Day: July 10, 2024

DW выявила целый ряд несоответствий в официальной российской статистике технических неисправностей пассажирских самолетов в 2024 году.

Project 2025, a conservative policy agenda years in the making, has vaulted into American political consciousness in recent days. President Joe Biden wants you to think the mysterious project is the heart of his Republican rival’s platform, despite the fact that former President Donald Trump has denounced parts of it as “ridiculous and abysmal” and said that he has no idea who is behind it. 

There are a number of reasons that Jewish leaders are among those alarmed by Project 2025: They see it as a step toward authoritarianism, an erosion of freedom of religion, and the empowering of a Christian Nationalist movement they see is steeped in antisemitism.

What does Project 2025 mean for American Jews?

When people talk about Project 2025, they are generally referring to a 922-page policy document developed by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. The document lays out a plan for the drastic expansion of presidential power and reshaping of the federal government. 

It touches on nearly every hot-button issue imaginable — immigration, healthcare, foreign policy and civil rights, to name a few — and more than a few random ones. It would, for example, require overtime pay for employees who work on the Sabbath. (It’s referring to Sunday, not Saturday). 

Project 2025 also includes a database of conservatives — it’s unclear how many — imagined as a kind of recruiting roster, because a central part of the agenda is replacing thousands of government workers with political appointments.

The document does not address Jews or antisemitism directly,  and only references Israel in passing. And most of it is not about religion at all. But many elements of the plan would adversely affect both Orthodox Jews and liberal ones.

For example: Project 2025 seeks to reverse LGBTQ+ rights, including marriage equality, which is widely supported and practiced by Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Jews. It also calls for a ban on abortion, which most rabbis of all denominations say is permitted under Jewish law and even required in some circumstances pertaining to the mother’s health. 

These social policies — and others outlined in the document, like a federal ban on pornography — are rooted in Christian Nationalism, an ideology that many scholars see as inherently antisemitic and that is behind recent headline-grabbing initiatives in red states.

What is Christian Nationalism?

Christian Nationalists believe that the United States is fundamentally Christian, that the country has strayed from Christian values, and that action must be taken to make those values the defining feature of government and public life.

Put another way, Christian Nationalists hope to use political power to break down the separation of church and state — the bedrock principle ensuring freedom of religion — and further align laws on social issues with Evangelical religious doctrine. That would mean ending abortion and same-sex marriages and prohibiting access to contraceptives, for starters. It could also mean more laws like Louisiana’s new one requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in public school classrooms.

Other Christian Nationalist successes: The Supreme Court’s 2021 decision allowing taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to reject queer prospective parents, and Alabama’s recent banning of in-vitro fertilization.

Christian Nationalism is not an entirely new concept, according to Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, communications director for an advocacy group called Christians against Christian Nationalism. But it has experienced a resurgence in the Trump era. Its radicalizing influence burst into view on Jan. 6, 2021, when insurrectionists stormed the Capitol holding Bibles aloft, waving banners that read “Jesus 2020,” and praying inside the House chamber. 

“Christian nationalism gives a religious fervor to far-right activism,” Graves-Fitzsimmons said.

“Judeo-Christian values”

Adherents of Christian Nationalism often describe their political mission as advancing Judeo-Christian values in the public sphere. And there is a strong overlap between Christian Zionists and Christian Nationalists. But some say both are a cover for the antisemitism undergirding the movement.

Bradley Onishi, author of Preparing For War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism, told the Forward’s Rob Eshman last week that antisemitic conspiracy theories and a general “disdain for Jewish people” are built into the movement.

And a 2021 Washington Post survey found a high correlation between Christian Nationalist principles — for example, “The federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation” — and antisemitic tropes, such as that the Jews killed Jesus, that Jews have too much power in the business world, and that American Jews have dual loyalty to the U.S. and Israel.

Amy Spitalnick, president of the Jewish Committee for Public Affairs, said in an interview that the term “Judeo-Christian” is “oftentimes used by some of the most extreme voices to give cover to some of the very ideas that are most at odds with Jewish values and Jewish rights.”

More important than that, Spitalnick said, at its root is an undermining of American religious freedom — “the democratic norms and values,” she said, “that have made the United States the safest place for Jews in much of our history.”

The post What American Jews should know about Project 2025 and its connection to Christian Nationalism appeared first on The Forward.

ВСУ выпустили семь снарядов калибра 155 миллиметров по городу Донецку.

Обучение проводится в основном для добровольцев без военного опыта.

WASHINGTON — Taliban efforts to solidify the group’s control over Afghanistan are bringing a measure of peace and stability to its residents, but intelligence gathered by United Nations member states suggests the reprieve is not likely to last.

A report issued late Wednesday by the U.N. sanctions monitoring team warns that Afghanistan will almost certainly remain a source for insecurity with terror groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State either finding safe haven or finding ways to exploit the Taliban’s weaknesses.

“The country continues to be perceived as permissive or friendly territory by terrorist groups,” the report warns. “Continued Taliban tolerance of a range of terrorist groups, based across many Afghan provinces, sets the conditions for terrorism to project into neighboring States.”

Al-Qaida, in particular, continues to thrive, taking advantage of its long-term ties to the Taliban despite being forced to keep a low-profile.

Al-Qaida expansion

U.N. member states contend al-Qaida has used the past year to reorganize and recruit, building out its network of training camps and safe houses across at least five Afghan provinces, including bases in the eastern city of Jalalabad and offices in Kabul.

The expansion has also attracted more al-Qaida operatives, including some that the U.N. report described as “experienced instructors” from outside of Afghanistan, whose mission is “to enhance the security of dispersed cells.”

The report further alleges that de facto al-Qaida leader Saif al-Adel, believed to be in Iran, has sent ethnic Arab operatives to the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan to improve training and facilitate communication with the group’s core leadership.

Other key al-Qaida figures in Afghanistan have also found added safety thanks to the Taliban.

Taliban protection

Abu Ikhlas al-Masri, an al-Qaida commander captured in 2010 and held in a prison at Bagram air base until U.S. forces left in 2021, was placed in protective custody, the report says, “reflecting Taliban concerns that foreign intelligence agencies were looking for him.”

Two other al-Qaida officials, described in the report as “weapons engineers,” were also given protection by the Taliban, while an al-Qaida official from Libya was reportedly given an Afghan passport and a position at the Interior Ministry.

“The intent behind these activities is not clear, nor are the consequences for the group’s capabilities, but the activities cause significant concern,” the report says of al-Qaida.

US assessment

The U.N. assessment stands, in some ways, in contrast to assessments shared late last year by the United States.

“Al-Qaida is at its historical nadir in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and its revival is unlikely,” National Counterterrorism Center Director Christine Abizaid said in a statement marking the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the U.S. that killed almost 3,000 people.

But such views are at odds with the picture put together by the U.N., which maintains al-Qaida has between 30 and 60 senior officials in Afghanistan, along with hundreds of fighters and almost 2,000 family members.

Islamic State-Khorasan

While al-Qaida may be seeing the start of a revival thanks to the Taliban rule of Afghanistan, the intelligence shared in the new U.N. report finds the Islamic State terror group is coming under pressure.

U.N. member states “credit Taliban efforts to counter the threat from [IS-Khorasan],” it says. “But [they] question the Taliban’s counter-terrorism capabilities and have concerns about continued [IS-Khorasan] recruitment and dispersal.”

The result, according to the report, is an Islamic State affiliate that is slowly positioning itself to undermine Taliban rule while actively carrying out attacks as far afield as Iran and Russia.

IS-Khorasan capacity “remains strong,” according to the report, noting the group’s deadly attacks in Kerman, Iran, this past January and on a Moscow concert hall this past March.

IS-Khorasan spreading

The intelligence suggests IS-Khorasan has expanded into a number of adjacent Central Asian states.

IS-Khorasan “is using Afghan nationals to conduct attacks in Pakistan, Pakistani nationals to conduct attacks inside Afghanistan, Tajik nationals to conduct attacks in Iran (Islamic Republic of) and the Russian Federation and has used a Kyrgyz national to carry out an attack in the Taliban’s heartland of Kandahar,” the U.N. report says.

The terror group also appears to be growing in parts of Afghanistan.

“[It] has strengthened in northern regions of Afghanistan, increasing recruitment within Tajik and Uzbek communities and stockpiling arms and explosives in remote mountainous areas,” according to the report.

And one of the U.N. member states warned it sees indications IS-Khorasan may be preparing to try to reestablish territorial control in some areas.

IS undercover

Other intelligence shared with the U.N. by its member states raises concerns that IS-Khorasan may be preparing to take down the Taliban from within.

The report says there is evidence that IS-Khorasan operatives have infiltrated the Taliban’s Interior and Defense ministries, as well as its General Directorate of Intelligence.

There is also concern that the group is finding ways to hide its true presence.

The report estimates IS-Khorasan has 2,000 to 3,500 fighters, with members of other IS affiliates in Afghanistan helping to swell that number to as many as 6,000.

But U.N. member states allege the group is embedding its fighters in as many as four other terror groups, including some that get training and welfare benefits from the Taliban-run government.

IS special forces

There is also some evidence to suggest IS-Khorasan has set up a special operations force in Iran.

According to two U.N. member states, the force is made up of mostly Tajik and Uzbek nationals, charged with carrying out attacks on Shia shrines, clergy and Iranian police.

One of the two U.N. member states said the force could have as many as 300 fighters and appears to be operating along Iran’s borders with Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Iraq.

Central Asia

As with the U.N. assessment of al-Qaida’s fortunes in Afghanistan, the U.N. assessment of a large and possibly growing IS presence in the country also runs counter to some U.S. assessments, which see a much smaller footprint.

But more recent U.S. intelligence estimates have raised concerns about the ability of IS-Khorasan to project power into Central Asia and beyond.

A top U.S. counterterrorism official last month warned that IS appeared to be trying to take advantage of changing migration patterns that are sending more Central Asians to the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

Treasury Department sanctions unveiled last month also pointed to the involvement of an IS operative in Uzbekistan and the emir of the IS affiliate in the Republic of Georgia in a plot to smuggle operatives to the U.S.

Global reach

Some analysts say the additional details in the U.N. report are evidence that IS-Khorasan, also known as ISKP, remains on a worrisome trajectory.

“ISKP intensified its Central Asia outreach after the U.S.-withdrawal from Afghanistan and rolled out Tajik and Uzbek media arms in 2022,” according to Lucas Webber, a research fellow at the global intelligence firm, The Soufan Center.

“This initiative continues to expand,” he told VOA, pointing to the introduction of a new IS Tajik language magazine days after the group’s terror attack in Moscow.

And there are other worrisome signs.

“There has been an uptick in ISKP-linked arrests throughout Central Asia in the last few months,” Webber added, saying that could indicate the recent high-profile attacks could be “just the start of what the group has planned.”

Fetterman tells Fox host he didn’t see entire Trump, Biden debate  The Hill

Inflation will go up regardless of who the next president is, but under Trump’s tariffs it would be higher for longer, Oxford Economics says  Fortune

MISSON OF VENGEANCE- available on Amazon! https://t.co/ltPmJgKSaU… Stacie is the CIA’s undercover agent planted inside the NSA, extracting intel from her supercomputer. But her secret weapon is often the NSA’s own library books. #kindle #suspense #thrillers #spynovel #NSA pic.twitter.com/u3641phcZc

— Robert Morton (@Robert4787) July 11, 2024

Based on Israeli media and military sources, these by my count are the confirmed locations so far of where the Israeli military enacted the Hannibal Directive and killed Israelis on Oct. 7th:

1. Nova Rave
2. Kibbutz Be’eri
3. Erez military base
4. Re’im army base
5. Nahal Oz…

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) July 10, 2024

Britain To Abandon Ukraine Amid Russia’s War? New PM Starmer To ‘Change’ UK’s War Policy  The Times of India