From China, With Love - Rick Fuentes

 

​ by Rick Fuentes

 

The minute Biden walks into the Oval Office, America will take a back seat to China.

 

In an incautious moment during a November 28 panel presentation in Shanghai, Professor Di Dongsheng, Vice Dean of the School of International Relations at Renmin University, the school for children of the party elite, officially spilled the beans that the China Communist Party (CCP) controls people at the top of the American government.

Dongsheng’s remarks were delivered with nationalistic pride. He mused over the narcissism endemic to Western aristocracy and the ease to which they are brought under the spell of the People’s Republic.

At first, Dongsheng’s depiction of the ease of conscripting prominent Americans and institutions to work against the interests of their own country astonished his young audience. They soon relaxed, chortling and applauding as the professor related his own triumphs as a CCP operative in recruiting new and useful American “friends.” America’s blue bloods fell easily to China’s leveraging of insatiable Western appetites for power, influence, and money.

Dongsheng exposed the liberal apparatchiks of the Fourth Estate, especially the social media moguls intent on shaping a pro-China political discourse.

Sinophiles at the New York Times and the Washington Post quickly panned the video and scrubbed all search results for Di Dongsheng off their homepages. Sinophobes at the New York Post, Washington Times, Axios, and Epoch Times, however, put banner headlines on the story and got the attention of Fox’s Tucker Carlson, who highlighted the story on December 8 in his opening monologue. You can find the longer seven-minute version of Dongsheng’s presentation on Parler.

Although Guan Video Global quickly deleted the original video post, it didn’t stop China opposition and expat blogsites, such as Himalaya Global, from posting their own copies. Himalaya Global, co-founded by wealthy Chinese émigré Guo Wengui along with Steven Bannon, has been suspended by Twitter.

As proudly as Dongsheng spoke of his country’s cultivating prominent Americans, he did not touch the third rail of CCP’s campaign of espionage, the use of attractive young women to honeytrap high-value political targets. Spoken in Mandarin as meiren ji, or, beautiful person plan, it is a program largely run out of China’s main spy agency, the Ministry of State Security. It has been famously effective in the United States and Europe, entrapping, among others, the Deputy Mayor of London and the Dutch ambassador to Beijing.

China has been a feedbag for American corporatists and Beltway insiders for decades. In 2017, according to the professor, the font began to dry up with a new American president. In the eyes of Donald Trump, cozying up to China was a deal absent a return on investment. The CCP began tugging on the sleeves of their friends on Wall Street, in Congress, and in the media, but got nowhere with the White House. In three short years, Donald Trump was on track to retake the high ground, imposing tariffs, luring back American industry, and forcing concessions on unfair trade practices that had created a Great Firewall between the Chinese economy and the rest of the world.

China’s gambit at blackmail and sexploitation will play out in the outcome of America’s presidential race, largely thanks to the family’s bad boy, Hunter.  Operating through the storefront of a large Chinese energy company, CEFC, the CCP bankrolled Hunter’s numerous and lucrative business deals in China and on the European continent. They finished off the kompromat by accommodating and filming his drugs and sex sprees during business trips abroad.

While the CCP was putting the finishing touches on Hunter, China spies continued in the marbled halls of Congress.

Congressman Eric Swalwell is a rather dull California politico more widely known for stepping on a frog during a televised news interview. After years of slandering Donald Trump as a Russian patsy, his own goings on with a dishy Chinese spy, Fang Fang were revealed. She had plied her trade bundling and bedding Democrat lawmakers with ambitions for higher office.  Starting out in 2011 as a Chinese national student at a Bay Area University, her work for Asian community organizations allowed her to infiltrate the offices of many upwardly mobile northern California politicians and officials. The scope of her contacts with the Chinese consulate in San Francisco and involvement in Democrat political circles across the country brought her to the attention of federal authorities.

The FBI tells us that Fang traded sexual favors with more federal, state, and local lawmakers than we have been given names, at least one of which was videotaped during a counterintelligence probe. With the feds closing in, she somehow slipped the net in 2015 and fled back to Beijing. Her sudden escape, in the midst of an intense spy investigation, was a blunder all too common to federal probes linked to the Democrats. Perhaps we’ll never know the extent of the pillow talk between her and a smitten 40-year old Congressman who remains a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

The extent to which China has carried out honeytraps against legislators and policy wonks within the United States is not fully known. Intelligence officials familiar with these operations suggest that the number of extortionate plots may number in the thousands.

The depth to which the CCP may influence the foreign policy of Joe Biden has been difficult to plumb. He has been duplicitous towards China, perhaps symptomatic of his mental decay, offering stiff criticism at times, then appearing misinformed and dismissive on other occasions.

Biden has repeatedly denied any involvement in Hunter’s business dealings. Seized emails from his son’s computer tell a different story. Ironically, one month after the presidential election, it comes to light that federal law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and the media were in cahoots to withhold knowledge of a federal tax probe and other China allegations -- perhaps so as not to damage their preferred candidate, or for fear of interfering with a Deep State plot to overturn a fair election.

The minute Biden walks into the Oval Office, America will take a back seat to China. If past is prologue, there is reason to believe that Biden family investigations involving China will be shelved. If necessary, pardons may be issued to family and friends against whom evidence has already been brought. The Durham report and any other investigations into the Machiavellian escapades of 2016 will end up in the dustbin, branded by a compliant media as delusions from the Trump era. Wall Street will be licking its chops as trade barriers and tariffs are dropped with Beijing. Millions of deaths later, China will get a free pass on culpability for the spread of COVID, perhaps even adulation over its domestic handling of the pandemic and economic recovery.

Sexspionage, graft, and influence peddling may once again put the CCP inside the Oval Office. Conspiring with Wall Street, media, and Hollywood to bring about a Trump defeat, along with the strong possibility that Joe Biden wet his beak on his son’s China dealings, China now appears on a solid footing to achieve global dominance in the next four years.

Image: Pixabay

 

Rick Fuentes 

 Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/12/from_china_with_love.html 

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Video: The Plot to Steal America - Frontpagemag.com

 

​ by Frontpagemag.com

Everything we know, everything we trust, and everything we come to rely on has changed.

 

In this new video, Man in America focuses on The Plot to Steal America, revealing how 2020 has been a year like no other... everything we know, everything we trust, and everything we come to rely on has changed.

Don't miss it!

  

 

Frontpagemag.com

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/12/video-plot-steal-america-frontpagemagcom/ 

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Solarwinds hack victims: From tech companies to a hospital and university - Wall Street Journal

 

​ by Wall Street Journal

 

A Wall Street Journal analysis identified at least 24 organizations that installed software laced with malicious code by Russian hackers

 

The suspected Russian hackers behind breaches at U.S. government agencies also gained access to major U.S. technology and accounting companies, at least one hospital and a university, a Wall Street Journal analysis of internet records found.

The Journal identified infected computers at two dozen organizations that installed tainted network monitoring software called SolarWinds Orion that allowed the hackers in via a covertly inserted backdoor. It gave them potential access to scores of sensitive corporate and personal data.

SUSPECTED RUSSIAN HACK AGAINST US IS 'GRAVE' THREAT, CYBERSECURITY AGENCY SAYS

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
SWI	SOLARWINDS CORPORATION	16.02	+1.85	+13.06%

Among them: technology giant Cisco Systems Inc., chip makers Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp., accounting firm Deloitte LLP, cloud-computing software maker VMware Inc. and Belkin International Inc., which sells home and office Wi-Fi routers and networking gear under the LinkSys and Belkin brands. The attackers also had access to the California Department of State Hospitals and Kent State University.

The victims offer a small window into the sweeping scope of the hack, which could have ensnared as many as 18,000 of Austin-based SolarWinds Corp.'s customers, the company said, after hackers laced a routine software update with malicious code.

SolarWinds said that it traced activity from the hackers back to at least October 2019 and that it is now working with security companies, law enforcement and intelligence agencies to investigate the attack.

Cisco confirmed in a statement that it found the malicious software on some employee systems and a small number of laboratory systems. The company is still investigating. "At this time, there is no known impact to Cisco offers or products," a company spokesman said.

Intel downloaded and ran the malicious software, the Journal's analysis found. The company is investigating the incident and has found no evidence the hackers used the backdoor to access the company's network, a spokesman said.

Deloitte, infected in late June according to the Journal's analysis, said in a statement it "has taken steps to address" the malware but hasn't "observed indications of unauthorized access to our systems at this time."

VMware said it found "limited instances" of the malicious software in its systems, but its "internal investigation has not revealed any indication of exploitation," a spokesman said.

Belkin said in an email that it removed the backdoor immediately after federal officials issued an alert last week. "There has been no known negative impact identified to date," a company spokeswoman said.

(iStock)

A Kent State University spokeswoman said the school "was aware of the situation and are evaluating this serious matter."

The California Department of State Hospitals installed the backdoor by early August, according to the Journal's analysis. State officials are working with federal and state agencies to address the impact of the SolarWinds backdoor, according to a spokesman for California's Governor's Office of Emergency Services, who declined to comment on specific agencies affected.

A Nvidia spokesman said in a statement the company has "no evidence at this time that Nvidia was adversely affected and our investigation is ongoing."

The Journal gathered digital clues from victim computers collected by threat-intelligence companies Farsight Security and RiskIQ and then used decryption methods to reveal the identities of some of the servers that downloaded the malicious code. In some cases, the analysis led to the identity of compromised organizations and showed when the code was likely activated -- indicating that the hackers had access.

It isn't yet known what the hackers did inside the various organizations, or if they even used the backdoors for many of the companies. But investigators and security experts say that besides internal communications and other government secrets, hackers may have sought emails of corporate executives, files about sensitive technologies under development, and other ways to compromise more systems later.

The uncertainty has left SolarWinds' customers -- which include major technology companies, more than 400 Fortune 500 companies and many government agencies -- scrambling to determine the fallout and whether the hackers remain inside.

The attack blended extraordinarily stealthy tradecraft, using cyber tools never before seen in a previous attack, with a strategy that zeroed in on a weak link in the software supply chain that all U.S. businesses and government institutions rely on -- an approach security experts have long feared but one that has never been used on U.S. targets in such a concerted way.

Government agencies and cybersecurity experts are still working to piece together the massive suspected espionage operation. At least six federal agencies, including the departments of State, Homeland Security, Commerce and Energy, were hacked as part of the campaign.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency last week published an alert that said the hack was "grave" and ongoing. SolarWinds has released an update that closes the backdoor, and Microsoft Corp. has taken control of part of the hackers' infrastructure to prevent the attack from spreading.

Federal investigators have concluded that the Russian government is likely responsible for the hack in part because of the level of skill involved. Several senators who have received briefings in recent days have openly referred to it as a Russian operation. And on Friday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo became the first Trump administration official to publicly blame Moscow, although President Trump in a tweet Saturday suggested without evidence that China could be responsible.

HACKERS' BROAD ATTACK SETS CYBER EXPERTS WORLDWIDE SCRAMBLING TO DEFEND NETWORKS

Moscow has denied responsibility.

"Customers are definitely freaking out," said David Kennedy, whose company, TrustedSec LLC, is investigating the hack. For many companies the concern is whether the attackers stole data or remain undetected within corporate networks, he said. What's more, because the attack dates back many months, some companies may no longer have the forensic data needed to do a complete investigation.

"If this is indeed SVR, as we believe it is, those guys are incredibly hard to kick out of networks," said Dmitri Alperovitch, a cybersecurity expert and co-founder of the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank, referring to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.

Some organizations that maintain better records of activity on their systems will likely be able to determine whether somebody walked through the Russian backdoor onto their networks, said Mr. Alperovitch, who also co-founded cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. But for others, especially smaller or medium-size firms, it will be a difficult and expensive task that many are likely to ignore -- meaning Russia could maintain a presence in some networks indefinitely.

"They probably are just going to remove the backdoor and move on," Mr. Alperovitch said.

WHITE HOUSE CONFIRMS CYBERATTACK REPORT ON U.S. TREASURY BY FOREIGN GOVERNMENT

For many corporate victims, the looming fear now is that the hackers could use them as an avenue to get to their clients. For example, Microsoft found in research released Thursday that nearly half its more than 40 customers hit in the attack were information technology service companies, which often have broad access to their customers' networks.

Microsoft, itself a SolarWinds customer, said last week it had also detected malicious software related to the hack on its own network but "no indications that our systems were used to attack others," a company spokeswoman said. The company's investigation continues.

 

Wall Street Journal  

Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/solarwinds-hack-victims-tech-companies-hospital-university 

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Rockets likely fired by Iran-backed jihadis hit US Embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone - Robert Spencer

 

​ by Robert Spencer

 

The mullahs of Iran would like to welcome His Fraudulency President-select Joe Biden to the Oval Office, and to put him on notice that he better be ready to jump to do their bidding, or else.

 

“Rockets fired at U.S. embassy land inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, damaging compound,” by Ahmed Rasheed and Hesham Abdul Khalek, Reuters, December 21, 2020:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – At least eight Katyusha rockets landed in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone in an attack targeting the U.S. Embassy, causing some minor damage on the compound on Sunday, the Iraqi military and the embassy said on Sunday.

The Iraqi military said an “outlaw group” fired eight rockets. Most of the missiles hit a residential complex and a security checkpoint inside the zone, damaging buildings and cars and wounding one Iraqi soldier, a military statement said.

Sirens blared from the embassy compound inside the zone, which houses government buildings and foreign missions.

An anti-rocket system diverted one of the rockets, said one security official whose office is inside the Green Zone.

The U.S. Embassy condemned the attack and urged all Iraqi political and governmental leaders to take steps to prevent such attacks and to hold accountable those responsible.

“The U.S. Embassy confirms rockets targeting the International Zone resulted in the engagement of Embassy defensive systems. There was some minor damage on the Embassy compound but no injuries or casualties,” it said in a statement.

In a subsequent statement, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there had been at least one Iraqi civilian casualty and wished those hurt a speedy recovery.

U.S. officials blame Iran-backed militia for regular rocket attacks on U.S. facilities in Iraq, including near the embassy in Baghdad. No known Iran-backed groups have claimed responsibility….

 

Robert Spencer Source: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/12/rockets-likely-fired-by-iran-backed-jihadis-hit-us-embassy-in-baghdads-green-zone Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Fighting On - J. R. Dunn

 

​ by J. R. Dunn

This is Donald Trump's finest hour.

So Mitch McConnell thinks it’s over. We need to congratulate Biden (whom I have taken to calling “President Asterisk”), forget everything, put it all behind us, and move on. According to Mitch, the greatest political crime in American history is something you just walk away from.

Mitch is not alone in this, nor was he the first. Mitch’s neighbor Sen. Lamar Alexander on Dec, 13 stated, “The presidential election is over. States have certified the votes. Courts have resolved disputes. The electors have voted. I hope that President Trump will put the country first, take pride in his considerable accomplishments, and help president-elect Biden get off to a good start.” Others include Byron York and William Jacobson of Legal Insurrection, who is simply “tired… so tired…” and of course, the dapper young gents at NRO, who… well, playmates, don’t let me commence.

The consensus among this crowd is that there is no upside to continuing the fight, no benefits to be gained, nothing at all to be achieved. Instead, we should back down, as Republicans and conservatives have done a thousand times before, take our whipping, resign ourselves to the fact that no honest election from dogcatcher on up will ever again occur in the U.S., and prepare the single suitcase we’re allowed while we wait for the truck to take us to Alger Hiss Reeducation Camp at Prudhoe Bay.

All this, like much else said about Donald Trump, is nonsense. Trump’s great struggle to secure his victory is not only acceptable, not only justified, it is necessary.

All these arguments are based on the premise that this was a normal election. Well, maybe with a tad more cheating than usual, but… In four years, there will be another one.

But it wasn’t a normal election. There has been cheating in U.S. presidential elections previously – the Adams/Jackson matchup in 1824, Hayes/Tilden in 1876, and Kennedy/Nixon in 1960 – but the difference with those is that there was no ideological component. The Democrats today are not simply out to win an election by any means necessary. Along with that, they have a long-term plan that the One called “the transformation of America,” today subsumed under something called the “Great Reset.”

We all know what this is about: left-wing totalitarianism under another name. The Green New Deal will take away our jobs, our transportation, our homes. BLM will remove our stature as the inheritors of western civilization. Antifa groupthink will take away our democracy and our constitutional rights, from freedom of speech to the right to bear arms. We needn’t go on. You get the picture.

That’s what it’s about. As has so very often been the case in the last four years, Trump knows things that some very well-educated and well-connected people don’t.

Here are the reasons why Donald Trump needs to continue fighting:

•  To convince the public that cheating did happen, which will lead to demands to end it, demands which would otherwise not occur. (Keep in mind that the battleground states are GOP-run, so we can look to investigations and action on voter fraud in the coming months – as long as their noses are kept to the grindstone.) Already the fraud skeptics have retreated from “there was no fraud” to “well, maybe there was, but not enough to change the election.” They will retreat further, but only because Trump is fighting them tooth and nail.
• Fighting on also undercuts Biden, which, along with the exposure of his personal corruption, will leave him crippled and unable to push through the nastier elements of his agenda. (And don’t waste my time talking about “crippling Biden’s ability to react to a crisis.” El Presidente’s reaction to any conceivable crisis will be complete collapse. No other response is imaginable.)

• ​To frighten the lefties into backing off. This is not the end for the Left – it’s not even the halfway point. Right now, many are thinking, “If we got away with this, we can get away with anything.” Trump is assuring that they will not simply get away with it.
• To separate the sheep from the goats, the winter from the summer soldiers. Trump’s fight exposes the GOP establishment for what it is – pusillanimous, spineless, looking for a way out, and long overdue for replacement. Here’s to you, Lamar.
• To give hope to the Trump coalition. One of the more terrible things about this situation is how many of the institutions have collapsed. Lamar Alexander is not alone. Even worse is the Supreme Court, which we have been assured for years was the great bulwark. Well, look again. The worst of them is Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh was put through the wringer during the judiciary hearings, and the American people stood by him every step of the way. People marched, demonstrated, and deluged their representatives in his favor. And yet, in his first real test, Kavanaugh immediately folded, turned his back on the people who stood by him, and threw himself at the feet of the crowd that tried to destroy his life, his career, and his family. It’s difficult to encompass how small-souled and mean this is. It’s a betrayal of a biblical order, as if you were looking through the dust at the Alamo only to see Crockett, Bowie, and Austin leading the Mexican troops. It’s heartbreaking and soul-scarring.

But then we look up to see Trump – and Giuliani, and Powell, and all the happy few – out there still swinging. It is magnificent and inspiring. It’s something that provides hope when hope seems very thin.

• To prepare for a post-presidency stand – even a comeback. The left has put all their chips on the table – and for who? For Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Uncle Halfwit and Lady Mattress. It beggars comprehension – a more useless pair simply doesn’t exist. The Biden administration is going to fail and fail hard, leaving a broad opening for a revanchist effort by our side starting in 2022 and then on to 2024. Events, starting with the bottom falling out of the economy next month, are going to throw them up against the rocks like a birchbark canoe in a hurricane.

They have destroyed their own bases. Large areas of Minneapolis and Portland have been burned to the ground. Much of downtown Seattle is a looted wasteland. Half the small businesses in California have closed due to state COVID, uhh… “policies,” I guess they call them, and a full third in both New York State and New Jersey. These are the leftist heartlands, and they have been gutted, transformed into urban Appalachias, flatlined economies that won’t even begin to recover for years. The leftist response? Why, they’re doubling down. They want to keep things locked up for another two years, they say. And you will do what you’re told.

So the American left, posturing as triumphant, is truly at the end of a long branch that is even now starting to crack. But the only individual acting as if this was the case, the only one preparing the battlespace for an eventual response, is Donald Trump.

It's extraordinary that we haven't heard anybody articulate the points above. Clearly, the arguments are all in favor of fighting on. The defeatists have absolutely nothing going for them, beyond the fact that giving in is a longstanding GOP tradition.  The GOP just wants things to be the way they were. They are never again going to be the way they were.

The fight is not over. As Donald Trump so clearly showed, the path ahead requires backbone, savvy, and guts. We are seeing that, for all his grand achievements, the greatest moment of Trump’s presidency, the moment in which he did the most for his country, came when he was leaving it.

Image: Pixabay

J. R. Dunn  

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/12/fighting_on.html 

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Ted Cruz introduces bill to cut federal funding of Hollywood over Chinese censorship - Arutz Sheva Staff

 

​ by Arutz Sheva Staff

Cruz says bill would cut funding to Hollywood studios if they allow China to censor their output.

 

 

Arutz Sheva Staff  

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/293446 

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Editorial Warmongering at Iran’s 'Kayhan' - Hugh Fitzgerald

 

​ by Hugh Fitzgerald

 

Will Iran dare to retaliate for the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh?

 

The hardline Iranian newspaper Kayhan is closely tied to the government; its editor Hossein Shariatmadari is appointed by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and he remains an advisor to him. On December 6, Kayhan carried an editorial demanding that Iran not hesitate in striking Israel for its likely assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the nuclear scientist, and IRGC major general, who headed Iran’s nuclear program. That report on the Kayhan editorial is here: “Direct conflict with Israel ‘could make Iran regional superpower,'” by Neta Bar, Israel Hayom, December 6, 2020:

Hardline Iranian daily Kayhan on Sunday, Dec. 5, called on Tehran not to delay in exacting vengeance for the assassination of the country’s nuclear mastermind last month.

There are those in Iran’s government who disagree with the Kayhan editor. They think Iran should wait until the Biden administration comes in. They fear what might happen if such “vengeance” against Israel were launched while the unpredictable Trump, who has been Israel’s best friend, is still president. Would his presence in the White House not lead Jerusalem to think it could launch a devastating campaign against Iran, knowing America “had its back”? Would the American military take part in any reprisal Israel were to launch to answer an Iranian attack? There now seems to be some doubt as to whether Israel acted alone, or did the Iranian opposition group Mujahideen-e-Khalq also participate, and there is even speculation as to whether the Americans themselves had a hand in the assassination. If the Iranians did not at this point wish to risk an attack on Israel, Iran could announce that the assassins were all members of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq group, and “as of now we can find no evidence of Zionist participation.”

Were Iran’s response to be a limited attack, similar to the one Iran launched after the American assassination of Qassem Soleimani, when no American soldiers at the airbases attacked by Iran at Erbil and Ain al-Asad were killed — though nearly 100 suffered mild concussions (but soon returned to duty) – that would be one thing. Such an attack, for example, could be carried out by Hezbollah, instructed by Iran to lobby some missiles harmlessly into fields in the northern Galilee. Iran would then have Hezbollah claim it had done great damage, and that Iran considered that reprisal was enough. In such a case, Israel could choose to regard this attack-by-proxy as a tit-for-tat response, draw a line under it, and do nothing further. Or it could launch attacks either on Hezbollah in Lebanon or, as it has done many hundreds of times before, on Iranian targets in Syria, without itself suffering any losses. The Jewish state likely would take care not to bomb inside Iran, lest that set off a much greater conflagration — unless of course Israel is now ready for precisely that, with its three-tier missile defense complete; there are Israeli military men who want to deliver a fatal blow to the Tehran regime without further delay.

Iran immediately blamed Israel – long suspected of killing several Iranian nuclear scientists a decade ago – for Fakhrizadeh’s elimination.

In an editorial titled, “We cannot wait,” Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, argued that there are “elements in Iran” that are interested in silencing the calls for reprisal over the assassination for fear that retaliation against Israel or its allies would trigger regional escalation that would also harm Iran.

The editorial urges the regime to ignore this possibility and strike not only Israeli targets but also US Army bases in the region.

These are chocolate soldiers, sitting in their desks at Kayhan, offering big – dangerous, self-defeating — plans for Iran’s possible reprisal. These journalists are completely disconnected from reality. If Iran were now to “strike not only Israeli targets but also US Army bases in the region,” the response of the U.S. and Israel would be devastating indeed. It might even provide the pretext that Washington (under Trump) needs to bomb – using bunker-busting bombs (Massive Ordnance Protectors) — the underground nuclear sites near Natanz.

“If Iran deals a blow to Israel, it means that US bases in the region are also not safe, and thus the regional balance [of power] could change in Iran’s favor,” the daily stated.

“If Iran deals a blow to Israel…” But Israel has dealt hundreds of blows to Iranian sites in Syria, without Iran managing to shoot down a single IAF plane, or striking Israel itself. Why should anyone believe that this time Iranian missiles and rockets could hit Israel, without being intercepted by the Iron Dome defense? The U.S. has chosen, up till now, not to strike inside Iran itself – it killed Qassem Soleimani at the Baghdad Airport — but if Iran were to deal a major blow either to Israel, or to American bases in the Middle East, both the Israeli and the American military would retaliate tenfold. Why do those Kayhan editors not recognize this? Have they been bewitched by the Islamic State’s own propaganda?

“The Zionist enemy knows that it has no military response to our ballistic missiles since all air defense systems against them, like the Patriot, have failed miserably,” the editorial contends, adding that a direct confrontation with Israel “could elevate Iran to the status of a regional superpower.”

The Patriot missiles have indeed “failed miserably,” and are expensive to boot. That is why the Americans have since early 2019 bought Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, a system which has intercepted more than 1,000 incoming projectiles launched at Israel, to replace the Patriot. Apparently the editors at Kayhan are unaware of the Iron Dome’s spectacular record.

Nor have they heard of the even more important Arrow 2 and Arrow-3 interceptors, Israel’s defense against Iranian long-range ballistic missiles. Just this summer the Arrow 2 interceptor successfully passed flight tests:

Israel’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it conducted a successful test of the country’s advanced missile defense system against long-range ballistic attacks.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the successful flight test of the Arrow-2 interceptor was part of Israel’s technological effort that “ensures that we will always be one step ahead of our enemies.”

The test was conducted overnight in central Israel, jointly with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

Arrow-2 is part of the multi-layered system Israel has developed to defend against both short- and mid-range rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon, as well as Iran’s long-range missiles. It includes Iron Dome, David’s Sling and the Arrow-3 system — capable of defending against threats from outside the atmosphere.

Israel and the United States jointly tested Arrow-3 successfully last year in Alaska. The system was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and U.S. aviation giant Boeing and became operational in January 2017. The Arrow-2 has been in use even longer and has been deployed in recent years to counter Syrian missiles.

Israel’s multi-layered aerial defense systems were designed to cope with a future war in which it is assumed Israel will be targeted with massive missile fire toward all parts of the country. The Arrow rocket system is designed to intercept the longest-range missiles, including outside the atmosphere.

At Kayhan, it’s clear that military matters are not their strong suit.

Will the Supreme Leader listen to the editors of Kayhan? If Iran dares to retaliate for the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, by attempting to strike Israeli targets and possibly American military bases in the Middle East as well, it must keep that response to a minimum. Iran’s response to the assassination of Qassem Soleimani should serve as a model; Iran had notified Iraq’s government ahead of time; Baghdad then informed the Americans, who could then take shelter; as a result, American soldiers suffered concussions, but no Americans were killed.

Iran cannot afford a serious conflict right now. Its economy is in free fall; the impoverished population is increasingly disaffected, chanting “No to Palestine! No to Lebanon!” as a way of protesting the money sent abroad by the government to Iran’s proxies and allies. If on top of this, Iran rashly attacks Israel, and calls down upon itself the wrath of the Israeli Air Force, it will be very sorry. Ashkenazi, Gantz, and Netanyahu have all warned Iran not to put Israel to the test. And if, even more heedlessly, Iran were to attack American military bases In the Middle East, as Kayhan demands must happen now, even with Trump in office, and the Americans were to use their bunker busters to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities built inside a mountain at Natanz, the clerical regime could not survive the humiliation.

Which leaves one thinking that if the Supreme Leader decides to follow the advice of his friends at Kayhan, that will be just the decision that Jerusalem, and Washington, will now be able to use to their advantage. Go to it, Ayatollah Khamenei. The ghost of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh wants you to avenge his death. Don’t wait. Do something now. Make our day.

 

Hugh Fitzgerald  

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/12/editorial-warmongering-irans-kayhan-hugh-fitzgerald/ 

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PM Netanyahu warns of 'very rapid spread' of mutant virus strain - Assaf Golan

​ by Assaf Golan

Netanyahu convenes "coronavirus cabinet" to discuss stopping air travel after UK discovers mutated virus strain. Meanwhile, Israelis aged 60 and over line up at medical clinics across the country to receive Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine.

Israelis aged 60 and over arrived at medical clinics across the country to receive their coronavirus vaccine as the so-called "coronavirus cabinet" convened to discuss the reimposition of a number of restrictions on movement, Monday.

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has ordered the establishment of 12 vaccination centers to serve members of all of Israel's healthcare providers in the cities of Kiryat Gat, Karmiel, Eilt, Beit Shemesh, Dimona, Arad, Safed, Kiryat Shmona, Shefaram, Sderot, and Umm al-Fahm.

According to Edelstein, tens of thousands of healthcare workers were inoculated on Sunday, and around 200,000 Israelis had made appointments to receive the vaccine.

On Monday, the coronavirus cabinet convened to discuss the reimposition of a number of restrictions following an increase in the spread of the virus. Israel confirmed 2,846 new cases of the coronavirus among the 70,989 people who tested for the virus, Sunday, for an infection rate of 4.1%. Israel currently has 25,159 active cases, 470 of which are serious. Of those in serious condition, 112 are on ventilators. So far, 3,109 people have died.

Among the restrictions to be discussed, a ban on foreign nationals entering Israel and ordering Israelis returning from overseas into mandatory quarantine.

The Health Ministry has ordered genetic sequencing of Israelis returning from Britain and other countries and those in quarantine found to be carrying the virus in order ascertain whether they are carrying a new mutated strain discovered in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Australia.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had called Monday's meeting "for one purpose and that is to close the skies. Since last night's meeting, the mutation has been spreading in many countries and it is clear to us that we are at the beginning of a very rapid spread" of the disease.

Following a six-hour meeting of the cabinet on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said officials were weighing a general lockdown to stop the spread of the virus. He said a new, mutated strain of the virus discovered in Britain would impact the cabinet's next steps.

Health Ministry Director Hezy Levi said he did not believe the strain was more dangerous and that it would respond to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

"In South East England, a virus with a different structure that has undergone a number of mutations was discovered, and it's worrying. This virus has been found to be 60-70% more contagious than the one known to us, but it is not more violent. The disease is the same disease with the same process with the same non-violent course of action compared to the virus we know."

Levy said the virus was not likely to be immune to the vaccine.

"A majority of scientists involved in researching the mutation say the virus will probably not be immune to a vaccine that contains some proteins that cause antibodies in the body of the person who is inoculated. The way things look now, the mutant virus will not be immune to vaccines," he said.

According to Levy, molecular lab tests carried out in Israel can identify the mutant strain because they check a few segments: "It has been said that the virus slips under the radar' and the PCR tests [that detect RNA specific to the COVID-19 virus] don't recognize it. In Israel, we examine a few segments and that's why that won't happen in the State of Israel, and the virus won't slip under the radar."

In the meantime, one day after the British government revealed a new strain had been discovered and declared a lockdown on London and other areas of South East London, the United Kingdom recorded a significant increase in the number of daily infections. On Sunday, the UK recorded 36,000 new cases, double the amount recorded just one week priod, and the highest number of new daily cases since the outbreak of the pandemic. British Health Minister Matt Hancock said the outbreak of the new strain was out of control and called on British citizens to behave as if they knew they had contracted the virus and enter into quarantine.

According to Hancock, the lockdown could go on for months. The British government called on those residents of areas imposed by the lockdown not to leave their homes except for emergency purposes.  The lockdown in Wales has been tightened and Scotland and Northern Ireland were both set to see further restrictions following the Christmas holiday. The new strain of the virus was detected in tests carried out during the month of September and identified in October. Another mutated strain was identified in South Africa.

Following the announcement, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Australia, and Ireland announced a ban on incoming flights from Britain. France was set to join the European flight ban. The Spanish government asked the EU to consolidate a mandatory pan-European position on a UK flight ban.

 

Assaf Golan 

 Source: https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/12/21/pm-netanyahu-warns-of-very-rapid-spread-of-mutant-virus-strain/ 

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Who Is to Blame for Black Poverty? - H. P. Smith

 

​ by H. P. Smith

 

We know that Democrat-run cities are disastrous for blacks, but could it be that it’s not just bad policy that’s keeping that system afloat?

 

We’re all familiar with the cycle of poverty in Black urban neighborhoods that Democrat politicians have run for decades. Everybody assumes it’s because Democrats are so wedded to their policies, they keep throwing good money after bad. Maybe that’s not the problem, though. Maybe Black Democrat politicians don’t want to help these areas, and the citizens in those areas don’t actually want to be helped. 

“Diversity” and “inclusion” are two of the most often heard buzzwords in our lives these days, with a heavy helping coming from the media, of course.  Tucker Carlson addressed the subject very well recently in an opinion piece where he discussed diversity versus the meritocracy, using Biden’s recently-announced cabinet selections to make his case. The evident theme for Joe Biden’s picks has nothing to do with whether his picks are actually qualified for their postings. Rather, that must check off the appropriate victim identity group box: female, Black, Hispanic, gay, trans, or (Jackpot!) a combination of two or more, where being a black Hispanic lesbian is the pinnacle of the victim hierarchy.  

In particular, I noted in the public remarks made by soon-to-be repeat offender against our economy, Janet Yellen, that a big part of her focus as Fed Chair is to address economic inequality, wage inequality, food insecurity, poverty — all seemingly benevolent causes until you peel back the onion just slightly and realize that she’s not talking about these things in the scope of helping everyone, regardless of race.  No, she’s specifically talking about “communities of color.”  Just so we’re clear, a group of people is going to receive different (preferential) treatment based solely on the color of their skin.  I’m pretty sure that’s called racism.

Yellen goes on to say that she also wants to provide more opportunities for people of color, because, she says in so many words, these opportunities are denied to people of color. She specifically states that opportunities are denied, so I must ask the question: Who exactly is doing the denying?  

If we look at the largest areas of concentration of Black people, which would be the large urban centers of New York City, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, and Detroit, just to name a few (and I’m not even crossing the Mississippi!), those areas presumably contain large numbers of black-owned businesses or at least Black people who would like to start a business . . .  you know, they’d like to, but they’re being denied the opportunity.  (I think we all know the subtext when someone is saying that “people of color” are being allegedly mistreated, the alleged mistreatment is at the hands of Evil White Conservatives.)

So, again, who is doing this denying?  All of the major cities that I just listed, and dozens more just like them across the country, have been run for decades by Democrat mayors and city councils, with assistance from Democrat Congressmen on both a state and federal level.  One must therefore assume that these same people in charge are also very influential regarding who receives economic opportunities or assistance, right?  Thus, this horrible denying is being done, in fact, by the very people now crying about the fact that the denying is happening!

As usual, it takes mental gymnastics on an Olympic level to reconcile leftist thinking.  Democrats have had control of these cities for decades and what have their policies brought their “people of color?”  Misery, poverty, violence, and addiction.  Obama and Biden had eight years, with two of those eight having the benefit of both houses of Congress on their side, but they didn’t come up with any miracle salve to soothe the troubles of the inner cities.  What on earth would lead us to believe that this will be any different under Biden and Harris?  

Or is it more practical and pragmatic if we believe that, via Occam’s Razor, the simplest answer is the correct one: These so-called leaders in Democrat-run enclaves have no real interest in helping their constituents pull themselves out of the cycle of poverty.  For decades, Democrats have had their faithful Black voters right where they want them; namely, poor and dependent on the government. We give you stuff, you vote for us. That’s the unspoken agreement.  But when a true leader finally comes around who has a plan and the political will to do something to help these communities — like Kimberly Klacik in the Baltimore Congressional district formerly ruled by the late Elijah Cummings — she receives a paltry 28% of the vote.  Now the always useless 10-year Congressional veteran Kweisi Mfume has Cummings’s old job and somehow those precious opportunities are still being denied.

I’ve already established solid evidence that Democrat politicians — even and especially Black Democrat politicians — have little to no interest in helping their Black constituents.  But there is another side to that coin. The evidence seems to show that Black people themselves appear to not want to be helped.  One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.  So, are Black voters in these areas insane?  They keep voting for the likes of Sheila Jackson Lee, Maxine Waters, and Kweisi Mfume, but expect these serial grifters to suddenly start working for them. 

In my eyes, that puts the blame squarely on both parties, the politicians and the voters who keep sending them back to their offices.  Is it because the way things stand now, those voters are cozily wrapped up in their blanket of victimhood?  Is it so comfy in there receiving their government subsistence handouts that they can’t be bothered to get out and do something about it?  Is the alternative to this abusive, co-dependent relationship — personal responsibility, hard work, and entrepreneurialism — just too difficult to face?  

My prediction for all of these cities that I’ve mentioned, and any other Democrat-run major cities around the country, is that if a Biden/Harris ticket sets up shop in the White House, in four years’ time those cities will look much the same as they do now, except with four more years’ worth of decay, addiction, and violent crime.  But those citizens can comfort themselves that they still have someone else to blame for their problems. 

 

H. P. Smith 

 Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/293446 

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China used internet troll ‘army’ to shape coronavirus narrative: report - Dom Calicchio

 

​ by Dom Calicchio

 

China’s propaganda and censorship operation is unmatched by any other nation in the world, a university researcher claims

 

Chinese officials also may have been concerned about sparking a panic, The Associated Press reported in April. It notes that Chinese leaders failed to act during a six-day stretch in January -- between the day they learned they were facing a pandemic and the day they informed the public -- even though hundreds of infected people were showing up at hospitals during the intervening days.

ProPublica and the Times quote a University of California at Berkeley professor who claims that China’s propaganda and censorship operation is unmatched by any other nation in the world.

"This is a huge thing," Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at UC Berkeley’s School of Information told the outlets. "No other country has that."

The report credits Chinese President Xi Jinping with launching the operation, called the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), in 2014.

China’s censors were worried that news about Wenliang’s death would set off a "butterfly effect" of subsequent news stories about the virus that could be damaging for the government, so they ordered news outlets not to promote stories about Wenliang and instructed social media sites to remove his name from lists of trending topics, the report said.

The censors also hired internet trolls to post "distracting chatter" on the internet to help influence public opinion as the coronavirus gradually became a bigger news story.

The Chinese government also ordered security personnel to silence commentators whose views were not aligned with those of the government, according to the report.

People line up for medical workers to take swabs for the coronavirus test at a large factory in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on May 15, 2020. (Associated Press)

The leaked documents suggested a massive deployment of both people and technology – "and, presumably, lots of money" – to control the narrative, the report said.

The information was culled from more than 3,200 directives and 1,800 memos as well as other files from the CAC, as well as computer code from Chinese firm Urun Big Data Services, a service provider to local governments.

ProPublica and the Times identified hacker group CCP Unmasked as their source for the documents – and the outlets claim they verified the authenticity of much of the material.

The documents include instructions on which words to avoid using in headlines, such as "incurable," and "fatal," and to avoid using the word "lockdown" in travel articles.

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The report appeared to align with concerns that President Trump and many Republicans have expressed about China’s suspected culpability in the global spread of the coronavirus, which as of early Sunday had infected more than 76 million people around the world and killed more than 1.6 million, including more than 316,000 in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University.

Trump and others in the GOP have accused the Chinese government of underplaying the severity of the virus outbreak, the origins of which many trace to Wuhan, China, and have accused the World Health Organization of not demanding more accurate data from Chinese officials.

The U.S. president and others have claimed that bogus information from China had an adverse impact on other nations being able to prepare for the spread of the virus inside their borders.

China’s propaganda and censorship operation is unmatched by any other nation in the world, a university researcher claims  

 

Dom Calicchio  

Source:  https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-used-internet-troll-army-to-shape-coronavirus-narrative-report

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