N Korea Nuclear Missile Advances Concern U.S., Cash No Longer King, West Rejects Persecuted Christians

N. Korea nuclear, missile advances worrying U.S. West Coast lawmakers

After listening to experts describe the threat posed by North Korea and its nuclear arsenal, U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, paused amid a Capitol Hill hearing earlier this week and made a suggestion. 

“We ought to have civil defense in this country,” said Sherman during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Some of us are old enough to remember when we had civil defense and we were under our desks.”

The congressman wasn’t calling for an immediate return to the “duck and cover” days of the Cold War. But his statement reflects heightened alarm among members of Congress – especially those from the West Coast – over North Korea’s continuing nuclear tests and advances in missile technology.

In the last year alone, North Korea has conducted 20 missile tests and two nuclear tests. That’s a marked annual increase from the 42 missile tests and two nuclear tests of the previous seven years, according to Victor Cha, a Korea specialist with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Several members of Congress from the West Coast are aiming a spotlight at North Korea, particularly Rep. Ed Royce, a Republican from Southern California who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee. On Tuesday, Royce led a hearing examining how the United States and its allies could further squeeze North Korea financially and possibly slow its nuclear weapons program.

Royce said he was particularly concerned about North Korea’s bomb miniaturization efforts, along with one of its missile tests last year from a submarine. “That is what has got our attention,” Royce said. “At this point it is clear that very, very soon, North Korea is going to be able to target all 50 states in the United States, as well as target our allies.”

Cash No Longer King: Europe Accelerates Move To Begin Elimination Of Paper Money

In the shadow of Donald Trump’s spree of controversial actions, the European commission has quietly launched the next offensive in the war on cash. These unelected bureaucrats have boldly asserted their intention to crack down on paper transactions across the E.U. and solidify a trend that has been gaining momentum for years.

The financial uncertainty amplified by Brexit has incentivized governments throughout Europe to seize further control over their banking systems. France and Spain have already criminalized cash transactions above a certain limit, but now the commission has unilaterally established new regulations that will affect the entire union. The fear of physical money flowing out of the trade bloc has manifested a draconian response from the State.

The European Action Plan doesn’t mention a specific dollar amount for restrictions, but as expected, their reasoning for the move is to thwart money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Border checks between countries have already been bolstered to help implement these new standards on hard assets. Although these end goals are plausible, there are other clear motivations for governments to target paper money that aren’t as noble.

Negative interest rates and high inflation are a deadly combination that could further destabilize the already fragile union in the future. With less physical currency circulating, these trends ensure that the impact of any additional central bank policies will be maximized. If economic conditions deteriorate, the threat of citizens pulling cash out of their accounts and starting a bank run is eliminated in a cashless system. So long as the people’s wealth is under centralized control, funds can be shifted at will to conceal any underlying problems. But the longer this shell game is allowed to persist, the more painful it will be when reality overrides the manipulation.

Since former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kenneth Rogoff, published a paper last year advocating for the U.S. $100 bill to be removed, governments around the world have pushed forward their agendas towards a cashless society. 

This announcement comes just months after the 500 euro note was discontinued, and it follows India’s lead in subverting the financial independence of their citizens. The incremental steps currently being taken may look trivial in isolation, but the ultimate end is to lay the foundation for an entire network for economic repression.

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers wrote last year that the E.U. would likely be the trailblazer of the West towards this new digital model:

Since the public’s attention has been drawn to emotional manipulations and political stunts, the threat the war on cash represents has gone unrecognized. 

The value of advocating for decentralized and physical alternatives to the banking system may not be easily grasped by the activists of today, but few other things have the potential to erode freedom on such a massive scale.

The West's Real Bigotry: Rejecting Persecuted Christians

• "Unfortunately, the West has rejected the idea of solidarity with the Christians of the Middle East, prioritizing diplomacy based on oil interests and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Thus, the United States, Britain, and France have largely ignored the persecutions of the Christians of Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, and Sudan, while rushing to save the oil-rich Muslim states of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait..." — Hannibal Travis, Professor of Law, 2006.
• Indigenous Christians in Iraq and Syria have not only been exposed to genocide at the hands of the Islamic State and other Islamist groups, but also their applications for immigration to Western countries have been put on the back-burner by, shamefully but not surprisingly, the UN.
• When one brings up the issue of Western states taking in Muslim migrants from Syria and Iraq without vetting them for jihadist ties, while leaving behind the Christian and Yazidi victims of jihadists, one is accused of being "bigoted" or "racist". But the real bigotry is abandoning the persecuted and benign Middle Eastern Christians and Yazidis, the main victims of the ongoing genocides in Syria and Iraq.
• The German government is also rejecting applications for asylum of Christian refugees and deporting them unfairly, according to a German pastor.
• Nearly a third of the respondents said that most of the discrimination and violence came mostly from refugee camp guards of Muslim descent.
• It is high time that not only the U.S. but all other Western governments finally saw that the Christians in the Middle East are them.

Finally, after years of apathy and inaction, Washington is extending a much-needed helping hand to Middle Eastern Christians. U.S. President Donald Trump recently announced that persecuted Christians will be given priority when it comes to applying for refugee status in the United States.

Christians and Yazidis are being exposed to genocide at the hands of ISIS and other Islamist groups, who have engaged in a massive campaign to enslave the remnant non-Muslim minorities and to destroy their cultural heritage.

The scholar Hannibal Travis wrote in 2006:

"Unfortunately, the West has rejected the idea of solidarity with the Christians of the Middle East, prioritizing diplomacy based on oil interests and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Thus, the United States, Britain, and France have largely ignored the persecutions of the Christians of Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, and Sudan, while rushing to save the oil-rich Muslim states of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as well as besieged minority Kurds, Bosnians, and Kosovars. To this day, American troops in Iraq reportedly do not always intervene against the persecution of Christians, perhaps not wanting to be seen as 'siding with the Christians' and thus provoke retaliation."

Then, the so-called liberals in the West -- and even Christians -- started pushing back against the move.

Indigenous Christians in Iraq and Syria have not only been exposed to genocide at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS) and other Islamist groups but also their applications for immigration to Western countries have been put on the back burner by, shamefully but not surprisingly, the UN.

A group of Armenians from Iraq, for example, have fled their homes in Iraq after ISIS came. Instead they have gone to Yozgat, Turkey. The newspaper Agos ran a story about them on 21 December, 2015:

"They live in hard conditions. The UN could not schedule any appointment for immigration application before 2022. They don't know how they can live in these conditions for 7 years. The only thing they want is to meet with their relatives."

Yozgat, one of the Anatolian cities where Armenians were exposed to the most horrific murders and exile at the hands of Muslims during the 1915 genocide, is where Armenians find themselves again, this time struggling to survive in the midst of unemployment, poverty, harassment, intolerance, and illness.

Şant Garabedyan, 23, said that no jobs are given to Christians:

"I have been in Yozgat for two months. We are eight people in the same house.... Nobody hires me, because I am a Christian. My wife is Chaldean and doesn't wear her pectoral cross because she is afraid."

Alis Şalcıyan said that they left Iraq fearing ISIS.

"We have been here for a year. Back in Baghdad, we felt frightened, when ISIS came to Iraq.... Someone on the street saw my necklace and spat while looking into my eyes. After that, I took it off and kept it at home.... We filed an immigration application with the UN, but they scheduled an appointment for 2022, although they scheduled appointments for the next year for others. We must wait here for seven years."

When one brings up the issue of Western states taking in Muslim migrants from Syria and Iraq without vetting them for jihadist ties, while leaving behind the Christian and Yazidi victims of jihadists, one is accused of being "bigoted" or "racist". But the real bigotry is abandoning the persecuted and benign Middle Eastern Christians and Yazidis, the main victims of the ongoing genocides in Syria and Iraq.

It is true that Shia Muslims and even some Sunni Muslims -- particularly secular, non-observant or moderate ones -- are also threatened by the Islamic State. But ISIS and other Islamist organizations are not trying to destroy Islam and Muslims. On the contrary, they aim to further institutionalize Islam and even expand Islamic influence to other lands and establish a Caliphate (Islamic empire) based on Islamic scriptures.

Helping religious minorities in the Muslim world is not just a humanitarian issue, but also a political issue of vital importance to the West. Some people might think that the U.S. or the West should not get engaged in Middle Eastern politics.

But if the West continues turning a blind eye to the Islamic radicalization of the Middle East and North Africa, what does it expect will happen to it?

As long as Islamists keep winning "victories" across nations and as long as Christians and other non-Muslims continue to be exterminated, Islamists will gain more power and courage to expand to Europe and other parts of the world.

Radical Islamic ideology never stops where it takes over. It is a genocidal, imperialistic and colonialist ideology. It aims to murder or subjugate all non-Muslims under its rule. Islamic jihad started in the 7^th century, in the Arabian Peninsula. Then through massacres and social pressure, including the jizya tax and the institution of dhimmitude, it expanded to three continents -- Asia, Africa and Europe -- and persecuted countless indigenous peoples.

It seems that one of the most effective ways to stop this pattern is to support Christians and other non-Muslims in the Middle East. The West would not only gain a significant ally in the Middle East, but also the political, military, and economic influence of Islamists will be weakened.

Western countries should welcome Christians and Yazidis -- the main targets of genocide -- to the West immediately, and also consider ways to empower them in their native lands, such as by creating safe havens for them. It is high time that not only the U.S. but all other Western governments finally saw that the Christians in the Middle East are them.