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In this mailing:
* J.B. Shurk: The Antidote to Tyranny is Liberty, Not Democracy or International Government
* Amir Taheri: Biden and the Masochistic Nail


** The Antidote to Tyranny is Liberty, Not Democracy or International Government ([link removed])
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by J.B. Shurk • July 31, 2022 at 5:00 am
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* When presidents and prime ministers make and enforce their own laws under the pretext of "emergency powers," then citizens should not be surprised when their leaders discover an endless supply of "emergencies" requiring urgent action.
* The opposite of tyranny is not democracy, but rather liberty and individual rights. Is it not startling, then, that Western leaders extol democracy, yet pay such little homage to personal freedoms?
* Yet freedom, liberty, and individual rights are rarely mentioned. In their stead, political leaders cherish the "virtues" of democracy and little else. It is as if a linguistic sleight of hand has robbed Western citizens of their most valuable heritage.
* Is it not strange that Western leaders laud democracy over authoritarianism while simultaneously diminishing the power of their voters and strengthening the authority of foreign institutions [such as the EU, the UN, and the WHO]? Shouldn't "democratic" nations decide their own fates?
* Why should bigger, broader forms of international government, however, be seen as more virtuous and less corrupt than their national forms?.... For that matter, had Hitler's Nazi Party succeeded in conquering all of Europe, would his "European Union" have deserved greater legitimacy than the national governments of Poland, Belgium, or France?
* When national populations are denied self-determination and personal liberties are treated as privileges, not rights, then tyranny is never far from taking hold.

(Image source: iStock)

Political language manipulates political debate. Abortion opponents who define themselves as "pro-life" semantically render abortion proponents as "pro-death." Abortion supporters who define themselves as "pro-choice" semantically render any opposition as "anti-choice." Who wants to be "pro-death" or "anti-choice," after all? Such is the nature of politics. Words are weapons: when wielded deftly, they shape the battlespace for our minds.

So what does it mean when Western leaders these days speak so much of democracy but so little of individual rights? Or that they preach the virtues of international institutions, while demonizing nationalism as xenophobic and dangerous? It means that national sovereignty and natural, inviolable rights are under direct attack throughout the West.

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** Biden and the Masochistic Nail ([link removed])
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by Amir Taheri • July 31, 2022 at 4:00 am
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* There is no way that you or anyone else could help the Iranian people return to normalcy as long as the present regime is in place in Tehran. A people that finds itself in the hands of a brutal authoritarian regime that claims a divine mandate and is ready to do whatever it takes to remain in power, no holds barred, is beyond help by any outsider with the best of intentions.
* If you help the Islamic Republic improve its economy, the bulk of the proceeds will go to strengthening the apparatus of repression, with the people receiving mere crumbs to keep their mouths shut.
* If you make a deal with the supposedly "reasonable" faction within the regime, its rivals will do whatever they can to sabotage the deal. Haven't you noticed that each time that the faction you consider as reasonable comes close to normalization, other factions start seizing hostages, putting bombs in your cities, or raiding your embassies to derail the process?
* President Barack Obama even smuggled $1.7 billion in cash to "help the Iranian people" but the money went to the regime's repressive machine. Each time, however, that cursed "goodwill" led to the seizing of new hostages and a more virulent campaign of vilification against "the evil foreign powers."
* Whatever helps this foreign power, with the best intentions one could offer, will go to the regime, not to the Iranian people.
* Remember how Prince Charles of Great Britain, Queen Rania of Jordan and US President George W Bush helped collect vast sums to help the earthquake-stricken people of Bam in southeast Iran? Well, not a single farthing reached those people while Khomeinist propaganda claimed that "the evil foreigner" was using humanitarian aid as a cover for espionage and the conversion of Iranians to "canceled (manuskh) religions such as Christianity.
* [T]he late Shinzo Abe went to Tehran to play peacemaker, he was insulted and told to return home empty-handed. It is interesting that President Joe Biden or whoever is his ventriloquist still thinks they can normalize the quintessentially abnormal.

There is no way that you or anyone else could help the Iranian people return to normalcy as long as the present regime is in place in Tehran. A people that finds itself in the hands of a brutal authoritarian regime that claims a divine mandate and is ready to do whatever it takes to remain in power, no holds barred, is beyond help by any outsider with the best of intentions. Pictured: Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, proclaims "Death to America" in a televised address. (Image source: MEMRI video screenshot)

"How can one help the Iranian people restore their normal life?"

This was the question that a Japanese friend put to me in 2019 in what at the time seemed to be a casual chat in a Persian restaurant in London. Three years later, I have just learned that the question had been something more than a dinner-table note to prolong the conversation. The friend in question had been sounding out a few people about the tactics that then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should pursue during a visit to Tehran to persuade the ruling mullahs to lead Iran back into "normal life."

Following my old habit of writing down an account of such meetings for possible use in the future, I jotted down the main segments of my response the same evening.

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