The Law Of Unintended Consequences At Work

Evidently the coronavirus has been around since December. China kept quiet about it, and when it spread to Iran in January, Iran kept quiet about it. One of the ‘advantages’ of a totalitarian regime is the ability to keep the public from knowing about a pending epidemic. Well, there seem to be some consequences of the fact that China and Iran chose to remain silent about the problem. As of now, Iran has the highest number of deaths outside of China.

The Gateway Pundit is reporting today that after the death of Commander Soleimani,  Democrat Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif in a secret meeting in Munich. The meeting was in February.

The article includes a quote from the Israel National News:

This year’s Munich Security Conference may go down in history as the COVID-19 viral super-spreader “event of the century,” if not in all of recorded history. That’s because the Munich 2020 event took place from February Friday 14-Sunday 16, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif attended.

Unknown to apparently all the high security-minded attendees, FM Zarif was likely carrying much more than the dark secret that the COVID-19 virus had already begun rampaging through the highest echelons of the Iranian government and society. FM Zarif , or one of his minions, was likely carrying the actual COVID-19, and infected who knows how many of the world’s highest and most influential politicians at the Munich event.

In fact, US Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat from Connecticut, not only met FM Zarif, but met him in Zarif’s hotel suite where there was likely a rat’s nest of COVID-19. Unless drastic steps are taken, Sen. Murphy may become the Typhoid Mary of COVID-19, and infect the entire US Senate and House of Representatives.

As of February 28, 2020 there were officially 210 actual deaths in Iran. Unofficially, there have been over 500 reliably reported Iranian deaths. But, what is very unusual about the Iranian deaths is that a large number of extremely high ranking government officials in Tehran, the capital, have actually caught the disease and have died. The officially “First reported” Iranian case was on February 19. Working backward from the 19th, that means COVID-19 was likely already circulating in Iran from middle-to-late January when FM Zarif, or one of his staff, could have caught the disease.

I don’t wish anyone ill, but it seems like violating the Logan Act might be the least of Chris Murphy’s problems.

Doing The Right Thing In Rio

Haaretz posted a story today about the Olympics in Rio. This will be the first time the Olympics honors the memory of the Israeli Olympic athletes killed in a Palestinian terror attack in 1972.

The article reports:

Called the Place of Mourning, the Olympic Village memorial site honors the memory of the Israelis as well as four other people who were killed during Olympic Games. The others are the German policeman who was killed in a failed rescue attempt in Munich; two victims of a bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and a Georgian athlete who died in an accident at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, widows of two of the murdered Israeli athletes, had been campaigning for years to have the Israelis officially commemorated. They were unsuccessful until Thomas Bach, of Germany, became IOC president in September 2013.

…A “moment of reflection” for the Munich 11 will be held during the Games’ closing ceremony on Aug. 21.

In addition to the IOC commemorations, an August 14 ceremony for the Israeli 11 at Rio City Hall will feature the widows of weightlifter Yossef Romano — who was kidnapped, castrated and murdered by the terrorists — and Andre Spitzer, a fencing coach, lighting 11 candles, according to the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. Officials from the Israeli Olympic Committee and the Israeli Consulate will lead the commemoration.

I had the privilege of hearing Dan Alon, a member of the 1972 Israeli Olympic Fencing Team who survived the attack, speak many years ago. He has an amazing story. It is fitting that the Olympic Committee has finally honored the victims of that attack.

The Danger In Taking In Too Many Refugees

Gateway Pundit posted an article about the impact of the wave of immigrants flooding into Germany.

The article reports:

Muslims initiated a petition on Change.org urging the City of Munich to end Un-Islamic Oktoberfest.

Regardless of how you feel about Oktoberfest, it is a German tradition. It is part of German culture and German heritage. If Germany is gracious enough to provide a safe haven for the refugees fleeing the Middle East, the refugees need to be gracious in accepting the customs and hospitality of their new country. The need to stop trying to import their culture rather than accepting the culture they fled to. It should also be noted that the Arab countries in the Middle East have not stepped forward to take in the refugees–the Arab countries would be a much better fit culturally for the refugees.

If the Middle Eastern refugees want to be welcome in western countries, they need to appreciate the culture they are fleeing to. There is no better way to wear out your welcome than to begin criticizing your host.

The Cost Of Bad Foreign Policy

Before I go into any of this, I want to make one thing clear. I am not in favor of going to war with Iran. Despite the fact that American troops have been fighting Iran in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than ten years now, I have no desire at all to attack Iran. Any American attack on Iran would result in an Iranian attack on Israel (probably chemical or nuclear in nature) and totally end any semblance of stability in the Middle East. However, I am totally opposed to the recent agreement reached between America and Iran in regard to Iran becoming a nuclear power (Iran says that in the recent agreement, the world community gave Iran permission to become a nuclear power; the world community says it did not give that permission).

I am not the only one concerned about the agreement. Yesterday Bret Stephens posted an article at the Wall Street Journal regarding the recent agreement reached with Iran.

Mr. Stephens cites two recent peace agreements that were questionable at best–Munich and the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973. Both agreements seemingly brought peace and both lead the way to horrible atrocities–the attempted Nazi takeover of Europe and the killing fields of Cambodia.

Mr. Stephens points out that although the agreement signed in Geneva on Sunday brings temporary peace as did Munich and Paris, it has no redeeming qualities.

The article points out:

And each deal was a prelude to worse. After Munich came the conquest of Czechoslovakia, the Nazi-Soviet pact and World War II. After Paris came the fall of Saigon and Phnom Penh and the humiliating exit from the embassy rooftop. After Geneva there will come a new, chaotic Mideast reality in which the United States will lose leverage over enemies and friends alike.

What will that look like? Iran will gradually shake free of sanctions and glide into a zone of nuclear ambiguity that will keep its adversaries guessing until it opts to make its capabilities known. Saudi Arabia will move swiftly to acquire a nuclear deterrent from its clients in Islamabad; Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal made that clear to the Journal last week when he indiscreetly discussed “the arrangement with Pakistan.” Egypt is beginning to ponder a nuclear option of its own while drawing closer to a security alliance with Russia.

The economic sanctions on Iran were working–the Iranian economy was rapidly shrinking. That is why Iran was willing to negotiate. Had the economy continued to shrink, we might have seen the end of the tyrannical rule of the Ayatollahs. Instead, we will see an end to the sanctions and a strengthening of the hold the Islamic fanatics have on the country of Iran.

Unfortunately, we have messed this up royally, and we will be the ones to pay the price.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Institutionalizing Anti-Semitism

Paul Mirengoff at Power Line posted an interesting article yesterday about the omission of a moment of silence at the Olympics for the Israeli athletes murdered 40 years ago.

The article points out:

There was, however, a moment of silence for the victims of the two world wars and other international conflicts. Thus, IOC President Jacques Rogge was lying when he claimed that the decision not to honor the victims of the Munich attacks was based on the view that “the opening ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident.”

This is not a small thing. Two of the widows met with Rogge and asked that their husbands and the nine other athletes murdered be remembered at the Olympics.

Mr. Mirengoff reports:

…According to their account, when asked whether his decision was “because [the murder victims] were Israelis,” Rogge didn’t answer.

One of the widows says she told Rogge that “you didn’t hear the voice of the world.” The Frenchman responded, “Yes I did.”

Unfortunately, Mr. Mirengoff states:

He’s right, I fear — the “voice of the world” probably was, as ever, against Israel.

This hurts my heart.

The article at Power Line reminds us of some basic realities of the world we live in:

The IOC’s values are not the values of America, at least not yet. But they are the values of the many other international organizations that seek, with the help of American leftists, to take more and more control of our lives and our fate.

Unless we want one day to be in the position of those hapless Israeli widows, begging for favor before a French bureaucrat (or worse), we must cede nothing more to these bodies.

He’s right.

Enhanced by Zemanta