Opposing China's Dangerous Ambitions

by Gordon G. Chang • January 24, 2019 at 5:00 am

Admiral John Richardson is apparently worried about a lack of communication. Communication is not the problem. The problem is that Chinese generals and admirals have been and continue to be hostile, belligerent, and bellicose.
"We do not want war. This is how you prevent it. Remember, show overwhelming power not indecision or weakness. Some Chinese will read the smoke signals correctly." — Arthur Waldron, University of Pennsylvania.
The best way to avoid conflict in the Taiwan Strait is to make it clear to Beijing that America will defend Taiwan.
In the first half of 2012, the U.S., despite firm obligations to defend the Philippines, did nothing when China took over Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. When Chinese generals and admirals saw Washington's failure to act, they turned the heat on other Philippine reefs and islets, went after Japan's islands in the East China Sea, and began reclaiming and militarizing features in the Spratly chain. Feebleness only emboldens Chinese aggression. There will be no good endings in Asia until Washington disabuses Beijing of the arrogant belief that it can take whatever it demands.

The sharp downturn in ties between the world's two most fearsome militaries was evident when America's highest naval officer, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson, went to Beijing this month. Pictured: Admiral Richardson (right) is greeted by senior Chinese defense officials at the People's Liberation Army Naval Research Academy in Beijing, on January 14, 2019 (U.S. Navy photo)

Chinese officers were ready for Richardson: they issued hostile words, especially about U.S. relations with Taiwan. In response, CNO Richardson stuck to Washington's decades-old script of cooperation.

It is time for American policymakers to change that script by, among other things, dropping themes of engagement, introducing notions of reciprocity, and showing resolve of their own.

Richardson struck an upbeat note as he left China on his second official visit as America's top admiral. "I very much appreciate the hospitality I received in China," he tweeted on January 16. "I had some great discussions with my counterparts and I look forward to strengthening our relationship as we move forward."

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To the Secretary General of Muslim World League

by A. Z. Mohamed • January 24, 2019 at 4:30 am

Dr. Mohammad Bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa is special. His thoughts are definitely constructive and pro-peace. One of his wishes, Al-Issa said, is that the prospective meeting in Jerusalem will be "a step toward what will some day be a more broad cross-faith acceptance of different faiths." As a previous Minister of Justice in Saudi Arabia, he speculated that the time will come when people of different religions can go to any country, including Saudi Arabia, and publicly practice their faith.
One might agree with Al-Issa when he says that extremists attempt "to hijack the true religion, specifically through poisoning the minds of some young people with the idea of clash of civilizations and embedding the overstated idea of conspiracy." There is, nevertheless, plain as day, the role played by that set of Quranic verses, hadiths, and the resultant interpretations and fatwas that regrettably still fuel a hatred of non-Muslims and "unbelievers."
A project that the new Saudi Arabian crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, might consider is assembling a panel to see if anything in the hadith might be inauthentic.
The question facing many Muslims and their religious leaders who have similar attitudes is: will they be able to begin directly discussing the root causes of Muslims' extremism and hatred of non-Muslims?

Dr. Mohammad Bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, Secretary General of Muslim World League. (Image source: UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office)

Dr. Mohammad Bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, Secretary General of Muslim World League, has been one of the most outstanding Muslim leaders; he has recognized the brutality of the Holocaust and criticized any denial of it.

Last January, he wrote a letter to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In the letter, he labeled the Holocaust as "an incident that shook humanity to the core, and created an event whose horrors could not be denied or underrated by any fair-minded or peace-loving person."

In April, he attended an event held in New York by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, venerating Muslims who helped Jews during the Holocaust. At the event, he emphasized the need for Holocaust education in the Muslim world.

Early in October, he delivered a speech at the "2nd Conference on Cultural Rapprochement between the United States of America and the Muslim World," in New York City.

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Time to Tell the Truth about the Palestinian Issue

by Alan M. Dershowitz • January 24, 2019 at 4:00 am

The United Nations devotes more resources -- time, money and votes -- to the Palestinian issue than to the claims of all the other oppressed groups combined. Some of these other groups cannot even get a hearing at the United Nations.
The suffering of the Palestinians, which does not compare to the suffering of other groups, has been largely self-inflicted. They could have had a state, with no occupation, if they had accepted the Peel Commission Report of 1937, the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947, the Clinton-Barak offer of 2000-2001, the Ehud Olmert offer of 2008. They rejected all these offers -- responding with violence and terrorism -- because they would have required them to accept Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people -- something they are unwilling to do even today.
The Palestinian leadership has always wanted there not to be a Jewish state more than they wanted there to be a Palestinian state.
Michele Alexander claims that there is legal discrimination against Israeli Arabs. The reality is that Israeli Arabs have more rights than Arabs anywhere in the Muslim world. They vote freely, have their own political parties, speak openly against the Israeli government and are beneficiaries of affirmative action in Israeli universities. She says there are "streets for Jews only," which is a categorical lie.

Alan Dershowitz. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images for Hulu)

The front page of the New York Times Sunday Review featured one of the most biased, one-sided, historically inaccurate, ignorant and bigoted articles ever published by that venerable newspaper. Written by Michele Alexander, it is entitled: "Time to Break the Silence on Palestine," as if the Palestinian issue has not been the most over-hyped cause on campuses, in the United Nations and in the media. There is no silence to break. What must be broken is the bigotry of those who elevate the Palestinian claims over those of the Kurds, the Syrians, the Iranians, the Chechnyans, the Tibetans, the Ukrainians, and many other more deserving groups who truly suffer from the silence of the academy, the media and the international community. The United Nations devotes more resources -- time, money and votes -- to the Palestinian issue than to the claims of all the other oppressed groups combined. Some of these other groups cannot even get a hearing at the United Nations.

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