WEEKLY QUOTES
“The appropriate answer to terrorism is to strike it hard – and deepen our roots in our country even more. The security cabinet will convene today to prepare for a more wide-ranging operation for those who carry out terrorism, and their supporters, in eastern Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, while avoiding – as much as possible – harm to those who are not involved.” – Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 12, 2023)
“For a while, we have no longer been in a political debate, but are on the brink of constitutional and social collapse. I feel … that we are in the moment before a clash, even a violent clash. The gunpowder barrel is about to explode. … the biggest challenge of all is maintaining the unity of the people of Israel. As mentioned, I am fully committed to this. If required, I may even request to appear before the committee in a precedent-setting and exceptional manner, in order to present the proposed principles in depth. I am ready to do anything — I repeat, everything — so that we can overcome this difficult dispute.” – Israeli President Isaac Herzog, a former leader of the Labor opposition party. (JTA, Feb. 12, 2023)
“I’m not saying the President is lying. . .But based on what I was told today and the evasive answers, I wouldn’t trust these people to guard my lunch” — Sen. John Kennedy (R.-Louisiana), commenting on the Administration’s initial (postponed) briefing on the appearance of the first of now-four shot-down aerial “objects.” (Washington Times, Feb. 9, 2023)
“I’ll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven’t ruled out anything. At this point we continue to assess every threat or potential threat, unknown, that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it.” — U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck when asked if the U.S. military had ruled out an extraterrestrial origin for the unidentified objects. (Daily Wire, Feb. 12, 2023)
“I don’t think the American people need to worry about aliens with respect to these craft. I don’t think there’s any more that needs to be said there.” — National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. He dismissed concerns that a string of unidentified airborne objects shot down by the U.S. in recent days are related to aliens or extraterrestrial activity. (National Review, Feb. 13, 2023)
“The question that gets at me is how could the FBI, which is sworn to protect the constitution, ever justify using intense application of its resources, agents et cetera to urge social media platforms, to use those standards to takedown speech that the constitution protects?” — Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) at the Congressional “Twitter Files” hearing. (Real Clear Politics, Feb. 9, 2023)
“… after January 6, they [Twitter executives] invented a new policy called “glorification of violence”… what they said was you have to look at Trump, not in terms of each individual tweet, but what they called the context surrounding his whole career. All the people who followed him, whether or not they were violent or said things that were offensive. It’s like the speech version of stochastic terrorism, … this idea that you can incite people to violence by saying things that aren’t specifically inciting but are statistically likely to create somebody who will do something violent, even if it is not individually predictable. That’s what they did with Trump. They invented this concept where he may not have actually incited violence, but the whole totality of his persona is incitement, so we’re going to strike him. They massively expanded the purview of things they can censor just in that one moment.” – independent journalist Matt Taibbi on the Josh Rogan podcast discussing Twitter’s nuking of President Trump and his followers off its platform while keeping actual autocrats and murderers on. (Real Clear Politics, Feb. 12, 2023)
“[Leonard Downie Jr.] quotes Kathleen Carroll – former head of the Associated Press – who, like him, questions the very possibility of objectivity in news reporting. ‘It’s objective by whose standard?’, Carroll asks. ‘That standard seems to be white, educated, fairly wealthy… And when people don’t feel like they find themselves in news coverage, it’s because they don’t fit that definition.’ ‘Don’t find themselves in news coverage’? Since when do I have to find myself in a news item before I can comprehend it? What an infantilising idea. … According to the Washington Post, journalists should contort a story so it affirms every pre-conceived notion your reader has. Telling your readers how something really is, even if it risks disabusing the reader of those notions, is no longer necessary.” – Jenny Holland regarding an op-ed by the renowned journalist and former Washington Post editor that claims that public trust in the media can only be regained by abandoning objective truth. (Spiked, Feb. 7, 2023)
“We have so far failed the people in north-west Syria. They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn’t arrived. My duty and our obligation are to correct this failure as fast as we can. That’s my focus now.” — Martin Griffiths. the UN’s relief chief. it took four days for the first UN-organized convoys to reach the Idlib region of N.E. Syria from Turkey; so far the Turkish-Syrian earthquake death toll is nearly 40,000 and climbing. (Twitter, Feb. 12, 2023)
“College is a partnership between faculty and students focused on learning and pursuing knowledge. It’s ultimately about the enduring question of human flourishing. Freshman orientation shouldn’t be a re-education session. DEI may be the heart of the woke movement, but it deadens the academic mind.” — Matthew Spalding, vice president of Hillsdale College and dean of its Van Andel Graduate School of Government in Washington. (WSJ, Feb. 10, 2023)
SHORT TAKES
ISRAEL’S HERZOG UNVEILS 5-POINT BLUEPRINT FOR COMPROMISE ON JUDICIAL OVERHAUL (Jerusalem) — Urging to avert “violent collision,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog proposed a five-point plan to kickstart a dialogue on the judicial overhaul in a national address. He said that “some aspects” of the judicial reform as it was put forth by the government could “compromise Israeli democracy.” (Algemeiner, Feb. 12, 2023)
BIDEN URGES CONSENSUS IN ISRAEL ON JUDICIARY PLANS AS PROTEST MOUNTS (Washington) — US President Joe Biden has called for wide agreement to be reached in Israel on sweeping changes to the judiciary pushed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that sparked nationwide protests. Israel’s parliament may on Monday begin the legislation process of the judicial overhaul, which would increase the government’s sway in selecting judges while weakening Supreme Court power to strike down laws or rule against the executive. (Algemeiner, Feb. 12, 2023)
NETANYAHU ADVANCES OVERHAUL OF TOP ISRAELI COURT, DRAWING THOUSANDS OF PROTESTERS (Jerusalem) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s right-wing government advanced legislation Monday that would overhaul the country’s top court, drawing tens of thousands of Israelis to protest the proposal in front of the Parliament, or Knesset, as workers across the country went on a general strike. The proposed changes would allow a simple majority of lawmakers to overturn Supreme Court decisions and dominate the committee that appoints judges. (WSJ, Feb. 13, 2023)
ISRAELI CHIEF RABBI: EARTHQUAKE RESCUE TEAMS SHOULD WORK THROUGH JEWISH SABBATH (Jerusalem) — As the death toll from Monday’s devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria passed the 21,000 mark, Israel’s chief rabbi issued a letter reminding Israeli Jewish rescue workers to continue their operations through Friday night and Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, in accordance with pikuach nefesh, the halachic concept that the saving of a life overrules the commandments in Jewish law. In his message, Chief Rabbi David emphasized: “Wherever there is any chance of saving lives and finding survivors, the engineering team must continue its activities.” (WIN, Feb. 10, 2023)
ISRAELI RESCUE TEAM EVACUATED FROM TURKEY ON MIRIAM ADELSON’S PLANE AMID ‘CONCRETE AND IMMEDIATE THREAT’ (Istanbul) — One of the Israeli teams dispatched to Turkey to assist after the devastating earthquakes there has headed home after being informed about a “concrete and immediate threat” against them. Because of a shortage of available planes to evacuate them, the philanthropist Miriam Adelson donated her private jet to facilitate the evacuation, the group said. (JTA, Feb. 12, 2023)
CIVILIANS TOLD TO BRING FIREARMS TO SYNAGOGUE ON SHABBAT (Jerusalem) — The chief rabbi of the Israel Police penned an open letter to rabbis throughout Israel urging them to advise congregants to carry firearms on Shabbat. In his letter, Rabbi Rami Brachyahu said the measure was necessary following the Jan. 27 Palestinian terrorist attack that killed seven people at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood. History has proven that religious neighborhoods and synagogues were a target for terrorists. (WIN, Feb. 10, 2023)
EUROPEAN CITY CUTS ALL TIES WITH ISRAEL, BLASTS NETANYAHU FOR ‘HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES’ (Barcelona) — Barcelona’s mayor Ada Colau notified Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that she is suspending all of the Spanish city’s ties with Israel. The city will maintain relations with “Israeli and Palestinian entities that continue to work for peace and against apartheid.” Lior Haiat, spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called the decision “unfortunate” and “in complete contrast to the position of the majority of the residents of Barcelona and their representatives in the city council.” (WIN, Feb. 8, 2023)
MADRID OFFERS TO PARTNER WITH TEL AVIV AFTER BARCELONA SEVERS ‘TWIN CITY’ TIES (Madrid) – The day after Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau cut ties with Israel, citing what she said was “apartheid” in Israel José Luís Martínez-Almeida, Mayor of Madrid, Barcelona’s twin city, offered to step up as a replacement. During a press conference, Martínez-Almeida said the twinning is a “great opportunity to show Madrid’s commitment to strengthening relations with a democratic and a law-abiding state like Israel.” (JTA, Feb. 10, 2023)
UPROAR IN THE NETHERLANDS AFTER ANNE FRANK HOUSE IS TARGETED WITH ANTISEMITIC MESSAGE (Amsterdam) — The Prime Minister of the Netherlands led a chorus of condemnation following the laser projection of an antisemitic message onto the outer wall of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, where the famed teenage Jewish diarist hid with her family during the Nazi occupation of the country. The offending message referred to Anne Frank as the “inventor of the ballpoint pen” — a internet meme actively spread by Holocaust deniers who falsely claim that the diary was written using a pen that did not exist during World War II. (Algemeiner, Feb. 10, 2023)
‘NEUTRAL’ CHATGPT LIES ABOUT PALESTINIAN TERROR, EXCUSES PA COMPLICITY (LA) – ChatGPT, the online program, which allows users to instruct the tool to carry out tasks or answer queries, doesn’t produce perfect results, and its creator warns that ChatGPT still has some kinks to work out. That was clear after Israel Bitton, on behalf of the NGO Americans Against Antisemitism, decided to test the neutrality of ChatGPT regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bitton observed that ChatGPT repeatedly denied and defended the Palestinian Authority’s support for terror, giving answers that were objectively false regarding the PA’s complicity and downplaying the widespread support within the Palestinian population for attacks on Jews. (WIN, Feb. 13, 2023)
NEW SURVEY SHOWS 4 IN 10 AMERICAN JEWS FELT LESS SECURE LAST YEAR, HIGHER THAN IN 2021 (Washington) — Four in 10 American Jews felt less secure in 2022 than they did in 2021, according to an American Jewish Committee survey, a 10-percentage point rise from when the same question was asked a year earlier. In addition, the survey found that more than a quarter of respondents had personally been targeted by an antisemitic remark or attack over the past year. Nearly a quarter avoided wearing or carrying things that would identify them publicly as Jewish. Both numbers were similar to the previous year’s survey. (JTA, Feb. 13, 2023)
ILLINOIS TAXPAYERS FOOTING $1 MILLION BILL FOR ANTISEMITIC GROUP(Chicago) — The Chicago-headquartered Nation of Islam has “a consistent record of antisemitism and bigotry,” and its leader Louis Farrakhan has said contemporary Jews are “not really Jews but are in fact Satan” and “the enemy of God and the enemy of the righteous,” among many antisemitic statements. Still, Illinois shelled out half a million dollars to this religious group, and it is slated to fund the hate group another half a million this year. This support in taxpayer monies comes at a time when antisemitic incidents in the U.S. have hit an all-time high. (JTA, Feb. 10, 2023)
ANTI-SEMITE REPLACES PEDOPHILE AT RALLY PROTESTING AID TO UKRAINE (Washington) — -The Libertarian Party’s rally to protest U.S. funding for Ukraine and urge heavy cuts to the Pentagon budget lost a pedophile speaker last week but has since added an anti-Semite. Former Democratic congresswoman Cynthia McKinney will appear at the “Rage Against the War Machine” rally in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 19., replacing convicted pedophile Scott Ritter. McKinney, who served in the House until 2007, has an extensive history of peddling anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In June 2021, she claimed that “Zionists” were behind the 9/11 attacks, and in 2020, she disputed that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. (Washington Free Beacon, Feb. 13. 2023)
500 ACADEMICS AND MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS CALL FOR REMOVAL OF PROFESSOR ACCUSED OF ANTISEMITISM (Washington) — Over 500 academics and mental health professionals have issued a letter urging George Washington University (GWU) to remove “decolonial” clinical psychology professor Lara Sheehi from teaching duties for the duration of an investigation of allegations that she discriminated against Jewish students and attempted to sabotage their careers. The allegations against Leehi were first made public last month in a civil rights complaint by StandWithUs, a nonprofit that fights antisemitism and promoted education about Israel. (Algemeiner, Feb. 13, 2023)
NEW YORK STATE SUPREME COURT GETS ITS FIRST FEMALE HASIDIC JUDGE (NY) — The New York State Supreme Court welcomed a new judge recently – its first female Hasidic justice. Rachel “Ruchie” Freier, 57, a justice on the New York City Criminal Court, was tapped last December to join the New York State Supreme Court as an acting judge, filling a vacancy on the bench. As an acting Supreme Court judge, Freier will have to face an election this summer to retain her position. (WIN, Feb. 10, 2023)
U.S. SHOOTS DOWN FLYING OBJECT OVER LAKE HURON NEAR CANADIAN BORDER (Huron) — U.S. military fighter jets shot down an octagonal object over Lake Huron, the Pentagon said, the latest incident since a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon put North American security forces on high alert. It was the fourth flying object to be shot down over North America by a U.S. missile in a little more than a week. U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who is tasked with safeguarding U.S. airspace, told reporters that the military has not been able to identify what the three most recent objects are, how they stay aloft, or where they are coming from. (CTV News, Feb. 12, 2023)
US HOLDS DRILLS IN SOUTH CHINA SEA AMID TENSIONS WITH CHINA(South China Seas) — The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are holding joint exercises in the South China Sea at a time of heightened tensions with Beijing over the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon. The 7th Fleet based in Japan said that the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit have been conducting “integrated expeditionary strike force operations” in the South China Sea. (VIN News, Feb. 12, 2023)
CHINA HAS MORE ICBM LAUNCHERS THAN U.S., AMERICAN MILITARY REPORTS (Beijing) — The U.S. military has notified congress that China now has more land-based intercontinental missile launchers than the U.S. this as Washington is challenged by Russian nuclear forces as well as China’s growing arsenal. (China is estimated to be on track to 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035, up from the current 400.) (WSJ, Feb. 7, 2023)
EGYPT ARRESTS SOCIAL-MEDIA INFLUENCERS IN DEEPENING CRACKDOWN (Cairo) — Egyptian authorities, reacting to possible criticism of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s handling of a worsening economy, have begun arresting social media figures with large Facebook audiences, fearing crystallization of popular resistance. (WSJ, Feb. 13. 2023)
BIDEN URGES CONSENSUS IN ISRAEL ON JUDICIARY PLANS AS PROTEST MOUNTS (Washington) — US President Joe Biden has called for wide agreement to be reached in Israel on sweeping changes to the judiciary pushed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that sparked nationwide protests. Israel’s parliament may on Monday begin the legislation process of the judicial overhaul, which would increase the government’s sway in selecting judges while weakening Supreme Court power to strike down laws or rule against the executive. (Algemeiner, Feb. 12, 2023)
NETANYAHU ADVANCES OVERHAUL OF TOP ISRAELI COURT, DRAWING THOUSANDS OF PROTESTERS (Jerusalem) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s right-wing government advanced legislation Monday that would overhaul the country’s top court, drawing tens of thousands of Israelis to protest the proposal in front of the Parliament, or Knesset, as workers across the country went on a general strike. The proposed changes would allow a simple majority of lawmakers to overturn Supreme Court decisions and dominate the committee that appoints judges. (WSJ, Feb. 13, 2023)
ISRAELI CHIEF RABBI: EARTHQUAKE RESCUE TEAMS SHOULD WORK THROUGH JEWISH SABBATH (Jerusalem) — As the death toll from Monday’s devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria passed the 21,000 mark, Israel’s chief rabbi issued a letter reminding Israeli Jewish rescue workers to continue their operations through Friday night and Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, in accordance with pikuach nefesh, the halachic concept that the saving of a life overrules the commandments in Jewish law. In his message, Chief Rabbi David emphasized: “Wherever there is any chance of saving lives and finding survivors, the engineering team must continue its activities.” (WIN, Feb. 10, 2023)
ISRAELI RESCUE TEAM EVACUATED FROM TURKEY ON MIRIAM ADELSON’S PLANE AMID ‘CONCRETE AND IMMEDIATE THREAT’ (Istanbul) — One of the Israeli teams dispatched to Turkey to assist after the devastating earthquakes there has headed home after being informed about a “concrete and immediate threat” against them. Because of a shortage of available planes to evacuate them, the philanthropist Miriam Adelson donated her private jet to facilitate the evacuation, the group said. (JTA, Feb. 12, 2023)
CIVILIANS TOLD TO BRING FIREARMS TO SYNAGOGUE ON SHABBAT (Jerusalem) — The chief rabbi of the Israel Police penned an open letter to rabbis throughout Israel urging them to advise congregants to carry firearms on Shabbat. In his letter, Rabbi Rami Brachyahu said the measure was necessary following the Jan. 27 Palestinian terrorist attack that killed seven people at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood. History has proven that religious neighborhoods and synagogues were a target for terrorists. (WIN, Feb. 10, 2023)
EUROPEAN CITY CUTS ALL TIES WITH ISRAEL, BLASTS NETANYAHU FOR ‘HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES’ (Barcelona) — Barcelona’s mayor Ada Colau notified Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that she is suspending all of the Spanish city’s ties with Israel. The city will maintain relations with “Israeli and Palestinian entities that continue to work for peace and against apartheid.” Lior Haiat, spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called the decision “unfortunate” and “in complete contrast to the position of the majority of the residents of Barcelona and their representatives in the city council.” (WIN, Feb. 8, 2023)
MADRID OFFERS TO PARTNER WITH TEL AVIV AFTER BARCELONA SEVERS ‘TWIN CITY’ TIES (Madrid) – The day after Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau cut ties with Israel, citing what she said was “apartheid” in Israel José Luís Martínez-Almeida, Mayor of Madrid, Barcelona’s twin city, offered to step up as a replacement. During a press conference, Martínez-Almeida said the twinning is a “great opportunity to show Madrid’s commitment to strengthening relations with a democratic and a law-abiding state like Israel.” (JTA, Feb. 10, 2023)
UPROAR IN THE NETHERLANDS AFTER ANNE FRANK HOUSE IS TARGETED WITH ANTISEMITIC MESSAGE (Amsterdam) — The Prime Minister of the Netherlands led a chorus of condemnation following the laser projection of an antisemitic message onto the outer wall of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, where the famed teenage Jewish diarist hid with her family during the Nazi occupation of the country. The offending message referred to Anne Frank as the “inventor of the ballpoint pen” — a internet meme actively spread by Holocaust deniers who falsely claim that the diary was written using a pen that did not exist during World War II. (Algemeiner, Feb. 10, 2023)
‘NEUTRAL’ CHATGPT LIES ABOUT PALESTINIAN TERROR, EXCUSES PA COMPLICITY (LA) – ChatGPT, the online program, which allows users to instruct the tool to carry out tasks or answer queries, doesn’t produce perfect results, and its creator warns that ChatGPT still has some kinks to work out. That was clear after Israel Bitton, on behalf of the NGO Americans Against Antisemitism, decided to test the neutrality of ChatGPT regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bitton observed that ChatGPT repeatedly denied and defended the Palestinian Authority’s support for terror, giving answers that were objectively false regarding the PA’s complicity and downplaying the widespread support within the Palestinian population for attacks on Jews. (WIN, Feb. 13, 2023)
NEW SURVEY SHOWS 4 IN 10 AMERICAN JEWS FELT LESS SECURE LAST YEAR, HIGHER THAN IN 2021 (Washington) — Four in 10 American Jews felt less secure in 2022 than they did in 2021, according to an American Jewish Committee survey, a 10-percentage point rise from when the same question was asked a year earlier. In addition, the survey found that more than a quarter of respondents had personally been targeted by an antisemitic remark or attack over the past year. Nearly a quarter avoided wearing or carrying things that would identify them publicly as Jewish. Both numbers were similar to the previous year’s survey. (JTA, Feb. 13, 2023)
ILLINOIS TAXPAYERS FOOTING $1 MILLION BILL FOR ANTISEMITIC GROUP(Chicago) — The Chicago-headquartered Nation of Islam has “a consistent record of antisemitism and bigotry,” and its leader Louis Farrakhan has said contemporary Jews are “not really Jews but are in fact Satan” and “the enemy of God and the enemy of the righteous,” among many antisemitic statements. Still, Illinois shelled out half a million dollars to this religious group, and it is slated to fund the hate group another half a million this year. This support in taxpayer monies comes at a time when antisemitic incidents in the U.S. have hit an all-time high. (JTA, Feb. 10, 2023)
ANTI-SEMITE REPLACES PEDOPHILE AT RALLY PROTESTING AID TO UKRAINE (Washington) — -The Libertarian Party’s rally to protest U.S. funding for Ukraine and urge heavy cuts to the Pentagon budget lost a pedophile speaker last week but has since added an anti-Semite. Former Democratic congresswoman Cynthia McKinney will appear at the “Rage Against the War Machine” rally in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 19., replacing convicted pedophile Scott Ritter. McKinney, who served in the House until 2007, has an extensive history of peddling anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In June 2021, she claimed that “Zionists” were behind the 9/11 attacks, and in 2020, she disputed that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. (Washington Free Beacon, Feb. 13. 2023)
500 ACADEMICS AND MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS CALL FOR REMOVAL OF PROFESSOR ACCUSED OF ANTISEMITISM (Washington) — Over 500 academics and mental health professionals have issued a letter urging George Washington University (GWU) to remove “decolonial” clinical psychology professor Lara Sheehi from teaching duties for the duration of an investigation of allegations that she discriminated against Jewish students and attempted to sabotage their careers. The allegations against Leehi were first made public last month in a civil rights complaint by StandWithUs, a nonprofit that fights antisemitism and promoted education about Israel. (Algemeiner, Feb. 13, 2023)
NEW YORK STATE SUPREME COURT GETS ITS FIRST FEMALE HASIDIC JUDGE (NY) — The New York State Supreme Court welcomed a new judge recently – its first female Hasidic justice. Rachel “Ruchie” Freier, 57, a justice on the New York City Criminal Court, was tapped last December to join the New York State Supreme Court as an acting judge, filling a vacancy on the bench. As an acting Supreme Court judge, Freier will have to face an election this summer to retain her position. (WIN, Feb. 10, 2023)
U.S. SHOOTS DOWN FLYING OBJECT OVER LAKE HURON NEAR CANADIAN BORDER (Huron) — U.S. military fighter jets shot down an octagonal object over Lake Huron, the Pentagon said, the latest incident since a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon put North American security forces on high alert. It was the fourth flying object to be shot down over North America by a U.S. missile in a little more than a week. U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who is tasked with safeguarding U.S. airspace, told reporters that the military has not been able to identify what the three most recent objects are, how they stay aloft, or where they are coming from. (CTV News, Feb. 12, 2023)
US HOLDS DRILLS IN SOUTH CHINA SEA AMID TENSIONS WITH CHINA(South China Seas) — The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are holding joint exercises in the South China Sea at a time of heightened tensions with Beijing over the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon. The 7th Fleet based in Japan said that the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit have been conducting “integrated expeditionary strike force operations” in the South China Sea. (VIN News, Feb. 12, 2023)
CHINA HAS MORE ICBM LAUNCHERS THAN U.S., AMERICAN MILITARY REPORTS (Beijing) — The U.S. military has notified congress that China now has more land-based intercontinental missile launchers than the U.S. this as Washington is challenged by Russian nuclear forces as well as China’s growing arsenal. (China is estimated to be on track to 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035, up from the current 400.) (WSJ, Feb. 7, 2023)
EGYPT ARRESTS SOCIAL-MEDIA INFLUENCERS IN DEEPENING CRACKDOWN (Cairo) — Egyptian authorities, reacting to possible criticism of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s handling of a worsening economy, have begun arresting social media figures with large Facebook audiences, fearing crystallization of popular resistance. (WSJ, Feb. 13. 2023)
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
Church of England Considers Abandoning Christianity: Tim Constantine, Washington Times, Feb. 10, 2023 — The Church of England convened a synod this past week, a gathering of bishops, clergy and laypeople for the purpose of reviewing and possibly changing church doctrine.
