Axis of Rogues Complicit in Russian Aggression

As I have posted before, rogue States, which are tyrannical regimes that are usually state sponsors of terrorism and engage in various other crimes, and which are always anti-Western and anti-American, often support and aid each other rhetorically, diplomatically and materially, thus forming an Axis of Rogues. Two such states are currently supplying arms and materiel to the Russian Federation. Russia is itself a rogue State which is engaged in aggression against the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine, in violation of a Russo-Ukrainian treaty, as Russia is trying to restore the Soviet Union under ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin. Islamist Iran, the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, is supplying drones that can be armed to the Russians, while Communist North Korea, the most repressive state in the world, is furnishing the Russians missiles. Communist China and Cuba, Socialist Venezuela and Islamist Syria are the other rogues.

Wishes for the Peace of Christmas

Merry Christmas! I wish you and the world the hope, joy and love that comes from the Prince of Peace.

Republican Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Pat Toomey Validates This Blog on Trump and Trumpism

United States Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, a Republican, warned in his farewell speech on the floor of the Senate last week that the GOP “can’t be about or beholden to any one man” in a clear reference to the Republican Party’s leader, Donald Trump. The highest-ranking GOP leader in the Commonwealth made clear his opposition not only to Trump personally, but to Trumpism, by also counseling against adopting “protectionist nativist isolationist” policies. In remarks to the media afterward, Toomey also observed that Trump is loosing his hold over his party. I have been warning on this blog about how the Republican party has been allowing itself to be dominated by Trump, whose poor character leads him to dishonesty, corruption, disloyalty, indecency, misogyny and cruelty, and that the party has re-defined itself and conservatism as whatever Trump supports, which is a populist mix of protectionism, isolationism, nativism and authoritarianism, none of which are conservative. Toomey was one of 10 Republican Senators to vote to convict Trump of inciting the insurrection on January 6, 2001 to thwart the certification of the votes of the Electoral College, labelling Trump on the Senate floor a “demagogue.” Trump’s candidate endorsements across America, as I posted about, were based primarily on loyalty to him and acceptance of his false claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, instead of on qualifications or electability. He endorsed a candidate in the GOP primary to replace the Keystone State’s outgoing Senior Senator. Trump’s candidate won the primary, but went on to lose the seat to a liberal Democrat, thus depriving the Republicans of winning the majority of the upper chamber of Congress. The GOP’s disappointing congressional elections results were widely interpreted as a referendum against Trump.

Foreign Digest: Libya and Russia

Libya: The Libyan government last week extradited to the United States the bomber of an American civilian airline over Scotland in 1989 that killed hundreds of innocent people in the air, including many Americans, and on the ground. The state terrorist-sponsoring regime of tryant Muammar Qaddafi had retaliated against a U.S. raid in 1986, which was in response to a Libyan-sponsored terrorist attack in Berlin at a private location off-base frequented by Americans servicemen. Only one perpetrator had previously been convicted, but he had been released in a deal with Libya after it had renounced terrorism in 2003 and agreed to give up its chemical weapons. After a bloody civil war which included indiscriminate attacks on civilians, Qaddafi was overthrown in 2011 by the Libyan people. The war had been stalemated until an intervention by the U.S. and its allies. Despite internal conflicts, the extradition proves that Libya has become an ally in the War on Terrorism, instead of an enemy. Russia: The call today by the pro-Kremlin tyrannical governor of the Russian Federation territory of Chechnya for Muslims to unite against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization proves that Russia under tyrant Vladimir Putin is not an ally in the War on Terrorism. The anti-Western statement by the Chechen Governor, who was appointed by Putin and who has been sending troops in support of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, repeats the false Kremlin line that NATO is a “threat” to Russia and adds an even greater lie that the alliance is a threat to Muslims and the whole world because the West is attempting to subjugate Muslims. However, NATO is strictly a defensive alliance. The only time NATO ever engaged in combat was after the United States was attacked by al-Qaeda Islamist terrorists on September 11, 2001. The U.S., its allies, and other States overthrew the Taliban, the de facto Afghan regime that had harbored the terrorists. NATO is only regarded by a threat by Putin, the ex-Soviet intelligence officer, because it is an obstacle to his policy of restoring the Soviet Union. The Chechen Governor’s citation of wars he blames on America and Europe, which implicitly includes NATO’s intervention in Afghanistan, which defended Muslims and non-Muslims around the world alike, as a “threat,” and his call for Muslims to fight the West are anathema to efforts to defeat Islamism (violent Muslim holy war), especially given his repetition of false claims by Islamists who attempt to justify jihad (holy war) against “subjugation” of Muslims by non-Muslims. Some far-right Westerners in America and Europe have attempted to justify support for Putin as a bulwark against Islamism, but his Chechen ally’s Islamist propaganda is only the latest example of how Putin uses Islamists and even Islamism for his own evil ends when it is expedient.

The European Parliament Has Declared Russia a Terrorist State

The European Union Parliament has declared the Russian Federation to be a terrorist state. Although I have often posted about the overuse of the word terrorism, a reasonable argument can be made that this declaration is correct. Terrorism is the violent targeting of innocent civilians to intimidate the populace into giving into the demands of the terrorists. A major reason for the declaration of Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism is because under Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer trying to restore the Soviet Union, Russian forces are targeting Ukrainian civilians during the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Russia had similarly targeted civilians in Syria, during its intervention in support for Syrian tyrant Bashar Assad, who is himself a state sponsor of terrorism. Syria harbors terrorists and is a conduit for its ally, Iran, the worst state sponsor of terrorism in the world. The Russians often target hospitals in both wars and even targeted rescue workers in Syria. The deliberate targeting of civilian areas, instead of military targets, is a war crime, like terrorism, and which is done for a similar purpose. Such targeting, even in wartime, could, therefore, also meet the definition of terrorism. But Russian military support for terrorist-sponsoring Assad is a clearer example. In the Syrian Civil War, in which Syrians rose up against oppression eleven years ago, Russia has worked with Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’ite terrorist organization backed by Syria and Iran. Another argument has been made that Russian murdering of exiles abroad through the use of chemical weapons is an example of terrorism. These killings are targeted for political purposes, not against innocent civilians, and thus are crimes, but not acts of terrorism, but the use of such weapons in civilian areas has endangered civilians. Unlike Russia’s deliberate targeting of civilians in Syria and Ukraine, its use of chemical weapons abroad is a crime against humanity that is similar in this sense to its indiscriminate attacks on legitimate military targets that also strike civilian areas. This distinction between the targeting of strategic targets without regard for civilian casualties, and the deliberate targeting of civilians without targeting any militarily strategic target is essential under the law of war. Putin has become the most malign force in the world in many ways, often in violation of treaties and international law, many of which are not acts of terrorism. But because the Russian Federation militarily supports a terrorist-sponsoring state and deliberately targets civilians in two wars, it is not unreasonable to declare it to be a state sponsor of terrorism.

Fourteenth Anniversary of This Blog; Blog Visit Report

Fourteenth Blog Anniversary: Today is the fourteenth anniversary of the launch of my blog in 2008. Thank you for visiting, following, commenting and for giving positive feedback offline. Please continue to visit regularly, especially during these challenging times. I am pleased to have been able to post again after resolving computer problems, despite the glitch that continues to prevent line spacing and indentation, and have posted the most in four years. Blog Visit Report: After a slight decline in the number of visits per month tracked by Blogger after the hiatus from posting, particularly to the homepage, the host of my blog, there has been a significant increase in the number of pageviews per day, from about 10 to 25. Although Blogger does not track nearly as specifically as StatCounter, it does pick up on many pageviews that the latter does not. Because it tracks the country of origin, I can see that the blog continues to be visited often from foreign States, especially in Europe, in addition from America. The vast majority of visits are to the homepage, but every post is additionally viewed as its own page several times. The visits encourage me to continue to post for liberty, representative government and good language.

Happy Thanksgiving

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We Americans thank God for our birthright of freedom and for His bounty. We are grateful for the European settlers who came to the New World and for their friendship with the Native Americans, as well as for our immigrant ancestors. I am thankful especially for faith and hope and also for having this blog and for you, its visitors.

Update on the Conservative Analysis of the 2022 General Election

As more votes are counted, I can update the conservative analysis of the 2022 General Election I posted about last week. The one incumbent Anti-Trump Republican United States Senator on the ballot, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, is leading her contest. For the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans won a narrow majority, less than typical for a midterm election and less than expected considering the challenge of inflation, for which they exaggerated the blame on the Democratic President. Just as extreme Trumpists will have leverage over the GOP House caucus, the small number of non-Trumpist Republicans will, too. The far Left will have similarly disproportionate influence on the Democratic caucus. Republicans fared better in gubernatorial races, but Democrats made gains in other States across the American. A Trumpist gubernatorial nominee in Maryland lost, despite the popularity of the non-Trumpist term-limited Republican incumbent. In Pennsylvania, Democrats not only retained the office of Governor, but won control of the State House of Representatives for the first time in more than ten years, while gaining a seat in the Senate, where the GOP still holds the majority. Republicans were weighed down by an arch-Trumpist gubernatorial ticket at the top of the GOP ballot. There was an additional referendum result favorable for conservatives: Tennessee rejected forced union membership. The mixed results of the elections for offices, and the often close results thereof, as well as for referendums, suggest there is continues to be division among Americans, with both parties competitive when they offer qualified candidates. Conservative ideas and candidates are not necessarily being rejected by the American voters, but Trumpist (populist, protectionist, nativist and isolationist) conspiracy theorists and candidates who are against reasonable protections for public health clearly are being rejected.

A Pennsylvania Democratic Campaign Professional Is Convicted of Ballot Petition Fraud

A Philadelphia Democratic campaign operative was convicted last week in state court for forging signatures on petitions to have candidates’ names printed on primary election ballots. The candidates were seeking to be placed on the ballot for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and Magisterial District Judge. Pennsylvania requires a certain minimum number of signatures of qualified voters to have a name printed on ballots for each office. As I noted in my column in National Review Online, https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/06/a-2020-election-audit-is-a-bad-idea-for-pennsylvania-republicans/, ballot petition is a particularly rampant form of election fraud in the Keystone State. This example was a particularly flagrant one, but countless other ballots are permitted to be filed that are base at least in part on fraudulent or invalid signatures or illegal circulation of ballot petitions. Republicans should focus on such real examples of election fraud, while refraining from tolerating foreign interference that benefits them, instead of focusing on false conspiracy theories of election fraud that undermine efforts for election integrity, as I noted in my column.

A Dutch Court Sentenced Kremlin-Backed Russian Separatists for Downing a Civilian Airliner

A court in the Netherlands last week sentenced to life imprisonment two Russians and a Russo-Ukrainian separatist for using a missile supplied by the Russian Federation to shoot down a Malaysian Air civilian airline jet that had taken off from Amsterdam over Ukraine in 2014, killing hundreds of innocent people during the early phase of Russian aggression against the former Ukrainian Soviet Republic. The Russian Federation, led by ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin, is trying to restore the Soviet Union, which broke up in 1991. Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine, seizing Crimea and covertly backing separatists in Eastern Ukraine in 2014, before conducting a full-scale invasion this year to seize the rest of Ukraine, in violation of its agreement to recognize Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Russia has committed many war crimes during the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Conservative Analysis of the 2022 Federal and State General Elections Across America

Although the results have not been certified for last week’s 2022 General Election for federal and state offices across America, enough results have been reported to be able to offer a conservative analysis. Donald Trump was a major factor in the 2022 federal and state General Elections, in which the Republicans failed to make the large congressional gains they expected, despite economic challenges. As I have noted, Trumpism is a populist mix of protectionism, nativism, isolationism, dishonesty, disloyalty, corruption and authoritarianism. In addition to the GOP’s implied argument that Trump should have been reelected over Joseph Biden, Trump made the election a referendum on him through his endorsements in the Republican primaries and in the general election and by basing them on personal loyalty to him and the acceptance of his false claims about the 2020 presidential elections. He was also a factor because the election became a test of his domination of the party he leads. Trump further made himself an issue by teasing his potential 2024 presidential candidacy. Trump, who had cost the GOP its congressional majority in 2018 before losing the presidency two years later, backed unqualified, populist candidates for federal and state offices who believed in conspiracy theories and opposed reasonable public health protections against contagion. Many of them lost Tuesday, including some who were his most prominent supporters, with his endorsed candidates faring well only in races that had not expected to have been competitive. All the candidates who did not repent of participating in the January 6, 2021 Insurrection that Trump inspired lost. Candidates who were prominent deniers of the legitimacy of the 2020 election fared poorly, particularly those who were candidates for secretaries of state who threatened the integrity of elections. By contrast, Georgia’s Republican Governor and Secretary of State were both reelected after opposing Trump’s fraudulent efforts to overturn the election of presidential and vice-presidential Electors in 2020, while the Trump-backed Senate nominee in that State was headed for a runoff. The two Republican United States Representatives who voted to impeach him for encouraging the insurrection were reelected, while the Senate incumbent is headed for a runoff. By contrast, one of the seats of an anti-Trump Republican was lost to a Democrat after the incumbent was defeated by a pro-Trump Republican in the primary. The Democratic strategy of supporting Republicans in primaries who were the most unelectable in the general election, which underscores the need to eliminate primary elections or at least make them less vulnerable to popular manipulation, worked, as all of the extreme GOP candidates backed by Democrats lost. Republicans exaggerated the blame for inflation on Democratic President Biden while making unrealistic or even inflationary proposals, as I have noted. They misunderstood that some of the discontent in the polls with Biden came from the left. Democrats did not do well in this election, but beat expectations by doing better than the average for mid-term elections for the party of the incumbent president. As a result, there are finally growing calls for the GOP to move on from the loser Trump. An important note on the campaign issues is that the pro-life movement was tainted by association with Trump because of his misogyny and authoritarianism, as I have noted, and by the ends-justifies-the-means election fraud that won him the GOP nomination and election to the presidency in 2016. Like the Republican Party and the conservative movement, the pro-life movement was undermined morally by its “deal with the Devil” of backing a candidate with poor character who was hostile to protecting innocent life in several ways. A separation from Trump is critical for all three. Referendums: There were mostly negative results on issues of interest to conservatives, but there were some proposals from the left that were rejected. California rejected a measure to tax higher income earners; the measure would have funded corporate welfare for a particular industry (electric vehicles for ride-hailing companies). Louisiana rejected a measure to end forced labor as a punishment for crimes; the U.S. Constitution allows involuntary servitude as punishment for crimes as an exception to the prohibition against slavery. Although Maryland and Missouri legalized recreational marijuana, Arkansas and the Dakotas rejected it.

Blog and Personal Notes

Blog Notes: My last post was the 1,300th to this blog. Thank you for visiting my blog. I have been able to continue to post, despite suffering several family losses and other tribulations over the last year. It is still necessary to continue to have to work around the host glitch that prevents line spacing or paragraph indentation. It also prevents the posting of web links. Personal Notes: I have been polled so frequently in recent years, especially this year, that I have gotten out of the habit of posting about it. I was pleased to be able to donate supplies to United Ukrainian American Relief Committee for the Ukrainian refugees who have been displaced by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, whose tyrannical leader, Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer, is trying to restore the Soviet Union. Consider making a donation of needed supplies.

Foreign Digest: Brazil, Ukraine, Lebanon and Iraq

Brazil: The far-right President of Brazil lost narrowly to the leftwing candidate in the Brazilian presidential Elections earlier this month. A center-right candidate, such as usually nominated by Brazil’s center-right parties, would likely have fared better. The incumbent, like his political ally, Donald Trump, had minimized the Coronavirus pandemic, among other controversial policies. Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky won the Liberty Medal, awarded by the National Constitution Center, which is located in Philadelphia. Zelensky has exhibited extraordinary leadership in defending Ukraine military against the Russian invasion, and thereby defending fellow former Soviet Republics and Satellites, and the principles of independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Under tyrannical ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin, the Russian Federation is trying to restore the Soviet Union. Lebanon and Iraq: Lebanon extradited a grandson of former Baathist tyrant Saddam Hussein, who is charged by Iraq with leading a massacre committed in 2014 on behalf of the Islamic State, the offshoot of the al-Qaeda Islamist terrorists. The Islamic State murdered well over a thousand Shi’ite and non-Muslim cadets and militiamen at a training facility in Iraq. Hussein’s grandson, who fled to Lebanon after the massacre, could face death by hanging, like his grandfather. Al-Qaeda was responsible for the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on New York, Virginia and over Pennsylvania that killed nearly 3,000 people, which were the deadliest in history. I have previously posted of the alliance between the Islamist Islamic State and the “secular” Baathist regime remnants, which contradicts the argument of opponents of the Liberation of Iraq in 2003 that the Baathist Hussein regime and violent jihadists would never ally with each other, despite the all the evidence to the contrary.

Putin Associate Admits to Russian Interference in American Elections

A close associate of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, the ex-Soviet intelligence officer who is trying to restore the Soviet Union, today admitted that the Kremlin has been, is currently and will continue to interfere in the American elections. The admission would not have been made without the approval of the Kremlin, whose bidding the Putin ally does as the founder of the infamous Russian mercenary organization, the Wagner Group. Putin interferes in the elections of many foreign States, overtly and covertly in various ways, including through stealing and releasing information, and through disinformation, and sometimes through violent acts. Russian active measures, which accelerated after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, are intended to divide Eastern Europeans from the West, divide Western Europeans from each other and the United States, to divide Americans against each other, and to undermine confidence in elections and in the truth, in addition to backing candidates favorable to Putin. Russian interference in the 2016 American elections, including in both major parties primaries, resulted in the Republican nomination of Donald Trump and his election to the presidency. Trump, who welcomed and accepted Russian interference and who was favorable to Putin, was backed again by the Russian tyrant in 2020. Trump believed Putin’s previous denials of interference, despite the unanimous conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies, a Republican Special Prosecutor and the GOP-majority Senate Intelligence Committee. He and his supporters have denied and minimized intereference from a hostile foreign power, or even justified it, or tried to blame the Democrats or Ukraine, or claim that Russia was helping the Democrats. Now Russia has admitted it is continuing to do what it has had success with, a success that is aided by acceptance of the fruit of Russian interference by most Republicans. Russia recently openly urged voters before the Italian parliamentary elections to punish governments that imposed economic sanctions on Russia for its full-scale aggression against Ukraine, which contributed to the gain by the opposition party to the national unity government. The Italian result thus discouarages other governments from asking their citizens to make economic sacrifices to deter aggression. Americans go to the polls in federal and state elections on Tuesday.

The Current Trend of Refugees to America Fleeing Socialist Tyranny

There has recently been a change in the trend of the country of origin of refugees fleeing war or persecution coming into United States territory, particularly from Mexico. Whereas the last few years, refugees seeking asylum have legally entered American soil primarily fleeing gang violence in Central America, there were U.S. military flights of Afghans, including many who had worked with the Americans in the War on Terrorism, fleeing the Islamist terrorist-sponsoring Taliban last year, and then there was a trend earlier this year of Ukrainians crossing the border after the Russian invasion of the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine. Now the trend is of people fleeing Communist Cuba, Marxist Sandinista Nicaragua and Socialist Venezuela. What these people have in common is a desire for liberty after having lived under tyranny. They are exactly the kind of people who would make good, patriotic Americans because they appreciate freedom more and understand better the threats to liberty and representative government. As conservative Republican President Ronald Reagan noted, especially in his Farewell Address in 1989, it is a source of patriotic pride that while people were risking their lives to flee Communist countries, people risk their lives to come to America for freedom. The vilification of refugees by nativists is unpatriotic and un-American, as Americans have been welcoming to refugees seeking liberty from the earliest times. Refugees should be welcomed and appreciated while they seek asylum until they can return to their homelands once they are free and peaceful, or if they choose, to become legal residents or naturalized American citizens.

Update to the List of Anti-Trump/Non-Trumpist Republican or Conservative 2022 Federal Candidates

I am pleased to report that there is an additional conservative candidate for U.S. House of Representatives to add to the list of 2022 federal candidates who are anti-Trump or non-Trumpist Republicans or conservatives that I posted Sunday. Jay McFarland is the United Utah Party candidate for the 2nd Congressional District of Utah. The talkshow host, political activist and author is endorsed by the Forward Party.

The Italian Rightwing Coalition Government Has Taken Office

Italy’s new coalition government was sworn into office yesterday after last month’s election gave the majority of seats in the Italian Parliament to the right wing bloc of parties, who collectively had won a plurality of the votes. It is the most right-wing Italian government since the Fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini during the Second World War, before Italians opted afterward to end the monarchy and become a constitutional representative parliamentary republic. The governing coalition is led by a party with roots from a party formed after the war by Fascists, but new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has striven to reassure that it has cast off its fascist ideology, despite some Fascist nostalgia among its candidates and officials. She has provided strong reassurances of Italy’s membership in the European Union, despite her criticism of the EU, and of the alliance with the United States and membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. And given her coalition partners’ sympathy for Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, the ex-Soviet intelligence officer trying to restore the Soviet Union, Meloni has insisted on continued Italian support for sanctions on Russia, despite the economic challenges they necessarily create, and military aid to Ukraine to defend it and Europe against Russian aggression. The two smaller coalition parties are both represented by Vice Presidents of the Council of Ministers, the executive “cabinet” that votes on decrees, as well as in several ministries, whose heads have seats in the cabinet. One coalition partner is the Trumpist anti-migrant League and the other is a center-right party, Forza Italia, founded by former Prime Minister and now Senator Silvio Berlusconi. The conservative Forza Italia VP is also Foreign Minister, which sends a strong signal of support for NATO and Ukraine, as well as to the EU, as he had been an EU official. The new Government must continue to address the Coronavirus pandemic and continuing the reforms necessary to receive more EU funds for pandemic recovery, as well as the energy and economic crisis caused by economic recovery and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Italy is a vital ally of the U.S.

Anti-Trump/Non-Trumpist Republican or Conservative 2022 Federal Candidates

Although many anti-Trump, or at least non-Trumpist, Republican members of the United States Congress either chose not to seek reelection or were not renominated by the GOP, or anti-Trump candidates for seats in the federal legislature were not nominated, there still remain several anti-Trump center-right Republicans on the ballot in various States. The candidates range from moderately conservative to more staunchly conservative, as opposed to Trumpist (populist, nativist, isolationist and authoritarian and who promote false conspiracy theories, such as about the 2020 election). It is imperative for conservatives and moderates to vote for Republican or consservative candidates who are not Trumpist, not only because Trumpism is wrong, but to eradicate the influence of Donald Trump over the Republican Party. U.S. Senate: Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the Republican nominee; Joe O’Dea of Colorado, the Republican nominee who is a businessman who campaigns openly against Trump’s influence on the GOP; Evan McMullin of Utah, an independent candidate who is a former Central Intelligence Agency officer, U.S. House of Representatives Republican Caucus Policy Coordinator, independent presidential candidate in 2016, Founder of Stand Up Republic, endorsed by the Forward Party; Note: the Democratic Party did not nominate anyone for the seat. U.S. House of Representatives: Representative David Valadao of California, the Republican nominee for the 21st Congressional District; Representative Dan Newhouse of Washington, the Republican nominee for the 4th Congressional District. I shall update this post if I become aware of additional non-Trumpist Republican or conservative federal candidates. There are also many State candidates seeking election who are Republican or conservative and not Trumpist. General Election Day is Tuesday, November 8.

Foreign Digest: Russia and Sweden

Russia: One of the leading Russian supporters of liberty and representative government, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was awarded the European Union’s Vaclav Havel award last week. The award is named for the Czechoslovakian playwright and dissident during the Communist era who later became the President of Czechoslovakia after the Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. Russia is a similar tyranny under ex-Soviet intelligence officer, Vladimir Putin. Sweden: Two center-right parties have formed a new center-right coalition government for Sweden, after ousting the center-left coalition following recent parliamentary elections. They were able to keep an upstart far-right anti-migrant party out of power, relying on the neo-fascists only for external support. Sweden’s application for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is being approved by all NATO members, as the United States has already done, ending longstanding Swedish neutrality after the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Christopher Columbus’ True Discoveries

Christopher Columbus is not only properly credited for the Discovery of the Western Hemisphere, but also with several other scientific discoveries. As I have posted before, discovery means “to uncover” and thus one need not be the first to discover something to be given proper credit for its discovery. It is thus accurate to credit Columbus with the Discovery of the Western Hemisphere in 1492, which had previously been “covered” and thus hidden with the Eastern Hemisphere by the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus’ keen observations and great navigational skills and his faith and that of his Spanish patrons permanently bridged the two worlds, unlike any previous Europeans who had discovered parts of the Americans. Therefore, this achievement—the most significant human achievement in history—is rightly celebrated and does not in the slightest diminish the discovery of the Indigenous Americans who crossed the land bridge eastward from the easternmost point of Asia tens of thousands of years ago, nor dehumanize them in any way by ignoring their discovery by not crediting them as the first to discover the New World. But there is one facet of Columbus’ accomplishment that even his most ignorant or biased critics cannot deny is a true scientific discovery, beyond the obvious discovery of the Western Hemisphere from the European perspective: that Columbus discovered a western, oceanic route to the Americas. And as I have noted before, because he was able to return to his home port and return to the Western Hemisphere and provide the navigational knowledge to allow others to sail there, the connection between the two hemispheres was more enduring than that of any previous European discoveries. The Genoese sailor is also credited with other scientific discoveries: that the magnetic north pole is not in the same location as the geographic north pole, that the earth is not completely spherical, the recognition and even prediction of hurricanes, and even that Capsicum berries produce the same chemical reaction on the tongue as black pepper, which is why he called them chili “peppers.” Columbus’ scientific, trade and evangelical mission led to an exchange of knowledge and ideas, and spread Western European Civilization to the Western Hemisphere, including the development of such ideas as equality, liberty, representative government and modern science. And the mutual discovery of the two hemispheres of our world continues.

Foreign Digest: Iran and Nicaragua

Iran: The Islamic Republic of Iran has been interfering militarily in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region periodically, including this month. It attacks several political parties who oppose the influence from theocratic Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. The Islamist Iranian regime blames Iraqi Kurds for fomenting the current protests in Iran. The Iraqi Parliament approved a resolution against Iranian interference. Nicaragua: The Organization of American States, of which the United States is a member, unanimously approved a resolution expressing concern about the deterioration of human rights in Nicaragua. The Central American State is led by a Sandinista Marxist dictator who was re-elected again last year after arresting all his opponents. The OAS cited arbitrary arrests and the incarceration of political prisoners, the closure of civil and religious organizations, particularly Catholic ones, and restrictions on press freedoms, among their concerns. In addition to these abuses I have posted about, I have also noted Nicaragua’s restrictions on the freedom to assemble peacefully.

Belarussian, Russian and Ukrainian Human Rights Advocates Are the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize Winners

As I have posted before, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee is a popularity contest of the Norwegian Parliament, influenced by the politics of the day. There has long been a trend toward awarding advocates of just causes, instead of the traditional diplomats who avoid or end wars. Some awardees are more deserving of the prize and the attention their cause receives than others. This year’s choice was influenced by the Russo-Ukrainian War and seemed to suggest a degree of neutrality in the face of Russian aggression. Nevertheless, the Belarussian awardee merits particular recognition. Ales Bialiatski, a dissident from Belarus, is a founder of a human rights organization in the county that has been ruled since independence from the Soviet Union by a dictator. He previously won the prestigious Andrei Sakharov award from the European Parliament and the Vaclav Havel award from the European Council, named for the Soviet and Czechoslovakian dissidents, respectively. A Russian and a Ukrainian human rights organizations were each co-winners. Belarus allowed its territory to be used for Russian troops to invade Ukraine, a fellow former Soviet Republic. Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer, seeks to restore the Soviet Union. Last year, there were mass arrests after massive demonstrations against yet another fraudulent Belarussian presidential election. Many Belarussian dissidents were arrested or forced into exile.

Erroneous and Divisive Land Acknowledgement Statement by Gettysburg College

I wrote a Letter to the Editor of the alumni magazine at Gettysburg College, my alma mater, in response to an article about the Land Acknowledgement statement adopted by the school, which was erroneous, misleading and unnecessarily divisive. The letter was not published. What follows is the draft (minus the lack of indentation for paragraphs because of the ongoing glitch with the blog host): Last month’s College Magazine reported that Gettysburg College has joined the movement of making a Land Acknowledgement Statement that the school sits on “unceded Indigenous land including the traditional homelands of the Susquehannock/Conestoga, Seneca and Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Leni Lenape and Shawnee Nations.” What is implicit in the statement that the school occupies stolen land was made explicit by one of its proponents who claimed that the “Indigenous Peoples who used to live on this land . . . were unjustly removed. . . .” The history of the Indigenous Nations of Pennsylvania since the arrival of European migrants is a complex one of invasion, migration, a lack of an Indigenous concept of land ownership, and competing claims of land use rights, but some clarifications can nonetheless be made. The Iroquoian-speaking Susquehannock (also known as the Conestoga) were inhabiting the Susquehanna Valley of Central Pennsylvania, including what is now Gettysburg, by the time of European contact in the Seventeenth Century. They always enjoyed good relations with Pennsylvania’s proprietary provincial government of the Penn Family. The Susquehannock population had declined by the end of the century through disease and military defeat by the powerful Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, of which the Seneca were members, that was conquering the homelands of other Indigenous Nations. Most Susquehannock voluntarily relocated elsewhere, including merging with their Iroquoian kinsmen, forming the Mingo Indigenous People in the Ohio Valley. The few remaining were given protection by Pennsylvania at Conestoga, near the Susquehanna River. After a massacre during Pontiac’s Rebellion, the last surviving couple died without issue. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy claimed hunting rights over a vast territory from Central Pennsylvania to the Ohio Valley and into the Great Lakes region—claims that were not recognized by other Indigenous Nations, some of whom inhabited parts of Central Pennsylvania or hunted in it, like the Leni Lenape (Delaware), who primarily inhabited the woodlands of eastern Pennsylvania and the States around the Delaware River. The Confederacy later ceded their claims in Pennsylvania through treaties in the early Eighteenth Century, including in 1736 for the land south of the Blue Mountain to the Maryland border, including the current location of Gettysburg College. The cession alienated the Leni Lenape from their friends, the Penns. After some Indigenous had been killing European settlers during the French and Indian War, the Indigenous Nations switched to supporting the British, however, in the Treaty of Easton in 1758 between the Haudenosaunee, Leni Lenape, Shawnee, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In exchange, some land and hunting rights in the Ohio Valley were returned to the Confederacy and the Alleghany Mountains in western Pennsylvania became the boundary between the Europeans and the Indigenous, beyond which European settlement was prohibited. Most Leni Lenape later migrated from Pennsylvania and surrounding areas, and others were removed from other States, but some remained in other eastern States. The Shawnee, who were Algonquian-speaking kinsmen of the Leni Lenape, had been under pressure from the Haudenosaunee invasion of their Ohio Valley homeland. By the early Eighteenth Century, some Shawnee migrated to the parts of central Pennsylvania claimed by the Confederacy. Like some Susquehannock, some Shawnee and Leni Lenape joined the Mingo, while others became unwilling Haudenosaunee tributaries, until the Shawnee migrants returned to their homeland after the Treaty of Easton. South Central Pennsylvania was thus the homeland primarily of only one Indigenous Nation and no Indigenous Peoples were forcibly removed from it. Acknowledging the historic presence of Indigenous Nations, recognizing their contributions, and coming to terms with the mistreatment of them are worthy endeavors. A more accurate and less divisive statement would better serve the purpose.

The Center-Right Bloc of Parties Win the Latvian Parliamentary Elections

The ruling center-right party was among the bloc of center-right and centrist parties winning a majority of votes and seats in the Latvian parliamentary elections last week and who will join together in another coalition government. Because of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, support among the significant Russophone minority for pro-Russian parties dropped, especially toward parties supportive of ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin, the Russian tyrant who is trying to restore the Soviet Union. The leading Russophone party had expressed opposition to Russia’s aggression. Latvia, like Ukraine, was a former Soviet Republic that had been independent. The Soviets invaded the Baltic States, including also Estonia and Lithuania, during the Second World War in 1940 when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were allied with Nazi Germany. The Baltic States, like other former Soviet Republics, fear further Russian aggression. Putin uses the pretext of supporting Russian-speakers in Ukraine, for backing separatists and annexation of their territory.

The Right-Wing Bloc of Parties Won the Italian Parliamentary Elections

The right-wing bloc of parties won the most votes and seats in the Italian Parliamentary elections last week. Although they did not win a majority of either, they will have a majority of seats in the Parliament and form a coalition government, because Italian election law favors blocs so they can form majority governing coalitions. It will be led by the Brothers of Italy party, which will be the largest single party in Parliament. The bloc fell short of a two-thirds majority to be able to amend the Constitution without referendums. Turnout was the lowest ever in the early elections, the first ever held in Italy in early autumn, as some Italians lost faith because governments tend not to last long and are often replaced with unelected ones mid-term. The Brothers, a post-fascist party, were the only major party not in the national unity government. They benefitted from the increased media attention, even though the Government, which took power a year and a half ago, was popular, as it had been fulfilling its purposes of managing the Coronavirus Pandemic response and on receiving massive aid from the European Union (EU) for pandemic recovery, in exchange for necessary reforms. There was an even larger drop in support for fellow bloc member, the Trumpist anti-migrant League party than expected, which the Brothers picked up. The third party in the right-wing bloc, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia, a fellow member of the bloc, came close behind the League, slightly better than expected, though also steep drop from previous elections. The center-left, which came in second, and the left-leaning populists, who finished third, also suffered drops in support, although the latter not as much as expected, considering they had initiated the fall of the unity government that necessitated the snap elections. The left and the center earned a majority of votes, but did not unite sufficiently into a bloc. A party that opposes Italy’s membership in the EU attracted minimal support and won no seats. The Brothers of Italy promised to continue the reforms, but want to renegotiate the favorable EU deal with Italy to account for the current energy and inflationary crisis. They are opposed to the populist League’s call to increase debt through deficit spending on welfare, as Italy already has a massive debt. The Brothers share the anti-migrant policy of the League and their solidarity with nationalist authoritarian States like Hungary, despite their leader’s claims of having rejected fascism, but are more favorable to economic sanctions on the Russian Federation for aggression against Ukraine and for sending arms to Ukraine than the League. The Brothers benefitted from the economic crises, which Russia exploited to urge voters to punish governments that imposed sanctions on it. Forza Italia promises to anchor the bloc to the EU, of which it has the third largest economy, versus their more critical bloc partners, and to the Atlantic alliance. Italy, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a close ally of the United States. Furthermore, Italy’s strong presidency and its courts are powerful constitutional checks against autocracy and authoritarianism. The incoming coalition, led by the Brothers leader, who will likely be given the mandate to be Prime Minister by the President, despite having little governing experience, will have to continue to deliver the reforms the EU requires for aid, even if it is able to renegotiate the EU deal, while managing the pandemic and economic crises and maintaining relations with Europe and the U.S., all while defying Italian history and keeping the fractious coalition together longer than the average of 15 months.

Foreign Digest: European Union, Russia and Ukraine, and Iran

European Union: Several European Union States officially formed a disinformation response agency, together with media services, to counter disinformation by the Russian Federation, led by tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer trying to restore the Soviet Union. Russia has been interfering in the elections in foreign States, especially Europe, and also the United States. Russia and Ukraine: After Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive against invading Russian troops and heavy Russian losses in the Russo-Ukrainian War begun six months ago when Russia committed aggression against the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine, Russian leader Putin initiated conscription into the military. There have been protests across Russia against mobilization. Russian authorities, as usual, have not been tolerating the freedom of peaceful assembly, or other basic freedoms, and have arrested several hundred Russians. Today, ethnic Russian breakaway parts of eastern Ukraine, which have been backed by Russia since Russia invaded part of Ukraine in 2014, are conducting referendums on joining Russia, absent any free debate. The international community, including the U.S., will not recognize such sham referendums. Iran: There have been demonstrations against the Islamist Iranian regime because of the death of a female prisoner who had been arrested for not abiding by the Islamic Republic’s strict requirement for covering in public. The Islamist theocracy responded with deadly force, as usual.

Italian Parliamentary Elections: Far-Right Populists Seek to Take Advantage of Crises

Italians vote today for the Parliament, which determines which party will form the government led by a prime minister. The right-wing bloc of parties is favored to form a coalition government, as the main center-left party is only attracting a few parties to its left or the center, while the left-leaning populists, whose popularity has declined, are running on their own after bringing down the popular national unity government with which they had been in a coalition government. The right-wing bloc includes the center-right Forza Italia party of former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, the far-right anti-migrant Trumpist League party and another far-right party, the Brothers of Italy, with roots in a post-war fascist party. The Brothers are the largest party and the one whose leader will likely become prime minister. The Brothers, which are running about even with the center-left party, was the only major party in the opposition to the popular national unity government, and had helped bring it down with its bloc partners and the populists, yet will likely be the largest party in a majority government because the Italian election law favors coalitions and rewards the largest one with a bonus of seats to give it a majority. The post-fascist party has been trying to reassure Italians and Europeans that it is no longer fascist, despite its retention of its fascist symbol, its nativist anti-migrant platform and admiration for authoritarians. The leader of the Brothers has pledged to continue the unity government’s reforms that have been necessary for massive European Union pandemic recovery funding, to remain in the EU and to keep the euro as the Italian monetary unit, despite her past views and frequent criticism of the EU, to remain in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and to keep sanctions on Russia and continue sending arms to Ukraine, despite her bloc partner the League’s objections to the last two platform planks. The League’s leader was an admirer of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, the ex-Soviet intelligence officer trying to restore the Soviet Union before his full-scale invasion of Ukraine this year. Russia has been overtly interfering in Italy’s election by urging voters to punish governments for the economic sanctions on Russia, necessary to stop Russian aggression, that have led to inflation and slower economic growth, hoping to bring sympathetic parties to power. The League and Brothers’ leaders admire Hungary’s self-described “illiberal” autocrat. The likely incoming premier falsely claims that the Hungarian President won his re-election freely, which undermines confidence that her bloc will stand with the EU against authoritarianism and corruption in EU members Hungary and Poland and raises the question of whether she and her party have truly rejected fascism. Berlusconi’s party promises to anchor the bloc to Europe, NATO and the Atlantic alliance with the United States, with which Italy is a close ally, but his party is the smallest of the fractious bloc. Italy has a history of fractious coalitions being unable to complete their five-year terms without having to form new coalitions or submit to early elections, such as today’s. If the right-wing bloc wins a supermajority of parliamentary seats, they can amend the Constitution without having to submit the proposed amendments to referendum. They want the popular election of the President, instead of currently by an electoral college, while the center-left opposes the populist proposal, as it would give too much unchecked power to the people. Turnout is expected to be less than usual.

A European Union Report Declares Hungary's Autocracy a Systemic Threat to EU Values

The European Union Parliament approved by a large majority a report that found the Hungarian Government a “systemic threat” to the EU’s values, in an unprecedented move towards an EU member. The vote also invoked a provision of the EU Charter to require an intervention of the European Council because of twelve areas of concern and to determine a grave risk of violations of EU values, which could lead to a cut-off of billions of dollars in EU funding of Hungary. The report refers to the Hungarian far-right anti-migrant Government as an “electoral autocracy,” a new hybrid form of government that takes power through elections, but then governs autocratically. As I have posted, some leaders are elected and then restrict liberty to such a degree that subsequent elections, in which they retain power, are no longer free and fair. The Soviet imperialist Vladimir Putin of Russia, the Socialist Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and the Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey have been the most noteworthy examples. Hungarian leader Viktor Orban was an admirer of Putin.

United States Intelligence Report Finds Massive Russian Financing of Foreign Politicians and Parties

A United States intelligence report finds that the Russian Federation, under tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence agent who is trying to restore the Soviet Union, has covertly spent at least $300 million financing politicians and political parties in dozens of representative States around the world since 2014, not including its successful campaign to influence American politics. The report notes the total money spent could be a multiple of the reported figure. The partly declassified report names particularly several States on different continents. Some far-left organizations and far-right pro-Putin Western European parties are known to have accepted Russian funding. The timeframe coincides with the launch of Putin’s “active measures” operation to influence politics abroad that include both overt and covert propaganda and disinformation. That same year, Russia invaded Ukraine, in violation of its agreement to recognize the former Soviet Republic’s independence, sovereignty and self-determination, in exchange for Ukrainian relinquishment of Soviet-era nuclear weapons. Currently, Russia is interfering in foreign elections by openly urging electorates to vote against governing parties that have imposed sanctions on Russia because of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. Putin’s interference is designed to urge voters to punish their own countries’ governments for the economic shock of the sanctions, instead of accepting the sacrifices as necessary for national security to thwart Russian aggression.

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and other Realms, in Memoriam

Queen Elizabeth II of the House of Windsor-Mountbatten, who reigned for 70 years over the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as 14 other realms around the world, and lead the 56-member Commonwealth of Nations, died earlier this month at the age of 96 at her castle in Scotland. Her devotion to public service was extraordinary. Princess Elizabeth served in the military as a mechanic during the Second World War, when her parents opted to remain in London with their suffering subjects during the German blitz, even while their palace was bombed. Elizabeth then served as a monarch since 1952, the longest-reigning Sovereign in history. Her duties, which she performed under advice from her Governments, required her to provide royal assent to British legislation; make many appointments in the United Kingdom and its dependencies and territories, including Prime Minister, and of Governors-General in her other realms that were in personal union with her; receive and make state visits; make an annual speech before Parliament expressing her Government’s platform; as well as providing royal imprimatur to numerous organizations by granting them their charters and appearing at their events. Elizabeth II was the greatest exemplar of a constitutional monarch, particularly one who is expected to remain above politics through strict political neutrality, as the Head of and symbol of the State. She performed her duties by maintaining worthy traditions, but adapting when prudent, and by always exhibiting propriety, both in her public and private life. The British Monarch is the head of the Church of England, but the Queen maintained friendly relations with the Popes. The rule requiring royals to marry only Anglicans was lifted during her reign. The Queen’s reign was a period of decolonization, but Elizabeth II remained solicitous of the Commonwealth and maintained friendly relations with many former colonies. Her visit to Philadelphia for the Bicentennial of American Independence from the U.K. in 1976 was particularly noteworthy. Elizabeth II engaged in great philanthropic endeavors. As during the War, she exhibited strong leadership by example during the Coronavirus Pandemic and exhorted her subjects with her inspirational speeches, as she did throughout her long reign. Queen Elizabeth II’s son is now reigning over the U.K. and his other realms as Charles III and leads the Commonwealth. The King, who was heir-apparent longer than anyone in history, is continuing his mother’s devotion to duty to public service under the British Constitution. The United Kingdom, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a close ally of the United States, as are some of Elizabeth’s other realms, such as Canada and Australia.

Foreign Digest: Chile, Iran and Albania

Chile: Chilean voters last week rejected a referendum proposed by the leftwing Government for a new constitution to replace the one approved during the military dictatorship of General Agusto Pinochet. Pinochet took power after an American-led coup in 1974 overthrew an unpopular Communist Government that had been elected by a relatively small plurality and had proceeded to socialize Chile, after which the Communist President committed suicide. The General led Chile until 1990, during the Cold War and tense relations with Argentina, which falsely claimed Chilean territory, keeping Chile independent, relatively peaceful and prosperous, despite his authoritarian rule and human rights violations. Pinochet’s relinquishment of power began a transition to liberty and representative government, which has fostered more peace, freedom and prosperity. The Chilean Government invoked a provision in Pinochet’s Constitution for a plebiscite to replace it, thereby validating it, despite the leftists’ disagreement with it and its undemocratic origin. The vote is thus a rejection of the Left’s favorable view of the Communist Government and of leftwing anti-Americanism. It was not an affirmation of the military dictatorship, but of the promises of the Chilean Consittution and the transition to liberty and representative government Chileans have enjoyed for over three decades. Iran and Albania: The Islamic Republic of Iran recently engaged in a cyberattack against Albania, in apparent retaliation for hosting a conference of certain exiled opposition organizations. Albania, a majority Muslim State, is an ally of the United States as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In response to Iran, Albania cut off diplomatic relations with the theocratic Iranian revolutionary regime last week. The U.S., which, like several foreign States, did not recognize the Iranian regime, also sanctioned Iran for its cyberattack on its ally. Iran responded with another cyberattack on Albania. Iran is the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism and foments Islamist revolutions throughout the Islamic world.

Twenty-First Anniversary of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks

It was 21 years ago today that al-Qaeda Islamists committed the deadliest terrorist attacks in world history in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on New York, Washington and over Pennsylvania that killed nearly 3,000 people. As always, we remember those killed in the attacks and who sacrificed in the Global War on Terrorism that began after the attacks. And we express our gratitude to all the public servants and ordinary citizens who have participated in every way in opposing terrorism. Their efforts have prevented any attack on nearly the same scale as September 11 anywhere around the world. Because the Taliban regime that tyrannically ruled most of Afghanistan had harbored al-Qaeda, the United States led a successful international coalition to overthrow them by 2002 and to deny safe haven to al-Qaeda. Afghanistan thus became the first campaign of the War on Terrorism that continues today, although at a diminished intensity and without reference to the War. The leaders of al-Qaeda have been killed, but the mastermind of the attacks remains untried in a military prison. Meanwhile, although al-Qaeda suffered heavy losses in Afghanistan as did its affiliates around the Islamic world, it remains a global threat, as does its offshoot, the Islamic State. The return to power in Afghanistan last year of the Taliban, after the American-led withdrawal of international advisors, allowed the Taliban, who are intertwined with terrorists, to provide safe harbor again to terrorists, as it recently did al-Qaeda’s leader. Safe harbor allows terrorists to communicate freely, plot attacks and train. The September 11 mastermind and other al-Qaeda terrorists should be tried in military trials, convicted and receive the maximum sentences. The War on Terrorism must continue on every geographic front necessary, and in every manner, namely diplomacy, countering Islamist propaganda and disinformation, financial restrictions, security, intelligence, law enforcement, and, when necessary, military action. The U.S. and all foreign States must continue not to recognize the Taliban diplomatically and their funds should continue to be frozen, as they have violated their promises not to harbor terrorists, to persecute opponents and to be more inclusive in the ethnically and religiously diverse State. Neither Afghanistan, nor any other state, must never be allowed to become a haven for terrorists.

The Media’s Misleading Labels for Soviet Dictator Mikhail Gorbachev

The professional media has long referred to dictators by their official titles, including even the self-given titles of autocrats, and including those who seized power by force. They refer to “President” so-and-so, and the like, no matter how repressive or tyrannical he is, despite not being subject to free and fair elections, and they continue to use such labels even after the authoritarian is deposed or dies. These titles are misleading because they equate authoritarians with heads of governments that are representative and free, which legitimizes dictators. For years, after referring to the last dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the Soviet Union), Mikhail Gorbachev, as “President” and “leader,” I expected the professional media, as well as many politicians and political commentators to do the same after he died, which they did last week. The liberal media particularly has long been enamored with Gorbachev, as have many liberal politicians and commentators. Bill Clinton, for example, regarded the Soviet dictator as his political hero. But Gorbachev, whose hero was the first Soviet tyrant, Vladimir Lenin, was doing nothing other than following Lenin’s advice that it was sometimes necessary to take a step back before taking two steps forward in advancing Marxist Communism. Gorbachev recognized that the Soviets could no longer compete militarily and economically with the United States and its allies and also recognized the foolishness of risking a nuclear war, for which he does deserve credit. He made reforms, not to weaken the Soviet Union, which was the unintended result, but out of the hope of strengthening it to make it more competitive. But the introduction of openness and political competition unleashed man’s irrepressible longing for freedom in the Communist Bloc, which led to his loss of power, the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and some other States, and ultimately to the breakup of the Soviet Union. Liberals misunderstood Gorbachev’s reforms as sincere, wishfully overlooking his hostility and tyranny. The last Soviet dictator continued the disinformation campaign against the West, kept political prisoners incarcerated and continued military campaigns for years in Afghanistan in support of the Afghan Communist dictatorship, among many examples, before his later concessions and the treaty he signed with U.S. President Ronald Reagan to eliminate intermediate range nuclear weapons. But what is most disturbing is how his liberal admirers praise Gorbachev for supposedly being tolerant of peaceful protests in the Eastern Bloc, while ignoring that he had reacted with deadly violence against peaceful protestors in the Baltic States calling for independence from the Soviet Union, which had invaded and conquered them under Josef Stalin during the Second World War. That he later recognized that more bloodshed would have been counterproductive and damaging to his and the Soviet image and that holding onto the Baltic States was untenable does not deserve nearly as much credit as he is given, as if he had some better vision for the world and had rejected Marxist-Leninist ideology and the Soviet Empire, which he did not. Gorbachev should instead be judged more accurately, giving him both the credit and blame he deserves, like everyone else. Furthermore, the excessive praise of him diminishes proper understanding of the “Evil Empire,” as Reagan put it and feeds the Soviet nostalgia that is one of the political pillars of current Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, who seeks to restore the Soviet Union. Instead, the Soviet Union should rightly remain, as Reagan predicted, on the “ash heap of history.”

2022 Republican Primaries in Pennsylvania and across America: Trump vs. Principled Conservatives

The 2022 Republican Primary Elections in Pennsylvania, which were certified last week, and across the Union have been a contest between Donald Trump and Trumpism (protectionism, nativism, isolationism, authoritarianism, corruption, cruelty and dishonesty) on the one side and Reagan-Thatcher-style conservatives and moderates on the other. Most Trump-endorsed candidates won their Republican nominations as the overwhelming majority of candidates in the primaries either had sought Trump’s endorsement, or at least were Trumpist or had publicly acquiesced to him and Trumpism, through silence or by offering little criticism. Trump is still regarded as by the GOP as its leader. But there were notable exceptions in key contests in various States, where Trump-endorsed candidates lost, including to Trump critics. The nomination of some of the most Trumpist candidates have jeopardized the Republicans’ chances in the General Election in November. They also left divisions in the party in States like Pennsylvania, where local party leaders and members openly rejected Trump’s interference and preferences for those less true to conservative or even to Trumpism. Trump’s main criterion for support was not the party’s platform or conservative principles, but fealty to him and acceptance of his false claims of election fraud against him in the 2020 election, despite the revelations from the bipartisan January 6 Congressional Committee investigating the Trump-inspired insurrection that disrupted the certification of the vote of the Electoral College. His claims and those of his supporters were rejected by many Republican election officials, members of Congress and judges, among others. In addition to Trump’s dominance of the party, another factor was overt support by Democrats for the most extreme Trumpist candidates as a strategy to make it easier for Democratic nominees to defeat such Republican nominees in the General Election. This foolish strategy, however, risks defeat to conspiracy-theorists and radicals who espouse authoritarian and nativist beliefs, and even at best, increases the influence of Trump over the GOP and further marginalizes true principled conservatives within the Republican Party. Republicans must continue to reject Trump and Trumpism by nominating principled, qualified candidates untainted by either and Democrats should stop being short-sighted and focus instead on what is better for America, which is that one of the two major parties ought not to be an unprincipled cult of personality that is corrosive of politics and representative government.

Foreign Digest: Syria and China

Syria The United States and Israel have struck pro-Iranian militants and Iranian rockets that threaten Israel, respectively, in Syria. The pro-Iranian militants fired rockets two American bases. The U.S. leads an international coalition in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State, the offshoot of al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization responsible for the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks. Islamist Iran uses its ally Syria as a conduit for funds and arms for militants and terrorists. It also supports Syria’s Bashar Assad, whose regime sponsors terrorism through its cooperation with Iran and by giving safe harbor to terrorists, in the Syrian Civil War. The war began in 2011 as an uprising against tyranny and has killed over half a million people and displaced millions. Russia also supports Assad. The U.S. and its allies have backed Syrian democratic forces among the many sides in the war, while Turkey has supported its own faction, but the Americans have avoided confronting Syria directly, except as punishment for using chemical weapons, focusing primarily instead on the Islamist terrorists. Syria is sanctioned by the U.S. for state sponsorship of terrorism. China The United States recently conducted its routine maneuvers in the South China Sea in support of the principle of freedom of the seas. Every American Administration since President George W. Bush has sent warships periodically through the Taiwan Strait, which Communist China claims. The mission comes at a time when the Chinese Communists have been threatening more vociferously to use force to reunite Taiwan with mainland China. The island province and some islands off the shores of China are the remnants of the Republic of China, which had been the Chinese government before the Communists won the Chinese Civil War in 1949. In the South China Sea, Communist China had seized the Paracel Islands, which were claimed by Vietnam, and some of the Spratly Islands, which are disputed among several Asian States. Freedom of the seas has been an American principle since the U.S. defeated the Barbary Pirates in the early Eighteenth Century.

“Gender-Neutral” Language Proposal Rejected by the Italian Parliament

Some languages have gender, a grammatical term for the assignment of masculine and feminine forms to words. English lost most of its gender after the invasion of the Normans in the Eleventh Century, leaving it with masculine forms for ordinary matters and feminine forms for loftier matters, as I have posted. See my post from June 2011, More Language for Conservatives to Avoid: Gender vs. Sex William Cinfici: More Language for Conservatives to Avoid: Gender vs. Sex, in which I explain that this assignment of grammatical forms is often arbitrary and not about sex, the division into male and female, a word that is thus not a synonym for gender. In other languages, however, gender continues to be used for most or at least many words. A proposal recently from the Left for the Italian Parliament to use “gender-neutral” forms for titles of officeholders was rejected overwhelmingly as being contrary to the Italian language and unnecessary, as the masculine forms do not necessarily indicate the sex of the officeholders, but are correct grammar. A masculine form of a word does not necessarily include only males, either in Italian or other languages, including English, as it is the ordinary form of the word. Unlike languages that have human authorities (usually monarchs) safeguarding the language or even governing what is proper to the language and what is not, Italian, like English (in America and other non-British Commonwealth States or territories), is not determined by politics. Language has been handed down by tradition and is conserved by lexicographers. New words may be coined, or foreign words loaned, but a language would become a different dialect or language if its forms were to change, just as it would if the meanings or pronunciations of its words were to change. Maintaining the proper grammar, meanings and pronunciations of a dialect or language thus aids communication and unity. Moreover, because laws are written, the meaning of the words cannot be changed as an illegitimate way to change the meaning of the laws without going through the representative and deliberative process. The Italian Parliament was right, therefore, to reject artificial “gender-neutral” language, as the masculine forms of the Italian language are already neutral about sex.

Foreign Volunteers in Ukraine Are Not Mercenaries and Ukrainian Resistors Are Not Terrorists

Contrary to Russian disinformation, international volunteers in Ukraine fighting against Russian aggression, are not “mercenaries.” They are not fighting for money, but self-finance their mission to defend Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. Volunteers come from around the world, but certain people are particularly concerned about Russian aggression or Russian tyranny under Vladimir Putin, the ex-Soviet intelligence officer who is trying to reconstitute the Soviet Union. Chechens, Georgians, Moldovans, Belarussians, and other Eastern Europeans are among the most represented contingents. Also contrary to Russian disinformation, Ukrainian resistors in Russian Federation-occupied parts of Ukraine are not “terrorists,” but are engaged in a guerilla campaign against Russian military forces. Terrorists target innocent civilians to intimidate the populace to give into their demands, but guerillas target government targets in small-scale attacks, sabotage, etc. These ad hominem attacks are part of a pattern from Putin’s Russia, which has falsely been accusing the free representative republican Ukrainian Government of being “fascist.” Similarly, Russia labeled all Chechens as “terrorists,” just as they labeled all opponents of Syrian tyrant Bashar Assad as “terrorists,” and any opponent of Putin is dismissed as “criminals” or “foreign agents.” Russia continues to use these false labels because they are effective, not only because Putin does not tolerate an independent press, but also because the professional media in the West and around the world routinely repeat Russian propaganda and disinformation in order to give both sides of a story, although sometimes the story is only the false Russian claims. Putin has attracted supporters from not only the far Left that typically favors anti-American dictators, but also from far Right “nationalists” with his phony emphasis on sovereignty, while violating that of other States as he tries to restore the Soviet Union. His bitterness toward the West for winning the Cold War and his greed for Russian wealth are his main motivations, not any valid principles he pretends to uphold in order to gain domestic and international favor.

A Conservative Basis for the Presidential Records Act

The Presidential Records Act requires Presidents to retain official documents, which, apart from documents that are classified as secret, are then catalogued and archived at that National Archives. Professional media reports about the federal law usually describe its intent as safeguarding presidential records from destruction for the benefit of historians. These expressions are true, but what is only implicit in them is what of greater significance: the purpose of the act is to help the public and the Electors, through the work of archivists and historians, to make better informed judgments about past Presidents and their Administrations. It is also to aid the people’s and the States’ representatives, the Congress in making laws. As a conservative and a historian, I especially appreciate the conservation of historical records, not only for the sake of historical interest for academics, but for the public interest, which is what the study of history is for, as history is the conservation of memory.

The Afghan War Was Not the Longest War in American History

The anniversary of the takeover of Afghanistan by the Islamist Taliban, who had harbored Islamist terrorists when they had been in power before, including al-Qaeda, the organization responsible for the September 11 Terrorist Attacks, is an opportune time to refute a widespread misleading statement about the Afghan War led by the United States and its allies to overthrow the Taliban. The War in Afghanistan was not “the longest war” in United States history, as the professional media, politicians and political commentators keep saying. Their reference to the Afghan war as such undoubtedly contributed to public opinion in favor of the premature withdrawal that allowed the Taliban militia that had harbored the al-Qaeda terrorist organization responsible for the deadliest terrorist attacks in history, the September 11 Attacks, to return to power. I had posted on this subject in my post, Afghanistan Is Not the Longest Ever U.S. War, in June of 2010: William Cinfici: Afghanistan Is Not the Longest Ever U.S. War, but even after 11 years, my point remains accurate that a false comparison is made. Longest Continuous Campaign: As a theater or battle within the War on Terrorism, perhaps it would be more accurate to refer to the Afghan War as the longest continuous campaign in American history, but it was not the longest major or even minor war, even if it were dated to have begun in 1996, with the first American missile strike on al-Qaeda. Comparison to Other Minor and Major Wars: The U.S. has not continuously been at war in Afghanistan since 2014, as there were only sporadic engagements since the U.S. ended its combat role, shifting to an advisory and support role while occasionally conducting drone strikes against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The war in Afghanistan had already become a minor war after the fall of the Taliban in 2002, but even counting the sporadic engagements and drone strikes as a war misleadingly counts the Afghan war longer than other wars. Other major American wars have become minor wars, such as the last two years each of the American Revolution until 1783 and the Vietnamese war after the U.S. withdrawal in 1973, but the common methods of counting of the length of such wars varies. A better example is the Liberation of Kuwait, as the Baathists of Iraq have continued to engage in combat against Americans since the 1991 ceasefire to the present. Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime had violated the ceasefire many times and then after his fall, Baathists and other Islamists inspired by their regime engaged in a guerilla campaign, working with other jihadists, including currently al-Qaeda in Iraq’s offshoot, the Islamic State. Thus, I have noted previously, the Liberation of Iraq was a second campaign of the Liberation of Kuwait, instead of two separate wars, interspersed with and succeeded by a minor war phase, although the second campaign was subsumed within the ongoing Global War on Terrorism. Other minor wars also involved sporadic engagements, sometimes frequently, over a longer period than the Afghan campaign, such as against Libya under dictator Muammar Qaddafi from 1981 to 2011, against the Syrian Assad regime from 1982 to 2017 and against Islamist Iran from the 1980s to 2020. Furthermore, what are commonly described as separate major or minor wars are often better understood as series of campaigns of wars, which were far longer than the Afghan campaign. For example, the U.S. has been engaged against Jihadists from the Eighteenth Century, from the Barbary Wars to the present. It was engaged in a series of major and minor wars against International Communists during the Cold War from 1946 to 1991. Even one of the individual campaigns of the Cold War, the Korean War, continued past the major war phase from 1950 to 1953, as there were a series of many clashes afterward until 1985. A Battle of the War on Terrorism: Moreover, Afghanistan, like Iraq and Syria have been, was a battle or campaign in the ongoing War on Terrorism, as Libya also had been several years after the fall of Qaddafi. Somalia is another example, where Americans have been in combat sporadically since 1993 and where there is a current advisory mission, as part of the campaign in the War on Terrorism against al-Qaeda’s largest affiliate. The War on Terrorism continues even in Afghanistan with the recent drone strike against the leader of al-Qaeda. Length of War Proved Perserverance, Not Problems: Regardless of how the Afghan War compares to other wars or series of wars, the length of the war did not represent a military failure or a failure to provide adequate support for the allied Afghan government, but a failure of the will to defeat the Taliban, instead of the strategy only of preventing their takeover, which was then abandoned with the Trump-Biden withdrawal, as I have posted. The length of the campaign had been a sign to both enemies and allies of American willingness to be patient, to endure and to be loyal to allies. Considering that Islamists have been engaged in warfare since the Seventh Century, twenty years was not a long time, especially considering the relatively small force and the few casualties. U.S. and allied forces have thus far successfully prevented Afghanistan from becoming such a safe haven for terrorists as to become again an international threat, but only continued vigilance will prevent it again.

Communist Chinese Promises and Threats to the Republic of China on Taiwan

Communist China has again been threatening Taiwan with military incursions and an explicit threat to use force to reunify it with mainland China. The island of Taiwan and its offshore islands, and the coastal island groups of Quemoy and Matsu, as well as part of the disputed Spratly Islands constitute the Republic of China, which is the remnant of the republican Chinese State taken over by the Communists in 1949 after the Chinese Civil War. The Republic of China’s parliamentary government, along with many Chinese refugees, re-located to Taiwan and remained in power as a government-in-exile until transitioning to a fully participatory liberal representative parliamentary republic in 1990. Taiwan has been peaceful, free and prosperous. Communist China’s claims of sovereignty over Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province, are based solely on its victory in the civil war 73 years ago and its international diplomatic recognition, but its victory was incomplete, leaving the de jure Chinese government in power in Taiwan and the other islands. The Chinese Communist Party, which effectively rules mainland China as a one-party state, has never subjected itself to free and fair elections and tolerates no dissent. Around a dozen foreign States, including the Holy See, recognize the Republic of China on Taiwan as the legitimate Chinese government. The United States recognized Communist China in 1971, but, like many foreign States that also recognize Peking, maintains official, but non-diplomatic relations with Taiwan, as governed by a 1979 federal law that also pledges the U.S. to defend Taiwan. As I have posted, Communist China pressures States to recognize it in favor of Taiwan or even not to maintain non-diplomatic relations that refer to Taiwan, as if the island is independent. Peking also pressures international organizations not to include Taiwan. Communist China recently offered its “one country, two systems” regime for Taiwan, as it had for the former British territory of Hong Kong in 1997 and the former Portuguese territory of Macao in 1999, but, as I have been posting, has violated its promises of autonomy and political liberty for those territories. Communist China had also conquered Tibet in 1950, which it also represses. The Taiwanese are therefore rightly skeptical of Peking’s promises. The United States should continue to engage with the Republic of China and support Taiwan militarily enough to deter Communist Chinese aggression. Foreign States should continue to recognize the Republic of China or maintain or even upgrade their relations with Taiwan. The international community should support freedom and representative government and oppose threats of violence by Communist China.

Blog and Personal Note

With my last post, I am pleased to report that I have now posted more times this year than in any year since 2019, before I experienced vision and — especially — computer problems, among other problems. As is apparent, some vestiges of the computer problems remain that prevent indentation and line spacing, which presents challenges to communicating as effectively. Thank you for visiting my blog. In these difficult times, I shall continue to post in support of liberty, representative government and good language. Please continue to visit regularly.

The Preferred Name for the Russo-Ukrainian War

The professional media, as well as some political commentators, have created various names for the Russo-Ukrainian War, just as it ignorantly and yet arrogantly creates its own often-grammatically incorrect names for other wars, usually without any consistent convention, and regardless of the official names of these wars, as I have posted previously. The names for wars are in important shrothand way to describe them. In this post, I shall explain why some of the common names should be rejected and suggest which name is the proper one for the war. One of the most common is the “Ukraine War,” which is as grammatically incorrect as the “Iraq War” or the “Vietnam War,” as opposed to the “Korean War” or the “Mexican War.” “Ukrainian War” or the “War in Ukraine” are other names that are sometimes used. Although these names are grammatically correct, they fail to name the aggressor in the war: the Russian Federation. They thus imply that the war is strictly a civil war, which it has not been since it began in 2014, when Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine, despite a treaty after the breakup of the Soviet Union with the former Soviet Republic to recognize Ukrainian independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, including Crimea, in exchange for Ukraine’s relinquishment of former Soviet nuclear weapons. A deal was also struck between Russia and Ukraine for a base in Crimea for the Russian Black Sea fleet. The ethnic Russian separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine have been fomented by Russia, led by ex-Soviet intelligence officer, Vladimir Putin. Russians in the free representative republic of Ukraine are far freer than Russians in autocratic Russia. The Russian tyrant’s motive for starting the war is to nothing other than to restore the Soviet Union. The name “Russia-Ukraine War” includes Russia, and lists it first because it is the aggressor, but is grammatically incorrect, just as the “Ukraine-Russia War” is. The name that is the most grammatically correct and which most accurately describes the war is the “Russo-Ukrainian War,” which also is the most consistent with the usual convention for the naming of wars. Moreover, I note the inclusion of the word “War” in the name, as opposed to a “conflict,” as some media or political commentators describe it, as if there is some legitimate dispute between the two States, and not an unprovoked attempt by one to conquer the other. Therefore, it is also acceptable to refer to "Russian aggression against Ukraine," or some similar formulation. Start using "Russo-Ukrainian War" in writing and speech.

The Drone Strike on al-Qaeda’s Leader Does Not Justify the Withdrawal of Troops from Afghanistan

The drone strike by the United States on the leader of the Islamist terrorist organization, al-Qaeda, which I posted about in my last post, does not justify the withdrawal of American-led military forces from Afghanistan last year for several reasons. First, it has not been revealed how the U.S. gathered its intelligence about the al-Qaeda head’s location, but it was likely developed by human sources cultivated by the American troop presence in Afghanistan since 2001, after the September 11 Terrorist Attacks, the deadliest in history. Second, the Trump-Biden withdrawal allowed the leader of al-Qaeda to set up headquarters in the downtown of the Afghan capital for months, which likely facilitated his communication with his terrorist network and its allies. Third, the withdrawal deal was based on a promise by the Taliban militia not to harbor terrorists again were it to take power, which it obviously did not intend to keep. The Taliban leadership is intertwined with al-Qaeda allies and al-Qaeda advised the Taliban on its military offensive to take over Afghanistan last year and regain power. And fourth, unlike the special forces raid in Pakistan that killed al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in 2011, there was no capturing of a trove of intelligence from documents, computers, videos, etc. from the al-Qaeda headquarters. Such raids are difficult because of the lack of a base on Afghan soil from which to stage them, thus necessitating a reliance on satellites and drones. The U.S. had maintained a force of only a few thousand troops, as part of an American-led NATO force that had not been on a combat mission, but only an advisory mission in support of the Afghan government, and was thus hardly taking any casualties. That relatively small force had been sufficient to keep the Taliban from regaining power and again becoming a safe haven for terrorists it obviously has become, despite the major success of this particular drone strike. A small U.S.-led force should have been maintained in Afghanistan, just as there is a small training mission in Somalia against the al-Qaeda affiliate there.

The Leader of the Islamist Terrorist Organization Al-Qaeda Has Been Killed

The United States has killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of the Islamist terrorist organization, al-Qaeda, in a drone strike in Afghanistan. Zawahiri had merged his Egyptian Islamic Jihad into Osama bin Laden’s organization in the 1990s, served as its operational commander and has led the organization since the latter’s death in 2011. Al-Qaeda was responsible for the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the deadliest in history, among many other attacks before and since. It has affiliates around the Islamic world, as does its offshoot, the Islamic State. The U.S. led an international coalition against the Taliban de facto regime that controlled most of Afghanistan because it had harbored the terrorist organization, overthrowing the Taliban by 2002 and keeping them regaining power until the American-led withdrawal last year. The U.S. has continued the Global War on Terrorism against al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Syria and Somalia, although at a low intensity. The disastrous Trump-Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan allowed the Taliban, which is intertwined with Islamist terrorists, to regain power and again provide safe haven for its Islamist terrorist allies, while diminishing the of intelligence or means for U.S. and its allies to target al-Qaeda, while betraying Afghan and other allies. Zawahiri was able to command his organization from the downtown of the Taliban-led Afghan capital for months, surely with the Taliban’s knowledge and approval, despite their pledge not to harbor terrorists again. The withholding of international recognition of the Taliban and of frozen funds by the U.S. is thus validated. Drone strikes are effective at killing the enemy, but not as much as an intelligence-gathering tool that a raid with special forces that also captures documents, computers, videos, etc. Killing the head of al-Qaeda is a major blow to the organization and victory in the war, but must be followed up with the eradication of al-Qaeda and other Islamist terrorists from Afghanistan, lest the poor central Asian State once again be a source of terror for the world. And the Taliban must be held accountable for their complicity.

More Russian Federation Interference in American and Italian Politics

United States: There was a federal indictment of a Russian who worked with an American socialist organization to sow divisions and advance Russian propaganda. Interference by ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin, the Russian tyrant, through left-wing international movements is not surprising, but what has changed is his appeal to right-wing anti-migrant “nationalists” and Islamophobic Christians. There were additional U.S. sanctions against Russians for similar interference in American politics since 2014, including a multi-million dollar operation. Russian interference in American politics was “sweeping and systematic,” according to Republican Special Counsel Robert Mueller and confirmed unanimously by the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee. Putin was successful in winning Donald Trump both the Republican presidential nomination and the presidential election and in influencing Trump’s policies. Russia backed Trump’s releection in 2020 while denying or minimizing its 2016 interference or trying to blame the Democrats or Ukraine. Italy: The Trumpist anti-migrant League party of Italy has had a history of Russian influence, like other pro-Putin European rightwing parties. A leading party figure was caught on tape a few years ago accepting a Russian offer of energy credits to fund the party, whose leader openly admired Putin. The League leader refused to answer questions about it. In May, the League secretly accepted payment from the Russian embassy in Italy for a trip to Russia to discuss the Russian aggression in Ukraine, which it did not inform its fellow governing coalition partners about. Although the League opposed Russian’s invasion, it claimed it was attempting to negotiate “peace” and opposed sending more arms to Ukraine, but it dropped the plans for the trip after the report about it was published. Now there have been press reports that a League attorney met with the Russian embassy and discussed making the national unity government fall by withholding support for a vote of confidence in the popular technocratic Prime Minister, thus precipitating his resignation and the President’s call for early elections, as explained in my last post. Because the League is part of a right-wing bloc that was favored in the polls to win the elections, it figured it would be able to take power and govern without the anti-populists and the center-left, but causing the government crisis during a critical time is a risky strategy that could end up backfiring.

The Fall of the Italian National Unity Government

Italy’s national unity government, led by a non-partisan technocrat and joined by nearly every major party, fell the week before last, after nearly a year and a half in power. The leading anti-establishment populists had declined to back a vote of confidence in the Prime Minister the week before. The Premier won the vote, but because he had said he would only govern with a broad unity government that included the populists, he offered his resignation. The President did not accept it and ordered him to address Parliament to see if he could retain his majority. The Prime Minister did, citing an unprecedented public appeal for his 17-month technocratic unity government. But the populists, together with the anti-migrant right-wing League party and the center-right Forza Italian party of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi abstained from the required confidence vote because the two allies on the right refused to continue to govern with the populists. Although the confidence resolution passed, the abstentions showed a lack of support for the unity government and led to the Prime Minister’s resignation and its acceptance by the President, who called for early elections by late September. The term would have ended next year. The unity government was formed after the fall of an executive led by the populists and the main center-left party. The government crisis comes at a sensitive time during the pandemic, the Russo-Ukrainian War, inflation and ahead of the budget deadline. The Prime Minister will stay in power as a caretaker, but without the authority to enact the full agenda of reforms. The populists, who had been the largest party in Parliament, had fared poorly in recent municipal elections and the Foreign Minister, who had led their party, split to form a new party over his erstwhile party’s opposition to arm sales to Ukraine, which the League also opposed. The Trumpist League leader, although opposed to the Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine, had been an admirer of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer. Forza Italia, which had heretofore been a responsible party, suffered several high-profile defections because of its decision to side with the ultra-nationalist League and undermine the government that had been successfully leading Italy through the pandemic, the obtaining of European Union pandemic relief funds and the enactment of critical reforms. The conservative party has been staunchly pro-European, in favor of the Atlantic alliance with the United States and against the Russian aggression, despite Berlusconi’s personal friendship with Putin. Press reports suggest the League worked with the Russians, with whom they have been in contact, to make the government fall, for which other parties are calling for an investigation. Forza Italia and the League are in a coalition with a right-wing party that is the only major party in opposition, along with some smaller centrist parties. The coalition leads the polls, but causing the fall of the popular national unity government at a critical time could be a costly strategy.

Foreign Digest: Tunisia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia

Tunisia: Tunisia held referendum a week ago on a new constitution proposed by the President, who had seized autocratic power last year, citing failures in the 2014 Constitution that had established the North African Arab State as a free parliamentary republic, and the danger posed by the leading Islamist party. I had posted about Tunisia’s development since the Arab Spring movement for liberty and representative government started there. The President had named a new Prime Minister a few months ago and promised elections and then named a commission to draft a new constitution. The turnout for the referendum was low, however, as the public was skeptical of the head of state’s intent and the details of the draft. Elections are nevertheless expected in months for the new Tunisian Parliament. Sudan: There have been protests for months against the military regime that took power after the coup earlier this year. The protestors are demanding a return to the civilian rule of the transitional government that was formed after the overthrow of a longtime Islamist tyrant in 2019, as I have been posting about. That government was leading the transition to liberty and representative government. Ethiopia and Somalia: Ethiopia repelled attacks by the Somali affiliate of al-Qaeda, al-Shabab. Ethiopia is part of an African mission against Islamist terrorists in the Horn of Africa. It had formerly led a major force in Somalia. As I had recently posted, the United States conducts an anti-terrorism mission in support of the Somali Government as part of the War on Terrorism that began after al-Qaeda terrorists conducted the deadliest attacks in history on September 11, 2001 on America.

Independence Day: Celebrate Independence and Freedom and Be Inspired to Defend Them

As American celebrates its Independence Day, we Americans should celebrate the freedoms and representative republican government we enjoy and be grateful to those who have defended and are currently defending our independence and liberty in every way. The Continental Congress of thirteen of the British colonies in America approved a resolution on July 2, 1776 of independence from the United Kingdom. The Declaration of Independence, which holds that all men are equal and endowed with the rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, was approved on July 4, which is the day that has come to be annually celebrated. This year, there are multiple threats to independence, equality, liberty and representative government. International Threats: Aggression: Independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity are under threat by the Russian Federation aggression against Ukraine. The expansion of Russia’s 2014 invasion of the former Soviet Republic is the latest attempt by Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer, to re-establish the Soviet Union. Independence is based on the principal of self-determination, a to which threat anywhere is a threat everywhere. Americans should appreciate that foreigners helped America win its War of Independence and oppose aggression. Foreign Interference in Elections: Russia is among the hostile foreign States that continue to interfere in American elections. As foreigners influence the choice of American leaders, this influence decreases U.S. independence. Domestic Threats: Threats from the Left: Misinterpreting the Constitution: Liberals believe in interpreting the constitution or laws differently from what was intended and approved through the representative process, which would make the law personal instead of universal, and thus subject to the whim of the courts, thereby undermining individual liberty. Courts would thus be unaccountable legislatures usurping elected legislatures, instead of tribunals to interpret the intent of the law. Undermining Representative Government: There is especially on the left a trend toward democracy, as opposed to representative government. Democracy is the direct rule of the people, instead of through a legislature of elected representatives, which, on a large-scale is impractical and leads to a lack of deliberation. It thus risks populism, demagoguery, and the violation of the liberty of any minority of citizens or residents. Threats from the Far Right: Undermining Confidence in Elections: While Trumpists continue to deny, minimize or accept interference in elections by hostile foreign states, particularly the Russian Federation’s sweeping and systematic overt and covert support of Donald Trump in both the Republican primaries and the General Elections of 2016 and 2020, at the same time Trumpists undermine the public’s confidence in elections based on false conspiracy theories, which encourages threats to election officials. These false beliefs distract from the focus on real examples of election fraud, including foreign interference. Authoritarianism: There has been a growing acceptance by Trumpists of authoritarianism that undermines the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law, the separation powers, etc. Nationalism: Among the various beliefs of Nationalists are that freedoms and rights are only for citizens or that the United States of America was not based on universal ideas, but on certain cultures or religions. Neither the U.S., nor any of the several States, are “nations (people related by birth),” but free representative republics with diverse populations. The American Creed, as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, states that it is self-evident that liberty is the birthright of every human being, not only of citizens, as all are equal. The Founding Fathers believed America should be a place of refuge for those fleeing tyranny and an example to other States to follow. America benefits from refugees’ greater appreciation of freedom. Threats from both Left and Far Right: Hostility to State Sovereignty: The Thirteen Original States declared their independence in 1776, later joining a Union under the Constitution, in which they created a new sovereign entity, the United States of America for certain matters, but retained much of their domestic sovereignty, as the States remain both independent and in union. The Left generally opposes State sovereignty on domestic matters while the Far Right particularly seeks to force States to abide only by federal border policies, thus abandoning the longstanding state sovereignty over this matter and state domestic interests. The centralization of power, instead of the diffusion of power between sovereigns, risks tyranny. Violence: Public discourse and voting are appropriate and effective means in a free representative republic, not violence, which is unnecessary and unacceptable. I have posted about several of these threats and intend to expound on others. I call upon my fellow Americans to reflect on the American Revolution and to renew their spirit of independence, equality and liberty. While we Americans are right to celebrate what we have retained of the legacy of the Founders for 246 years, we ought to be inspired to defend what is under assault. May God Bless America.