China-Taiwan and Other Threats

The numbers and types of threats in our world are mounting as the United States tends self-inflicted wounds. We will concern ourselves to the immediate two threats posed by China and very likely Russia as her ally. You have heard, as have we, about the near daily overflights of Taiwan by Chinese warplanes. Recent overflight patrols have reached sizeable numbers with one flight reportedly having more than twenty aircraft. Additionally, a fleet of Chinese and Russian warships cruised from the Sea of Japan through to the Pacific Ocean using the waterway separating northern Japan from mainland southern Japan. Things were ominous enough caused by China warning Japan, the Philippines, United States and Australia not to interfere with internal Chinese matters. They were referring to their intent to reincorporate Taiwan some time in the future. The Taiwan situation shakes the nerves more than enough; but what if there is more?

Route of Russian-Chinese Naval Fleet

Everything begins with increasing insistence, leading to demands, that Taiwan be returned to its proper home, under mainland Communist China. There will be a brief reprieve while China prepares for what President Xi claims are just war games, possibly including naval exercises with the Russians. Those war games will appear to be just another simulated taking of Taiwan with the world expecting the invasion fleet to stop and return only going half the distance to Taiwan. President Xi will watch closely reading President Biden waiting for some action or at least the threat thereof. Xi knows the Europeans are unable to have the nerve to oppose China and only the United States has such power. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen will attempt to rouse a response from President Biden and there things will rest. Unfortunately for the world, President Biden will likely have called it a ‘lid’ and turned off from the world for the rest of the day. Restoring Taiwan under rule from Beijing is just the initial thrust by China, especially should the United States stand idly by. The message was loudly made when Russian and Chinese naval fleets sailed through the Strait of Japan, separating the northern island from the main island, that Japan is the next target. Without United States interference, Japan will fall fairly quickly to the combined Russian and Chinese militaries. How far will China go on their list of nations? For China the Philippines are simply a necessary stepping-stone on their way to Australia. There is another front where China is threatening a neighbor, India. There has been a low-scale intermittent conflict even to the point of exchanging fire. Watch Taiwan and any reaction out of Washington and if things go poorly, prepare to duck. If Afghanistan was any representation of the United States military command, then we are all in danger and better prepare to defend ourselves by ourselves. Fortunately for us, Israel has always refused to allow other nations to fight our wars, that is a wholly (or holy) Israeli responsibility. In closing we advise we watch Taiwan and wonder why the United States is hinting they will accept a nuclear armed Iran.

Beyond the Cusp

Racism in Opposition to Deporting Illegal Immigrants

 

It does not matter if it is in the United States, Europe or Israel; the people who are claiming it is inhuman to deport illegal immigrants are steeped in racism. I know their main argument is the deportation is racist at its heart. The truth is it is not racist to deport illegal immigrants if the sole delineating reason in choosing those to be deported is to deport those who came into the country illegally back to the country from which they originated providing they will not be automatically imprisoned or worse. If their originating nation may be problematic and there is a third nation willing to give them refuge from their originating area of the world, then this is also permitted. Thusfar, the main nations in the Developed World who are currently in the process to deport illegal immigrants, not refugees as they are claimed to be by those opposing the action often for political reasons, such as if these people were to become citizens with the right to vote they would support their party; the UNHRC has approved these deportations. But there is one argument which is very vicious and in bad taste, that sending them back to the nation, or even continent, will lead to their being oppressed and suffering because these nations are cruel or the governance is unfit and thus makes their return impossible. These arguments have little if any evidence and are made boldly swiping entire areas as being unfit in which to live simply because of their supposed indecency to one another.

 

Taking such a swipe at the developing world is basically racist as it takes entire regions and claims that because of their populations and the governments they choose and their ways of life are so substandard that they are unfit for life. Swiping Africa, South America or the Islamic world as being unfit place to live and defining life there as torturous for their citizens, does not mean that every nation in the developed world must automatically grant economic asylum to anybody who originated from these areas and have managed to enter the nation in question by any means. Such an argument, if carried to the ultimate, would mean that if somebody from Greece or Italy took a trip to Canada, Britain or Germany they should be permitted to live and work there and become citizens because they came from a nation which was economically less well off. Such an argument carried to the logical conclusion, the entire world would be on their way to Germany, the United States, Britain and Israel and even some locations in China and the remainder of the world would become depopulated. Why not take people and move them to places where their lives would be easier? Well, because it would not take long before the migration was complete, the nations which had been economically well off would become third world nations as they would not be capable of employing or handling the invasion of immigrants. There are reasons that nations need and must be permitted to control the immigrants who enter across their borders. The days of uncontrolled immigration ended with the onset of the industrial revolution as this produces a more skilled workforce with specialized skills and required a more structured and intensive education.

 

It does not do the immigrant any favors to place them in a nation which has a considerably better economic environment if they are not skilled or sufficiently educated to take advantage of the presumed opportunities. If the immigrant is only capable of taking is menial jobs which pay minimal level salary their life may end up less rewarding and with less advantages than they would have had in their native country. There exists a similar example with the dark side of affirmative action in higher education. Too often a minority student who is quite capable of excelling at their State University are admitted to an Ivy League University filling their affirmative action quota, and it really is a quota system, will not succeed and end up failing and once they have failed, finding a university which will accept them becomes more difficult and thus even the State University where they would have excelled will now no longer admit them, or at least not for three or more years. This is described in the book “Please Stop Helping Us” which is summarized in this article by Thomas Sowell. The book also covers such actions with other areas including foreign aid being counterproductive especially when the aid is agricultural products being sent to a nation which had an agrarian economy.

 

The describing the originating nations and continents where these immigrants originate as being so inferior and backwards that even existence in these places should be considered torture is unbelievably racist. Many of these nations are making great strides towards modernity and their standard of living is approaching European standards and exceeding the standard of living in a number of European countries. One can only wonder why it is that these supposed pro-immigrant individuals who are really only pro-illegal-immigrant as they would be against illegal immigrants say from France or Italy being permitted to live despite being illegal in Sweden or the United States. They even are against European immigration to the United States and demand that all immigrants be from Third World as European immigrants are unworthy and do not need the advantage of moving to the United States. They only scream when illegal immigrants are to be returned to their nation of origin or neighboring country willing to take them. A perfect example is in Israel where thirty-thousand illegal immigrants are to be returned either to their nation of origin or a third country willing to accept them as immigrants. The nation which is willing to accept them has a higher-level economy than their nation of origin. Israel is not deporting those who are married, women, children, their parents and those from Darfur. Those being deported are being awarded approximately the equivalent of three-thousand dollars to facilitate their relocation. Still, there are people from the left politically who are demanding these illegal immigrants be permitted to remain in Israel. Some have also made the claim that Israel should be open to any such refugees from Africa or Asia in any numbers which would prefer living in Israel. What these people are actually proposing is the death of Israel and the Jewish Homeland.

 

Those desiring making Israel simply a democracy where anybody in any number be permitted to enter the nation to take advantage of the better economy simply want to end the idea of a Jewish State. We would bet that they would not make the same demand if the nation in question were Japan. The requirements to become a citizen of Japan are:

1) Continuous residence in Japan for five years or more
2) At least 20 years old and otherwise legally competent
3) History of good behavior generally, and no past history of seditious behavior
4) Sufficient capital or skills, either personally or within family, to support oneself
5) Stateless or willing to renounce foreign citizenship

Requirement number three precludes citizenship for illegal immigrant. So, should Japan be required to make an exception and permit citizenship for illegal immigrants from economically challenged nations as is being demanded of European countries, Israel and the United States? Imagine thirteen million Chinese peasant farmers, one tenth the population of Japan’s one-hundred-twenty-seven-million, made their way to Japan, should they offer them citizenship? It should be mentioned that Japan discourages those not of Japanese heritage, even if married to a Japanese spouse, to try to become a citizen. Japan desires to remain the homeland of the Japanese people. Israel has merely eight and a half million citizens, seven percent the population of Japan. Japan has a total area of three-hundred-seventy-eight thousand square kilometers and Israel has a mere twenty-one thousand square kilometers which is five and a half percent. Israel has just over four-hundred citizens per square kilometer and Japan has just over three-hundred-thirty-five citizens per square kilometer.

 

Map of Japan with Israel Imposed to Scale

 

So, if you thought that Japan should not be required as, like most people, you believed Japan to be overcrowded already, well, Israel has a slightly higher population density than Japan. What this comes back to is one of our least favorite but consistent threat, those who desire to erase the Jewish State by any means possible. Forcing Israel to accept any and all illegal immigrants who cross their border would be a guaranteed method which is probably why a five judge panel of the usually leftist Israel Supreme Court ruled against the complaint filed demanding that these illegal immigrants be granted refugee status due to economic reasons. This infuriated many leftist NGO’s, mostly those who despite registering as Israeli are funded and have their main operations and financing from outside Israel along with American and European NGOs whose main area is targeting Israel for complaints and court actions have now decided to raise as much noise and negative publicity as they possibly are capable. This racket is manufactured and actually has little actual support with Israelis. Many of the people protesting are in Israel on a protest vacation, and why not as Israel is a nice place to vacation and they are actually here for the Tel Aviv nightlife, so daytime protests can be accommodated providing they are not too early in the day. There are some who are protesting online or from their home location. It is all simply noise which is much ado about nothing as the decisions have been made, the arrangements completed, and everybody is being tight lipped about everything. Why allow for additional aggravation or allow the busybodies more targets. Israel has wisely decided to be the only target while not letting on where these illegal immigrants are destined until it is too late to pressure that nation. But at least Israel, and likely the United States as well, are used to receiving grief for anything and everything the government does with demonstrations and court actions. At least this time the Supreme Court of Israel actually made a good decision for the preservation of the state.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Iran plus Korea Update

 

Iranian protests against economic stagnation, disinterest of the government placing foreign wars they chose above its people and against an oppressive regime which strangles their youth and their desires to be free and live as they choose. There have been over two or three dozen already murdered and many hundreds arrested with a good number of those likely to never be seen again and the only reaction from the government has been to televise pro-government demonstrations which were more likely than not staged using IRGC* and Basij Militias members who are a small minority of the nations but extremely loyal to the regime. Both organizations are religiously fanatical as is the government. The Iranian top leadership is made up of religious clerics, the Mullahs, who hand pick who are permitted to run for elected office thus making their appearance of democracy merely that, appearance. Nobody who would work against the Mullahs and their program of continuing the revolution spreading it at every opportunity to the remainder of the world would ever be permitted to stand for election to office. Worse yet, the elected officials also would be fully supportive of any measures the Mullahs and the Supreme Leader decide are necessary to end the protests including mass shootings of demonstrators in the streets. That is the point where many would really be interested in exactly how far President Trump and the United States might go should this become reality and hundreds, if not thousands or tens of thousands were to be gunned down on the streets of Iran.

 

The first thing to remember is that President Trump was elected largely on his domestic policy promises of curbing immigration and economic improvement through tax reform and regulations rollback. As we might recall, his slogan was “Make America Great Again” or MAGA. That is completely separate from intervening or making threats simply to prevent Iran from putting an end to internal protests which the government has already blamed on Israel and the United States claiming that the CIA and Mossad are the leaders implementing and fomenting the protest in an attempt to derail the revolution which is the core principle under which the Iranian regime operates. What it comes down to is would the United States actually resort to use of arms to prevent further regime violent pushback against the protests. Our best guess is as such, beyond what President Trump would be willing to authorize, he would first instead attempt to get United Nations Security Council to enact enforceable sanctions on Iran and, lacking that, placing United States sanctions and attempting to get other allies to also impose sanctions. As far as Security Council sanctions are concerned, after the United States veto of the Security Council vote to forbid nations from placing their embassies in Jerusalem and condemning President Trump recognizing Jerusalem making it an international city under United Nations protection from Israeli overreach, we could probably count on Russia using their veto to protect Iran from the mean United States and possibly even adding that the United States move was being taken to serve Israeli interests and nothing more. As far as getting European countries to join in sanctions, at best a few of the eastern Europeans might join in sanctions and otherwise, at best, the British might also join but Germany, France and the remainder of the European Union have Euros in their eyes when they visualize Iran and are too self-absorbed in taking advantage of monetary opportunities to join in sanctioning their potential money pit. United States sanctions of and by themselves would have little if any effect on Iran and would do little to prevent them from doing as they please, even to slaughtering the protesters en-masse, in ending the protests against the government.

 

Even if President Trump in normal times in a normal world wanted to prevent the murder of the protesters, he would need to be extremely wary of intervening as such actions would inevitably result in war. The citizens of the United States did not elect President Trump to get them into another war in the Middle East and the quickest way to assure that he would be a one term President would be to engage in another Middle East war. The United States electorate would hold him responsible and in 2020 they would elect almost anybody other than Donald Trump were he to cause a war with Iran. Further, President Trump has enough on his plate with North Korea and a looming potential for a war on that front, and even that war would be a difficult sell. The main reason that a war with North Korea might be more palatable to the United States people is Kim Jong-Un is an identifiable threat and has been pressing all the wrong buttons challenging the United States almost calling them every derogatory name in the book and despite many of those names being directed at Trump, they have not been received well by the United States voters. The United States has danced this dance with leaders from North Korea for years with each go around costing more than the previous and they are willing to risk war rather than give in to blustering blackmail. For a parallel one need look to the Barbary Pirates who would sell protection for sailors and then still kidnap United States sailors off merchant ships to ransom with along with the constantly rising price demanded for protection finally drove even President Thomas Jefferson, a devout isolationist as far as wars were concerned, to declare war on the Barbary Pirates and their respective Caliphs. North Korea is very likely approaching a similar point with the United States currently and if they push too hard, they may get something they really had not bargained for.

 

President Trump likely has little desire to enter into any wars. Iran probably is not prepared to fight a war with the United States at this moment. China does not desire to war with the United States in particular. Japan very much desires to avoid any costly wars, as their financial situation is quite precarious and just recently starting to recover. Kim Jong-Un, despite his bluster, would likely prefer to live a long life. Russian President Putin is seeking some means of extricating himself out of the war raging in Syria while retaining his naval bases on the Mediterranean Sea. Europe could not fight a meaningful war even if it was brought to their shores. Turkish President Erdoğan is prepared to fight the Kurds in order to extend his domain but is not prepared to go beyond such. Even Israel’s neighbors are not seeking an active war with Israel with Hamas settling to toss a rocket or two out of Gaza each week and Hezballah already stretched to the breaking point between Syria, Yemen and retaining control in Lebanon. Egypt has barely sufficient taste for conflict to hold its cities in the Sinai Peninsula while terrorist groups mass there for future conflict, and even they are looking towards future and hoping Egypt does not feel its hand pushed too far and react against their hold on the area. So why is North Korea‘s Kim Jong-Un testing ICBM’s and other missiles as well as nuclear weapons? Why has Japan altered the Japanese Constitution to allow them, for the first time since World War II, to increase their armaments, military size and is debating the development, which means using the technology they already possess, of nuclear weapons intended as a deterrent? Why is Iran instigating conflicts across the Middle East in Iraq, Syria and Yemen while developing ever-longer range ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons and possibly even building stockpiles of such weapons? Why has there been all the chest thumping between Kim Jong-Un and President Trump with the most recent round on Twitter being an exchange of Tweets about their nuclear button size on one another’s desk? Why is Iran once again pressing an internal conflict followed by the world to the point where sanction may very well be imposed once again? None of these acts signals a world seeking completely peaceful solution to their problems both internal and external. The two most dangerous, currently, are Iran and North Korea as we mentioned just the other day. So, why not take one last look at them and their pressing all the wrong buttons with the United States and why.

 

First North Korea, as it may be the less complicated situation currently. Kim Jong-Un did take an unexpected move and respond to urgings from the newly elected South Korean President Moon Jae-in, elected this past May of 2017, for binational talks to defuse the building tensions emanating from North Korea. The danger is that these talks fail to resolve the international situation while South Korea, currently in a mood to redress past grievances and mending fences while absolving differences. There is even some mood to sacrifice in order to reunify the Korean Peninsula should a proper and beneficial proposition be presented, though the possibilities of this are next to nil. The problem is the unknown and unpredictable results of these talks. Fears are that North Korea will press for reunification with some form of unity governance headed by Kim Jong-Un which South Korea would be foolish to permit. Almost as bad an omen would be for North Korea to offer to curb their missile tests and nuclear testing and development in exchange for aid running in the tens if not thousands of billions of dollars to be paid largely by the United States in exchange for a treaty and an end to this round of extortion. Such a demand could not come at a worse opportunity as President Trump is unlikely to swallow such a demand quietly and would likely enter into a very dangerous game of chicken with Kim Jong-Un which, with the slightest miscalculation, results in an open conflict potentially nuclear in nature. Such a conflict would have the immediate consequences of the devastation of Seoul and most if not all of South Korea, the destruction of almost all large cities of Japan, and an exchange between the United States responding to the attacks by North Korea where North Korea would also cease to be recognizable while a number of United States major cities would end up destroyed or worse, a Super EMP detonation over Kansas City area wiping out the North American electrical grid potentially destroying over half of the main transformers upon which the grid is dependent. What would follow would very likely be extremely destructive for much of the world should China, Russia or anyone else left standing decide it was time to strike while the irons of war were hot only to run afoul of the United States submarine nuclear retaliatory forces which are quite formidable and perfectly capable of carrying out countering any threat to the United States, especially the few naval and air bases which would remain to the United States military which is spread across the globe and thus would still be operational even if in a somewhat less formidable manner. When a nation is capable of destroying the entirety of the planet hundreds of times over, even twenty percent force power is sufficient to make anyone hesitate pressing too far.

 

World at War from 1984 by George Orwell

 

Iran, on the other hand, is a completely different kettle of fish. Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei is tasked with the spread of the Grand Islamic Revolution which brought the initial and previous Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini to power after United States President Jimmy Carter refused to defend Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and actually signaled he should go into exile and allow Khomeini to come to power and out of his exile in Paris. President Carter was quoted as claiming that as a religious man and a cleric that Khomeini would be a man of peace and would bring a reformation to Iran which would be a positive force in settling the Middle East. President Carter really had no clue about Shiite Islam or Islam in general. The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution is responsible for keeping the faith and extending the revolution, as it is called, by which in time two events will result. The first is that the Islamic world will bow to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and see him as the Strong Horse and the Sunni Muslims will largely convert to Shia Islam rather than be put to the sword. Once the world of Islam has been conquered by the true Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, then the remainder of the world can be brought under the flag of Islam and Sharia Shiite style. This will lead to a world in conflagration which is believed to be when the Mahdi will appear and protest his being revealed to the world as explained by Nu’aym ibn Hammad who stated, “The Mahdi will not come until one third die, one third are killed, and one third remain.” One can only imagine a world which meets those criteria. This is the far vision each Iranian Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution must adhere. This is not meant to claim that the present Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei desires to force such a world into being, but that does not mean that he would be reluctant to take any position which could result in the coming of the Mahdi. The eventual aim of the Iranian version of Shiite Islam is the coming of the Mahdi and the submission of what remains of the world to Allah through Shiite Islam with no other religion permitted on Earth. Still, Iran is not ready to take on the world and this attempt to reach this desired aim to subjugate the world with it suffering two-thirds of human life snuffed from existence in a great conflict, but once they believe they have reached such a threshold, then will come a conflagration unparalleled in known human history. There are some who point to evidence that some form of humankind existed which were more advanced than our technology today and were involved in a great cataclysm ending their civilization and humankind went through an extended era where the knowledge returning to a more primitive humankind and we are only now reaching for similar technologies if not the identical technologies with which our forebearers destroyed themselves. The state of our world today gives such a theory some degree of credence.

 

The frightening reality reached in researching for this article was that we really are about to go beyond the cusp. The only question is beyond which cusp will we go? Many, if not the vast majority, of these choices would have us going beyond the cusp and finding ourselves tumbling into a deep and endless chasm and taking all of our so-called civilization with us into oblivion. There are a few narrow choices where going beyond the cusp leads the human race into the stars and eventually to a space filled initially with peace and beyond that depends on what we encounter. If we will be destined to meet extraterrestrial intelligent entities, we can only pray that they are peaceful and willing to share knowledge, technologies and the arts which make their hearts soar. But first, we will be required to get our own houses in order and eschew violence as the means of settling our differences. Truth be told, our differences are minor compared to what we may find in the stars, so we had best learn how to handle our petty differences first and foremost, then we can find the best means of coexisting or merging everything into a set of universal truths which are inclusive and satisfactory to all establishing ideals as close to the real truth as we are able. The truth is that our knowledge will never be capable of understanding the entirety of the Universe as much, if not the vast majority, will remain beyond that which we can see and every minute we spend trapped as we are in this one solar system, the less and less we will ever have revealed will represent. Human curiosity is a strange beast which will insist on seeing what is around the next bend, beyond the horizon, and comes tomorrow and tomorrow in endless succession and finally, why all of these things exist and where they came from. But for now, can we at least survive without destroying civilization until we colonize another planet orbiting a different parent star. Such an accomplishment would promise survivability to the human race. After such has been achieved, then we can place starter colonies jumping from one star to the next setting up workable colonies which can grow into entirely new civilization but which will share their advancements with the rest of humankind and perhaps also other intelligent species we should meet, assuming that such exist. So, let us proceed forward and pray we choose wisely and do not falter or find ourselves at the brink of extinction with no way to prevent going beyond the cusp and falling to our deaths and as such our failings.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

* IRGC = Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps