The foreign sources that aided and abetted the October 7, 2023 jihadist bloodbath

Larry Taunton wrote about the now tragic history of the October 7, 2023 jihad attack on Israeli targets, and how certain totalitarians also had a role in the barbarism, along with certain western sources:

Oct. 7 was years in the making and could not have been successfully executed without the aid and discretion of the people of Gaza. Moreover, it involved the assistance of numerous foreign players: China supplied the vehicles which were smuggled across the Egypt-Gaza border through tunnels; North Korea supplied weapons; Iran supplied weapons, technology, and training; and Qatar supplied money to build homemade weapons and to pay terrorists and the Gazans who worked for them.

In other words, Oct. 7 was an act of war.

It was planned with the precision of a Pearl Harbor. And like Pearl Harbor, the attack caught the enemy off-guard and flatfooted. There were indicators an attack might be coming: Israeli SIM cards, thousands of them, lighting up all over Gaza the night before the attack; Hamas carrying out military exercises openly; reports that key Hamas leaders were going to ground; laborers from Gaza with Israeli work visas caught smuggling weapons into Israel, and so on.

There's only so much evil that was undoubtably planned in the 20th century itself, and now we've experienced the horrific results. And in addition to the communists of China and such, there's also the following:

I inspect the package again: “UNRWA. I don’t understand.”

“I found it in one of the captured pickup trucks the terrorists used,” he says. “They were carrying antibiotics and emergency aid kits —”

I can fill in the rest: — paid for by US tax dollars.

As Taunton continues to note, the Biden administration played a very horrific part in this as did the UN, along with a certain Israeli figure:

More than two years after the attack and a legal fight to keep it classified, Assaf Shmuelevitz’s name had just been released by the Supreme Court of Israel, but not much more than his name. According to Ynet News:

Shmuelevitz is accused of impersonating an IDF captain in the early days of the war following the October 7 massacre, entering military command centers, recording classified conversations, collecting sensitive information, and passing it to unauthorized individuals.

Lawyers for Shmuelevitz have entered what in U.S. legalese might be called an insanity plea. SM rolls his eyes at the mention of it. Shmuelevitz’s role remains unclear: whether he was acting alone; who his handlers were, if, indeed, he had any; and the damage that he did or didn’t do. What is clear to my lunch companion is the role the Biden administration played in the Oct. 7 massacre.

SM’s feelings about Trump’s wobbly predecessor are reflected in Netanyahu’s remarks a few days earlier. The prime minister claimed Biden bore at least some responsibility for Oct. 7 because his administration slapped a weapons embargo on Israel that left the IDF with insufficient ammunition. Predictably, this was followed by fierce denials from Democrats. But this was the least of it.

The Biden administration funded Oct. 7.

This is something that'll definitely be recalled in repugnance in history and years to come. What Biden led to is in some ways much worse than what Jimmy Carter led to in his time. And now, the tragedy's struck most repulsively. Read more of the article in full.

Actor Gerard Depardieu to stand trial for sexual assault

Veteran actor Depardieu is going to trial on accusations of sexual assault, and it's said that as many as 20 women have accused him of attacking them:

The “titan” of French cinema is about to stand trial. Film star Gérard Depardieu will appear before the Paris Criminal Court on March 24 and 25 on charges of sexually assaulting two women during the filming of Jean Becker’s film “The Green Shutters” in 2021.

Behind the 'Green Shutters'

In 2021, French director Jean Becker offered the 76-year-old Gérard Depardieu a role that he seemed born to play: an acclaimed actor at the height of his fame, but worn down by age and years of lavish living. It was a film that straddled the line between real life and fantasy – and its production soon turned into a nightmare.

On February 23, 2024, 54-year-old set dresser Amélie lodged a complaint against the actor for “sexual assault”, “sexual harassment” and “sexist insults”.

Speaking to left-wing investigative outlet Mediapart, she described how the actor had “brutally grabbed her” in a corridor, held her still by “closing his legs around her like a crab” before “kneading her waist, her belly, right up to her breasts”.

Amélie said that Depardieu’s bodyguards had put a stop to the assault. She alleged that the actor had called out “We’ll see each other again, my darling!” as he walked off.

Only in court at this point. It's very sad it came to this, obviously, because now, we once again have a situation where past movies and TV programs are tarnished by the presence and casting of a man who committed repellent acts. Undoubtably, many people will have difficulty overlooking that for a long time to come. When it comes to live action cinema, it's a lot more difficult to separate art from the artist if he appears on screen. Here's more about the history of the allegations against him:

A 2023 television investigation entitled “The Fall of the Ogre” revealed images shot five years earlier in North Korea, in which Depardieu can be heard making obscene sexual remarks about an underage girl.

Even so, some French people still struggle to find fault with a larger-than-life entertainer whose love of food and wine, coupled with classic Gallic looks, helped make him a national icon.

When then-culture minister Rima Abdul-Malak called the recording of Depardieu in North Korea a “shame for France”, President Emmanuel Macron jumped to his defense.

He remained a “towering actor” who “makes France proud,” Macron said.

Around 60 film and art figures signed a petition to support the “cinema giant” in 2023, entitled “Don’t Cancel Gerard Depardieu.”

Obviously, it's regrettable, but not surprising a politician like Macron would defend him, after acting extremely hostile towards Israel, that's for sure. An utter embarrassment. Here's more to ponder:

He began dipping into Hollywood in the years after, with movies such as “Green Card” and “1492” which won him new audiences.

But his reputation took a blow when Time magazine in 1991 — just before the Oscars ceremony where Depardieu was nominated for Best Actor for Cyrano de Bergerac — printed an interview where he admitted to rapes during childhood.

There was anger in the French government about an alleged conspiracy to deprive him of the Oscar and Depardieu denied having made the remarks, although Time stood by the interview.

So the government, not the public, was making such a fuss. If even half of what Time reported was correct, this is chilling, and quite surprising he'd actually confess to committing abominations.

And here's another report on the issue as it stands now:

France’s most famous male actor will also be confronting a nation long criticised for failing to address sexual violence — particularly when committed by its most powerful figures.

Depardieu, 76, is accused of assaulting a set dresser and an assistant director during the 2021 filming of Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters).

While more than 20 women have publicly accused him of sexual misconduct, this is the first time one of those cases has gone to trial.

The failure to address horrifying issues like sexual assault in France is exactly what enabled Islamofascism to get away with it in many cases. So many defenseless women paid a heavy price that there's no telling if the government and justice system as it stands now will try to repair. As for Depardieu, his career is hopefully over. It's a terrible shame that now, a lot of his films will suffer tainted reputations as a result of his terrible deeds, but at least he's now facing up to his wrongdoings in court. Unfortunately, whether he'll serve a jail sentence is something that may not come to be. And that's the saddest part of this whole scandal.

Even the Hezbollah built tunnels

According to a recent study, Hezbollah jihadists in Lebanon built even more tunnels than the Hamas did in Gaza:

The French newspaper Libération reported that according to its investigation, the tunnel network dug by the Hezbollah terrorist organization is even more extensive and sophisticated than the tunnel system created by Hamas under the Gaza Strip.

The tunnels dug by Hezbollah over the last 30 years are hundreds of kilometers in total length and descend to a depth of up to 80 meters. The tunnels were dug through stone, with the aid of North Korean technology.

According to the report, Hezbollah's tunnels extend underneath Lebanon's borders with Syria and Israel and violate the sovereign territory of both countries.

It's clear the IDF has a lot more to deal with in the long run. All because of what began under Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, in example, when they signed the Oslo accords.

Trump was right about Iran's nuclear threats

While Donald Trump isn't perfect, he did have valid points about Iran:

Maybe Donald Trump was right about Iran this whole time. That may be an uncomfortable reality. The Iran deal was supposed to get Iran to stop uranium enrichment. The West must admit that it failed.

It should be stressed that Iran has continued developing its nuclear program for a couple of reasons. Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi voluntarily abandoned his program, but he was eventually overthrown. Who’s to say whether he would have eventually met his demise had he not abandoned his nuclear program, but it is unlikely NATO would have intervened had he possessed nuclear weapons. This same line of reasoning is why North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un is ramping up his nuclear arsenal.

Ukraine surrendered its nuclear arsenal to Russia as part of the Budapest Memorandum in 1994 in exchange for security guarantees. As we all know now, these guarantees were not worth the paper they were written on. Now of course, Russia has ignored its previous commitments to respect Ukrainian sovereignty. That Iran is also providing Russia with drones and other arms speaks volumes.

Tragically indeed. Now, it's bound to cost a heavy price in the long run.

What and who led to defeat from a historical perspective in the war against terrorism

Caroline Glick recently had the following to say about how and why the USA lost the war against jihadists, pointing to past incidents in history within 2 decades that explains quite a bit about why in the long run, the war against terrorism was a failure:

Biden is personally responsible for the humanitarian and strategic disaster unfolding before our eyes. He is the only American leader in history who has willfully abandoned Americans and American allies to their fate behind enemy lines. But while Biden is solely responsible for the decision to leave Afghanistan in the manner it is, it isn’t Biden’s fault that after twenty years of war, the Taliban was still around, stronger than it was on September 11, 2001, and fully capable of seizing control of the country. The foundations of that failure were laid in the days, weeks and months that followed the September 11 attacks.

In the aftermath of September 11, then president George W. Bush and his national security team put together the guiding assumptions for what came to be known as the global war on terror. In the years since then, some of the assumptions were updated, adapted or replaced as conditions on the ground evolved. But three of the assumptions that stood at the foundation of America’s military, intelligence and diplomatic planning and operations since then were not revisited, save for the final two years of the Trump administration. All three contributed significantly to America’s defeat in Afghanistan and its failure to win the war against global terror as a whole. The first assumption related to Pakistan, the second to Iran, and the third to Israel.

By rights, Pakistan should have been the first domino to fall after the September 11 attacks. The Taliban were the brainchild of Pakistan’s jihad-addled ISI intelligence agency. Al Qaeda operatives also received ISI support. But aside from a few threats and temporary sanctions around the time of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the U.S. took no significant actions against Pakistan. The reason for America’s inaction is easy to understand.

In 1998 Pakistan tested nuclear weapons. By September 11, 2001, Pakistan fielded a significant nuclear arsenal. Following the attacks, Pakistan made clear its view of nuclear war, and the connection between its position and its sponsorship of terror.

In October and December 2001, Kashmiri terrorists sponsored by Pakistan attacked the Jammu and Kashmir parliament and the Indian parliament. When India accused Pakistan of responsibility and threatened reprisals, then Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf placed the Pakistani military on alert. India began deploying troops to the border and Pakistan followed suit.

Rather than side with India, the U.S. pressured Delhi to stand down, which it did in April 2002. In June 2002, Pakistani-backed terrorists carried out suicide bombings against the wives and children of Indian soldiers. The countdown to war began again. In June 2002, again bowing to U.S. pressure, India pledged it would not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the conflict. Musharraf refused to follow suit.

Rather than rally behind India, the Bush administration wrested an empty promise from Musharraf that he would stop sponsoring terrorism and then pressured India to stand down again.

The U.S. message was clear. By credibly threatening to use its nuclear weapons, Pakistan deterred the Americans. Less than six months later, North Korea expelled UN inspectors from its nuclear reactor at Yangbyon and cancelled its signature on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran escalated its covert nuclear activities at Isfahan and Natanz.

The U.S.’s decision to dodge a confrontation with Pakistan following the Sept. 11 attacks empowered the ISI to rebuild the Taliban and al Qaeda after the U.S. decimated both in its initial offensive. Taliban leaders decamped to Pakistan where they rebuilt their forces and waged a war of attrition against U.S., NATO forces and the Afghan army and government they built. Osama bin Laden was living in what amounted to a Pakistani military base when he was killed by U.S. commandos. That war ended with Biden’s surrender and the Taliban’s recapture of Kabul this month.

The politician responsible for failure in the past was Bush. He caused trouble for Israel, India, and every innocent soul in Europe. All by downplaying the seriousness of the issues, and refusing to focus on all Islamic regimes where al Qaeda/Taliban was a serious threat. A so-called conservative who was no better than his equally awful father was in his time.

And on that note, more recently, during the 9-11 Memorial, Bush practically unmasked and let know where he really stands, as he attacked Americans on a day that's supposed to be committed to unity and not offensive statements:

Many media and political figures expressed outrage online after former President George W. Bush appeared to use his speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of 9/11 to compare January 6 Capitol protesters to the Islamic terrorists who viciously attacked America, killing nearly three thousands innocents and wounding more than double that number.

Here's more on Revolver News about this horrific act of his in Shanksville. As noted:

9/11’s Twentieth Anniversary would be a good time to reflect on the bloody failures of the George W. Bush administration. There could be a frank discussion on how Bush took America’s greatest moment of national unity since World War 2, and channeled it into two disastrous overseas wars while greatly empowering intelligence agencies at home. There could be discussion on how, instead of asking Americans to sacrifice, Bush urged them to go shopping and launched a federal spending spree that has never stopped. There could even be a frank discussion on how Bush failed to stop the attacks themselves, which might be related to Bush explicitly running on a pledge to scale back racial profiling in airports.

This is also why in the long run, the war in Afghanistan wound up a failure. I'd written in the past about Bush's pretensions, but this is by far one of the most repulsive and divisive things he could ever do. Ashli Babbit's mother had strong words for Bush following this horrific example set. I heard a podcast by Steve Bannon where it's stated that with his reprehensible minimization, Bush has effectively put himself among the ranks of the most disgraced names in US politics.

The worst part of this hijacking of the 9-11 Memorial by establishment figures is that in the future, it could end up discouraging sensible people from attending, if they're worried that traitorous politicians like Bush could make offensive statements like that again. This year's become the most tarnished for the 9-11 Memorial service as a result.

Update: Right Wing Uncut has more.

New Jersey man arrested for lending support to Hamas

A possible Muslim convert in New Jersey was arrested for making threats against a pro-Israeli rally and supporting Hamas:

A New Jersey man who threatened to shoot everyone at a pro-Israel rally and said he wanted to “bomb Trump Tower,” was arrested Wednesday on charges of trying to provide support to Hamas.

Jonathan Xie, 20, of Basking Ridge, allegedly had social media accounts loaded with terror propaganda, according to the FBI. The agency said he had also declared support for Syrian leader Bashar al Assad, former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein and North Korea.

It sounds like he's also a communist supporter. And another young man who's thrown away his future for the sake of evil. If we continue to allow this kind of indoctrination, many lives will be ruined.

Nikki Haley resigns as American ambassador to UN

One of the best US diplomats who bravely stood up to the evil forces at the UN is stepping down from her current job:

Nikki Haley resigned Tuesday as the US ambassador to the United Nations, in the latest departure from President Donald Trump's national security team.

Meeting Haley in the Oval Office, Trump said that Haley had done a "fantastic job" and would leave at the end of the year."

She told me probably six months ago," Trump told reporters, that '"I want to take a little time off.'

"A successor will be named "in the next two or three weeks," he said. [...]

Haley has pressed for a hard line on Iran, justified US cuts to foreign assistance and earlier this year led the United States in bolting from the UN Human Rights Council, accusing it of bias against Washington and close ally Israel.

At the recent UN General Assembly session, Haley took the highly unusual step for a senior diplomat of joining street protesters against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, shouting from a megaphone that the leftist leader should leave office. [...]

She listed hawkish policies to pressure Iran and the Palestinians, and the ground-breaking diplomatic outreach to communist North Korea.

"All of those things have made a huge difference in the US standing, but I can tell you that the US is strong again. The US is strong in a way it should make all Americans proud," Haley said.

I agree she did a very admirable job at the UN, and hope she'll be around for another prominent role in US politics. The Times of India was also impressed, noting she's got Indian heritage, and she's done them proud too.

I do hope the Trump administration's got somebody else just as talented to fill the void she'll be leaving. The UN's still as evil as ever, with the UNESCO division having again sided with the PLO by declaring Rachel's Tomb "part of occupied palestinian territory", along with the Tomb of Patriarchs. A message has to be made clear we will not stand for this, and it's also high time for the US to withdraw from the UN. Israel should too.

USA embassy has finally been established in Jerusalem

Today, a most joyous, positive event has taken place. The opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem:

President Donald Trump delivered a video address at the ceremony opening the official United States embassy in Jerusalem, recognizing the historic impact of his decision.

“The plain reality that Israel’s capital is Jerusalem,” Trump said, calling the decision about the location of the embassy “a long time coming.”

Trump announced his decision to relocate the U.S. embassy in December 2017, fulfilling a campaign promise.

“Today we follow through on this recognition and open our embassy in the historic and sacred land of Jerusalem and we’re opening it many, many years ahead of schedule,” he said.

As Miriam Adelson notes here, it's a great day for Israel:

When the U.S. inaugurates its new embassy in Jerusalem today, we Israelis will rejoice – loudly, proudly, and justly.

It will be a national milestone, a turning point. It will be a cause for celebration on a par with Israel’s Declaration of Independence in 1948 and its victory over three enemy armies, and the expeditionary forces assisting them, in the Six-Day War of 1967.

We will be like the dreamers of Psalms, our mouths filled with laughter and our tongues with joy, at this honor for Israel’s ancient, beloved, undivided and eternal capital: Jerusalem, the focus of our thrice-daily prayers for 3,000 years.

Americans should be just as thrilled. I can say this with full confidence because I am not only a native-born Israeli; I am also a naturalized U.S. citizen who cares deeply about American interests.

The embassy opening is a crowning moment for U.S. foreign policy and for our president, Donald Trump. Just over a year into his first term, he has re-enshrined the United States as the standard-bearer of moral clarity and courage in a world that too often feels adrift.

Exactly 70 years ago, as the horrors of World War II were still fresh, another great president, Harry Truman, asserted U.S. leadership by recognizing the fledgling State of Israel. Trump is the Truman of our time. He knew that Americans, first and foremost, would benefit from his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as would peace-loving people everywhere.

And he took action on Jerusalem, just as he did in nobly quitting the vile Iranian nuclear deal last week, and just as he is doing right now, with tough diplomacy on North Korea.

America should definitely be thrilled, and you can be sure plenty are...but there's still Democrats who not only aren't, their representatives didn't even show up:

Four U.S. Senators addressed members of the press at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on Monday morning, hours before the official relocation of the U.S. embassy — and all four were Republicans.

Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Dean Heller (R-NV), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Mike Lee (R-UT) made the trip, along with ten Republican U.S. Representatives — but not one Democrat joined the U.S. delegation for the embassy event.

Only former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) — who was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000 before being rejected by his party in 2006 for his support of the Iraq War — came to Jerusalem to join in the festivities.

Two journalists asked the Republican Senators why no Democrats had come.

Sen. Cruz said: “That is a sad, sad manifestation — I wish we had every member of Congress here … every member of Congress had the option before them to come.”

Sen. Graham said that no one, Republican or Democrat, had been specifically invited to the ceremony — they simply chose to come or they did not. And he noted that only Republicans had come of their own volition.

“It’s not for me to tell you what that says,” Graham said. “It hurts me.”

He noted that the absence of Democrats sent a dangerous message that Americans were not united in their support for Israel.

“There’s too much going on in this region to send mixed signals,” he said.

Indeed, as the great occasion was taking place, the Hamas incited a mob at the Gaza crossing to riot, and there were even anti-Israeli demonstrators cavorting around outside the complex of the embassy. Such refusal to put politics aside is not helpful.

A GOP representative predicts that countries outside western Europe will move their own embassies to Jerusalem as well:

“Guatemala is going to open up an embassy in Jerusalem in two days,” he said. “Paraguay is on the way. I think you’re going to see a lot of countries out of Western Europe start to follow the United States’ lead. I bet you some of those countries who are our traditional allies will probably be the laggards in this. But hey Brian, that’s fine. I mean, do the right thing and some of these smaller countries who have done that — I think they’ve shown a lot of courage in doing so.”

Eventually, I think even the western European countries will show the guts to make the move too. For now, it's great that the USA sent an important message and moved the embassy to Jerusalem, putting an end to what should be a non-issue and recognizing the vitality of history. That's something to celebrate.

Update: Accuracy in Media noted that the MSM chose to side with the jihadists who acted violent at the Gaza line. Which is very bad of them indeed.

Donald Trump appoints John Bolton to national security adviser

Trump's taken a very excellent step of adding politician John Bolton to his staff. Caroline Glick states why he's a good choice for his new role:

President George W. Bush appointed Bolton to serve as UN ambassador in 2005 in a recess appointment. Three moderate Republicans on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Lincoln Chafee (RI), Chuck Hagel (ND), and George Voinovich (OH), signaled that they would oppose Bolton’s confirmation, blocking it.

At the time, rumors surfaced that then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had quietly undercut Bolton’s confirmation in private conversations with senators. Those rumors were denied, and Rice publicly supported Bolton’s confirmation. But in 2016, Rice, along with her mentor, former secretary of state James Baker, and her deputy and successor as National Security Advisor, Stephen Hadley, openly opposed President Trump’s intention to appoint Bolton Deputy Secretary of State. At the same time, all three lobbied Trump to appoint outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Bolton was a vocal opponent of Rice’s nuclear diplomacy with North Korea, undertaken after Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test in 2006. He also opposed Rice’s pursuit of diplomatic ties with Iran through negotiations in Iraq. In both cases, as events showed, Bolton’s criticisms were all in place.

Rice’s nuclear diplomacy with North Korea emboldened the regime, and enabled its continued testing of nuclear weapons and development of ballistic missiles.

In Iran’s case, Rice’s negotiations with the Iranians in 2007 and 2008 set the stage for president Barack Obama’s nuclear talks with Tehran, which led to the 2015 nuclear deal. That deal, like the 1994 Agreed Framework with North Korea, preserves, rather than dismantles, Iran’s nuclear program while providing Iran with the financial means to expand its regional power through its terrorist proxies.

On the other hand, Bolton’s actions while in office brought extraordinary benefit to US national security. For instance, as Bush’s undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, in 2003 Bolton conceptualized and launched the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). The purpose of the PSI was to empower nations to interdict ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction, delivery systems, and related materials from states and non-state actors of proliferation concern. Originally launched with 11 state members, today the PSI has 105 state members. Its members have interdicted multiple ships suspected of transferring illicit weapons systems to other states and to non-state actors.

Like Trump, Bolton is an opponent of international treaties that bind the U.S. in a manner that may be antithetical to its national interests, and prefers bilateral agreements that are tailor-made to defend America’s national interests. Bolton was a firm opponent of the Rome Treaty, which established the International Criminal Court. He worked avidly to vacate America’s signature from the treaty. Due largely to his cogent opposition, the Bush administration decided not to submit the treaty to the Senate for ratification. Bolton concluded 100 bilateral treaties with nations committing them never to present complaints against U.S. military personnel before the tribunal.

And this is why Trump's to be congratulated for selecting a realist politician for his cabinet staff. One whom phonies like Rice, Bush and 3 aforementioned Congressmen sought to undermine because he recognized which policies were bad ones. There's a lot Bolton needs to do now to help put a stop to Iran's tyranny, and he'll hopefully be able to accomplish missions in his new job.

Tourists from Korea are being robbed in France by Muslim rioters

Thanks to all the negligence caused by the pathetic government officials now running France, Asian tourists are being victimized by Muslim thugs and even black criminals, all as riots broke out over a criminal supposedly raped by police:

About forty South Korean tourists were robbed in Paris at the weekend when men climbed aboard their coach shouting threats.

Witness statements from the event, described by South Korea’s leading news agency Yonhap as “ten minutes of horror”, revealed that one of the intruders threatened tourists on the coach with an object “resembling a glass bottle”.

The coachload of tourists were driving back to their hotel in Saint-Denis at the time of the attack. The neighbourhood is in close proximity to areas of Paris affected by ongoing violence as anti-police protesters riot over the assault of a black youth worker who alleges he was anally raped with a truncheon while being arrested.

The Yonhap report stated “the possibility of a link” between the robbery and the riots going on in the area had not yet been ruled out.

I think the whole allegation is a likely story, fabricated by thugs not unlike the Black Lives Matter movement. And now, look at all the damage they've caused, including - but not limited to - tourism.

In the meantime, Marine Le Pen's continuing her presidential campaign and concentrating on security/immigration issues more than her rivals actually are. I hope she can have an impact on those topics.

ICANN assisted a member who gave US technology to Iran

The Washington Free Beacon reveals that ICANN has been plagued by corruption already, even before the Obama administration set out to transfer oversight to foreign sources who could prove to be a bad lot:

The international organization the Obama administration is pushing to hand control over the internet to has provided official accreditation to people who have transferred technology to Iran, worked with North Korea, and ordered “murders-for-hire,” according to congressional testimony that raises questions about the organization’s practices.

Obama administration efforts to hand over control of America’s Internet to The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, an international coalition of 162 countries and entities, have sparked outrage on Capitol Hill, where critics allege the move would stifle the free flow of information.

Experts familiar with ICANN’s structure testified before Congress on Wednesday that the organization has failed to act in a transparent and accountable fashion, raising questions about how it would operate free from U.S. government oversight.

On multiple occasions, ICANN has provided official accreditation to people operating as an “arm of a criminal network,” including one person who pled guilty to transferring U.S. technology to Iran, according to testimony by John Horton, president and CEO of LegitScript, which works with international governments.

ICANN continues to provide legitimacy to these organizations despite mounting evidence they have engaged in illegal activity, according to Horton, who explained that these criminal sites “remain online because ICANN green-lighted the registrar’s refusal to investigate or take action.”

One of these outfits is ABSystems, a “rogue internet pharmacy network” that provided cover to its founder, Paul Le Roux, who has been dubbed the “most successful criminal mastermind you’ve never heard of.”

“In December 2013, Paul Le Roux pleaded guilty to crimes involving North Korean methamphetamine trafficking, the transfer of US technology to Iran, and several murders-for-hire,” according to Horton’s testimony, which was offered to the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Mr. Le Roux, a Zimbabwean national … remains in US custody, pending sentencing.”

Le Roux financed his illegal endeavors “by operating as an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar, creating a rogue internet pharmacy network through his ability to register domain names unimpeded,” according to Horton.

Gee whiz. It's already clear ICANN's plagued by some of the worst people around if they allowed men like that to ply their trade without opposition. And it's just one more reason why I think separate internet management agencies should be established even if ICANN doesn't go under bad foreign controls. These separate companies might have to charge more money for services but that could ensure better trustworthiness.

This is proof beyond a doubt that ICANN cannot be entrusted to foreigners who could serve shady interests. And who knows what Iran's been doing with that technology Le Roux gave them?

UK government pays millions in tax pounds to jihadists

This should come as no shock to anyone familiar with the mentality prevailing among Britain's elitists. The government's been shelling out mountains of money to terrorists:

The scandal of how Britain fritters away billions in foreign aid – including paying salaries to convicted terrorists who have murdered hundreds of innocent people – is exposed today by a major MoS investigation.

The shocking revelation that thousands of Palestinian terrorists, including men who have masterminded suicide bombings and murdered children, are given cash handouts from aid money will cause anger and disbelief, particularly in the wake of the Brussels massacres.

Our probe exposed how huge amounts of taxpayers’ cash, that critics say should be spent in Britain, is being ‘squandered’ on wasteful schemes elsewhere by the Department For International Development (DFID) and Foreign Office.

Despite claims of astonishing waste, the Government maintains a dogged adherence to the commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of the nation’s income on foreign aid – the highest proportion of any of the world’s major economies – even though last year it had to borrow £70 billion.

[...] We dug beneath the headline figures on DFID’s websites to reveal waste and misguided largesse which seemed to extend to virtually every corner of the globe and which will shock readers. In the West Bank and Gaza, despite promises by the ruling Palestinian Authority (PA) to end the practice of paying aid money to convicted terrorists, our investigation revealed that they had simply duped the West by allowing the Palestine Liberation Organisation to hand out the cash instead.

Britain gives £72 million a year to Palestine, more than one-third of which goes straight to the PA. It openly admits supporting terrorists whom it hails as heroes for fighting illegal occupation, awarding lifetime payments that rise depending on time spent in jail and the seriousness of crimes.

One Hamas master bomber has reportedly been given more than £100,000. Other ‘salaries’ go to the families of suicide bombers and even teenagers involved in the latest upsurge of deadly attacks on Israel.

DFID and the European Union are still effectively supporting these payments to thousands of terrorists – despite claims to have ended such links two years ago. This was confirmed to the MoS by former prisoners and families receiving the cash, and in official statements by the PA.

We also visited a lavish £8 million palace that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is having built on the West Bank.

Other highlights of the bizarre catalogue of aid include £8,000 spent to send Tony Blair’s former spin doctor to lecture in Armenia, and £36,000 to set up a ‘friendly’ football match between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I hesitate to think what they were talking about in Armenia. Here's more about the scandal on the Jewish Chronicle, Israel National News, Legal Insurrection, and Honest Reporting. This only confirms anybody's worries that the UK's mindset is one of the most evil on the planet, and some of that money was used to fund potential sympathizers with terrorism in the rest of Europe and the USA too. I think it's time to stop traveling to England even for just a tour of local sights. There's no point in putting money in their pockets, and it'd likely go into the pockets of terrorists in turn. That would be a very bad thing.

Norwegian paper's cartoon compares Israel to Nazis and north Korea

Another propaganda source in Norway's cesspool has crossed the line:

A widely distributed Norwegian tabloid is refusing to apologize for its decision to publish a cartoon that compares Israel to the Nazis and to North Korea.

The daily newspaper Dagbladet published a cartoon on Thursday showing a woman shopping for organic food and wondering, "But what’s the point if the food is produced in an unethical way?" In the next panel, she picks up an orange, notices it is from Israel, and says, "You are supporting murderers."

Then she picks up a package of pasta and says, "This macaroni was made in North Korea. How did you even get this?"

Finally, she picks up a frozen pizza package with a swastika on it and the label "Made in Nazi Germany."

"What is this store, anyway?" the woman says.

What kind of tabloid is this anyway? And I thought American and British tabloids were bad! Yet another reason why Norway's not a country any sane person should be supporting.

Attacks in Paris and on Sony raise fears of censorship

The Boston Herald's brought up the valid worries of censorship that could consume Hollywood, not just because they're allegedly afraid of terrorist attacks, but also because they're worried about money:

Freedom of speech is under attack, but, given Sony's initial decision to pull the release of the "The Interview" and its subsequent about-face, it's not clear how rousing a defense the entertainment business is willing to mount in the midst of financial pressures, political dangers and the threat of violence.

"All of this is deeply concerning to me because increasingly we live in a culture of fear," said documentary director Joe Berlinger, whose films include "Paradise Lost" and "Crude." "This culture of fear is economically based and that doesn't mix well with freedom of expression."

Berlinger said it's already difficult to get networks and studios to back politically-charged projects because they are worried about alienating advertisers or sectors of the audience.

In the hours following the Paris attacks, not one of the Hollywood movie or TV studio executives contacted by Variety would comment on the implications for the entertainment industry and potential chilling effect the killings could have on producing controversial content.

That reticence to tackle controversies threatens to calcify, filmmakers and other industry watchers say. Already, CNN has had to justify its decision not to air images of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons that may have provoked the attack.

"We were already heading in the direction of possible self-censorship in Hollywood because of the Sony hacking, and this might just reinforce those tendencies," said Ira Deutchman, chair of the film program at Columbia University and co-founder of Emerging Pictures.

Studios routinely edit out scenes and other imagery from films exported overseas so as to not offend local sensibilities or, in the case of China, to pass muster with government censors. The worry among some writers, however, is that projects won't even get to that point.

Novelist Andrew Kaplan, author of the "Scorpion" adventure novels and "Homeland" book tie-ins, said that he sees the Paris attack as "leading to more self-censorship. As a writer or film or TV producer, nobody's looking for more headaches. So people step away from problems."

He said that his book "Scorpion: Betrayal" had a dangerous terrorist character known as "The Palestinian," and "there were strong suggestions from my editor of change this."

Kaplan dug in his heels.

"We batted this back and forth, but I held my ground," he said. "I could see why they felt, 'We don't want to step into this mess.' People are already antsy about discussing Islam and the Prophet Mohammed. Also, even though the Mideast is not a huge market for films and TV, it's an important source of money for productions. So producers and executives pull in their horns. They say, 'Let's shade this a little differently' because the truth is, they want the Mideast money."

I think this sums up the root cause of the problem: many studios and publishers have sold out to moneymaking, mainly overseas. All because they don't have confidence in movies filmed on a studio set to sell as well as those filmed on location, and that's just a starting example. If this is what we've come down to, then there's no point supporting a lot of these movie studios, because they're already certified cowards, and what's the point in supporting studios that do cave to PC? What needs to be done as a reaction is establish studios and distributors who will show the guts to tackle serious issues, and find millionaires who can provide the needed backing.

Update: in related news, the Weekly Standard's posted several Charlie Hebdo covers, in solidarity with the paper.

Left-wing film reviewers side with North Korea against The Interview

The movie that almost didn't get released and now thankfully has been did not win over leftist movie critics, who detest the focus given to some of the themes the movie features. Michael Blatt explains what kind of excuses they're turning to, and why they're ultimately not suited for their jobs.

Frank Gaffney is right: don't give away the internet

Gaffney, one of the best voices on these issues, spoke about Obama's disturbing plans on Big Peace:

It is not clear precisely how the U.S government will be able to assure such outcomes having already announced that it is terminating the present arrangement. Businesses and non-governmental organizations that have endorsed this initiative with the caveat that they expect these conditions to eventuate are either kidding themselves or deceiving the rest of us.

That is especially so given that it is a safe bet ICANN will fall under the effective, if not de jure, control of the United Nation’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Should that happen, neither the security, stability, nor resiliency of the Internet’s Domain Name System can be assured. Indeed, this sort of arrangement has long been demanded by such enemies of freedom and free expression as the governments of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran; multi-national groups like the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; and the UN bureaucracy.

Gaffney says that the US Congress must do its part to ensure the Net will not fall into the hands of all these dictatorships, and the Center for Security Policy has a petition you can sign to protest this too. The UN is definitely not a movement that should be allowed to control the Net.

South Korean tourists murdered by jihadists in Sinai

A horrible tragedy occurred in the Sinai peninsula:

An explosion tore through a bus filled with South Korean sightseers in the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, killing at least four people and raising fears that Islamic militants have renewed a bloody campaign to wreck Egypt's tourism industry.

The bombing near the tip of the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba was the first attack against tourists in Sinai in nearly a decade.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the blast bore the hallmarks of attacks blamed on the al-Qaida-linked militant groups that have been battling government forces in Sinai's restive north for years.

At least three South Korean tourists were killed and 12 seriously wounded, according to Egyptian security officials. The Egyptian bus driver was also among the dead, the officials said.

The AP has offended again by terming the terrorists as "militants", even if they acknowledge the attackers are Muslims. The Sinai peninsula is unsafe for innocent people thanks to these savages.

Faustian pact signed with Iran

I knew this was bound to happen. As explained by Ben Shapiro:

In a negotiated deal that apparently allows Iran off the hook with regard to nuclear development and goes soft on verification protocols with regard to nuclear disarmament, the United States, along with France, Germany, China, Russia, Great Britain, and the European Union, has now endorsed an easing of sanctions on the Shiite theocracy.

Signed at 3 a.m. in Geneva, the deal would, according to The Washington Post, “allow limited uranium enrichment, although under tight restrictions and heavy international monitoring.” The Iranians continue to insist on the West acknowledging a right to nuclear development, a point still under negotiation. Trade restrictions and freezes on Iranian currency accounts overseas would be loosened.

A similar deal with the regime in North Korea in 1993 ended with that regime going fully nuclear in 2006.

I think this also pretty much sums up where Francois Hollande really stands too. Otherwise, his staff would've opposed this deal a million years ago. Israel's government has rightly said that this is nothing more than a victory for Iran. Now, they're going to have to make up their minds if they want to remain silent and if any threatened isolation is really something they should be worried about compared to Israel's safety. Otherwise, Israel's government has no one but itself to blame.

Korea: north threatens south with destruction

It looks like the successors of Kim Jong-Il are poised to bring pointless war back to the region:

PYONGYANG — North Korea dropped another bomb, so to speak, and upset the West in a diplomatic meeting held for the United Nations Conference on Disarmament. This public statement came within a week after North Korea conducted a nuclear test and had the West up in arms in protest.

North Korea’s diplomat Jon Yong Ryong said during the discussion, “As the saying goes, a new-born puppy knows no fear of a tiger. South Korea’s erratic behavior would only herald its final destruction,” North Korean diplomat Jon Yong Ryong told the meeting.

This could become a disaster if North Korea really does end up manning tanks and warplanes. It's a sad sign of how a world once thriving on capitalism and civil rights may now be sinking back into a supremacist quagmire.

Korean tourists in Sinai had close call

3 Korean women were kidnapped by "tribesmen" and thankfully let go:

An Egyptian security official says that three South Korean women were released a day after being kidnapped in the Sinai peninsula by a group of armed tribesmen.

The head of security in South Sinai Maj. Gen. Mohammed Naguib said that the three women and their Egyptian tour guide were released on Saturday after tribal elders pressured the captors to release them.

He says the captors had kidnapped the women on Friday to pressure Egyptian authorities to release their detained relatives.

It was the latest in a series of kidnappings in Sinai. The peninsula has seen a surge in lawlessness over the last year, but abducted tourists are rarely harmed.

Two American women kidnapped last week said afterward that their captors served them tea and dried fruit.

Was that before or after they left the area that they told this? I don't know, but reports like these can't be taken at face value. And if the tourists had been Jewish, there's every chance fate would be worse. With the rising of Islamofascism in Egypt, even Sinai is not a safe place to visit anymore.