Some highlights from my weekly readings.
by Matthieu Petti, ReasonJune 13, 2024.
Extract:
The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) has published its latest survey data West Bank and Gaza on Wednesday. It turns out that the Palestinians are not satisfied with all current options, including the Biden administration’s plan for international governance of Gaza.
The last Palestinian elections were held in 2006. Although no party achieved a majority, Hamas had the largest bloc in Parliament, with 44 percent of the vote. The Bush administration encouraged Palestinian security agents to launch a coup against Hamas, which led to a Palestinian civil war. Since then, Hamas has ruled Gaza and Fatah has ruled the West Bank, both as one-party states.
If legislative elections were held today, most Palestinians would vote for neither option. Hamas would get 32 percent of the vote, Fatah would get 17 percent of the vote, and 50 percent of the vote would either sit out the election or vote for a third party. The survey showed similarly abysmal turnout rates in a presidential election – with one major twist.
If former guerrilla leader Marwan Barghouti were allowed to run, he would handily beat Hamas and Fatah candidates. Barghouti has been imprisoned by Israel since 2002 for his role in several attacks against Israelis. denies having ordered. He has since declared that he accepts the borders of Israel before 1967 and called for “peaceful popular resistance.”
But:
That said, when the PCPSR asked Palestinians what the best path to independence was, 54 percent said “armed struggle,” compared to 16 percent who supported peaceful resistance and 25 percent who supported negotiations. This is a drop compared to December 2023, when 63% chose armed struggle.
by Charles Palm, Define ideasJune 12, 2024.
So many extracts it’s hard to choose. Read the whole thing.
by Charles Palm, Define ideasJune 12, 2024.
Extract:
Eighteen million people, out of a population of one hundred million adults, during these fifty years passed through the Gulag and millions perished. It was a pervasive part of Soviet life, and seeing how it was managed would provide insight into the workings of Soviet communism itself. We obtained the full range of documents: secret police files, policy notes and meeting minutes, laws, decrees, court decisions, regulations on the administration and operation of camps, prisoner lists, budgets, reports from the vast industrial enterprises managed by the Gulag administration. , data on hunger strikes and mass rebellions, as well as documents on the culture, education and health of the camps. We have documents documenting every aspect of the Gulag: three million pages.
by Bradley J. Birzer, Law and LibertyJune 14, 2024.
As far as we know (and historians are still trying to document these facts), there was no more intense genocide in the 20th century than that committed by the Khmer Rouge. Although reported figures vary, the Khmer Rouge murdered between 25% and 47% of Cambodia’s seven million people during the three years of their rule. As the Khmer Rouge openly declared: “All we need to build our country is a million good revolutionaries.” No more than that. And we would rather kill ten friends than let an enemy live.
by Robert Tracinski, SpeechJune 14, 2024.
The joke that immediately did the rounds after USA’s surprise victory in Dallas was that Pakistan did not lose to ‘India-B’ (one of the Indian national cricket teams), but to ‘India H -1B”. India vs Pakistan is the most intense rivalry in cricket, fueled by the geopolitical rivalry between the two countries. It’s a bit like the Yankees versus the Red Sox, but with nuclear weapons. The American cricket team is dominated by Indian immigrants who are here on H-1B visasawarded to skilled workers, particularly in the technology industry.
