Category: International

What Could Go Wrong? It’s Possible US Navy Will Escort Philippine Ships in South China Sea

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (yes, that’s really what they call it) has been acting aggressively towards Philippine shipping and fishing vessels in the South China Sea for some time now. Because of this, the United States Navy is now reportedly “open to consultations” about the possibility of using American ships to escort Philippine shipping through the contested area.

What could possibly go wrong with that?

The U.S. military is open to consultations about escorting Philippine ships in the disputed South China Sea, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said Tuesday amid a spike in hostilities between Beijing and Manila in the disputed waters.

Adm. Samuel Paparo’s remarks, which he made in response to a question during a news conference in Manila with Philippine Armed Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., provided a glimpse of the mindset of one of the highest American military commanders outside the U.S. mainland on a prospective operation that would risk putting U.S. Navy ships in direct collisions with those of China.

Granted the Philippines is a U.S. ally, at a time when we can use all the friendly faces in the west Pacific that we can find. We have important bases in the Philippines, which occupy a strategic location. But our ally is butting heads with China rather a lot lately:

China and the Philippines accused each other of causing a collision between their two vessels Saturday in the latest flareup of tensions over disputed waters and maritime features in the South China Sea.

In a statement posted on social media, Chinese coast guard spokesperson Liu Dejun was quoted as saying that a Philippine ship maneuvered and “deliberately collided” with a Chinese coast guard ship “in an unprofessional and dangerous manner.”

Philippine officials in Manila said it was their coast guard ship, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, that was rammed thrice by the Chinese coast guard without any provocation, causing damage to the Philippine vessel.

This is the kind of incident that we are going to be escorting Philippine shipping through. What happens when a Chinese Coast Guard captain “accidentally” bumps into a U.S. Navy frigate or destroyer?

These are the kinds of flashpoints that can start wars. And, candidly, we aren’t ready for a war in the West Pacific.

That’s not to say that we shouldn’t stand by an ally. We have treaty obligations to consider, namely the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.

But there’s just a lot that can go wrong when things are this tense. China, by which we can only mean the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has been showing increasing bellicosity in the West Pacific for quite a while. Under Chairman Xi, it is facing a host of problems; a moribund economy that they have been trying to conceal, a population that is about to walk off a demographic cliff, and a real-estate bubble in the process of bursting; this is a recipe for national leaders becoming increasingly irrational.

China is not showing aggression solely towards the Philippines, either. Japan has been the target of China’s bellicosity lately too.

Granted with many of these actions China is probably, as the saying goes, testing the waters. We do the same thing, calling it the exercise of the right of passage in international waters or airspace, as the case may be. Russia does it too; every seafaring nation does these things.

But for some reason, China is pushing harder on the Philippines, perhaps because that nation’s military is, unlike Japan, rather modest – but surely China knows that the United States has a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, which makes one wonder what, at the end of the day, they are really trying to accomplish.

And, of course, there is the visible weakness and incompetence of American leadership to consider.

One wonders what General Douglas MacArthur might have said.

Hostage Taken on October 7 Freed by Israel in ‘Complex’ Military Operation.

Some Israelis are saying that the rescue of Kaid Farhan al-Qadi, a hostage held in Gaza since his abduction during Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, is reminiscent of the “Miracle of Entebbe” where 102 hostages were rescued by 100 Israeli commandos on July 3-4, 1976.

The IDF described the rescue operation as “complex.” As is customary, no details were released to the public about the operation.

What is known is that Mr. al-Qadi is back in the bosom of his family.

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We Need to Rethink Our Assumptions About Nuclear Weapons Use
One of the Strategic Purposes of the Kursk Offensive

I was struck by the messaging of the Ukrainian government over the last 24 hours—and just how it has tied the need for long-range strike into the strategic purpose of the Kursk Offensive. Its both an immediate question, and at the same time a broad one about how and when nuclear weapons might be used. What Ukraine is doing, is driving an invasion force directly through an existing consensus—basically saying the emperor has no clothes when it comes to nuclear weapons usage. The Ukrainians are saying all your assumptions and strategic plans on nuclear weapons are wrong—and they seem to be right. The implications of this are profound.

The Kursk Offensive and Nuclear Red-Lines

The Kursk Offensive by Ukraine clearly has a number of strategic objectives. There is an attempt to force the Russians to redeploy forces to try and stop it (and to protect the Russian border as a whole). There is the attempt to politically embarrass Vladimir Putin by showing that he cant protect the very soil of Russia itself. There is an attempt to demonstrate to the world that the Russian Army remains deeply flawed. And there is the objective of destroying Russian forces as they have to be sent to try and stop the Ukrainians offensive. Its one of the reasons that the offensive makes strategic sense for Ukraine—it has a large number of potential benefits, from the battlefield to geopolitics.

However one other possible benefit—or at least strategic goal—has risen to the fore in the last 24 hours. It shows the final hollowness of all the nuclear threats that have been used for years to limit aid to Ukraine. This is actually a profound moment in intellectual thinking—as the Ukrainians are driving a coach and horses (or more obviously a Bradley IFV) directly through almost all earlier assumptions about when and how nuclear weapons will be used. They are invading, taking and possibly holding the sovereign soil of a nuclear power—and in doing so they are upending everyone’s way of thinking about nuclear weapons.

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Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or controul the Right of another: And this is the only Check it ought to suffer, and the only Bounds it ought to know.

This sacred Privilege is so essential to free Governments, that the Security of Property, and the Freedom of Speech always go together; and in those wretched Countries where a Man cannot call his Tongue his own, he can scarce call any Thing else his own. Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, must begin by subduing the Freeness of Speech; a Thing terrible to Publick Traytors.
– Benjamin Franklin

BLUF
The U.K. government must crack down on lawless riots in its streets. But in the long run, its creep into truly Orwellian levels of censorship poses a far bigger threat to its citizens’ freedom than any riot ever could. And this whole saga serves as a reminder to Americans as to why we should cherish our First Amendment because without strict legal protections for free speech, even a Western nation can quickly descend into dystopia

The UK descends into dystopian levels of censorship.

“Think before you post.”

That’s the chilling message that was just posted from social media accounts affiliated with the United Kingdom’s government. Amid the riots and civil unrest in the streets of Britain that were initially sparked by anti-immigration protesters, the posts warned citizens not directly involved in the uprisings that they too could face arrest even just for their speech.

“Content that incites violence or hatred isn’t just harmful — it can be illegal,” the Crown Prosecution Service tweeted. “The CPS takes online violence seriously and will prosecute when the legal test is met. Remind those close to you to share responsibly or face the consequences.”

These aren’t just idle threats, either.

Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions of England and Wales, warned that there are “dedicated police officers” tasked with “scouring social media” to “follow up with identification [and] arrests” when people “publish or distribute material which is insulting or abusive which is intended to or likely to start racial hatred.”

This censorious effort is coming from the top levels of government. In an interview with Sky News, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said social media is “not a law-free zone” and that he wanted to issue “a reminder to everyone that whether you’re directly involved or whether you’re remotely involved, you’re culpable, and you will be put before the courts if you’ve broken the law.”

The arrests have already begun.

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Federal Judge Tosses Majority of Mexico’s Lawsuit Against Gun Makers

For the second time, a federal judge in Massachusetts has dismissed the vast majority of Mexico’s lawsuit against multiple U.S. gun makers that accuses the companies of knowingly and willfully facilitating cartel violence south of the border. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor first threw out Mexico’s complaint in 2022, opining that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act precluded Mexico’s lawsuit, but the litigation was reinstated by the First Circuit Court of Appeals a short time later.

Now Saylor has once again dismissed the case against six of the seven gun makers sued by the Mexican government, ruling that the plaintiff has been “unable to muster sufficient proof to establish a sufficient relationship between the claimed injuries and the business transactions of any of the six defendants in Massachusetts.”

The core question for jurisdictional purposes is whether Mexico’s claims against the six moving defendants “arise” from their business transactions in Massachusetts. See Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 223A, § 3(a).

As to those defendants, the connection of this matter to Massachusetts is gossamer-thin at best. The government of Mexico is obviously not a citizen of Massachusetts. None of the six moving defendants is incorporated in Massachusetts, and none has a principal place of business in Massachusetts.

There is no evidence that any of them have a manufacturing facility, or even a sales office, in Massachusetts. None of the alleged injuries occurred in Massachusetts. No Massachusetts citizen is alleged to have suffered any injury. And plaintiff has not identified any specific firearm, or set of firearms, that was sold in Massachusetts and caused injury in Mexico.

Furthermore—and despite the generous use of the word “defendants” throughout—the complaint does not actually allege the existence of a joint enterprise, joint venture, or civil conspiracy among the various defendants. There is no question, therefore, that personal jurisdiction must be proved separately as to each of the six moving defendants.

At its core, plaintiff’s jurisdictional theory is based on statistical probabilities.

Its reasoning may be characterized as follows:
(1) each of the six moving defendants sold firearms to distributors and retailers in each of the 50 states;
(2) each of the six defendants sold some (undetermined) number of firearms to Massachusetts-based distributors or retailers;
(3) some (undetermined) number of the firearms that were sold by each of the six defendants nationwide were illegally trafficked to Mexico;
(4) some (undetermined) number of the firearms that were trafficked to Mexico caused injury there; and therefore
(5) at least some of the firearms sold by each of the six defendants to Massachusetts entities must have caused injuries in Mexico.

Mexico’s legal team, which includes former Brady Campaign attorney Jonathan Lowy (who now heads up an outfit called Global Action on Gun Violence), brought in an economist to try to estimate the number of guns that were originally purchased in Massachusetts but were trafficked to Mexico. The judge, however, wasn’t persuaded by what she found.

To do so, she relied upon two principal datasets: a set that recorded the manufacturer of certain firearms recovered in Mexico between 2010 and 2021, and a “trace and recovery” dataset created by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (“ATF”) concerning firearms recovered in Mexico between 1989 and 2001.

She then used that data to estimate the number of firearms that she believes were likely trafficked into Mexico after a Massachusetts sale over the last ten years. 

As explained below, however, that report is problematic in multiple respects—beginning with the fact that Congress has prohibited the use of the ATF data in any civil action, and thus a critical foundation of her opinion must be disregarded.

Furthermore, her opinion stops short of estimating the number of firearms manufactured by each defendant that actually caused an injury in Mexico—a critical link to connect defendants’ business in Massachusetts to plaintiff’s claims. Under the circumstances, her opinion is not sufficient to prove the necessary jurisdictional nexus.

That’s embarrassing for the gun control activists, or at least it would be if it didn’t give them a new talking point about Congress tying the hands of “gun safety advocates” when it comes to using ATF data. As far as the Mexican government is concerned, however, Saylor’s ruling is a total loss. The only remaining defendants are Smith & Wesson, which was headquartered in Massachusetts during the time period in question, as well as a wholesaler who wasn’t a part of this particular request to dismiss the case.

While Mexico’s lawsuit, which seeks $10 billion in damages from gun makers, isn’t completely dead, Saylor’s ruling is a big step in that direction. The final blow to the litigation could come from the Supreme Court, which is set to consider the gun companies’ appeal of the First Circuit ruling that reinstated the lawsuit in its September 30th conference. As the gun makers argued in their cert petition:

To be clear, Mexico’s complaint does not include any groundbreaking factual revelations, nor does it uncover any secret dealings between the cartels and America’s firearms companies.

Instead, Mexico’s suit challenges how the American firearms industry has openly operated in broad daylight for years. It faults the defendants for producing common firearms like the AR-15; for allowing their products to hold more than ten rounds; for failing to restrict the purchase of firearms by regular citizens; and for refusing to go beyond what American law already requires for the safe production and sale of firearms.

In Mexico’s eyes, continuing these lawful practices amounts to aiding and abetting the cartels. According to Mexico, American firearms companies are liable because they have refused to adopt policies to curtail the supply of firearms smuggled south—such as making only “sporting rifles,” or combining sales to those with a “legitimate need” for a firearm (as defined by Mexico).

This lawsuit is basically an attempt to allow the Mexican government to impose its own preferred gun control policies on the U.S. firearms industry by blaming gun makers for cartel violence.

SCOTUS should grant cert and dismiss the case altogether, but we won’t know if the Court will grant cert for another few months.

Now We Know Exactly How Israel Assassinated Hamas Chief, and I’m Laughing Inappropriately

Sometimes you have to go with your gut instincts, and I wish I’d stuck with mine yesterday.

Wednesday morning it was my happy duty to report on the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran, the night before. “My first thought was that a Mossad assassination team had snuck in, done some dirty work that needed doing, and then snuck back out,” is what my gut assured me had happened. But then reports came in that Haniyeh had been killed in a precision airstrike. But no.

“Never trust first reports.” I’m going to write that on a blackboard 100 times later today — and not for the first time, either.

If you weren’t familiar with Haniyeh or missed yesterday’s column, he was usually presented as the “moderate” face of Hamas because our press seems to be largely made up of willing dupes and terrorist sympathizers. They would never put it that way, of course. In their minds, they’re just on the side of “the oppressed.” In Haniyeh’s case, he was oppressed to the tune of an estimated three billion dollars he’d skimmed off of Western relief funds for the Arabs of Gaza.

Haniyeh has been on the State Department’s Specially Designated Global Terrorists list since 2018 for his “close links with Hamas’ military wing” and for his support of “armed struggle, including against civilians.” The State Department report also said, “He has reportedly been involved in terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens.” Even the International Criminal Court, often useless in the extreme, sought an arrest warrant for Haniyeh earlier this year for “war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape, torture and taking hostages,” involving the Hamas Oct. 7 terror invasion of Israel.

So don’t be fooled. Haniyeh finally got it as good as he’d spent his foul existence giving it.

Israel has been going hard after Hamas leadership since Oct. 7 and an airstrike in April — possibly with Haniyeh in mind — killed three of his sons who were then praised as martyrs. Haniyeh is also now being praised as a martyr by his vicious former hosts in Tehran.

“At the appropriate time and place, we will have a suitable response,” Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament said at Haniyeh’s memorial on Wednesday. “It is hard for us that our guest died a martyr’s death. We will avenge the blood of the martyr Haniyeh, who was the voice of the oppressed Palestinian people.”

Now then, about that martyrdom…

Haniyeh had been staying at a “heavily guarded complex” in Tehran, according to the New York Times — an official state guesthouse “run and protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.” Nevertheless, Israel was able to

  • Ascertain which room Haniyeh used during his stays there.
  • Slip a remote-detonated bomb under his mattress.
  • Ascertain when Haniyeh was back in Tehran.
  • Make bomb go boom while Haniyeh slept.

This is all according to local sources who spoke to the Times with the usual protection of anonymity.

As martyrdoms go, Haniyeh’s was delightfully ignominious — in no small part due to Israeli operational genius, plus serious failures on the part of Iranian intelligence and the dreaded Revolutionary Guard. I shouldn’t laugh, but I just can’t help it.

Iran has vowed to strike directly at Israel in retaliation, so please consider this a developing story

FAFO Factor 10

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh killed in Iran

CAIRO, July 31 (Reuters) – Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of the morning in Iran, the Palestinian militant group said on Wednesday, drawing fears of wider escalation in a region shaken by Israel’s war in Gaza and a worsening conflict in Lebanon.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh, hours after he attended a swearing in ceremony for the country’s new president, and said it was investigating.

There was no immediate comment from Israel. The Israeli military said it was conducting a situational assessment but had not issued any new security guidelines for civilians.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington would work to try to ease tensions but said the United States would help defend Israel if it were attacked.

The news, which came less than 24 hours after Israel claimed to have killed the Hezbollah commander it said was behind a deadly strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, appears to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

“This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
He said Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that ruled Gaza, would continue the path it was following, adding: “We are confident of victory.”
Iran’s top security body is expected to meet to decide Iran’s strategy in reaction to the death of Haniyeh, a close ally of Tehran, said a source with knowledge of the meeting.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing of Haniyeh and Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank called for a general strike and mass demonstrations.
Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, has been the face of the Palestinian group’s international diplomacy as the war set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 has raged in Gaza, where three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor office requested an arrest warrant for him over alleged war crimes at the same time it issued a similar request against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Appointed to the Hamas top job in 2017, Haniyeh has moved between Turkey and Qatar’s capital Doha, escaping the travel curbs of the blockaded Gaza Strip and enabling him to act as a negotiator in ceasefire talks or to talk to Hamas’ ally Iran.

The assassination of Haniyeh comes as Israel’s campaign in Gaza approaches the end of its 10th month with no sign of an end to a conflict that has shaken the Middle East and threatened to spiral into a wider regional conflict.

Despite anger at Netanyau’s government from families of the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza and mounting international pressure for a ceasefire, talks brokered by Egypt and Qatar appear to have faltered.
At the same time, the risk of a war between Israel and Hezbollah has grown following the strike in the Golan Heights that killed 12 children in a Druze village on Saturday and the subsequent killing of the senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

The war started on Oct. 7 when Hamas-led fighters broke through security barriers around Gaza and launched a devastating attack on Israeli communities nearby, killing 1,200 people and abducting some 250 hostages into Gaza.

In response, Israel launched a relentless ground and air offensive in the densely populated coastal enclave that has killed more than 39,000 people and left more than 2 million facing a severe humanitarian crisis.

Europe Doesn’t Want to Be Saved.

It hasn’t been a good week for Europe, and the news isn’t getting any better. In almost poetic fashion, the United Kingdom delivered itself into the clutches of the radical left on the Fourth of July, sweeping the socialist Labour Party into power.

Here’s how that’s going.

 

Keir Starmer is the new far-left prime minister, and oddly enough, his plan to release tens of thousands of criminals didn’t make it into the platform he ran on. Couple that with continued mass migration of Islamists, and you can guess how things are going to turn out long term. As bad as things have been in the United Kingdom over the last decade, the decline will accelerate.

Then there’s the French. After a surprise first round elevated the right-wing National Rally Party, the country’s far-left, from Emmanual Macron to the literal communists, colluded to win the second round. That included pushing hundreds of candidates to strategically drop out of their races to ensure the left wing held enough seats to form a coalition. French voters happily played along.

As in the UK, the results were predictable. Win or lose, there were going to be riots because that’s what European leftists do, with Palestinian flags marking the pro-migration messaging.

I wish I could say there’s hope for Western Europe, but the sad reality is that Europeans don’t want to be saved. These elections weren’t rigged. Voters chose this path, and now they are going to get the consequences good and hard.

By 2050, Muslims are projected to make up 14 percent of Europe’s population, but that’s not evenly distributed. Many Eastern European countries held the line with sane immigration policies, leading to the largest growth of Islamism occurring in Western Europe, including France and the United Kingdom. From there, it’s just a matter of time because Muslims nearly double the birth rate of native Europeans.

What is the solution? There is no solution. Europeans are more concerned with not being called bigots than preserving their freedoms and cultures. The welfare state will continue to grow, the economic malaise will deepen, and the downward slope toward Islamism will continue, not because of some nefarious force behind the scenes but because Europeans wanted this.

To that I say, I let it burn. You can only help those who want to be helped. The French, the Brits, and other surrounding nations do not want to be helped. They truly believe they can push forward with their left-wing ideals to form a better continent. They are mistaken, and eventually, they’ll figure that out. By then, it will have long been too late.

I will say this. When violence inevitably breaks out and Europeans once again look to the United States to bail them out, I have a feeling most Americans aren’t going to be interested. Can you blame them?

CFIUS Clears Sale of The Kinetic Group to CSG

Represents Final Regulatory Approval Required to Close the Transaction

Board of Directors Continues to Recommend Stockholders Vote in Favor of Merger Agreement Proposal at Special Meeting on July 2, 2024

ANOKA, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Vista Outdoor Inc. (“Vista Outdoor,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”) (NYSE: VSTO) and Czechoslovak Group a.s. (“CSG”) announced today that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) has cleared CSG’s proposed acquisition of Vista Outdoor’s The Kinetic Group business (the “Transaction”). Vista Outdoor and CSG received written notice from CFIUS that CFIUS has concluded its review and investigation of the Transaction and has determined that there are no unresolved national security concerns. CFIUS clearance was the final regulatory approval required under the merger agreement with CSG for the closing of the Transaction.

Michael Callahan, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said “We are very pleased that CFIUS has carefully vetted the Transaction and, as we expected, determined that there are no unresolved national security concerns.”

CFIUS is an interagency committee of the U.S. government authorized to review certain transactions involving foreign investment in the United States to determine the effect of such transactions on U.S. national security.

“The CFIUS process involved a thorough review and investigation of the Transaction by numerous U.S. Government departments and agencies with a range of national security and other mandates,” Callahan said. “We believe the end result supports our view that CSG—which has deep expertise in supply chain excellence and ammunition manufacturing and strong support for NATO and allied nations—will be an excellent owner of The Kinetic Group. CSG is fully committed to supporting our American workforce, American hunters and domestic and allied military and law enforcement partners.”

The closing of the Transaction remains subject to receipt of the approval of Vista Outdoor’s stockholders and other customary closing conditions. The special meeting of Vista Outdoor stockholders to, among other things, consider and vote on a proposal to adopt the merger agreement with CSG is scheduled to be held virtually on July 2, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. Central Time.

The Board continues to recommend Vista Outdoor stockholders vote in favor of the proposal to adopt the merger agreement with CSG. Vista Outdoor is confident that the Transaction will maximize value for our stockholders by

  • Providing for a $2 billion purchase price, representing a $90 million increase from the original $1.91 billion purchase price,
  • Allowing stockholders to benefit directly from additional excess cash generated by the Company prior to closing,
  • Delivering $18.00 in cash consideration per share at closing, representing a $5.10 increase from the original cash consideration of $12.90 per share, and
  • Enabling stockholders to capture the long-term intrinsic value that is embedded in Revelyst’s business plan as a standalone public company……..

So the Democrat/Media Complex is aghast that the “Far Right” won so dramatically in the European elections. That “Far Right” is, in reality, just ordinary people, and let me tell you what it is that their votes rejected. They rejected the following:

1. The deliberate depopulation of Europe.
2. The deliberate destruction of centuries-old European culture in favor of Islam via unchecked migration of “refugees.”
3. The deliberate lowering of standards of living and life expectancy through the mandated use of inefficient energy sources in response to the “climate change” hoax.
4. Centralized control of all facets of life by unelected, unaccountable EU bureaucrats.
5. Deliberate reductions in the farming, production and consumption of traditional food stuffs in favor of, among other things, bugs.
6. Failure of law enforcement to protect citizens from urban violence.

Americans, do these issues sound familiar to you? Remember how Brexit was a harbinger of Trump? I suspect that is about to play out again in 2024.

Both European and American citizens have come to understand that for the first time in history their political leadership is deliberately seeking to lower their quality of life as a specific policy objective.

Change is coming.

C. Publius

IDF rescues 4 hostages alive in stunning operation in central Gaza

Hostages rescued in an IDF operation in the Gaza Strip on June 8: Shlomi Ziv (top left), Andrey Kozlov (top right), Almog Meir (bottom left), and Noa Argamani. (Courtesy)

Hostages rescued in an IDF operation in the Gaza Strip on June 8: Shlomi Ziv (top left), Andrey Kozlov (top right), Almog Meir (bottom left), and Noa Argamani. (Courtesy)

Four Israeli hostages were rescued alive by troops from Hamas captivity in a daring operation in the central Gaza Strip earlier today, the military announces.

The rescued hostages are named as Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv. All four had been abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from the Supernova music festival near the southern community of Re’im.

Special forces had simultaneously raided two Hamas sites in central Gaza’s Nuseirat. At one location, Argamani was rescued, while Meir Jan, Kozlov, and Ziv were at the second location.

The rescued hostages are all in good condition, according to initial medical assessments. They were taken to Tel Hashomer Hospital for further evaluation.

Amid the operation, heavy airstrikes were carried out in the area against Hamas sites and in support of the ground troops. Hamas health authorities reported a “large number” of casualties.

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“The EPP is just beginning to see the perils of mass immigration”: An Interview with Geoffrey van Orden

This is about 1/2 way down the article and applies to the U.S. just as much as to European nations.

Where does the greatest challenge for the West lie: abroad, or in domestic policies of open borders and green pacts?

The West faces multiple challenges, both internal and external. Mass uncontrolled immigration of people from entirely different cultures and habits is sheer madness. While the genuinely persecuted are rightly offered sanctuary, and small numbers of other people with particular skills or resources can be integrated into our societies, we are demonstrably incapable of properly integrating very large numbers of strangers. The effect is unwelcome changes to our own systems and loss of national cohesion at a time when this is more necessary than ever.

The vulnerabilities and fractures in our society are exploited by external enemies. While we had imagined that conflict between European states was a thing of the past, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the invasion of Ukraine has provided a salutary shock. The West needs to rearm and demonstrate the solidarity and resilience of its alliances, particularly NATO. EU involvement, through its autonomous defence ambition, is a dangerous distraction from this.

Fetterman has turned out to be a less a demoncrap and more a thorn in the party’s side.

Fetterman: Biden’s Ceasefire Proposal Isn’t ‘Meaningful Peace’, Hamas Has to Be Destroyed

During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) reacted to President Joe Biden’s ceasefire proposal by stating that there won’t “be any meaningful peace, so long as Hamas is able to operate.”

Host Bret Baier asked, [relevant exchange begins around 3:50] “Sen. Fetterman, while I have you, the President endorsed a ceasefire proposal today, … and essentially, it would stop going after Hamas, would release all the hostages, and be a permanent ceasefire. Your thoughts on that proposal?”

Fetterman answered, “I’ve been very clear, I’m going to follow Israel in this situation. I do believe that Hamas needs to be destroyed, and it needs to be followed to the end, until there is an absolute surrender and they are…either in exile or they’re brought to justice or they’re eliminated. One way or another, there’s not going to be any meaningful peace, so long as Hamas is able to operate. And if you look at all of the damage, the death, and all of that, that’s exactly what Hamas wants. They designed that to be that way. They really don’t care how many Palestinians actually die and their suffering. Actually, Israel cares about minimizing all of the civilian deaths and all of the kinds of damage.”

Pennsylvania Man Fined, but Spared Prison for Bringing Ammo to Turks and Caicos

The first American tourist to be sentenced for accidentally bringing ammunition to the Turks and Caicos Islands since a February ruling took effect that raised the penalty for the “crime” to a minimum of twelve years in prison was spared incarceration on Friday. Instead, Pennsylvanian Bryan Hagerich can leave the country once he pays a $6,700 fine.

Hagerich had faced a possible 12-year sentence, the country’s minimum for possessing guns or ammunition, under a strict law in place aimed at addressing rising crime and gang violence. However, the judge found exceptional circumstances and that the mandatory minimum of 12 years was unjust and disproportionate to the crime committed.

Hagerich has been stuck in the Turks and Caicos for more than 100 days; sharing a condo with several of the other tourists who are still awaiting trial and wondering when he’d get the chance to return home.

Hagerich had stray ammo from a previous hunting trip in one of the compartments of a large suitcase his family had loaded their belongings into for a family vacation.

“I never in a million years thought I’d be in Turks and Caicos for over 100 days for a simple mistake,” Hagerich said.

[Ryan] Watson had stray ammo, also left over from a hunting trip, in the lining of his carry-on bag. [Sharitta] Grier had stray bullets in the lining of her bag after she recently purchased a firearm for her own protection. She told Fox News Digital that her brother owns a store that she sometimes closes at night and wanted a firearm in case of an emergency.

The governors of Oklahoma, Virginia, and Pennsylvania wrote a letter to the Turks and Caicos governor asking for clemency on behalf of those detained, while a congressional delegation visited with officials in person earlier this week to lobby for their release. Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma was among the members of Congress who expressed frustration after the meeting, but that meeting may have more of an impact than he realized.

While Hagerich’s release is good news, there’s no guarantee that the other tourists trapped in the Turks and Caicos Islands will receive the same leniency. The Turks and Caicos Sun newspaper has been highly critical of the efforts to intervene in the cases, and I wouldn’t be surprised if today’s decision results in a bit of a backlash from locals.

Not to be overlooked in this burning and sensitive matter, was the April 23 press statement by the Attorney General which made it clear our system already tempered justice with for violations of this nature, in “exceptional circumstances”, but with a mandatory minimum prison sentence. The Court of Appeal upheld and strengthened this position by insisting the court had no jurisdiction to impose a non-custodial sentence.

This jurisdiction has also let it be known that the provisions of the Firearms Ordinance routinely apply to all, irrespective of status, origin and nationality.

We faithfully adhere to the Latin legal maxim “Fiat justitia ruat caelum”; Let justice prevail though the heavens may fall.”

In this case justice did prevail, at least to the extent that a simple mistake won’t result in more than a decade in prison. What justice would be served by sentencing Hagerich or any of the other defendants to 12 years or more behind bars when there’s no evidence that any of them intentionally took ammo to the “gun-free” islands? The ammo wasn’t even discovered until these tourists were about to leave the Turks and Caicos Islands, but instead of confiscating the ammo and putting them on the next plane out authorities have forced them to remain in the British protectorate until their cases are resolved.

Virginia resident Tyler Wenrich is scheduled to be sentenced next Tuesday, and I hope he too will be able to resolve his case with a hefty fine instead of being detained for more than a decade. Mistakes may have been made, but it would be an injustice to punish Wenrich with incarceration, especially now that his fellow detainee will soon be headed home.