By Matthew G. Andersson, AM THINKER

With Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, subject to increasing Russian bombardment, and Moscow subject to new drone attacks, the hostility now reflects direct provocation of central government and leadership.  Whether you rightly find Russia’s aggression in Ukraine unacceptable, or like University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer, you also see, pragmatically, a long trail of U.S. and EU provocation and mismanagement in foreign affairs, one thing is fairly obvious: the United States is not interested in pursuing, or trying to broker, a peace deal.  Current U.S. foreign policy toward Russia is following a narrow path of strict escalation toward superpower confrontation.  Russia is not going to lead a peace effort, nor will Ukraine.
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Mudar Zahran brought this article in the Jordanian Press and translated by Google.

The Hebrew newspaper , Yedioth Ahronoth, said that the US-Israeli efforts in the region had received a new blow, after the UAE withdrew from a naval alliance against Iran. Because of her disappointment in the United States.

And the UAE announced, today, Wednesday, that it withdrew two months ago from a US-led maritime security coalition in the Middle East.

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By Andrew Thornebrooke, EPOCH TIMES  31.5.23

Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping (center) and Chinese and foreign naval officials applaud after a group photo during an event to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in Qingdao, in eastern China’s Shandong province, on April 23, 2019. (Mark Schiefelbein/AFP via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON—The United States lacks an effective tool to adequately combat widespread espionage and intellectual property theft being perpetrated by China’s communist regime, according to a U.S. Treasury Department official.

Despite years of competition and ongoing IP theft, the United States has not developed the tools required to target and prevent the continued transfer of sensitive U.S. technologies to China, according to Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Rosen.

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Dr. Oshrit Birvadker is a leading analyst of India’s foreign policy in Israel, a Senior Researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), a business development expert, and an entrepreneur. She tweets @birvadker.
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T. Belman. There are two paths to judicial reform. Either change the judges or change the law. The latter restricts the wiggle room of the judges from supporting a non-Zionist agenda. Or do both. But no matter what the law is, liberal judges, like in the US, still find a way to circumvent it.

The equality issue is central to the debate. The right want laws that favour Jews and Zionism and the left want laws that favour equality between Jews and Muslims. That’s the difference between a state of the Jews and a state of all its citizens.

Why is it that the US and the EU can fully accept all Muslim states but not a Jewish state. They demand that Israel be a liberal democracy but make no such demands on the Arab states.

In bitter Knesset debate, justice minister foils opposition bid to enshrine equality into Basic Law, calling it ‘hypocrisy’ amid ongoing talks on judicial compromise

By CARRIE KELLER-LYNN, TOI       31 May 2023, 4:53 pm  

Justice Minister Yariv Levin speaks in the Knesset on May 31, 2023. (Screenshot: Twitter; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

In a bitter and fiery Knesset speech, Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Wednesday complained that Israel’s top court was skewed by “post-Zionist agendas,” accused the opposition of pursuing subversive policies, and savaged his political opponents for an impasse in negotiations on judicial reform. His predecessor, the National Unity party’s Gideon Sa’ar, said in response that Levin should “get hospitalized.”

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BY TYLER DURDEN, ZERO HEDGE 30.5.23

BEWARE. THIS VIDEO IS OVER 2 HOURS LONG.  I COULDN’T TAKE 2 MINUTES OF IT.

In a recent town hall meeting at the University of Winnipeg, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau engaged in a lengthy Q&A with constituents which focused largely on socialist policies and woke ideology, eventually culminating in a rhetorical screed about the American public’s push-back against social justice agendas.

A member of the audience identifying as a “two spirited trans woman” says he is “horrified” by the growing US movement to stop identity politics from taking over the national culture, asserting that this makes trans people “feel like they are irrelevant in this world.”
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By Barry Shaw, AM THINKER

Susie Gelman is absolutely the wrong candidate for US ambassador to Israel.  Ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, maybe, but not to Israel.

In her role as chair of the Israel Policy Forum (someone will have to explain to me how she ever got that position), Gelman professed to love Israel as she works tirelessly against the best interests of Israel.  Israel Policy Forum, like JStreet, attempts to impose left-wing radical policies on Israel.  Susie Gelman embodies their unacceptable ideas.
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By Jan MacMichael, AM THINKER

The President and many members of Congress want to keep borrowing money and don’t seem to care about whether their expenditures are essential or non-essential, nor do they seem to care about the very real and perilous ramifications of overspending.

From 2012–2022, interest payments on debt held by the public totaled $3,593 billion; interest payments on intragovernmental debt holdings totaled $1,919 billion. The grand total in interest payments amounted to a hefty $5,512 billion.
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Israel’s far-right government ministers are no longer hiding their dreams of wildly proliferating the settler population. 

By Hagit Ofran, HAARETZ

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who has a plan for massive settlement expansion.Credit: Photos: Hadas Parush Artwork by Anastasia Shub

There are three recent developments related to Israel’s West Bank settlements that at first glance seem unconnected, but are actually all deeply intertwined. They are part of the bigger picture of settler power reestablishing itself with unprecedented muscle in this Israel’s government.

Diplomatic sources say Riyadh’s demands that the US back a Saudi nuclear program place chances of Israel-Saudi normalization in jeopardy.

Amir Tibon, Jack Khoury, Jonathan Lis, HAARETZ    31.5.23

Crown Prince Mohammed bin SalmanREUTERS

Even hopes for an agreement on direct flights for Muslim Israelis seem unlikely to be realized this year, and in any event, most of those planning to make the Hajj have already made travel arrangements through Jordan

Senior Israeli officials have clarified that ongoing talks aimed at normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel are far from maturing due to several issues that would affect Israel’s military superiority and nuclear hegemony in the region.

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T. Belman. I found it interesting that UAE wouldn’t talk to Biden whereas Bibi begs for a meeting in the White House.

The U.S. Navy steps up patrols after complaints from the United Arab Emirates

By Benoit Faucon in Dubai and Dion Nissenbaum, WSJ in Washington
May 30, 2023 8:59 am ET

Redacted News

Bomb Gaza before invading  THE RULES OF WAR

TO INDESCRIMINATLY BOMBING CIVILIANS IS A WAR CRIME

TFIGLOBAL

It’s a showdown like no other as Hungary delivers a decisive blow to Brussels, and now, Greece enters the ring with its own display of Hellenic strength. Watch as we unravel the repercussions of these unexpected power plays on the European Union. With Hungary’s knockout punch and Hellas adding insult to injury, the EU is left reeling.

Caroline Glick Show

Glick and Goldman both seriously underestimated the Ukrainian deaths and casualties. Macgregor keeps reporting that the Russians have a kill ration of about 7:1. Even so Goldman says Ukraine is doomed.

By Michael Makovsky, PhD, JINSA

On Feb. 14, 1945, President Franklin Roosevelt met King Abdul Aziz Al Saud, or Ibn Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia, on the USS Quincy, a warship parked in the Suez Canal. Together, they transformed the Middle East and ushered in decades of close U.S.-Saudi ties. That conclave remains a cherished lodestar for the Saudis to this day, with pictures of it adorning their government offices, while the United States still calls its ambassador’s residence in Riyadh the Quincy House. However, less well-known is that bilateral bonding came at the expense of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s quiet efforts to fashion a postwar regional settlement that included a Jewish state.

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by Giora Eiland, JS TRIBUNE May 2023

Gaza, April 2023. Photo credit: Majdi Fathi via Reuters Connect

Israel’s current policy towards Gaza is based on deterrence, reinforced with periodic military operations. But the military capabilities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are growing. Israel should actively consider alternatives to its current strategy as I outline here.

Background 

The Gaza Strip, known as Gaza, is 365 square kilometers with a population of slightly over 2 million. It was captured by Israel (along with the Sinai Peninsula) from Egypt during the 1967 Six-Day War.

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By Steve McCann, AM THINKER

A cursory examination of history reveals that the United States is mired in the same process that precipitated the collapse of the great empires of the past.  The foibles and failures of human nature and their impact on the rise and fall of empires is amazingly consistent and the end result always inevitable.  Can this nation avoid a similar fate?

Empires are defined as great military and economic powers encompassing large occupied or controlled land areas.  Although they vary greatly, they average around 250 years in duration.  The United States will be celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2026.
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T. Belman.  The opposition claims that if the coalition has the majority of the committee “it will politicize the courts”.

The Courts are already politicized because they are controlled by the left. There is no way to avoid the politicization. To the victors in the elections go the spoils.

The committee will be required to appoint a woman to one of each of the roles, including justices, Knesset members, ministers, and Bar Association members.

By ELIAV BREUER, JPOST

The Law Committee votes on changes to the Judicial Selection Committee.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

The confidential Knesset vote to choose the Israeli legislature’s two spots on the Judicial Selection Committee will be held on June 14, Knesset Speaker MK Amir Ohana (Likud) announced late Monday night, in what could prove a crucial moment in the survival of the ongoing talks at the President’s Residence between the coalition and opposition over the government’s judicial reforms.

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National Unity head indicates party could bolt judicial compromise talks if coalition takes both the seats allocated to MKs on Judicial Selection Committee

By CARRIE KELLER-LYNN, TOI 29 May 2023,  8:13 pm  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at Likud’s Knesset faction meeting, May 29, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Likud party on Monday that his government’s temporarily suspended plans for a radical shakeup of the judiciary are “not dead,” according to statements leaked from Likud’s internal Knesset faction meeting and broadcast on Monday evening.

“Don’t believe what you read, including in Yedioth Ahronoth, especially in Yedioth Ahronoth,” Netanyahu was heard saying, in reference to a report in that Hebrew newspaper that he had said the planned judicial overhaul legislation was dead. “There are lots of things, lots of moves. I don’t want to get into the details,” he said.

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The state of Israel’s high-tech

By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” May 23, 2023

*Challenged by a unique environment – top heavy on terrorism and war, but low on natural resources and rainfall – Israel has bolstered its do-or-die state of mind, with defiance of odds, risk-taking, frontier, pioneering, optimism, patriotism, can-do and out-of-the-box mentality. This has yielded a robust flow of game-changing commercial, defense and dual-use technologies.

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