"The Islamic Conquest Of Europe & Why It Was COVERED UP" | Raymond Ibrahim

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I first knew of Raymond Ibrahim with his book "The Al-Qaeda Reader" in 2002.

This is the best book to understand the duplicity of the Jihadist narrative. What they tell the West vs what they tell the Muslim world. 

Here he is again, talking to Winston Marshall, so many years later, talking with knowledge and wit, about what really happened in the millenia+ of battles between Islam and Christianity. 

Right down until today. Where in the U.K., in Europe, they will openly say that they are just awaiting their numbers to be right, and they'll take over and that there will be no more opposition, because they will  be dominant and require subjugation by all non-Muslims. Yes, this is said openly. 

00:00 – Introduction 01:37 – Who is Raymond Ibrahim? 02:21 – Personal Background: Egyptian Heritage and Academic Journey 05:00 – From Academia to Writing: A New Path 06:08 – Key Works: Sword and Scimitar and Christian Persecution 07:12 – The Impact of His Work and Public Controversy 10:00 – The Battle of Yarmouk: Turning Point in Islamic Expansion 12:10 – The Expansion of Islam: From Arabia to the Christian World 17:07 – The Battle of Tours: Stopping the Islamic Advance 20:00 – The Dark Ages: How Islam Shaped Europe’s Future 25:00 – Why Was the Muslim Conquest So Successful? 28:50 – The Reconquista: A Slow and Steady Christian Resistance 33:13 – Andalusia: Myths of Peaceful Coexistence 40:00 – The Seljuk Turks and Pre-Crusade Persecutions 44:10 – Pope Urban II and the Call for the First Crusade 50:00 – The Crusades: Misunderstood or Justified? 55:30 – The Battle of Manzikert and the Beginning of the Crusades 1:00:00 – Charlemagne and the Rise of Christian Defensiveness 1:05:00 – Early Relations Between Islam and the West 1:10:30 – The Persecution of Christians in the Middle East 1:15:00 – Crusades: Religious Wars or Defensive Actions? 1:20:00 – The Myths of Islamic Golden Age Contributions 1:25:00 – Crusades and Their Aftermath: The Long-Lasting Impact 1:30:00 – The Religious and Ideological Roots of the Conflict 1:35:00 – Western Misunderstanding of Islamic History 1:40:00 – The Rise of Jihadism and Modern Conflicts 1:45:00 – The Importance of Historical Context in Modern Conflicts 1:50:00 – The Ongoing Persecution of Christians 1:55:00 – Reflections on Western Values and Islamic Influence 2:00:00 – Conclusion: Understanding the Past to Navigate the Future

“How easy to support Israel. It has truth in its side” | Natasha Hausdorff

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I’ve long followed Natasha Hausdorff. Perhaps the preeminent international law expert on the side of Israel. Which, we know, has the truth in its side. Yes, there is a truth in the  idle east mess. And it lies with Israel. Not with the murderous maniacs of Hamas. Or the cancerous Hezbollah. Or the mother squid in Tehran. 

Electric Vehicles are taking over. Yes, they are...

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Not a joke. 

Happening in front of our eyes. In the world-leading car market which is..... [drum roll]... CHINA! Not the United States, which is playing sit down and ignore the rest of the world, as it did in the 80s, when Japan was the up and riser. But China, where EVs are now 25% of new sales and rising quickly. Reason being that EVs are better cars. Faster, nimbler, cheaper to own, and, now, cheaper. 

 Here’s a thing.

I’ve read the Koran, but I’m not a Muslim. I’ve read the Bible, but I’m not a Christian. I’ve read Marx, but I’m not a Marxist. I've read Mao (including in the original Chinese) but I'm not a Maoist. I’ve read Freud, but I’m not a Freudian. I’ve read the Bhagavad Gita but I’m not a Hindu. I’ve even read The Book of Mormon, and I’m most assuredly not a Mormon.

I watch CNN and BBC, but I’m not a liberal*. I watch MSNBC but I’m not a “progressive”…

But, heaven forfend, if I say I’ve watched Fox, the reaction from liberals!

Liberal: “My god, you actually watch Fox! No wonder you’re such a far-right nutter!”

Me: “but I also watch CNN, BBC and ABC.”

Liberal: “Yeah, but you watch Fox! No wonder your views”.

Me: “Have you ever watched Fox?”

Liberal: “No, never. It’s a terrible channel!”

As they say: “make it make sense”

“Fox” here stands for any conservative Podcast as well. Apparently I’m fine if I watch “The Daily” pod, by the New York Times, or The Breakfast Club by Charlemagne Tha God, but if I watch Megyn Kelly, or The Ruthless podcast, I’m going to swallow and regurgitate all sorts of misinformation. Can’t be helped. 

* [Using “liberal” in the American sense, not the U.K., or Australian]

“MAGA” is Democrat policy circa 1990s

Consider how similar the “Make America Great Again” agenda is like Clintonian policies of the late 90s:

• Control illegal immigration. Check
• Deport illegal immigrants. Check. Obama too, in this one.
• Law and Order. Check
• Economic growth. Check. Clinton Dems: “It’s the economy, stupid”.
• Foreign policy, especially support of Israel, bipartisan. Check.
• Free Trade and Level Playing Field. Half check. 
• Social Justice stuff, DEI, etc… Didn’t exist then. But today’s traditional Dems, Clinton, Obama, James Carville, have spoken out against the extremism of the far left Dems, so again on the s,we page as MAGA.

MAGA is smeared as “far-right” by The Squad, Bernie, et. al. precisely because it’s too much like the Old Guard of their own party. Like the policies on an oldie, Bill Clinton, and even Obama, who just happen to be two of the most successful Democratic presidents. 

And so too in Australia, the smear is transferred to our own. Jacinta Nampijimpa Price, a Senator in the Australian Parliament, was going round wearing a MAGA hat, apparently. As in “Make Australia Great Again. Just wait though. She was one of the strongest voices during the 2023 Voice Referendum. She’s moving to the conservative Liberal Party and I predict leadership for her, right up to being our first indigenous Australian Prime Minister. 

"Anti-Israel Host FURIOUS After Douglas Murray Corrects His Lie About Israel" | Douglas Murray

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On the podcast of the "OtherBarak". 

Douglas Murray gives a powerful, clear, knowledgeable statement on the Gaza war and Israel's care in pursuing it. 

Humanoid Robots take over mankind!

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Megyn Kelly talking to half of the smart guys on the All-in podcast. Chamath (Chamath Palihapitiya) is strong. JCal  (Jason Calacanis) less so, the least strong of the four on the AI pod. IMO. 

Talking about the danger of humanoid robots getting out of control. 

Short answer: it's not a trivially small chance. 

Goals vs Systems: Dreaming vs Doing

There’s a big difference between Goals and Systems.

Not that there’s anything wrong with having a goal. But it does become an obstacle to reaching itself, if it’s just “A Goal”, a bright glittery object. With a capital "G". 

Here’s an example of the difference at its starkest.

Let's say the goal is: “Affordable Housing for all”.

The Goal-oriented folks (capital "G") will march on the streets. They'll wave placards plastered with the Goal “Affordable Housing for all”, “We Demand Affordable Housing”, “Affordable Housing is Housing Justice”. 

They will set up a Petition on Move.org, demanding Affordable Housing for all. 

They will give fiery speeches in Congress, write op-Ed’s in the New York Times. You get the picture. 

And the picture is that after a year or two of this, they will still have the "Goal", capital "G", but nothing will have changed and no progress will have been made to the goal (lower case "g"). 

Systems-oriented folks on the other hand, do have the same goal -- Affordable Housing -- but they break it down into Systems.

So, for Affordable Housing they’d go:

1. How much Affordable Housing do we have now?
2. How much do we need?
3. What resources do we need to get from (1) to (2)? Lumber, cement, steel, people. 
4. Where will the finance come from?
5. What regulations stand in our way and what can we do about them?
6. What manpower do we need to reach the goal?
7. Where will that manpower come from?
8. How do we increase it?
9. How do we get the public behind our effort?
10. How do we measure and report our performance?

Again, you get the picture. One side has a Goal with upper case "G" and much huffing and puffing. 

Another side has a goal in lower case, with the Systems, capital “S” -- the more important part of reaching that very same goal.

One side Dreams. The other side Does.

California is a classic case of a state run by Goal-oriented people. What a place like California needs is some Systems-oriented people to actually make some progress toward those goals. 

But it doesn't happen. In city after city and state after state, we see places run by Goal-oriented Dreamers, and the people keep voting in the Dreamers back in! Rather than the Doers. Sad, really. To me, anyways, as I watch previously great American cities fall into despair and disrepair. 

Here Endeth the Lesson. (Which lesson is: vote for Doers, not Dreamers). 

For heaven’s sake don’t watch that conservative media crap! You’ll get infected!

 Here’s a thing.

I’ve read the Koran, but I’m not a Muslim. I’ve read the Bible, but I’m not a Christian. I’ve read Marx, but I’m not a Marxist. I've read Mao (including in the original Chinese) but I'm not a Maoist. I’ve read Freud, but I’m not a Freudian. I’ve read the Bhagavad Gita but I’m not a Hindu. I’ve even read The Book of Mormon, and I’m most assuredly not a Mormon.

I watch CNN and BBC, but I’m not a liberal*. I watch MSNBC but I’m not a “progressive”…

But, heaven forfend, if I say I’ve watched Fox, the reaction from liberals!

Liberal: “My god, you actually watch Fox! No wonder you’re such a far-right nutter!”

Me: “but I also watch CNN, BBC and ABC.”

Liberal: “Yeah, but you watch Fox! No wonder your views”.

Me: “Have you ever watched Fox?”

Liberal: “No, never. It’s a terrible channel!”

As they say: “make it make sense”

“Fox” here stands for any conservative Podcast as well. Apparently I’m fine if I watch “The Daily” pod, by the New York Times, or The Breakfast Club by Charlemagne Tha God, but if I watch Megyn Kelly, or The Ruthless podcast, I’m going to swallow and regurgitate all sorts of misinformation. Can’t be helped. 

* [Using “liberal” in the American sense, not the U.K., or Australian]

DOGE meeting with Fox

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This is super interesting. Meeting with the guys doing the work of DOGE. Which, to repeat, is to identify (NOT to do anything about itself, but to identify), Waste, Fraud and Abuse. 

Now the recipients of that Waste, Fraud and Abuse, do not like that it's threatened. They do not like it one little bit. And so, they scream all sorts of blue murder. 

Which amounts to saying that DOGE and Elon Musk are only doing it to line their own pockets. They're only doing it to destroy the government. And so on. All nonsense. But most of it believed by the clapping seals in the Democratic party, and by the Aging Boomers (my cohort), who rage about "Hands Off", without knowing what Hands and Off what. 

Crazy Times. Not Interesting Times. CRAZY times. 

Forse and Oz, anti-war protest, Canberra, Australia, November 1971

Steve Osborne (Oz) on the left and me, Forse, today's blogger

Note the pre-printed sign. 

These days, the anti Trump and anti Elon signage (eg for demos like "Hands Off") is also pre-printed. Critics say that's because the demos are not organic, but are paid for. I thinks many are paid for. There's some pretty strong evidence for various left-wing, Soros-funded non-profits (The Tides Foundation) being behind the rash of anti-government demos. 

But having a pre-printed banner is not one of the proofs. After all, we did turn up to the demo above, organically, no-one paid us to come, or forced ust to come. But we went anyway and there was the pile of signs. We picked one up. 

Memories. 

Why did Spain”s grid collapse?

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The reasons are still being studied. 

Above is the case arguing that it was the lack of inertia in the national grid, because of lack of baseload power. 

I’m goimg to wait for the final conclusions. But I’m goimg to ne alive to this fact: that the climate activist side of this argument are going to go to great lengths to make sure the reason does not come down to its being too much of renewables in the grid.

John Papola above talks through the dangers of reducing baseload power. Which, by the way, is what my own Australia is trying to do. To be totally renewable, with no baseload. It knows and acknowledges that there is no developed economy which runs only on renewables. But “no worries”, says our Climate Czar, Chris Bowen. Trust me. She’ll be right. 

American intifada:How the Progressive Left learned to hate Israel and love Hamas

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Think how far we’ve come since October 7th 2023. When I first referred to US campus protests, back then, I was careful to refer to them as “pro-Palestinian”. Careful not to say “pro-Hamas”. 

I could not imagine — in those naive early days of the Gaza war — that anyone in the U.S. would support a designated terrorist organisation! One which is openly genocidal against the Jews, which lives by a Charter that drips with hostility and hatred of Jews and the world domination of Islam, that is murderously homophonic and misogynistic. But I was wrong. It wasn’t too long before the pro-Hamas signs came out, the kids wearing Hamas bandanas proudly, faces hidden by Hamas-style masks.

Jonathan Tobin speaks to guest Uri Kaufman. They offer this simple explanation to answer the headline above. That the progressives on campus, in American universities, in the liberal media, view the Gaza war through a racial lens. The Gazans are “people of colour”. The Israelis are white. Whites are alway the oppressors. POC are always the oppressed. The “white” jews are “colonial settlers”, the Palestinians the people of colour driven cruelly from their ancestral lands.

Of course, none of this is true. It’s simple, sure. But not the truth.  Half of Israelis are what the Left itself would call people of colour, Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East and Africa. And they’ve always lived in this land, right back to a known specific date, which story Kaufman tells us.

But as with so much in the world, when you’ve got a fixed prism, an ideology, truth be damned. 

Kaufman mentions Jimmy Carter”s book “Palestine: Peace not Apartheid”. I read this book when it came out in 2006. I remember being shocked at its blatant anti-Israel tone. Kaufman gives it a good going over. “There’s a factual inaccuracy on virtually every page!”, he says. The harm Carter did to peace in the region carries on to this day. Including in Gaza. 

From the intro:

Why do so many Americans side with Palestinian Arab terrorists against Israelis? JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin believes the answer to that question lies in an understanding of how progressive ideologues have largely taken over American education and culture. They have helped indoctrinate a generation with false ideas that cause them to view the conflict in the Middle East through the prism of American race relations. That led them to wrongly believe that Israelis and Jews are “white” oppressors rather than the objects of a Palestinian Arab obsession with destroying the Jewish state and the genocide of the Jews.

He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Uri Kaufman, author of the new book, American Intifada: How the ProgressiveLeft learned to hate Israel and love Hamas.  According to Kaufman, the problem lies in the cognitive dissonance experienced by many Americans who are prepared to see the world through their distorted ideas about “privilege” and race even if it requires them to ignore the facts about Israel, the Palestinians and what happened on Oct. 7, 2023.

Siena Park, Discovery Bay, Hong Kong

 

Looking west over Discovery College. Tiger Head mountains 

The automotive future: top 10 automakers will be Tesla and 9 Chinese companies

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Watch car guy Brian White visit Chinese auto dealerships in Shanghai and show us the truly mind-blowing vehicles they’re now making. To think I was in China in the 70s when the best they could produce was a clunky old Red Flag. 

Today China is making the European and Japanese car company killers. Tesla remains ahead just by its best Self Driving AI.

Brian talks with Tesla expert Herbert Ong. Truly fascinating. 

Celebrating Elon Musk

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This is May Day, International Labour Day. 

Elon Musk has created jobs for 100s of 1,000s of people, most of them high end, high skill jobs, with an average salary of $100,000 much higher than the average of $55,000 for the rest of America. 

He has also disrupted every industry he's entered. Made them more efficient. Like his SpaceX. Like his Tesla. Like his Boring Company. Like his Solar City. Like his Neuralink. Like his Battery company. 

All of them. He has disrupted and made better. 

This goes right back to his very first company, Zip2, for which he coded the maps himself. Zip2 brought us the maps we use online today, where if you zoom in you get more detail. To then, maps online had been just photocopies of paper maps.

Musk is the Leonardo da Vinci of the 21st Century. The man is a hero. And I'm his fan boy. 

The video above goes through the man's many companies. He's never created a company that's failed. His total wealth creation, for mankind, not just for himself, is well over ONE TRILLION dollar. Thnk on't. Especially the Senators Sanders and Warren, who have lived a life in the government and created not a single thing. Not a sausage. Not a nada. Though they do love to hate on Elon. 

hijab

 

targets

DOGE: “Tech support” for the government.

	Department of Government Efficiency ⁦‪@DOGE‬⁩ Last week, Treasury went live with its first automated payment verification system. In total, $334 million in improper payment requests were identified and rejected due to: -Missing budget codes -Invalid budget codes (i.e. the payment was not linked to the budget) -Budget codes   29/4/2025, 10:25 pm

Until DOGE, the payment systems of the government were in a shambles. Such that if they'd been a private company its senior officials would have been arrested. DOGE have fixed that. 

But, you know, "DOGE = Bad". To certain people. 

DOGE is trying to squeeze out fraud from the Security system, Medicare and Medicaid, so that genuine recipients are guaranteed their cheques. The opposite of the hallucinatory "Hands Off" people claiming Musk & Co are about destroying SocSec and Medicaid. Sheesh. DOGE ARE doing the opposite — working to ensure its long-term viability. Fixing the various payment systems is part of that. 

DOGE have not cut a dime from Social Security. 

Cowboys, Indians and butterflies

End of Hong Kong to Philippines yacht race, on Xena, 30 April 2014

Trump 100 days

A liberal friend, an anti-Trumper is telling me what chaos the first 100 days are. 

I say I don't agree. So, they say, what's he done that's good?

I start to answer, but am interrupted every minute. The animus, the hate, is strong. 

So, I'll say it here. With my score in [square brackets].

A summary of the summary is that Trump has moved at lightening speed with his program, that he set out in his campaign, that he's moved at historically rapid speed, but that the pushback has also been at historic levels, and with historic levels of Lawfare. 

TRUMP Administration [a solid B]

Controlling the Southern Border. [A+]

From 10,000 a day illegally coming through the border illegally under Biden-Harris, from all over the world, not just Mexico, because they'd heard "Biden has opened the border". And in they came, unvetted, unchecked. Trump measures brought that down to low single figures. 98.4% drop. That's a huge achievement, to his campaign promises. To an issue the public cared about by 80% to 20%.

It also gave immediate lie to the Kamala Harris line that "we can't do anything about the border, because it needs legislation and Trump doesn't support legislation". No, and no. Trump did it by Executive Order.

Deporting illegal immigrants [B]

Trump and his Border Czar Tom Homan have pushed hard on this. Main issue? Pushback from Dems and Dem-appointed courts, with unprecedented numbers of injunctions. Seems to be "Lawfare 2.0". 

Tariffs [Too early to tell]

"Tariffs be bad" say the People Who Know. Including me, with my Bachelor of Economics. The other side says "If tariffs are so bad, why do all the countries we're tariffing using them so widely?". 

It's shock tactics. To push for a reordering of global norms. Had the approach have been the traditional one, of "consultations" and "meetings", we know nothing would have happened. 

Still, too early, as I said here. Give it some time. Like three months or more. 

Economy [Too early to tell]

Same as with tariffs. Though worth noting: Stock market, which took a hit, is back to same level of September. No longer a "chaotic rout", iow. 

DOGE [B]

DOGE is all about getting rid of government waste, fraud and abuse. To reduce the budget deficit and the scary level of debt. 

Government waste, fraud and abuse is rampant. But has HUGGGGGe push back by the system and people on the streets, who kind of positioned themselves as for all the corruption. Shocking that the pushback includes violence against the head of DOGE, Elon Musk and his Tesla, by vandalism of Teslas, charging stations and showrooms. Not a one of the Dem leaders came out against this. 

DEI [A]

Getting rid of DEI is all about getting rid of racism. Which is what it is, no matter what the Left says. 

Trump gets an"A" for the effort. But a "B" only because pushback is defanging the move, a bit unfair, perhapsDeleted this for government and universities. A policy that is clearly racist by preferring certain races over others in employment and entry to school. 

Good and very popular moves to say that there are just two sexes, Male and Female, and that no males -- who believe they are women --  are allowed to participate in female sports. This is popular with 80% of the voters. 

Gaza [A]

Strong, unequivocal support for Israel to pursue the genocidal, jew-hating terrorist outfit of Hamas and Hezbollah. Replaces the dilatory, fickle support from the Biden government. 

I'm on-board for that. And not at all for the pro-Hamas, "Free Palestine", "from the River to the Sea" crowd. 

Russia-Ukraine [D]

A failure to get movement on this big promise of "I'll fix this in one day". 

At the very least the administration has brought the focus to: "if not peace, then what's the plan?". To which silence has been the stern response. 

Europe [B]

Unelected leader of the EU, Ursula von der Leyen has been hurt by Trump's hurty words. And threatened to go with Norway, Vietnam, Iceland (!), instead of the one country that has saved Europe in two world wars and established the post-war infrastructure for global prosperity. 

Veep JD Vance was right to criticise Europe for abandoning some cherished values of the west, in is speech at Munich. Even if European bureaucrats had hissy fits. 

Australia [D]

A "D" because there's nothing much "wrong" that Australia's done to the U.S.. While we've supported the U.S. in every war. Should have been more careful. 

If it does turn out that the Labor Party wins on this coming Saturday, a big factor would have been Trump. Malpractice by him, that makes no sense. 

Canada [D]

No need to be quite so trolling about the cold state to the north. They are very hurty about hurty words after all. For conservatives, this was Trump doing electoral malpractice. Or political malpractice. Why did he do it? We'll likely never know. 

If Trump hadn't happened, it would have been a major Conservative win. By 20+ points. But, you know, crazy took over. Shame. 

Greenland [B]

Before Trump, who thought about Greenland? Apart from me, who went there on a ski trip across the Island. But just look at it. Clear that it's a security issue, which China all sniffing all around the arctic. By pushing Greenland to front of mind, he's got Greenland protector Denmark to spend nearly $ 2 billion more on defence and to allow the United States a greater presence. 

Panama [B+]

Pushing China out of the canal -- which was built and funded by the U.S. - - is right. That's movement. 

DEMOCRATS [an "E" not for "effort"but for blind "resistance"]

Violence. Injunctions. "Resistance“ (a war term). "Hands Off". Lawfare 2.0. Sitting on the steps of Congress (Jeffries, Booker, today). Pointless 25-hour filibusters (Booker last week).  

All the Dems have done is to be reflexive. If Trump says it, they say the opposite. If Trump wants it, they don't. It's got to a crazy level where if the Trump administration wants to move on violent gangs, the Dems now love violent gangs. 

The saying goes now, "The Dems are on the wrong side of every 80/20 issue". If 80% of the country support something -- like no males in female sports --the Dems are all in to take the 20% side. 

That's where they are as I write this. With much angst and upset even within the Democratic Party about this. Not yet resolved.  

Dog brain

 

Greenpeace attacks American energy self-reliance.

This is the sort of scam that's come to light through the DOGE process. A process that aims to reduce government waste, fraud and abuse. 

Greenpeace really has a lot to answer for. To think that when I was a younger man I applied to join a Greenpeace vessel in the Southern and Antarctic Oceans. Their ships were chasing and harassing Japanese whaling vessels. Now, that was a noble cause. It was also successful. 

I wasn't accepted for the position I'd applied for — as Ship's Cook — because I didn't have a piece of paper saying I could make a decent lasagna. 

Just about then Greenpeace succumbed to hubris. And the delusion -- peddled by Jane Fonda & Co in The China Syndrome — that nuclear stations could go full ballistic and melt down through the Earth to China, with its horrid day-glo radioactivity that will kill us all. That was the beginning of the Greenpeace scare campaign that brought the burgeoning nuclear industry to a grinding halt. 

Greenpeace halted the safest, the greenest, the most efficient, the cheapest form of baseload power, all because of their scaredy feelings. 

For that alone they deserve condemnation. IMO. 

Let alone this chicanery reported by AOL, and as revealed by the DOGE process.  Which Democrats hate on. Because it's a Trump idea:

/Snip:

In a stunning revelation, it has come to light that Greenpeace, a self-proclaimed environmental watchdog, has received taxpayer-funded support through the Tides Foundation, backed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This funding, meant for international aid and development, has instead fueled destructive campaigns against American energy independence, private property rights, and economic prosperity.

Between 2016 and 2019, the Tides Center, a sister organization to the Tides Foundation, received $1.5 million from USAID for a global transparency initiative. More recently, reports indicate USAID granted the Tides Center $24.7 million, of which millions were funneled to radical organizations, includingGreenpeace. Rather than advancing global development, these funds have supported unlawful activism aimed at sabotaging American energy projects. [Read on]

Everyone accuses. No one proves. The Jews never stole land | Oren Cahanovitc

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Oren Cahanovitc lays it out. 

The simple proposition. Name one town or village that was stolen by Jews from the Arabs, prior to 1947. There is none.. 

The land that Israel gained, after its independence in 1947, was land won in a war. As is won in every war. Like the Poles in 1945. Or the Ukrainians in 1945. Or, later, like the partition of India. It's true. All these involved someone winning land, someone losing land. The only country in the world that is demonised for this, for exactly the same situation is Israel. This is flat out anti-semitism. 

Also, the fact that the Jews in Israel are not mostly the Ashkenazi jews of Europe but the Mizhrati jews of the middle east, from where they'd been kicked out. And no longer considered refugees. Unlike the invented nation "Palestinians", who are refugees to this day, 80 years after their "nakhba". 

Executioner understudies

 

Predictions for Canadian and Australian elections, and a Canada-Australia nuclear deal

The Canadian federal election is 28th April, later today Hong Kong time. 

My prediction is for the sitting Liberal government (ie, Democrat equivalent) to win, led by Mark Carney. 

This mainly because of the Trump nonsense of trolling Canada and Trudeau as a 51st State of the US. That's sure got Canada's hackles up and piqued their patriotism. Absent Trump's shenanigans, the winner would likely have been Pierre Poilievre,  leader of the Conservative opposition.

Meantime, the Australian election is this coming Saturday 3 May. 

Again, like Canada, the likely winner is the sitting government of Anthony Albanese of the Labor Party. Absent the Trump factor, it would more likely have been the Liberal (in this case, the Republican equivalent) of Peter Dutton. 

In Carney's case, the main thing I have against him is that he's a Net-Zero zealot. With all that goes along with that: an obsessive focus on renewables, on shutting all fossil fuels, making electricity more expensive and less reliable for a Net-Zero carbon emissions economy in 30 years, that will have no measurable impact on future global temperatures, according to all the models. (Canada, like Australia, accounts for only around 1% of global carbon emissions).

BUT... Carney has a redeeming feature in his policies: support for expanding nuclear energy:

Carney has stated unequivocally that a net-zero economy is “impossible without wider adoption of nuclear power.” At a 2022 Brookfield investor day, he said, “There’s no transition that works without nuclear, full stop”. [Ref]

If elected as expected, he ought speak to OZ. Who don't believe that. 

Australia also has a Net Zero zealot in the shape of the PM Albanese's Climate Czar Chris Bowen. Bowen -- and the rest of the Labour Party, it would seem -- are adamantly against nuclear power. That's despite the fact that we, Australia, have abundant uranium resources, which we are quite willing to sell to countries who don't share our delicate sensitivities, our ideological aversion to the clean, green, safe, NewClear power. 

These two similar countries, massive, resource rich, small in population, members of the Commonwealth, couldn't they at least get together on Nuclear? Canada is keen to export its Candu nuclear technology, long tried and tested, long safe, clean and green. Carney supports development of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), which form part of the Liberal party proposals for Nuclear for Australia. 

How about an AusCanNewClear alignment? Or "Canada, Australia, Nuclear", aka CAN. As in "Yes, we CAN".

If only. If only sanity would descend on our politicians. To replace zealotry. 

Capitulationist and Dictator in one package.

The Democrats call Trump Hitler.

They also call him a capitulationist. To horrid dictator Putin. Like Chamberlain to Hitler at Munich in 1938.

So Trump has achieved the unique position of being at once, in one big Orange Man package, both Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler. 

Wunderbahr!

But, Delores.. where will you go?

 

Orchid time

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“America First doesn’t mean America Alone” | Scott Bessent

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America First doesn’t mean America Alone”.

So says Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, interviewed above at an International Finance Conference. Where he gave a speech, here. “America’s grand plan”.

The World Bank and IMF “have to get back to factory settings”. Back to doing what they were set up to do. There has been too much “Mission Creep”, especially in recent years following a U.S. obsession with all matters “woke”: social justice, DEI, Critical Race Theory, Climate Change zealotry, and so on. 

People who hate on America gonna keep on hating on America, no matter what. They won’t know or won’t remember, or will wilfully ignore: that the post-war global infrastructure — a huge success — was set up by America. 

The Marshall Plan for a Europe, the Breton Woods financial structure, the Japanese Constitution, the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, later the WTO. All these kept world peace (ok, not perfectly…), and massively grew world trade. All arose out of a patrician, a noble, a generous, a humanist impulse in America. One can pick and be picky, but it was and remains a grand vision for the benefit of mankind. One that is not helped by large, aggressive mercantilist late-comers. 

This vast system is in need of  reform. That’s what Scott Bessent is saying. That’s what Trump and his team are aiming to do. Against the very stiff headwinds of the opposition, who oppose literally everything — and I mean “literally” literally — no matter how commonsensical. (They’ve now decided they love ultra-violent Central American gangs, just because Trump wants to deport them…for goodness sake!).

So these are the historic times we live in. Of a president, flawed to be sure, but nonetheless determined as none before him this century, to take on the torrid task of international trade and economic reform. 

These are the Interesting Times we live in. 

The current tariff battle needs time to work (or not). It’s too early to say if it’s a success or failure. But its goals are correct and clear, as Bessent lays out, and there some shoots of optimism. The main battle is with China. And there are glimmers in the tunnel. At least I like to think I see them. As I merrily mix my metaphors. “Thorny shoals ahead”, my mate Ross used to say. Well, says the optimist, we can do it!

By the way, many people, Democrats mainly, criticise “America First” as some kind of horrid, xenophobic, authoritarian right-wing thing. They forget, or don’t know, that it was first used by Democratic president Woodrow Wilson, back around 1916, and that it was picked up and used by Bill  Clinton. Just one more of the many cases of “it’s good for me, but not for thee”.