Foreign Digest: Ecuador and Venezuela

The Leftist Presidential Candidate Was Defeated in the Ecuadorian Elections: A centrist businessman and former Member of Parliament won the presidential elections in Ecuador a week ago, versus a leftist candidate. The election is a rejection of the leftist candidate’s mentor, a former President convicted of corruption who had continued to wield influence on Ecuador’s politics. An ally of the Venezuelan Socialists, the former President had supported the Marxist narco-terrorists in Columbia that were backed by Venezuela. The current President is also a member of the liberal party, but not as far to the left as his predecessor. The leftist candidate had promised to bring back her mentor’s welfare spending, but the businessman promised to maintain the free market. Venezuelan Deal Between the Socialist Dictatorship and the Opposition: A deal has been reached between the Socialist dictatorship in Venezuela and the democratic opposition, mediated by the United States. The bans by the regime on opposition candidates would be lifted and there would be moderately free and fair elections that meet international standards by late 2024, in exchange for the loosening of American economic sanctions for signing the deal and more sanctions relief if Venezuela implements the deal. There remains, however, distrust that the Socialist regime, which has ruled since 2000 after usurping representative governance, would honor its commitments in the vaguely worded deal, as it has a poor track record on keeping promises, as it does on respecting human rights. Indeed, no state media coverage was allowed for today’s opposition primary elections. As I had posted about, the opposition won a veto-proof two-thirds majority in the last elections of the national assembly six years ago, but the Socialists barred some delegates from taking their seats to keep their totals under two-thirds and then invoked a constitutional provision to appoint a different body as a national legislature, effectively eliminating the power of that chosen by the Venezuelan people. The assembly leader then invoked a different constitutional provision to declare himself President, which the U.S. and many Latin American and Western States recognized, but his term has since expired, necessitating new elections.

Terrorists Are to Blame for Civilian Deaths in War

The errant rocket fired by terrorists in the Gaza Strip last week that hit an Arab hospital was the fault of the terrorists, not only for launching the war, but firing such weapons in civilian areas. Islamists use people, including both hostages and their own people, as human shields, establishing firing positions and placing stores of munitions in residential neighborhoods, including even in mosques, contrary to the laws of war. The strike against the hospital in Gaza is a reminder of the blaming by isolationists on both the left and the far right of the United States for high estimated civilian death tolls from the Liberation of Iraq, which was a battle that began in 2003 in the War on Terrorism. The war began after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks against America by al-Qaeda, the Islamist Terrorists based in Afghanistan with affiliates around the Islamic world. Baathist Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein fired indiscriminately from civilian areas, with their own weapons striking civilians, and engaged in the aforementioned type of war crimes. The Baathist regime also fomented an Islamist insurgency by creating the Fedayeen, which launched an insurgency against the U.S. and its coalition allies after the overthrow of Hussein, which Baathists and Islamists like al-Qaeda joined, working together. Furthermore, Islamist terrorists had been present in Iraq, namely Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which later split off into the “Islamic State.” Other jihadists from around the Islamic world were attracted to Iraq, where they murdered innocent civilians. They especially targeted Shi’ites to foment division between them and Sunni Muslims, which was unsuccessful. These jihadists focused on Iraq, instead of Afghanistan, as they recognized its significance as a battlefield in the War on Terrorism. They would have been killing people in Afghanistan or elsewhere around the world had they not traveled to Iraq, where thousands of them were captured or killed in a crushing defeat. Moreover, as terrorists are civilians, they and those who harbor or finance them may sometimes be included in the totals of civilians killed, but should not be counted as deaths of innocent civilians.

Hamas-Israeli War Updates: Iranian-Sponsored Attacks and North Korean Arms

Hezbollah: Since both not long before and after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks from the Gaza Strip against Israel earlier this month, the Israelis have continued to strike Hezbollah and Iranian targets in Syria. Hezbollah is the Lebanese Shi’ite terrorist organization backed by Iran, the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism, and Syria, led by the tyrannical Assad regime. As I wrote in my last post, there have been incursions and rocket attacks from Lebanon by Hezbollah against Israel/ Israel has also struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Iran, which sponsors Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both of which conducted massive terrorist attacks on Israel earlier this month, does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Other Iranian-Backed Attacks: Meanwhile, there were drone attacks last week against an American base in Iraq. Such attacks are usually committed by Iranian-backed terrorists. The United States maintains a military presence in Iraq and Syria against other Islamist terrorists, namely al-Qaeda and its offshoot, the Islamic State. U.S. Navy ships operating in the Red Sea also intercepted missiles fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. North Korea: Communist North Korea supplies weapons to Hamas, just as it does to Iran, which are among the reasons why North Korea is a state sponsor of terrorism.

The Ruling and Another Far-Right Party Lost Votes and Seats in the Polish Parliamentary Elections

The ruling far-right nationalist and populist party won the most votes and seats in the Polish parliamentary elections today, but with much fewer than the last election and well short of a majority necessary to form a government. A smaller pro-Russian far-right party also suffered a worse showing than before. Turnout was higher than ever — even more than the first multi-party elections in 1989 in which the Communists were defeated, as a bloc of three opposition parties, led by a conservative party whose leader is a former Polish Prime Minister and European Union (EU) President, collectively obtained a comfortable majority of the vote. At issue was liberty and representative government, as the governing party has eroded the rule of law over its eight years in power by diminishing the independence of the judiciary, and gained more power over the media and the electoral process, while increasing control over the private sector, which has led to cronyism. It has also increased spending, which exacerbates inflation. The EU, of which Poland is a member, has withheld funds because of the Polish Government’s rising authoritarianism. With the notable xception of Ukrainian refugees, the ruling Polish party has also been anti-migrant, opposing reasonable EU reforms of migration policy, together with far-right authoritarian Hungary. Poland, an ally of the United States as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has been a critical ally of neighboring Ukraine against aggression by the Russian Federation. The center-right opposition leader would continue the support for Ukraine. The Polish President will have to give a mandate to the current Prime Minister from the same party to try to form a government because it had won the most seats, but it will not be able to obtain the necessary majority in Parliament to win a vote of confidence. Instead, the opposition parties across the political spectrum will have to form a coalition, as they have expressed a willingness to do, to restore representative governance to Poland, vanquish far-right authoritarianism and xenophobia, and strengthen both NATO and the EU.

Conservative Thoughts on the Hamas Terrorist Attacks on Israel

Hamas, the Iranian-backed Muslim Arab terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip, last week launched the deadliest terrorist attacks ever on Israel with rockets targeting civilian residences, killing well over a thousand people, injuring thousands of others and taking scores of hostages. Hamas was joined by the Islamic Jihad, which is also sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, and the Al-Aqsa Brigades. Among the casualties and hostages are people from around the world, including many Americans. In the meantime, there have been some incursions and attacks against Israel from Lebanon by the Shi’ite terrorist organization Hezbollah, which is also backed by Iran. Sometimes liberals and far-right isolationists minimize the threat of terrorism when it is not targeted directly at Americans as “not a threat to us,” such as when Saddam Hussein financially sponsored suicide bombers in Israel, who sometimes targeted and killed Americans. The current terrorist attacks in Israel are reminders, however, that the threat from terrorism against anyone in the world is a threat to everyone, as terrorists target innocent civilians randomly, which often includes visiting foreigners. Americans, like everyone else, have the freedom to travel abroad to make pilgrimages, visit family, receive formal education or healthcare, engage in commerce, and to be tourists. Terrorism inhibits that freedom. Therefore, it is in the interests of the United States and the international community to defeat terrorism everywhere. It is necessary not only to remove Hamas from power in the autonomous Gaza Strip and to destroy it and its allies, but to deter state sponsors of terrorism, like Iran. Terrorist organizations must be opposed globally and defeated through denial of safe havens from which terrorists train and of funding, and through police or military action, as well as through persuasion that terrorism is an illegitimate form of warfare, regardless of their cause. State sponsors of terrorism must be deterred in various ways. Moreover, it is essential to end terrorism by never rewarding it by being intimidated to give into the demands of the terrorists.

Conservative Republicans Have Launched “Republicans for Ukraine” to Counter the Pro-Russian Trumpist GOP Wing

A conservative anti-Trump organization has launched a new initiative to counter the pro-Russian Trumpist wing of the Republican Party. Defending Democracy Together has launched Republicans for Ukraine to support continued American military aid for Ukrainian independence, sovereignty and freedom against aggression, war crimes and genocide by the Russian Federation, which had recognized Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity: We're Republicans standing for Ukrainian freedom. - Republicans For Ukraine (gopforukraine.com). Russia is led by an ex-Soviet intelligence officer who is trying to restore the Soviet Union and who has been interfering in American politics with propaganda and disinformation, which helped Donald Trump win the GOP nomination and the presidency in 2016. The initiative comes at a time when the significant pro-Putin wing of the Republican Caucus in the United States House of Representatives has blocked military aid to Ukraine, even though opposing aggression has been a fundamental principle of American foreign policy and a fundamental principle of conservative foreign policy, and even though far-right Trumpists claim to be defenders of the principle of sovereignty. Conservatives had staunchly opposed the Communist Soviet Union during the Cold War. It is disturbing to many of us conservatives that some who claim to be conservative today would support a tyrannical, aggressive ex-Soviet intelligence officer trying to restore the Soviet Union. But it is an obvious example of how Trumpism is anathema to conservatism. As I have posted, there have been numerous organizations formed by Republicans and conservatives and various initiatives to counter Trump and Trumpism, a populist mix of protectionism, nativism, isolationism, deception, corruption, disloyalty, cruelty and authoritarianism. These organizations stand for true conservative principles of liberty, morals, civic virtue, the free market, and a strong defense.

Columbus Day is for Celebrating the Greatest Discovery that Re-United the Two Hemispheres; Thanksgiving is for Celebrating Indigenous People

The federal and state holiday of Columbus Day is for celebrating the greatest discovery of all time, when the two Hemispheres of the world were re-united after thousands of years of separation, because of the great observational and navigational skills of Christopher Columbus in October 12, 1492. It is not the time to honor the culture and accomplishments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, for which Thanksgiving is a more appropriate time The Indigenous Peoples are credited for walking across a land bridge from Asia to North America that temporarily formed during the Ice Age when sea levels were much lower. Columbus and his crew had to sail thousands of miles in uncharted waters across the ocean in small wooden ships, relying only on the clock, the compass and the skill of dead reckoning as navigational aids. And he had to be able to find his way back to his home port and back again for the discovery to have meant anything more than previous legendary discoveries by Europeans of the Americas. The point of celebrating Columbus Day is not to celebrate those who were already in the New World, but America as established by the European explorers, colonists and missionaries who made it into the land of opportunity, prosperity, equality, freedom and representative government that it has become. Furthermore, because Columbus was Italian and Catholic and was working for the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, for whom evangelization was a priority in funding the Genoese sailor’s exploration mission, the purpose of honoring Columbus is to acknowledge the contributions of immigrants beyond those of the Northern European and Protestant plurality. When Columbus Day was first celebrated as a federal holiday, it was in direct opposition to nativists who were bigoted against Southern and Eastern Europeans and Jews who were immigrating in large numbers at the time. But now, despite a resurgence of nativism on the Far Rright, it is the Far Left that opposes honoring Columbus because of their anti-Western Civilization and anti-Christian hatred, in addition to ignorance about the meaning of the word discovery, which means to “uncover,” which does not require one to be the first to be credited with a discovery, but allows for independent discoveries. Leftists therefore deny the proper credit for Columbus’ independent discovery of the Western Hemisphere, which represented a discovery from the European perspective, and even his first discoveries of a western and oceanic route to the Americas, among other major scientific discoveries, because leftists falsely think it minimizes the Indigenous People and their culture and contributions to America. A more appropriate time to honor Indigenous Peoples is on Thanksgiving, when Americans give thanks to God for the blessings of liberty and their bounty, in the tradition of the first English colonists who gave thanks to God and for their friendship with the Native Americans who taught them how to farm native crops in the New World. By giving each their own holiday, instead of only to one group, then one does not compete with or diminish the other and the contributions to America of everyone are appreciated.

Foreign Digest: Armenia, Georgia, Slovakia, and Moldova

Armenia: Armenia has joined the International Criminal Court. The move is a blow to erstwhile ally, the Russian Federation, as the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for war crimes committed as part of Russian aggression against Ukraine for Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, the ex-Soviet intelligence officer who has been trying to restore the Soviet Union. Membership in the ICC obligates arrest of those for whom a warrant has been issued, which thus precludes Putin from visiting Armenia. Russia failed to protect ethnic Armenians in the formerly self-governing territory of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan, despite its role as a peacekeeper since a 2020 war between the two former Soviet Republics in the Caucasus, their second since independence in 1991. The vast majority of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh have already fled their ancestral homeland to Armenia. Georgia: Georgia’s President has expressed concern over a Russian plan for a naval base on Georgian soil in a breakaway territory on the Black Sea recognized by the Russia Federation as independent. Russia invaded two separatist territories in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in 2008 and set up puppet governments it recognized as independent. Only a handful of authoritarian States around the world have also recognized the territories’ independence. Russian forces, which Russia had pledged to withdraw, repeatedly further encroached on Georgian territory. Slovakia: Slovakia accuses Russia of interference in its election last week, in which a pro-Russian leftist party won the most votes in the parliamentary elections. As the party fell short of even a quarter of the vote, a coalition government would certainly be necessary, although the leader of the winning party, a former Prine Minister, has been given a mandate by the President to try to form a government. Slovakia, an ally of the United States as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has been providing military aid to Ukraine against Russian aggression, which the leftist party opposes. Under Putin, who aspires to re-unite the Soviet Union, Russia interferes in elections not only in former Soviet Republics and satellites, but also in Western States and the United States with propaganda, disinformation and cyberattacks. It had even attempted a violent coup in Montenegro in 2016. Moldova: The President of Moldova last week accused Kremlin-associated Russian mercenaries of plotting a violent coup d’etat in the former Soviet Republic by provoking violent protests and attacks against the Moldovan government. Thousands of Russian Federation troops are in a breakaway part of Moldova where there is a Russian-speaking ethnic minority on the border with Ukraine, against Moldova’s intent. Communist and Socialist parties in Moldova support Russia. Moldova aspires to membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union.

The United States Diplomatic Recognition of the Cook Islands and Niue

The United States recently diplomatically recognized the Cook Islands and Niue as independent States. The tiny Pacific Ocean island States are in free association with New Zealand, an American ally. The step is a counter to Communist China’s assertive influence in the Pacific. The U.S. has signed security deals with Australia, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines, in addition to those it already has with several other Pacific States. As a Pacific power, there are American bases in Guam and the Northern Marianas, in addition the oceanic coast of the homeland.

Foreign Digest: Philippines and China, Kosovo and Bosnia, and Poland

Philippines and Communist China: The Philippines last week removed a barrier on one of the disputed Spratley Islands that had been set up as a navigational obstacle by Communist China against Filipino fishermen and to reinforce the Chinese claim to the island. The Spratleys are disputed between China (and also the Republic of China on Taiwan), which claim most of the South China Sea, and the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, which each claim some of the islands. Every State has a presence on at least one of the islands. The Economic Exclusion zone of the Philippines, with its fishing rights, extends to the island claimed by China. At stake in the South China Sea also are mineral rights, particularly for oil. Kosovo and Bosnia: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization announced last week that it is increasing its peacekeeping force presence in Kosovo after a deadly attack by ethnic Serbs against Kosovar police. Kosovo broke away from Serbia after a war in 1999, following the breakup of the former Serb-dominated Yugoslavia in 1991. Yugoslavia and then its rump, Serbia, was led by its last Communist leader who fomented ethnic hatreds in the diverse countries and caused multiple wars and atrocities. Serbia had massed troops on the border with Kosovo, whose independence it does not recognize, unlike the United States and most European States, but withdrew some today after NATO members had warned it. There are a small minority of Serbs, who are Slavs and Orthodox Christians, in northern Kosovo I posted about this summer. Kosovo is mostly inhabited by ethnic Albanians, who are predominately Muslim with some Orthodox Christians. Meanwhile in another former Yugoslav Republic, Bosnia and Herzogivina, the ethnic Serbian Republic within it that was formed within it in 1995 after the bloody war of independence is again threatening secession. The other constituent Bosnian Republic is a confederation of Croats (who are kin with Serbs, but are Roman Catholic), and Bosniaks (who are Muslim Slavs). Poland: A million Poles rallied in Warsaw, Poland today in opposition to the far-right nationalist authoritarian government of Poland and in support of representative government ahead of parliamentary elections next week. Former President and European Union head Donald Tusk leads the conservative party in the elections that are expected to be close. Poland is an ally of the United States as a member of NATO and against the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Poland was a Communist satellite State of the Soviet Union, which the current tyrannical leader of the Russian Federation, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer, is trying to reconstitute. The current Polish Government had supported Ukraine until a recent dispute over grain exports. It is also part of an anti-migrant axis with Hungary.