Re-Posted from the Canada Free Press By Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist —— Bio and Archives—September 22, 2020

The United Nations’ annual General Assembly high level debate week is usually a very big deal on the diplomatic calendar. World leaders assemble in New York with their entourages, deliver their perspectives on the state of the world in long-winded speeches, and conduct numerous conferences and bilateral side meetings on a variety of global issues. Of course, the world leaders are also busy attending a multitude of fancy receptions. This year, however, is very different due to the coronavirus pandemic. The UN headquarters building is eerily quiet. There are no foreign dignitaries to be seen. Speeches by heads of state and heads of government are being delivered via prerecorded videos. Although President Trump could have delivered his speech in person, he opted not to make the trip to New York and speak in front of a few UN ambassadors in a virtually empty General Assembly chamber. But President Trump nevertheless delivered via video his usual tour de force.

President Trump wasted no time holding China responsible for the global spread of the coronavirus

President Trump wasted no time holding China responsible for the global spread of the coronavirus. “We have waged a fierce battle against the invisible enemy — the China virus — which has claimed countless lives in 188 countries,” President Trump said. The United Nations “must hold China accountable.” He noted how China had criticized his restrictions on travel from China even though China had “locked down travel domestically while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world.” The president then recounted his administration’s unprecedented mobilization of resources to defeat the virus, including the progress being made to develop potential vaccines. “We will distribute a vaccine, we will defeat the virus, we will end the pandemic, and we will enter a new era of unprecedented prosperity, cooperation and peace,” he declared.

President Trump also took China to task for its record on the environment and its hypocrisy regarding its participation in the “one-sided” Paris Agreement on climate change from which the United States has withdrawn. China, he said, has dumped millions and millions of tons of plastic and trash into the ocean. It “emits more toxic mercury into the atmosphere than any country anywhere in the world.” President Trump added that “China’s carbon emissions are nearly twice what the U.S. has, and it’s rising fast.”

The U.S. president challenged the UN to remain relevant in dealing with the many problems besetting the world today. “If the United Nations is to be an effective organization, it must focus on the real problems of the world,” he said. “This includes terrorism, the oppression of women, forced labor, drug trafficking, human and sex trafficking, religious persecution, and the ethnic cleansing of religious minorities.”

President Trump extolled America’s economic and international security leadership in pursuing peace with strength. He also pointed to the historic agreements his administration brokered between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and between Israel and Bahrain, as well as one between Kosovo and Serbia. Inexplicably, the UN’s Secretary General Antonio Guterres made no mention of these agreements in the remarks he delivered in person before President Trump’s speech.

“By taking a different approach, we have achieved different outcomes — far superior outcomes,” President Trump said. He predicted “more peace agreements shortly.”

As President Trump has done in the past, he explained that putting one’s own country first is not incompatible with multilateral cooperation. In fact, they reinforce each other. He said that “only when you take care of your own citizens will you find a true basis for cooperation.” He concluded his speech asking for God’s blessing for America and the United Nations.

China did not take long to release a rebuttal press statement accusing the United States of “spreading political virus.” China’s press statement is an exercise in blame-shifting, deception, and fictional narratives.

The press statement charged that the United States was “abusing the platform of the United Nations to provoke confrontation and create division,” adding that “the United States is weakening the UN, the WHO and other UN bodies, and undermining the authority and effectiveness of the UN.” The press release then defended China’s indefensible record on dealing with the coronavirus. It made the false claim that “China, with an open, transparent, and responsible attitude, has been giving updates and sharing experience with the WHO and other countries from the very beginning and providing active assistance to many countries, including the United States.” What a bunch of hogwash!

China’s President H.E. Xi Jinping’s speech, which followed shortly after President Trump’s remarks, was also prerecorded. While President Xi did not himself have the opportunity to reply in real time to President Trump’s extensive criticisms of China’s behavior, he obviously anticipated what President Trump would have to say about the coronavirus. Taking a not too subtle dig at President Trump’s frequent labeling of the coronavirus as the “China virus” and the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization, President Xi declared: “We should follow the guidance of science, give full play to the leading role of the World Health Organization, and launch a joint international response to beat this pandemic. Any attempt of politicizing the issue or stigmatization must be rejected.”

President Xi urged the world to “uphold the multilateral trading regime with the World Trade Organization as the cornerstone

President Xi tried to portray China as the leader of multilateralism in dealing with the virus, ignoring the indisputable evidence of the Chinese regime’s refusal to make full disclosure of what it knew early on about the highly contagious nature of the virus’s human-to-human transmission. “China is actively involved in the international fight against COVID-19, contributing its share to upholding global public health security,” President Xi said with a straight face.

“COVID-19 reminds us that we are living in an interconnected global village with a common stake,” President Xi added. “No country can gain from others’ difficulties or maintain stability by taking advantage of others’ troubles.”

Is that why the Communist China regime hid the truth about the coronavirus from the world when the virus could have been contained, hoarded medical supplies such as face masks and surgical gowns and gloves imported from countries abroad to meet its own immediate needs, and then sold the supplies back to those countries at inflated prices after they became Covid-19 infected?  President Xi’s hypocrisy knows no bounds.

President Xi urged the world to “uphold the multilateral trading regime with the World Trade Organization as the cornerstone.” Only so long as his regime can continue bilking the world on its way to prosperity by manipulating the global trading system and stealing intellectual property, will President Xi, in his words, “stay true to multilateralism and safeguard the international system with the UN at its core.”

Finally, the United States has a president courageous enough to see through the empty rhetoric of such phony multilateralism and tell China and the rest of the world the truths they do not want to hear.

Re-Posted from the Canada Free Press By Dennis Jamison —— Bio and Archives—September 22, 2020

On the third evening of the Republican National Convention, Vice President Mike Pence gave an eloquent acceptance speech at Fort McHenry. The voices on the Left offered a lot of disdain that he gave his speech at the historic site. Protestors and supporters both showed up in Baltimore and voiced their respective opinions without violence. However, in some cases they were directly across the street from one another. Yet, the local ABC news affiliate in Baltimore concentrated most of its reporting on what appears on the surface as a Marxist front group called the “People’s Power Assembly.”

“And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation! Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n “rescued land Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,” And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” 

Apparently, that convention night the “People’s Power Assembly” organized a car caravan to drive by Fort McHenry. Sharon Black explained that “We haven’t forgotten the racism of Trump when he said our city was rat infested and insulted Congressman Cummings.” Black is an organizer with “Peoples Power Assembly,” and clarified that “Today with Pence coming into town, we’re saying get out of town.” But, what the Left had a major problem with, consciously or unconsciously, is that Fort McHenry was the subject of a poem written by Francis Scott Key, which was titled aptly enough “The Defence of Fort McHenry.” The main problem is that the words of that poem have become the center of an incredible divisive controversy—they reference trust in God.

The words of Key’s poem were put to music not long after he wrote the poem, and it became a very popular song in the fledgling United States in the early 1800s. In fact, the song became so popular that it became America’s National Anthem. And, as the political conventions were completed, the NFL season began again. But Key’s song has become the eye of the storm in the realm of politicized sports—as if sports weren’t competitive or divisive enough already. Politics contorts competition into a whole new level. And, as the football season began this year, there was an incredible irony hovering over America.

Patriot Day had been remembered the previous week, as American citizens paid respect to true heroes on 9/11. And, less than a week later the nation celebrated Constitution Day. But, one day that may have been missed in the blur of events of the past week was the anniversary of the birth of the National Anthem. Francis Scott Key penned “The Defence of Fort McHenry” after he became genuinely moved that the U.S. flag was still flying over the fort protecting Baltimore after a 25-hour bombardment from a British fleet during the War of 1812. The bombardment began in earnest at 6:30 a.m., on September 13, 1814. It is estimated that between 1,500 and 1,800 cast-iron bomb shells were fired at the walls of Fort McHenry.

The bombardment was a display of sheer British naval superiority and the defiance of the motley American band in the fort was overtly obvious to any observers—even to the British. It was an unexpected outcome because the British military had basically wiped the American forces out—they burned the city of Washington, D.C., took control of the nation’s capital for nearly a month. The British attempt to take control of Baltimore did end in frustration even though they were by far the superior military force. The British bomber ships were named to strike terror as well as inflict serious damage. They had such formidable names such as HMS Devastation, or HMS Volcano or HMS Terror.

The leader defending the fort, Major George Armistead, had ordered the creation of a huge U.S. flag which he hoped could be seen clearly by any attacking forces. This huge 30’ x 42’ flag was what attorney Francis Scott Key saw that morning of September 14, 1814. It was a symbol of defiance in the face of extreme danger. Key was present to simply help free his friend, elderly Dr. William Beanes, who was being held as a prisoner by the British because he had confronted three of Her Majesty’s soldiers. One old man being defiant in the face of intimidation was why Key was even present in the moment, and then he witnessed the defiance of those patriots inside Fort McHenry.

MSM, are essentially fanning flames of disunity and division for the sake of tearing the nation down

The U.S. almost lost the War of 1812, but the defense of Fort McHenry, even though it simply meant that there would be no American surrender, was one of the high points in the war. It represented a moment in which “no surrender” under such intense attacks was a victory in and of itself. Thus Key was so moved to write his poem. Was his intent a racist rant? It is highly doubtful, but Marxists who spew that it is, do not even believe their own words much of the time. If the mantra can confuse or shame enough people to abandon their values, then half of the battle is won.

The example of defending Fort McHenry in September of 1814, provides a lesson for patriots today. Vice President Pence chose the ground well in which he would deliver his acceptance speech for the GOP’s nomination. He knows the history, and he realizes the political battles and what is at stake in the election of 2020. The spirit of the moment was captured, and the memory of such resolve is within Vice President Pence and even more so in President Trump. The future of our nation is on the line in this time as much, or even more than it was on the line in 1814. Yet, the nation prevailed despite all odds.

Regardless of how the mainstream media are portraying reality in this election year, it must be taken with clear discernment for the propaganda being perpetuated by the MSM. The MSM is promoting football players, or those in other sports, who choose to take a knee and visibly disrespect our flag and covering those burning the flag. This institution is fomenting rebelliousness and supporting terrorism. It is incredibly wrong. From one vantage point, such efforts made by the MSM, are essentially fanning flames of disunity and division for the sake of tearing the nation down. The domestic enemy is in our midst, just as the enemy of America was in the presence of the colonists on a daily basis.

Marxist-trained anarchists, the Antifa Blackshirts, and the BLM terrorists are intent on causing fear, intimidation, and panic

One example is the attempt of progressive-revisionist historians who seek to provide their own politically-biased narrative regarding the intent of Francis Scott Key’s words, the words of the Marxist-based progressives are empty words rooted in resentment. The flag has always represented the people of America—even dissenters—the genuine symbol of the struggle of a determined people to be free. Even before the creation of the government, the design of the flag was recognized as a symbol of the unity of the people in their desperate fight for freedom. The government that would be formalized much later owed its existence to brave and brilliant people. Key’s words about the flag were a tribute to the resolve of free men to preserve their freedom.

Marxist-trained anarchists, the Antifa Blackshirts, and the BLM terrorists are intent on causing fear, intimidation, and panic, in the populace in order to hinder those seeking to maintain fair elections. The enemy will try to weaken and occupy this nation. Election 2020, in some ways, seems similar to the bombardment the patriots faced in such a desperate time. Will citizens express the kind of defiance that old Dr. William Beanes exhibited against the British soldiers? Will Americans show the same kind of resolve to  face the Marxists that Major George Armistead displayed at Fort McHenry against the British military?