Middle East and Terrorism

Monday, December 23, 2024

How the International Community Can Best Help the Palestinians - Khaled Abu Toameh

by Khaled Abu Toameh

The best way to undermine Hamas and help the Palestinians is by offering the people a better alternative to the Islamist movement. The current Palestinian Authority leadership is just not seen by many Palestinians as a better alternative to Hamas. That is because the United States, European Union and other donors are not banging on the table and demanding an end to the PA's authoritarian and corrupt conduct.

Had the international community held the Palestinian Authority (PA) accountable for financial and administrative corruption after the signing of the Oslo Accords 30 years ago, the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group would not have gained popularity among Palestinians.
Although many Palestinians support Hamas's policy of rejecting Israel's right to exist, the Islamist group's victory greatly reflected the desire of the Palestinian public to end corruption in the PA government and institutions.
The most common forms of corruption seem to be the offenses of favoritism, nepotism, embezzlement of public funds, breach of trust, abuse of power, bribery and money laundering.
The best way to undermine Hamas and help the Palestinians is by offering the people a better alternative to the Islamist movement. The current Palestinian Authority leadership is just not seen by many Palestinians as a better alternative to Hamas. That is because the United States, European Union and other donors are not banging on the table and demanding an end to the PA's authoritarian and corrupt conduct.

Had the international community held the Palestinian Authority (PA) accountable for financial and administrative corruption after the signing of the Oslo Accords 30 years ago, the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group would not have gained popularity among Palestinians. Hamas became so popular that its representatives won the last elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), in 2006. The Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform list received 44.45% of the vote and won 74 of the 132 seats in the PLC.

Although many Palestinians support Hamas's policy of rejecting Israel's right to exist, the Islamist group's victory greatly reflected the desire of the Palestinian public to end corruption in the PA government and institutions.

Justin Curtis wrote in Harvard University's Exposé Magazine in 2016:

"On the campaign trail, Hamas effectively framed the election as a choice between itself and a corrupt, inefficient, and outdated regime [headed by Yasser Arafat]. The Islamist group made a concerted effort to come across as a progressive alternative to Fatah [the ruling faction headed by Arafat], even changing its name to the 'Change and Reform' party in advance of the election. Although Hamas's electoral platform referenced Islamic dogma, the party downplayed its more extremist, Islamist rhetoric. A significant portion of Hamas's 2006 platform was spent discussing 'public freedoms' and common-sense 'administrative reform,' hardly the talk of revolutionary radicals. Pledging a variety of anti-corruption initiatives, Hamas subtly rebuked Fatah's double-dealing and profiteering. In a similar vein, Hamas promised to 'stress transparency and accountability in dealing with public funds,' emphasizing that taxpayer money would go to economic development projects, not to fraudulent bureaucrats. Moreover, Hamas denounced the excessive authority of the federal government, advocating for 'political pluralism and the rotation of power.' Outlining reforms to the judiciary and legislative branches, Hamas sounded less like a terrorist cabal and more like reform-minded technocrats.....

"Exasperated by Fatah's corruption, Palestinians welcomed Hamas's clarion calls for accountability and good governance."

Hamas's rising popularity and its subsequent victory in the parliamentary elections did not surprise many Palestinians. Public opinion polls conducted before the elections showed that 87% of Palestinians believed that corruption exists in PA institutions. The polls, in addition, showed that a majority of Palestinians believed that Hamas was more able to fight corruption (46% for Hamas vs. 37% for Fatah).

The international community chose to turn a blind eye to the corruption of the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of Arafat. Many Western journalists covering Palestinian affairs also failed to report on the runaway corruption in PA institutions. Had the journalists reported on the issue, it is possible that taxpayers in the donor countries would have put pressure on their governments to hold the PA leadership accountable for depriving their people of the international aid. It would have been a move that might well have prevented Hamas from rising to power.

According to British-Palestinian journalist Diana Alghoul:

"The Oslo Accords meant Arafat sat on $4 billion in donations from the US, the European Union and Japan, as well as Israeli sales tax that was passed onto the Palestinian leader.

"While there are estimates that Arafat was worth an average of $3 billion, the real figure of his overall worth remains disputed. Following revelations surrounding the PA's largest corruption scandal, an internal PA audit showed a quarter of the governing's body for 1997 was 'lost' as a result of corruption and mismanagement.

"The bureaucratic nature of the PA meant that little oversight gave way for sharks to ultimately steal from Palestinian public money. After the 1997 audit was released, Arafat had demanded all future PA audits to be kept secret."

Arafat did not want the world to know about the corruption and mismanagement in PA institutions. Yet, it is hard to believe that the Western donors were not aware of the situation.

Some of the donor countries later woke up and realized they had made a mistake by failing to demand an end to corruption in the Palestinian Authority's institutions -- but it was too late. Hamas had already won the parliamentary election. A year later, in 2007, Hamas staged a violent and bloody coup in the Gaza Strip, toppling and expelling the PA, by then headed by Arafat's successor, Mahmoud Abbas. Many Palestinians did not shed a tear over the removal of Abbas's regime from Gaza: they were frustrated with the ongoing corruption of the PA leadership and institutions.

Instead of learning from their past mistakes, the donor countries continued to support the Palestinian Authority under Abbas, despite its failure to comply with demands for major political and economic reforms. True, there is not quite as much corruption in the PA today, but as far as many Palestinians are concerned, the measures Abbas's governments have taken are insufficient. Meanwhile, Hamas leaders have also shown that they are no less corrupt than Abbas and other PA officials. Many Hamas leaders moved to Qatar, where they have lived comfortable lives and reportedly became millionaires and billionaires.

A poll published in 2022 found that a majority of Palestinians believe that the sectors most susceptible to corruption are the Palestinian Authority government institutions, especially the executive and public sector institutions (ministries, security services, local authorities). The most common forms of corruption seem to be the offenses of favoritism, nepotism, embezzlement of public funds, breach of trust, abuse of power, bribery and money laundering. Twenty four percent of Palestinians considered favoritism and nepotism as the most common offense, followed by embezzlement of public funds (23%), breach of trust (13%), abuse of power (12%), bribery for delivering a public service (10%) and money laundering (8%).

The destruction of Hamas's military capabilities by Israel should be viewed as a positive development, but it is unlikely to decrease Hamas's popularity among the Palestinians.

The best way to undermine Hamas and help the Palestinians is by offering the people a better alternative to the Islamist movement. The current Palestinian Authority leadership is just not seen by many Palestinians as a better alternative to Hamas. That is because the United States, European Union and other donors are not banging on the table and demanding an end to the PA's authoritarian and corrupt conduct.

Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter)

Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21233/help-the-palestinians

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Trump will have ‘almost zero time’ to prevent nuclear Iran - Yaakov Lappin

by Yaakov Lappin

The president-elect will need to give Tehran an ultimatum right after taking office, according to a report by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, accompanied by his choice for secretary of commerce, Cantor Fitzgerald chairman and CEO Howard Lutnick, speaks at a news conference at the Mar-a-Lago resort on Dec. 16, 2024 in Palm Beach, Fla. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.

Once he takes office on Jan. 20, President-elect Donald Trump will have very little time to stop Iran’s march to nuclear weapons and no margin for error, according to a report by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

The report, released on Dec. 19, calls on the incoming U.S. administration to join Israel in giving Iran “an ultimatum at the outset of the presidency: agree fully and immediately to verifiably dismantle its nuclear weapons program, or invite its imminent and utter destruction.”

The plan also calls for a blend of massive economic and diplomatic pressure, backed by a credible military posture. This would include the implementation of sanctions on Chinese banks and other companies conducting trade with Iran.

The report argues that U.S. support for a potential Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear program is the best way to “build leverage and halt Tehran’s nuclear clock,” and calls for Trump to publicly state that such a strike “is consistent with longstanding U.S. prevention policy.

Other suggested steps include expediting delivery of U.S.-made KC-46A aerial refueling tankers purchased by Israel in 2021, and “ensuring America’s prepositioned weapons stockpile in Israel is properly updated with precision guided munitions (PGM), including potentially bunker busters and air-to-air missiles, to fulfill the depot’s official purpose of supporting Israel in an emergency such as wartime.”

On the diplomatic front, Washington must outmaneuver Iran’s attempt to split “the United States from its allies” by forging and maintaining a “wide-ranging coalition of Israeli, Arab, and European partners that will be vital for deterring and denying further Iranian nuclear advances, and, if necessary, compelling Tehran to negotiate urgently and earnestly,” the report states.

The Trump administration must signal a credible military threat from day one, the report argues.

Last week, the JINSA plan was presented by members of the organization’s Iran Policy Project, including co-chairs Ambassador Eric Edelman and U.S. Air Force General (ret.) Charles Wald.

Edelman stated during a webinar that following the collapse of the Assad regime, which will make it almost impossible for Iran to resupply its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, a unique moment has arrived.

“Iran is both progressing towards nuclear weapons and … the debate in Iran internally has begun to be one about those who would like to accelerate the program and rely on nuclear deterrence in order to create a shield, behind which Iran can rebuild its whole network of malign activities, and those who are talking about negotiation,” he said.

“We understand President Trump has a predisposition to want to do deals, and he might understandably want to avoid beginning his presidency with the risk of moving into a military operation,” said Edelman, adding, “It could lead to war.”

However, “We think it’s very important that if he does decide to opt to go down the negotiations route that he put very strict parameters on it and not allow the Iranians to do what they’ve done in the past, which is to use negotiations as dilatory tactics while they build up their own nuclear program and run out the clock,” he said.

Ambassador Elliott Abrams, a member of the task force and former U.S. special representative for Iran, added, quoting former U.S. statesman George Shultz, “The hard reality is that diplomacy not backed by military force is ineffectual.”

Yaakov Lappin

Source: https://www.jns.org/trump-will-have-almost-zero-time-to-prevent-nuclear-iran/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

'Non-Detained' Illegal Migrants have a convicted homicide rate 13 times higher than U.S.: Report - Just the News Staff

by Just the News Staff

Of the 662,566 illegal migrants, a total of 435,719 on the docket – more than 65 percent – are documented to have criminal convictions in their home countries while another 226,847 have pending criminal charges.

A new report based on data from the U.S. Department of Justice suggests that crimes committed by illegal migrants cost U.S. taxpayers at least $166.5 billion, and the severity of those crimes greatly exceeds that of typical American norms.

The report was written by Dr. John R. Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center and is based on data from the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ), according to The Tennessee Star.

In September, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) revealed in a letter to U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, that as of July 21, 2024, there are 662,566 illegal migrants with criminal histories on the Non-Detained Docket (NDD), which means they are living freely in this country.

Of the 662,566 illegal migrants, a total of 435,719 on the docket – more than 65 percent – are documented to have criminal convictions in their home countries while another 226,847 have pending criminal charges, according to the outlet.

FBI crime statistics show that in 2023 the rate of convicted killers in the NDD alone is more than 13 times that of the rate of reported homicides when compared to American crimes.

Out of the total crimes committed by the migrants on the docket, 14,944 – or 2.25 percent – are homicides; 20,061 are sexual assaults, 105,146 are assaults, 126,343 are traffic offenses, and 60,268 are burglaries, larcenies, or robberies, according to Dr. Lott’s research.

The financial cost of crimes committed by the illegal aliens on the NDD is estimated at $166.5 billion, with the largest share of $153.8 billion coming from murder, according to Lott’s report.

“The estimate of over $160 billion in costs from criminal illegal aliens is very likely an underestimate of the true costs. It assumes the average criminal coming into the country commits only one offense similar to what he committed in his home country. We are also not counting the costs of half of criminal illegal aliens,” Lott wrote.

Just the News Staff

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/crime/non-detained-illegal-migrants-have-convicted-homicide-rate-13-times-higher-us-report

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Israel warns rebel leader it won’t accept jihadist groups in southern Syria - JNS

by JNS

In its message to HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, Israel reportedly stressed that it is prepared to keep troops in the Golan Heights buffer zone as long as is necessary, but would consider transferring control to a stable and accountable Syrian government.

Israeli soldiers operating on the Syrian side of the border fence, Dec. 15, 2024. Photo by Jamal Awad/Flash90.

Jerusalem has warned Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa that it will not tolerate jihadist groups establishing a foothold in southern Syria, Hebrew media reported overnight Sunday.

In the message, Israel stressed that it is prepared to keep troops positioned in the demilitarized Golan Heights buffer zone as long as is necessary to maintain border security, according to Ynet.

However, Jerusalem indicated that it might consider transferring control of the buffer zone to a stable and accountable Syrian government should such an authority emerge.

The leader of Syria’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded the toppling of the Assad regime on Dec. 8, said on Dec. 16 that the rebel alliance in Damascus would continue to uphold the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement that ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

According to The New York Times account of an interview given in Arabic to a group of journalists, al-Sharaa also called on the international community to ensure that Jerusalem follows the agreement, criticizing the Israel Defense Forces’ deployment to the buffer zone and other areas of Syrian territory.

He said it was no longer necessary for Israeli forces to be in the Syrian Golan Heights to protect the border zone, because the collapse of the Assad regime had removed the threat from Hezbollah and other Iranian terror proxies.

Since the fall of the Assad regime, Israeli troops have taken up positions inside and beyond the buffer zone, including the strategic Syrian side of Mount Hermon. The Israeli Air Force has also conducted hundreds of strikes on Assad military assets.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and other senior security officials reviewed Israeli troop deployments on the Syrian border on Dec. 17.

During the visit to Mount Hermon, Netanyahu “reviewed the IDF deployment in the area and set guidelines for the future,” according to the PMO statement.

“We are holding this assessment in order to decide on the deployment of the IDF in this important place until another arrangement is found that ensures Israel’s security,” the prime minister stated.

“This is nostalgic for me. I was here 53 years ago with my soldiers in the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit [Sayeret Matkal]. The place has not changed,” the Israeli prime minister added. “It is the same place, but its importance for Israel’s security has only been underscored in recent years; especially in recent weeks with the dramatic events that took place below us in Syria.”

“We will determine the best arrangement that will ensure our security,” the premier concluded.

“The peak of Mt. Hermon serves the eyes of the State of Israel to detect near and far threats,” said Katz according to a Defense Ministry readout.

“The IDF is here to protect the communities of the Golan Heights and the citizens of the State of Israel from any threat, from the most important place to do so,” continued the defense minister.

“Our presence here at the peak of the Hermon strengthens security and adds a dimension of both observation and deterrence to Hezbollah’s strongholds in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon and deterrence against the rebels in Damascus, who pretend to present a moderate image but belong to the most extreme Islamist sects,” he concluded.

JNS

Source: https://www.jns.org/israel-warns-rebel-leader-it-wont-accept-jihadist-groups-in-southern-syria/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Netanyahu appeals for patience as IDF prepares to hit Houthis hard - JNS

by JNS

"Just as we have acted forcefully against the terror arms of Iran's axis of evil, so too will we act against the Houthis," the prime minister vowed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference on the situation on the various warfronts, Dec. 9, 2024. Photo by Ma'ayan Toaf/GPO.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Israelis on Sunday to be “patient” as Jerusalem prepares to respond forcefully to attacks by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists.

“We will take forceful, determined and sophisticated action,” the prime minister vowed after a Houthi ballistic missile evaded the Israel Defense Forces’ aerial defense systems and hit a playground in Tel Aviv’s Jaffa quarter overnight Friday, lightly wounding 16 people.

“Even if it takes time, the result will be the same—as it has been with the other terrorist arms,” he said, in reference to previous IDF operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Just as we have acted forcefully against the terror arms of Iran’s axis of evil, so too will we act against the Houthis,” Netanyahu said. “However, in this case, we are not acting alone. Like us, the U.S. and other countries see the Houthis not only as a threat to international maritime navigation, but to the international order as well.

“what I ask of you, citizens of Israel, is to be patient, to continue showing the same resilience that you have shown up until now, and to strictly follow the [IDF] Home Front Command directives,” he said.

ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו:
"כפי שפעלנו בעוצמה נגד זרועות הטרור של ציר הרשע של איראן, כך נפעל נגד החות'ים. רק שבמקרה הזה, אנחנו לא פועלים לבד. ארה"ב, וגם מדינות אחרות, רואות כמונו את החות'ים כאיום לא רק על השיט הבינלאומי - על הסדר הבינלאומי. pic.twitter.com/s0shWaqYC1
— ראש ממשלת ישראל (@IsraeliPM_heb) December 22, 2024

Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck a series of terrorist targets in Houthi-held territory in Yemen before dawn on Dec. 19, after a previous Houthi missile attack hit a school building in Ramat Gan, just east of Tel Aviv.

According to the IDF, the IAF retaliatory strikes were carried out in two waves by 14 fighter jets, refuelers and spy planes. The jets were already en route when the Houthis fired the missile around 2:35 a.m.

Following last week’s strikes, Netanyahu said that the Houthis and their Iranian backers “are learning—and will learn the hard way—that whoever harms Israel will pay a very heavy price for it.

“Last night, they attacked a school in Ramat Gan,” the Israeli leader said in the remarks published by the Prime Minister’s Office, adding that “they are not only attacking us—they are attacking the entire world.

“They are attacking international shipping and trade routes. Therefore, when Israel acts against the Houthis, it operates on behalf of the entire international community,” Netanyahu said. “The Americans understand this well, and so do many others.

“After Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria, the Houthis are almost the last remaining arm of Iran’s evil axis. They are learning—and they will learn the hard way—that whoever harms Israel pays a very heavy price for it,” the prime minister said.

JNS

Source: https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-appeals-for-patience-as-idf-prepares-to-hit-houthis-hard/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Is Lebanon’s government stepping up in Southern Lebanon? - analysis - Seth J. Frantzman

by Seth J. Frantzman

“We look forward to long-term stability in the south through the army carrying out its duties in full cooperation with UNIFIL," said Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

People carry Hezbollah flags at a damaged site in Beirut's southern suburbs, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect, in Beirut, Lebanon November 27, 2024. (photo credit: REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) — People carry Hezbollah flags at a damaged site in Beirut's southern suburbs, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect, in Beirut, Lebanon November 27, 2024.

(photo credit: REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is visiting southern Lebanon this week. His trip is important because it reflects an attempt by Lebanon to show that it will adhere to the conditions of the ceasefire from a month ago that ended Israel-Hezbollah fighting. Mikati went to several areas in southern Lebanon, including Marjayoun and other places.

“We look forward to long-term stability in the south through the army carrying out its duties in full cooperation with UNIFIL. Our priority is the full implementation of international resolution 1701, Israel’s withdrawal from the lands it has penetrated, and the cessation of the systematic destruction of villages and its violations,” Mikati said.

Hezbollah's occupation of southern Lebanon

Mikati claimed that the Lebanese army had not “shirked” in its duties but its role is complex. Hezbollah has occupied southern Lebanon for many years and prevented the army from controlling the area. Israel wants Hezbollah removed north of the Litani as it was supposed to do after the 2006 war.

Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun said that "despite all the limited capabilities, the army remained steadfast in its positions and protected civilians. We will complete our mission because we believe in what we are doing,” according to Al-Akhbar media in Lebanon.

The Lebanese Prime Minister also met with UNIFIL commanders and forces in the eastern sector of UNIFIL’s operations in southern Lebanon. It is clear that this visit comes a month after the ceasefire agreement took place and on the eve of Christmas.

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. (credit: Canva, REUTERS/THAIER AL-SUDANI)

It also comes four months after Israel began Operation Northern Arrows against Hezbollah. Thousands of Hezbollah members were killed, according to Israeli estimates. Israel’s Defense Minister also visited Lebanon on Sunday and said that Israel would respond to any threat.

He demanded that Hezbollah move north of the Litani. The ceasefire was signed initially for sixty days by which time the IDF is supposed to leave southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army should deploy. Israel also began engineering projects to strengthen border security in the north.

The feeling is that things are entering a new phase in southern Lebanon after a month of a largely successful ceasefire.

Seth J. Frantzman

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-834578

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

More Threat Deflation: The Pentagon’s China Study Is the Last Gasp of Biden’s Neo-Engagement - James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer

by James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer

The Pentagon’s “China’s Military Power Report” exposes Beijing’s military growth but neglects the PRC’s belligerent ambitions, leaving the U.S. unprepared.

U.S. government public reports, particularly by the Department of Defense, are important because they explain to other governmental actors, such as Congress, and the American people important information and developments so that they may understand issues and make better policy decisions. Few reports are as important as the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress, “China’s Military Power Report.”

The release of the Pentagon’s “China’s Military Power Report” on December 17 is notable for two major reasons. First, for what it reveals about the expansion of the military might of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and, second, how it fails in its fundamental duty to inform Congress and the American people about what matters: the belligerent intentions and capabilities of the PRC and its hyper-aggression against the American people and U.S. national security.

First, the report includes major developments in the expansion of the PRC. This includes important information regarding the tremendous growth of the military might of the PRC. The report identifies the great increase in the PRC’s nuclear and conventional military power. It also provides some insight into the PRC’s actual defense spending, which is far above what is often reported, although it is still likely below the PRC’s actual defense spending.

Alarmingly, the PRC has increased its operational nuclear warheads in the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force to 600 from 500 in one year, a 20 percent increase since mid-2023, and is expected to have 1,000 by 2030. Each leg of its nuclear triad is growing at a pace that will yield nuclear superiority over the U.S. Concomitantly, its nuclear infrastructure has also expanded to support this incredible expansion.

The PRC’s ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missile capabilities are also increasing rapidly. In fact, the PRC should be considered the world’s leader in hypersonic weapons. Equally, the expansion of the PRC’s anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, such as the DF-21D and YJ-21, increasingly gives it the ability to deny access to U.S. and allied maritime forces. The capabilities documented in this public report provide a window into a future U.S. defeat.

Power projection and military exercises are also salient. The report documents the “Joint Firepower Strike Operations,” which are a series of important exercises that have prepared the PRC’s military for an invasion of Taiwan and Japan and to strike U.S. bases in Alaska, Guam, and Hawaii as well as within the U.S.

The second reason the study is critically important is because of what it reveals about the Pentagon’s and Biden administration’s assumptions about the motivations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The report states that “the PRC’s strategy entails deliberate and determined efforts to amass, improve, and harness internal and external elements of national power that will place the PRC in a ‘leading position’ in an enduring competition between systems.”

Thus, it identifies that the PRC is seeking domination over the U.S., its allies, and partners. It is, in every sense that matters, at war with the United States, its allies, and partners.

That is a truthful admission and a remarkable one, given the rest of the report, which is an effort to explain away the implications. One would expect that the rest of the report would provide an unambiguous elucidation of the facts that would support a call to action for a whole-of-government and whole-of-society response to defeat the tyrannical vision of a world dominated by the CCP.

But you would be wrong.

The report is so quixotic it might have been written by Cervantes. It states but fails to face the consequences of the belligerence of the PRC. For the report, the PRC’s efforts to defeat the U.S. will be prevented by incompetence and corruption, most significantly in the PRC’s military.

There is no doubt incompetence exists. Equally, it is a certainty that corruption exists. However, two fundamental points are in order that compel rejection of the Pollyannaish vision of the report.

First, “corruption” is a tool Communist dictator Xi Jinping uses to purge the military and CCP and bend them to his will. Thus, “corruption” only feeds the PRC’s hyper-aggression and makes Beijing a more dangerous, determined, and immediate foe.

Second, a dependence upon “corruption” in the PLA to retard the PRC’s aggression is intellectually lazy and dangerous. The issue is not how “corruption” impacts military effectiveness but whether it will have a critical impact on war and Xi’s decision-making. The PRC is corrupt, but it also has a formidable conventional and nuclear arsenal and industrial base and a hyper-aggressive leader. The great concern is that God may be on the side of the big battalions—even if they are corrupt.

In addition, an intellectual dependence upon “corruption” in the PLA to save the U.S. from the PRC is a dangerous illusion because it feeds a threat deflation mentality in Washington that has already sat by for at least two decades as the PLA has grown into a lethal threat. The mindset of threat deflation has permitted U.S. decision-makers not to undertake the necessary measures to meet the PRC threat, and this report subtly suggests that there is nothing to do because “corruption” in the PLA will stop the CCP from achieving its aims.

For the report, “corruption” assumes a magical power to explain why the U.S. does not need to do anything. As it permits the dismissal of the PRC threat, it allows Biden to continue his pernicious policy of neo-Engagement, continuing to trade and invest in the PRC and thereby aiding the military might of the PLA and sustaining the CCP’s illegitimate and tyrannical rule over the Chinese people. The report is an effort to sustain neo-Engagement, which has been almost fatally disastrous for U.S. national security, as we document in our book, Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure.

Fundamentally, the report is a supremely dangerous exercise in threat deflation. While it documents important developments, it misses the etiology of the CCP’s hyper-aggression and grand strategic objectives, as well as understanding the strategic trendline of PLA military modernization and combat lethality. So, it fails in the necessary objective to inform Congress and the American people of the threat they face. It is another missed opportunity to inform them of the nature of the threat.

Fortunately, the incoming Trump administration’s nominee for Secretary of Defense has been charged by the President-elect to restore the “lethality, meritocracy, readiness, warfighting, and accountability” of the Department of Defense. Accordingly, the 2024 China Military Power Report should be read as the last gasp of the Biden regime’s efforts to sustain the failed neo-Engagement policy towards the PRC—a report that will be seen as another exercise in threat deflation and relegated to the dustbin of history. In order to reverse the mindset of threat deflation that is so pervasive within the Pentagon, a new report that reflects the accuracy, urgency, and scope of the PRC threat should be generated in short order, within the first 120 days, by Trump’s new Pentagon.

***

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer are authors of Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure. The views expressed are their own.

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2024/12/22/more-threat-deflation-the-pentagons-china-study-is-the-last-gasp-of-bidens-of-neo-engagement/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Musk Derangement Syndrome - Roger Kimball

by Roger Kimball

Elon Musk’s push for transparency and fiscal responsibility has reshaped the debate over government spending, exposing inefficiency and forcing Congress to answer to the public.

Move over, Trump Derangement Syndrome! It is time to make room for the latest pathology: Musk Derangement Syndrome.

The hysteria has been building for some time. It wasn’t so long ago that Elon Musk enjoyed enviable street cred among the brotherhood of snotty, self-congratulating elites. A green energy guru, he made the hearts of the Sierra Club Sultans go pit-a-pat with his talk of “sustainable transport” and solar roofs.

Then Musk made several missteps. The first was buying Twitter and restoring open discourse to a platform that was started to encourage, well, open discourse but had become a headquarters of government surveillance and censorship during the first Trump administration. Musk never recovered his progressive credentials after he came out as a supporter of free speech.

But the atmosphere of left-wing disapproval that was swaddling Musk since his purchase of Twitter turned toxic and hysterical this past summer when, following the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, he announced that, gasp, he was supporting Trump’s reelection bid. Could you believe it? Supporting Trump’s reelection—especially actively, ostentatiously, effectively supporting Trump’s reelection bid—was like the sin against the Holy Ghost: unforgivable.

And then Musk compounded the perfidy by joining forces with Vivek Ramaswamy to form DoGE: the “department” of government efficiency, a time-limited initiative to help bring government spending and regulation under control. They have set an expiration date of July 6, 2026, by which date they hope to have been able to give America a 250th birthday gift of fiscal solvency and rational regulation.

Many people have wondered what DoGe would be able to accomplish since it would just be making recommendations with no real power to enforce them.

We have just been vouchsafed a glimpse of its possible potency.

For several years now, the approach of Christmas has brought not just visions of sugar plums and Santa sightings but also the annual Congressional budget snit known as CR, short for “Continuing Resolution.”

The exercise now seems almost venerable. In fact, though, it is an admission of failure, begotten in legislative irresponsibility, bred in malodorous sluices of pork-laden, politically correct greed.

Every year, Congress is supposed to deliver a budget before it breaks for Christmas. America’s last real budget was passed in 1996. The usual expedient is the stopgap measure of a “continuing resolution” in which Congress says it will just continue funding things at more or less the same level as it had been, kicking the can down the road and into the next fiscal year. (For an excellent explanation of the process, I recommend this brief but gimlet-eyed presentation: some college government department should hire this chap.)

Contemplating the embarrassing sideshow that was this year’s CR squabble, a friend reminded me of the old quip. If “con” is the opposite of “pro,” what is the opposite of “Congress?” This year, as has become the usual practice, Congress waited until the last possible moment to plop the text of the Continuing Resolution on the desks of our Conscript Fathers. What had started as a twenty-page document had lizzoed into a 1547-page behemoth. This was no “continuing resolution” but a porker full of self-serving giveaways to Congress as well as numerous woke initiatives designed to stymie the incoming Trump administration.

Among many noxious items were a provision to scuttle any serious inquiry into the activities of Liz Cheney’s January 6 investigation and another provision to continue funding the State Department’s Global Engagement Center. This innocuous-sounding initiative (we’re all in favor of “global engagement,” right?) funds the Britain-based Global Disinformation Index, which encourages advertisers to flee media outlets of which the guardians of the Narrative disapprove. This includes the Washington Examiner, RealClearPolitics, Reason, the New York Post, Blaze Media, the Daily Wire, the Federalist, the American Conservative, Newsmax—and American Greatness. It is, as Vivek Ramaswamy observed, a “key node of the censorship industrial complex.”

This monstrosity was stopped, but how? Critics of Musk blame him. “He tweeted about our beloved monstrosity,” they skirled. “He killed the bill.”

But this is wrong. Musk did indeed post, with Olympic assiduity, about the egregious piece of self-serving lard. But what scotched the original bill was the public outcry. Musk may have been the catalyst, the tocsin in the night. The fire brigade was manned by ordinary citizens.

As one social media poster put it, “All Elon did was read a bill, post on a public platform that the reckless spending in it was unacceptable, ask others to contact their representatives if they agreed, and made clear that he will help primary Ds + Rs who support it.”

This is exactly right. But to listen to the Dems, you would think the world was coming to an end. On December 18, Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), knickers twisted tight, asked angrily, “Can you imagine what the next two years are going to be like if every time that Congress works its will and then there’s a tweet? Or from an individual who has no official portfolio, who threatens members on the Republican side with a primary? And they succumb?” Yes, just imagine, Dick, if it is the people themselves, and not your little club of coddled thumb suckers, who shed light on the activities of Congress as it pretends to go about the people’s business?

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) sounded a similar note. “We had a deal to avert a shutdown,” this pathetic tool skirled. “Musk et al. blew it up because it didn’t help billionaires enough.” Right. Then came the sweaty lie. “They wrote a new bill to cut cancer treatment for kids and grease a new tax cut for the rich.”

There are no “tax cuts for the rich.” And although “cutting cancer treatment for kids” got massive circulation for fifteen minutes, Murphy neglected to mention that the funding for pediatric cancer treatment was passed by the GOP-controlled House last March and was awaiting passage by the Democrat-controlled Senate.

It is an ill wind that blows nobody good, however, and I am grateful to this latest nocturnal emission of Democrat ire for my introduction to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). Some unkind people have said that she is an escapee from the set of an Addams Family movie. That is grossly unfair—to the Addams family. I am not sure whether it was DeLauro who first referred to Musk as “President Musk.” She certainly helped circulate the epithet, which is part of a flaccid, already failing effort to drive a wedge between Musk and Donald Trump. De Lauro, understand, is not just another of the 538 members of Congress. She was chair of the House Appropriations Committee for the first two years of the Biden administration and has, since the GOP takeover in 2022, been its ranking member. She is the perfect face for the Democrat Party circa 2024. Savor her here as she casts her imprecations, like one of the weird sisters in Macbeth, against Elon Musk.

In the event, the final bill, called the American Relief Act, 2025, passed in the opening minutes of Saturday, December 21. It was the third version of the CR. At some 120 pages, it is less than a tenth as long as the original Brobdingnagian version. Who applied the Ozempic? Notwithstanding the wailing of the Dems, it wasn’t Elon Musk. It was the duly elected representatives of the people who, caught with their hands in the cookie jar, withdrew almost all the pork and politically noxious provisions of the original. It was a big win for Trump.

What tipped the scale? I suspect that a widely circulated picture of the original bill side by side with its slimmed-down cousin had people aghast and searching for their congressman’s telephone number. Donald Trump had wanted them to raise the debt ceiling now, presumably so he wouldn’t have to do it on his watch, but they denied him that concession. It was about the only one they did deny him.

Everywhere one turned, there were shouts and whispers that we’d just missed a major tragedy. “Government Shutdown Averted!” the headlines rang out. But what difference would a government shutdown have made? As John Stossel noted on X, past shutdowns show that such contingencies are largely theatrical events. “Life went on,” he observed. At the end of the day, “government demonstrated how needless most of it is.”

There are two main lessons to be drawn from this episode. One is that timely, forceful, and rapidly repeated exposure of government malfeasance can prompt the public to intervene and end it. Musk is accounted a villain by the left because he repeatedly shone a klieg light on the worst aspects of the adipose abomination that was the original bill. Somehow, no one had been so effective a town crier before.

The second lesson has to do with the utterly irresponsible, but by now habitual, process that Musk helped to expose. The insidious practice of turning to “continuing resolutions” as a substitute for timely legislation is an invitation to corruption. The Dems have eagerly accepted the invitation, injecting all manner of tendentious (and, it may go without saying, expensive) desiderata into the annual CR fest, convinced that the public won’t notice. The remedy is twofold: 1. Insist that proposed legislation be published well in advance of its deadline and 2. disaggregate the pieces of any proposed legislation so that each bill covers only a single subject. No more sneaking woke expedients into general spending legislation at the last minute.

Mentions of “spending” bring me to the existential pressure that first prompted Musk and Ramaswamy to embark on their quest for “government efficiency”: out-of-control, potentially paralyzing government spending. Together with the regulatory nightmare that the bureaucratic state has saddled us with, incontinent spending (the federal debt is currently north of $36 trillion) threatens to impoverish the United States and, hence, the world. Milton Friedman was right to advise us to keep our “eye on one thing and one thing only: how much government is spending because that’s the true tax. . . . If you’re not paying for it in the form of explicit taxes, you’re paying for it indirectly in the form of inflation or in the form of borrowing.”

Musk has said that he hopes to trim government spending by $2 trillion per annum. If he and Vivek can manage a quarter of that, they will be national heroes. In fact, they already are.

Roger Kimball

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2024/12/22/musk-derangement-syndrome/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Pro-Iranian Iraqi militias announce intention to stop actions against Israel - report - Jerusalem Post Staff

by Jerusalem Post Staff

Pro-Iranian Iraqi militias have reportedly agreed to halt actions against Israel, according to Hezbollah-affiliated media, while maintaining their anti-Israel stance.

DEMONSTRATORS CLIMB a structure during an anti-government protest in Baghdad, last week. (photo credit: THAIER AL-SUDANI/REUTERS)

Pro-Iranian Iraqi militias have reportedly reached an agreement to halt their actions against Israel, the Lebanese Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Monday.

According to Al-Akhbar, the leader of the Iraqi Al-Nujaba movement, a US-designated terrorist group, confirmed that the militia reached an agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani that "the factions decided not to interfere in Syrian affairs and to follow the situation from a distance, in addition to waiting to know the orientations of the US President-elect, Donald Trump, and his policy towards the Middle East, specifically Iran."

The leader confirmed that the group would also stop all military operations against Israel.

He stated that "the Islamic Republic of Iran gave us the freedom to decide regarding the Syrian scene and the control of the terrorist groups called Haya'at Tahrir al-Sham.”

Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr protest against corruption, inside the parliament in Baghdad, Iraq July 30, 2022. (credit: THAIER AL-SUDANI/REUTERS)

'Unity of arenas'

Additionally, the spokesman for the Sayyed al-Shuhada Brigades, Kazem al-Fartousi, told Al-Akhbar that “circumstances determine the positions of the factions, and the principle of unity of arenas is not linked to a temporary alliance between the factions of the axis of resistance, but rather it is a matter of principle and doctrine, and whatever the losses, the Iraqi factions have not and will not abandon the principle of unity of arenas.”

Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-834520

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Supreme Court unanimous ruling may pave way for mass deportation - Bethany Blankley

by Bethany Blankley

Case involves a “sham marriage” after an American citizen applied with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to obtain a visa for her noncitizen Palestinian husband to receive permanent legal residence status.

(The Center Square) -

A unanimous ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court may pave the way for challenges to a federal deportation plan under the incoming Trump administration to be defeated.

The ruling was issued in a “sham marriage” case after an American citizen applied with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to obtain a visa for her noncitizen Palestinian husband to receive permanent legal residence status.

Under the law, USCIS “shall ... approve” a visa petition if it’s been determined “that the facts stated in the petition are true” and the noncitizen is the petitioner’s spouse. If the noncitizen previously sought or received an immigration benefit “by reason of a marriage determined by the Attorney General to have been entered into for the purpose of evading the immigration laws” – known as the sham-marriage bar – USCIS is required to deny it.

The petition was initially approved but two years later was revoked because USCIS argued there was “evidence suggesting that her husband had previously entered into a marriage for the purpose of evading immigration laws,” which the couple denied.

The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the revocation, affirming that USCIS’s determination that the husband had entered into a prior sham marriage that would have prevented the initial visa approval.

The couple sued, a federal district court dismissed the case, arguing federal courts don’t have jurisdiction over certain discretionary agency decisions. The couple appealed and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the lower court’s decision. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, which in a 9-0 vote affirmed both lower court rulings.

“Section 1155 is a quintessential grant of discretion,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a President Joe Biden appointee, wrote in the decision. “The Secretary ‘may’ revoke a previously approved visa petition ‘at any time’ for what the Secretary deems ‘good and sufficient cause.’ Congress did not impose specific criteria or conditions limiting this authority, nor did it prescribe how or when the Secretary must act.”

The ruling was issued after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier this month that the federal government has the authority to deport illegal foreign nationals over the objection of local authorities, The Center Square reported.

In June, the Supreme Court also ruled in favor of federal deportation policies in three consolidated cases on appeal before the Fifth and Ninth circuits, where the courts issued conflicting rulings.

The lawsuits were brought by illegal foreign nationals deemed “inadmissible” under federal law and given Notice to Appear (NTA) documents stating they must appear before an immigration court at a future date and time. Each of the plaintiffs didn’t show up to their hearings, and federal immigration judges ordered their removal in absentia in accordance with federal law established by Congress.

The illegal foreign nationals sued, demanded their removal orders be rescinded, claimed they didn’t receive proper written notification, challenged the definitions of the word “change” in the order they received, and made other technical arguments.

The petitioners, illegal border crossers from El Salvador, India and Mexico, demanded they had rights to stay despite court orders requiring their deportation. In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court disagreed, ruling against them.

The ruling established precedent for potential future cases that could be brought after the Biden administration began issuing NTAs with court dates three to four years in the future, The Center Square first reported. The ruling could also have a bearing on roughly 200,000 deportation cases that were thrown out by immigration judges because the Department of Homeland Security didn’t file paperwork with the courts in time for scheduled hearings.

The rulings are likely to have the most impact on those who attempt to fight a deportation plan by the incoming Trump administration to reverse a policy through which the Biden administration released millions of illegal foreign nationals into the country contrary to federal law.

Bethany Blankley

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/supreme-court-unanimous-ruling-may-pave-way-mass-deportation

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter