In this mailing: Douglas Murray: On Campus: Minority Priorities Giulio Meotti: Is Europe Choosing to Disappear? On Campus: Minority Priorities by Douglas Murray  •  April 4, 2017 at 5:00 am Like so many leaflets before them, these talked about the scourge of "privilege". And whom did these pamphlets identify as the people with the most privilege? At present, the people who preach tolerance in America and Canada are turning out to be the least tolerant. And the people who complain of discrimination turn out to be leading practitioners of the oldest discrimination of all. Activist and writer Milo Yiannopoulos, who is gay but has been rude about aspects of transsexualism, was supposed to speak at the University of California, Berkeley on February 1. That evening, a mob of 150 people, who opposed to Yiannopoulos' presence, proceeded to riot, smash and set fire to the campus, causing more than $100,000 of damage. (Image source: RT video screenshot) The free speech wars on North American campuses appear to have arrived at their inevitable endpoint. For years, American and Canadian students have played around with a new form of morality in education. It is based not on a traditional concept of searching for truth or investigating and analysing ideas, but rather on the concept that the veracity of an opinion can be discerned by the person uttering it. In this way, a considerable number of people have apparently decided that a variety of "privileges" exist that make some speakers vital to listen to and others unnecessary, unless they agree to mouth a set of pre-ordained platitudes. This concept, coupled with the idea that minorities require special protection from speech, have now finally delivered the moral breakdown that was always waiting for it. The warning signs have been there for years. Continue Reading Article Is Europe Choosing to Disappear? by Giulio Meotti  •  April 4, 2017 at 4:00 am A sterile Europe apparently thought that civil liberties could be bargained away in exchange for a temporary peace. Everything became negotiable. As British author Douglas Murray has asked, why were workers not brought in from European countries suffering high unemployment, such as Portugal, Italy, Greece or Spain? A clear-eyed U.S. Congressman, Rep. Steve King, correctly said recently that, "You cannot rebuild your civilization with somebody else's babies." He instantly drew that white-hot fire reserved for people who tell truths that threaten treasured fantasies (think Giordano Bruno or Galileo). The new data released by Italy's National Institute for Statistics for 2016 sounds again like a death knell. There has been a new negative record of births: 474,000 compared to 486,000 for 2015, which had already fallen to historic lows. There were 608,000 deaths in 2016. In one year, Italy lost 134,000 people -- the equivalent of a city of the size of Ferrara or Salerno. The demographic "illusion" is kept only by the influx of immigration (135,000). If one needs an idea of what Italy would be without immigrants, look at Emilia-Romagna, one of Italy's most populated and affluent regions: in 2035 it will have 20% fewer residents. Continue Reading Article

I Criticised Hamas and My Life in Turkey Became a Nightmare

View this email in your browser I Criticized Hamas and My Life in Turkey Became a Nightmare by Burak Bekdil The Jewish Chronicle April 2, 2017 http://www.meforum.org/6625/i-criticised-hamas-and-my-life-in-turkey-became Share: Be the first of your friends to like this. Of all the controversial topics addressed by this Turkish journalist over the years, one in particular got him into serious trouble. My greatest sin was to argue: "The fact that there are no Israeli casualties does not mean Hamas does not want to kill; it just means Hamas, for the moment, cannot kill." It was a beautiful, sunny day in December 2006 when I met Shimon Peres at his Tel Aviv office. At one point in our conversation, he began to talk about how things were beginning to go wrong in Turkey. He said: "Do not forget ... when holiness begins, reason ends." I knew he was right. In 2006, the then Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was widely viewed as a Muslim democrat, a pro-EU reformist, a pro-business liberal; or, at worst, a postmodern Islamist — not just an Islamist. In reality, I argued in my Hurriyet column, he was just another Islamist zig-zagging between his ideological and pragmatic selves. He was successfully deceiving much of the Western world. Less than a decade later, having consolidated his power using a blend of nationalist, Sunni-Islamist rhetoric, populist sound bites and nods to Ottoman grandeur, he has been labelled "arguably the most virulent anti-Israel leader in the world." In Erdogan's Turkey, one can become a bête noire just for writing that Hamas is a terrorist organisation. At the end of the 15th century, Sultan Bayazid II embraced 250,000 Jews who had fled Spanish King Ferdinand's Inquisition. In his wisdom, the Sultan realised the Alhambra Decree of 1492 had merely impoverished Spain and enriched Turkey. Countless wars, the Holocaust and over five centuries later, in Mr. Erdogan's Turkey, one can become a bête noire just for writing that Hamas's charter and acts should qualify it as a terrorist organisation; that Jews do not belong to Alaska but to what is today Israel; that a suicide bomber who kills is just a suicide bomber regardless of his cause; and that Golda Meir was perfectly right when she said that "peace in the Middle East will come when Arabs love their children more than they hate us." Hate speech of every flavour and threats pouring into your inbox are part of daily life when you write a column viewed as "too critical of Erdogan" in the English-language pages of the country's biggest newspaper, Hurriyet. You can even smile and enjoy the rich spread of naive, ignorant and vulgar messages that come your way. It becomes so normal that by the time you sit down to start typing a new column, you have already forgotten about the stream of hatred. Within a few days, fresh bile will have piled up in your inbox. You keep smiling — and writing. Things took a different turn in the summer of 2014 when, spending time in my second home on a Greek island, friends told me that my picture was on the front page of the most militant Islamist newspaper, Yeni Akit — whose editors always find a seat aboard Mr. Erdogan's private jet during his state visits abroad. Figures close to Erdogan have called for the arrest of Hurriyet editor-in-chief Sedat Ergin. The "news" article called me "Aydin Dogan's Zionist Soldier of Fortune" (Mr. Dogan is the owner of the Dogan group that owns, among other prominent outlets, Hurriyet newspaper). Irrelevantly, I was accused of undermining Turkey's defence industry and promoting the Israeli weapons lobby. But my greatest sin was to argue: "The fact that there are no Israeli casualties does not mean Hamas does not want to kill; it just means Hamas, for the moment, cannot kill." Within 24 hours, Yeni Akit's story was picked up by a dozen or so Islamist and pro-government media outlets. After a pro-government columnist, in his tweet, called me "The disgrace of humanity," several others joined the lynching campaign on social media. "A sperm of Israel," someone wrote. Another said: "Enmity against Islam spills from his face." Someone else wished that I would travel to Gaza so that "the al-Qassam (brigade) could shoot him right in the middle of his forehead." Another campaigner invited "this ignoble, inglorious Zionist leftover to leave for Israel." Someone else wished, "May he and his family be bombed." And yet another offered a DNA analysis from a photograph: "He must be either Armenian or Jewish." Plenty of private email messages featured much less polite language and a diverse menu of threats. And why did I not file a complaint to the police or ask for protection? I was not sure who would protect me from the police. The campaign annoyed my editors and boss, but I kept writing provided that I would not write on "explosive" subjects. What were they? Well, you know. After a few attempts I stopped writing about the Arab-Israeli dispute. I did, however, continue to write on that subject for two other platforms: Daniel Pipes's Middle East Forum and Nina Rosenwald's Gatestone Institute. New rules meant that my column could no longer contain the words Jew, Israel, and Hamas. But things went from bad to worse in Turkey. My editors, understandably, were under pressure not to publish even a few lines of jokes or criticism in a column devoted to a non-Arab-Israeli dispute subject. I got the message. The increasingly difficult rules meant that my column could not contain any of the words "Jew, Israel, Israeli, Hamas, Hamas and terror and Palestine." It worked. At least until December 2016, when my editors alerted me to a "very serious crisis that had terribly upset the big boss." What could it be, since my last column was about the assassination of the Russian envoy to Ankara by an Islamist police officer? Once again I was on the front page of a pro-Erdogan newspaper, Aksam. How dare I compare a government plan to introduce "youth branches" that would be affiliated to 45,000 mosques to the Hitler Youth? Enough, the big boss said. Fine, I said. That was the end of a relationship that dated back to 1987. Sad? Sad. Nevertheless, I felt lucky. In Erdogan's Turkey, I could have been prosecuted on charges of terrorism for writing that article. Burak Bekdil is an Ankara-based political analyst and a fellow at the Middle East Forum. Related Topics:  Palestinians, Turkey and Turks  |  Burak Bekdil

Eye on Iran: Boeing Agrees To First Plane Sale To Iran Under Trump

TOP STORIES Boeing Agrees To First Plane Sale To Iran Under Trump | Wall Street Journal Boeing Co. agreed to sell up to 60 of its most popular jets to an Iranian airline, doubling down on the country amid uncertainty over the Trump administration's tolerance for U.S. business dealings in Iran. Boeing said Tuesday it signed a memorandum of agreement with privately owned Iran Aseman Airlines for the sale of 30 Boeing 737 Max single-aisle planes, with options for another 30. The list price for all 60 jets is $6 billion. Plane makers typically offer steep discounts, and the real value of the deal could be significantly lower. Still, the sale is the first major deal between a U.S. company and an Iranian one since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, an outspoken critic of closer ties with Tehran. Boeing said it had received permission from the U.S. government to negotiate the sale, though it still needs signoff from the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. If approved, the first planes will arrive in Iran by 2022. Despite Nuclear Deal, EU Firms Still Cautious On Iran | Al-Monitor Since the signing and implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), European businesses have shown great interest in re-entering Iran. Trade between Iran and the EU has already notably picked up. Last year, European exports to Iran amounted to 8.3 billion euros ($8.9 billion), approximately 28% higher than the year before. Meanwhile, European imports grew by some 345%, amounting to 5.5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) - mostly driven by largely resumed oil shipments from Iran. Despite the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, European firms remain cautious about seriously re-entering the Iranian market during the current wait-and-see period. But despite the uptick in trade, economic relations between Iran and the EU are still below pre-sanctions levels. In 2011, before the imposition of stringent nuclear-related sanctions including the previous EU oil embargo, EU exports to Iran amounted to more than 10 billion euros ($10.7 billion), while imports were as high as almost 18 billion euros ($19.2 billion). Europeans eager to return to Iran are facing two main obstacles. For one, huge challenges remain within Iran, including a poor regulatory environment and standards able to support international trade, insufficient managerial skills in many local companies, widespread corruption, and questions concerning the rule of law. Caterpillar Raid Resurrects U.S. Sanctions Questions | Journal Star (Peoria) In 2011, U.S. financial watchdogs began a campaign to lift the curtain on well-known companies' business dealings in Iran, Sudan and Syria, all then considered state sponsors of terrorism and subject to economic sanctions. Among the companies faced with demands from the SEC were Sony, Xerox, AIG, Siemens - and Caterpillar. By then, Caterpillar and its non-U.S. subsidiaries had ceased nearly all business in Iran, the comments continued. The company had been pressured to undertake those actions in 2010 by an activist group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). The group publicly shamed Caterpillar with a billboard outside its Peoria headquarters for working in a hostile state with nuclear ambitions. UANI complimented Caterpillar for the decision to terminate sales arrangements that provided equipment to end users in Iran. "We applaud Caterpillar's decision to prohibit its non-U.S. subsidiaries from doing business in Iran," said Mark Wallace, UANI president and former American diplomat to the United Nations. "All responsible companies that transact business in Iran through the veil of a foreign subsidiary should take this as a wake-up call." IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL Iran Deal Devised Based On Mistrust Of US: Zarif | Press TV Speaking on Monday, Zarif reiterated concerns by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei about the US's non-performance of the deal, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and said such non-commitment had been predictable for Iran. Thus, the Iranian foreign minister said, "the two sides proceeded based on mutual mistrust and devised numerous [contingency] mechanisms." Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, namely the US, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany, reached the deal in July 2015. The agreement went into effect in January 2016, resolving a long-running dispute over the Iranian nuclear program. Zarif said the mechanisms worked out in the deal made it "much easier" for Iran, if necessary, to roll back the steps it had taken under the deal than for the other side to put the sanctions back on the Islamic Republic. U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS Iranian-American Held In Iran Since July Is Said To Be Freed On Bail | New York Times An American of Iranian descent arrested in Iran in July and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment on dubious charges has been released on bail after he went on a hunger strike, rights activists reported Monday. The American, Robin Shahini, who is 46 or 47, was released about two weeks ago, just before the start of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran, a New York-based advocacy group that gets information from contacts inside the country. Hadi Ghaemi, the group's executive director, said it was unclear whether Mr. Shahini's release was temporary or if he could leave the country. Mr. Ghaemi said that Mr. Shahini had been required to post bail of two billion rials - about $60,000 - and that he could be sent back to prison if his conviction were affirmed on appeal. Zarif: Iran Not Seeking Tension With Trump | Tehran Times Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said his country will not give the Trump administration any pretext that can be used against it. "The establishment in its entirety has reached the conclusion that we shouldn't give them (the Americans) any excuse," Zarif said in an interview with the Shargh daily published on the official website of the ministry on Monday.  "This should not be taken to mean that we back away from our plans... but we don't seek tension." The future of the 2015 historic nuclear agreement with Iran, among other things, is in limbo with the prospect that the Trump administration could take steps that would cause Iran to abandon its commitments, people familiar with the issue say.  Trump had said during campaigns for the White House that he would scrap Iran's pact with world powers - under which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions - describing it as "the worst deal ever negotiated". Haley: Assad A 'War Criminal' Protected By Russia, Iran | Fox News U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has branded Syrian president Bashar al-Assad as "a war criminal,' who has been protected by Russia and Iran in the Security Council for far too long. She told Fox News the Trump administration hopes Assad will be brought to justice for the overwhelming humanitarian crisis and continued carnage that has torn his nation apart. She also blamed the Obama administration for not acting sooner to try and prevent the war. "The previous administration needs to take responsibility for that, as well," she said. "First of all, Assad...he's a war criminal. He's used chemical weapons on his own people. He's not allowing aid to come in. He is very much a deterrence to peace. But then you look at the fact that the Security Council has to acknowledge when the chemical weapons -- we had proof that he used it three times on his own people. Why aren't we dealing with that? "Then, you know, you have to look at the Iranian influence and the fact that we've got to get that out. Syria is in such sad shape, but it doesn't have to be that way. If you look back, so many things could have been done to prevent where we are today. And that's what we need to focus on now." SANCTIONS RELIEF Iran's Aseman Airlines Signs Up To Buy At Least 30 Boeing Jets | Reuters Iran's Aseman Airlines has signed a tentative deal to buy at least 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets, in the first new business with the U.S. planemaker since U.S. President Donald Trump took office vowing to take a tougher stance toward Iran. Owned by Iran's civil service pension foundation but managed as a private company, Aseman is Iran's third-largest airline by active fleet size, according to the CAPA consultancy. Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency said on Tuesday that representatives of Aseman and Boeing had signed an agreement in Tehran covering as many as 60 jets, including options, after a year of negotiations. Boeing described the deal as a "memorandum of agreement," a type of transaction that falls short of a binding contract and is subject to government approvals ONGC Submits Revised Plan For Farzad Gas Field In Iran | Reuters The overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp has submitted a revised plan to develop the giant Farzad B gas block in Iran, including a commitment to spend more than $3 billion, a senior executive said on Tuesday. ONGC Videsh expects to produce between 1 billion and 1.6 billion cubic feet per day of gas in five years from the start of development of the block, N. K. Verma, the company's managing director told Reuters in Mumbai on Tuesday. India is the second-largest buyer of Iranian crude, and was among the few countries to continue trade with Iran while the country faced Western sanctions over its nuclear programme. But since the lifting of some of the sanctions last year, Iran has sought other investors and there is some uncertainty whether the Farzad block contract will be awarded to an Indian company. The impasse has led Indian refiners to plan on cutting imports from Iran by a fifth in 2017-18.  Verma also commented that ONGC Videsh expects to raise production during the fiscal year ending in March 2018 to 14 million tonnes oil equivalent, up from 12 million tonnes in the fiscal year of 2017. The company also plans to invest $45 million to produce from gas wells owned by Imperial Energy, which ONGC Videsh acquired in 2008. "We are setting up gas processing facilities... we have dug four pilot wells and have got encouraging response," Verma said. Iran Pressing Ahead With Plan To Ditch Dollar | Press TV The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) in a statement emphasized that it was still trying to reduce the role of the US dollar in its foreign exchange basket - a policy that officials in Tehran had previously said would make the country immune to Washington's pressures. The CBI said this was part of an ambitious plan that had been devised after the intensification of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic. "This policy is currently still being pursued with maximum care," the bank added in its statement that was posted on its website. The CBI further emphasized that removing the US dollar in both official statements as well as in the foreign exchange basket would reduce Iran's risks to sanctions as well as the related international restrictions. This, it added, would also result in significant economic and financial gains for the Islamic Republic, the bank added in its statement. PROXY WARS Israel Fears 'Iranian Crescent' In Middle East | AFP Israel fears an "Iranian crescent" may be forming in the Middle East because of Tehran's influence in Syria and its connections with regional Shiite groups, an intelligence official said Monday. The comments from Chagai Tzuriel, director general of Israel's intelligence ministry, illustrate his country's growing concerns over its arch-foe Iran's involvement in the conflict in neighbouring Syria. Iran's support for Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which also backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, also concerns Israel, as does Tehran's influence in Iraq and its support for groups such as the Huthi rebels in Yemen. "I think that... Israel believes that if Iran bases itself for the long run in Syria it will be a constant source of friction and tension with the Sunni majority in Syria, with the Sunni countries outside Syria, with Sunni minorities outside the region, with Israel," Tzuriel told foreign reporters. "And I think that may be only the tip of the iceberg," he added. "We're talking here about the creation of an Iranian crescent." Part of it, he said, involved worries that Iran could complete a "land bridge" through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean. HUMAN RIGHTS Iran Court Confirms 5-Year Prison Sentence For Christian Convert | Christian Post An appeals court has confirmed a five-year prison term for an Iranian Christian convert, who was arrested due to his faith though he was convicted falsely for "forming a group in order to disrupt national security," according to human rights groups. Ebrahim Firouzi's five-year sentence, first handed down by Tehran's Revolutionary Court in 2015, was upheld by an appeals court, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which noted that Firouzi had pleaded not guilty before all courts. Firouzi was arrested in August 2013 on the charge of "acting against national security," which Christians in Iran are often charged with, according to NCRI. He has been kept in Rajaei-Shahr prison in Karaj since his sentence was issued last year. Firouzi's mother, who is disabled, had earlier called on officials to handle her son's case fairly and to release him. "Crying as she delivered the message to the authorities, Firouzi's elderly mother said that she is visually impaired and there is nothing she can do and has no one to help her. She said she doesn't have the ability to go from court to court and follow up on her son's case," Mohabat News reported earlier. "She added that she misses her son and because of her disability she has not been able to visit her son in prison. She pleaded with the authorities to release her son so he can come home." DOMESTIC POLITICS Iran: Rouhani Warns Pre-Election Public Frustration, Larijani Promises To Stop '2009' Reoccurrence | Asharq Al-Awsat "They are trying to twist facts believing that they could undermine the government, but their actions would only lead to frustrating Iranians and damaging the regime, the country and the people," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday. His harsh criticism was delivered a few hours ahead of opening registration for candidates running in the 2017 municipal and presidential elections in Iran. Sadeq Larijani, Iran's incumbent chief of justice, made provocative claims on a United States plotting to interfere in the Iranian elections. Larijani said that those responsible would not allow for the return of the 2009 'rabble-rousing.' Referring to recent remarks by US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley about the unrest, Iran's Larijani said such interfering remarks show that the Americans may be hatching plots for the upcoming elections in Iran. Speaking at the US Council on Foreign Relations last week, Haley pointed to the 2009 unrest in Iran as an example of the "UN ignoring human rights" and said, "the international elite had other priorities for Iran," echoing those who criticized the Obama administration and others for declining to fully support the riots. Iran's Conservatives Still Undecided On Presidential Candidate | Al-Monitor Iranian officials announced that registration for the May 19 presidential election will start April 11. As the deadline for Iran's presidential candidates to register their nomination approaches, conservatives are unable to reach a consensus over a single nominee.  Ali Asghar Ahmadi, the head of the election center at Iran's Interior Ministry, stated April 3 that the presidential candidates will have the opportunity to register for the election from April 11-15. Soon after the end of registration, the Guardian Council, which is tasked with vetting the candidates, will study the candidates' political backgrounds and announce whether they are eligible to run in the election. In the 2013 presidential election, the Guardian Council unexpectedly disapproved of the candidacy of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who had twice before served as president of Iran. The disqualification prompted criticism from moderates and Reformists. Currently, none of the likely presidential candidates have announced their decision to run. Moderates and Reformists have formed a coalition and announced that their sole candidate is incumbent President Hassan Rouhani. OPINION & ANALYSIS Iran's Sanctions On US Companies A Comical Attempt To Get Even | Ali Safavi For The Hill Napoleon once said, "In politics, stupidity is not a handicap." Apparently true. Last week, the Iranian regime imposed sanctions on 15 American companies it accused of "support for terrorism," among other things. None of the targeted U.S. companies do business in Iran. It is safe to say none are reconsidering their futures there. The farcical move is apparently a response to U.S. sanctions placed on dozens of Iranian entities earlier this year following Iran's unlawful ballistic missile tests. It is hard to see how a real estate company made Tehran's list, but who are we to judge? As the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism, the mullahs presumably know a thing or two about the subject. Tehran's comical tit-for-tat is the latest salvo in reaction to the Trump administration's tougher rhetoric. For years, America pursued a fervent policy of appeasement, rewarding Tehran's malicious acts with more concessions. Each round of bad behavior/unearned rewards gave Tehran a false sense of control. That bubble has burst. The outlandish behavior will likely continue. One senior Iranian lawmaker said Iran is also considering a bill branding the U.S. military and the CIA as "terrorist groups." That bill would be its reaction to the U.S. Congress passing a bill designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email press@uani.com. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.