -- and remove a big pocketbook issue Republicans had been hoping to use in November. It's hard to imagine a more cynical motive for recklessly endangering U.S. national security.

Image: RawPixel

Ken Timmerman’s 12th book of non-fiction,  And the Rest is History: Tales of Hostages, Arms Dealers, Dirty Tricks, and Spies,  was recently released by Post Hill Press. Timmerman was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 and has covered the Middle East for 40 years.

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/09/bidens_iran_deal_its_all_about_the_oil.html

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Election deniers? 82 Democrats who called GOP election wins questionable, illegitimate or stolen - Natalia Mittelstadt

 

by Natalia Mittelstadt

"Without voter suppression, Stacey Abrams would be the governor of Georgia; Andrew Gillum is the governor of Florida," then-Sen. Kamala Harris said.

 

Democrats and their media allies have sought to stigmatize Republicans concerned about 2020 voting irregularities as "election deniers," yet scores of leading Democrats have themselves raised concerns about elections won by Republicans since 2000, including claiming elections were stolen and attempting to change the outcome of presidential elections by objecting to the certification of state electoral college votes.

In the Senate race in Washington, for instance, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray's campaign recently slammed her GOP oopnent Tiffany Smiley for her stance on election integrity, calling it "way out of line with the truth and way out of line with Washington voters."

"Tiffany Smiley is yet another MAGA Republican who is scrambling to hide her extreme views after the primary," Murray campaign spokesperson Naomi Savin told Axios.

Murray, however, put out a statement on Jan. 6, 2005 expressing her agreement with fellow Democrats who had "raised questions about voting irregularities" in the 2004 presidential election.

In a statement to the Washington Free Beacon, Smiley campaign spokeswoman Elisa Carlson said that Murray was "a hypocrite and has no business attacking anyone over protecting democracy."

"She questioned the integrity of a presidential election 18 years ago, supports Democrat efforts to boost election-denying candidates, and opposes common-sense laws like voter ID requirements," Carlson added.

Murray didn't respond to a request for comment.

Immediately below are 10 representative examples of election denial by leading Democrats, followed by a link to a more extensive list:

1. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has at least questioned, if not outright denied, the outcomes of the 2000, 2004, and 2016 presidential elections, as well as the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election. She said that the Supreme Court "took away a presidency," following the 2000 presidential election, in its ruling in Bush v. Gore. Clinton also repeatedly claimed that Trump was "an illegitimate president."
2. Then-President Bill Clinton said regarding the 2000 presidential election, "The only way [Republicans] could win the election was to stop the voting in Florida."
3. Former President Jimmy Carter said regarding the 2000 presidential election, "There is no doubt in my mind that Al Gore was elected president." Concerning the 2016 presidential election, he said: "I think a full investigation would show that Trump didn't actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf."
4. Former Vice President Al Gore said of the 2000 presidential election, "I believe that if everyone in Florida who tried to vote had had his or her vote counted properly, that I would have won."
5. President Joe Biden, when he was still vice president, said regarding Gore and the 2000 presidential election, "I think he won it, anyway." During the 2020 presidential race, in response to a supporter calling Trump "an illegitimate president," Biden asked if she'd be his vice presidential candidate and said he "absolutely agree[d]" with her.
6. When Vice President Kamala Harris was still a California senator, she said, "Let's say this loud and clear: Without voter suppression, Stacey Abrams would be the governor of Georgia; Andrew Gillum is the governor of Florida." 
7. When former President Barack Obama was an Illinois senator, he said that "not every vote was being counted" in the 2000 presidential election.
8. John Kerry, now Biden's special presidential envoy for climate, said following his defeat in the 2004 presidential election that "too many people were denied their right to vote; too many who tried to vote were intimidated."
9. Stacey Abrams, who is again running as the Democratic nominee for governor in Georgia, said she would "not concede" the 2018 gubernatorial election in her state and that she "did win my election."
10. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), now the House Financial Services Committee chair, said in 2001 that she was objecting "to the fraudulent Florida electoral votes" in the 2000 presidential election and that she didn't "care that [the objection] is not signed by a member of the Senate." Gore, who was presiding over the joint session of Congress as president of the Senate, responded that "the rules do care."

Below follows a longer (but not exhaustive) list of 82 examples of Democrat election denial: 

Deniers list.pdf

Natalia Mittelstadt

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/list-83-democrats-who-have-denied-election-outcomes-amid-criticism-gop

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Hamas Comes to Harvard - Daniel Greenfield

 

by Daniel Greenfield

"I have always supported Hamas.”

 

 

After the fighting between Israel and Hamas in 2012, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki announced that he wanted to visit Gaza.

“I congratulate Ismail Haniyeh (the Hamas prime minister) on the victory in Gaza,” he said.

Marzouki had previously met with delegations from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. His support for the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group was so blatant that even the PLO had warned him not to come to Gaza. After leaving office, Marzouki boarded the Hamas flotilla invading Israel. When the flotilla was intercepted, Israel deported him. These days, Tunisia doesn’t want him either.

But Massachusetts does.

More recently an arrest warrant was issued for the arrest of Marzouki by his own country. He was sentenced to four years in prison for national security violations last year.

Marzouki, then in Paris, was quoted as warning that, “I’ll soon return home to Tunisia and overthrow the incumbent regime” and “I’m waiting for a signal from the militants in Tunisia to decide on the date of my return to Tunis”.

Instead, he’s going to Harvard where there are even more militants than in Tunis.

The Ash Center for Democratic Governance at Harvard’s Kennedy School announced that it’s appointing the international fugitive and longtime Islamist ally as a senior fellow. The Harvard announcement makes no mention of either Marzouki’s support for Islamic terrorism against Jews or the fact that he is a wanted criminal. But they do hail him as a hero of the Arab Spring.

Last year, after a barrage of Hamas rockets and terrorist attacks, Marzouki had phoned Hamas boss Ismail Haniyeh to congratulate him for the “victory for the Arab and Muslim Ummah.”

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Marzouki told the Qatari Islamist media operation, “I have always supported Hamas because it is a national resistance movement. When I was president of Tunisia, I received Khaled Meshaal and Ismail Haniyeh, totally ignoring the US ambassador’s indignation at the meeting.”

Harvard has no objection to this. And instead describes Marzouki as a “freedom fighter.”

“I am delighted that President Marzouki has chosen the Ash Center as a place from which to share the wisdom and lessons he has gained in helping to bring democracy to Tunisia,” Archon Fung, Ash’s director, declared, describing a terrorist supporter and fugitive as a  “leader who has spent most of his life working to strengthen human rights, the rule of law.”

Nothing says human rights and the law of rule like supporting a racist Islamic terror group.

Aside from Marzouki’s support for Hamas, he’s widely reviled in his own country as a puppet of the murderous Islamist Ennahda movement, a cousin of the Muslim Brotherhood, and its Qatari backers. The thuggish leader had once told Al Jazeera that if secularists come to power, they would face the gallows.

Marzouki will be lecturing at Harvard on issues related to democracy.

“This revolution will be pitiless to them,” Marzouki had warned, “because there will be no reasonable individuals such as Mustapha Ben Jaafar, Moncef Marzouki, or Rached Ghannouchi to call for dialogue, moderation, and national reconciliation.”

Ghannouchi, a key Ennahda figure, and an ally of Marzouki, had endorsed Jewish genocide. “There are no civilians in Israel. The population—males, females and children—are the army reserve soldiers, and thus can be killed.”

A Harvard Kennedy analysis claimed that Ghannouchi “sounded like Thomas Jefferson”.

It’s understandable that Harvard in its current state can’t tell Jefferson and Hitler apart. Or that it decided to bring in Marzouki to explain democracy and human rights to its students.

While the Harvard Kennedy School is dominated by the name of the deceased president, it was originally funded by a $2.2 million gift from Rep. Lucius Nathan Littauer.

Littauer, a Harvard grad, football coach and Republican congressman, was a Jewish philanthropist. He founded what was then the Graduate School of Public Administration for the sake of public service. Not to provide a platform for supporting the murder of Jews. Under the Kennedy name, the John F. Kennedy School of Government has decided to go another way.

Harvard Kennedy hails Marzouki as a “voice of social and revolutionary activism” who worked for the “strengthening of civil rights in Tunisia”. Marzouki explained that he could not allow female equality in the Constitution because “Tunisian women would be able to marry Christians or Jews”.

And the Islamists whom he depended on would not accept that.

“Everywhere today we see the fragility of democracy,” Marzouki stated. “I am grateful for the opportunity to spend time at the Harvard Kennedy school, with its talented students and researchers, reflecting on what we can do to make democracy stronger.”

In between reflecting on how to strengthen democracy, Marzouki spends much of his time on social media denouncing Tunisia’s current government and calling for more revolution.

If anyone knows how fragile democracy is, it’s Marzouki who allegedly started out as a Marxist and then became an Islamist catspaw and cheers on Islamic terrorists. Like many of the democracy advocates of the Arab Spring, Marzouki knows how to tell western liberals and his Islamist allies what they want to hear. Harvard’s Ash Center celebrates Marzouki as a human rights activist, but they avoid delving into just what sort of rights he advocates.

In 2006, Marzouki appeared on Al Jazeera to blast Tunisia’s secular president for criticizing the hijab.

“The Tunisian dictator personally took the lead on October 11 by excoriating the wearing of the veil in the country,” he fumed. And urged secularists to join the protest by wearing “a black armband on our right arm.”

His stature as a human rights activist was nurtured by an alliance with Islamists and statements in support of their cause on Qatar’s Al Jazeera. And Al Jazeera ceaselessly promotes him. Qatar was the not so hidden hand behind the Arab Spring and remains a major backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, and of its network terror group, Hamas.

In 2016, Mohamed Zouari, a Tunisian member of Ennahda, who worked on Hamas’ terror drone program, was assasinated in the town of Sfax.

Marzouki visited Gaza and took part in a propaganda event by Hamas’ Qassam Brigades where he declared, “From here, from Sfax – from this citadel of Arabism and Islam – I would like to say to heroic, starved, and martyred Gaza, which almost collapses under the destruction, and to our heroes defending Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque” and urged “following in the footsteps of the martyr Mohamed Zouari for the sake of the noble Palestinian cause.”

This is Harvard’s idea of democracy. It just happens to look a whole lot like Islamic terrorism.

 

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/hamas-comes-to-harvard/

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Europe's Energy Crisis - Peter Hoekstra

 

by Peter Hoekstra

The U.S. needs urgently to examine what is happening in Europe and develop a rational energy transition plan. Any long-term solution must include strategies for reliable power production, affordable sustainable energy and a massively strengthened electrical grid.

• In response to Russia severely restricting or cutting off gas supplies, EU governments will take dramatic actions over the coming months. Germany recently announced it would keep two of the nuclear plants it was shuttering as backups, just in case. EU leaders will then go back to the voters and describe the amazing job they did while failing to mention they were the ones who made the decisions that put their countries in this crisis in the first place.

• The entire current crisis was avoidable if the EU had developed a rational plan instead of one based on a daydream, no matter how enticing.

• The U.S. needs urgently to examine what is happening in Europe and develop a rational energy transition plan. Any long-term solution must include strategies for reliable power production, affordable sustainable energy and a massively strengthened electrical grid.

• Europe's plan was built on the hope that consumers would accept higher prices, that Russia and Putin would be reliable, and that battery storage technology would be robust enough to cover the times when "the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine."

• This strategy, sadly always doomed to failure, provides a cautionary tale for "solutions" based solely on hope.

• The U.S. should not repeat the same mistakes as the EU by continuing down a path that cuts domestic fossil fuel production, bans gasoline-powered vehicles, and ignores that the power generation capacity and energy infrastructure are not in place to achieve an unrealistic and unfortunately unsustainable green agenda.

In response to Russia severely restricting or cutting off gas supplies, EU governments will take dramatic actions over the coming months. Germany recently announced it would keep two of the nuclear plants it was shuttering as backups, just in case. Pictured: The Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant, one of two that the German government plans to allow to continue running as a backup. (Photo by Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images)

Europe is facing a growing energy crisis. Individuals and industries are being battered by rising energy costs. On August 31, Russia shut down the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to Germany for initially what was supposed to be 72 hours, but followed by an announcement of "technical difficulties" that would prevent a resumption. Russian energy giant Gazprom also announced that natural gas supplies to French energy company Engie SA would be immediately reduced. These actions have created significant uncertainty and the threat of much higher energy prices in Europe as the cold winter season approaches.

In the Netherlands last month, I had the opportunity to discuss the skyrocketing energy costs. Monthly utility bills of 400 to 600 euros are not unusual. One company said it was spending four times the amount for natural gas than a year ago. The company indicated because of these higher costs, it would be cutting its production by 50% this winter. Most European Union countries are experiencing an eight-fold increase in energy prices.

Both Germany and the Netherlands have been seeing extreme energy price spikes. Germany's prices surged to 1,050 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) before falling to 610 euros in August. Last year, the approximate cost was only 85 euros per MWh.

This dramatic inflation in energy costs is resulting in predictable actions with unpredictable outcomes. The Dutch have reported demand destruction. This means that when the price for a product increases, the demand for it decreases. What we are seeing in Europe is significant decrease in demand for energy because of the huge price increases. An example is the business that will cut production by 50% because energy costs have significantly increased the costs of their end product, resulting in a 50% cut in demand for their product.

The Dutch used 25% less natural gas in the first six months of 2022 than they did in the comparable period in 2021 — primarily due to customers' responses to the higher prices and mercifully somewhat milder than expected temperatures.

The EU has already asked member states to cut energy use by 15% this winter. When it comes to Russian gas supplies, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned Europe to prepare for the "worst situation." Meanwhile, the Norwegian energy company Equinor estimates that European power companies will need to find 1.5 trillion euros to cover the costs of margin calls related to soaring energy prices. Europe and the West look as if they will be in for a rough, expensive winter.

Predictably, EU government leaders believe that the EU and its member states "must act." Several countries have already unilaterally implemented measures -- from imposing price caps to direct government handouts to deal with the immediate costs of the crisis. At the EU level, there now appears to be a consensus that the entire energy market structure must be redesigned, and quickly. They seem to be hoping that this might be completed by early 2023, but none of these actions is laying the foundation for a long-term, workable energy solution.

The reality, however, is that this situation did not develop overnight and will not be fixed overnight. Despite European politicians blaming all this on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the root causes go deeper. The EU made a commitment to sustainability and so-called green energy years ago. Germany, Austria, Italy and the Netherlands are now reportedly going back to coal-fired plants to save on natural gas usage. Experts in Germany say the coalition government is "trying to buy time with coal so that it can come up with a more sustainable long-term solution."

In January, Germany closed half of its six remaining nuclear power plants despite rising energy costs. Germany's lofty sustainable climate goals did not include plans on how to replace the energy that was being provided by its safe, clean and reliable nuclear power plants.

Instead, to achieve its climate utopia, Germany decided that it would become more dependent on Russian gas, that consumers willingly would pay higher prices, and that it could turn to power from far less reliable wind and solar energy. This fantasy became the model across the EU, and the EU has no one else to blame for the results.

The frustrating outcome is that businesses, families and individuals will be forced to shoulder the burden caused by unwise policy decisions by their leaders. As one Dutch farmer said, their governments are run by a bunch of bureaucrats who sit in chairs and have no real-world experience. It might be worth adding they also have no accountability.

In response to Russia severely restricting or cutting off gas supplies, EU governments will take dramatic actions over the coming months. Germany recently announced it would keep two of the nuclear plants it was shuttering as backups, just in case. EU leaders will then go back to the voters and describe the amazing job they did while failing to mention they were the ones who made the decisions that put their countries in this crisis in the first place.

The entire current crisis was avoidable if the EU had developed a rational plan instead of one based on a daydream, no matter how enticing.

The U.S. needs urgently to examine what is happening in Europe and develop a rational energy transition plan. Any long-term solution must include strategies for reliable power production, sustainable energy and a massively strengthened electrical grid.

Europe's plan was built on the hope that consumers would accept higher prices, that Russia and Putin would be reliable, and that battery storage technology would be robust enough to cover the times when "the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine."

This strategy, sadly always doomed to failure, provides a cautionary tale for "solutions" based solely on hope.

The U.S. should not repeat the same mistakes as the EU by continuing down a path that cuts domestic fossil fuel production, bans gasoline-powered vehicles, and ignores that the power generation capacity and energy infrastructure are not in place to achieve an unrealistic and unfortunately unsustainable green agenda.

Peter Hoekstra was US Ambassador to the Netherlands during the Trump administration. He served 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the second district of Michigan and served as Chairman and Ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. He is currently Chairman of the Center for Security Policy Board of Advisors, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18907/europe-energy-crisis

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Department of Defense launches review of equity chief after disparaging posts about White people exposed - Hannah Grossman

 

by Hannah Grossman

The diversity chief at the Department of Defense went dark on social media after her posts were exposed

 

The U.S. Department of Defense said it was "reviewing" a "woke" diversity chief after Fox News Digital found that she posted disparaging posts about White people on Twitter. 

The chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), Kelisa Wing, described herself on Twitter as a "woke administrator" and said she was "exhausted at these white folx in [professional development] sessions."

Kelisa Wing, a diversity chief at the Department of Defense, posts disparaging posts about White people on Twitter. (Kelisa Wing/Twitter)

A spokesperson at DOD, Cmdr. Nicole Schwegman, said, "We are aware of news reports concerning an official at DoDEA. The office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness is reviewing this matter."

"Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in… [DoDEA] are an important part of building and sustaining an organizational culture where all students, educators, and staff are valued and respected," the spokesperson said. "Our focus remains on ensuring military-connected students, their families, and our employees have equitable access to opportunities and resources that support student achievement and readiness for college and careers."

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Wing's Twitter and her LinkedIn account appeared to be deleted or deactivated. Fox News Digital previously downloaded a copy of her professional account profile. It indicated she worked at the DOD for 16 years and was promoted to DEI chief in December 2021.

Kelisa Wing tweets (Kelisa Wing and Nichols | Screenshot/Twitter)

"[T]his lady actually had the CAUdacity to say that black people can be racist too… I had to stop the session and give Karen the BUSINESS… [W]e are not the majority, we don't have power," Wing said on Twitter. "Caudacity" is a slang term that is used to describe audacity demonstrated by White people.

On another occasion, Wing responded to a user who said, "I am exhausted by 99% of the white men in education and 95% of the white women. Where can I get a break from white nonsense for a while?"

Wing responded, "If another Karen tells me about her feelings… I might lose it..."

Kelisa Wing is a DEI chief at the Department of Defense.  (Leigh Ann Erickson and Kelisa Wing | YouTube/Screenshot)

In another post, Wing responded to a user who criticized the DOD diversity chief's article demanding all teachers take part in "dismantling racial oppression" and claimed that "racism is ingrained in the very fabric of our country."

"Bye Karen," Wing responded to the user.

Wing has also referred to former President Trump as the "whole boy version of a Karen" and former secretary of education Betsy DeVos as "the queen of Karens."

When Wing was promoted to chief, the DOD said Wing "has been involved with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts for… schools over many years, authoring several books on the topic."

"What Does it Mean to Defund the Police" by Jessica Henry with Kelisa Wing. (Jessica Henry and Kelisa Wing)

Fox News Digital found that some of the books contained misleading information. 

For example, "What is Black Lives Matter?" said "almost all" the protests after George Floyd's murder were "peaceful." However, according to Axios, the pro-BLM riots that erupted in 2020 amounted to more than $1 billion in damages, "the most expensive in insurance history."

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Wing's children's book "What is Anti-Racism?" contains misleading statements if not outright misinformation.

In one instance, the book said that some people say the word "race" comes from Italian or Hebrew. However, there is no word in Biblical Hebrew for race — that was later invented in modern Hebrew, according to Aish, a nonprofit organization with expertise on Judaism.

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The book also said "the modern idea of ‘race’ was introduced by the National Party in Germany." The exclusion of the "socialist" part of the Nazi party name notwithstanding, the claim is misinformed. The idea of race was utilized in a pseudoscience called eugenics before the Nazis in Germany rose to power, and the Nazis included those debunked eugenic views within their ideology.

View of the main entrance to the Auschwitz camp. The sign above the gate says "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work makes one free). Auschwitz, Poland/  (Keystone/GettyImage)

In a seemingly contradictory claim, the book also said that "race" was born on American soil.

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"What is Anti-Racism?" also said that 15 to 20 million people died in the Holocaust. The Holocaust refers to the genocide against European Jews by the Nazis as part of the "Final Solution." In fact, 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

"What is Antiracism" by Henrich Nichols with Kelisa Wing.  (Hendrich Nichols and Kelisa Wing)

Wing has also co-written a children's book about defunding the police, in which she explains to a young audience the differences between abolishing, defunding, disbanding and reforming police with anti-racist policies.

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Kelisa Wing, a DEI chief officer at the Department of Defense education wing -- known as DoDEA -- said that she is a "woke administrator. (Twitter/Screenshot | Kelisa Wing)

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When Wing became chief, the director of DoDEA, Thomas Brady, said, "Kelisa Wing is exactly the right person to lead our efforts in building on the foundational work done to support meaningful change in our organization."

The US Department of Defense(DOD) seal is seen on the lecturn in the media briefing room at the  Pentagon December 12, 2013 in Washington, DC. (AUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Image)

"This new position will take a holistic approach to identifying and improving how we integrate the practice of diversity, equity and inclusion in every aspect of DoDEA, from curriculum and assessment to hiring and professional development," he continued.

 

Hannah Grossman is an associate editor at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent on Twitter: @GrossmanHannah.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/media/department-defense-reviewing-equity-chief-disparaging-posts-white-people-exposed

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Russian businessmen keep dying under mysterious circumstances since Putin invaded Ukraine - Peter Aitken

 

by Peter Aitken

Each businessman's death was ruled either accident or suicide

 

Powerful Russians continue to turn up dead in an increasingly bizarre series of fatalities following criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

A number of businessmen have turned up dead over the past few months as Russians grow increasingly dissatisfied with the drawn-out invasion in Ukraine. Ivan Pechorin, a managing director for aviation industry at the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and Arctic, on Sept. 12 died after reportedly falling from a speeding boat off the coast of Vladivostok. 

Ravil Maganov, chairman of Russian oil giant Lukoil, died after reportedly falling from the sixth-floor window of a Moscow hospital on Sept. 1. He and his company had urged Putin to end the invasion, calling it a "tragedy." Lukoil claimed Maganov "passed away after a severe illness." 

Aleksandr Subbotin, a former top manager of Lukoil, was found dead in the basement of a Moscow residence in May after he allegedly visited a healer to cure him of hangover symptoms but instead suffered heart failure. 

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At least eight other Russian oligarchs have died in strange circumstances over the past few months, according to Euro News. International investigators have suggested looking at the deaths as staged suicides or assassinations as retaliation for their opposition to the Ukraine invasion or links to corruption in Russian gas company Gazprom. 

Vladimir President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine only eight months after TIME magazine billed President Biden as ready to take on the Russian leader.  (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Leonid Shulman, head of transport service at Gazprom Invest, was found dead in February in the run-up to the invasion. Authorities said they found a suicide note beside the executive, who reportedly slashed his wrists in the bathroom of his St. Petersburg cottage. 

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The morning after the invasion started, authorities found Alexander Tyulyakov, a senior executive at Gazprom’s Corporate Security, hanging in the garage of his home. An unnamed law enforcement source told Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta that Gazprom’s own security unit had arrived ahead of police. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin stands next to First Executive Vice President of oil producer Lukoil Ravil Maganov after decorating him with the Order of Alexander Nevsky during an awarding ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, November 21, 2019.  (Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Reuters ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.)

Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer and author of "Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America," told Fox News Digital at the time of Pechorin’s death that "the truth is unlikely to be discovered because Russian investigations cannot be trusted."

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"If this was a hit job, it would be made to look exactly like a tragic accident," Koffler had explained. 

Russian state-run natural giant Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller attends an annual shareholders' meeting in the Gazprom headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 27, 2014.  (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

She also noted that Russian media "couldn’t keep its story straight today on what happened to Maganov" when he died, explaining that the Russian news agencies are mostly controlled or at least influenced by the Russian government. 

"The truth is these tactics are designed deliberately to be stealthy, so no investigator could identify foul play. They are usually deemed ‘tragic accidents,’ [which is] also part of the doctrine," she said.

Fox News’ Paul Best and Jon Brown contributed to this report.

Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/world/russian-businessmen-keep-dying-mysterious-circumstances-putin-invaded-ukraine-report

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How will Russia’s poor Ukraine showing ripple in the Middle East? - Herb Keinon

 

by Herb Keinon

Everyone is wondering what has happened to the vaunted Russian army. What has happened to Moscow’s military might?

 

UKRAINIAN SERVICE members stand on an infantry fighting vehicle, near the town of Izium, recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, on Tuesday.

(photo credit: GLEB GARANICH/REUTERS)

This week’s stunning turn of events in the war in Ukraine was head-spinning, reflected in dramatic headlines in the media around the world.

“Ukraine is turning the tide against Russia,” declared one. “Ukrainian victory shatters Russia’s reputation as a military superpower,” shouted a second. “Russia withdraws more forces from northeast Ukraine as Kyiv presses advance,” read a third.

Seven months after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the tide seemed to turn in the war, as Ukrainian forces registered victories in the northeast. In a symbolic action that seemed unimaginable a few months ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the liberated town of Izium on Thursday, just 14 km. from the front.

With its bold counteroffensive, Ukraine regained thousands of square kilometers of territory, and pushed Russian forces out of countless towns and villages – including the strategic railway hub of Izium.

If the world was surprised at the initial difficulties the Russians faced when they invaded Ukraine in late February, if it was impressed by the Ukrainian ability to repel Russian advances on Kyiv and on April 2 force a Russian withdrawal from the capital, and if it was shocked by the sinking 12-days later of the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, then it was completely stunned by this current counteroffensive and the recent turn of events.

Russian missile cruiser Moskva is moored in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol, Ukraine, May 10, 2013. (credit: REUTERS/STRINGER/FILE PHOTO)

Moreover, these developments came at a most auspicious time, shortly before the weather in Europe is to change and tens of millions of Europeans will feel for themselves – in terms of rationing and blackouts – the impact of Moscow’s decision to cut off its gas supplies in retaliation for European sanctions.

While the coming Russian-induced energy crunch might lead some on the continent to question the wisdom of Europe’s strong backing of Ukraine, the recent victories will strengthen the argument of those saying that not only was this backing morally justified, but it was also incredibly helpful to the Ukrainians, enabling the Ukrainian army to fight back and – perhaps – repel the Russians.

From Washington to Wellington, Berlin to Beijing, statesmen, politicians, and military experts are wondering what has happened to the vaunted Russian army. What has happened to Moscow’s military might? And how will Russia’s underwhelming showing in Ukraine and its current losses affect geopolitics?

How will Russia's losses be felt in the Middle East?

NOWHERE IS the question of what has happened to the feared Russian Bear at the forefront of decision-makers’ minds as it is in the Middle East, an area of intense competition for influence between Russia, the US and China.

Ever since its move into Syria in 2015 to prop up Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, Russia has been a permanent physical fixture in the neighborhood – a big fixture and an important fixture that other countries took into account when determining policy.

Even before 2015, Russia was a force in the region, using military and economic aid, as well as diplomatic support, to project power throughout the region. This influence increased significantly over the last dozen years amid a perception in many regional capitals that the US was an unreliable ally intent on leaving the Mideast.

This perception was created by Washington’s abandonment of longtime ally Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in 2011, by its determination – despite the opposition of its regional allies – to strike a nuclear deal with Iran, and by its withdrawal and threatened withdrawals of troops from all over the region, from Iraq to Syria and Afghanistan. This has led various countries in the region to want to hedge their bets and get closer to the Russians.

And the influence soared into another sphere altogether after Russia’s military intervention in Syria.

Over the last decade, ties flourished between Russia and Egypt, as well as between Russia and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi and Egyptian calculations were clear. If the US was unreliable, or if it linked arms sales to various human rights demands, then they should look for a partner that does not have such demands, and that conducts a values-free foreign policy.

Thus, they looked to Russia and China.

Both Egypt and Saudi Arabia inked deals, for instance, for a Russian state company to build nuclear plants – construction of such a plant began in Egypt in July – and they both moved to develop closer military and defense ties with Moscow.

Russia’s influence in the region explains why the Mideast countries – including Israel – were reluctant to come out strongly against Russian President Vladimir Putin when he first invaded Ukraine. They were afraid of the damage Putin could do to their national interests if he wanted to.

But now things are changing.

One of the various reasons given for Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine was to deal a blow to American dominance in the world, to project power and reassert Russia’s role as the dominant superpower. But the opposite is taking place, and rather than looking strong and invincible, rather than projecting power, Russia’s setbacks are projecting weakness and making it look spent and unorganized. Nothing illustrates this more than the sudden dependency of Russia – the world’s second-largest exporter of arms – on Iranian-manufactured drones.

In the meantime, regional countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Gulf states, which still feel threatened by Iran and had recently looked to Russia for arms, now will look elsewhere, as the Russian war machine fumbles in Ukraine.

This will lead to a possible realignment, with nations casting their eyes toward Beijing and Washington. For weeks there have been rumors that Chinese President Xi Jinping will soon make a visit to Saudi Arabia. Such a visit would be highly symbolic, signaling that the Chinese are eager to seize an opportunity afforded by Russia’s troubles in Ukraine.

The poor Russian performance in Ukraine will also likely lead countries in the region to try to improve ties with the US.

When US President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia in July, he appeared to go there begging the Saudis to increase oil production to bring down global oil prices. Back then it appeared that the US needed the Saudis much more than the Saudis needed them.

Now things are changing. The Saudis, who were then cozying up to the Russians, just as they were distancing themselves from the US, still face the same threat from Iran and its proxies that they always have. But now the Russians look far less attractive, something that could lead them to take steps on their end to improve ties with the US.

It may also move them closer to Israel. If the Saudis still feel they can’t rely on the US, if Russia is not what they thought it was, then – as the Iranian threat still looms large for the Saudis, even more so if a new Iranian nuclear deal is signed – this could lead to more Saudi overtures toward Israel.

The Russian setbacks in Ukraine also present problems for Iran. Russia and Iran are partners in an anti-Western alliance, with Iran keen on seeing a weakened US presence in the region and less reliance by Mideast countries on the US. A badly weakened Russia, however, does the opposite, and will create enhanced dependence on the US by regional countries, which is bad for Iran.

And then there is the situation in Syria.

It is from Syria that Russia has been able to project its power throughout the Mideast for the last seven years. Its military losses in Ukraine, however, have forced Russia to draw down its considerable presence in Syria, something that will have an impact on Syria, Iran and Israel.

While in the past Russian forces were key to Assad staying in power, as Russia removes troops from Syria, Assad will become more dependent on Iran. And if Iran gets more and more entrenched inside Syria, this will invite even more Israeli activity there.

Some argue that this will only increase the likelihood of an Israeli-Russian confrontation over the skies of the country. Remember as well that the desire to maintain the deconfliction mechanism that has been in place in Syria since 2015 – a mechanism that prevents accidental Russian-Israeli clashes – was one of the main reasons that kept Israel from fully supporting Ukraine and condemning Russia, at the start of the war.

The recent Russian setbacks in Ukraine make it more imperative than ever for Russia not to get involved in any military confrontation elsewhere. That is good news for Israel, which continues – according to foreign reports – to strike at Iranian and Hezbollah assets inside Syria. One of Israel’s concerns was that to limit these attacks, the Russian might embed their forces with Iranian units to prevent Israeli action, knowing that Israel would not willingly attack Russian positions. The last thing Moscow needs right now, however, is another military entanglement anywhere in the world.

At the same time, as Russia’s prestige is taking a hit in Ukraine, it has become all the more important for it to retain its control of Syria as a base for its activities in the Mideast. Having a presence in Syria allows its presence to be felt throughout the region.

There is, however, another way for Russia to make its presence felt throughout the region, and that is something Jerusalem very much doesn’t want to see: using its base in Syria, as well as a presence it still maintains in Libya, to be a disruptive force in the region. If Putin fails miserably in Ukraine, he may be tempted to take revenge on the West by harming its interests, sowing instability, and disrupting the world order elsewhere – first and foremost in the Middle East.

Herb Keinon

Source: https://www.jpost.com/international/article-717286

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