Leaders of EU Countries Agreed During EU Summit on Sanctions Against Belarus

EU politicians have declined to endorse Alexander Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus, despite him winning the August election with over 80 percent of the popular vote.

The leaders of the EU countries have reached an agreement on sanctions against the Belarusian government, Agence France-Presse reported on Friday, citing its diplomatic sources.

According to European Council President Charles Michel, President Lukashenko has not been included in the list of sanctions Belarusians yet, he noted.

"We have decided today to implement the sanctions [against Belarus] … Tomorrow with a written procedure we will implement the sanctions on Belarus. You know what was on the table is the list with about 40 names", Michel said at a press conference following the summit.

The diplomat added that sanctions on Belarus may be implemented immediately.

According to French President Emanuel Macron, Lukashenko may be included in the list of sanctioned Balrusians in case of failure to establish a dialogue with the people of Belarus. If the bloc had included the Belarusian president in the list, that would have meant a rejection of the dialogue, and the EU wants to engage Lukashenko in talks, he added.

Mass opposition protests broke out across Belarus following the presidential election on 9 August that saw President Alexander Lukashenko reelected for a sixth term. While electoral authorities maintain that Lukashenko collected over 80 percent of the vote, the opposition insists that his key contender, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, won the election.

Opposition figures also accuse the security forces of resorting to excessive violence during the protests.

The two-day EU summit in Brussels started on Thursday. The EU member states are focusing on the relations with Turkey and China; the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, Belarus, Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny.

https://sputniknews.com/world/202010011080635535-leaders-of-eu-countries-agreed-during-eu-summit-on-sanctions-against-belarus–reports/

This is what happens if you reject a Rothschild IMF loan

Biden’s Debate Comment About 'Allah Willing' May Not Have Been as Innocent as Some Claim

During the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, while the president was saying that he would release his tax returns once an ongoing IRS audit ends, Biden interrupted him by saying, “When—insha’allah?”

The utterance of this Arabic phrase, which simply means “Allah willing,” by the Democratic candidate is strange, and also revealing.

For starters, why, in a purely American setting, would Biden suddenly resort to Arabic? It would have been one thing if he used this formulation before a Muslim audience—it would then be chalked up to diplomacy, pandering, etc.—but why use it when around Americans and during a distinctly American event such as a U.S. presidential debate?

Secondly, while insha’allah does literally mean “Allah willing,” and is regularly used to express modesty before the Supreme Being whenever Arabic speakers are discussing future events—as in, “Next year I plan on visiting the Arctic, insha’allah”—what very few non-native speakers of Arabic appreciate is that it is also used with great frequency by those who utter it to signal that they really have no intention of doing what they say they plan on doing, and by their listeners to express doubt or cynicism.

For example, if Abdul tells Mustafa, “I promise to do X, Y, and Z,” and Mustafa responds, “insha’allah,” say, with a knowing smile, he is essentially saying—and Abdul knows he’s saying—“Suuuure you will.”

And it is precisely in this latter and subtle sense that Biden was using it: while Trump was insisting that he would eventually release his tax returns, Biden was saying, “Yea, right,” though—and again, this is the bizarre part—through a distinctly Arabic idiom.

This suggests that Biden has been around many Arabic speakers—the majority of whom were obviously Muslim, not least based on the Obama administration’s well documented preference—to the point of being able to instinctively think and utter jokes like them.

This interpretation may shed some light on a controversial thing Biden said in a video directed at Muslims in late July: “Hadith from the Prophet Muhammad instructs, ‘Whomever among you sees a wrong, let him change it with his hand. If he is not able, then with his tongue. If he is not able, then with his heart.’”

Amongst Muslims, this hadith, which is sahih, meaning deemed authentic/canonical by Sunni Muslims, concerns the enforcement of sharia, Islamic law (particularly in the context of the doctrine of al-amr bi’l ma’ruf w’al nahi ‘an al-munkir, “enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong”). Muslims are taught to enforce sharia (understood as the totality of all good things) any which way they can: ideally through their “hand” (physical force, or jihad); if that’s not possible, then through their “tongue” (words, ideas, propaganda); and if that too is not possible, then at least with their “heart” (their intention, niya).

Rather than conclude that the presidential candidate was giving a wink and nod to Muslim voters concerning Islamic law, everyone, even Biden’s critics, many of whom were additionally critical of Islam, concluded that he has no idea what he was talking about and should better vet the scripts his team provide him with.

However, now that it’s clear that, far from being clueless of the things of Islam, Biden is so familiar and comfortable with them that he instinctively relies on Arabic idioms—even around the most inappropriate of audiences—a reevaluation of what Biden meant may be in order.

At the very least, it would seem that the Democratic presidential candidate is not as naive about Islam as many think—and not necessarily in a good way.

https://pjmedia.com/columns/raymond-ibrahim/2020/10/01/bidens-debate-comment-about-allah-willing-may-not-have-been-as-innocent-as-some-claim-n993335

Trump Sowing Doubt In The Election Is ‘Aiding And Abetting’ Putin, HR McMaster Says

H.R. McMaster, President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, said Thursday that the president is “aiding and abetting” Vladimir Putin’s efforts to undermine the American electoral system.

McMaster’s comment came during an interview on MSNBC in response to a question asking whether he agreed that Trump posed the biggest threat to the integrity of the nation’s election.

“I agree that he is aiding and abetting Putin’s efforts by not being direct about this, right? By not just calling out Putin for what he’s doing,” McMaster said.

“Putin gets away with, I mean, literally murder or attempted murder… because people don’t call him out on it. And so they are able to continue with this kind of firehose of falsehood, to sow these conspiracy theories,” he said, referring to the president’s claims regarding mail-in voting and widespread voter fraud, adding that “we just can’t be our own worst enemies.”

The president has repeatedly claimed that millions of “unsolicited” ballots are being sent to Americans in numerous states, and that “we may never know who won the election” as a result, though only four states are sending ballots to every registered voter for the first time in 2020, USA Today reported.

Trump picked McMaster to lead the White House National Security Council in 2017, Politico reported.

Though the risk for fraud is slightly higher with additional mail-in ballots, according to NPR, the risks are largely alleviated with proper security measures, and there is no proof of the widespread fraud that Trump claims will compromise the election, Politico reported.

Though McMaster is the most recent high-level former member of the Trump administration to publicly criticize the president, he is not the first. He was relieved from his role by the president in 2018.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/10/01/trumps-doubt-election-aiding-abetting-putin-mcmaster-says/

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsAust/status/1311651924278566918

Sky News host Alan Jones says US President @realDonaldTrump

is “the hope of the side” and without him both the United States and Australia “are gone”.