Some highlights of my weekly reading.
by Matthew Petti, The reasonJune 13, 2024.
Quote:
The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) released the latest polling data from the West Bank and Gaza on Wednesday. It turns out that the Palestinians are unhappy with all the current measures — including the Biden administration’s plan for international governance of Gaza.
The last Palestinian elections were held in 2006. Although no party won a majority, Hamas had the largest party in parliament, with 44% of the vote. The Bush administration encouraged Palestinian security officials to launch a coup against Hamas, which led to the Palestinian civil war. Since then, Hamas has ruled Gaza and Fatah has ruled the West Bank, both as united states.
If parliamentary elections were held today, most Palestinians would not vote for either option. Hamas will receive 32% of the vote, Fatah will receive 17% of the vote, and a total of 50% will either abstain from voting or vote for a third party. The poll showed similar worst turnout rates in the presidential election—by one margin.
If former terrorist leader Marwan Barghouti was allowed to run, he would defeat Hamas and Fatah. Barghouti has been detained by Israel since 2002 for his role in several attacks on Israel, which he denies ordering. Since then, he has said he accepts Israel’s pre-1967 borders and called for “popular peaceful 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. It is down from December 2023, when 63 percent chose armed struggle.
by Charles Palm, Defining IdeasJune 12, 2024.
So many quotes that it’s hard to choose. Read everything.
by Charles Palm, Defining IdeasJune 12, 2024.
Quote:
Eighteen million people, out of a hundred million adults, in those fifty years or so, passed through the Gulag, and millions perished. It was an integral part of Soviet life, and seeing how it was managed would provide insight into how Soviet communism itself worked. We found a complete range of documents: secret police records, policy memoranda and minutes of meetings, laws, decisions, judicial decisions, camp management and operational regulations, lists of prisoners, budgets, reports of large industrial companies run by the Gulag administration. , data on hunger strikes and mass uprisings, and documents on camp culture, education and health. We found records documenting all aspects of the Gulag: three million pages.
by Bradley J. Birzer, Law & FreedomJune 14, 2024.
As far as we know (and historians are still trying to document these things), there has been no greater genocide in the twentieth century than that of the Khmer Rouge. Although reported numbers vary, the Khmer Rouge killed anywhere from 25% to 47% of Cambodia’s seven million people in its three years of rule. As the Khmer Rouge famously said: “All we need to build our country are a million good revolutionaries.” Nothing more than that. And we would rather kill ten friends than let one enemy live.”
by Robert Tracinski, SpeechJune 14, 2024.
A joke that did the rounds immediately after the US’s surprise victory in Dallas was that Pakistan didn’t lose to “India-B” (one of India’s national cricket teams), they lost to “India H-1B.” India vs. Pakistan is a fierce cricket rivalry, fueled by the land rivalry between the two countries. It’s like the Yankees against the Red Sox, but with nuclear weapons. The US cricket team is dominated by Indian immigrants who are here on H-1B visas, which are awarded to skilled workers, particularly in the technology industry.
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