Foreign Digest: Iran, China, Russia, Turkey, Qatar and Italy

Iranian elections       

            As usual, the recent elections in Iran for president and parliament were not democratic.  Only candidates approved by the theocracy of the Islamic Republic are permitted to stand for election and there are inadequate freedoms to allow for a free and fair election.  Although the relatively less confrontational president was reelected, Iran continues to sponsor terrorism and to spread Islamic revolution in other Muslim states.

Chinese massacre anniversary

There was a demonstration last week in Hong Kong, the special administrative state of Communist China, on the 28^th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of thousands pro-democracy protestors by the Chinese Communists in 1989.  No such protests are permitted in the rest of China.

Russian anti-tyranny protests  

            There were more protests last week in Russia against the Russian Federation’s tyranny and more arrests of the protestors.  The opposition’s campaign against corruption and for liberty is the most sustained in several years.

Turkish arrests

            The latest of many more arrests in Turkey included the head of a major internationally-recognized human rights organization.  The authoritarian Islamist government has continued to use the attempted military coup last July as an excuse to arrest all of the regime’s opponents or critics.

Qatari Crisis

Qatar has been on both sides of the War on Terrorism—ostensibly participating in military campaigns against terrorists, but funding Islamist organizations and abetting violent jihad in other ways.  Several Arab states and the predominately Muslim Maldives severed diplomatic relations last week with Qatar and three Persian Gulf Arab states are blockading the small, wealthy Gulf emirate and taking other measures to punish the Qataris and force them to change their policies in regard to Islamist terrorism.

Italy requires vaccinations 

           Italy restored last week its requirement of vaccinations for schoolchildren.