Europe&#8217;s coronavirus infections are still &#8220;in check&#8221; authorites say, weeks after European governments began lifting coronavirus-related lockdowns, defying some experts&#8217; expectations about the continued spread of the novel coronavirus.
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-20/europe-s-coronavirus-spread-in-check-as-lockdowns-loosened">Bloomberg reports that European officials</a> are &#8220;closely monitoring coronavirus data&#8221; for signs of a second wave of infections, but so far, countries like Germany, France, and Italy are still seeing decreases in the number of COVID-19 infections and COVID-19 deaths.
That&#8217;s good news for many U.S. residents and American virus experts who feared a second &#8220;peak&#8221; in coronavirus infections after states like Georgia, Florida, and Texas loosened lockdown restrictions and stay-at-home orders. So far, those three states have seen either a steady number of infections or a slight downward trend in positive coronavirus tests, indicating that &#8220;reopening&#8221; may not be as dangerous as many believed &#8212; at least, with the right restrictions and continued anti-viral measures in place.
According to Bloomberg, France, which once had more than 15,000 cases of coronavirus at its peak, now sees fewer than 100, weeks after lockdowns began to lift in early May.
Italy began lifting its lockdowns on May 4th, after cases of COVID-19 appeared to be on a downward trend from that country&#8217;s peak on April 15th. So far, the number of cases have remained on a downard trajectory, and Italy saw its first sub-500 case day on Tuesday, May 19th. Italy is now almost fully reopened; on Monday, &#8220;with distancing rules,&#8221; &#8220;shops, bars, and restaurants were allowed to reopen,&#8221; per Bloomberg.
In Spain, cases have been steady at a few dozen, and that trend has continued since the country opened on May 10th.
Now, European officials have shifted their focus to Sweden, where cases remain on the rise, but where the government took few measures to lock down public areas, choosing instead to allow Swedish citizens to follow social distancing guidelines and take personal protective measures, in pursuit of herd immunity to the virus.
Sweden has suffered markedly from that decision, but not as markedly as others. &#8220;Sweden still has fewer deaths per capita than the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Belgium and France, which have all opted for lockdowns, but much higher than Nordic neighbours Denmark, Norway and Finland,&#8221; <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-05-19/sweden-tops-europe-covid-19-deaths-per-capita-over-last-seven-days">US News and World Report says</a>.
Economically, they&#8217;re better off than their European neighbors: &#8220;Sweden&#8217;s open strategy seems to have softened the blow on the economy, with growth shrinking much less than in Denmark and Norway in the first quarter.&#8221;
The United States did reach a milestone Wednesday, with all 50 states now releasing some of their lockdown restrictions, with Connecticut being the final state to lift its stay-at-home order, partially, at midnight on May 20th. Some states are still struggling with high infection numbers, but most now believe infections are on a downard trend and that hospital beds and ventilators will be available for those who continued to be affected by novel coronavirus.

Italy

Europe’s Coronavirus Numbers Are Still ‘In Check’ Weeks After Lockdowns Lifted

Coronavirus

Europe

The supposition that the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus was a long-delayed massive outlier compared to other nations won’t wash. Comparing the U.S. response to four major European nations demonstrates a general consistency in speed of response beyond first diagnosis of Covid-19.
The first coronavirus case reported in the United States <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0121-novel-coronavirus-travel-case.html">came on January 21</a>, of a 35-year-old man who had returned from Wuhan, China. The first reported case in France occurred on January 24, of a case <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-france/coronavirus-patients-arrived-in-france-without-symptoms-idUSKBN1ZO0NB">reported in Bordeaux</a> and one <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/two-coronavirus-cases-confirmed-in-france-first-in-europe">in the Paris area</a>. In Great Britain, the first reported case came when two patients tested positive <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-51360594">on January 29</a>. Italy’s came on January 30, when two cases were confirmed in Rome; Spain’s first reported case came on <a href="https://www.garda.com/crisis24/news-alerts/310471/spain-health-officials-confirm-first-case-of-novel-coronavirus-january-31-update-1">January 31,</a> when a German tourist tested positive in the Canary Islands.
The first death reported from the coronavirus in the respective countries were reported to have occurred in <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/coronavirus-spain-reports-first-death-a-man-who-died-on-feb-13">Spain on February 13</a>, a 69-year-old man who died in Valencia; France on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/15/world/europe/france-coronarivus-death.html">February 15</a>, as a Chinese tourist died in a hospital in Paris; Italy on <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/coronavirus-spain-reports-first-death-a-man-who-died-on-feb-13">February 21</a>, when a 78-year-old man died at a hospital in Padua; the United States on <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/1st-coronavirus-death-u-s-officials-say-n1145931">February 28</a>, when a death was reported near Seattle, Washington, and Great Britain on March 5, when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/05/more-than-a-hundred-people-in-uk-infected-with-coronavirus">a woman in her 70s</a> was reported to have died from the virus.
In the United States, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared a public health emergency on January 31, the same day the Italian government <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200131-italy-declares-state-of-emergency-over-coronavirus">declared a state of emergency</a>. President Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-declaring-national-emergency-concerning-novel-coronavirus-disease-covid-19-outbreak/">declared a national emergency</a> on March 13 and also announced “15 days to slow the spread” coronavirus guidance on March 16.
On March 14, the Spanish government declared a two-week state of emergency and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/12/spain-eases-lockdown-as-rate-of-coronavirus-infections-hits-new-low">instituted a lockdown</a>; on March 16, French President Macron announced mandatory home confinement for 15 days, and the same day, during his first daily press briefing, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged U.K. citizens to work from home and avoid pubs and restaurants. The French Assemblée National <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/03/21/french-parliament-declares-state-of-sanitary-emergency">approved on March 21</a> a legal text that would introduce a “state of health emergency.”
Additionally, the Trump administration banned travel from China on January 31, as did Italy. The United Kingdom and France took no such action, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/07/trumps-claim-that-he-imposed-first-china-ban/">The Washington Post</a> acknowledged. An official with the Trump administration noted, “President Trump asserted global leadership by making the U.S. the first major economic power to announce restrictions on foreign nationals traveling from China. The President’s swift decision came only one day after the World Health Organization declared novel coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. The President’s decisiveness paved the way for other nations to follow suit, saving countless lives around the world.”
The claim that somehow the Trump administration was tremendously behind the governments of other countries in addressing the coronavirus crisis seems to be inaccurate. Japan, for example, had not <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52184375">declared a state of emergency</a> until last week; Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said last week, &#8220;In Japan, even if we declare a state of emergency, we will not close cities as seen in foreign countries. Experts have told us that there is no need for such a step.”

The White House Holds Daily Briefing On Coronavirus Pandemic

The Trump Administration Virus Response Didn’t Lag Behind The Europeans. Here’s The Timeline.

Donald Trump

On Monday, Austria became the first European country to announce its plan to begin easing &#8220;lockdown&#8221; measures amid signs that it has made it through the worst stages of the initial wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Other European countries are reportedly beginning to look with hope toward taking similar steps.
Austria has experienced &#8220;three consecutive days in which the number of coronavirus recoveries have exceeded the number of new cases,&#8221; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/austria-coronavirus-lockdown-end/2020/04/06/b4dedd8e-7805-11ea-a311-adb1344719a9_story.html">The Washington Post</a> explains. &#8220;On Monday, Austrian authorities reported 241 new infections over previous 24 hours, but 465 recoveries.&#8221;
With the improving numbers giving the country&#8217;s medical system more &#8220;breathing room,&#8221; the Austrian chancellor felt confident announcing Monday the country&#8217;s multiphase plan to reopen its society.
The first step will be to allow small shops to reopen next Monday, April 13, the Post repots. Phase two is scheduled to take place 18 days later, on May 1, when larger stores will be allowed to open. As long as the situation appears to be improving by the end of April, officials will schedule restaurants, hotels and schools to open in mid-May. Public events are expected, for now, to resume in July.
During this multistep process, officials will be requiring people to maintain key social distancing policies, including keeping the number of people in stores at one time below a specified limit and mask requirements in public settings.
<div>
“We reacted faster and more restrictively in Austria than in other countries and were therefore able to prevent the worst from happening so far,” said Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Monday, citing the country&#8217;s decision to lockdown on March 16. “The quick and restrictive reaction now also gives us the opportunity to get out of this crisis faster.”
So long as people continue to follow officials&#8217; mandates, the chancellor said, the newly unveiled easement schedule will hopefully be able to be carried out as planned.
The Post notes that other European countries — among them Belgium, Denmark, France and Spain — are beginning to feel similarly &#8220;hopeful&#8221; that they have &#8220;weathered the worst&#8221; of the epidemic&#8217;s first wave, though reports of a resurgence of infections in some Asian countries, particularly Singapore and Japan, have inspired caution among their leaders.
While most European countries have imposed stringent social distancing measures and have shutdown all public schools and many industries, Sweden has gone a different direction, opting for a &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/while-europe-locks-down-sweden-keeps-schools-restaurants-open">softer line</a>&#8221; in addressing the pandemic, choosing not to impose widespread lockdowns or harsh quarantines, as John Fund and Joel Hay explain in a piece for <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-response-sweden-avoids-isolation-economic-ruin/">National Review</a> published Monday:
<blockquote>“The strategy in Sweden is to focus on social distancing among the known risk groups, like the elderly. We try to use evidence-based measurements,” Emma Frans, a doctor in epidemiology at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, told Euronews. “We try to adjust everyday life. The Swedish plan is to implement measurements that you can practice for a long time.”
The problem with lockdowns is that “you tire the system out,” Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s chief epidemiologist, told the Guardian. “You <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/30/catastrophe-sweden-coronavirus-stoicism-lockdown-europe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">can’t keep a lockdown going</a> for months — it’s impossible.” He told Britain’s Daily Mail: “<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8188049/Scientist-leading-Swedens-battle-against-coronavirus-says-Britains-lockdown-gone-far.html?ito=email_share_article-top" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">We can’t kill all our services</a>. And unemployed people are a great threat to public health. It’s a factor you need to think about.”</blockquote>
Is Sweden&#8217;s approach working, or is it setting up, as some have predicted, for things to go &#8220;<a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3078587/did-sweden-get-its-coronavirus-strategy-horribly-wrong">horribly wrong</a>&#8220;?
So far, it appears to be paying off. The Nordic country of 10.1 million people has reported just <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">401 COVID-19 deaths</a> so far and admissions to the ICU in the country &#8220;are flat or declining, and they have been for a week,&#8221; Fund and Hay explain. &#8220;As of this writing (based on currently available data), most of Sweden’s ICU cases today are elderly, and 77 percent have underlying conditions such as heart disease, respiratory disease, kidney disease, and diabetes. Moreover, <a href="https://www.icuregswe.org/en/data--results/covid-19-in-swedish-intensive-care/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">there hasn’t been a single pediatric ICU case</a> or death in Sweden — so much for the benefits of shutting down schools everywhere else. There are only 25 COVID-19 ICU admissions among all Swedes under the age of 30.&#8221; Meanwhile, they suggest, Sweden is likely developing herd immunity at a higher rate than more severely locked down societies.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/while-europe-locks-down-sweden-keeps-schools-restaurants-open">While Europe Locks Down, Sweden Keeps Schools, Restaurants Open</a>
</div>

Federal Chancellor Of Austria Sebastian Kurz Attends The European Council

First European Country Announces Multi-Step Plan To Ease Coronavirus Lockdown

Austria

Sweden

With many governments across the globe opting for draconian measures, including shutting down most schools and &#8220;non-essential&#8221; businesses and issuing &#8220;shelter-in-place&#8221; orders — measures that have brought economies to a screeching halt — Sweden&#8217;s government has thus far chosen to take a far more hands-off approach.
Unlike in most of Europe, Sweden&#8217;s primary schools and restaurants and bars remain open, and &#8220;take responsibility&#8221; is the phrase of the day from officials. And, so far, as reported by <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/lockdown-wait-sweden-goes-own-way-003057482.html">AFP</a> on Tuesday, Sweden&#8217;s less stringent approach appears to be working well enough, with the country reporting fewer confirmed COVID-19 cases per capita (2,272) than its smaller &#8220;locked down&#8221; neighbors, Norway (2,566) and Denmark (1,577).
&#8220;Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, in a televised speech on Sunday, urged people to &#8216;take responsibility&#8217; and follow the government&#8217;s recommendations,&#8221; AFP reports in its look at Sweden&#8217;s &#8220;softer line&#8221; in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. &#8220;Those include working from home if you can, staying home if you feel sick, practice social distancing, and stay home if you belong to a risk group or are over the age of 70.&#8221;
Like other European countries, Sweden has banned gatherings, but only gatherings of 500 or more — as opposed to the more drastic directives, like in Germany, which is now banning &#8220;gatherings&#8221; of more than just two. Sweden&#8217;s government is also advising that universities and secondary schools shift to fully online classes, but is so far keeping primary schools open, though lawmakers have fast-tracked a bill allowing closures, if deemed necessary.
Also remaining open are restaurants and bars, which other governments, including those of many U.S. states, have fully shut down except for take-out orders. Sweden, on the other hand, still allows some table service.
Like other European countries, travel across Sweden&#8217;s border is barred except for essential travel, but travel within the country is fully open, the government merely advising residents to avoid non-essential holiday trips.
So what&#8217;s life like? AFP says that for many in Sweden things are pretty normal, with eating establishments and bars in Stockholm &#8220;full&#8221; over the weekend and public transportation &#8220;jam-packed&#8221; at rush hour.
The far more lax approach by the government has drawn criticism from many, but officials say they are simply following the guidance of Sweden&#8217;s Public Health Agency, which so far has not deemed it necessary to take more drastic action, and contend that &#8220;draconian measures are not effective enough to justify their impact on society,&#8221; AFP reports.
&#8220;Right or wrong, Sweden does not seem to have a worse virus problem than its neighbours, according to the numbers of declared cases,&#8221; AFP concludes, though the agency notes that in Sweden and its neighboring countries there are likely more cases than have been confirmed due to lack of more widespread testing.
Meanwhile, more and more states in the U.S. are imposing stricter measures. So far at least 16 states have issued &#8220;stay at home&#8221; or &#8220;shelter in place&#8221; orders, and many cities and counties have implemented similar mandates. Restaurants and bars are being shuttered all over the country, about a third of the population now living in areas in which take-out orders are the only real option for eating prepared meals, according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/states-cities-shutting-down-bars-restaurants-concerts-curfew-2020-3">Business Insider</a>.
The current list of states that have imposed &#8220;stay at home&#8221; orders include: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
President Trump, who has been pushing the mantra of &#8220;15 days to slow the spread,&#8221; has increasingly signaled over the last few days that he is leaning toward lifting the &#8220;lockdown&#8221; mandates more quickly than some health officials say is necessary due to the massive impact that they are having on people&#8217;s jobs and the economy.
&#8220;Our people want to return to work,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1242455267603877894">tweeted</a> Tuesday. &#8220;They will practice Social Distancing and all else, and Seniors will be watched over protectively &amp; lovingly. We can do two things together. THE CURE CANNOT BE WORSE (by far) THAN THE PROBLEM! Congress MUST ACT NOW. We will come back strong!&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-announces-largest-stimulus-proposal-in-u-s-history">Trump Admin Announces Largest Stimulus Proposal In U.S. History</a>

Stockholm, Sweden

While Europe Locks Down, Sweden Keeps Schools, Restaurants Open

American travelers in Europe are scrambling to get back to the U.S. after President Trump announced a 30-day travel ban from European countries in an attempt to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
&#8220;Bleary-eyed and stressed, travellers scrambled at European airports to board flights to the United States on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping travel restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus,&#8221; <a href="https://news.trust.org/item/20200312095943-wmvg5">Reuters</a> reported out of Madrid on Thursday.
The mad dash to get back to the states, the news agency explains, follows Trump&#8217;s announcement on new travel restrictions Wednesday that &#8220;disrupted the travel plans of tens of thousands of people and hit airlines already reeling from the coronavirus outbreak.&#8221;
&#8220;The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hotspots,&#8221; Trump said in a televised address Wednesday night. &#8220;As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe.&#8221;
&#8220;After consulting with our top government health professionals, I have decided to take several strong but necessary actions to protect the health and wellbeing of all Americans,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight.&#8221;
&#8220;These restrictions will be adjusted subject to conditions on the ground,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;There will be exemptions for Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings, and these prohibitions [exemptions] will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval. These restrictions will also not apply to the United Kingdom.&#8221;
As Reuters details, the ban applies to 26 European countries and excludes Britain and Ireland. And, as Trump noted, American citizens who have undergone appropriate screenings will be allowed to travel back to the U.S.
The announcement prompted chaos, as American travelers in Europe told Reuters. &#8220;It caused a mass panic,&#8221; said a U.S. student who was scrambling to book a flight from Madrid back to the U.S.  rather than heading to France as she&#8217;d planned. &#8220;We are lucky to be able to leave Europe,&#8221; a Miami resident, who was one of several who had just booked flights back, told Reuters.
&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be a big mess,&#8221; a Delta crew member told the news agency. &#8220;We were not expecting something like that. We don&#8217;t have all the details to know what it means for us and for the company.&#8221;
Another American bound for the U.S. expressed frustration about the lack of clarity about Trump&#8217;s initial statement on the ban from Europe, which appeared to suggest that trade was going to be shut down as well. &#8220;It wasn&#8217;t clear what Trump meant,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It was a poorly planned, poorly worded statement.&#8221;
Trump quickly clarified the point in a tweet following his televised statement Wednesday. &#8220;Hoping to get the payroll tax cut approved by both Republicans and Democrats,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1237924658185469954">wrote</a>, &#8220;and please remember, very important for all countries [and] businesses to know that trade will in no way be affected by the 30-day restriction on travel from Europe. The restriction stops people not goods.&#8221;
On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security released a <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/03/11/homeland-security-acting-secretary-chad-f-wolf-s-statement-presidential-proclamation">statement</a> providing details about the European travel restrictions and specifying that the restrictions do not apply to &#8220;legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, and other individuals who are identified in the proclamation&#8221;:
<blockquote>Today President Donald J. Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation, which suspends the entry of most foreign nationals who have been in certain European countries at any point during the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to the United States. These countries, known as the Schengen Area, include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. This does not apply to legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, and other individuals who are identified in the proclamation.</blockquote>
In his address, Trump also announced actions his administration is taking to provide <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unprecedented-trump-details-emergency-financial-actions-payroll-tax-cuts-financial-aid-loans">economic relief</a> for the country.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-disneyland-shuts-down-because-of-coronavirus">Disneyland Shuts Down Because of Coronavirus</a>

Airport Coronavirus

‘Mass Panic’: Europe Travelers Scramble To Get Back To U.S. After Trump Announcement

Trump Administration

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threw down the gauntlet to other Western countries, asserting, “Over the past few years, I’ve seen, we’ve all seen, democratic leaders questioning America’s commitment to the transatlantic alliance and America’s leadership in the world.”
Pompeo cited some quotes from Western leaders, including Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/freeland-foreign-policy-speech-1.4147672">saying</a> in June 2017,  “The fact that our friend and ally has come to question the very worth of its mantle of global leadership, puts into sharper focus the need for the rest of us to set our own clear and sovereign course.” He noted the statement in February 2019 from M. Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and Mr Heiko Maas, German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, saying, “The multilateral order is experiencing its perhaps gravest crisis since the emergence – its emergence after the Second World War.”
Pompeo cited a third quote, this one from the day before his speech in which German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/in-munich-frost-thickens-on-us-europe-relations/">stated</a>, “Under its current administration, our closest ally, the United States of America, rejects the very concept of an international community. Every country, it believes, should look after itself and put its own interests before all others.”
Pompeo responded, “I’m here this morning to tell you the facts. Those statements simply do not affect in any significant way or reflect reality. I am happy to report that the death of the transatlantic alliance is grossly over-exaggerated. The West is winning. We are collectively winning. We’re doing it together.”
He continued:
<blockquote>Let’s start with a simple fact: Free nations are simply more successful than any other model that’s been tried in the history of civilization. Our governments respect basic human rights, they foster economic prosperity, and they keep us all secure. It’s why so many people risk a dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to reach Greece and Italy, but you don’t see the world’s vulnerable people risking their lives to skip illegally en masse to countries like Iran or to Cuba.
It’s why people clamor to study in Cambridge, and not Caracas. It’s why they compete to start businesses in Silicon Valley, but not in Saint Petersburg. It’s why countries in Asia went from abject poverty in the 1950s and ’60s to become world-leading economies today. You have all seen the map of the differences between South Korea, that light-studded map with North Korea in complete darkness.</blockquote>
Pompeo then addressed those calling themselves “realists” while denying reality:
<blockquote>The West is winning. Freedom and democracy are winning. And by that, I don’t mean just geographical nations. The West doesn’t define a space or a piece of real state. It’s any nation – any nation that adopts a model of respect for individual freedom, free enterprise, national sovereignty. They’re part of this idea of the West.</blockquote>
He continued:
<blockquote>I want to talk for a minute this morning about how sovereignty underpins our greatness collectively. Look, we patrol our borders to keep our people safe, so that they can continue to worship, to work, and to make our countries great without disruption. We honor the right of every nation to carry on their affairs as they choose, so long as they don’t try to interfere with our sovereignty or do harm to our friends.
Look, we urge other nations to protect human dignity, because we believe in unalienable rights. We support independent nations. Our signature – our signature military project together is a defensive alliance. We respect the rule of law and we honor intellectual property rights. We don’t interfere in other nations’ elections.</blockquote>
Pompeo then spoke of the enemies of freedom:
<blockquote>Let’s talk about territorial integrity, or rather, those nations that have contempt for it. Russia has seized Crimea and parts of Eastern Ukraine and Georgia. Iran’s missiles explode on Saudi oil facilities, and its proxy forces are present in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Syria, and in Yemen. China. China encroaches on the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
And on that point, China has had a border or maritime dispute with nearly every nation bordering it. And let’s talk for a second about the other realm, cybersecurity. Huawei and other Chinese state-backed tech companies are Trojan horses for Chinese intelligence. Russia’s disinformation campaigns try to turn our citizens against one another. Iranian cyberattacks plague Middle East computer networks.</blockquote>
Pompeo cited numerous instances in which the United States confronted nations bent on destroying the West, then asserted, “Are these actions, these American actions, are they consistent with the claim that America ‘has come to question the very worth of its mantle of global leadership?’”
Pompeo spoke of the numerous times America has supported Europe, continuing:
<blockquote>We’re winning – and we’re doing it together. Momentum is clearly on our side. We’ve got to do more. Don’t be fooled. Don’t be fooled by those who say otherwise.
When so-called Iranian moderates play the victim, remember their assassination and terror campaigns against innocent Iranian civilians and right here on European soil itself.
When Russia suggests that Nord Stream 2 is purely a commercial endeavor, don’t be fooled. Consider the deprivations caused in the winters of 2006 and 2008 and 2009 and 2015.
When Huawei executives show up at your door, they say you’ll lose out if you don’t buy in. Don’t believe the hype.</blockquote>
Then he spoke the simple truth: “Name me a moment in history when the weak and the meek have prevailed.”
Video below:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q70ttrNYiF4" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

World Leaders At Munich Security Conference

WATCH: Pompeo Bluntly Tells Europe: ‘Name Me A Moment In History When The Weak And The Meek Have Prevailed’

Mike Pompeo

Munich

It takes time for attitudes to change, and changing attitudes in the Middle East is a tough proposition. Moving the Europeans may prove harder.
An Israeli general once told this story (I was there):
<blockquote>The Israeli general commanded a unit that crossed the Suez Canal in 1973 after repulsing Egypt’s surprise Yom Kippur War attack. In his headquarters, he received a message that purported to be from an Egyptian general, telling him to come — alone — in a jeep to a certain spot in the desert and “hear something.” The general told the group, “I was sure I was going to die, but I did it.” The Egyptian proved to be the chief of the Egyptian general staff and he, too, was alone.
The Egyptian said, “The war is over.”
The Israeli general said, “Yes. I know.”
The Egyptian general sighed, “Not this war. In 1948, Egypt was within 11 miles of Tel Aviv and you pushed us back. In 1956, you drove through Sinai — but it wasn’t fair because you had the French and the British. In 1967, you did it again — by yourselves. Now you have crossed the Suez Canal and are 99 kilometers from Cairo. I’m here to tell you that you won’t get any closer. The war is over.”
He got back in his jeep and left.
The Israeli returned to his headquarters and told the story to the general staff in Tel Aviv. “No one believed me,&#8221; the Israeli said.</blockquote>
But it was true. The Egyptian government had determined that fighting, losing, and regrouping was not a plan. In 1979, Anwar Sadat went to Jerusalem, and in so doing met Israel’s primary condition for peace — recognition of Israel as a legitimate and permanent state in the region, entitled to “secure and recognized boundaries, free from threats or acts of force” (the language of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242). Today, Egypt and Israel cooperate on energy, security (including for the Gaza Strip), and trade.
In the broader Arab world, it is taking longer. Unable to countenance Jewish sovereignty in the region, the Arabs went to war in 1948 to erase it. They failed. They tried again in 1967. They failed again. After that war, an Arab League Summit convened in Sudan and issued what became known as the Khartoum Resolution: &#8220;No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel.&#8221;
Then there were the conflicts of 1973 and 1982, intifadas, and rocket wars with Gaza.
President Trump called them on it in announcing his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bryen-donald-trumps-vision-for-the-middle-east">“Vision” for the Middle East</a>. “It is time for the Muslim world to fix the mistake it made in 1948, when it chose to attack instead of to recognize the new state of Israel. The Palestinians are the primary pawn in this adventurism, and it is time for this sad chapter in history to end.” Three Arab ambassadors were in the room.
The <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/arab-league-holds-emergency-meeting-trump-plan-200201105251740.html">Arab League hastily convened a summit</a>, responding to the flat rejection of the plan by Palestinian Authority strongman Mahmoud Abbas, who had declined to read or even discuss it. This was not a “three noes” meeting. While the bloc as a whole rejected the Vision, the head of the Arab League said that there was time only for an initial study of the plan, adding that the Palestinian response would be key in shaping a &#8220;collective Arab position.” It should be noted that a day after announcing it would scrap security cooperation with the U.S. and Israel, the Palestinian Authority announced that, in fact, it <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Palestinians-wont-halt-security-ties-with-Israel-US-Ramallah-officials-616503">would not do so.</a>
<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/oic-hold-emergency-meeting-trump-middle-east-plan-200203064919675.html">Al Jazeera</a> wrote, “The announcement of Trump&#8217;s plan drew mixed responses from Arab states.” While joining in the vote, Egypt and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-at-jewish-journal-saudi-arabia-is-now-more-pro-israel-than-the-democratic-party">Saudi Arabia said separately that they “appreciated”</a> Mr. Trump’s efforts and called for renewed negotiations. Sudan’s leader announced a “principled stance on the Palestinian issue and the right of its people to establish its independent state &#8230; in accordance with the Arab consensus and Arab League decisions,” even as in a bit of irony — having hosted the Khartoum Declaration meeting — it established a mechanism for <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Israel-Sudan-set-up-normalization-teams-616526">opening diplomatic relations with Israel.</a>
OK, yes, the <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/qatar-qatar-backed-international-union-muslim-scholars-blast-trumps-peace-plan-it-belongs">International Union of Muslim Scholars</a> (IUMS) consigned the Vision to the “dust heap of history,” but the IUMS is a creation of Qatar and Qatar is a puppet of Iran.
And speaking of Iran, European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Josip Borrell met with Iranian leaders and shortly afterward tried to <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/eu-reportedly-blocked-from-resolution-condemning-trump-plan-annexation/">ram a condemnation</a> of the Vision though the EU. But EU statements have to be unanimous and, of its 27 countries, six refused — including Italy, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Borrell then issued the statement in his own name.
The interim commissioner-general of UNRWA said, “The plan … is extremely unsettling for the Palestine refugees living under occupation, under blockade and through conflict after conflict and crisis after crisis, hoping for justice and human rights. The international community must send a clear message to Palestine refugees and to the world at large that the international community stands firmly behind them.”
Rightly, Israel chose to <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/02/04/israel-harshly-criticizes-eu-over-rejection-of-trump-middle-east-peace-plan/">respond more harshly</a> to the EU and <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/02/03/israel-slams-unrwa-head-for-attacking-trump-peace-plan/">UNRWA</a> than it did the Arab League.
It has been hard for Arab states to move on from decades of adamant rejection of Israel to talk and trade, and generally accept the nation-state of the Jewish people. That is the reality, not an excuse. But for the EU and UNRWA, to encourage Palestinians in outmoded, fanatical, and dangerous thinking is inexplicable.
Except it isn’t.
&nbsp;
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/">The Jewish Policy Center</a> in Washington, and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly.

President Trump Meets With Israeli PM Netanyahu At The White House

BRYEN: The Arabs And Europeans React To Trump’s Middle East ‘Vision’

Egypt

European Union

Foreign Policy

Iran

Israel

Jerusalem

Middle East

Palestinians

Once the spearhead of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has again risen to prominence — but for all the wrong reasons. Turkey has prevailed as NATO’s worst ally, disrespecting its core tenets as well as its members’ security interests. It has championed terrorism and has ethnically cleansed the Kurds, forcefully <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/16/kurdish-commander-mazloum-abdi-trump-prevent-ethnic-cleansing-kurds-turkey/">displacing</a> 300,000 in northern Syria and purging <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">24</a> Kurdish mayors from office in Turkey. Turkey’s utter disregard for NATO’s <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/126169.htm">purposes</a> — including collective defense and, arguably, promotion of regional stability — and its terrorism warrant a “cold Turkey” expulsion from NATO.
While the North Atlantic Treaty does not stipulate whether expulsion is an available remedy, it is <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/66574/can-turkey-be-expelled-from-nato/">likely</a> so. This is because Article 60(b) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties — which governs the interpretation of international treaties — <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/66574/can-turkey-be-expelled-from-nato/">notes</a> that material breaches of a treaty, which can justify grounds for a member’s expulsion, include “the violation of a provision essential to the accomplishment of the object or purpose of the treaty.” According to Just Security, violating NATO’s underlying principles, but more so its “object and purpose,” can amount to a material breach that can <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/66574/can-turkey-be-expelled-from-nato/">legitimate</a> Turkey’s expulsion.
Turkey deserves expulsion for challenging NATO’s principles, but also for its failures as a purported geopolitical “ally.” In <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/10/turkey-and-nato-troubled-relationship/599890/">1974</a>, Turkey violated arguably NATO’s foremost object and tenet — <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_110496.htm">Article V</a>, a collective defense provision maintaining that an <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/126169.htm">attack</a> on any NATO member is an attack on all — by attacking Greece, then a NATO member, over control for Cyprus. Turkey still occupies Cyprus’s north and is the only country to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/northern-cyprus-travel/index.html">recognize</a> “the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as legitimate.” This invasion alone, which displaced <a href="https://www.thenationalherald.com/210640/cyprus-turkish-invasion-anniversary-brings-calls-to-resume-unity-talks/">200,000</a> Cypriot-Greeks, can be invoked to initiate Turkey’s expulsion. Turkey has also defied NATO’s founding purposes, to counter de facto Russian <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/nato">aggression</a> and <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/formation-of-nato-and-warsaw-pact">expansion</a>, by recently procuring a Russian air defense system. Thus, Turkey has demonstrated a dual allegiance to NATO’s historic competitor. Turkey has also undermined <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/126169.htm">regional stability</a>, <a href="http://syriatimes.sy/index.php/news/regional/45793-libyan-army-spokesman-turkey-transports-a-number-of-daesh-and-jabhat-al-nusra-terrorists-from-syria-to-libya">deploying</a> ISIS and Hayat Tahrir al Sham to fight in Libya, and has refused to aid NATO allies in times of need, denying the U.S. use of the Incirlik Airbase during the Iraq War. A failed NATO ally, Turkey has initiated internal war, has sided with NATO’s historic adversary, and has slighted its allies during key operations.
Turkey’s sponsorship of terror is also overwhelming. In part, this is because Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has long championed jihadists and fundamentalists like <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/memri-archives-turkish-president-erdo%C4%9Fans-past-close-relations-afghan-warlord-gulbuddin">Galbuddin Hekmatyar</a>. An “Afghani jihad leader,” “Specifically Designated Global Terrorist,” and “Al Qaeda ally,” <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/memri-archives-turkish-president-erdo%C4%9Fans-past-close-relations-afghan-warlord-gulbuddin">Hekmatyar</a> offered bin Laden shelter in Afghanistan, and “pledged allegiance to the spiritual leader of the Taliban” to attack American troops. Yet, a young <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/memri-archives-turkish-president-erdo%C4%9Fans-past-close-relations-afghan-warlord-gulbuddin">Erdogan</a> can be <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/memri-archives-turkish-president-erdo%C4%9Fans-past-close-relations-afghan-warlord-gulbuddin">found</a> sitting beside Hekmatyar’s feet. Erdogan was also a “<a href="https://ahvalnews.com/muslim-brotherhood/turkey-becomes-biggest-muslim-brotherhood-backer-world">pupil</a>” of Necmettin Erbakan, the founder of Turkish Islamism and Turkey’s former prime minister. <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/extremists/necmettin-erbakan">Erbakan</a> founded Turkish affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood, such as the Welfare Party, and has praised Hamas.
Not surprisingly, Erdogan has advanced his masters’ fundamentalism — harboring, exporting, and financing terror. Turkish <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">authorities</a> allow <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/hamas">Hamas</a> to coordinate attacks from Istanbul, while also <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/17/hamas-plots-attacks-israel-turkey-erdogan-turns-blind-eye/">allowing</a> Hamas officials to “freely” enter “without fear of arrest.” Shortly after hosting Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s leader, Erdogan <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/barkat-asks-us-to-sanction-turkey-after-report-of-hamas-assassination-plot/">saluted</a> Hamas: “We will keep on supporting our brothers in Palestine.” In fact, ties between Hamas and Erdogan’s Turkey are so <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/17/hamas-plots-attacks-israel-turkey-erdogan-turns-blind-eye/">strong</a> that “Turkish intelligence agents also maintain close contact with [Hamas] operatives.”
Erdogan has also <a href="https://ahvalnews.com/muslim-brotherhood/turkey-becomes-biggest-muslim-brotherhood-backer-world">provided</a> safe haven and funding to members of the <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/muslim-brotherhood">Muslim Brotherhood</a>, from which <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/hamas">Hamas</a> emerged. Under Erdogan and his AKP, a Brotherhood-linked political party, <a href="https://ahvalnews.com/muslim-brotherhood/turkey-becomes-biggest-muslim-brotherhood-backer-world">Turkey</a> has become the “biggest Muslim Brotherhood backer in the world,” even outpacing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cope-academia-and-think-tanks-must-boycott-qatar">Qatar</a>, and has “been handed … a leading position in the [Brotherhood] movement, due to [its]success.” Having provided a safe haven for dozens of Brotherhood figures, Erdogan has <a href="https://ahvalnews.com/muslim-brotherhood/turkey-becomes-biggest-muslim-brotherhood-backer-world">sheltered</a> “some the movement’s most powerful and influential figures.”
Turkey also <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">safeguards</a> and <a href="http://syriatimes.sy/index.php/news/regional/45793-libyan-army-spokesman-turkey-transports-a-number-of-daesh-and-jabhat-al-nusra-terrorists-from-syria-to-libya">deploys</a> ISIS fighters. According to the head of Iraqi military intelligence, Lt.-Gen. Saad al-Allaq, Turkey currently <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">harbors</a> “nine [of ISIS’s] alleged terror leaders” and “top financiers.” It has become home to ISIS recruitment <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">cells</a>, and is a refuge to which many ISIS members fled after losing territory. In Turkey, ISIS has <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">planned</a> prison breaks and attacks. <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">ISIS</a> procurement agents and ISIS-affiliated companies also operate from Turkey, and Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was found just miles from its eastern border — suggesting that Turkish intelligence likely condoned nearby ISIS activity.
Most shocking, however, has been Turkey’s direct <a href="http://syriatimes.sy/index.php/news/regional/45793-libyan-army-spokesman-turkey-transports-a-number-of-daesh-and-jabhat-al-nusra-terrorists-from-syria-to-libya">deployment</a> of <a href="https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/turkey-is-smuggling-daesh-terrorists-to-libya-lna/">troops</a> from ISIS and <a href="https://www.csis.org/programs/transnational-threats-project/terrorism-backgrounders/hayat-tahrir-al-sham-hts">Hayat Tahrir Al Sham</a>, a Salafi-jihadist group whose predecessor was <a href="https://www.csis.org/programs/transnational-threats-project/terrorism-backgrounders/hayat-tahrir-al-sham-hts">Jabhat Al Nusra</a> (an Al Qaeda affiliate), in the Libyan Civil War. Reinforcing Libya&#8217;s Government of National Accord, which <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/08/15/qatar-state-sponsor-terrorism/">Qatar</a> — one of the world’s largest sponsors of terror — also backs, Turkey’s military has also accepted a military <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/New-sanctions-show-Turkeys-double-standards-on-terror-608376">escort</a> from Hayat Tahrir al Sham in Syria. Hence, Turkey not only embraces terrorism, but exports it as well.
Turkey’s ties to terror also involve financing, including  “<a href="http://trumanproject.org/home/doctrine-blog/the-gray-list-turkeys-financing-of-terrorism/">indiscriminate funding</a>” to “al-Q[ae]da based groups in the region, specifically those in the Syrian Civil War.” Turkey remains the only NATO country to be <a href="http://trumanproject.org/home/doctrine-blog/the-gray-list-turkeys-financing-of-terrorism/">gray-listed</a> by the Financial Action Task Force (<a href="https://www.fatf-gafi.org/about/">FATF</a>), an intergovernmental body committed to “combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.” Funding, exporting, and harboring terror amongst many groups, Turkey champions terror and warrants long-overdue sanctions.
Through violating its duties as a NATO member, and through its strong affiliations to terrorist groups — Hamas, ISIS, Hayat Tahrir al Sham, and arguably, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-designating-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-josh-hammer">Muslim Brotherhood</a> — Turkey emerges as candidate for the worst NATO ally in the history of the alliance. Having legal grounds to expel Turkey expulsion, NATO must now do so — and it must do so swiftly in order to protect its integrity.
&nbsp;
Jordan Cope is currently a law student at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also completed his undergraduate degree. Having graduated with a B.A. in international relations, Jordan also minored in Middle Eastern studies and can speak Arabic and Hebrew. He has also published research on the security implications of Palestinian foreign aid. He can be followed <a href="https://twitter.com/JordanCope12">@JordanCope12</a>.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London

COPE: Expel Erdogan, His Terror, And His Ethnic Cleansing From NATO

Al Qaeda

Islamic State (ISIS)

NATO

Radical Islam

Radical Islamic Terror

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey

A symbolic coincidence occurred earlier this week. In the same morning that Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists pounded Israeli towns with rockets, the <a href="https://fortune.com/2019/11/12/israel-european-ruling-wine-labels-diplomacy/">European Court of Justice affirmed a European Commission special labeling requirement</a> for Jewish-owned businesses in the West Bank.
Those two events are unrelated. Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad fired over 200 rockets in reaction to Israel intercepting its leader Bahaa Abu Al-Ata, who was responsible for numerous attacks on Israeli civilians. The European Court ruling was in reaction to an appeal filed by Psagot, an Israeli winery located in the West Bank, which was prohibited by the European Union (EU) from labeling its wines “made in Israel.”
The juxtaposition of those two assaults on Jewish sovereignty is indicative of the current state of Judaism, and the threats it faces: The jihadi one is a tactical threat that puts the lives of individual Jews in great danger, but it poses a strategic threat to neither Judaism nor the Jewish State. The European action, on the other hand, does not put any Jewish lives in direct danger, but it represents a strategic threat that is part of a string of European anti-Israel measures.
The history of Europe and Jewry has often been fraught. The feuds date back to the ancient Greek and Roman invasions of Judea, which were followed by European Jews’ centuries-long general refusal to assimilate out of existence. Tensions have since evolved. When Europe was more religious, it often deployed religion as the currency of its opposition to Jews. When Europe turned more secular, many came to oppose Jews through a more national and ethnic opposition to Judaism. Toward the end of the 19th century, this new form of Jew-hatred got a name: Anti-Semitism.
While many European countries are today strong allies of Israel, the re-establishment of the Jewish state and its astonishing success seem to have provided a new outlet for European anti-Semitism. Indeed, it is hard to explain the European product-labeling directive on its merits, as it inflicts more damage to Palestinians than it does to Jewish-owned businesses in the West Bank. Those businesses employ Palestinians and some of them mentor Palestinians. European efforts to sabotage Palestinian employment in Jewish-owned businesses do not end with the product-labeling decree, and stand in sharp contrast to the U.S. policy of encouraging coexistence and business cooperation. For example, Europeans spent ample funds and political resources to pressure SodaStream to close its West Bank factory. Europe was successful, and hundreds of Palestinians lost their jobs as a result.
Europeans claim that such actions are meant to help Palestinians. The notion that a European would know what is better for an individual Palestinian is regrettably a recurring theme in Europe’s disruptive intervention in Israeli-Palestinian affairs. Many European countries support NGOs and U.N. agencies, such as UNWRA, that promote Palestinian victimhood and rob Palestinians of opportunities to reap the benefits of the start-up nation next door. Perhaps even worse, many European countries supported or abstained on ludicrous UNESCO resolutions implying that Jews and Christians have no historical connections to Jerusalem.
The repeated rounds of attacks from Palestinian terrorists, such as the current one, will be contained. The repeated rounds of political hostility from Europe, on the other hand, requires more attention than is currently given.
Indeed, it is time for Europe to end its intervention in Israeli-Palestinian affairs and focus its energy and capital on its own problems. There are no shortage of those: Europe’s conflict with radical Islam, the debate about the essence of Europeanism, the potential secession of EU member-states, Europe’s battle with home-grown terrorism, as well as the long list of unresolved intra-European conflicts that were temporarily shoved under the rug.
Projecting or blaming Israel will not make European problems go away. In fact, it might awaken them: If the EU insists that Psagot winery needs to remove from its labels “made in Israel,” then some might argue that the EU should also prohibit wine produced in Italian-controlled South Tyrol from being labeled “made in Italy.” Similarly, the EU might preclude wine made in Corsica from being labeled “made in France,” and in Catalonia from being labeled “made in Spain.”
No matter what the EU says, the reality remains that Psagot, as well as the dozens of other West Bank wineries, continue to produce superb Israeli wine that reap award after award in international tasting competitions. Perhaps instead of escalating the feud with the Jewish state, EU politicians and bureaucrats should change course and benefit from the great blessings that are coming out of Israel.
&nbsp;
Gol Kalev analyzes trends in Zionism, Europe and global affairs. For more of his articles: <a href="http://europeandjerusalem.com">europeandjerusalem.com</a><a href="http://europeandjerusalem.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://europeandjerusalem.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1573746251659000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGN3aLV_J5u3l1Byp8enDBgEXoRnw">.</a>

Close-up on the EU flag.

KALEV: European Political Opposition To The Jewish State Should Not Be Taken Lightly

As former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani finds himself <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/465168-giuliani-associates-who-aided-ukraine-investigation-arrested-on">squarely engulfed</a> in the Ukraine scandal and impeachment inquiry surrounding President Donald Trump, one piece of the puzzle simply does not seem to fit.
If anything is a given about contemporary Republican Party foreign policy, it is a hawkish stance on Iran. That unified front is led by a president who pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear deal and continues to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/world/middleeast/trump-sanctions-iran.html">impose new sanctions against Tehran</a>. Giuliani, too, talks tough towards the Iranians — most recently <a href="https://en.radiofarda.com/a/giuliani-says-i-am-for-regime-change-in-iran/30182912.html">backing regime change and declaring “down with the tyrants in Iran”</a> when he spoke at a rally outside U.N. headquarters in September.
Yet Giuliani was on the cusp of making a paid appearance at the Armenian-hosted conference of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), a gathering held October 1st–2nd amid the <a href="https://en.mehrnews.com/news/150676/Iran-to-join-Eurasian-Economic-Union-EAEU-from-October">formalization of Iran’s future membership</a> in that Russian-led trade alliance that consists of five former Soviet republics. Although Giuliani <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/giuliani-set-to-make-paid-appearance-next-week-at-kremlin-backed-conference/2019/09/27/a15ab242-e133-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html?outputType=amp">ultimately cancelled his 2019 EAEU appearance</a>, he <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/giuliani-headlines-conference-promoting-russia-organized-2018-10">attended the same conference last year</a> and is <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/democratic-senators-renew-questions-about-rudy-giuliani-s-apparent-work-n1058686">coming under rising scrutiny</a> for his <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-rudy-giuliani-mystery-trips-to-russia-armenia-and-ukraine?utm_content=bufferf7573&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=buffer">mysterious overseas travel — including to Armenia</a>.
Created to counter the influence of the European Union, the EAEU’s anti-Western approach is particularly apparent through its embrace of Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. After the Moscow-based EAEU <a href="https://eurasianet.org/armenia-hopes-to-benefit-from-new-iran-eurasian-union-free-trade-deal">reached a free trade deal with the Iranians last year</a>, EAEU member Armenia this past April signed a <a href="http://www.iran-daily.com/News/251511.html">memorandum of understanding on customs cooperation</a> with Iran in which the two countries agreed to exchange information on the value of goods and vehicles transported through their shared border. In other words, commerce between Tehran and Yerevan flows without restrictions.
On a broader strategic level, both the free trade and customs deals were envisioned as pillars of a bridge linking Iran, the EAEU, and the EU. The final pillar will be cemented on October 27th, when Iran formally joins the EAEU and gains the ability to have its goods “exported to [Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia] with almost zero tariffs,” according to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Simultaneously, Iran is prepared to increase the natural gas its supplies to Armenia, Rouhani <a href="https://en.radiofarda.com/amp/iranian-president-again-offers-closer-ties-to-armenia/30193900.html?__twitter_impression=true">said at the EAEU conference</a>.
It should come as no surprise that the rapid growth of EAEU-Iran ties is spearheaded by Armenia, the only EAEU member which shares a border with Iran. Armenia is also the only EAEU state which maintains a “Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement” with the EU, meaning that the warm economic ties between Tehran and Yerevan could have a domino effect throughout Europe.
Further, Armenia has a long and ongoing history of offering Iran an escape route from international sanctions. Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-sanctions-armenia/exclusive-iran-looks-to-armenia-to-skirt-bank-sanctions-idUSBRE87K05420120821">has reported</a> that Armenian banks help the Iranian regime “obfuscate payments to and from foreign clients and deceive Western intelligence agencies trying to prevent it from expanding its nuclear and missile programs.” In August, the U.S. <a href="https://mirrorspectator.com/2019/08/15/us-sanctions-two-armenian-firms/">levied sanctions</a> on two Armenian companies over their business ties with Iran. And upon meeting with Rouhani at the EAEU gathering, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan affirmed that despite U.S. sanctions, Armenia’s “relations with Iran must be beyond geopolitical influences.”
All of which brings us to the recent EAEU conference, where Giuliani was set to participate in a panel led by Sergey Glazyev, a longtime adviser to Russian President Vladimiar Putin who has been subjected to U.S. sanctions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Giuliani had been the only American scheduled to speak at the gathering.
How did this former Republican presidential candidate make his way onto an anti-Western conference’s agenda this year, while actually attending the same summit last year? <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-rudy-giuliani-mystery-trips-to-russia-armenia-and-ukraine?utm_content=bufferf7573&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=buffer">According to ProPublica</a>, Giuliani’s 2018 EAEU appearance was funded by Ara Abramyan, chair of the Union of Russian Armenians and president of the World Armenian Congress.
Abramyan also sits on the advisory board of TriGlobal Strategic Ventures, which has been organizing trips to Russia and Ukraine since 2004 for the ex-mayor’s Giuliani Partners, and has been described by The New York Times as “a company that provides image consulting to Russian oligarchs and clients with deep Kremlin ties.”
Before he cancelled his 2019 EAEU appearance, Giuliani had quipped in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/giuliani-set-to-make-paid-appearance-next-week-at-kremlin-backed-conference/2019/09/27/a15ab242-e133-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html?outputType=amp">comments to The Washington Post</a> that he would “try to not knowingly talk to a Russian until this is all over.” Yet it is no laughing matter. By opening the door to free trade, the EAEU has set in motion a slippery slope that may lead Iranian businesses directly to the EU. It is a nightmare scenario in which anti-West meets West, and shockingly, one of its enablers is a high-profile Republican who is presumably aligned with his peers when it comes to cracking down on Iranian aggression.
That is why despite his eventual pullout from the EAEU conference, the question remains: Why would Giuliani even consider attending?
&nbsp;
<a href="http://jessebogner.com/">Jesse Bogner</a> is an author and journalist. His memoir and social critique, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Egotist-Memoir-Jesse-Bogner-ebook/dp/B0174UNI66/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1452620828&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=the+egotist">The Egotist</a>, has been translated into five languages. His work has been featured in The Daily Caller, MSN, and The Huffington Post.

Rudy Giuliani

BOGNER: The Curious Case Of Rudy Giuliani, Iran, and Armenia

Armenians

Impeachment

Ukraine

United Nations

Vladimir Putin

The ongoing saga that is Brexit may seem distant to some of us here in the United States. News of the latest British capitulation to the ever-expanding political monolith that is the European Union sporadically trickles across our airwaves, but soon crumbles beneath the weight of a frantic news cycle. However, what’s currently unfolding in the United Kingdom should require the attention of everyone who values freedom and fears the creeping threat of authoritarianism.
As the most recent departure date from the E.U. of October 31st fast approached, it seemed like the slog towards Brexit was almost complete. Unfortunately, there has been a continued attempt to undermine the referendum result at every stage by a class of globalist political elites, buoyed by a vocal and petulant minority that has refused to accept reality. Sound familiar?
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the most recent occupant of the seemingly cursed No. 10 Downing Street, was defeated twice by the House of Commons this week. The first defeat came after opposition members of Parliament (MPs) and Conservative Party rebels <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49580185">voted 327 to </a><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49580185">299</a> in favor of a bill that would block a no-deal Brexit. If passed, Boris Johnson would be forced to “ask” the European Union for yet another deal negotiation extension beyond October 31st. In response, Johnson attempted to push for a new general election, but <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49584907">MPs turned down his motion</a> — with Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn stating that his party would support Johnson’s call for a new general election once the bill blocking a no-deal Brexit passed.
Now, it is fair to argue that binary referenda aren’t the most effective or positive way of achieving policy changes in a representative democracy. They enable the political evasion of responsibility by punting impactful decisions to the populace, with politicians claiming credit for success and blaming the public for failure. They are also divisive by definition, with the societal impact of Brexit often compared to the vicious aftermath of the 2016 presidential election in the U.S. Regardless, the very foundation of a democratic system is that the decisions made by the voters are respected by those who have been elected as their representatives. The referendum result of June 23rd, 2016 was clear, with 17.4 million people voting to leave the European Union — a gargantuan bureaucracy that has grown far beyond the economic-centric “European Community” that Britons had supported in their last relevant referendum of 1975.
Despite it being a duty bestowed upon the British political class to act in accordance with the will of the people, every method of satisfactory departure from the European Union has been intentionally blockaded by those who have no respect for the referendum result — or for democracy itself. As a final insult, the refusal to hold a general election before officially preventing a no-deal Brexit is simply an attempt to delay Brexit indefinitely.
The reason for this is that “no-deal” is the only remaining way for Britain to leave the E.U. The only deal supported by the E.U. is the disastrous “Withdrawal Agreement” negotiated by former Prime Minister Theresa May, which has been rejected on multiple occasions by the House of Commons. With a no-deal Brexit taken off the table, we are left with two equally unacceptable outcomes.
<ol>
<li>Without facing the threat of crashing out of the E.U., the prime minister will be handed the impossible task of negotiating with the European Union without any meaningful leverage. This will mean that the E.U. can keep the U.K. trapped as the parties fail to negotiate, forcing Britain to beg for extension after extension. Result: U.K. stays in the E.U.</li>
<li>As the deadly combination of impatience and apathy grows among the British public, the government will finally adopt Theresa May’s absurd “Withdrawal Agreement” out of an exhausted desire to “do something” and escape the never-ending chaos of Brexit. Result: U.K. effectively stays in the E.U.</li>
</ol>
Because “no-deal” is the only way that the United Kingdom will ever achieve the result demanded by its 2016 national referendum, it is the final obstacle for hordes of “Remainers” who have decreed a “no-deal” Brexit an apocalyptic disaster that must be avoided at all costs. Combined with the refusal of many politicians who support “no-deal” to respect the intelligence and resilience of the British public by acknowledging the non-disastrous but realistically negative impact of “no-deal,” “no-deal” supporters are seemingly handing the reins of control to the minority. As a result, the only exit from the bureaucratic maze of perpetual servitude to the E.U. is being closed. When this door closes, these politicians may have achieved their desired result, but they will have failed to honor the fundamental principles of democracy.
There are multiple similarities between the societal impact of Brexit and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. As we approach another election in 2020, Brexit should stand as a warning to the threats of those in the U.S. who hope to undermine democracy. We must remember that politicians, at their core, are our servants.
If we allow ourselves to forget that elected officials work for us, then we will enable a growing class of opportunistic politicians who seek to tighten their authoritarian grip on our lives. Brexit is forcefully revealing the true nature of many such politicians. With that in mind, if you care about liberty, then you must care about Brexit.

BRITAIN-EU-POLITICS-BREXIT-DEMONSTRATION

HAWORTH: Americans Must See The Brexit Betrayal As A Warning

Boris Johnson

Brexit

Democracy

Great Britain

United Kingdom

On Wednesday, President Trump sent a stern message to European leaders: if the countries from which captured ISIS fighters came don’t take them back, he’ll air drop them into Europe.
As <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7380719/Trump-warns-Europe-wont-hold-ISIS-fighters-Guantanamo-Bay-50-years.html">The Daily Mail</a> reported, Trump told reporters, “We’re holding thousands of ISIS fighters right now, and Europe has to take them. We beat them. We captured them. We’ve got thousands of them. And now, as usual, our allies say, ‘Oh. no. We don’t want them.’ Even though they came from France and Germany and other places. We’re going to tell them and we’ve already told them, ‘Take these prisoners that we’ve captured because the United States is not going to put them in Guantanamo for the next 50 years and pay for it.’ If Europe doesn’t take them, then I have no choice but to release them into the countries from which they came, which is Germany, and France, and other places.” He concluded, “It’s moving along, my deadline. They know.”
Hours later, the president repeated his assertion before a group of veterans in Kentucky, saying, “Certain countries in Europe, they’ve got to take them back. Because we don’t want to hold them. They’d rather have us hold them, and let us have them for 50 years. We don’t want them. They should take them. Do we agree? They should take them? They say to us, ‘Why don’t you hold them in Guantanamo Bay for 50 years and you just hold them and spend billions and billions of dollars holding them.’ And I’m saying, ‘No, you gotta take them.’”
The Daily Mail wrote, “The White House and State Department have been pressuring governments in Europe to take back thousands of jihadis and their brides captured when ISIS collapsed – and having no success – for nearly two years, a source with knowledge of the conversations told DailyMail.com last week.”
In early August, Trump stated, “We have thousands of ISIS fighters that we want Europe to take, and let’s see if they take them. If they don’t take them, we’ll probably have to release them to Europe.” <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/trump-warns-u-s-allies-take-back-captured-isis-fighters-n1038736">NBC News</a> reported at the time, “Experts estimate U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces hold some 800 European ISIS fighters in makeshift prisons, but the mostly Kurdish militia group is struggling to maintain them more than four months after ISIS lost the last significant part of its so-called caliphate.”
Last February Trump<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-calls-u-s-allies-europe-take-back-800-captured-n972541"> tweeted</a>, “The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial. The Caliphate is ready to fall. The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them. The U.S. does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go. We do so much, and spend so much — Time for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100% Caliphate victory!”

President Trump Addresses American Veterans 75th National Convention

Trump Warns Europe: I’ll Air Drop ISIS Fighters From Europe Back Into Your Countries

&#8220;The Germans will never forgive the Jews for Auschwitz.&#8221; – Zvi Rex, Israeli psychiatrist
Last month, Jason Greenblatt, who is the Trump administration&#8217;s special representative for international negotiations and, along with Jared Kushner, a co-leader of the administration&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49232/fleisher-end-100-year-arab-israeli-war-yishai-fleisher">yet-to-be-unveiled comprehensive proposal</a> for Israeli-Palestinian peace, <a href="https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-at-a-un-security-council-open-debate-on-the-middle-east-9/">addressed</a> the United Nations Security Council. In a <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/greenblatt-peace-plan-wont-be-based-on-fictions-of-international-consensus/">paradigm-shifting</a> speech, Greenblatt assailed the longstanding consensus of much of the morally relativistic &#8220;international community&#8221; — for which the anti-Semitic dullards of Turtle Bay serve as quintessential proxies — in no uncertain terms. Whereas the <a href="https://unwatch.org/un-general-assembly-shames-21-resolutions-israel-six-rest-world/">institutionally anti-Israel</a> U.N. Security Council has long tried its best to unilaterally impose a &#8220;two-state solution&#8221; from the outside in — based on a fundamental misunderstanding of international law with respect to <a href="https://mosaicmagazine.com/response/israel-zionism/2019/07/the-many-incoherences-and-hypocrisies-of-international-law-on-jerusalem/">eastern Jerusalem</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/11948/breaking-down-israeli-occupation-myth-elliott-hamilton">Judea and Samaria</a> — Greenblatt rebutted that &#8220;if there is to be such a solution, only the parties themselves, through direct negotiations, can work this out.&#8221;
Later in the speech, Greenblatt reiterated, &#8220;Both Israel and the Palestinians have asserted a claim to certain land. This is an unresolved dispute and it will only be through direct negotiations between the parties that we have a chance of resolving that dispute and achieving a comprehensive peace.&#8221;
Greenblatt&#8217;s speech is well worth watching in full:
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cyWt1_irJNI" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
Common sense, right? Alas, perhaps not to anti-Israel, sycophantically pro-Palestinian Europeans on the U.N. Security Council.
As Reuters <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN1UI1ZQ">highlighted</a>, Germany, France, and Russia did not exactly respond favorably to Greenblatt&#8217;s address. That would be the same Germany that refuses to recognize all of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and is <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2019/03/08/caroline-glick-germanys-love-affair-with-iran-about-more-than-greed/">leading the European effort to undermine</a> President Trump&#8217;s decision to exit the catastrophic Iran nuclear deal, the same France whose insane immigration policies have led to crisis levels of Islamist-inspired anti-Semitism, and the same Russia that de facto allies itself with the genocidal Jew-hating mullahs in Tehran to prop up a murderous madman tyrant in Damascus.
&#8220;For us, international law is not menu a la carte,&#8221; <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN1UI1ZQ">said</a> Germany&#8217;s U.N. ambassador, Christoph Heusgen. &#8220;Security Council resolutions are international law, they merely need to be complied with,&#8221; oh-so-helpfully <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN1UI1ZQ">added</a> Russia&#8217; U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia.
Greenblatt <a href="http://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/Greenblatt-hits-back-at-Germany-UN-resolutions-are-not-way-to-make-peace-598135">pushed back</a> this week against the European backlash, publishing a <a href="http://www.welt.de/debatte/kommentare/article198179335/UN-Debatte-Mit-Verlaub-Herr-Botschafter-Heusgen.html?wtrid=onsite.onsitesearch">German newspaper op-ed</a> that firmly but diplomatically rebuked Heusgen. &#8220;With respect, Ambassador [Heusgen] &#8230; we clearly stated that a solution cannot be forced upon the parties, and the only way ahead is direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians,&#8221; Greenblatt wrote. &#8220;Our point was that collectively, U.N. Security Council resolutions passed with the intent of providing a framework for resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have failed to create progress.&#8221; Greenblatt also excoriated the Europeans&#8217; insistence on the U.N. as a focal point of the peace process, coupled with their own failure to recognize the U.N.&#8217;s institutional anti-Israel bias, as &#8220;disingenuous.&#8221;
At the risk of stating the obvious: Good for Greenblatt and good for the Trump administration.
Hamas, a <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/44732/hammer-israel-must-destroy-hamas-once-and-all-josh-hammer">genocidal Islamist jihadist outfit</a> set not merely on eliminating Israel but also set on killing every Jew in the world, currently controls the Gaza Strip. So-called &#8220;moderate&#8221; Fatah, which directly subsidizes murderous (and <a href="http://twitter.com/MicheleChabin1/status/1159797725199831040">celebrated</a>!) jihad against Israeli Jews, is currently led by <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/how-holocaust-denial-shaped-mahmoud-abbas-worldview/">Holocaust-denying</a> kleptocratic chieftain Mahmoud Abbas. Much as Ezra Klein&#8217;s Vox would imagine it to be otherwise, there is <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2014/07/17/voxs-motto-should-be-explaining-the-news-incorrectly-repeatedly/">no bridge</a> connecting Gaza with Judea and Samaria. There is approximately zero appetite whatsoever among either the Palestinian-Arab leadership or the Palestinian-Arab populace to forfeit the so-called &#8220;right of return&#8221; — a <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/43792/pro-palestinian-frauds-unrwa-called-out-lying-josh-hammer">legally risible</a> claim that would demographically destroy Zionism itself. There is approximately zero appetite whatsoever right now among either the Palestinian-Arab leadership or the Palestinian-Arab populace to recognize Israel as a Jewish and secure state within any cognizable boundaries at all.
In short, those, like the Europeans and the global pro-Palestinian/pro-&#8220;international community&#8221; Left, who insist that Israeli-Palestinian peace can be imposed from the outside in, are simply not living in the real world. There are endless unresolved issues that can truly, only be finalized via direct negotiations between the two sides. The only reasonable conclusion is that such quixotic insistence on an outside-in imposition is hardly motivated by genuine concern for the establishment of a durable, lasting peace — the facts and reality on the ground make such calls, in the present, fanatical to the point of lunacy. On the contrary, such calls for an &#8220;international community&#8221;-imposed solution are ultimately reflective of Europeans&#8217; loathing for Israel. Perhaps there is something fundamentally sinister here, too. Zvi Rex, the above-quoted Israeli psychiatrist, was likely onto something.
In any event, good for Jason Greenblatt and the Trump administration. The jury may still be out on the administration&#8217;s yet-to-be-unveiled comprehensive peace proposal, but the jury is very much in on the administration&#8217;s continued efforts to stand up for Israel and rebuke bullying Israel-haters at the U.N. The Trump administration is in the right — and the Europeans are in the wrong.

White House adviser on Israel Jason Greenblatt speaks during

HAMMER: The Trump Administration Is Right. The U.N. Can Never Dictate An Israeli-Palestinian Peace Deal.

Germany

Jared Kushner

The latest report on the horrific Notre Dame fire is that a newly appointed security guard misunderstood the alert system and sent his colleagues to the wrong building when the fire initially broke out.
&#8220;A security guard in charge of protecting Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was working only his third day and sent his fellow colleague to the wrong building to check on the alert when the fire first broke out,&#8221; reports <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/notre-dame-security-guard-delayed-response-wrong-building">Fox News</a>. &#8220;A major miscommunication occurred amid the early warnings of the blaze as one of the guards went to check the fire-free sacristy, not the attic of the Cathedral, a move that delayed the response to the fire.&#8221;
While Paris prosecutors have largely concluded the fire did not result from a criminal or terrorist act, alleging it most likely stemmed from an electrical shortage or a smoldering cigarette, the delayed response time may indeed have further increased the damage done to the beloved cathedral.
&#8220;Only 30 minutes later, the cathedral staff realized they made a mistake and sent the guard to the attic — also known as &#8216;the forest&#8217; for its aged timber beams that hold up the roof — only to find that the fire was already in full swing,&#8221; the report continued. &#8220;The report found that the person who notified the location of the fire to the guard was working there only his third day and that he just started getting used to the alert system.&#8221;
Though the guard failed to properly read the system, reports are that the system itself was &#8220;complex and dated, prompting questions whether the person in charge of it even understood the alert in general.&#8221;
As The Daily Wire&#8217;s Emily Zanotti <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48941/devastating-notre-dame-fire-was-probably-started-emily-zanotti">reported</a>, the Notre Dame fire most likely originated from a burning cigarette, leading prosecutors to investigate whether the fire resulted from simple negligence. Several weeks after the initial blaze, the scaffolding firm originally charged with renovating the Notre Dame cathedral <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46416/scaffolding-firm-construction-workers-smoked-paul-bois">admitted that construction</a> workers were smoking cigarettes on site. However, the company, Le Bras Freres, denies that it started the fire.
&#8220;We condemn it. But the fire started inside the building &#8230; so for company Le Bras, this is not a hypothesis, it was not a cigarette butt that set Notre-Dame de Paris on fire,&#8221; said Le Bras Frères spokesman Marc Eskenazi.
Following the fire, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the cathedral will be even &#8220;more beautiful&#8221; while also calling for it to be rebuilt in five years.
&#8220;The fire at Notre Dame reminds us that our history never stops and we will always have challenges to overcome,&#8221; Macron <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/17/notre-dame-fire-macron-promises-to-make-cathedral-more-beautiful-than-before">said</a>. &#8220;We will rebuild Notre Dame, more beautiful than before — and I want it done in the next five years. We can do it. After the time of testing comes a time of reflection and then of action.&#8221;
Experts speculate, however, that the rebuilding of Notre Dame could take decades. For instance, the roof was comprised of oak beams cut from centuries-old trees that likely do not even exist in Europe today.
&#8220;Some of that material may be reusable, and that’s a painstaking exercise. It’s like an archaeological excavation,&#8221; Duncan Wilson, chief executive of the conservation organization Historic England, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/17/notre-dame-fire-macron-promises-to-make-cathedral-more-beautiful-than-before">The Guardian</a>.

Report: Notre Dame Security Guard Delayed Fire Response

Catholic Church

Catholicism

France

Notre Dame Cathedral

Religion

This past weekend, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was elected prime minister of Greece. Like his father, former Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis, he is a conservative in a society addicted to the opium of populist socialism.
To call socialism an opiate is to be too kind. It is a poison, and to watch it slowly kill my ancestral homeland is painful. When I would vacation in Greece in days gone by, my Greek friends would find my anti-socialist rants amusing. I was, after all, a patriotic American conservative from the Mitsotakis family.
But it&#8217;s not so funny anymore. Many of the jobs Greeks seek are outside Greece. Some young Greeks learn skills that they would need to work abroad — English and German language skills, technologies, and medicine. Otherwise, there is the tourism sector — and not much else.
There is always the option to go to one of the public universities in Athens, but students would have to put up with the full-time anarchist <a href="https://www.tovima.gr/2019/05/24/international/mitsotakis-stresses-law-and-order-national-unity-prespa-accord-tax-cuts/">presence</a> there. Police are not allowed on university grounds, so anarchists throw firebombs and attack people, and then retreat back into their state-sponsored sanctuaries.
Anarchists and their criminal companions have taken over entire neighborhoods, and the recent leftist government just looked the other way. Many of the officials in former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras&#8217;s SYRIZA party were once street rabble themselves, and they have the support of the street rabble parties of other European countries. SYRIZA had a cruel way of taunting the Mitsotakis family by granting many weekend furloughs to imprisoned Marxist terrorists — including the November 17 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/10/greek-terrorist-dimitris-koufodinas-prison-parole-global-outrage">terrorist</a> who murdered Pavlos Bakoyannis, my cousin&#8217;s brother-in-law.
Kyriakos was elected with a promise to change all of that. As <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/greek-voters-turn-to-growth-11562532361">reported</a> by The Wall Street Journal, he &#8220;pledges to cut tax rates — to 20% on businesses in two years from 29%, and on lower individual incomes, while slashing property taxes. He’s also promising a major round of deregulation. &#8230; Mr. Mitsotakis recognizes that fiscal stability requires strong economic growth — and now he has persuaded voters.&#8221;
Furthermore, to fulfill his promise to restore law and order, Kyriakos appointed Michalis Chrysochoidis (known as the &#8220;Terrorist Hunter&#8221; for his work in hunting down and capturing the November 17 terrorist leadership) as citizen protection minister. &#8220;Security is the greatest asset. Without security, democracy rots. We are here to work with all our strength to build a feeling of security for citizens,&#8221; he <a href="https://greece.greekreporter.com/2019/07/09/michalis-chrisochoidis-greeces-terrorist-hunter-returns-to-center-stage/">said</a> upon accepting his appointment. &#8220;All people should feel that their neighborhood belongs to them.&#8221;
Back in 1992, Leslie Gelb <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/12/opinion/foreign-affairs-macedonia-for-greece.html">wrote</a> in The New York Times about the foreign policy of Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis. Gelb wrote: &#8220;The conservative Mr. Mitsotakis is the most pro-American Greek leader in a very long time. He consummated a controversial naval base agreement with the U.S. He recognized Israel and got tough on terrorism.&#8221; The foreign policy of his son will likely be the same, with even more urgency now that Turkey has moved into Moscow and Iran&#8217;s orbit.
President Donald Trump called Kyriakos on Tuesday. <a href="https://greece.greekreporter.com/2019/07/10/donald-trump-congratulates-new-greek-pm-kyriakos-mitsotakis/">According</a> to the prime minister&#8217;s office, &#8220;Mr. Mitsotakis told Mr. Trump that the priority of the new Greek government is to fight bureaucracy and stimulate investment.&#8221;
It won&#8217;t be easy. But, God-willing, Kyriakos may turn things around and bring a new day to Greece.

MITSOTAKIS: A New Day For Greece Has Arrived

Conservatism

Economy

Greece

Leftism

Progressivism

Socialism

Michael Knowles interviews Daily Wire 2 sports correspondent Jeremy Boreing about the women’s World Cup and the victory of Team USA on Monday’s episode of “The Michael Knowles Show.” Video and transcript below:
Michael Knowles: The world of sports has been rocked by the Women&#8217;s National Team and Megan Rapinoe. But as you know, I am employed by The Daily Wire and my show is hosted on The Daily Wire. When we want to get to great sports coverage, we have to turn to our sister network, Daily Wire 2, and our Daily Wire 2 sports correspondent, Jeremy the verified god-king Boreing!
Jeremy Boreing: Yowza! Michael, now with verified. Bold but not old. Enormous news, Michael, from the world of sports ball. As for the second time in a row America has proven conclusively that our team is greater than all of the women&#8217;s soccer teams in the world. By our team, I mean the FC Dallas under 15 boys Academy. A squad of 15-year-old and younger lads not quite athletic enough to play football or baseball or even basketball. But who are nevertheless better than America&#8217;s national women&#8217;s team who, in turn, is better than all of the other women&#8217;s national teams from all the other nations who let women play sports ball. This, Michael, despite the overwhelming pay disparity between the female players who reportedly picked up a quarter of a million dollars each for the last game they won and the scarcely pubescent male players whose only compensation for their victory was getting to skip third period for the game and having a shot at the fourth hottest girls in school. Those not quite hot enough to date the high school football or baseball or even basketball players.
Nevertheless, as no average teenage male was yet allowed in the twice-a-year global tournament known as the FIFA Women&#8217;s World Cup, America&#8217;s women&#8217;s national team emerged victorious in a competition, handily defeating Holland, a nation literally filled with Dutch. They won by a score, Michael, of 2-0. The pride of America celebrated their win by trampling the flag of the nation they were being paid to represent during a cute little girl dance and bitching incessantly about how they aren&#8217;t paid the same as men to do the exact same job. Completely missing the point that their job is not, in fact, to kick a sports ball but to generate revenue in the form of ticket sales, merchandise, and TV licensing rights, which they do not do.
International media was quick to provide context for the women&#8217;s nagging by pointing out that men and women are exactly the same because men are famous for nagging. The media also completely ignored the fact that the men&#8217;s World Cup generates a literal order of magnitude more money than the women&#8217;s sport because, and I swear I&#8217;m not making this up, there is a sport people care less about than men&#8217;s soccer.
The media did stick it the president, Donald Trump, however, reporting on how a group of young people calling themselves Americans despite clear on camera evidence that they were watching girls play soccer in public in France were cursing the US president after Team USA&#8217;s win. Donald Trump is reported to have responded by saying, &#8220;I&#8217;m going to be president for life,&#8221; and then drinking from a Daily Wire Leftist Tears Hot or Cold Tumbler available to annual subscribers at DailyWire.com/subscribe. Get yours now.
But as if that&#8217;s not enough information about a sport neither one of us knows anything about, there&#8217;s more. America&#8217;s national men&#8217;s team also competed in a soccer match this weekend, the Gold Cup. Which I can only assume is an even bigger deal than the World Cup, since it&#8217;s gold. They lost however to America&#8217;s southern neighbor Mexico, proving yet again that this is a pathetic non-sport game of chance that in no way represents national greatness and that we should, in fact, build the wall on our southern border immediately to keep our male soccer players in this country where they can&#8217;t humiliate us abroad by losing a child&#8217;s game to a near third world narco-state. Build the wall. Build the wall. Build the wall. Yowza!
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Michael Knowles: Wasn&#8217;t the Gold Cup played in Chicago?
Jeremy Boreing: How the hell would I know Michael?! I&#8217;m just the Daily Wire 2 sports correspondent.
Michael Knowles: Just fabulous coverage as always. I can&#8217;t wait till the World Cup happens again next year and we can do it all again.
Jeremy Boreing: You know I have to admit that this was a subpar performance on my part which I think is appropriate for a subpar sport. It turns out there&#8217;s just not that much funny to say about the women&#8217;s World Cup.
Michael Knowles: If there were, I think you would have found it but unfortunately you along with the rest of the world could find no humor in that sport. Great coverage as always from Jeremy, the now verified, god-king Boreing.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-michael-knowles-show/id1266577963?mt=2">Download full episode of &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show&#8221; on iTunes.</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/michael-knowles-show">Watch &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show&#8221; on-demand!</a>

KNOWLES: This May Change Your View On The Women’s World Cup

Jeremy Boreing

Michael Knowles

Soccer

Sports

Team USA

The Dalai Lama, who is revered as a spiritual leader by millions of people and viewed as one of the most compassionate of men, had some surprising advice for Europe as they face an immigration crisis: send the immigrants back where they came from because for Europe to become Muslim or African is “impossible.”
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-4877217">Interviewed by the BBC</a>, the Dalai Lama, 84, said bluntly of the refugees from Arab nations and Africa who have migrated to Europe, &#8220;A limited number is OK, but the whole of Europe [will] eventually become Muslim country, African country – impossible.”
Despite the fact that he is hard-line on immigration to Europe, saying, &#8220;European countries should take these refugees and give them education and training, and the aim is return to their own land with certain skills,&#8221; the Dalai Lama said of the problems facing the United States on its border with Mexico, “&#8221;When I saw pictures of some of those young children, I was sad. America &#8230; should take a global responsibility.&#8221;
Although the Dalai Lama would prefer to have Europe evince a parochial attitude, he said of President Trump that his tenure was marked by a &#8220;lack of moral principle,” adding, &#8220;When he became president he expressed America first. That is wrong.” Yet he is appreciative of Vice President Pence for supporting the rights of the Tibetan people.
The Dalai Lama was forced to flee his native Tibet 60 years ago at the age of 24 when China invaded the country. He has made his home in India ever since.
He recalled, &#8220;One Chinese official once called me a demon. When I first heard that, my response was — yes, I&#8217;m a demon with horns. I pity their ignorance, their political thinking is very narrow-minded.”
In September 2018, the Dalai Lama came under fire after he stated at a conference in Malmo, Sweden, &#8220;Receive them, help them, educate them &#8230; but ultimately they should develop their own country. I think Europe belongs to the Europeans,&#8221; adding that &#8220;they ultimately should rebuild their own country,” as <a href="https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/dalai-lama-says-europe-belongs-to-europeans">Business Times</a> reported.
He later issued a <a href="https://www.dalailama.com/news/2018/his-holiness-the-dalai-lamas-response-to-a-question-about-refugees">statement</a> clarifying his view in which he asserted:
<blockquote>When refugees from other countries have come to Europe, it’s wonderful that Germany and other European countries have given them help. However, I think that most of those refugees think of their own lands as home, but just now there is lots of killing, bullying and suffering there. That’s why they escaped. So, in the short term, European countries should provide them with shelter, and should particularly provide children with facilities for education and training, including mechanical training, for the young people.
The aim is that they should eventually be able to return to rebuild their own countries. That has been my view right from the beginning. For example, we Tibetans took shelter in India, but most Tibetans want to return to Tibet when the situation there has changed. Each country has its own culture, language, way of life, and it is better for people to live in their own country. That is my view.</blockquote>

Spiritual Leader Revered For Compassion Has Surprising Take On Immigrants To Europe

Immigration

On Thursday&#8217;s episode of &#8220;The Andrew Klavan Show,&#8221; the host discusses President Donald Trump&#8217;s reading of FDR&#8217;s prayer following the landing at Normandy, France during the Second World War. Video and partial transcript below:
I was watching the ceremonies in Normandy yesterday and you know, just incredibly touching. You know, I remember &#8230; I&#8217;m old enough to have had a 7th-grade teacher who was actually in D-Day, and I remember him talking about, you know, walking over the carpet &#8212; charging over the carpet of bodies that lay on the beach. As he spoke, he became almost &#8230; he was almost there, you could tell his voice sped up and his eyes kind of got that thousand-yard stare, and then he just went back to being our social studies teacher. But it was that close.
You know, I mean my dad was in the war and all the adults around us probably suffered from PTSD without us even knowing what PTSD was. So, it really did affect us. And I grew up, of course, playing soldier and fighting the Nazis in my backyard with my brothers. When people started to burn their draft card, that to me was absolutely shocking. I have to say, even though I was a liberal and I was on the left and was sympathetic with the left, I never found that heroic. I never found it heroic that people burned their draft cards or went to Canada.
Although I will have to say I missed the draft. I was too young to be in the draft. But I don&#8217;t know what I would have done had I been drafted at that point. The war had been so discredited, even though today I think there&#8217;s a lot of questions about whether it helped stop Chinese aggression. Because they just thought we were so crazy to expend that many men and that much treasure fighting them in Vietnam. Who knew what we would do in the rest of the world?
So anyway, it was clear that the values had changed. I mean obviously, the long hair and the hippies and the tune in and drop out and the free sex all that made my father&#8217;s generation, the greatest generation, just quail and they looked at us and they thought that we were absolutely crazy. Obviously too, I think you know good things have happened since then. I think our speech is a little freer in some ways so far. I think we&#8217;re a little more tolerant than we were. I think people were more certainly more integrated than we were then. But still, I think we&#8217;re all haunted by the sense that something has been lost.
There&#8217;s a reason that &#8220;Make America Great Again&#8221; slogan resonates with the people who support Trump and drives the people who don&#8217;t support Trump crazy. So, I was watching Trump yesterday and the thing that he did yesterday that really moved me and really got to me was he read FDR&#8217;s prayer.
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<blockquote>
&#8220;Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity &#8230; They will need Thy blessings &#8230; For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces&#8230; but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph &#8230; Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom &#8230; And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade &#8230; Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Well, the conservative commentary almost writes itself, right. I mean I feel almost cheap &#8230; You don&#8217;t need me. I&#8217;m trying to give added value to the news, but you don&#8217;t need me to write the conservative commentary on that. There was the liberal president that the Conservatives of the day hated as they hated Obama. Although, I think FDR was a far, far greater president in a far, far more dangerous time, but he did a lot of the things, a lot of things he did I didn&#8217;t like. But clearly, a nation that listened to that prayer and knew that their sons were out there and were praying with him is a different nation than we have today.
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/andrew-klavan-show&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1559915680096000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEXNIYnZ8zxluQ2X773j0VmLx7f_A" href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Watch more of The Andrew Klavan Show here</a>.
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-andrew-klavan-show/id1045171376?mt%3D2&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1559915680096000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH38kLiHLn5yW1rgWaz9_paAU3xtA" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-andrew-klavan-show/id1045171376?mt=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Listen to more of The Andrew Klavan Show on iTunes here.</a>

KLAVAN: Why Trump’s D-Day Prayer Reading Is Important

American History

Andrew Klavan

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)

On &#8220;The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special,&#8221; Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro spoke with several veterans about their experiences on D-Day in preparation for the 75th Anniversary of the landing at Normandy. George Ciampa served in the US Army 607th Graves Registration. He shares his experiences on that fateful day on June 6th, 1944. Video and partial transcript below.
George Ciampa: When we got to the shores of Normandy, they say there are four or five thousand ships out there and I believe it. There were ships all around you, and the shelling above us, 88&#8217;s, you could hear them screaming, we called them Screaming Mimi&#8217;s. But we saw ships getting hit and I remember a tanker blowing up and there&#8217;s bodies in the water and there&#8217;s debris in the water, and you know I was 18 years old, 112 pounds; I was a skinny kid. I finally got down a rope ladder and with all the gear on and I get into an LCI landing craft, that&#8217;s the smaller Higgins boats, and we&#8217;re heading in&#8230; I could hear the 88&#8217;s screaming over us, and I remember when we started heading in and we came back out, and we started heading in and we came back out. I thought it was because of the shelling and thinking we&#8217;re going to get hit anytime, but I found out years later that the guy that&#8217;s driving that thing, he&#8217;s looking for place to land because the Germans had obstacles in the water to keep us from getting all the way in, so we had to wade in, you&#8217;ve probably seen pictures of that. I was so frightened. I mean I was blacked out momentarily, I don&#8217;t remember getting off the LCI, and I talked to a buddy of mine years later, and I said, &#8220;Hey Gus tell me what happened, did we really wade in the water?&#8221; he said &#8220;Don&#8217;t you remember that?&#8221; I said, &#8220;No.&#8221; He said, &#8220;We did; we waded in the water with our rifles over our heads and everything.&#8221;
So, our job was to gather the dead. They didn&#8217;t want any dead on the beaches for the morale of other troops coming in, and so we picked up paratroopers that had landed in the channel there. I don&#8217;t know what happened, but they dropped them in the wrong place and the parachutes came down over them. These paratroopers are loaded with the gear and they drowned and so we wrapped them in their parachutes and buried them. We were attached to the 1st Brigade Combat Engineers&#8217; provisions and 4th Division landed on that beach, on Utah Beach. Two platoons landed at Omaha and two at Utah, and I was at Utah.
Ben Shapiro: So can you talk a little bit about how you ended up in graves registration: What was that like, and what were you doing in the lead-up to D-Day?
George Ciampa: Well you got to go back to when I was a kid because when I was five years old and again at seven years old, I had a few situations of family with deaths, and so I had a big fear of death as a little boy. They put me in Catholic school, and they had the ten funeral masses, and so I dropped out of school, couldn&#8217;t handle it. When I turned 18, I tried to get in the Air Corps, I went down to take the exam and my eyes were 20/22, so I flunked. So, then I got drafted and got sent to Cheyenne, Wyoming and got put in a graves registration company. I said, &#8220;What the hell is that?&#8221; Graves, you know? And when I heard what I was gonna have to do, I thought I&#8217;ve got to get out of this. Well luckily, at least temporarily, there was an airbase next to us, Fort Warren, and they were looking for pilots &#8212; this is March of &#8217;44, like three months before the invasion. My brother was in the Air Corps; he was a pilot, and my brother-in-law also. It looked like a glorious thing to be a part of. They walked with a swagger, hat&#8217;s tipped, you know the girls loved them. Anyway, nobody knows this except me, they lowered the eye requirements to 20/30 with no glasses so I could pass that, so I took the tests, everything was great. They notified my company commander and you know he hit the roof and he was very upset. I didn&#8217;t go to him first of all, guys were recruiting, and I said, &#8220;Hey, here I am; let&#8217;s go.&#8221;
So anyway, there was a company going overseas right away. They only needed one man, so I was the replacement. The guys were all older than I was; they were all killing me on the ship on our way overseas. &#8220;Don&#8217;t worry, Ciampa, they&#8217;re gonna turn the ship around take you home. Roosevelt, our president, said no 18-year-old will set foot on foreign soil.&#8221; Nobody knows that either. So we shipped out, and on the way over there in the middle of the night, we&#8217;re sleeping down in a hold and all of a sudden there&#8217;s a big explosion and the ship was rocking, everybody&#8217;s scurried up on the deck, and then found out that there was a torpedo plane that was dropping a torpedo and the Navy gunner shot him down, that was the big explosion. The Navy gunner I had met the day before, he was my age and he showed me his quarters and we got acquainted, his name was Dennis Reid from Cincinnati, Ohio. I never did get in touch with him after that, and I wish I had because he really saved our lives.
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WATCH: WWII Veteran Describes D-Day Landing At Normandy

Ben Shapiro

U.S. Army

The results of the parliamentary elections for the European Union were a loss for the European Union itself. Despite pro-EU parties <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/26/eu-election-results-greens-and-euroskeptics-gain.html">reportedly</a> maintaining two-thirds of seats in the parliament, euroskeptics and nationalists solidified their power and made gains, signaling division and challenges soon to come.
In Italy, the anti-immigration and nationalist party, Lega Nord (League) Party, reportedly secured a victory of 28 seats. Following the win, the leader, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1132447/european-elections-latest-news-matteo-salvini-league-lega-italy-democratic-party-brexit">said</a>, &#8220;A new Europe is born.&#8221;
&#8220;As far as I&#8217;m concerned, if the League wins nothing changes in Italy, everything will change in Europe, starting from tomorrow,&#8221; he added. 
In the United Kingdom, the 6-week-old Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage, had a comfortable victory, securing a majority with 31.7% and 29 seats. Farage called the results &#8220;one hell of an achievement.&#8221;
In an <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/27/nigel-farage-become-prime-minister-brexit-party-9695684/">interview</a>, Farage said if the U.K. does not leave the European Union by October 31, his party will &#8220;go on to a general election and stun everybody there too.&#8221;
Farage repeated his warning on Twitter. &#8220;Never before in British politics has a party just 6 weeks old won a national election,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;If Britain does not leave the EU on October 31, these results will be repeated at a general election. History has been made. This is just the beginning.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Never before in British politics has a party just 6 weeks old won a national election.
If Britain does not leave the EU on October 31st, these results will be repeated at a general election.
History has been made. This is just the beginning.<a href="https://t.co/J7xqwdwZin">pic.twitter.com/J7xqwdwZin</a>
&#8212; Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) <a href="https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1132794993758941185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
In France, Marine Le Pen&#8217;s far-right and anti-EU National Right party performed worse than it had in 2014, but still managed to win 22 seats. Le Pen&#8217;s party slightly outperformed President Emmanuel Macron&#8217;s party, which won 21 seats.
&#8220;The French people have clearly punished the president tonight, and taught him a lesson in humility,&#8221; said Jordan Bardella, the 23-year-old who led the party&#8217;s list. &#8220;Tonight, it&#8217;s him and his policies who have been rejected.&#8221;
Macron&#8217;s party did not frame the results as a loss and instead pointed to the environmental Green party making gains as encouraging. 
&#8220;It is clear from this result that the environment is a real concern for the French people,&#8221; said Amélie de Montchalin, the secretary of state for European affairs, according to <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/france-far-right-beats-emmanuel-macron-green-surge/">Politico</a>. &#8220;The president made it the first priority of the Renaissance list, and we will be able to work with the Greens.&#8221;
German Chancellor Angel Merkel&#8217;s coalition, concerned about the results, is holding &#8220;crisis talks&#8221; on Monday, reported <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20190527-merkels-coalition-crisis-talks-after-eu-vote-debacle">France 24</a>. Merkel&#8217;s coalition was given their worst score in European election history due to the environmental party, the Greens, receiving significant support.
Voter turnout from the 2014 election to this year&#8217;s election was reportedly up from 43% to 51%. 
Pope Francis expressed his concerns about the results of the elections and warned against fearing migrants. 
&#8220;The signs of meanness we see around us heighten our fear of &#8216;the other&#8217;, the unknown, the marginalized, the foreigner,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/pope-francis-sounds-racism-alarm-as-eu-nationalists-win-big">said</a> on Monday, which also happens to be the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
&#8220;To some extent, the fear is legitimate, also because the preparation for this encounter is lacking,&#8221; the Pope said of Europe&#8217;s approach to the migrant issue. &#8220;But the problem is not that we have doubts and fears. The problem is when they condition our way of thinking and acting to the point of making us intolerant, closed and perhaps even &#8211; without realising it &#8211; racist.&#8221;

EU Elections: Nationalists And Euroskeptics Are Here To Stay

Marine Le Pen

Nigel Farage

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