LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

August 23/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For Today

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 15/22-27:”If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It was to fulfil the word that is written in their law, “They hated me without a cause.” ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.”An angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, ‘Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.’
 

An angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, ‘Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.’
Acts of the Apostles 05/12-21a.:”Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured. Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy, arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, ‘Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.’ When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching. When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.”

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 22-23/16

Forget Future support for Aoun, Siniora tells FPM/Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star/August 23/16
Corruption suffocates the Lebanese/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now Lebanon/August 22/16
UK: Clerics Who Threaten Reformers and Praise Murderers/Douglas Murray/Gatestone Institute/August 22/16
Migrant Issue: Turkey’s Dubious Role/Mohshin Habib/Gatestone Institute/August 22/16
US election? For Arabs it doesn’t matter who wins/Khaled AlmaeenaAl Arabiya/August 22/16
The American who turned Saudi lives upside down/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/August 22/16
Rethinking women’s role in Saudi diplomacy with UK/Najah Al-Osaimi/Al Arabiya/August 22/16
Former Pentagon Analyst: As in Past, Iran Seeking to Humiliate US With Accusations of Nuclear-Deal Violations (INTERVIEW)/The Algemeiner/Barney Breen-Portnoy/August 22/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on August 22-23/16
Forget Future support for Aoun, Siniora tells FPM
Berri: Government to Stay, Package Deal is Only Solution
Report: Berri in Consultations with Hizbullah to Immunize Government
Nasrallah's Latest Stances, FPM 'Interests' Expected to Cool Tensions Threatening Cabinet
FPM Ministers Expected to Boycott Cabinet Session over Military Appointments
Fatfat: Nasrallah's Remarks Aimed at Misleading Lebanese
Moussawi Defends 'Resistance Brigades', Says Saudi Blocking Aoun's Election
Iraqi Freed after Brief Abduction in Baalbek
Beirut municipality: Ashrafieh building blaze extinguished
Hajj Hassan describes Syria unrest as 'destructive war'
Member of Ahmad Assir group turns himself over to Lebanese army
Anti riot police deploys near Serail after protestors attempt to advance
Corruption suffocates the Lebanese

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on August August 22-23/16

Israeli air strikes target Syria after Syrian fire hit its territory
Poll: Majority of Israelis, Palestinians still seek peace
Russian raids from Iran airbase ‘over for now’: Tehran
Iran Says Russia Raids from Its Airbase 'Over for Now' after Accusing Moscow of 'Showing Off'
ISIS roadside bomb kills civilians fleeing Iraq town
Iraqi police apprehend boy would-be suicide bomber in Kirkuk
Turkey withdraws ambassador to Austria amid diplomatic spat
Turkey vows to cleanse ISIS from border after attack
Kurds launch Hasaka assault to evict Syrian army
Turkey PM urges world powers to turn ‘new page’ on Syria
Turkish soldier killed in clash with Kurdish militants
Sarkozy Announces New Presidential Bid

Links From Jihad Watch Site for on August 22-23/16
Canada: Muslim steals airplane and crashes it into mall, father blames police
Thai police on bombers of tourist sites: “They are not Buddhists”
Belgium: Muslim woman with machete wounds three, police say she was mentally ill
MI5 “blocked” arrest of Islamic State-supporting Anjem Choudary “for years”
Links revealed between Islamic State, Anjem Choudary and his right hand man, Mizanur Rahman
UK prisons: Staff afraid to stand up to jihadis for fear of being labeled “racist”
Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin published anti-American articles
Illinois: Jihad terror suspect insists he is mentally competent to stand trial
Fake passports for Islamic State jihadis found in Greek refugee camps
Turkey: Muslim child murders 51, injures 69 in jihad-martyrdom bombing at wedding party
Cameroon: Muslim murders three, injures several in jihad-martyrdom bombing
Somalia: Muslims murder 23 in jihad-martyrdom car bombings

Latest Lebanese Related News published on on August 22-23/16

Forget Future support for Aoun, Siniora tells FPM
Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star/August 23/16
BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora Monday advised the Free Patriotic Movement to stop counting on a change of heart within the Future Movement to drop its support for MP Sleiman Frangieh’s candidacy in favor of MP Michel Aoun’s presidential bid. Siniora’s remarks to The Daily Star were the clearest response so far from the head of the Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc to the FPM’s long-standing bets on support from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to boost Aoun’s chances for being elected as president. “We are committed to supporting MP Sleiman Frangieh’s candidacy for the presidency, while we reject Gen. Aoun’s presidential bid. This is the Future bloc’s final stance,” Siniora said. Siniora said he had relayed the bloc’s final position on the presidential crisis during a private and closed meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri who visited Lebanon last week as part of an Egyptian bid to help end the power vacuum, now in its third year. However, Shoukri’s two days of talks with Lebanese leaders from both sides of the political spectrum had failed to make any breakthrough in the presidential deadlock, as the rival factions refused to budge on their conflicting positions on who should be Lebanon’s next president. Siniora’s remarks came as a number of lawmakers from Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc bombarded local TV stations and newspapers with statements that the FPM was still waiting for a final response from Hariri to the ongoing negotiations between the FPM and the Future Movement over the presidency issue, as well as to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s recent overture to Hariri over the premiership.
The Future bloc has dismissed Nasrallah’s premiership offer to Hariri as unconstitutional, saying the Hezbollah chief cannot impose Aoun as a sole candidate for the country’s top Christian post. Siniora said the Future Movement had made its maximum concessions in its attempt to resolve the presidential crisis. He recalled that the Future bloc had first supported Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, one of the four top Maronite leaders for the presidency, following the leaders’ meeting in Bkirki chaired by Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai. The other three leaders are Aoun, Frangieh and former President Amine Gemayel.
“Hariri then took the initiative [last November] of supporting Frangieh, who is also from the March 8 alliance,” Siniora said. “We made our utmost concessions which were not reciprocated by the other [March 8] side.”Siniora has also rejected Speaker Nabih Berri’s proposal for a “full package” deal to end the presidential vacuum, saying it infringed on the Constitution and the Taif Accord.Asked where the country was heading, Siniora said: “It seems that Lebanon will enter a difficult period as the presidential vacuum crisis will drag on.”
He criticized rival leaders who held three national dialogue sessions earlier this month for diverting attention from the two main topics on the agenda: the election of a president and agreement on a new electoral law, and focusing instead on the creation of a senate and administrative decentralization.
“The election of a president is top priority and is the master key to resolving the political crisis,” Siniora said. He added that the Future bloc has softened its stance on a vote system, by accepting a hybrid proposal based on proportional representation and a winner-take-all system.
Despite the failure of national dialogue to make any progress in the presidential election impasse or a new vote system, Berri insisted that a “full-package” deal was the only solution to the protracted crisis. The deal includes the election of a president, an agreement on a new electoral law, the shape of a new government and administrative decentralization.
Referring to the impact of regional developments on the Lebanese crisis, Berri said in remarks published by Al Joumhouria newspaper Monday: “No matter what happened abroad and no matter what comes from abroad, no solution to the Lebanese crisis except through a full package. It’s useless to wait for the outcome of developments in the region.”Having failed to make any breakthroughs in the presidential election crisis and a new vote system during the dialogue sessions, the rival leaders from the opposing March 8 and March 14 camps as well as independent politicians shifted their attention to the creation of a senate and administrative decentralization, two items stipulated in the Taif Accord that ended the 1975-90 Civil War. They agreed to set up a committee of experts that would study the creation of a senate. They also referred an administrative decentralization proposal to Parliament’s joint committees and sought to establish workshops that would lead to the establishment of a senate. A new dialogue session has been set for Sept. 5. Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi called for supporting Berri’s dialogue efforts as a means to resolve the presidential crisis. “Speaker Berri is aware before others of the difficulties and obstacles that might obstruct the initiatives he launched. But he is trying in this difficult stage to turn mirage into water,” Azzi told reporters after meeting Berri at the latter’s Ain al-Tineh residence. “We must support Speaker Berri in the national dialogue process so that he can succeed in laying the appropriate ground for the presidential election.” The Kataeb Party said the election of a president is the key to improving and developing the country’s sectarian-based political system. “Political, constitutional and institutional life cannot be normalized and the system cannot be improved except with the presence of a president who is the director and guardian of the Constitution,” said a statement issued after the weekly meeting of the party’s Political Bureau chaired by Kataeb chief MP Sami Gemayel.

Berri: Government to Stay, Package Deal is Only Solution
Naharnet/August 22/16/Speaker Nabih Berri has ruled out possible ministerial resignations over the thorny issue of military appointments while stressing that only the so-called “package deal” he has proposed can resolve the country's multiple political crises. “The government will stay although it has become similar to a resigned government,” Berri's visitors quoted him as saying in remarks published Monday. He also expected the extension of the term of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji under a decree that would be issued by the defense minister who would first raise the issue in cabinet.
“Whatever happens outside the country and whatever comes from outside the country, the Lebanese crisis can only be resolved through a comprehensive package deal, and there is no use in awaiting the regional developments,” Berri added.As for the exchange of tirades between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal Movement, Berri said the two parties “must choose between continued bickering and consensus.”Berri has recently proposed a so-called package deal that involves holding parliamentary elections under a new electoral law before electing a new president and forming a new government.
Should the parties fail to agree on a new law, the parliament's current extended term would be curtailed and the elections would be held under the 1960 law which is currently in effect, Berri says.

Report: Berri in Consultations with Hizbullah to Immunize Government
Naharnet/August 22/16/Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to launch several decisive stances that would take the form of a “roadmap” in his upcoming speech during the commemoration of the 39th anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa al-Sadr and his two companions, a media report said on Monday.
“Berri will stress his insistence on the package deal and will call for an approach that preserves internal stability and unity,” al-Liwaa newspaper said. The speaker's speech is supposed to draw a roadmap ahead of the national dialogue session and the presidential vote session that are scheduled for September 5 and 7, the daily added. “The speaker is consulting with Hizbullah with the aim of sparing the cabinet any blows, especially amid the regional developments in Syria and the neighboring countries and the escalation of Israeli threats against Lebanon,” al-Liwaa quoted an informed source as saying.
“Berri will stress the importance of continuing the bilateral dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal Movement seeing as it is a shield preventing the spread of the regional fire to Lebanon, despite any escalatory stances by the parties,” the source added. Earlier media reports had spoken of a meeting between Berri and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that followed the latter's recent stances on the presidency and the premiership. Nasrallah has hinted that Hizbullah is willing to accept to the re-designation of Mustaqbal leader ex-PM Saad Hariri as prime minister in return for the election of Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun as president.

Nasrallah's Latest Stances, FPM 'Interests' Expected to Cool Tensions Threatening Cabinet
Naharnet/August 22/16//The cabinet is not facing the threat of collapse despite the disagreements over military appointments, a media report said on Monday, citing the Free Patriotic Movement's “interests” in Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet and the latest stances of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.“The issue of military appointments will not be discussed during Thursday's ordinary cabinet sessions,” An Nahar newspaper reported. In remarks to the daily, ministerial sources ruled out “the occurrence of tensions that might jeopardize the fate of the cabinet,” citing “the FPM's interests in the cabinet” and “Nasrallah's call for activating the work of the government.”The sources also noted that the attention of the political forces is focused on the regional developments, especially “the two-day meeting that will be held this week in Geneva between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, seeing as the issue of Lebanon will be raised during the talks out of keenness to prevent the spread of terrorism to this country.” The FPM has recently threatened to boycott the cabinet session in connection with the thorny issue of military appointments. Nasrallah has meanwhile called for activating the cabinet's work and hinted that Hizbullah would accept the re-designation of al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri as prime minister in return for the election of FPM founder MP Michel Aoun as president and the re-election of Speaker Nabih Berri as head of parliament. Last week, Defense Minister Samir Moqbel postponed the retirement of Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir after no consensus was reached over three candidates that he had proposed. The FPM fears that the extension of Kheir's term could pave the way for extending the tenure of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji.

FPM Ministers Expected to Boycott Cabinet Session over Military Appointments
Naharnet/August 22/16/Ministers Elias Bou Saab and Jebran Bassil of the Free Patriotic Movement are inclined to boycott Thursday's cabinet session in protest at term extensions for military and security chiefs, in a move that is meant to be a “warning” to the government, a media report said on Monday.
“What happened during last week's cabinet session paved the way for irregularity in the work of the government and accordingly the ministers of education and foreign affairs are inclined to boycott Thursday's cabinet session,” a Change and Reform bloc source told An Nahar newspaper.
The minister of the Tashnag Party is “likely” to join his two allies in their move, the source added, noting that a final decision in this regard would be taken during the bloc's meeting on Tuesday. “This step is not a suspension of our participation in the government or a resignation but rather a warning to everyone,” the source said, adding that the FPM would escalate its moves gradually. “It is an occasion to say that we exist and that regaining the (Christian) role begins by regaining the role of the institutions in which we are partners,” the source went on to say. And while refusing to specify the nature of the escalatory moves, the source stressed that “any popular protest would be aimed at allowing people to be the masters of their decision and according to their own timing.”“After postponing the retirement of the secretary general of the Higher Defense Council and the indications that the presidential election has been postponed indefinitely, it is normal to witness gradual escalation ahead of the September 5 dialogue session and the September 7 presidential vote session,” the source added.

Fatfat: Nasrallah's Remarks Aimed at Misleading Lebanese
Naharnet/August 22/16/Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's latest remarks about the return of Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri to the premiership were only aimed at “misleading the Lebanese,” Mustaqbal bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat said on Monday. “Sayyed Nasrallah's remarks were vague and general and did not contain anything that requires a response from ex-PM Hariri,” Fatfat said in a phone interview with al-Jadeed TV. “Nasrallah should press his allies to elect (Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel) Aoun as president instead of trying to impose that on Hariri,” the MP added, describing Nasrallah's alleged behavior as a “violation of democracy.”“If Aoun has a majority of votes in parliament, let him go to parliament and we are willing to take part in the voting process,” Fatfat went on to say. Asked about al-Akhbar newspaper's report that Mustaqbal is seeking to extend anew the parliament's term, Fatfat categorically denied the claims. “The newspaper should have asked Mustaqbal sources, not March 14 sources,” he said. Asked whether there are talks over a “compromise president,” Fatfat said such deliberations have been running for a long time now. “Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea was the first to make such a proposal and Mustaqbal endorsed his suggestion,” Fatfat noted. “We hope a consensual, centrist president will be elected and there are dozens of members of the Maronite community who are qualified for assuming this post. But there is an Iranian political decision that is being implemented by Hizbullah and it is aimed at obstruction,” the MP added. Nasrallah had hinted in a speech on August 13 that Hizbullah would accept the re-designation of Hariri as prime minister in return for the election of Aoun as president and the re-election of Speaker Nabih Berri as head of parliament.
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. Hariri's move prompted Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival.
The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Moussawi Defends 'Resistance Brigades', Says Saudi Blocking Aoun's Election
Naharnet/August 22/16/Hizbullah MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi on Monday defended the Hizbullah-linked Resistance Brigades after Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq's latest criticism of the group and accused Riyadh of blocking the election of Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun as president. “The campaigns against a main faction of the resistance factions in Lebanon, the Resistance Brigades, are aimed at harming its reputation and attacking its nature, structure and objectives,” said Moussawi during a Hizbullah ceremony in the southern town of Kafra. “We know the motives behind these campaigns and we do not intend to engage in an exchange of tirades with anyone... We know that the political and media campaigns against the Resistance Brigades are aimed at dragging us into a debate that conceals the contradictions inside the other camp, which is divided over the presidential elections,” the MP added, apparently referring to Mustaqbal Movement. “We also know that the internal rift in the other camp reflects the hesitation of its regional leadership (Saudi Arabia), which has not apparently informed its MPs in Lebanon of its decision until the moment. It has not given them the nod to elect General Aoun as president,” Moussawi claimed. On Friday, Interior Minister Mashnouq of Mustaqbal Movement blasted the Hizbullah-affiliated Resistance Brigades as “occupation brigades.”
“The latest show of force was what I read in a newspaper that the Resistance Brigades – whom I call the strife brigades – have a 50,000-strong army as well as domestic missions,” said Mashnouq. The decision to create the Resistance Brigades was taken in 1997 by Hizbullah's leadership. The group comprised Lebanese young men who wanted to fight the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon without having to officially join Hizbullah. The group was not disbanded after Israel's withdrawal from the South in the year 2000 and Hizbullah's rivals have in recent years accused the Brigades of recruiting “thugs” and individuals who have criminal records. Moreover, Moussawi added in his speech on Monday that “real partnership with Christians” in state institutions “begins by electing General Aoun as president,” stressing that Aoun's nomination enjoys the biggest popular and political support in the Christian community.
“We know that a lot of Mustaqbal Movement officials and MPs support the election of General Aoun but they cannot oppose the will of their regional leadership, which is still rejecting settlements and agreements in Yemen, Syria and Lebanon,” the lawmaker added. He also called for “separating the Lebanese file from the crises of the region,” urging Lebanon's friends to “exert efforts with a well-known regional country to persuade it to free the presidential post from its captivity and not to link it to the Yemeni and Syrian crises.” Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. Hariri's move prompted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Iraqi Freed after Brief Abduction in Baalbek
Naharnet/August 22/16/An Iraqi young man was released at dawn Monday after a brief kidnap in the eastern Bekaa region, state-run National News Agency reported. “Iraqi citizen Mohammed al-Bahrani has been freed without a ransom,” NNA said. “He was handed over at 2:00 am at the Lebanese-Syrian border in Hermel after efforts by Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous,” the agency added. “He is now in the custody of a merchant from the city of Baalbek and preparations are underway to hand him over to his family,” NNA said.The agency had reported Sunday that the 22-year-old man was abducted by “unknown individuals riding an SUV” in an area behind the cemetery in Baalbek's al-Solh neighborhood.

Beirut municipality: Ashrafieh building blaze extinguished
Mon 22 Aug 2016/NNA - The municipality of Beirut confirmed, in a statement on Monday, that firefighters eventually managed to extinguish the huge blaze that erupted earlier today inside a residential building in Ashrafieh. The statement added that casualties were mostly material and that only one firefighter was hurt during the process; he was rushed to a nearby hospital.
It is to note that firemen had evacuated residents before taming the blaze, which broke out shortly before 5:00 pm.

Hajj Hassan describes Syria unrest as 'destructive war'
Mon 22 Aug 2016/NNA - Minister of Industry, Hussein Hajj Hassan, said on Monday that unrest in the region, namely in Syria, was not a matter of regime change, but a "destructive war" against this nation. "The battle today in Syria is strategic; the current political deliberation about Syria is all about the fate of the region, and no more about toppling a certain regime," Hajj Hassan told a local ceremony in Brital.  "He who seeks change cannot destroy institutions, factories, state departments, and religious sects and communities," he said, revealing that tens of ISIS commanders are made in Israel. "History shall tell the truth of how a panel of fighters and martyrs aborted this scheme," he concluded.

Member of Ahmad Assir group turns himself over to Lebanese army
Mon 22 Aug 2016/NNA - Mustafa Khaled Affara, a Lebanese who was part of Ahmad Assir's group, turned himself over to the Lebanese army Intelligence checkpoint at the entrance of Ain-el-Hilwe Palestinian refugee camp, National News Agency correspondent reported on Monday.

Anti riot police deploys near Serail after protestors attempt to advance
Mon 22 Aug 2016 /NNA - Anti-riot police deployed on Monday in front of the Grand Serail, after the failed attempts by protestors of civil secular movement and contractual secondary teachers to cross the barbed wire, NNA reporter said.

Corruption suffocates the Lebanese
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now Lebanon/August 22/16
A lack of will exists in the country’s government and media to investigate corrupt practices perpetrated daily in the public and private sector
It does not take an expert to understand why Transparency International ranks Lebanon 123 on its Corruption Perception Index out of 168 countries surveyed. If you are Lebanese or live in Lebanon, you can collect dozens of stories of citizens who have been victims of corruption, both in the private and public sectors. After decades of working for the state’s Aviation Authority, my in-laws are now retired and look for the Cooperation of Civil Servants (CCS) for their medical care coverage. And because the failing Lebanese state has not settled its debt with private hospitals, many of those — such as the American University of Beirut (AUB) — let their contracts with the government expire, thus turning down anyone with a CCS insurance. Other private medical centers, like the Khoury Hospital in Hamra, have been gracious enough to continue accepting the CCS insurance, albeit with a caveat.
By law, CCS covers 90 percent of any medical bill that a retired civil servant incurs. But Khoury Hospital refuses to issue bills. Instead, its accountants insist that patients pay a “deposit” out of pocket, and call it a day. The deposit amount is never itemized. When CCS patients complain, Khoury Hospital opens the door for haggling, and often knocks down its already hefty bill.
Khoury hospital is clearly overcharging the government, while at the same time defrauding its patients.
My father-in-law has been the victim of corruption at Khoury Hospital. When he worked his connections and pulled some favors, he found himself at the office of the CCS director, who consoled him by saying that “everyone complains about this hospital.” The director then advised him to “change hospitals.”
So now, my in-laws have to change doctors and drive to medical centers far away from where they live in order to get some decent medical coverage at hospitals that are not as corrupt as Khoury. In normal countries, when journalists write about corruption, they receive calls from state inspectors or auditors who investigate the matter and prosecute the corrupt. So if any state official is reading these lines and feels an obligation to act, I will be happy to provide names and details of accountants at the Khoury Hospital. Another anecdote about corruption comes from the public sector. My family has owned real estate in Beirut since the 1950s. Despite his best effort, my father found it impossible during the civil war to obtain licenses for renovation work. Since 1990, he has managed to pay past due real estate taxes, but has had a harder time settling what amounts to minor “building violations.”
A short while ago, my father invited commissioners from the Beirut Municipality to check the property in order to settle past violations and obtain licenses for pending renovations. After touring the property, the woman from the Beirut Municipality asked for $12,000 in bribes to “fix things.” When my father complained, she gave him her phone number and told him that when he decides to pursue his project, he knows how to find her. My father was not as lucky as my father-in-law. He could not find any “common friends” who could pull some favors at the municipality, or perhaps lower the bribe amount. With little options, my father decided to pay the hefty bribe, only for the Beirut Municipality representative to produce a “contract” that was designed to make his payment look like he was buying the service of an obscure consultancy. The official was clearly trying to cover the trail of her corruption.
Like in the case of the Khoury Hospital, if any Lebanese official is reading these lines and cares, I will be happy to produce the name and details of the corrupt engineer at the Beirut Municipality. In the old times, the media played a role in reigning in excesses in the public and private sectors. Nowadays, the media has become obsessed with the tired political bickering, or alternatively — in order to attract readership and internet traffic — with “yellow journalism” stories of a sexual nature. Perhaps if the Lebanese can boost the readership of stories that investigate corruption, the media will again develop an interest in going after crooked officials in the public and private sector. Until that happens, a majority of the Lebanese — like my father and my father-in-law — will continue to suffer from Lebanon’s rampant corruption..

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on August 22-23/16
Israeli air strikes target Syria after Syrian fire hit its territory
Reuters, Jerusalem Tuesday, 23 August 2016/Israeli aircraft attacked a target in Syria on Monday after errant fire from fighting among factions in Syria struck inside Israel, Israel’s military said. The Syrian fire had hit an open area near the border in the Golan Heights, causing no injuries, and in retaliation the air force targeted a “Syrian army launcher”, the military said. The Israeli military has responded similarly in the past when mortar fire has landed in the Golan, territory Israel captured in a 1967 Middle East war, during battles in the Syrian conflict.

Poll: Majority of Israelis, Palestinians still seek peace
AP, Jerusalem Monday, 22 August 2016/A new poll of Israelis and Palestinians released on Monday found that a slim majority on both sides still favor a peace settlement establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, despite years of conflict and deadlock in negotiations. The results of the joint poll may provide some small signs of encouragement when peace prospects appear bleak. The last round of negotiations broke down two years ago, and a resumption of talks, much less progress between the sides, at this point seems unlikely. Tamar Hermann, an Israeli political scientist who conducted the survey with Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki, said that under the current circumstances, the results were “not amazingly encouraging,” but also “not discouraging.” “It showed there is still some basis for optimism with the right leadership,” she said. “Right now I don’t see on the horizon a leader on either side willing or capable of using this as a springboard for intensifying the negotiations. But it’s not impossible.” The poll found that 51 percent of Palestinians and 59 percent of Israelis still support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On the Israeli side, 53 percent of Jews support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Among Israel’s Arab minority, the number is much higher, at 87 percent. Conversely, just 34 percent of Palestinians and 20 percent of Israelis support the idea of a single shared state where they are both citizens with equal rights.
After two decades of failed peace efforts, and nearly a year of low-level violence, distrust is strong. The poll found that 89 percent of Palestinians feel Israeli Jews are untrustworthy, while 68 percent of Israeli Jews held similar opinions toward the Palestinians. It also found that 65 percent of Israelis fear Palestinians. In contrast, just 45 percent of Palestinians fear Israelis. Hermann said she was surprised by the higher fear level on the Israeli side, and cited a number of factors. She said many Israelis have no contact with Palestinians, making it easier to “dehumanize the other side.” She also said a recent wave of violence had jolted Israeli society, which had been more insulated from the conflict than Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. In addition, she said Israeli leaders - by painting the Palestinians as “utterly hostile” - and Israeli media reports had contributed to the atmosphere. “The only images the average Israeli, and I suppose the average Palestinian, gets are the negative ones,” she said. The survey interviewed 1,270 Palestinians and 1,184 Israelis in June, and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. It was conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, where Hermann is a senior fellow, and Shikaki’s Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.
A new poll of Israelis and Palestinians released on Monday found that a slim majority on both sides still favor a peace settlement establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, despite years of conflict and deadlock in negotiations. The results of the joint poll may provide some small signs of encouragement when peace prospects appear bleak. The last round of negotiations broke down two years ago, and a resumption of talks, much less progress between the sides, at this point seems unlikely. Tamar Hermann, an Israeli political scientist who conducted the survey with Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki, said that under the current circumstances, the results were “not amazingly encouraging,” but also “not discouraging.”“It showed there is still some basis for optimism with the right leadership,” she said. “Right now I don’t see on the horizon a leader on either side willing or capable of using this as a springboard for intensifying the negotiations. But it’s not impossible.”The poll found that 51 percent of Palestinians and 59 percent of Israelis still support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On the Israeli side, 53 percent of Jews support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Among Israel’s Arab minority, the number is much higher, at 87 percent. Conversely, just 34 percent of Palestinians and 20 percent of Israelis support the idea of a single shared state where they are both citizens with equal rights.
The poll found that 89 percent of Palestinians feel Israeli Jews are untrustworthy, while 68 percent of Israeli Jews held similar opinions toward the Palestinians. It also found that 65 percent of Israelis fear Palestinians. In contrast, just 45 percent of Palestinians fear Israelis. Hermann said she was surprised by the higher fear level on the Israeli side, and cited a number of factors. She said many Israelis have no contact with Palestinians, making it easier to “dehumanize the other side.”She also said a recent wave of violence had jolted Israeli society, which had been more insulated from the conflict than Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. In addition, she said Israeli leaders - by painting the Palestinians as “utterly hostile” - and Israeli media reports had contributed to the atmosphere. “The only images the average Israeli, and I suppose the average Palestinian, gets are the negative ones,” she said. The survey interviewed 1,270 Palestinians and 1,184 Israelis in June, and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. It was conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, where Hermann is a senior fellow, and Shikaki’s Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.

Russian raids from Iran airbase ‘over for now’: Tehran
By AFP, Tehran Monday, 22 August 2016/Iran said Monday that Russian raids on militants in Syria from one of its airbases had ended for now, after accusing Moscow of “showing off” when it revealed the bombing runs. “It was a specific, authorized mission and it’s over for now. They conducted it and they are gone now,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters in Tehran. He left open the possibility of future Russian combat flights from the Islamic republic, saying it would depend on “the situation in the region, and according to our permission”. The Russian ambassador to Tehran, Levan Dzhagaryan, said Monday all Russian planes have left Iran’s air base in Hamedan but that nothing prevents them from using it again in the future. “There are no reasons to worry. If the leaders of our two countries consider it necessary and reach the relevant agreements, what sort of problems can there be?” he told Russia’s Interfax news agency. “For the time being, there are no (Russians) remaining in Hamedan” airbase, he added. Ghasemi’s comments came a few hours after Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan made a rare public criticism of Russia for revealing that its warplanes were using Hamedan to attack insurgents in Syria. “Naturally, the Russians are keen to show that they are a superpower and an influential country and that they are active in security issues in the region and the world,” Dehghan told Iran’s Channel 2 television. “There has been a kind of showing-off and inconsiderate attitude behind the announcement of this news,” he said. Iran and Russia are key backers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but Tehran has remained relatively guarded about its precise involvement in the conflict. The Islamic republic is highly sensitive to any suggestion that it would allow foreign militaries to be based in its territory, which is outlawed under its constitution, and has emphasized that Russian planes were only refueling in Iran. “(Russia) needed to refuel in an area closer to the operation. That’s why they used the Nojeh base (in Hamedan) but we have definitely not given them a military base,” said Dehghan. The flights from Iranian territory started on August 16. They were a major shift, significantly shortening flight-times for Russian warplanes, allowing them to carry increased firepower. Russia said it struck targets linked to ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra militant groups in Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib. Moscow had previously used short-range craft stationed at its Hmeimim airbase outside the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, as well as ships in the Caspian Sea and a submarine in the Mediterranean, to bombard rebels in Syria. Tehran oversees thousands of troops fighting for Assad on the ground, while Russia provides airpower.Both oppose calls for Assad to step down as a way of resolving the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

Iran Says Russia Raids from Its Airbase 'Over for Now' after Accusing Moscow of 'Showing Off'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 22/16/Iran said Monday that Russian raids on jihadists in Syria from one of its airbases had ended for now, after accusing Moscow of "showing off" when it revealed the bombing runs. "It was a specific, authorized mission and it's over for now. They conducted it and they are gone now," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters in Tehran. He left open the possibility of future Russian combat flights from the Islamic republic, saying it would depend on "the situation in the region, and according to our permission."A Russian military spokesman, Igor Konachenkov, quoted by his defense ministry, said the planes had "carried out all their tasks with success" and were back on home territory. Any further use of Hamedan base by Russian aircraft would take place "in line with mutual accords on the fight against terrorism and taking into account the situation in Syria", he said in a statement. The Russian ambassador to Tehran, Levan Dzhagaryan, said nothing prevented a renewed use of Hamedan. "If the leaders of our two countries consider it necessary and reach the relevant agreements, what sort of problems can there be?" he told Russia's Interfax news agency.
"For the time being, there are no (Russians) remaining in Hamedan" airbase, he added. Ghasemi's comments came a few hours after Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan made a rare public criticism of Russia for revealing that its warplanes were using Hamedan to attack insurgents in Syria.
"Naturally, the Russians are keen to show that they are a superpower and an influential country and that they are active in security issues in the region and the world," Dehghan told Iran's Channel 2 television.
"There has been a kind of showing-off and inconsiderate attitude behind the announcement of this news," he said.
Iran guarded on Syria role
Iran and Russia are key backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad, but Tehran has remained relatively guarded about its precise involvement in the conflict. The Islamic republic is highly sensitive to any suggestion that it would allow foreign militaries to be based in its territory, which is outlawed under its constitution, and has emphasized that Russian planes were only refueling in Iran. "(Russia) needed to refuel in an area closer to the operation... But we have definitely not given them a military base," said Dehghan. The flights from Iranian territory started on August 16, a day after a visit to Tehran by a Russian deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov. The use of Hamedan significantly shortened flight-times for Russian warplanes, allowing them to carry increased firepower. Russia said it struck targets linked to the jihadist Islamic State group and al-Nusra Front, now known as Fateh al-Sham Front, in Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib. Moscow had previously used short-range craft stationed at its Hmeimim airbase outside the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, as well as ships in the Caspian Sea and a submarine in the Mediterranean, to bombard rebels in Syria. Russia last week dismissed U.S. criticism of the use of Iranian base as a possible violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied that Moscow could be in breach of a ban on supply or transfer of warplanes to Iran without prior approval of the U.N. Security Council. "There are no grounds to suspect Russia of breaching the resolution," he said. Tehran, for its part, oversees thousands of troops fighting for Assad on the ground, while Russia provides airpower. Both oppose calls for Assad to step down as a way of resolving the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.
 

ISIS roadside bomb kills civilians fleeing Iraq town
AFP, Kirkuk, Iraq Monday, 22 August 2016/Six Iraqi civilians were killed on Monday when a bomb planted by the ISIS group went off as they tried to flee the Hawijah area, security officials said. Thousands of people have been fleeing ISIS rule in Hawijah, which lies about 220 kilometres (140 miles) north of Baghdad, in recent weeks. “Six civilians were killed and five wounded by an IED (improvised explosive device),” a colonel in the Kurdish peshmerga forces told AFP. “It happened during an attempt by families to flee areas southeast of Kirkuk and reach peshmerga positions,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Among them were women and children,” he added. Other local officials confirmed the information. Much of the area is littered by bombs and booby traps rigged by ISIS to prevent movements by Iraqi security forces. The militants have repeatedly tried to prevent an exodus of the population before a government military operation to retake their areas. In June this year, ISIS fighters opened fire on families trying to slip out of the city of Fallujah as Iraqi security forces prepared to move in. A provincial official in charge of displaced people, Ammar Sabah, said 650 people who had successfully escaped ISIS areas were taken to camps east of Kirkuk on Sunday. Peshmerga fighters and allied forces have been tightening the noose around Hawijah and neighbouring villages that ISIS has controlled since June 2014. More and more civilians have fled Hawijah and its surroundings lately, with Sabah putting the number at 3,000 over the past week alone.

Iraqi police apprehend boy would-be suicide bomber in Kirkuk
The Associated Press, Irbil, Iraq Monday, 22 August 2016/A boy would-be suicide bomber was apprehended in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk before he was able to detonate his explosives belt, Iraqi police said Monday. Local television footage aired on Kurdistan 24 TV shows a group of police officers holding the young boy while two men are seen cutting off a belt of explosives. After they remove the belt, the boy is seen being rushed into a police truck and driven away. The boy was apprehended on Sunday night, less than an hour after a suicide bomb attack on a Shiite mosque in the city, Kirkuk police department spokesman Col. Avrasiya Kamil Wais told The Associated Press. In the mosque attack, only the bomber died and two people were wounded. “The boy claimed during interrogation that he had been kidnapped by masked men who put the explosives on him and sent him to the area,” said Kirkuk intelligence official Brig. Chato Fadhil Humadi. The boy, Humadi added, was displaced from Islamic State-held city of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, by recent military operations in the area. He arrived in Kirkuk a week ago, Humadi said. The boy’s name is known to the police. The AP does not identify minors who may be victims of abuse or suspected in violent crimes. Islamic State group’s media arm, the Aamaq news agency, on Monday claimed responsibility for the mosque bombing, but made no statement about the boy. Kirkuk, an oil rich city in Iraq’s north is claimed by both Iraq’s central government and the country’s Kurdish region. Kirkuk has seen a rise in ethnic tensions following the Islamic State group’s blitz across northern and western Iraq in 2014. Iraqi security forces largely withdrew from Kirkuk and Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga took control of the city. Since then, Shiite militia fighters have also massed around the city. The area is home to Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen who all have competing claims to the area. The Kurds have long wanted to incorporate the city into their semi-autonomous region, but Iraq’s central government opposes this.

Turkey withdraws ambassador to Austria amid diplomatic spat
The Associated Press, Ankara Monday, 22 August 2016/Turkey is withdrawing its ambassador to Austria, the Turkish foreign minister said Monday, amid a growing diplomatic spat. Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ambassador Hasan Gogus was called back to Ankara for “consultations and to review ties,” citing Austrian authorities’ decision to allow alleged supporters of Turkey’s Kurdish rebels to hold a demonstration in Vienna over the weekend as well as rising anti-Turkish rhetoric in Austria. Ties between Turkey and Austria have been tense for several weeks, with a top Austrian official saying Turkey was heading toward a dictatorship and other leaders calling for an end to Turkey’s European Union membership talks. Turkey, in turn, has described Austria as the “capital of radical racism.”“We saw that ... the PKK and its supporters were given permission to stage a demonstration in Vienna,”Cavusoglu said. “This does not comply with honesty or sincerity. We couldn’t stay inactive against this attitude which supports terrorism.” He was referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey and its allies consider a terror organization. Fighting between the PKK and Turkey’s security forces resumed last year after a fragile peace process collapsed. The group has stepped up attacks targeting police and military in Turkey and at least a dozen people were killed in a string of bombings last week.Cavusoglu said Austria’s top diplomat in Ankara was also called to the ministry over the demonstration in Vienna. “Unfortunately, the ground for our bilateral relations and cooperation to continue as normal has disappeared,” Cavusoglu said.

Turkey vows to cleanse ISIS from border after attack
Reuters, Ankara/Istanbul Monday, 22 August 2016/Turkey vowed on Monday to “completely cleanse” ISIS militants from its border region after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people, including 22 children, at a Kurdish wedding.Saturday’s attack in the southeastern city of Gaziantep is the deadliest in Turkey this year. President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday it was carried out by a suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14, adding that initial evidence pointed to ISIS. But speaking to reporters in Ankara on Monday Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said it was too early to verify the organisation responsible or whether the attack was carried out by a child. A senior security official told Reuters the device used was the same type as those employed in the July 2015 suicide attack in the border town of Suruc and the October 2015 suicide bombing of a rally of pro-Kurdish activists in Ankara. Both of those attacks were blamed on ISIS. The group has targeted Kurdish gatherings in an apparent effort to further inflame ethnic tensions strained by a long Kurdish insurgency. The Ankara bombing was the deadliest of its kind in Turkey, killing more than 100 people. “Daesh should be completely cleansed from our borders and we are ready to do what it takes for that,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a news conference in Ankara, using an Arabic name for the group. On Monday, Turkey’s military launched howitzer attacks on ISIS while artillery pounded Kurdish YPG militants in Syria, whom Ankara sees as an extension of its own Kurdish insurgency. An official said the strikes were designed to “open a corridor for an operation”. A senior rebel official said Turkish-backed Syrian rebels were preparing to launch an attack to seize Jarablus from ISIS, a move that would deny control to advancing Syrian Kurdish fighters. The rebels, groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, are expected to attack Jarablus from inside Turkey in the next few days. Reuters TV footage showed around 10 Turkish tanks deployed at a village around 4 km (2.5 miles) from the border gate immediately across from Jarablus. It was not clear how long the tanks had been there. Prime Minister Binali Yilidirm has said Turkey would take a more active role in Syria in the next six months to prevent the country from being divided along ethnic lines.
Turkey target
Cavusoglu said Turkey, a member of NATO and the US-led coalition against ISIS, had become the “number one target” for the militants because of its work to stop recruits traveling through Turkey across its over 800 km (500 mile) border into Syria to join the Sunni hardline group. For Ankara, ISIS is not the only threat across its frontier. Turkey is also concerned that attempts by Syrian Kurds to extend their control along the common border could add momentum to an insurgency by Kurds on its own territory. Dogan news agency said the death toll in the Gaziantep bombing had risen on Monday to 54 after three more people died. Sixty-six were being treated in hospital, 14 in serious condition. The attack comes with Turkey still shaken just a month after the government survived an attempted coup by rogue military officers, which Ankara blames on US-based Islamist preacher Fethullah Gulen. Gulen denies the charge.
Turkish authorities have said a destroyed suicide vest was found at the scene of the bombing. A second security official told Reuters that they were investigating the possibility militants could have placed the explosives on the child without his or her knowledge and detonated them remotely, or that a child with a learning disability was duped into carrying the device, a tactic seen elsewhere in the region. “It could be that someone was loaded with explosives without even being aware of it and it may have been detonated remotely,” the official said, adding a search was underway for suspected militants who may have played a reconnaissance role. In the latest southeast violence, two Turkish security force members and five PKK militants were killed in clashes and attacks in three areas of eastern Turkey over the last 24 hours, officials said. Some in Turkey, particularly in the Kurdish southeast, feel the government has not done enough to protect its citizens from ISIS. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said the wedding party was for one of its members. The groom was among those injured, but the bride was not hurt.

Kurds launch Hasaka assault to evict Syrian army
Reuters, Hasaka, Syria Monday, 22 August 2016/The Kurdish YPG militia launched a major assault on Monday to seize the last government-controlled parts of the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka after calling on pro-government militias to surrender, Kurdish forces and residents said.
They said Kurdish forces began the offensive after midnight to take the southeastern district of Nashwa, close to where a security compound is located near the governor’s office close to the heart of the city.
The powerful YPG militia had earlier captured Ghwairan, the only major Arab neighborhood still in government hands.The fighting this week in Hasaka, which is divided into zones of Kurdish and Syrian government control, marks the most violent confrontation between the Kurdish YPG militia and Damascus in more than five years of civil war. The Syrian army deployed warplanes against the main armed Kurdish group for the first time during the war last week, prompting a US-led coalition to scramble aircraft to protect American special operations ground forces. The YPG is at the heart of a US-led campaign against ISIS in Syria and controls swaths of the north, where Kurdish groups associated with the militia have set up their own government since the Syrian war began in 2011. Syrian state media accused the YPG-affiliated security force known as the Asayish of violating a ceasefire and said its members had torched government buildings in Hasaka. It accused the Asayish of igniting the violence through escalating “provocations”, including the bombing of army positions in Hasaka, and said the Asayish aimed to take control of the city.
“We will not retreat”
The YPG denied it had entered into a truce. It distributed leaflets and made loudspeaker calls across the city asking for army personnel and pro-government militias to hand over their weapons or face death.
“To all the elements of the regime and its militias who are besieged in the city you are targeted by our units,” leaflets distributed by the YPG said. “This battle is decided and we will not retreat ... We call on you to give up your weapons or count yourselves dead.” The YPG, known as the People’s Protection Units and which has ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party, appeared intent on leaving a nominal Syrian government presence confined to within a security zone in the heart of the city, where several key government buildings are located, Kurdish sources said. The complete loss of Hasaka would be a big blow to President Bashar al-Assad’s government and would also dent efforts by Moscow, which had sought through a major military intervention last year to help Damascus regain lost territory and prevent new rebel gains. Kurdish forces have expanded their control of the city despite the bombing of several locations by Syrian jets. Thousands of civilians in the ethnically mixed city, including members of the Christian community, have fled to villages in the countryside as the fighting intensified, residents said.
The confrontation appears to have undone tacit understandings between the YPG and the Syrian army that had kept the city relatively calm. Many critics and residents say the YPG was handed weapons and territory by the Syrian army at the start of the conflict as Assad sought to focus on crushing the mainly Sunni Arab rebels who sought to topple him.Hasaka’s governor told state media after the flare-up of violence the military had armed the YPG with weapons and tanks to fight extremist elements but had not expected them to turn against them. Hasaka’s population, swelled by displaced Syrians fleeing areas that fell under ISIS control, is broadly divided along ethnic lines, with Kurds mainly in the city’s eastern neighborhoods and Arabs in the southern parts.

Turkey PM urges world powers to turn ‘new page’ on Syria
AFP, Ankara Monday, 22 August 2016/Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Monday urged world powers including Iran, Russia and the United States to join together to rapidly open a “new page” in the Syria crisis. “It is vital that without losing more time a new page is opened in Syria, based on a model involving particularly Turkey, Iran... Russia, the United States and even some Gulf states and Saudi Arabia,” he told reporters after a cabinet meeting. He said Turkey’s stance was “very clear -- not allowing Syria to be divided, maintaining its territorial integrity and not allowing any formation that will bring advantages to any group.”“Syria’s territorial integrity must be protected and an inclusive government ... where all groups are represented must be formed, so that all the animosity is removed,” he added. The comments were the latest signal from Ankara it is now prepared to work actively with world powers who have so far shared radically different viewpoints on the Syria conflict. Russia and Iran are the major backers of President Bashar al-Assad, whose ouster Ankara has always said is essential for ending the over five-year civil war. But Yildirim had on Saturday said, for the first time, that Assad is “one of the actors” in Syria and could remain temporarily in a transition period. He said Monday: “It is essential that all the parties come together to stop the bloodshed in Syria and form a model of governance where all Syrians are represented.”Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu last week made a surprise visit to Iran while earlier this month Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for the first time since a crisis in ties. Yildirim’s comments also came after as activists said hundreds of Ankara-backed rebels were preparing an offensive against the ISIS group in Syria. This offensive coincides with a similar move by Syrian Kurdish militia, potentially putting them on a collision course in the fight for the ISIS-held Syrian town of Jarablus. Yildirim added that it was “absolutely unacceptable” for any Kurdish entity to be established in northern Syria, or any other region. “In fact this is something that Syrians themselves would find unacceptable,” he said. Yildirim refused to be drawn about movement on the Turkish-Syrian border for a possible Jarablus operation. “It is always essential that armed forces control crossings to our country for border security and are ready against attacks from the south of our borders,” he said.
 

Turkish soldier killed in clash with Kurdish militants
Reuters, Diyarbakir, Turkey Monday, 22 August 2016/One soldier was killed and three police officers were wounded in a clash with Kurdish militants in southeastern Turkey on Monday, security sources said, as a spike in violence rocks the restive region. A suicide bomber, as young as 12, late on Saturday blew him or herself up at a wedding party in the city of Gaziantep, killing 51 ethnic Kurds in an attack President Tayyip Erdogan said was carried out by ISIS. That attack was the deadliest in a series of bombings in Turkey this year blamed on ISIS and their rivals, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an outlawed militant group seeking greater autonomy for Turkey’s 15 million Kurds. A female PKK guerrilla was also killed in the clash, which erupted at dawn near security outposts by the town of Nazimiye in Tunceli province, 500 km (310 miles) northeast of Gaziantep, the security sources said. Authorities imposed a round-the-clock curfew on Nazimiye as security forces, backed by attack helicopters, sealed the area and sent in reinforcements, they said. On Sunday, the PKK targeted a military vehicle in Viransehir in Sanliurfa province, killing one soldier and wounding four, security sources said. The PKK took responsibility for a car bomb attack on Thursday the in eastern city of Elazig, killing three and wounding hundreds.

Sarkozy Announces New Presidential Bid
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 22/16/Former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday announced he will seek his party's nomination to stand in next year's presidential election. "I have decided to be a candidate in the 2017 presidential election," Sarkozy, who was president between 2007 and 2012, wrote in a foreword to a new book to be released Wednesday and seen by AFP. Sarkozy also posted a link to the extract on his Twitter account. "The next five years will be filled with danger but also with hope," wrote the 61-year-old conservative, who had made no secret of his ambition to return to the top job. He listed five major challenges for France, which included defending French identity, restoring lost competitiveness and enforcing state authority. The announcement of his bid to secure the nomination of his opposition Republicans at a party primary in November comes in the midst of an impassioned debate over the place of Islam in French society. Sarkozy said France's "top battle" was over how "to defend our lifestyle without being tempted to cut ourselves off from the rest of the world."

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on on August 22-23/16

UK: Clerics Who Threaten Reformers and Praise Murderers
Douglas Murray/Gatestone Institute/August 22/16
Anjem Choudary has gone to jail. He was the most visible part of the problem. But he was not the greatest or deepest problem in this area. That problem is shown when two extremist clerics with pre-medieval views come to Britain they are welcomed by an ignorant British establishment.
“These people teach murder and hate. For me personally I find it sad that a country like England would allow cowards like these men in. Why are they allowing people [in] that give fuel to the fire they are fighting against?” — Shahbaz Taseer, the son of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who was murdered for opposing Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
“They have got hundreds of thousands of followers in the UK,” the imam of the Madina Mosque and Islamic Centre in Oldham, Zahoor Chishti, said of the two clerics.
The conviction of radical Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary — the most prominent extremist in Britain — has been widely welcomed in the UK. For years his followers and he have infuriated the vast majority of the British public (including most British Muslims) with their inflammatory and hate-filled rhetoric. They have also provided a constant stream of people willing to follow through the words with actions. More people around Choudary have been convicted of terrorism offences in the UK than any other Islamist group — including al-Qaeda.
But Choudary’s conviction for encouraging people to join ISIS should not be greeted as though that is the end of a matter.
The conviction of radical Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary (centre) — the most prominent extremist in Britain — has been widely welcomed in the UK.
Last week we noted here how, after the murder of an Ahmadiyya Muslim in the UK at the hands of another Muslim, some Muslims are “more Muslim than others” and that those outside a particular theological group can be killed is not an idea held only by the murderer. It is an idea with a significant following in the UK Muslim community, as well as among Muslims worldwide. A recent test of this issue was the execution in January this year in Pakistan of Mumtaz Qadri. This was the man who murdered Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province in Pakistan. Taseer had opposed the strict blasphemy laws which operate in his country. In Qadri’s eyes, Taseer was an apostate for even thinking of watering down the blasphemy laws that jihadists and Islamists such as the Taliban wish to preserve. And so Qadri killed the governor.
Of course one would like to think that everyone could unite in condemning the actions of a man such as Mumtaz Qadri. What is striking is how many people fail to do so, and how many Muslim clerics and religious leaders — even in the West — not only fail to do so but have been open in their praise of Qadri and their condemnation of Pakistan for putting him to death. Prominent among the latter group is the imam of the largest mosque in Scotland — the Glasgow central mosque.
This past month, however, an even more significant event occurred. In July, two Pakistani clerics started a tour of the UK. Their seven-week expedition, called “Sacred Journey,” goes on until September 4, and includes appearances in Oldham, Rochdale, Rotherham and the Prime Minister’s own constituency of Maidenhead. One of the first things that Muhammad Naqib ur Rehman and Hassan Haseeb ur Rehman did when they arrived in the UK was to meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop welcomed them in Lambeth Palace and claimed that the meeting would strengthen “interfaith relations,” as well as address “the narrative of extremism and terrorism.” One wonders how far the Archbishop got in this task?
If there is a “narrative of extremism and terrorism,” Muhammad Naqib ur Rehman and Hassan Haseeb ur Rehman can take some serious credit for the fact. Both men took an enthusiastic stand in Pakistan in support of Mumtaz Qadri. That is, they supported the murderer of a progressive Pakistani official. Listen here, for instance, to Hassan Haseeb ur Rehman delivering a hysterical speech in support of Mumtaz Qadri while his fellow cleric, Muhammad Naqib ur Rehman, looks on approvingly from the platform.
Here is Hassan Haseeb ur Rehman whipping up the vast crowd of mourners after the funeral of Mumtaz Qadri in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. During his speech he repeatedly refers to Qadri as a shaheed [martyr]. Tens of thousands of people attended the funeral, and afterwards rioted, chanting slogans such as “Qadri, your blood will bring the revolution” and “the punishment for a blasphemer is beheading.”
After Qadri’s execution, Haseeb ur Rehman said on social media “Every person who loves Islam and Prophet is in grief for the martyrdom of Mumtaz Qadri.”
So what are two clerics who approve of murdering reformers and mourn the death of fanatics and assassins doing touring the UK? Shahbaz Taseer, the son of the Salman Taseer, is among those who has criticised the UK authorities for allowing the two men into the country. “These people teach murder and hate,” he has said.
“For me personally I find it sad that a country like England would allow cowards like these men in. It’s countries like the UK and the US that claim they are leading the way in the war against terror [and] setting a standard. Why are they allowing people [in] that give fuel to the fire they are fighting against?”
“They have got hundreds of thousands of followers in the UK,” the imam of the Madina Mosque and Islamic Centre in Oldham, Zahoor Chishti, said of the two clerics. Chishti denied that the event was organised by his mosque and said that he was not aware of the views of the speakers. “When I found out I was upset. I think it was really upsetting and wrong. They come to the UK every year and give messages of love, so that’s why they’re booked on that basis.’
Elsewhere, the “Sacred Journey” tour has already thrown up another interesting connection. Mohammed Shafiq runs a one-man outfit called the “Ramadan Foundation” in the UK, and is regularly called upon by the British media. He appears to be viewed as a “moderate” Muslim because he has been outspoken in opposition to the mass rape of children by gangs of Muslim men. Despite this heroism, his own liberal credentials (not least as a member of the Liberal Democrat party) have often come into question. Several years ago, for instance, when the Liberal Democrat candidate and genuine anti-extremism campaigner Maajid Nawaz re-Tweeted an innocuous cartoon from the “Jesus and Mo” series, Shafiq was among those who tried to get up a lynch-mob against Nawaz. Shafiq wrote on social media that Nawaz was a “Ghustaki Rasool,” Urdu for “defamer of the prophet.” He warned that he would “notify Islamic countries.” Shafiq angrily denied that these and other messages constituted incitement against Nawaz.
But now, on the visit of two clerics to the UK who applaud and mourn Mumtaz Qadri, where is Mohammed Shafiq to be found? Why, warmly greeting the cleric who praises the murderers of reformers and glad-handing with the terrorist-apologists and blasphemy lynch-mob, of course.
Almost everyone in Britain is pleased that the loudmouth Anjem Choudary has gone to jail. Like the hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza before him, Choudary was — as a case — almost too easy. He was the most visible part of the problem. But he was not the greatest or deepest problem in this area. That problem is shown when two extremist clerics with pre-medieval views come to Britain, they are welcomed by an ignorant British establishment. The problem is shown when they tour mosques, they do so to packed houses because they have “hundreds of thousands” of followers of Pakistani origin in the UK. The problem is shown when you scratch the surface of one of the self-proclaimed “moderates” like Mohammed Shafiq and discover that he is happy to pal around with the people who threaten reformers and praise murderers.
That is the problem for British Islam in a nutshell. And that is a problem we still remain woefully unable to confront.
**Douglas Murray, British author, commentator and public affairs analyst, is based in London, England.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8718/uk-choudary-islamist-clerics

Migrant Issue: Turkey’s Dubious Role
Mohshin Habib/Gatestone Institute/August 22/16
The flow of migrants has not been stopped, and the conditions for migrants in Turkey are provoking them to leave and risk their lives in a quest for safety in Greece.
“I have a strong fear that Turkey’s smugglers have the support of the authorities, who act like they have seen nothing… There are even cases where the smugglers are helped. We have evidence.” — Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
It is doubtful if Turkey will hold up its end of the deal anytime soon.
Despite a deal with the European Union that promised stricter regulations on migrants traveling from Turkey to the EU, Turkey is doing little to prevent them from entering Europe. Turkey has also not done much to care for those stranded within their borders.
This was expected to change last year after a mini-summit led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on November 29 in Brussels, to discuss closer cooperation between the EU and Turkey. Both the parties agreed to three main points: to limit the number of refugees leaving Turkey for the EU; to establish a bilateral readmission process, and to accept migrants expelled from the EU. In return Turkey would receive three billion euros from the EU and the US to aid refugees — especially the 2.2 million Syrians now living in Turkey. Additionally, EU member-states would allow visa-free entry for citizens of Turkey.
After the summit, French President François Hollande told reporters, “As Turkey is making an effort to take in refugees — who will not come to Europe — it’s reasonable that Turkey receive help from Europe to accommodate those refugees.”
Former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters, “Today is a historic day in our accession process to the EU. With EU leaders today we will be sharing the destiny of our continent, global challenges of the economic crisis as well as regional geopolitical challenges in front of us including migration issues.”
The proposed deal seemed to anticipate that the Turks would control the Aegean border with the Greek islands to stop the flow of migrants there, and crack down on the smuggling rings running the trade. In practice, however, the flow of migrants has not been stopped, and the conditions for migrants in Turkey are not what was hoped for. There is no sign that there will be any serious steps taken against the smugglers operating inside Turkey.
Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos recently expressed his concern by saying, “I have a strong fear that Turkey’s smugglers have the support of the authorities, who act like they have seen nothing. … There are even cases where the smugglers are helped. We have evidence.”
Migrants set sail on an inflatable boat from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos, August 25, 2015.
The circumstances in which the refugees are living also remain unsatisfactory despite the considerable sum Turkey received to improve the migrants’ quality of life. One report states that, “Temporary protection does not grant refugees permission to work and to qualify for temporary protection, all refugees must live in ‘satellite towns’ outside the main, cosmopolitan cities such as Istanbul. They must submit to controls and conditions and report once a week to the satellite cities they are allocated to. They do not receive any state support for accommodation or daily expenses so, without independent means, refugees are pushed towards living and working illegally.”
The conditions for migrants in Turkey are provoking them to leave and risk their lives in a quest for safety in Greece. Human Rights Watch, in its 2016 report, wrote, “A lack of effective protection in Turkey for Syrians and others, existing border restrictions with Syria imposed by Turkey, and Turkey’s record of police abuse gave rise to concerns that the deal could deny people access to asylum, trap people in Syria, and lead to police abuse and detention of asylum seekers who try to travel to the Europe.”
Greece is at the receiving end of the migrants across the sea. If Turkey does not control the migrant flow, there is little that Greece can do once the refugees have arrived in its borders. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, Greek Migration Policy Minister Yiannis Mouzalas said, “Smuggling networks are still in full operation… The deportation of migrants who have traveled from Turkey is also a big problem.”
Although purportedly Turkey is a secular state, 99.8% of its people are officially registered as Muslim, mostly Sunni. Terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS), Al Nusra and Al-Qaeda come from the same sect of Islam. Some people believe that many Turkish officials sympathize with Sunni terrorist groups such as ISIS and that perhaps this partiality has an effect on their handling of the refugee crisis.
In 2014, amateur video footage appeared revealing Islamic State terrorists chatting with a group of Turkish border guards near the besieged Syrian city of Kobane. A report says, “The amateur footage, understood to have been filmed close to Zarova Hill in the outskirts of Kobane, raises serious questions about the apparently relaxed relationship between the terror group and officials from the Nato member state.” This raises concerns about the future of negotiations between Turkey and the EU.
Turkey, after the attempted coup in July, is expected to become increasingly Islamist. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after he finishes purging thousands of those he seems to regard as opponents, appears to be reaching for powers that are strictly Islamist, as well as totalitarian — possibly “Sultan for Life.” Already, homosexual conduct is punishable by imprisonment.
**It is doubtful that Turkey will hold up its end of the EU migrant deal anytime soon.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

US election? For Arabs it doesn’t matter who wins
Khaled AlmaeenaAl Arabiya/August 22/16
The moment of truth for Americans and the world will be decided on November 8. In the coming weeks, the frenzy of the election campaign between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will reach an all-time high. Of all the US presidential campaigns, this one stands out as the most vicious.
Accusations are hurled, innuendos made and even the personal honesty of the candidates is questioned. The television screen has become a gladiator’s arena! Both candidates have encouraged their supporters to go for each other’s throat. Watching the campaign in its entirely gives you a feeling of sitting in the front row of a circus. Trump is quite a performer. He insults without inhibition. He plays the joker knowing that there are those who are fighting for him who will be disappointed if he does not.
“Is he sadistic?” asked a Gulf national. “Why does he shoot himself in the foot?” wondered another. Trump spent five days making fun of Khizr Khan the Muslim American whose son was killed in Iraq. He was cruel and insensitive. This cost him a lot of support among veterans.
On the other hand, Hillary Clinton was on a tour making economic appeals to a wide group of potential voters many of whom were undecided about her because of past scandals that included Benghazi, emails and undisclosed sources of funding that many thought came from Arab countries.
Trump has increased the level of paranoia and xenophobia in American society. What will come next no one knows
Opportunity to ridicule
Trump has not missed any opportunity to ridicule Clinton who is also appealing to different ethnic groups in the US who are nervous because of Trump’s rhetoric of hate which many feel has led violence especially against Muslims. On August 13, an imam of a New York mosque and his assistant were gunned down in broad daylight and left for dead as they walked near their mosque. In another case, a churchgoing Lebanese Christian Arab was shot dead at point blank range by a person shouting “dirty Arab”. Many Sikhs have been assaulted; they are targeted because of the turban they wear. An Emirati man was badly roughed up at an Ohio hotel after a receptionist, described as dumb by her colleagues, claimed that she “overheard” him state his pledge of allegiance to ISIS. There have also been several cases of Muslim passengers delayed by hyper-sensitive flight attendants. And in one case, a young Italian mathematics professor was dragged off a plane because a fellow passenger was made afraid by his mysterious scribbling on a notepad. Trump has increased the level of paranoia and xenophobia in American society. What will come next no one knows.
“So what does it mean for us in the Gulf?” one student asked. “Well, we don’t really matter,” another answered. Apart from initially paying homage to Israel and bowing down before the Israeli lobby, Clinton now has no time but to blunt Trump’s attacks. Whoever wins will not have much time to think about our interests, nor will they care about past relations with the countries of the Arab world. American politicians are pragmatic when it comes to their interests, which are mainly oil, political and economic hegemony and strengthening Israel’s hold on the Middle East. They cannot look further than that. For us to think otherwise would be an exercise in foolishness. Whoever comes to the White House will only serve their own agenda. So my dear Arabs, please don’t assume anything else. We have never been on the US radar screen nor will we ever be.
This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on Aug. 2

The American who turned Saudi lives upside down
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/August 22/16
Monday, 22 August 2016/An American turned Saudi lives upside down. Perhaps many Saudis know that the first field in which oil was discovered was Dammam oil well number 7. However, few know that a diligent American geologist was behind convincing the company where he worked to drill once again, after it was about to give up on the possibility of discovering oil in Saudi Arabia. Max Steineke arrived in our country in 1934, and oil was discovered in commercial quantities four years later. He made great efforts to convince his managers to drill again in well number 7. The company had reached the same drilling depths as those in Bahrain, where it extracted oil, but did not discover any in well number 7 so it was about to give up. This is what Dr Abdullah al-Madni said in his article in Okaz on Friday. A diligent American geologist was behind convincing the company where he worked to drill once again, after it was about to give up on the possibility of discovering oil in Saudi Arabia
Steineke’s passion
Steineke’s passion grew after the first oil discovery, and led to the discovery of the Ghawar oil field - the largest conventional oil field in the world - in 1948. This passion turned into an addiction. He was respectful to the entire team, and everyone appreciated him and respected his work. Steineke had a special relation with Aramco guide Khamis bin Ramthan Ajami. While crossing the Saudi desert, they passed through a short mountain in Wadi al-Dawasir. Ajami told him that Bedouins in Wadi al-Dawasir changed the name of a short mountain from Umm Ruqayba to Steineke’s Finger after his finger was amputated while he worked. Steineke was so touched that he could not speak and a tear rolled down his face. This article was first published in Okaz on Aug. 22, 2016.

Rethinking women’s role in Saudi diplomacy with UK
Najah Al-Osaimi/Al Arabiya/August 22/16
The current discourse on the role of soft power in international relations draws attention to the crucial role relationships play between education exchanges, and how they influence foreign populations’ perceptions.
Over the last decade, the number of Saudi students coming to study in the UK has reached 100,000, as bilateral relations continue to be spurred by significant military and trade partnerships. By 2015, Saudi Arabia had become the seventh-largest sponsor of international students to the UK. While these numbers are small compared to the number of Saudi students in the United States, they are well established as a reliable source of public engagement. According to the Ministry of Higher Education, the Saudi external scholarship program is designed to “increase mutual understanding between the people of Saudi Arabia and the people of the rest of the world.” This fits neatly into the role of public diplomacy, yet it does not appear to include a clear mechanism for how the program can achieve this objective.

Women are a crucial factor in shaping the popular image of Saudi Arabia among the British. This issue is constantly raised during most academic and policy discussions, and undermines progressive efforts at Saudi development. This should not come as a surprise, as Saudi Arabia can be perceived as socially closed, and it is easy for stereotypes to become pervasive when it comes to preconceptions of Saudi women. 

This raises the question: Why has Saudi Arabia not considered the role of thousands of state-scholarship female students as essential to furthering the understanding of the role Saudi women play?
Around a third of Saudi scholarship students in the UK are female, many of them outstanding scholars, creative artists and filmmakers. They are a massive soft-power asset
Greater involvement
Around a third of Saudi scholarship students in the UK are female, many of them outstanding scholars, creative artists and filmmakers. They are a massive soft-power asset that could aid Saudi Arabia address foreign public opinion about how Saudi women are benefiting from greater political, social and economic roles. Saudi diplomacy with the UK is mostly mediated by elites. This has proven insufficient in stimulating significant forms of intercultural and mutual understanding between the two peoples. Thus Saudi diplomacy needs to be furthered by increasing public engagement, such as the inclusion of female scholarship students who bring large diplomatic benefits. There are more than 36 registered Saudi clubs in UK universities. They are responsible for arranging regular events that appeal to Saudi students. To that end, women with state scholarships should be encouraged to support the embassy and foreign missions in promoting public and cultural outreach. They should be supported more to involve themselves on campus and policy institutions, and within the communities in which they live, in the hope that they will share information about Saudi Arabia to British students, educators and policy-makers. This could add value to the British understanding of Saudi Arabia, potentially removing a number of myths about the country and its people. 
 
One way of doing this is to initiate activities that put more Saudi women in direct contact with British intellectuals, policy-shapers and the public. Forming close personal relationships will offer the opportunity for these women to reveal unknown information about Saudi Arabia, or that which is inconsistent with domestic opinion among various pockets of UK society. The Saudi embassy could utilize the large number of female students by increasing their representation during diplomatic functions, and inviting these talented girls to showcase their art, film and music. After all, women are excellent mediators, great networkers, creative and intelligent. They would place value on building relationships between any and all counties.

Former Pentagon Analyst: As in Past, Iran Seeking to Humiliate US With Accusations of Nuclear-Deal Violations (INTERVIEW)
The Algemeiner/Barney Breen-Portnoy/August 22/16
Middle East expert and former Pentagon analyst Harold Rhode. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Recent accusations by top Iranian officials that the US has violated last year’s nuclear agreement merely represent a continuation of a longstanding Iranian policy of “humiliating” the US, a Middle East expert and former Pentagon analyst told The Algemeiner on Monday.
Harold Rhode, an expert on Islamic culture who worked for the Pentagon for 28 years, was referring to the latest Iranian claims that America is not abiding by the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reported by Iranian regime-aligned news agency Tasnim on Sunday.
According to the report, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, an adviser to the speaker of the Iranian parliament, said, “Iran proved its honesty to everyone, but the US reneged (on the agreement) as usual and like (it did) in the past.”
Last month, as The Algemeiner reported, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened that Iran would withdraw from the JCPOA if the US did not live up to its commitments.
“Without understanding Iranian culture, it is impossible to understand what is going on,” Rhode said. “Nothing is in and of itself. The way negotiations work among Iranians is that an agreement as we understand it means nothing. It is nothing more than a step along the way to getting what they want.”
Rhode continued: “In the Middle East, you never take responsibility for anything yourself; you always push whatever it is onto somebody else. You blame others. And the problem is that both President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry, I don’t know whether willfully or unwillfully, refuse to understand Iran in the Iranian context. And the Iranian context is that the agreement means nothing, except as a way to shame America into doing what Iran wants, which is to push further and further.”
Rhode, who studied at a university in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad in the late 1970s and speaks Farsi, pointed to the 1979 taking of US diplomats in Tehran hostage for 444 days as a past example of this behavior.
“From an Iranian cultural point of view, at all times there is a balance — ‘Are you giving it or are you getting it?’ And this has nothing to do with women,” Rhode said. “It’s simply domination; it’s simply power. That is what happened with the hostage crisis under Jimmy Carter.”
According to Rhode, the Iranian students who took over the US Embassy in Tehran in November 1979 at first “figured they could get something small out of America.” But, he noted, when America “gave in and tried to negotiate with the new regime over the hostages, the Iranians said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a good thing going,’ so they kept pushing more and more and humiliated America. And each time America gave in, the humiliation got stronger. Throughout the Middle East, it showed that America was weak and either unwilling or unable to do what was necessary to stop the whole thing.”
The fact that the American hostages were released on the very day that Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president in January 1981 was very significant, Rhode said.
“When Reagan became president — and this has something to do with Donald Trump as well — the Iranians were petrified he’d nuke them,” Rhode said. “The exact moment the plane carrying the hostages home left Iranian airspace was when Reagan raised his hand to take the oath of office. Now the question is why. Because the Iranians were afraid of Reagan.”
Turning to the handling of the Iran nuclear issue by the current administration in Washington, Rhode said, “When you don’t want to learn from what has happened in the past, the saying is, ‘Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.’ For Obama and Kerry, the nuclear agreement is exactly in that context. The Iranian leadership is playing them, constantly humiliating them.”
Rhode, whose detailed analysis of Iranian negotiating behavior for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs can be found on the think tank’s website, said a proper American approach to Iran would entail ensuring that “the Iranians understand it is not in their interest” to defy the United States.
“In the Middle East, there is no such thing as public opinion; there is survival. I saw how people in Iran went overnight from being pro-Shah to pro-Khomeini,” he said, referring to the Islamic Revolution that ousted Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and ushered in the reign of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Rhode concluded: “We’re in a situation today in which it’s not just the Islamic world, but the entire world, which is seeing America as a paper tiger. Two things are always necessary in a power relationship — the ability and the willingness to impose your will. Lacking both, it’s as if you have no power and no ability. You could be the strongest country in the world, but if you have no will, it’s as if you have no power. The Iranians know that Obama has no will, and therefore they can say and do whatever they want.”
Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Monday that German exports to Iran jumped 15 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to the same time period last year, thanks to the removal of international sanctions in the wake of the nuclear agreement.
Michael Tockuss, the head of the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce, was quoted by Reuters as saying exports to Iran were expected to rise by as much as 25% for the whole of 2016, and by 30% in 2017.
“The sanctions against Iran were built up over several years and it now will take some years to reverse them and establish new business ties,” Tockuss said.
On Sunday, as reported in The Algemeiner, Iran released images of its first domestically built long-range missile defense system — called the Bavar 373.