Foreign Digest: Russia and Syria

Russia: Russia announced yesterday that it will station nuclear missiles in the former Soviet Republic of Belarus, from which it had launched its invasion of Ukraine last year. The forward positioning of the warheads validates the concern among Eastern Europeans, as well as their Western and American allies, about the strategic threat to them from a Russian conquest of Ukraine, which would allow Russia to station such weapons of mass destruction even further westward. Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark announced the formation of a joint defense pact in response to the Russian threat. Finland and Sweden have both applied for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and are being protected by it while their applications are pending. Syria: In retaliation for a deadly drone strike by Iranian-backed Islamist militants in Syria, the United States launched an airstrike late last week against their position. There have been scores of such attacks by the violent jihadists over the last few years. The Islamic Republic of Iran, the worst state sponsor of terrorism in the world, backs Syria’s tyrant, Bashar Assad against moderate rebels and Sunni Islamists in an eleven-year civil war that has killed over a half million people and forced the flight of millions of others. The U.S. defends Iraq and its Kurdish allies against the terrorists. Russia also backs Syria. Meanwhile, Israel against struck pro-Iranian targets in northern Syria.

The Twentieth Anniversary of the Beginning of the Liberation of Iraq, a Victory in the War on Terrorism

Twenty years ago today, on March 19, 2003, the United States and its allies began the Liberation of Iraq against the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein, the brutal tyrant and terrorist sponsor with a history of aggression. Isolationists on the left and right have misrepresented the purpose of the war, denied its justifications and the facts of the Liberation and subsequent developments, but they cannot take away the truths about what American and allied troops, together with the Iraqi people, were able to accomplish. Even the efforts of violent jihadists to force an American withdrawal have not succeeded in a victory for Islamist terrorism, but a defeat. Iraqi Violations of the Cease-Fire and U.N. Resolutions on WMDs: Hussein had signed a cease-fire after the U.S.-led and United Nations-approved Liberation of Kuwait in 1991, which he had conquered the previous year. Among its provisions were reparations for Kuwait for Iraqi aggression. He failed to pay those reparations. Any violation of a cease-fire signifies and intent to re-engage in hostilities, but Hussein actually engaged in hostilities by repeatedly attacking Coalition aircraft enforcing no-fly zones established to protect oppressed minorities, namely Kurds in the north and Sh’ite Arabs in the south. The Butcher of Baghdad considered the war never to have ended. Thus, it was Iraq that started the war, which was defensive and not pre-emptive. Furthermore, Iraq also violated U.N. resolutions requiring it to give up its weapons of mass-production programs and limiting its missiles to a short range. U.N. inspectors found that Iraq, which had repeatedly used WMDs, had retained a “small but significant” number of chemical WMDs, causing the U.N. Security Council to approve unanimously a resolution that Iraq was in “material breach” of its resolutions and would face “serious consequences,” which meant the use of force. American-led forces, some of whom were injured by them, later found several hundred of these weapons and acquired hundreds more that the inspectors did not know about, as well as tons of the banned chemicals to produce more weapons. All these weapons and materiel were destroyed by the Coalition. Iraq also had long-range missiles. Meanwhile, as Iraq was hiding the remnants of its WMD program, it was violating the economic sanctions regime imposed upon it for its WMDs. Hussein planned to make use of the wherewithal Iraq had retained to reconstitute its WMD program after getting sanctions lifted by hiding its program. Iraqi Sponsorship of Terrorism; Iraq as a Battlefield of the War on Terrorism: Moreover, Baathist Iraq was a state sponsor of terrorism, both harboring and financing terrorists, including those who targeted and killed Americans. The Palestinian terrorist who had killed an American and was financing Palestinian suicide bombers, some of whom targeted Americans, was captured by U.S. forces during the Liberation of Iraq. In addition, al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorist organization responsible for the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on New York, Virginia and over Pennsylvania, the deadliest in history, had a branch in Iraq. During the Liberation, violent jihadists, including militants fostered by the Baathist regime, from al-Qaeda and abroad came to Iraq because they recognized it as a battlefield in the Global War on Terrorism, where thousands of them were killed or captured by Americans, their allies and the Iraqis. The fostering by the former Baathist regime of the bloody violent jihad against the Coalition and the new Iraqi government and Iraqi minorities, and especially the cooperation of Baathists and Islamists, including al-Qaeda, validated the concern about Hussein’s potential collaboration with al-Qaeda. Furthermore, the U.S. was able to withdraw on its own terms the large forces it kept in Saudi Arabia to defend against further Iraqi aggression, and not because American troops were under attack there by Islamists or because of Al Qaeda’s demands. Al-Qaeda was thus deprived of its biggest gripe against the United States. The premature of American forces necessitated their return to defeat the “Islamic State,” which is the offshoot of “al-Qaeda in Iraq.” U.S.-led international forces continue to assist Iraq in defeating this threat in both Iraq and Syria. Benefits of the Liberation of Iraq: Because of the Liberation of Iraq, the Iraqi people were freed from a brutal regime that had committed crimes against humanity, for which Hussein was brought to justice by the Iraqi people, who were able to choose their own government. The replacement of the “Republic of Fear” with a constitutional parliamentary republic under Islamic values, but representative of all Iraqi ethnic and religious groups inspired movements for liberty and representative government across the Arab world. The Liberation of Iraq was thus a victory for international law against aggression, for non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, against Islamist terrorism and state sponsorship of terrorism, against crimes against humanity, and for self-determination, liberty and representative government. The accomplishments of American and allied troops, instead of being denied or minimized, should be appreciated and celebrated. The U.S. and its allies and the international community must remain vigilant against aggression and terrorism.

Foreign Digest: Russia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo

Russia: A film about Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader imprisoned by the despotic regime of ex-Soviet intelligence agent Vladimir Putin, won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award last week for best documentary. The center-right leader’s wife accepted the award in America on his behalf, expressing the dream of a free and representative Russia. Also last week, Italy and a European Union official accused Kremlin-associated Russian mercenaries of stirring up the conditions to increase the deadly migration of refugees from Africa to Europe, as a form of hybrid warfare against the West. And the former Soviet Republic of Moldova accused Russia of attempting an influence operation to turn it into a satellite state, like Belarus. I had posted last month that Moldova, where Russia keeps troops in a breakaway part of Moldovia without its consent inhabited by ethnic Russians, had accused Russia of attempting a coup d’etat. Meanwhile, the International Court of Criminal Justice has issued an arrest warrant against Putin for war crimes during the Russian invasion of the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine, specifically for kidnapping Ukrainian children. Ukraine, the United States and its allies, the United Nations and others have accumulated abundant evidence of thousands of Russian war crimes, including the deliberate military targeting of civilians without any valid military purpose, torturing and executing prisoners, and kidnapping civilians, both adults and children. Russia denies the Court’s jurisdiction. Putin dreams of restoring the Soviet Union. Montenegro: Presidential elections are being held today in the ex-Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro, in which the current President and the pro-Serbian opposition leader are expected to win the most votes, but not enough for a majority. They would then both face each other in a run-off election. The elections are taking place amidst an ongoing political crisis in which multiple attempts to form a government have failed, leading to the calling of the next parliamentary elections in June. Serbia and Kosovo: Serbia and Kosovo reached an agreement today in the former Yugoslav Republic of North Macedonia that was mediated by Albania and the European Union to normalize relations, although it does not include any Serbian recognition of the independence of its former province. It establishes a Serbian Community. Serbs are a minority in the mostly Albanian Kosovo. The former Yugoslav Republic of Serbia is the rump portion of that former Slavic State of the volatile Western Balkans. After the breakup of the former Communist Yugoslavia in 1991, Serbia and ethnic Serbs in the various Republics and later the province of Kosovo attempted in a series of bloody wars to prevent their independence or to establish breakaway Serbian States within them. The agreement, which requires parliamentary approval and then implementation, eases tensions that had increased lately and is a necessary step for possible Serbian admission into the E.U.

There Is a Renewed Congressional Effort to Eliminate Semi-Annual Clock-Changing

There is renewed hope that the United States will finally eliminate the requirement to change the clocks an hour twice a year to switch from Standard to Daylight Saving Time. Congress is working on bipartisan legislation to end the economically wasteful and physically harmful practice that is useless, either by keeping on Standard TIme or switching to Daylight Saving Time permanently. I have posted frequently about the negative effects of this semi-annual practice, especially the loss of an hour of sleep swithching from Standard to Daylight Saving Times that causes more accidents and harmful affects on health.

Foreign Digest: Syria, Turkey, Georgia and Belarus

Syria: Israel struck Iranian-backed targets at the airport of Aleppo, in the north of Syria, the furthest north attack the Jewish state has launched against Iranian-backed terrorists and forces of the Islamic Republic, which is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Iran is backing the tyrannical Syrian regime of Bashar Assad in its civil war against moderates and other Islamists. The brutal war has killed several hundred thousand people and caused millions to flee. Meanwhile, the last of a trio of elderly Greek women from the island of Lesbos, who were nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for aiding Syrian refugees has died. They had themselves been refugees from Muslim Turkey. Turkey: The opposition to the authoritarian Islamist Turkish Government has united to oppose him in the next presidential election in May, when there will also be parliamentary elections. Ranging from center-left to the secular nationalists, and including Kurdish parties, the opposition stands a reasonable chance of defeating the tyrannical President of Turkey. It had won the most seats in a previous parliamentary election, but was unable to form a coalition government, leaving the Head of State in office. With his increased authoritarianism, despite the Turkish Constitution not establishing a strong presidency, he obtained approval of constitutional changes that gave him greater powers. Georgia: After massive protests and international condemnation, Georgia revoked a law ostensibly targeted at foreign agents, but which would have restricted freedoms of speech, press and assembly by criminalizing work for partly foreign-owned professional media or political organizations. The Georgian President praised the revocation as the right move and hailed the power of the people. The former Soviet Republic’s government has become authoritarian in recent years and less pro-Western and more pro-Russian, despite Russia’s invasion in 2008. Belarus: Upset over the Belarusian dictatorship’s complicity in the Russian aggression against Ukraine, Belarusian guerillas have been conducting a sabotage campaign against Belarusian infrastructure used by the Russians and against Russian military assets hosted by Belarus, as well as through cyberattacks against the Belarusian and Russian governments’ war-related web sites. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, seized territory and fomented a bloody secessionist movement, and then launched a full-scale invasion last year, sending troops from both Russia and Belarus. Russia’s tyrant, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer, Vladimir Putin, is trying to restore the Soviet Union. Belarus and Ukraine are both former Soviet Republics. A popular opposition was formed after the Belarusian dictator rigged elections in 2020. Relying on Russian support, he then cracked down on dissent and is now arresting supposedly suspected saboteurs, but the opposition is too broad, united and well-organized for his intimidation and is aided by its large exile community.

Foreign Digest: Lebanon and Russia

Lebanon: There were sentences last month of imprisonment issued for Hezbollah associates for the 2020 explosion at the port of Beirut that killed hundreds, wounded a multitude more and damaged many buildings, which I posted about. Explosives had been stored there negligently. Hezbollah, whose political party had been part of Lebanon’s governing coalition at the time, is a Shi’ite terrorist organization backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism. Russia: The United States last week sanctioned Russian magistrates responsible for the political persecution of Viktor Kara-Murza, a center-right opponent of the tyrannical regime of ex-Soviet intelligence agent, Vladimir Putin. Moldova recently accused the Russian Federation of attempting a coup d’etat in the former Soviet Republic that lies between NATO member Romania and Ukraine. Russia has stationed troops in a breakaway part of Moldova inhabited by ethnic Russians, against the Moldavian government’s wishes. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, seizing Crimea and fomenting a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine before launching a full-scale invasion of its fellow Slavic former Soviet Republic neighbor. Another former Soviet Republic, Georgia, was invaded by Russia in 2008 in support of breakaway territories in which Russia set up puppet states. The Russians broke their promise to withdraw and made a series of incremental encroachments onto Georgian territory. The Russians unleashed a series of cyber attacks on Italian institutions earlier this month because of the Italian Republic’s steadfast support of Ukraine against Russian aggression. Russia typically engages in cyberattacks against foreign States, in addition to interfering politically through propaganda and disinformation.