In this mailing: Lawrence A. Franklin: The Pope's New Encyclical: A Surrender? Amir Taheri: Turkey: The Return of Demons The Pope's New Encyclical: A Surrender? by Lawrence A. Franklin  •  November 8, 2020 at 5:00 am       The Pope, for instance, implies that the twilight of the planet's centuries old diplomatic nation-state system has arrived, prompting the need for a more globalist political system. Regrettably, that usually brings with it no transparency, no accountability and no recourse. Think of the United Nations, the UN Human Rights Council, the International Criminal Court or the European Union. In the Pope's encyclical, the "stranger" is always a desperate, impoverished refugee seeking solace, never an aggressor with the will to conquer. Although Francis may have been especially aware of his Muslim guests, Catholics must wonder if they, too, were included as part of the intended audience. There was simply little or no mention in the encyclical of core Catholic beliefs. In truth, however, "Fratelli Tutti" seems more a contrived, secular attempt to fashion a model for the governance of humankind that could attract the support of believer and non-believer alike. Unfortunately, it may also rally those hoping to bring down Judeo-Christian civilization to assume that the West is unfurling a flag of surrender. Pictured: Pope Francis delivers the Sunday Angelus prayer from the window of his study at the Vatican, on November 1, 2020. (Photo by Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images) The Pope's Encyclical "Fratelli Tutti" ("Brothers All") sadly seems more a massive and unwieldy political document than a religious guide to the Catholic faithful. The encyclical's intended audience appears to be secular world rather than people of faith. The 43,000-word tome contains almost no discussion of Catholic dogmas. Although the Pontiff's diagnosis of the world's ills seems accurate enough, unfortunately his proposed antidotes -- equality of result rather than equality of opportunity and individual liberty, the bedrocks of Western democracies -- would seriously threaten freedom. Continue Reading Article Turkey: The Return of Demons by Amir Taheri  •  November 8, 2020 at 4:00 am       Though Empire-builders of the first order, the Ottomans were always careful not to bite more than they could chew. Erdogan, however, is leading Turkey into empire-building adventures which it does not want and cannot afford. It has... launched a war of words with the European Union as a whole. Ostensibly, Turkey's beef is about old maritime demarcation lines that deny it the right to tap underwater oil and gas resources. What Erdogan does not realize is that the potential market for those resources is the very European Union he is now casting as enemy. In any case, the disputed resources cannot be tapped without massive investment from the West, not to mention the technology needed. By promoting a strategic break with Europe, Erdogan is leading Turkey into the unknown, with demons whispering in his ears. Increasingly, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to rule the country by fiat, often ignoring even a minimum of formal deference to his Cabinet, the parliament or even his own political party. (Photo by Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images) "Our past was in Asia but our future is in Europe!" This was how Mesut Yilmaz portrayed his vision for Turkey in a panel debate in Davos in the 1990s. At the time, Yilmaz, who died last week at the age of 73, was one of the rising stars of Turkish politics and a generation that seemed destined to complete a revolution that had started in the 1880s in the Ottoman Empire. That revolution had aimed at transforming the moribund empire into a modern Western-style state capable of reversing more than a century of decline that had earned the caliphate the sobriquet of "Sick man of Europe." Continue Reading Article