Politicians ignore violence

Several key elected officials have performed terribly in office, but the media has failed to react to their fiascos.

There is a distinct difference between the worldview held by politicians and most pundits, and that of the average citizen. The inability of the former to recognize the wisdom of the latter is seriously harming the nation.

Politicians and many of those who make a living out of writing or broadcasting about them focus on career issues, party politics, or furthering an ideological perspective. To some extent, that blinds them to the actual performance of the individuals in question. That has never been more clear than in the rapid decline of key American cities over the past several years.

The nation’s metropolises, particularly those administered by leftist and progressive mayors, have been besieged by nearly unprecedented disorder and maladministration in recent years. From coast to coast, mobs have burned, looted and assaulted innocents. Rather than staunch the bleeding, mayors whose loyalty lies not with their citizenry or the law have stood by, too frightened of being accused of offending the supporters of groups such as Antifa and Black Lives Matter to do their job adequately.

In Portland, rioters have attacked a government office building as well as a federal courthouse. In Seattle, an entire portion of the city was completely taken over by leftist mobs. In New York City, the most famed shopping districts were looted. The massive increases in shootings and other crimes have brought the Big Apple to its knees. In Chicago, the body count of murders resembles that of a small war.

It would be reasonable to assume that the elected officials at any level, and particularly those in the affected cities would move forcefully to both counteract the onslaught on their own, and accept any assistance they could obtain from Washington.

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Stunningly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called federal law enforcement agents “Stormtroopers” when they attempted to defend federal facilities from the rioters.

Chicago’s’ Mayor Lightfoot has criticized her own citizens who seek to defend themselves from criminals, and has opposed Washington’s assistance. Seattle’s mayor failed for a prolong period to clear the invaders away from the district they occupied. Portland’s mayor is sympathetic towards Antifa. It is clear that New York’s mayor considers appeasing radicals more important than insuring law and order.

Those who have the front-line duty of protecting the residents of these and other besieged cities have been attacked by their own local governments. Police chiefs in both Portland and Seattle have resigned in protest. Both are female, and one is also black; any claim that these law enforcement heads are somehow biased on race or gender is ludicrous. The New York City Police Force, almost universally recognized as the most fair, most professional and most accomplished in the world has, under the de Blasio Administration, become demoralized and hamstrung.

These Mayors, as well as Speaker Pelosi, have pushed aside the needs of the citizens and the local businesses that serve them. They have done so in the pursuit of their personal and party goals and loyalty, despite the massive harm it has caused.

One would assume that these acts of outright incompetence or malfeasance would be highlighted by a media that likes to consider itself a watchdog for the public good. But the reality is that most major outlets have abandoned their journalistic ethics and side with the leftist/progressive movement. The fact that the socialist goals invariably lead to disaster appears to be irrelevant to them. The terrible practice of creating racial animosity adopted by the left to divide and conquer America is swept under the rug those who care more for promoting their preferred candidates and ideology than serving the public or preserving the nation.

Illustration: Pixabay

Quick Analysis

Russia Expanding Aggression

President Putin is using more than one pathway to enter Europe and undermine the West. While most of the world watches the conflict he initiated in Ukraine, the Russian government is actively pursuing a second front in a little noticed campaign in Cyprus. Although the corrupt Cypriot government ended its issuance of “golden passports” in 2020, Russian intelligence is functioning quietly there to transform this EU country into a Russian beachhead of illicit economic activity aimed at penetrating the capitalist West, according to Paul Goble of the Jamestown Foundation. Cyprus is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nor does it receive as much attention as those countries who are member states. That adds to its allure as a prime location for Russia to attempt to gain a European foothold. Last week a NATO report, cited in the European Daily Monitor, noted that Russian intelligence agents have been plotting to destroy European infrastructure across the continent to disrupt states supporting Ukraine. It further suggests that Putin’s immediate goal is to lay the framework for a future move against the security organization’s members. Hungary, in particular, is another country garnering Moscow’s attention as it opposes the Western response to Russian aggression. Russia is focusing its intelligence efforts on other European, non-NATO member countries in addition to Cyprus, including Austria, Malta, and Ireland. The NATO report suggests that Moscow has had success in disseminating the Russian political narrative in these states to advance its campaign against the West. The island of Cyprus is proving to be a good target for Moscow as it is an ethnically divided island that is part of the EU since 2004. Northern Cyprus, officially called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that is only recognized by Turkey. The division precludes it from joining NATO. As Goble suggests, “it offers Russia troubled waters in which to fish.” Over the last 20 years, he points out, Cyprus’ challenges have opened it to a massive influx of Russian citizens, who now comprise approximately 10 percent of the island state’s population. Over 2,900 residents are Russians who entered until the “golden passport” program that allowed wealthy or well-connected Russians to move to Cyprus. It also provided them with documentation to travel freely throughout Europe! Although less visible on the world’s radar than the war in Ukraine, Moscow is also being helped by Cyprus’ banks opposition to seizing Russian assets and its support in evading Western sanctions. Russia has placed tens of billions of US Dollars there for money laundering. It has been more than two years since a single Russian “diplomat” has been deported and, in fact, the Embassy has grown to over 300 staffers on this tiny island state of only 1.2 million people. The Russian embassy in Nicosia has advanced communications antennae on its roof and opened a consulate on the northern end of the island. Moscow’s Ambassador, Mura Zyazikov, is a lieutenant general in the FSB with no diplomatic experience. The FSB, SVR (Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service), and GRU are actively using the island as a base of operations against NATO Member states, Israel, and other Western allies. Moscow backs pro-Russian political parties who in turn influence Cypriot decisions on education, language, and other issues. “Dmitry Khmelnitsky of the Dossier Center says that its findings should be of concern not only to Cyprus but to the West as a whole. Those who ignore what Moscow is doing because Cyprus does not follow the EU sanctions regime are missing something critical,” says Goble. “Cyprus does not seek to get rid of Russian agents and does not interfere with their work,” Khmelnitsky concludes, “despite the fact that what the Kremlin is doing is so clearly visible.” This has an impact not only on the small island but on the EU, NATO, and the West in general. Earlier this year the Moscow Times reported that when the FBI became more interested in Russian business and oligarchs in Cyprus, at least 10 of the major Russian businesses operating there left. Despite the government of Cyprus’ vow to implement plans for new sanctions against Russia, it continues to ignore Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine and to shield the wealth of the 50,000 wealthy Russian citizens and oligarchs residing there. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept. Illustration: Pixabay