Conservatives Won the Greek Parliamentary Elections

The ruling conservative party has won the Greek parliamentary elections today, gaining an absolute majority to be able to govern without having to form a coalition with any other party. As I had posted, the center-right won the parliamentary elections in May, falling around 10% of the vote shy of an absolute majority, but the Prime Minister opted not to seek a mandate from the President to form a government so that the Head of State would have to call for a new round of elections under Greece’s election laws, taking the chance that the Premier’s ruling conservatives would obtain the majority in today’s second vote. Unlike in the recent elections in Finland won by the Finnish conservatives with only a plurality that forced them to have to enter into a coalition government with a far right party, the Greek conservatives’ triumph over the left was great enough also to keep a new far-right party which gained seats in the Parliament out of the executive government of the Hellenic Republic. Greece is an ally of the United States as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and in the War on Terrorism.

Follow-Up on the Republican-led U.S. House Censure of a Member for Telling the Truth about Trump-Russia Cooperation

A plurality of the Republican-led United States House of Representatives this evening shamefully censured a Democratic colleague for leading the House investigation into the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign’s cooperation with Russian interference and correctly characterizing their “collusion,” in the common parlance sense of the word. I had posted about a failed effort to censure him in my last post, in which 20 Republicans joined all Democrats opposing the measure, which would have included a $16 million fine. This time, only 6 GOP Representatives had the integrity to maintain their party’s tradition of standing for American security, instead of minimizing the interference in American politics by a hostile foreign tyrant who is an ex-Soviet intelligence officer trying to restore the Soviet Union. The Republican effort was based on Trump supporters’ misleading claim that the Trump campaign did not “collude” with Russia. The Republican special prosecutor tasked with prosecuting crimes explained that the word is not a criminal term, but as I have noted, he certainly found cooperation between Russia and the Trump campaign. He noted that Russia began to hack his opponents’ e-mails moments after Trump called for Russia to do so, after they had already hacked the Democratic National Committee and stole information, which they published through Wikileaks, a Russian cut-out. The special prosecutor’s report noted the Trump campaign coordinated its messaging with advanced knowledge of Wikileaks’ publication of the stolen information and there were over a hundred unreported contacts between Russians and the Trump campaign. The campaign manager even gave internal poling data to a Russian intelligence officer. The special prosecutor charged numerous Russians with interference on behalf of Trump’s candidacy, as all U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded Russia was doing in what he described as a “sweeping and systematic” interference operation, and also charged Trump campaign officials with various other crimes. The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee investigation validated his findings and found even more evidence. A review by the Inspector General also validated these findings. A Trump-appointed special prosecutor who was supposed to discredit the investigation of the Trump campaign, despite some minor criticisms, recently validated its premise. Trump-supporting “conservatives” and Republicans have focused only on the “collusion” aspect to ignore the massive and successful Russian effort, partly overt and partly covert, since 2014 to influence Americans’ views about Russia, divide Americans against each other, undermine confidence in the truth and in elections and to support Trump for the Republican presidential nomination and his general election. It is important to note that Trump lied during his campaign that he was no longer doing business with Russia while still a candidate, as he later was forced to admit. It is shocking and outrageous to many of us Cold War era conservative Republicans who were inspired by Reagan-Thatcher anti-Communist principles that the GOP has ceded its security credentials to the liberal Democrats, except for a few noteworthy exceptions, who at least denied the ignoble censure resolution, which was only symbolic anyway, the credibility of a majority vote. The Trumpist Republican caucus has failed to discredit investigations into Trump and to intimidate colleagues from investigating him, which are their true motivations.

Pro-Security Republicans Rejected the Trumpist House GOP Attempt to Censure the Russian Interference Investigator

A Trumpist Republican effort in the United States House of Representatives to censure a leading Democratic member for the investigation of the acceptance by the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump of Russian Federation support and their cooperation has failed. Twenty Republicans joined with the majority Democrats to reject the censure resolution soundly. Like U.S. intelligence agencies, both a Republican special prosecutor and the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee have found that not only did Russia interfere both overtly and covertly on behalf of Trump in the GOP Presidential Primary and General Election, which was an unprecedented degree of foreign interference, but also that Trump publicly requested and welcomed Russian interference and his campaign coordinated its messaging with the release of information stolen by the Russians and published through Wikileaks, a Russian cutout, of which it had advanced knowledge. The interference, led by Russian tyrant and ex-Soviet intelligence officer, Vladimir Putin, was sufficient to win Trump the presidency, apart from all the other election fraud (deception, intimidation, illegal campaign finance activity and other foreign interference) from which it benefited, but the cooperation between Trump’s campaign and the Russian efforts were even more troubling. There were over 100 contacts between the Russians and the Trump campaign, none of which were reported to federal law enforcement. Trump’s campaign manager even shared internal polling data with a Russian intelligence officer. It remains unclear how Russia managed to micro-target both liberal Democratic voters to suppress their votes for their party’s presidential ticket and conservative Republicans to support the pro-Putin Trump. The GOP special prosecutor found that Trump campaign staff hid their communications and that Trump obstructed his investigation, for which he urged impeachment. Trump later was forced to admit that he had lied to Republican primary voters that he was not continuing to do business with Russia during the campaign. In office, Trump refrained from criticizing Putin, despite the Russian dictator’s human rights abuses and hostile actions around the world, let alone to acknowledge Russian political interference in America, and often attempted to keep his administration from standing for U.S. security versus Russia. One example earned him in 2019 his first of two impeachments by the House when he withheld military aid to Ukraine, then under Russian invasion, to extort the former Soviet Republic to investigate his leading Democratic challenger. The delay gave Russian-backed separatists a strategic advantage that Russia took advantage of in its 2022 aggression against Ukraine. Putin’s “active measures” Russian interference in American politics since 2014 has influenced the public in a number of ways, by deliberately dividing Americans, undermining confidence in the truth and in elections, in addition to promoting pro-Russian views. But Soviet and Russian efforts to cultivate Trump date back to the 1980s and helped prop up his failing businesses, thus helping the tycoon to present himself to Republican primary voters as a successful businessman. Most “conservative” Republicans have dismissed or minimized Russian interference, especially cooperation between Trump’s campaign and the Russians, which they focus only upon to ignore the broader and successful Russian interference. A significant number of "conservative” and Republican leaders, including a faction in Congress, have even become apologists for Putin. The inability of the GOP to come to terms with its support of a candidate backed by a hostile foreign power led by a tyrant who is trying to restore the Soviet Union has damaged the party’s standing and undermined Republican voters’ support for U.S. security. The 20 Republicans who voted against the censure resolution are helping to preserve what little is left of the GOP anti-Communist legacy and reputation for American security.

Foreign Digest: Sweden, France and UNESCO

Sweden: Sweden is now allowing military forces from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on its soil while its NATO membership application is pending. The Nordic State remains under NATO protection in the meantime. Like neighboring Finland, which was admitted earlier this year, Sweden abandoned its longtime neutrality to apply to join the defensive pact because of the Russian Federation aggression against Ukraine. France: France condemned the Russian Federation last week for disinformation attacks, that it identified were committed through a hybrid campaign by Russians, including state actors. Such hybrid campaigns against European and Western States are typical of Russia under tyrant Vladimir Putin, the ex-Soviet intelligence officer attempting to restore the Soviet Union. France backs the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine against Russian aggression. The United States Rejoins the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: The United States is rejoining the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which it had left in 2017, and will pay its back dues, which it had been withholding since 2011. By rejoining UNESCO, the U.S. is seeking to counter Communist Chinese influence and promote freedom. The U.S., which had supplied 22% of UNESCO’s budget, had objected to the UN’s bias against Israel, which also left the organization, and its financial mismanagement. UNESCO reformed its policies toward Israel and its financial management. Among the many projects that will receive a boost in funding are cultural heritage preservation in Ukraine, education of girls in Afghanistan and Holocaust education. The UN General Assembly is expected to approve the deal, which has bipartisan American support.

Rest in Peace, Silvio Berlusconi

Former media magnate and professional sports team owner, conservative party founder and leader, and multi-time Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi died today in Brianza at age 86. Berlusconi founded the center-right Forza Italia (Go, Italy) Party after the 1991 collapse of the Christian Democratic Party that had dominated Italian politics since the foundation of the Republic in 1947. “The Knight” served as Premier in 1994 to 1995, 2001-2006 and 2008-2011, leading four governments over that span, dominating Italian politics until recently as the conservative political leader. Berlusconi reduced spending, made fiscal reforms, cut taxes and bureaucracy and cracked down on organized crime, while maintaining Italy’s pro-Western and pro-American foreign policy. He was, however, often involved in scandals, both financial and sexual, and his friendship with authoritarians, such as Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, which detracted from his principles of morality, free market capitalism, liberty, representative government, and support for the transatlantic alliance and sometimes made his party, which he continued to lead until his death, seem as primarily a vehicle for his self-preservation. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the party, which is currently a key member of the coalition right wing national government, will continue without its founder and leader. Tajani would be the obvious successor to the presidency of Forza Italia. There is a need for a center-right anchor that keeps the nationalist and populist right wing from abandoning conservative principles and its super-national ties to Western Europe and its alliance with the United States. Italy, a member of the Group of Seven industrial powers and one of the world’s leaders in international peacekeeping, is a major ally of the U.S. as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and in the War on Terrorism.

Foreign Digest: Kosovo, China and Poland

Kosovo: There were violent protests by ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo last week, in which dozens of international peacekeeping troops were injured against the taking of office of Albanian-speaking mayors in the area. Ethnic Serbs had boycotted the elections. Majority ethnic Albanian Kosovo became independent, with Western military support, of then Communist-led Serbia in 1999 after a war of independence, but Serbia and ethnic Serbs share ethno-religious ties and are backed by the Russian Federation. The former Yugoslavia broke up into its constituent parts following the end of the Cold War in 1991, leading to a series of bloody wars inspired by Communist tyrant and war criminal Slobodan Milosevic. There remain tensions in the Western Balkans, aggravated by Serbs and Russia. Communist China: There has been a wave of arrests of dissidents in Hong Kong attempting to acknowledge the anniversary of Communist China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, in which thousands of democratic protestors were killed. Peking has broken its promise to preserve the former British territory’s autonomy and liberty that it made when the city-state reverted to Chinese control in 1997. Meanwhile, Canada joined the United States in enforcing the freedom of navigation in the international waters of the Taiwan Strait, which Red China claims. Poland: A demonstration was held yesterday against the nationalist/populist Polish Government attended by a post-Communist record half million people, led by the conservative opposition leader, former President Donald Tusk, and attended by former President Lech Walesa, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader of the Solidarity labor movement during the Communist era. They protested the increasingly authoritarian leadership and in favor of Poland’s association with Europe and its Western European values of liberty and representative government.