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.