European Union Report: Russia’s Disinformation on Vaccines Has Caused Its Deadliest Covid-19 Spike

A European Union report released today blames an effective disinformation campaign (i.e. lies, half-truths and misleading statements) by the Russian Federation, led by ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin, for Russia’s current deadliest spike of Coronavirus cases. As I have posted previously, the Kremlin has been creating doubts among Europeans and Americans about the safety and effectiveness of Western Covid-19 vaccines, despite their proven safety and efficacy, in order to weaken the West and to promote a Russian vaccine as an alternative. Putin’s regime has promoted the anti-vaccine movement, which includes the far left and the far right, in a kind of biological warfare, which I have noted has led to outbreaks in Western Europe and America of measles and other easily preventable contagious diseases, because Russian disinformation has been as affective in this regard as it has been in political interference in Europe and America. However, Russia is being hoist by its own petard as the disinformation has spread to the Russian people who have resisted vaccination, even with the Russian vaccine, at a greater rate than in the West.

Foreign Digest: Russia, Poland and Turkey

Russia: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was awarded the Sakharov Prize from the European Union Parliament today for his leadership on human rights. Navalny promotes freedom in Russia against the tyrannical regime of ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin and exposes the corruption of the oligarchical regime. The opposition leader has been poisoned and repeatedly arrested for exercising the freedom of peaceful assembly and speech. Navalny is currently a political prisoner. The EU appealed in its award announcement for his release. Those who criticize or question Putin are harassed, face prosecution and conviction from a judiciary that is not independent, or are forced into exile, assaulted or killed. Some Russian exiles have even been killed abroad. The prize is named for Andrei Sakharov, the scientist during the Soviet era who was a leading dissident. Poland: The European Union's court recently held that Poland’s far-right government had violated its rules by compromising the independence of its judiciary. Poland is an example of the global trend toward authoritarianism, especially in Eastern Europe. The main opposition party is a center-right party that believes in liberty. Turkey: The Islamist authoritarian Turkish regime continues to arrest of people accused of complicity in the failed military coup five years ago. There were well over a hundred more arrests yesterday. Anyone associated with a Muslim cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania who opposes the regime is blamed for complicity. The Turkish military was a safeguard for secular, free and representative government until the Turkish dictatorship brought it under its control after the 2016 coup attempt.

A Conservative Wins the Hungarian Presidential Primary Runoff

A Conservative Catholic provincial mayor won today’s runoff of Hungary’s first primary election, conducted by a six-party coalition of parties opposing the ruling far right anti-migrant authoritarian party. The economist and engineer who had resided in America and Canada ran on an anti-corruption platform. The other opposition parties across the political spectrum will back him and the other candidates chosen via the primary for parliamentary seats. The unprecedented alliance by the Hungarian opposition parties gives them a good chance to wrest power from the self-described "illiberal" ruling party that has been increasingly authoritarian.

United States Intelligence Report Finds the Russians Interfered in 2020 to Help Donald Trump Again

The report by the United States Director of National Intelligence, based on the findings of the multiple American intelligence agencies, found foreign interference in the 2020 presidential elections: https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ICA-declass-16MAR21.pdf Like in 2016, the tyrant of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer, directed a campaign of interference to promote the candidacy of Donald Trump and denigrate his Democratic opponent and minimizing their significant interference in 2016, while also dividing Americans against each other and undermining confidence in elections. The Islamist terrorist sponsor Iran also interfered, according to the report, but against Trump, while Communist China interfered less significantly than Russia and Iran, after concluding that neither major party candidate would be preferable and preferring stability in Sino-American relations. The report found minor interference by Hezbollah (the Lebanese Shi’ite terrorists backed by Iran), Communist Cuba and Socialist Venezuela. There was also some disruption of the election process by cybercriminals, but measures taken after 2016 to thwart foreign hacking appeared to have deterred Russian hacking of voting systems. Russians had penetrated state and even some county election systems in 2016, but it is unknown to what affect. However, the Russians did steal information from the Democrats and their presidential nominee’s campaign in 2016 by hacking and published the information through a cut-out, Wikileaks. The Trump campaign, which had welcomed and accepted Russian interference and had advanced knowledge of the publication of the stolen information, coordinated its messaging with the release of the Russian-hacked information, according to the Republican Special Counsel and the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee, which also found the Trump campaign manager gave internal polling information to a Russian intelligence officer. Russia interfered in both the Democratic and Republican Party primaries to back favored candidates, including Trump, in a “sweeping and systematic” campaign, according to the Special Counsel. Putin’s interference in American politics had begun after its invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and increased with the 2016 election to include open propaganda through state-controlled media, Internet trolls, fake social media accounts that were automated (bots), social media ads, posing as a reporter to plant favorable stories, and campaign contributions, among other interference. Other hostile foreigners saw how successful the Russians were and are now copying their methods, the report confirms, even on other matters. Trump and his supporters interfered with the Special Counsel’s investigation and escaped prosecution and removal from office. There were sanctions imposed on Russians for election interference, but the intelligence report suggests Putin was not sufficiently deterred from interfering again.

Foreign Digest: Lebanon, the United Kingdom, Nigeria and Italy

Lebanon: There was a violent clash precipitated by a riot in a Christian neighborhood by Islamist supporters of the Shi’ite Hezbollah Party, the political arm of the Iranian backed terrorist organization. The Islamists were protesting against the judge in the investigation of responsibility for last year’s disastrous explosion in the port of Beirut that killed hundreds, wounded many more and damaged many buildings. Hezbollah and Amal Shi’ite officials were subpoenaed because of their role in the negligent storage of non-military explosives. The local Christian militia clashed with the Hezbollah and Amal militias in the deadliest sectarian fighting in 13 years. Lebanon suffered a sectarian Civil War from 1975-1990. It is currently facing a severe debt crisis, economic problems and power shortages. United Kingdom: A Member of the British Parliament, a pro-life Catholic in the ruling Conservative Party, was assassinated by a violent Jihadist last week in the latest attack by Islamists in Western Europe. Nigeria: The leader of an Islamic State offshoot of the Boko Haram Islamist terrorist organization was killed by one of his own bombs in Nigeria. As I had posted, Boko Haram’s leader, as well as the Islamic State’s leader in the Sahel were recently killed. Thousands of Boko Haram fighters have since surrendered. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed by their Islamist insurgency in Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad alone. Italy: Italy launched its “Green Pass” program, by which workers, train passengers and attendees of certain entertainment venues can present proof of vaccination for Coronavirus 2019 or proof of recent natural immunity or recent negative tests. The program, the first anywhere in the world, spurred hundreds of thousands of new vaccinations last week, as well as violent protests. Italy has a high vaccination rate. It was the first Western State to be hard hit by the pandemic in 2020 and the first to impose a national lockdown. Millions of Italians have been infected and over 130,000 killed by Covid-19.

Observe Columbus Day by Celebrating the Benefits of the Discovery of the New World; Honor Indigenous Peoples Separately

Happy Columbus Day. As I do every year, I explain why it is appropriate to celebrate Columbus Day, especially with a federal and state holiday. The proclamation this year by United States President Joseph Biden of Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same day as Columbus Day diminishes the significance of the federal holiday commemorating the Discovery of the New World and Christopher Columbus’ accomplishments. The contributions of Native Americans would be more appropriately honored at another time. Instead of a celebration of blessings, the Columbus Day holiday is being made into a lamentation over grievances. Those blessings benefited not only the European settlers and others who came to America and their descendants, but also Native Americans. The Discovery has brought an exchange of goods, people and ideas between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. It particularly brought the ideas of equality, liberty and representative government, based upon the Judeo-Christian belief that men are created in the image of God. This belief is expressed in the American Creed in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Another major contribution to the Americas was modern science, which is based on the Judeo-Christian belief that the universe is created by a rational God and, therefore, can be understood through reason. The anniversary of the discovery on October 12, 1492 honors their discovery of the New World by Columbus, the Genoan Italian navigator working for the Spanish who had correctly theorized that there was an inhabited continent much closer to Europe than was known. Through his outstanding skills as a navigator, he was able to bridge the two hemispheres together permanently, unlike anyone before, which lifted the cover of the Atlantic Ocean that had hidden the two worlds. Therefore, Columbus accomplishment truly meets the definition of the word discover, which is “to uncover,” which does not require someone to be the first in order to be credited with a discovery. Thus it does not diminish in the slightest the presence of indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere to give proper credit to Columbus for his discovery. Both a commemoration of the accomplishments of Columbus and those of Native Americans and a period set aside for the appreciation of their heritage and the contemplation about their status can and ought to be observed, not either one or the other, as if they are mutually exclusive or in conflict, as the current politics surrounding this issue reflect. Those left-wing beliefs diminish not only Columbus’s accomplishment, but the blessings of America that they do not appreciate in order to divide groups of Americans against each other for political reasons by focusing on alleged grievances about the past, based on exaggerated or erroneous interpretations, instead of focusing on unifying and universal principles. As I have noted previously, the federal holiday of Thanksgiving is to give thanks to God for the bounty of America which was obtained through the friendship of the early European settlers with Native Americans. It would be fitting, therefore, to make November Indigenous Peoples’ Month. As Columbus’ discovery is the sine qua non for America, it is appropriate to commemorate the event and to appreciate its significance, without in any way neglecting appreciation for Indigenous Peoples.

Foreign Digest: Syria, the Philippines, Russia, the Czech Republic and Taiwan

Syria: The decade-long Syrian civil war has claimed over a half million lives, as the Syrian people have rebelled against the tyrannical Baathist regime of Bashar Assad. The terrorist sponsor is backed by Iran, Hezbollah (the Lebanese Shi’ite Iranian-backed terrorists) and Vladimir Putin’s Russian Federation. Neighboring Turkey and Israel have been drawn into the conflict, at times. The United States led an international coalition of Western and Arab and other Muslim Sates against Islamic State terrorists based in Syria and Iraq, only striking Assad’s forces once for using chemical weapons of mass destruction. The IS is an offshoot of al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorists responsible for the September 11 Terrorist Attacks, the bloodiest in history. The U.S. announced last week that it is keeping a contingent of troops in Syria against IS. As I posted recently, the Americans struck some al-Qaeda leaders in Syria. Philippines and Russia: The Filipino President, Rodrigo Duterte, who is constitutionally limited to one term, is not seeking election as Vice President. However, he supports his daughter’s candidacy for president. Duterte, known as the “Filipino Trump,” is under an International Criminal Court Investigation for his policy of encouraging the public to murder suspected drug dealers. The gross human rights violation won him public praise from the authoritarian-admiring Trump while the latter was in office. Meanwhile, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a Filipino and a Russian journalist who both use the freedom of the press to expose corruption and oppression, which is especially challenging in Russia under tyrannical ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin. Czech Republic: The populist party of the Czech President did not gain the most votes and thus seats in the Parliament, losing to a center-right coalition that won a narrow plurality. The ruling party is anti-migrant and somewhat ambivalent between being pro-European and pro-European Union or Russophile. Its mix of left-wing and far-right populist policies lead some observers to characterize it as centrist, but such a label would make it seem moderate. There have been protests against the President over allegations of corruption and concerns about authoritarianism. The election results suggest, as have others elsewhere, that there is political space for the center-right versus the far-right, without adopting a leftish platform. Taiwan (the Republic of China): The United States has reportedly maintained a small military force since last year on Taiwan, the Republic of China, in the face of increased assertiveness by Communist China. The former Chinese republican government fled to Taiwan and the offshore island groups of Quemoy and Matsu in 1949, following the Chinese Civil War, in which the Communists took over China. Taiwan, where the Chinese republicans set up a national government, is a free, representative republic. The U.S. ended its recognition of the Republic of China on Taiwan in 1979, but pledged by treaty to provide for its defense and maintains commercial ties to the prosperous free State. It has quasi-diplomatic relations with the Republic of China. The Holy See and over a dozen States around the world also recognize the Republic of China on Taiwan as the legitimate government of China. Communist China, which bombed Quemoy and Matsu in the 1950s, objects to any formal diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and even the participation by Taiwan in certain international organizations and has repeatedly been threatening to conquer it. It has increasingly been repeating its threats and has been making incursions into Taiwan’s airspace with warplanes. The American presence will not only help Taiwan defend against Chinese aggression, but perhaps deter Communist China.

Commentary on the American Women Quarter Dollar Series

New Quarter Dollar Reverses: Starting next year, the United States Mint will produce a series of designs of reverses of the Quarter Dollar coins honoring 20 women, with five designs produced per year through 2025. There are several concerns about this series. New Washington Obverse: There will also be a new obverse image of George Washington. The striking design by a female artist had won the contest, but was not chosen by the Mint for the final design for 1932, the bicentennial of Washington’s birth. The design appeared on a commemorative coin on the bicentennial of Washington’s death in 1999. The Latest and Planned Series: The new series follows the recently completed eleven-year America the Beautiful Series, which had followed the popular State and Territorial Series from 1999-2010. The series commemorated national parks in each of the States and Territories. Next will be designs to be released in 2026 for the American semi-quincentennial. The first will featuring a reverse of Washington leading troops about to cross the Delaware River from Pennsylvania in 1776 to surprise the Hessians, who were mercenaries of the British, at Trenton, New Jersey. The American victory revived the Revolutionary war effort of the Patriots after their nearly calamitous defeat on Long Island, New York. There will be four other reverses in the series, one of which will honor the contributions of women to the American Revolution. This series will be reminiscent of the popular Bicentennial Series from 1975-1976. There will then be a series for youth sports and Paralympics in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, lasting until 2030. There will be new reverses on Half Dollars for some of these series. There will be silver versions of most of these coins. Coin design themes are approved by law. Concerns about the American Women Series: Some of these series are more appropriate for medals, at least, or perhaps a commemorative coin series, than a general circulation series. Postage stamps are most suitable for a greater variety of designs than circulating coins. As I have noted previously, the Founding Fathers did not want the figures of people on coins because they did not want coinage to be used to promote themselves, like the Roman Emperors had done, or political factions or to be divisive. Instead, they adopted designs that were unifying, particularly including the allegorical female figure of Liberty on the obverses, instead of people, and other symbolic devices like wreaths and eagles. The same practice should apply to paper currency. Such figures or devices, historic events, as numismatists note, or perhaps the Founders, at most, such as a series on the Founding Fathers, would be more appropriate. The State and Territorial Series created billions of dollars in seigniorage (the profit from minting a coin), increased public interest in coin-collecting and were informative. They and the America the Beautiful Series promoted States of the American Union and National Parks, respectively, which are both appropriate federal themes. However, the American Women Series is motivated by politics and is of less broad interest to collectors and the public, is necessarily selective in choosing only 20 women over others, some of whom may have been controversial, and elevates the contributions of those chosen over many others whose contributions were equal or greater. The images of individual noteworthy women have already appeared on general circulation coins, such as Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea, and on commemorative coins, starting with the Queen Isabella Quarter in 1893. Furthermore, there is a growing fatigue among collectors in the continuous minting of series since 1999, not only for quarters, but also on other denominations of coins, which has led to decreased interest among the public. Also, the Mint has only been producing some of these series in collectors’ sets, meaning they are difficult to collect and the public has hardly seen the designs of these series. Call for New, More Appropriate Designs: Moreover, as numismatists note, there has been a lack of change in general circulation coin designs, especially obverses, unlike in the past practice of regularly producing new series, which provides an opportunity for new designs featuring more appropriate themes.

The Pennsylvania Legislature’s Extension of Covid-19 Emergency Waivers After Seizing Unilateral Emergency Declaration Power

The Pennsylvania General Assembly recently extended the waivers it had issued to extend certain pandemic emergency provisions declared by the Governor, as the Legislature had after the end of the Commonwealth’s declared Coronavirus 2019 emergency in June. The provisions allowed the practice of medicine of those who were licensed out of state or who had allowed their licenses to lapse and similar provisions. The emergency was about to end by the end of June because of the success of Pennsylvania’s vaccination campaign and prior to the rise of the delta variant, but the Trumpist Republican Legislature ended it unilaterally shortly beforehand after the passage of a series of constitutional referendums that decreased gubernatorial emergency powers. Previously, the Chief Executive and the Legislative Branch shared the power to declare emergencies, as a governor could declare a temporary emergency and the General Assembly could end it if it had the votes to override a gubernatorial veto, but the referendums not only shortened the length of an emergency a governor can declare, but allowed the Legislature to end an emergency unilaterally by a resolution with a simple majority vote. Thus, in the name of opposing overreach by the Executive Branch, the amendments violate the Separation of Powers principle because they constitute an overreach of Legislative powers. The emergency restrictions had not been unpopular, just as the ongoing executive mandates the Governor had the unilateral authority to issue for state employees are popular, but the Legislators knew that every referendum ever put on the ballot is approved by Pennsylvania’s voters, as it would take an expensive campaign to educate voters fully on any proposal. Meanwhile, the Trumpist State Republican Committee spent significantly in favor of the proposals. Nevertheless, the GOP-led General Assembly did approve the medical practice waivers and now has unanimously extended them. Like Donald Trump and his supporters in other States who deny or minimize the danger of the pandemic, they oppose proven measures to reduce the spread of Covid-19 and instead prioritize business interests, even though reducing contagion would be beneficial for commerce, and a libertarian view of freedom as an end unto itself, over public health and safety amidst a contagious disease that has claimed the lives of nearly 30,000 Pennsylvanians. Conservatives, unlike Trumpists, instead believe in public responsibility.

Twentieth Anniversary of the Afghan Campaign of the War on Terrorism

The campaign in Afghanistan began on this date twenty years ago, as the first military strike-back by the United States in the Global War on Terrorism after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania by Islamist al Qaeda terrorists that killed nearly 3,000 people, the bloodiest in history. Al-Qaeda was based in Afghanistan, where they were harbored by the Taliban militia that controlled most of the central Asian State. The U.S. and an international coalition of allies, including the American-recognized Afghan government that controlled the northeast of Afghanistan, overthrew the Taliban by early 2002, thereby denying a haven for al-Qaeda to plot and train more terrorist attacks, as they had been against Americans and others since 1996. There have been additional campaigns around the world against al-Qaeda and other Islamist terrorists, including some that are ongoing. The terrorist organization’s founder was killed and other key leaders were captured or killed, but the terrorist group has remained active throughout the Islamic world, as has its offshoot, the Islamic State. October 7 is also the anniversary of the victory in 1571 at Lepanto by the Holy League, the Christian European coalition organized by Pope Paul V, over the Islamist forces of the Ottoman Turks who were sailing to attempt to conquer Rome. The U.S. and its NATO allies withdrew from Afghanistan by the end of August of this year, leaving the Taliban, with al-Qaeda’s help, to return to power and allow terrorists again to enjoy safe harbor. It is vital that the Americans and their allies do not allow Afghanistan again to be a source of terrorism that threatens the world. Although U.S. and allied troops are no longer present in Afghanistan and Afghan allies have been abandoned, thus ending the Afghan campaign, it will be necessary to strike terrorists in Afghanistan again, at least by drone or missile strikes, as the Afghan theater in the War on Terrorism will simply have reached a new phase.

War on Terrorism Update: Afghanistan, Syria and the Sahara

Afghanistan: There were widespread protests against the Taliban militia since they seized power in Afghanistan following the American and NATO withdrawal, particularly about their repression of women and against Pakistan’s support of the Taliban. The Taliban suppressed the protests with beatings and arrests of participants and journalists. When they were in power the first time, the Taliban had harbored the al-Qaeda Islamist terrorists responsible for the September 11 Terrorist Attacks, the deadliest in history, among many other attacks. The U.S. and an international coalition removed the Taliban from power and trained the new representative Afghan government to prevent the Taliban from returning to power and again providing safe haven to terrorists. The Taliban and al-Qaeda remain allies and the Pakistani-created Taliban have again been engaging in oppression, despite their promises. Some ethnic Tajik militiamen, former Afghan army and police made a three-week stand in the Panjshir Valley before the Taliban seized it, but the resistance forces remain in the province. The protests were encouraged by the resistance, which urged Afghans to rise up against the Taliban, who are re-imposing a harsh interpretation of Islamic law alien to Afghans, and who do not represent the majority of Afghanistan’s ethnic diversity. There have also been attacks by ethnic Hazara militiamen against the Taliban, who oppressed the Shi’ite Hazara previously. Meanwhile, the al-Qaeda offshoot, the Islamic State, has also been attacking the Taliban. The United States continues to fly drones over Afghanistan. The Taliban militia claim the flights violate their agreement with the U.S. and have threatened consequences. Being able to use drones to launch missiles is an important tactical capability the Americans need to strike al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, which will be more difficult without a base in the landlocked country and without adequate intelligence and after betraying allies. Meanwhile, the U.S. is continuing to freeze Afghan assets. No international state is recognizing the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Syria: There was an American strike last month that killed al-Qaeda leaders in Syria. The strike signifies that the U.S. is continuing the War on Terrorism, even after withdrawing from Afghanistan. Sahara: The French killed the leader of the Islamic State in the Sahara last month.

Foreign Digest: Australia-United Kingdom-United States Pact, United Arab Emirates, and Russia

Australia-United Kingdom-United States Pact: Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States recently formed a defense pact, called AUKUS, to defend against Communist China, which has become militarily threatening to the Pacific region. The U.K. and U.S. will provide nuclear submarines to Australia. United Arab Emirates Parliamentary Elections: The United Arab Emirates held parliamentary elections for the first time this weekend, becoming the latest Arab State to allow representative government. Russian Elections Update: There were protests because of the recent rigged Russian parliamentary election I posted about last month, organized by the leading opposition party, the Communists. The center-right opposition, which was blocked from participation in the election, urged voters to vote for the Communists because it is one of only a handful of opposition parties that are effectively allowed to participate in opposition to the leading party of tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet KGB officer. Only parties that are supportive of Putin or that only mildly criticize him are allowed to participate, particularly if they are radical extremes that make the Russian strongman seem reasonable by contrast. Opposition candidates are arrested, forced into exile or assassinated, like anyone who stands for liberty in Russia. There were arrests of protestors, as always, as Putin is intolerant of the freedom of assembly, among other freedoms.