LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 14/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

Bible Quotations For Today

The Curing Miracle of the Leper Patient
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 01/35-45: In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.`And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons. A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness
Letter to the Romans 06/12-23: "Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 14/16
Kissinger’s Touches in the Middle East/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/February 13/16
Iran- the Revolution That Produced Only Losers/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/February 13/16
Right-wing extremist groups ‘prevalent’ across Canada, study warns/Douglas Quan | February 10, 2016 | Last Updated: Feb 12
The year of voting dangerously/Hisham Melhem/Al Arabiya/February 13/16
Moscow’s World War III scarecrow/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/February 13/16
Arab Women in science – where are they heading/Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/February 13/16
Has happiness in the UAE troubled Arabs/Mohamed Chebarro/Al Arabiya/February 13/16
Why smart cities should create ‘smart villages’ too/Ehtesham Shahid/Al Arabiya/February 13/16
The Worst of the Syrian Refugee Crisis Is Coming for Europe/Fabrice Balanche/Washington Institute/February 13/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on February 14/16
Jumblat 'Fears for Lebanon's Democracy' on 11th Anniversary of Hariri Assassination
Police Free Abducted Man, Arrest Kidnappers
General Security Arrests Suspect Linked to Bourj al-Barajneh Attacks
Army Arrests 2 Members of Human Trafficking Ring in Bekaa
Lebanese Army Arrests 2 Members of Human Trafficking Ring in Bekaa
Daryan on Hariri Murder Anniversary: Your Son Has Followed in your Footsteps of Preserving Peace
Report: Mashnouq, Aoun Discuss Security Forces Appointments File
Qahwaji to U.S. Officials: We Refuse to Let Lebanon Turn into Pawn in Regional Affairs

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 14/16
Canada: Imam greets Syrian refugees with prayer: O Allah, destroy the enemies of Islam
Syria rebel ambush kills 76 regime forces
Turkey strikes Kurdish militia in Syria
Turkey shells Kurdish-held areas of Syria’s Aleppo: Monitor
Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric calls for government reforms
Bomb kills two Egyptian soldiers in Sinai: Army
Sisi pledges ‘new Egypt’ in first parliament speech
Turkey, Saudi Arabia may send ground troops to fight ISIS
Ya'alon meets with Jordan's King Abdullah
Assad vows to retake all of Syria, warns could 'take long time'
Turkey, Saudi Could Launch Anti-IS Ground Operation in Syria, Says Ankara
French FM: 'No Time to Lose' to Install Libya Unity Government
Russia's Syria Military Targeting Must Change, Says Kerry
Report: Russia Sends Brand New Cruise Missile Ship to Syria
Turkey Strikes Kurds in Syria, Mulls Ground Attack with Saudi
More Major Attacks in Europe 'a Certainty', Warns French PM
Palestinian Shot Dead in Attempt to Stab Israeli Soldier

Links From Jihad Watch Site for February 14/16
Pope and Patriarch of Moscow decry persecution of Mideast Christians, don’t name persecutor, call for dialogue.
Israel: “Palestinian” Muslims wound four Israelis in car ramming, one in stabbing.
Canada: Imam greets Syrian refugees with prayer: O Allah, destroy the enemies of Islam.
UK: MP who warned of Muslim rape gang says he was abused and threatened for making claims.
4-year-old detonates car bomb for the Islamic State, says “we will kill kuffar out there”.
Ohio: Muslim who slashed restaurant patrons with machete was on FBI’s radar.
Germany: Muslim shouts “inshallah” as he rapes student, then asks her if she enjoyed it.
Russia hit 1,888 targets in Syria in a week; US count? Just 16.
Kenya: Muslim relatives of Somali Christian beat him unconscious for his faith.
Germany issues “Mein Jihad” video to claim jihad isn’t so bad.
Iran mocks captured US Navy sailors as fat, immoral, and weak.
Nigeria: Federal University of Technology student arrested for recruiting for the Islamic State.
Hugh Fitzgerald: NPR and the Chapel Hill Murders.
Rochester, NY school organizes ‘Hijab Day’ for non-Muslim students.

Jumblat 'Fears for Lebanon's Democracy' on 11th Anniversary of Hariri Assassination
Naharnet/February 13/16/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat expressed his concern over the fate of Lebanon given the regional developments and their impact on the country, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Saturday on the eve of the eleventh anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. He voiced to the daily his fear that the “face of Lebanon's democracy would change in wake of the new balance that is being devised in the region.”“The February 14 anniversary brings back memories of peaceful and stubborn struggle for justice, sovereignty, and independence,” he continued. Lebanon has “slowly” started to witness some justice through the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that was established “through blood”, noted the MP. As for the battle for sovereignty and independence, Jumblat stressed that it has started to “take a new turn” in light of the “dramatic and bloody developments” on the regional and international scenes. Hariri was assassinated in a major car bombing in Beirut on February 14, 2005. A number of Hizbullah operatives have been indicted in the crime and the STL has been set up to try them. None of the suspects have been arrested and they are being tried in absentia.

Police Free Abducted Man, Arrest Kidnappers
Naharnet/February 13/16/The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch freed on Saturday a Lebanese man, who had been kidnapped in Jbeil, and arrested five of his abductors, police said. Osama Moawad was kidnapped on the main road of Gharzouz on Saturday morning when he was heading from his house to his workplace. The abductors had called his family asking for a one million dollar ransom. Police did not release the identities of the kidnappers but MTV said among them is a member of the Jaafar clan. An ISF communique said the man was freed when police officers stopped his kidnappers in Kesrouan district as they were transporting him to the eastern Bekaa Valley.

General Security Arrests Suspect Linked to Bourj al-Barajneh Attacks
Naharnet/February 13/16/The General Security announced on Saturday that it arrested a suspect linked to the November 2015 suicide attacks in the southern suburbs of Beirut. It said that it detained Aa.Aa.Y. for transporting one of the bombers to the blast cite. On November 12, two suicide attacks rocked a busy shopping street in Beirut's southern suburb of Bourj al-Barajneh, killing 43 people and wounding over 239 others. The extremist Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. Media reports later in November said that one of the individuals who had transported the bombers was killed in an ambush by the Syrian army and Hizbullah fighters in Syria. He was identified as Abdul Salam Abdul Razzaq al-Hindawi.

Army Arrests 2 Members of Human Trafficking Ring in Bekaa
Naharnet/February 13/16/The Lebanese army said on Saturday that it arrested two members of a human trafficking network in the area of al-Swairi in the eastern Bekaa Valley. An army communique said that a military patrol raided the house of detainee Fawaz Mohammed Abou Nemri and arrested his wife Alaa Shouman and Syrian Jawdat Zaaar Baydar. Abou Nemri is in detention for smuggling Syrians to Lebanon. The woman and the Syrian man have for a long time been involved in operations to forge documents for the purpose of smuggling Syrians to and from Lebanon, said the communique. Troops found passports, residency permits, seals and other documents – all of them forged – inside the house. They also seized firearms, ammunition and other military gear. The detainees and the seized material were referred to the judiciary, the communique added.

Lebanese Army Arrests 2 Members of Human Trafficking Ring in Bekaa
Naharnet/February 13/16/The Lebanese army said on Saturday that it arrested two members of a human trafficking network in the area of al-Swairi in the eastern Bekaa Valley.An army communique said that a military patrol raided the house of detainee Fawaz Mohammed Abou Nemri and arrested his wife Alaa Shouman and Syrian Jawdat Zaaar Baydar. Abou Nemri is in detention for smuggling Syrians to Lebanon. The woman and the Syrian man have for a long time been involved in operations to forge documents for the purpose of smuggling Syrians to and from Lebanon, said the communique. Troops found passports, residency permits, seals and other documents – all of them forged – inside the house. They also seized firearms, ammunition and other military gear. The detainees and the seized material were referred to the judiciary, the communique added.

Daryan on Hariri Murder Anniversary: Your Son Has Followed in your Footsteps of Preserving Peace
Naharnet/February 13/16/Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan lamented on Saturday the current state of affairs in Lebanon, vowing that the Lebanese people will persevere against challenges. He said on the eleventh anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri: “Your son Saad has followed in your footsteps in maintaining civil peace and stability.” “It is as if the assassins wanted to kill along with Hariri the idea of coexistence and a Lebanese state,” he continued after paying his respects to the slain premier at his grave in downtown Beirut. Hariri was killed for the sake of the nation and its security, he said, while quoting the former PM's saying that “no one is greater than their nation.” “A country that deserves the sacrifices of Hariri is a great nation indeed,” Daryan added. Addressing Hariri, he remarked: “You have given politicians a hard task of following in your footsteps.” “It is unfortunate that history does not repeat itself however and as in every year, we have very little good news to report to you,” continued the mufti. “The state that you pledged to build is paralyzed and state institutions are crippled,” he noted.“You successor Saad however is determined to follow in your footsteps. He is keen on civil peace and security and on making sacrifices to ensure that work is restored at state institutions.” he stressed. “With Saad Hariri and his movement, there is a large segment of Lebanese who do not wish to abandon their country,” said Daryan. Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a major car bombing in Beirut on February 14, 2005. A number of Hizbullah operatives have been indicted in the crime and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has been set up to try them. None of the suspects have been arrested and they are being tried in absentia.

Report: Mashnouq, Aoun Discuss Security Forces Appointments File
Naharnet/February 13/16/The contentious issue of the security appointments was among the topics that were discussed between Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq and Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun during talks on Friday, revealed al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday. Informed sources told the daily that the issue of the appointments among the security forces was addressed after the Military Council appointments dispute was resolved in January. The daily said that four Christian members out of five are performing their duties in the security forces in “an acting position and this situation needs to addressed so that the council can be able to practice its responsibilities in a legal manner.”“Doubts surround several decisions that have been taken by the council and some of them are even considered illegal due to the absence of a council with full privileges,” said the sources. The government approved in January the appointment of three Military Council officers, a long-time demand of the Change and Reform, which along with Hizbullah and the Tashnag Party had boycotted recent cabinet sessions.

Qahwaji to U.S. Officials: We Refuse to Let Lebanon Turn into Pawn in Regional Affairs
Naharnet/February 13/16/Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji concluded a trip to the united States where he highlighted Lebanon's role in combating terrorism and its stability in wake of regional conflicts, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday. He told the daily: “I relayed to U.S. officials my fears and rejection that Lebanon be turned into a negotiations paper in regional affairs.”“I received reassurances that officials are keen on preserving Lebanon's stability and current borders,” he continued. He added that the army's confrontation of terrorists was lauded during his meetings with American officials. Qahwaji credited the success to the army's bravery and experience in fighting terror, citing the Dinnieh incidents of 2000 as an example. U.S. officials went so far as to congratulate the military on its recent success in the northeastern border region of Arsal where it killed six terrorists and detained 16 as part of the sporadic clashes that take place with extremists in the area. Such is the extent of U.S. officials' knowledge of local Lebanese developments, noted the army chief. The conflict in neighboring Syria has regularly spilled over into Lebanon in recent years in the form of cross-border violence and sectarian clashes inside the country. Militants from the extremist Islamic State group and the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front are entrenched along the country's porous border with Syria and the army regularly shells their positions.

Canada: Imam greets Syrian refugees with prayer: O Allah, destroy the enemies of Islam
February 13, 2016/Jihad WAtch/ By Robert Spencer
The religion of love, peace, and tolerance.
“WATCH — Syrian refugees in Alberta welcomed with prayer: ‘Destroy enemies of y Jonathan D. Halevi, The Rebel, February 13, 2016:
(This video and article originally appeared at CIJNews.com and is reprinted with permission.)
https://youtu.be/86WRqU4pMKs
On February 5, 2016, the Alberta Islamic Welfare Association hosted a Family Day event for Syrian refugees and their families, along with members of the local Muslim community in Edmonton and the Imam Shaban Sherif Mady.
In his speech to the Syrian refugees, Shaban Sherif Mady greeted them, emphasized the merits of the people of Greater Syria in the eyes of Allah for defeating the Crusaders and the Tatars, and ended with a supplication to Allah.
The following is an excerpt of the supplication (originally in Arabic):
“O Allah! Strengthen the mujahideen [jihad fighters in the path of Allah] everywhere, make their hearts firm and strong, let them hit their targets, give them victory over their enemies.
“O Allah! Destroy the oppressors.
“O Allah! Destroy your enemies, the enemies of religion [Islam].
“O Allah! Whoever wishes good for Islam and the Muslims, bestow all goodness upon him.
“O Allah! Whoever wishes ill for us and wishes ill for Islam and the Muslims, make his plot [tied] around his neck and make him preoccupied with himself, and make his plan cause his own destruction.”…

Syria rebel ambush kills 76 regime forces
By AFP Beirut Saturday, 13 February 2016/An ambush by Syrian rebels on pro-regime forces near Damascus this week killed 76 fighters, a monitor said Saturday, in one of the deadliest attacks of its kind since the conflict began. Militants from the powerful Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) rebel group opened fire last Sunday on around 240 government forces that were preparing to storm the opposition stronghold of Eastern Ghouta, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Observatory said at the time of the attack, which it described as "the largest ambush of regime forces in the war", that 35 people had died. Director Rami Abdel Rahman on Saturday gave a new toll, documenting 45 pro-regime fighters killed by gunfire and another 31 killed when landmines were detonated during the clashes. At least 100 remain unaccounted for, Abdel Rahman added. Families of those killed or missing -- many of whom hail from the coastal province of Latakia -- are demanding to receive the bodies of their loved ones, he told AFP. Jaish al-Islam is the strongest opposition faction in Eastern Ghouta, a large suburb of Damascus that is regularly bombarded by government forces. The regime has struggled to take back territory there despite air support from its ally, Russia. More than 260,000 people have been killed and millions have been forced to flee since Syria's war erupted in 2011.

Turkey strikes Kurdish militia in Syria
AFP Washington Sunday, 14 February 2016/Turkey’s military shelled Kurdish militia targets in northern Syria on Saturday and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu demanded that the group withdraw from the area in a move that further complicated the conflict across the NATO member's border. The shelling took place after Kurdish YPG fighters backed by Russian bombing raids drove Syrian rebels from a former military air base, south of the town of Azaz and near the Turkish border. “Today retaliation was taken under the rules of engagement against forces that represented a threat in Azaz and the surrounding area,” the prime minister told reporters in comments shown live by state broadcaster TRT Haber. A Kurdish official said the Menagh base which was hit had been captured by the Kurdish-allied Jaysh al-Thuwwar group rather than the YPG. Both are part of the Syria Democratic Forces alliance. The shelling came amid growing anger in Ankara with the United States for supporting the YPG, which Ankara regards as a terrorist organization, in its fight against ISIS militants. The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which backs the YPG, controls most of the Syrian side of Turkey’s border and Ankara views it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade-old insurgency for autonomy in southeast Turkey. U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby urged both Turkey and the Syrian Kurds to step back, saying they should focus instead on tackling a “common threat” of ISIS militants who control large parts of Syria. “We have urged Syrian Kurdish and other forces affiliated with the YPG not to take advantage of a confused situation by seizing new territory,” Kirby said in a statement. “We have also seen reports of artillery fire from the Turkish side of the border and urged Turkey to cease such fires.” Davutoglu demanded that the Menagh base be evacuated and said he had spoken to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to make that point and stress that the PYD was an extension of the PKK and a direct threat to Turkey. “We will retaliate against every step (by the YPG),” he said after a visit to the eastern Turkish city of Erzincan. “The YPG will immediately withdraw from Azaz and the surrounding area and will not go close to it again.”Turkey’s disquiet has been heightened by the tens of thousands of people fleeing to the Turkish border after attacks by Russian-backed Syrian government forces, swelling refugee numbers in the area to 100,000.
Turkey, which already hosts 2.6 million Syrian refugees, has kept the latest arrivals on the Syrian side of the border, in part to pressure Russia to cease its air support for Syrian government forces near the city of Aleppo. Davutoglu earlier condemned the attacks in Aleppo as “barbarity, tyranny, a war strategy conducted with a medieval mentality” and said hundreds of thousands faced the danger of starvation if a humanitarian corridor was not opened. “We will help our brothers in Aleppo with all means at our disposal. We will take those in need but we will never allow Aleppo to be emptied through an ethnic massacre,” he said. NATO-member Turkey is one of Assad’s most vehement critics and an ardent supporter of opposition forces. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was reported as saying on Saturday that Saudi Arabia would send aircraft to Turkey’s Incirlik air base for the fight against ISIS.

Turkey shells Kurdish-held areas of Syria’s Aleppo: Monitor
By Reuters Ankara Saturday, 13 February 2016/Turkey’s military has shelled Kurdish militia targets near the town of Azaz in northern Syria, a Turkish government source told Reuters on Saturday, without elaborating on the extent of the shelling or why it had been carried out. “The Turkish Armed Forces fired shells at PYD positions in the Azaz area,” the source said, referring to the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Ankara regards as a terrorist organization. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the shelling had targeted a Syrian air base and a village captured from insurgents in recent days by the YPG militia, which is backed by the PYD. A Kurdish official confirmed the shelling of northern Aleppo’s Menagh air base, which he said had been captured by the Kurdish-allied Jaysh al-Thuwwar group rather than the YPG. Both are part of the Syria Democratic Forces alliance. News of the shelling came after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Saturday Turkey would not hesitate to act in Syria if it faced a threat from Syrian Kurdish forces. His comments reflected Ankara’s growing frustration with United States backing for the PYD, which controls most of the Syrian side of the border with Turkey and which Ankara views as tied to militants fighting an insurgency in southeast Turkey.

Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric calls for government reforms
The Associated Press, Baghdad Saturday, 13 February 2016/Iraq’s influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is calling for the inclusion of more technocrats in government and is threatening to withdraw from the political process if his proposal is not accepted. Al-Sadr spoke Saturday following Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s call for a Cabinet reshuffle this week in an effort to break the current deadlock after months of stalled progress on a proposed reform package. Al-Abadi proposed the reforms following widespread protests in Iraq last summer demanding better services and an end to corruption. Iraq is engaged in a humanitarian and security crisis that erupted as ISIS swept across the country. It is now also battling a crippling economic crisis that threatens to further choke the government’s ability to provide basic domestic services.

Bomb kills two Egyptian soldiers in Sinai: Army
By AFP Cairo Saturday, 13 February 2016/Two Egyptian soldiers, one an officer, were killed by an explosion as they tried to defuse a roadside bomb in the Sinai Peninsula Saturday, a military statement said. It said another officer was wounded in the blast. ISIS’ Egyptian branch is waging an insurgency in the restive peninsula that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohammad Mursi in 2013. The militant group has said it caused the crash of a Russian passenger plane carrying holidaymakers over Sinai last October, killing all 224 people on board. It said it had smuggled a bomb on board the plane at a south Sinai resort airport. The Sinai militants pledged allegiance in November 2014 to the Islamic State group, which controls parts of Iraq and Syria.

Sisi pledges ‘new Egypt’ in first parliament speech
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Saturday, 13 February 2016/Egypt’s president says his country has established a democratic system and rebuilt constitutional institutions after years of turmoil following the 2011 uprising. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi declared the transition complete in a 32-minute address to parliament on Saturday, while noting that Egypt is still struggling to rebuild its economy and confront Islamic extremists. Rights groups says el-Sissi’s rule has been marked by a deep erosion of freedoms, with thousands of mainly Islamist dissidents in jail, severe restrictions on public protests and a disturbing pattern of police brutality. El-Sissi led the July 2013 military overthrow of Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist who was Egypt’s first freely elected president. El-Sissi then retired from the military and was elected president the following year.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia may send ground troops to fight ISIS
Ynetnews/Associated Press/February 13/16/Turkish FM says Riyadh has agreed to send jets and troops to Turkey's Incirlik air base ahead of a possible ground operation against the Islamic State. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that his country and Saudi Arabia may launch ground operations against the Islamic State group in Syria, Turkish media reported on Saturday.  After taking part at a security conference in Munich, Cavusoglu said Saudi Arabia was "ready to send both jets and troops" to Turkey's Incirlik air base, Saturday's edition of the Yeni Safak pro-government newspaper quoted him as saying. "Turkey and Saudi Arabia may launch an operation (against ISIS) from the land," he added, the paper said. Cavusoglu did not specify the number of troops or jets, or the timing of a possible Saudi deployment, but said exploratory visits have been made. The base is used by the US-led coalition in the campaign against the Islamic State group. Saudi Arabia has resumed its participation in air strikes against Islamic State in recent weeks and US Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Thursday welcomed its commitment to expand its role. US President Barack Obama has ruled out sending American ground troops to Syria. But Saudi Arabia this month offered ground forces to fight Islamic State and Cavusoglu said Turkey and the Saudis would support a coalition ground operation. "At every coalition meeting we have always emphasized the need for an extensive result-oriented strategy in the fight against the (Islamic State) terrorist group," the newspaper quoted Cavusoglu as saying. "If we have such a strategy, then Turkey and Saudi Arabia may launch an operation from the land," he added. Major powers agreed in Munich on Friday to a pause in combat in Syria, but Russia pressed on with bombing in support of its ally President Bashar Assad, who promised to fight on until he regained full control of the country. Four months of Russian air strikes in Syria have helped Assad wrest back territory from rebels fighting government forces, alarming Gulf Arab states who back the insurgents. Asked if Saudi troops could enter Syria from Turkey, Cavusoglu said: "This is a wish, not a planned thing. Saudi Arabia is sending planes and says, 'I can send soldiers for a ground operation when it is necessary'". Saudi officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Cavusoglu's remarks. Turkey hosts more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees and tens of thousands more have massed at its borders after a fierce government offensive around Aleppo. Reuters contributed to this report.

Ya'alon meets with Jordan's King Abdullah
Yoav Zitun, Roi Kais/Ynetnews/February 13/16/Defense minister and Jordanian king meet on sidelines of security conference in Munich to discuss ties between the two nations, regional developments and Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon met with Jordan's King Abdullah on Friday on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich, Germany.The Defense Ministry said the two discussed "the bilateral ties between Jordan and Israel, the latest development in the Middle East, and the possibility of advancing the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians." The official Jordanian state news agency confirmed the meeting, but provided no further details. The fact Ya'alon's meeting with King Abdullah was made public is very unusual. While coordination meetings between security and government officials on both sides of the Jordan River have been ongoing, the existence of these meetings was kept secret from the media out of concern the publication of these meetings will serve as ammunition for opposition in the kingdom to the security ties with Israel. Defense officials declined to comment about the contents of the meeting, but dubbed it as "very important." The Jordanian king and the defense minister were discussing regional issues in light of the situation in Syria. Recently, concerns have been raised in public in Israel, expressed also in IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot's speech last month at the INSS Conference, that ISIS might launch terror attacks against Israeli or Jordanian targets in the southern Syrian Golan Heights in the wake of the losses the extremist organization has suffered.

Assad vows to retake all of Syria, warns could 'take long time'
AFP/Ynetnews/February 13/16/In exclusive interview with AFP, Syrian president says while he supports peace talks, it 'does not mean we need to stop fighting terrorism' and calls on Europe to 'stop giving cover to terrorists' in the form of refugee. Syria's President Bashar Assad has vowed to retake the entire country but warned it could take a "long time," in an exclusive interview with AFP that comes as international pressure grows for a ceasefire. Speaking at his office in Damascus on Thursday, Assad said he supported peace talks, but that negotiations do "not mean that we stop fighting terrorism". He said a major Russian-backed government offensive under way in the northern province of Aleppo was aimed mainly at severing the opposition's supply route from Turkey. Assad said he saw a risk that Turkey and Saudi Arabia, key backers of the opposition, would intervene militarily in Syria. He also addressed the massive flow of refugees from his country, saying it was up to Europe to stop "giving cover to terrorists" so that Syrians could return home. Assad rejected UN allegations of regime war crimes, describing them as "politicized" and lacking evidence. With air support from key ally Russia and backing by pro-government fighters, regime troops have nearly encircled Aleppo, Syria's second city. Assad said his regime's eventual goal was to retake all of Syria, large swathes of which are under the control of rebel forces or the Islamic State jihadist group. "Regardless of whether we can do that or not, this is a goal we are seeking to achieve without any hesitation," he said. "It makes no sense for us to say that we will give up any part," he added. Assad said it would be possible to "put an end to this problem in less than a year" if opposition supply routes from Turkey, Jordan and Iraq were cut.
But, if not, he said, "the solution will take a long time and will incur a heavy price."
First comments since failed talks
The interview with Assad is the first he has given since the effective collapse of a new round of peace talks in Geneva earlier this month. The talks are officially "paused" until February 25, and 17 nations agreed early Friday on an ambitious plan intended to bolster efforts for new negotiations.
The plan would see a cessation of hostilities implemented in as little as a week, and also demands humanitarian aid access to all of Syria. Assad said his government has "fully believed in negotiations and in political action since the beginning of the crisis.""However, if we negotiate, it does not mean that we stop fighting terrorism. The two tracks are inevitable in Syria."The Aleppo offensive has been the main focus of Syrian government troops in recent weeks. The regime has virtually encircled rebels in eastern parts of Aleppo city after severing their main supply line to the Turkish border.
"The main battle is about cutting the road between Aleppo and Turkey, for Turkey is the main conduit of supplies for the terrorists," Assad said. The operation has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis, with tens of thousands fleeing their homes, and many flocking to the border with Turkey seeking entry.
The displaced could join a wave of more than four million Syrian refugees who have left the country since the conflict began in March 2011. Last year, many of those refugees began seeking asylum in Europe in a major crisis that has failed to slow throughout the winter. Assad said the blame for the influx lay at Europe's feet. "I would like to ask every person who left Syria to come back," he said. "They would ask 'why should I come back? Has terrorism stopped?'" Instead, he urged Europe's governments "which have been a direct cause for the emigration of these people, by giving cover to terrorists in the beginning and through sanctions imposed on Syria, to help in making the Syrians return to their country."

Turkey, Saudi Could Launch Anti-IS Ground Operation in Syria, Says Ankara
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 13/16/Turkey and Saudi Arabia could launch a ground operation against Islamic State jihadists in Syria, the Turkish foreign minister said Saturday, adding the kingdom was already sending jets to a Turkish base to attack the extremists. The coordinated plans by Riyadh and Ankara, who are pursuing an increasingly tight alliance, add a new element to the explosive situation in Syria where Russia has been backing a successful regime offensive against rebels. "If there is a strategy (against IS) then Turkey and Saudi Arabia could enter into a ground operation," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the Yeni Safak and Haberturk newspapers after taking part in the Munich Security Conference. "Some say 'Turkey is reluctant to take part in the fight against Daesh (IS)'. But it is Turkey that is making the most concrete proposals," he said. Cavusoglu added that Saudi Arabia is also sending planes to the Turkish base of Incirlik, a key hub for U.S.-led coalition operations against IS, already used by Britain, France and the United States carrying for cross-border air raids. "They (Saudi officials) came, did a reconnaissance of the base. At the moment it is not clear how many planes will come," Cavusoglu said. Asked if Saudi Arabia could send troops to the Turkish border to enter Syria, Cavusoglu said: "This is something that could be desired but there is no plan. Saudi Arabia is sending planes and they said 'If the necessary time comes for a ground operation then we could send soldiers'."His comments come after Assad defiantly told AFP in an exclusive interview published on Friday that he would recapture the whole of Syria and keep "fighting terrorism". Assad also said he "doesn't rule out" that Turkey and Saudi Arabia would intervene militarily in Syria but said that his armed forces "will certainly confront it". Saudi Arabia had already said earlier this month that it was ready to join any ground operation against IS. But this is the first time a top Turkish official has publicly raised the prospect, long the subject of speculation, of a joint ground incursion with the kingdom. Turkey's relations with fellow mainly Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia have warmed considerably in recent months. Ties had been damaged by Saudi's role in the 2013 ousting of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, a close ally of Ankara. Saudi Arabia and Turkey both see the ousting of Syrian President Bashar Assad as essential for ending Syria's five-year civil war and are bitterly critical of Iran and Russia's support of the Syrian regime. Turkey and Saudi back rebels who are seeking to oust Assad and both fear the West is losing its appetite to topple Assad on the assumption he is "the lesser of two evils" compared to the IS jihadists. Both are outraged by the Russian military intervention in Syria, which analysts believe has given Assad a new lease of life and has also deeply alarmed the West. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday that strains between Russia and the West over the Syria and Ukraine crises have plunged the world into a "new Cold War". "Almost every day we are accused of making new horrible threats either against NATO as a whole, against Europe or against the U.S. or other countries," Medvedev said in Munich. Speaking in Munich, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry complained that the vast majority of Russia's attacks in Syria were against "legitimate opposition groups" rather than IS jihadists. "We think it is critical that Russia's targeting change," he said. Russia also dispatched a new patrol ship armed with cruise missiles to the Mediterranean, with reports saying it was bound for Syria. With violence still raging on the ground, an ambush by Syrian rebels on pro-regime forces near Damascus this week killed 76 fighters, a monitor said Saturday. World powers on Friday announced an ambitious plan to stop fighting in Syria within a week, but doubts have emerged over its viability, especially because it did not include IS or Al-Qaida's local branch. The 17-nation International Syria Support Group, which includes Turkey and Saudi Arabia, also agreed that "sustained delivery" of humanitarian aid would begin "immediately".

French FM: 'No Time to Lose' to Install Libya Unity Government
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 13/16/There is "no time to lose" to put in place a unity government in Libya, where the Islamic State group is rapidly expanding its presence, the new French foreign minister said Saturday. "There is no time to lose for the national unity government to assume its functions and securely establish itself in Tripoli," said Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, following a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The meeting was attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts from Britain, Egypt, Germany and Italy, as well as EU and U.N. representatives. The speaker of Libya's internationally recognized parliament, Aguila Saleh, was also present. His parliament had given itself to Sunday to form a new national unity government aimed at ending years of chaos in the North African country. "They must move fast, as fast as possible. It is in the interest of the Libyan people, the regional countries and Europe," said Ayrault, who took over as France's foreign minister from Laurent Fabius this week. "Those who oppose the process... will be subject to sanctions. That point is clear," said Ayrault. The Islamic State jihadist group has taken advantage of the turmoil to establish a stronghold in the coastal city of Sirte. Libya has been in chaos since the 2011 ouster of longtime dictator Moammer Gadhafi, with two rival administrations and armed groups fighting for control of the oil-rich country. A militia alliance including Islamists overran Tripoli in August 2014, establishing its own government and parliament and causing the recognized administration to flee to the country's remote east.

Russia's Syria Military Targeting Must Change, Says Kerry
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 13/16/Russia must change its military targeting as it backs the Syrian regime, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday, as world powers seek a cessation of hostilities in the country within a week. "To date, the vast majority of Russia's attacks have been against legitimate opposition groups," Kerry said of Moscow's air strikes in support of President Bashar al-Assad's forces. "To adhere to the agreement it made, we think it is critical that Russia's targeting change."Russia has supported the Assad regime against rebel forces whom it collectively labels "terrorists". The United States has provided some support to the rebels and called for Assad to leave power. Friday's agreement called for a "cessation of hostilities" within a week and for greatly increased humanitarian access, but it excludes the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-linked jihadists. "There's a lot of work to do before an effective cessation can commence," said Kerry, whose country together with Russia co-chairs a UN task force meant to find ways toward a durable cessation of violence. "There is no way to adequately deal with the cessation of hostilities unless we do sit down and work together on every aspect of this, from the political to the humanitarian to the military also. And we are doing that now." Kerry cautioned that "we are not approaching this with some sense of pie-in-the-sky hope". In talks with Russia, he said, "we will work through where this targeting should take place, where it shouldn't, how we work together in order to be effective so we don't drive people away from the table. "Because, obviously, if people who are ready to be part of the political process are being bombed, we are not going to have much of a conversation." Kerry stressed this was the crucial moment in a five-year war that has claimed more than 250,000 lives."This is the moment. This is a hinge point," he said. "Decisions made in the coming days and weeks, and a few months could end the war in Syria –- or could define a very difficult set of choices for the future." He added: "The war in Syria has now lasted for almost five years –- and shows no signs of burning itself out –- which is why we are so focused on a political track. "If the international community and the Syrians themselves miss the opportunity now before us to achieve that political resolution to the conflict, the violence, the bloodshed, the torture, the bombing, and the anguish will continue -- so will the siren call to jihad."

Report: Russia Sends Brand New Cruise Missile Ship to Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 13/16/Russia has dispatched a new ship armed with cruise missiles to the Mediterranean, the navy announced Saturday, as reports said it is bound for Syria. The Zelyony Dol, a patrol ship armed with Kalibr cruise missiles that only joined the Black Sea fleet in December, departed for the Mediterranean, the Black Sea fleet said in a statement. RIA-Novosti news agency further quoted a security source in Crimea -- where the Black Sea fleet is based -- saying that the ship is bound for Syria and may take part in Russia's campaign to support the Syrian army. "The goals of the ship are not public but considering that it is carrying long-range cruise missiles, its participation in the military operation should not be excluded," the source was quoted as saying just a day after world powers agreed to cease hostilities in the war-ravaged country. Zelyony Dol was only built last year and this week took part in a massive landing operation exercise to train "holding the coast" while landing troops attempt to take control. Moscow is under fire for its bombing campaign in Syria, with the United States this week accusing it of undermining peace talks by helping in an offensive on the rebel stronghold of Aleppo. Russia meanwhile warned against any ground intervention in Syria by countries in the US-led coalition with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev saying it would unleash another war. "Don't threaten anyone with a ground operation," he said Saturday in Munich in a speech that lashed out at the West and talked of a "new Cold War." Russian navy used cruise missiles to strike Syria in October, launching them from the Caspian Sea, as well as in December, when they were launched from a submarine in the Mediterranean.

Turkey Strikes Kurds in Syria, Mulls Ground Attack with Saudi
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 13/16/Turkish artillery on Saturday shelled areas of Aleppo province in northern Syria held by Kurdish forces, a monitor said, as Ankara said it could launch a ground assault alongside Saudi troops. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish artillery struck areas of Aleppo, including Minnigh airbase recently taken by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia from Islamist rebels. Ankara considers the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its YPG militia to be branches of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. The shelling came shortly after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara would, if necessary, take military action against the PYD. "We can if necessary take the same measures in Syria as we took in Iraq and Qandil," he said in a televised speech. The premier was referring to Turkey's bombing campaign last year against PKK targets in their Qandil mountain stronghold in northern Iraq. A YPG source told AFP that the Turkish shelling targeted the strategic Minnigh airbase, which Kurdish forces retook late on Wednesday. Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, quoted in Turkish newspapers, said Riyadh and Ankara were coordinating plans to intervene in Syria, where Russia has been backing a successful regime offensive against rebels. "If there is a strategy (against the Islamic State jihadist group), then Turkey and Saudi Arabia could enter into a ground operation," he said. Cavusoglu said Saudi Arabia is also sending planes to the Turkish base of Incirlik, a key hub for U.S.-led coalition operations against IS already used by Britain, France and the United States for cross-border air raids. "They (Saudi officials) came, did a reconnaissance of the base. At the moment it is not clear how many planes will come," Cavusoglu said. Turkish media later quoted military sources as saying between eight and 10 Saudi jets would be deployed in Incirlik within the coming weeks, with 4 F-16 fighters to arrive in a first wave. Asked if Saudi Arabia could send troops to the Turkish border to enter Syria, Cavusoglu said: "This is something that could be desired but there is no plan. Saudi Arabia is sending planes and they said 'If the necessary time comes for a ground operation then we could send soldiers'."
'Saudi ready to take part'
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, for his part, said in a German newspaper interview: "There is discussion on whether ground troops are needed against IS. "If a decision is taken to send in special units against IS, Saudi Arabia is ready to take part."In an interview with AFP released on Friday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he "doesn't rule out" that Turkey and Saudi Arabia would intervene militarily in Syria but said that his armed forces "will certainly confront it". Saudi Arabia had already said earlier this month that it was ready to join any ground operation against IS. Turkey's relations with fellow mainly Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia have warmed considerably in recent months. Ties had been damaged by Saudi's role in the 2013 ouster of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, a close ally of Ankara. Saudi Arabia and Turkey are both staunch supporters of rebels seeking to oust Assad and see his overthrow as essential for ending Syria's five-year civil war that has cost more than 260,00 lives. They fear the West is losing its appetite to overthrow him on the assumption he is "the lesser of two evils" compared to the IS jihadists.
'New Cold War'
Both are outraged by the Russian military intervention in Syria, which analysts believe has given Assad a new lease of life and has also deeply alarmed the West. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday that strains between Russia and the West over the Syrian and Ukraine conflicts had plunged the world into a "new Cold War". "Almost every day we are accused of making new horrible threats either against NATO as a whole, against Europe or against the U.S. or other countries," Medvedev said. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry complained that the vast majority of Russia's attacks in Syria were against "legitimate opposition groups" rather than IS jihadists. "We think it is critical that Russia's targeting change," he said. Russia also dispatched a new patrol ship armed with cruise missiles to the Mediterranean, with reports saying it was bound for Syria. An ambush by rebels on pro-regime forces near Damascus this week killed 76 fighters, the Syrian Observatory said on Saturday. World powers on Friday announced an ambitious plan to stop fighting in Syria within a week, but doubts have emerged over its viability, especially because it did not include IS or al-Qaida's local branch, which is fighting alongside other rebel groups in several areas.

More Major Attacks in Europe 'a Certainty', Warns French PM
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 13/16/More major attacks in Europe are a "certainty", French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told an audience at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. "We have entered -- we all feel it -- in a new era characterized by the lasting presence of 'hyper-terrorism'," said Valls, whose country was hit by two Islamist attacks last year. "We must be fully conscious of the threat, and react with a very great force and great lucidity. There will be attacks. Large-scale attacks. It's a certainty. This hyper-terrorism is here to stay," he said. Valls was speaking at the three-day security conference in the southern German city, speaking alongside Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. "The force of the ideological fascination is formidable, and if we have changed era it is because this hyper-terrorism is in the heart of our societies." Islamic State jihadists wrought havoc on the streets of Paris on November 13, killing 130 in a series of attacks on bars, a football stadium and the Bataclan concert hall. That came after 12 people were killed in a January attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical news weekly, which had been in the jihadists' sights since publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2006.

Palestinian Shot Dead in Attempt to Stab Israeli Soldier
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 13/16/Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian woman as she tried to stab a soldier in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday, the army said in a statement. "An assailant drew a knife and attempted to stab a soldier," it said. "Responding to the attack, forces fired at the perpetrator, resulting in her death." The Palestinian health ministry confirmed that a woman was killed but could not immediately give her age or name. The incident took place as Washington's U.N. ambassador, Samantha Power, arrived for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. "Arrived in Israel... to discuss U.S. commitment to 2 states side by side in security & peace," she wrote on her official Twitter account earlier. Since the current round of bloodshed erupted at the beginning of October, 167 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces. Most were carrying out attacks but others died during clashes and demonstrations. The violence has claimed the lives of 26 Israelis, as well as an American, a Sudanese and an Eritrean, according to an AFP count. The army statement said that Saturday's incident occurred near Hebron's shared religious site known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque, a site of frequent friction between the sides. Hebron is a regular flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with several hundred Jewish settlers living in the heart of the city under heavy military guard among around 200,000 Palestinians. A large number of the Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks that began on October 1 have occurred in and around the city.

Kissinger’s Touches in the Middle East
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/February 13/16
Henry Kissinger, the doyen of American diplomacy and global strategies, does not like retirement. He believes he has never been out of touch with world affairs and still has a lot to offer in terms of finding solutions and eliminating any threats to the interests he defends. Actually, I believe wise Russians still remember his leading role behind Richard Nixon’s ‘opening up’ policy toward Communist China, which was an integral part of the calculations of the then US – Soviet ‘bi-polar rivalry’. Dr Kissinger’s strategy was to weaken the Communist threat through widening and exploiting the rift between the two Communist giants, the USSR and China, while skillfully managing the tricky ‘co-existence’ with the Soviets. His success was spectacular as the Chinese giant was brought out of the cold and neutralized, and later Washington managed to turn the Afghani quagmire into the USSR’s Vietnam’.
Kissinger’s destructive strategic planning did not stop at isolating the USSR, embroiling it in trouble, and then exhausting and partitioning it, this was equally experienced by the Arab world. Many Arabs recollect the ‘ventures’ of “Dear Henry” – as the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat used to call him – perhaps the most significant of which was the October 1973 (Yom Kippur) War, which was ‘tactically’ fought by Egypt and Syria after the then leaders of the two countries overthrew Moscow’s friends in two Washington-friendly “corrective movements” in Damascus (autumn of 1970) and Cairo (1971).
Hafez Al-Assad’s and Anwar Sadat’s regimes were in reality fruits of ‘Kissingerism’, not only in terms of regional realignment, but also – and more significantly – in terms of unearthing the anathema of sectarianism in the two counties bordering Israel.
The true sectarian nature of the Syrian regime is now clear to all to see, while exploiting religion in Sadat’s political battles (namely against ‘Arabists’ and Leftists) in Egypt was instigated by the “Believer ( i.e. Muslim) President”. Incidentally, as the once ‘secular’ regime in Damascus turned Syria into a base for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and protectorate of Hezbollah, the “Believer President” became the first Arab head of state to shake hands with Menachem Begin and establish full diplomatic relations with Israel.
Today, Dr Kissinger is preaching cordial relations and cooperation between Moscow and Washington against the background of negative rhetoric regarding the Ukraine and Syria. The other day I read a piece written by Dr Kissinger in which he told the story of his collaboration with the late former Russian statesman, journalist and ‘Orientalist’ Yevgeny Primakov, in creating and co-chairing a group of retired American and Russian politicians and military figures known as Track 2 between 2007 and 2009. The objective of this group was to improve relations and dissipate all tensions, old and new, that may afflict these relations.
The former American Foreign Secretary and National Security Advisor wrote in detail about the efforts of the group and its contacts with the Kremlin and the White House; particularly, with regards to the Ukraine and Syria.
As far as the latter is concerned he wrote: “Regarding Syria, it is clear that the local and regional factions cannot find a solution on their own. Compatible U.S. – Russian efforts coordinated with other major powers could create a pattern for peaceful solutions in the Middle East and perhaps elsewhere”. He concluded by saying that such solutions can only come about through “a willingness in both Washington and Moscow, in the White House and the Kremlin, to move beyond the grievances and sense of victimization to confront the larger challenges that face both of our countries in the years ahead”.
Indeed, Kissinger’s words about the Middle East in general, and Syria in particular, fully complement the policies of the Barack Obama administration. Moreover, what has been said about Washington being less inclined now to be involved in the Middle East in order to concentrate on the potential threat posed by China seems to be related somehow to Kissinger’s efforts to bring Washington and Moscow ever closer. In the past he unleashed the Chinese giant order to weaken the USSR, and now he is cooperating with the Russians as a means to keep China at bay.
On the other hand, Washington has another obsession that has engendered a dangerous impression in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. This impression, widely shared by American politicians and the military, is that the West can never co-exist with a multi-leadership ‘Sunni Political Islam’ but it definitely can with a single-leadership ‘Shi’i Political Islam’. Iran, the only country officially ruled by ‘Shi’i Political Islam’, represents the best example of efficient control and discipline insured by a single authority. This ‘Shi’ite Iran’ is now a very valuable and important Asian and Arabian Gulf player in Washington’s calculations.
Hence, trying to win over Iran as an ally makes sense for Washington, more so, since the Tehran leaders – like the Kremlin leadership – regard themselves fighting on the same front in the open-ended war against ‘Sunni Political Islam’.
Add to the above the fact that the present tension between Russia and Turkey – which has been brought back by Recep Tayyip Erdogan under the banners of ‘Sunni Political Islam’ – represents a vital element in the process of redrawing the geo-political map of the whole Middle East, not only the ‘near east’ of the Fertile Crescent.
Based on this, the unfolding tragic events in Syria give the impression that there is an implicit agreement between Washington, Moscow and Tehran, with Israel’s approval, on the following:
1. To destroy ‘Sunni Political Islam’ throughout the region at any cost.
2. To take the Kurds out of the equation as a prelude to creating a ‘Greater Kurdistan’ which may not leave Turkey unscathed.
3. After eradicating any ‘Arab option’, first by Washington and later by Tehran, to move forward with the plans to establish new sectarian entities replacing the old and dilapidated ‘Sykes-Picot Agreement’ entities now approaching 100 years old.
4. To benefit from China’s – the future adversary – mutual interest in fighting the two common enemies: ‘Sunni Political Islam’ and Turkic nationalism, both currently fuelling the separatist struggle in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (or East Turkestan).
How would or should the Arabs react? I think they have no choice but to realise the interest-based ingredients of the wide international alliance before them, and comprehend that fighting the whole world is not the answer; especially since ‘Political Islam, both Sunni and Shi’i, has caused the region enough disasters. In fact, some of the worst atrocities attributed to extremist ‘Sunni Political Islam’ were hatched in the intelligence agencies in countries ruled by ‘Shi’i Political Islam’. In addition to dubious ISIS, the links of some Al-Qaeda figures with Iran are well-known and documented, and so are the diligent efforts of the Syrian regime’s intelligences apparatus in creating and orchestrating the activities of ‘Fatah Al-Islam’ in Lebanon and the Abu Al-Qa’qa’ phenomenon and his Al-Qaeda “gifts” to Iraq.

Iran- the Revolution That Produced Only Losers
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/February 13/16
At this time every year I am bombarded by demands from the media across the globe to take part in programs on the anniversary of the 1979 Khomeinist Revolution in Iran.
Since I cannot hide my feelings, everyone knows that I always spoke about the event in anger. I was angry at the fact that, in a moment of historic madness, Iran gambled its future on a half-baked ideology concocted by a semi-literate mullah.
I was angry at the fact that Khomeini and his pseudo-Marxist associates got Iran involved in the longest war in our history that claimed a million Iranian and Iraqi lives. I was angry at the mass executions which, in some cases, run into thousands in a single weekend.
This year, however, as I moved from studio to studio, “assessing the results” of the Khomeinist seizure of power, I felt more sorry than angry. Maybe age has mellowed me and I think that it might be time for Iran to move beyond anger.
Or maybe it is because I have had more contact with younger Iranians in recent times, including many who were not even around when the ayatollah returned to embark on his killing spree.
At the time of the ayatollah’s return, Iran’s population was 38 million. Today it is close to 80 million. The demographic balance has tipped in favor of the future and against the past. Almost two-thirds of Iranians today were either not born at the time of the mullahs’ takeover or were children not involved in the shenanigans of their elders. Moreover, graveyards are full of those who started and led the Khomeinist revolution while tens of thousands of first generation Khomeinists have fled to exile in places as far as Syndey in Australia to New Bern in North Carolina.
We cannot say that the blood of children should be spilt to atone for the parents’ guilt. To the new generation of Iranians my quarrel with the dead ayatollah and his octogenarian successor appears anachronistic, not to say weird.
The younger Iranians are not interested in things their parents were interested in. They don’t give two hoots about ideology and do not approach the modern world, a world in the creation of which we played no role, with a mixture of fascination and suspicion. They want to be part of this creative but chaotic world which, whenever given the slightest chance, they have shown they can contribute to.
So, I feel sorry for these new generations that are forced to under-achieve, to live below their capabilities because the morally bankrupt Khomeinist sect has built a wall around Iran.
Those from the very same generations who have managed to leave Iran have demonstrated talents and energies that have won admiration. Forty-nine per cent of NASA’s scientific personnel are of Iranian origin. The Islamic Health Minister Dr. Hashemi has revealed that there are more Iranian doctors in the US and Canada than in the Khomeinist Republic. For decades, Iran has suffered the biggest brain drain in history, according to an International Monetary Fund study.
I feel sorry for the people of Iran who are denied the services of their own children. Those left in Iran are also denied the chance to do their best and to realize their highest potential. In my own profession, journalism, I can identify quite a few people in the Iranian media today who, given a minimum of freedom, could produce work of the highest standard. Only they are never given that minimum of freedom. So I feel sorry for them.
We have people in Iran who could, and whenever given a chance, produce high quality literature, theatre, cinema and art. The problem is that they have to cope with systematic censorship, imprisonment and, eventually exile.
So I feel sorry for them and the rest of us because we are denied the fruits of their genius.
I even feel sorry for the pathetic Ministry of Islamic Guidance that tries to forbid the use of certain words in literature, starting with a black list of 38 words.
I also feel sorry for Iran’s religious and ethnic minorities who are not allowed even the small freedoms they enjoyed for centuries.
All Iranians are not Muslims. All those who are Muslims are not Shiites. All those who are Shiites are not Twelvers. All those who are Twelvers are not Osulis. All those who are Osulis are not Khomeinists. All those who are Khomeinists are not devotees of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who is cast as “Leader of the Islamic Ummah.” So a very small minority of mullahs and military, thanks to their monopoly on guns and money, is holding a nation hostage.
I feel sorry for the 230,000 inmates of the Islamic Republic’s prisons, because none benefited from due process, and the 6.5 million who have spent some time in the Islamic jails during the past four decades.
I feel sorry for Mir-Hussein Mussavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard and Mahdi Karrubi, all ardent Khomeinists, who are doomed to spend the rest of their lives under house arrest without being charged.
I also feel sorry for the first President of the Khomeinist Republic Abol-Hassan Banisadr who is languishing in exile, and for his three successors, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Muhammad Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who are denied passports to travel out of Iran. Khatami has even had a total ban imposed on the mention of his name and running of his photos in the Khomeinist media.
I feel sorry for the families of the 100,000 or so men and women executed by the mullahs including the 2000 put to death since President Hassan Rouhani and his “New York Boys” won a share of power in Tehran.
Please forgive me, I also feel sorry for Rouhani who has tacitly admitted that he is an actor playing president while real power is wielded elsewhere. Here is how Islamic Chief Justice Sadeq Larijani put it last week: “The powers of the President are vague in our Islamic Constitution. To call him head of the executive branch is open to question.”
I feel sorry for a government that has to spend part of Iran’s own income with the permission of the P5+1 group and organizes “spontaneous celebrations” when President Obama releases a small fraction of the nation’s “frozen” assets. Rouhani calls that humiliation “Fatah al-Mobin” (Evident Victory) and claims it as “Islam’s greatest diplomatic triumph.” I feel sorry for him.
Khomeini created a system in which everyone is a loser, everyone including himself. His mortal remains are kept in a sumptuous shrine that cost $50 million to build. However, apart from schoolchildren bussed there by force and the European Union foreign policy tsarina Federica Mogherini and the German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, hardly anyone goes there. The late ayatollah’s writings, especially his mediocre poetry, have become standard fare for stand-up comedy among Iranians.
Finally, and please don’t get angry with me, I am even sorry for the “Supreme Guide” who is also a big loser in a system in which everyone is a loser, everyone including the winners. Since 1989 he has not set foot out of Iran and does not dare visit 25 out of 31 provinces for fear of assassination. He cannot travel abroad because there is an Interpol “Red Alert” warrant against him for involvement in the murder of Iranian Kurdish dissidents in Berlin. He is a prisoner of the past, not to mention his own illusions..

Right-wing extremist groups ‘prevalent’ across Canada, study warns
Douglas Quan | February 10, 2016 | Last Updated: Feb 12
National Post/Canada
Canada’s right-wing extremist movement is a motley crew of white supremacists, anti-government “sovereignists” and pro-militia crusaders who, despite being disorganized and prone to booze-fuelled in-fighting, are “more extensive and more active” than most people think, says a new study.
While some members have tried to create a “façade of legitimacy” by toning down their rhetoric, running in municipal elections and joining military ranks, others remain a public threat, aligning themselves with organized crime groups and exploiting hate-filled white power music and Internet chat rooms, it found.
“They’re very prevalent in a number of communities. They’re very unpredictable. You don’t know when they’re going to lash out,” said Barbara Perry, the lead author, a criminology professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
Perry and Ryan Scrivens, a PhD student at B.C.’s Simon Fraser University, talked to law enforcement officials and community activists, as well as current and former hate group members. They also scoured court records and media reports to create one of the few comprehensive portraits of the movement in Canada. Their findings were published in the journal, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism.
At least 100 right-wing extremist groups, from “three-man wrecking crews” to dozens-strong, have been active in recent years. They are concentrated in Quebec, western Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
Handout/RCMP
Handout/RCMPPolice-killer Justin Bourque's social media trail was laden with pro-gun and anti-authority messages.
While some members have engaged in random acts of violence, others have carried out targeted attacks on Muslims, Jews, people of colour, aboriginals and LGBTQ people.
“We see the right-wing extremism movement rear its ugly head once and a while, but it just doesn’t really gain the same traction as Islamic extremists,” Scrivens said of the media coverage.
The researchers cited the fatal shooting last year of an Edmonton hate-crimes officer as he attempted to serve an arrest warrant on Norman Raddatz, who was suspected of anti-Semitic bullying of a family.
They also mentioned the June 2014 shooting deaths of three Mounties in Moncton, N.B., by Justin Bourque, whose social media trail was laden with pro-gun and anti-authority messages.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has acknowledged the presence of right-wing extremists, but they don’t appear to be a high priority.
“Right-wing extremist circles appear to be fragmented and primarily pose a threat to public order and not to national security,” a spokeswoman said.
Many police agencies have created special teams to monitor groups and respond to hate crimes. A lieutenant from the Sûreté du Québec division that investigates domestic terrorism told a parliamentary committee in late 2014, “a majority of the service’s active files deal with the extreme right.
One place where right-wing extremists find support is online. Sub-forums of the white supremacist website, Stormfront.org, are among the most popular, the researchers found. Topics of recent discussion threads included “Brown people are still invading” and “I am sorry but only white people are Canadian.”
“One officer voiced his concern about websites that urged its audience to ‘kill the Aboriginals, kill the Jews, kill the blacks, kill the gays,’” the researchers wrote.
‘We see the right-wing extremism movement rear its ugly head once and a while, but it just doesn’t really gain the same traction as Islamic extremists’
Members have also found solidarity around the white power music scene. Quebec is ground zero for skinhead music, while Alberta is a hotbed for the more “subtle” black metal, which is less xenophobic and more apocalyptic.
While the face of the extreme right may be a tattooed, angry, young white male, the contemporary movement includes people who are trying to soften that image, the study found.
During municipal elections in Ontario in 2014, several candidates included far-right actors, such as John Beattie, founder of the Canadian Nazi Party.
Other right-wing extremist sympathizers and activists have joined the Canadian Armed Forces. A 2012 Ottawa Citizen article cited an intelligence report warning of growing white supremacist membership in the military. (A military spokeswoman said any racist behaviour will not be tolerated, as ”such attitudes are totally incompatible with the military ethos and with effective military service.”)
Despite efforts to become more mainstream, many right-wing extremists still have a proclivity for violence, the study found. Some adherents have rallied around mixed martial arts, as it provides “an outlet and training grounds for violence.”
Even more alarming, some groups have joined outlaw biker gangs, who “share similar subcultural characteristics, such as slang, language, dress and a propensity for violence.” Others have morphed into drug gangs.
Supplied
SuppliedNorman Raddatz, who was suspected of anti-Semitic bullying of a family, fatally shot a police officer, then himself, last year.
Some extremists choose not to be part of any group, preferring instead to provide “ideological fodder on which others may feed.” One of Canada’s most notorious white nationalists, Paul Fromm, has spoken to various groups, including the U.S.-based Council of Conservative Citizens.
Dylann Roof, the young man accused of gunning down nine black worshippers in Charleston, S.C., last year credited the council for drawing attention to “black on white crime.” The council said it did not condone violence and Fromm said the murders were “absolutely wrong.”
Still, authorities appear to be closely watching Fromm. In a recent YouTube rant, he described how, on a return trip from London, he was detained by border authorities at Toronto’s airport for more than two hours so they could search him for “hate propaganda.”
It’s not just law enforcement right-wing extremists have to be watchful for; sometimes the enemy is their peers. Fighting in and between neo-Nazi groups is common as members jockey for power and status, the study said.
“They hate so much and so many that they start to hate one another,” one officer said.
Some who have left the movement simply grew tired of constantly having to justify their racist, homophobic or anti-Semitic stances.
“Hating,” it turned out, “was exhausting.”
• Email: dquan@postmedia.com | Twitter:

The year of voting dangerously
Hisham Melhem/Al Arabiya/February 13/16
It’s the year of the outsiders. It’s the year of the angry voter. It’s the year of the insurgents with pitchforks marching on Washington to take it back from the oligarchs. It’s the year where the rebel yell has drowned the little civility that remained in the political discourse. It’s the year when vulgarity, crassness and obtuseness were celebrated as courageous rejection of stale convention and political correctness, and when authentic passion exposed political expediency and cold calculus. It’s the year when Americans engage in the most ritualistic and longest election season in the world. No other country choses a leader with comparable pump and circumstance, splendid colors, outlandish expenses, exaggerated promises, and strange assortments of good, bad and ugly contenders, as America. It’s the season I admire the most, and dread the most.
Three rebels and a daughter of the establishment
Three of the four major candidates describe themselves and are seen by most as ‘outsiders’ seeking the highest office in the land to deliver the country from its current woes, and save it from the clutches of a compromised political class of professional Republicans and Democrats that rigged the system to its own benefit and betrayed the people. Two would be saviors, one from the Right, Republican Senator Ted Cruz and one from the Left, the self-described Democratic Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, and the third, a rampaging narcissist, the racist, sexist, Muslim and Latino hater Donald Trump ,who expediently in this election cycle is describing himself a Republican, have dominated the last seven months of the long race. The fourth, is former Secretary of State, former Senator and former first lady, Hillary Clinton who along with her husband former President Bill Clinton have dominated the Democratic Party for the last quarter of a century. Hillary Clinton, who is being challenged for the second time in eight years by an outsider, finds herself unable to shed her skin as the legitimate daughter of the hated establishment.
Populist demagogues like Trump are not created instantly. They are the product of slow moving cultural and political trends
For most of the pre-primary season, the outsiders were considered long shots and dark horses; at best protest candidates, at worst publicity seekers, particularly the former reality television host Donald Trump. Senator Cruz, who is universally hated in the senate, was not seen initially as a credible contender, and Senator Sanders was dismissed early on as a novelty, because the American electorate will not take seriously a socialist candidate, and besides he is challenging the supposedly anointed and inevitable Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.
Despair in the Heartland
The impressive electoral victories achieved by Cruz, Trump and Sanders in the states of Iowa and New Hampshire, conferred on the outsider candidates the credibility they craved and gave the movements that they have created a degree of legitimacy. The rise of the candidacy of Senator Sanders, his wide support among the youth, including young women and independent voters, has shaken the lackluster Clinton campaign. The issues that Senator Sanders is raising, such as income inequality, and how the special interests and big corporations at Wall Street are in control of the political class in Washington and a corrupt campaign finance system designed to serve the oligarchy, have galvanized a movement most observers did not see coming. And although Sanders’ speeches focus mostly on economic issues and are laden with disturbing statistics about poverty, inequality and social injustice, even his critics would concede that he brings to the campaign a genuine passion, that turn his rallies into poetry, compared with the flat, and calculating unattractive prose of Hillary Clinton. Even if Sanders proposed solutions are wanting or not fully achievable, (and he is not convincing as a Commander-In-Chief) he has forced Clinton to fight for the nomination, and pushed her further to the left by raising issues Democratic candidates ignored for decades. Sanders may not be able to win a national election, but he is being embraced by a significant segment of the electorate that is hungry for a trustworthy and transparent candidate who calls himself a socialist after decades of Democratic politicians fleeing from the label liberal.
If Sanders articulate from the left, the frustrations and concerns of the youth who are no longer sure that their future will be better than their parents’, Trump does the same from the right, albeit less artfully and less coherently the concerns of mostly middle aged whites who believe that their country is slipping from their hands and is being taken over by immigrants and minorities. Both candidates are tapping into a reservoir of alienation and despair. America is changing in fundamental ways, economically, socially, culturally and demographically, and many people and groups are unable to adjust. A recent study showed alarming trends of rising death rates among middle-aged white Americans, not due to cancer, heart disease or diabetes, but to an “epidemic” of suicides and substance abuse. The least educated within this group suffered also from physical pain due to deteriorating health, and financial distress. These new downtrodden citizens are spreading despair in America’s heartland.
The Time of the Khawarij
But it was the thundering demagogue Trump who violently shook the foundations of the Republican Party and wrecked the plans of its high priests and moneyed class to rally behind a safe establishment candidate who will be beholden to the real powers that be. The dust storm generated by candidate trump was like a merciless Khamsin coming from nowhere and blinded everyone in the political and chattering classes. It is difficult to explain this phenomenon of three dominant outsiders, particularly Trump to Americans let alone to people overseas. In an article in Arabic I likened them, particularly Trump and Cruz in a derogatory, tongue and cheek fashion to the Khawarij , the extremists of the early Muslim era. Literally the Khawarij are those “who went out” of the mainstream. In Islam the Khawarij sect was born the moment the split between the Sunnis and the Shiite sects occurred, and they were opposed to both.
Before Americans began to vote for their candidates, Trump was called, vulgar, clown, arrogant, serial liar, shameless and scandalous. And he deserved everything that was thrown at him. Many seasoned election experts and historians anticipated his demise, but Trump had an impenetrable skin and every arrow hit him was broken. Like the infamous Russian peasant Rasputin, he refused to die; and in the process broke almost every taboo in American politics. From the moment he announced his candidacy in his own unorthodox rambling way He insulted Mexican immigrants calling them rapists and killers. Then he broadened the circle of his favorite daemons; journalists, Muslims, refugees, and war heroes. His foreign bogymen were again the Mexicans, Chinese and the Japanese accusing them of stealing American jobs and of unfair trade practices. He threatened Arab oil producing countries allied with the U.S. that they should pay protection money or he would go and steal their oil.
Trump’s noxious rhetoric was adopted by some of his peers, including Senator Cruz, Senator Marco Rubio and Governor Chris Christy, who unleashed their own fury against Muslims and the non-existing Syrian refugees flooding the U.S. It was a season of fake faith, and exaggerated religiosity. Trump, the Casino owner, who married three times and who most likely never read the Bible seriously, all of a sudden got religion, and became a Bible wielding man of faith; never mind that he hilariously misquoted the holly book to a very religious audience. Senator Rubio injected God incessantly in his speeches, telling his audiences that as a President he will be guided by religion, ignoring the Constitution that guarantees the separation of Church and State. Senator Cruz, the most ideologically and religiously rigid of all the Khawarij candidates, turned his victory speech after he won the Iowa Caucuses, into a religious sermon, beginning with “to God be the glory”.
Trump the destroyer
Behind his clownish spectacles, his brash and vulgar ways, Trump has proven to be politically cunning and adept at discerning the fears, real or imagined of the angriest among the electorate, particularly the middle aged whites. Trump is exploiting the fact that a minority of 20% of Americans trust the federal government, and that 60 % of Americans are convinced that the American Dream is no longer achievable. Trump’s main slogan is “make America great again”. He always talks about restoring America’s ability to “achieve victories” once again. He channeled these concerns and fears into anger directed at immigrants, and Muslims and foreign powers. It was alarming that 65% of those voters who gave Trump his large victory in New Hampshire agreed with him that Muslims should be banned from the U.S.
However, the most dangerous trend Trump is creating is the mainstreaming of bigotry and the politics of fear and resentment of others. Trump is demeaning the political discourse in the country. Some of his “speeches” are disconnected incomplete sentence stitched together by primitive grunts. Once I tried to transcribe one of his “speeches” and ended up with something akin to political “Dadaism”, a collection of words picked at random and lacking meaning or coherence. His rallies have the cadence of mobs on the prowl. They are the modern American version of the Roman “Bread and Circuses” where Trump provides the palliative to satisfy the immediate, vulgar needs of the spectators. And the occasional protester is summarily thrown out and sometimes beaten.
Trump has been chipping away at what is left of civility in America’s political culture, and is destroying the Party of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower. It is disturbing in the extreme, that now after his commanding victory in New Hampshire; Trump could conceivably become the Republican Party’s candidate for the Presidency. And yet, no one in mainstream media or in Public life would dare call this demagogue in his face that he is a bigot, dilettante, misogynist , racist and a peddler of the politics of fear. In times of political and economic uncertainty, patriotism becomes the last refuge of scoundrels. Populist demagogues like Trump are not created instantly. They are the product of slow moving cultural and political trends. In the last few decades we turned what should be healthy skepticism of central authority to hatred of government, anti-taxation into a quasi-religion. And a cultural war was waged against those who dared to be different, socially and culturally. Trump is the product of such trends. American patriots, Republicans and Democrats and independents should stop the march of this dangerous scoundrel to the White House.

Moscow’s World War III scarecrow
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/February 13/16
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was quoted saying during the Munich conference that ground intervention in Syria could result in a third world war. Despite the importance of what has been said, no one paid attention to his words because this statement seemed to be unrealistic, another fabrication from Iranian media that Moscow has consistently reiterated.
The World War theory is not convincing; it is a media exaggeration that strategists do not take seriously. If such a confrontation were to happen, it would have been prompted by the Russian occupation of Crimea, however it was enough for the West to release a few statements of condemnation. A new World War is not in the calculations of major powers; Syria is merely a side battle for the West and an arena for the Russians to flex their muscles.
Syrian rebels have been able to defeat the Iranians who have clearly failed for two years in their war in Syria, and they can do the same with the Russians later on if the opposition receives the arms it needs to counter the Russian air force. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have led the war in Syria for two years with logistical and military support from Russia, financial support and militias from Iraq and fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Still, they weren’t able to advance much, mainly in the capital Damascus, where suburbs such as al-Ghouta remained under rebel control. The Iranians have even failed to break the siege imposed on the villages of Nibl and Zahra in Aleppo, despite the promises and propaganda that accompanied the battles. Two years later, the siege was lifted, a few days before Russia's interference in the war.
There will neither be a new world war nor a direct military clash between Russia and the West and I don’t think there will be a confrontation with regional forces like Turkey, especially that both parties have already tested the limits of tension between them following Turkey’s downing of the Russian fighter jet. Due to Russian military interference and the persistent attempt to impose the Iranian solution on the Syrian people, we should expect the battles to continue with greater support to the opposition and increased Russian involvement.
Russians seeing red
It’s clear that the Russians are angered by the support the opposition is receiving and the Saudi statements regarding their intervention. This is because the aim of the huge military campaign supporting the opposition is to impose a new status quo, like for example, taking over all of Aleppo, and thus imposing a political solution at Geneva. If they fail in the short term, the Russians would have destroyed Syria without any political gain, which is the main objective of their involvement.
With the intensifying challenges, the Russians can achieve a political “half-victory” if they accept the power sharing solution; the opposition and the Syrian regime working together without Assad
Regional and international stances are important for the situation in Syria; it’s not only Russian and Iranian positions that matter. Most probably, the West won’t interfere directly in the war there, but Turkey or the Gulf states may have to intervene or increase their support to the Syrian opposition. The West would then be obliged to support the opposition as well, due to the exacerbation of the crisis by the millions of refugees and the rising threat of terrorism.
Today, the Russians are furious about any interference under any title whatsoever, including support for the opposition that suffered major setbacks as a result of Russian intervention.
With the intensifying challenges, the Russians can achieve a political “half-victory” if they accept the power sharing solution; the opposition and the Syrian regime working together without Assad. The Syrian opposition that had rejected this suggestion is now no longer in a military position that allows it to reject all options. Key countries like Turkey and the Gulf, have already expressed their acceptance of this political solution. However, the opposition allies will need to support it on the ground in order to push this political solution forward, because military power is the most important tool in the negotiations. This was also expressed by Russian FM Sergei Lavrov, when he told Moskovsky newspaper a few days ago that betting on a military solution has become a reality.
Turkey is the key player on the other side. There is no doubt that its reluctance to intervene further has placed it in hot water. The Russians and Iranians are now actively bolstering a Kurdish Front that is hostile to Turkey, separating between them and Syria. This would mean marginalizing the role of Turkey and its influence in Syria on one hand, and threatening the security of Turkey on the other. I do not think that the Turks would allow for this dangerous development to progress and they will have no choice but to increase their support for the opposition and activate the role of the refugees to form an alternative Liberation Army. Things might not get up to this point of complexity if the Russians and the Iranians become aware of the seriousness of the challenges against them; they will find that it is in their favor to accept the political solution that is now put forward.

Arab Women in science – where are they heading?
Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/February 13/16
In the Middle East, more women enrol in degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related subjects than men, a study by The Economist revealed recently. February 11 this year was also marked as the first ever International Day of Women and Girls in Science. One of UNESCO’s objectives in setting this day was to encourage more women to enter STEM-related studies and jobs.
The number of women participating in STEM-related PhDs and careers dwindle when compared to men. Clearly, although the Middle East does not have an issue in the enrolment rate of women in STEM subjects it does have an issue in retaining them and providing them with the opportunities to grow and succeed in their chosen field of study.
Root of disconnect
There is a clear leak in the pipeline between completing tertiary education in STEM, which Arab women are more than capable of doing, and achieving advance research in the area. In Saudi Arabia, for example, although there are more female undergraduates in STEM than there are men, a mere 29 percent pursue education in these subjects past their undergraduate degree, according to UNESCO, and an even smaller 1 percent of researchers are women.
The root of the disconnect between education and the labour force can be tracked back to the absence of role models, the lack of opportunities that allow women to juggle socio-cultural norms while pursuing further personal development and poor financial support opportunities when it comes to scholarships aimed at women.
Women in STEM are under-represented at management and technical levels across the world, but even more so in the Middle East
Women in STEM-related industries are under-represented at management and technical levels across the world, but even more so in the Middle East. The Arabian Business list of 100 most powerful Arab women has less than 20 percent women in the science, construction (engineering-related), or IT industries.
The majority of women in STEM subjects happen to come from either the Arabian Gulf countries or Lebanon. The rest of the women are in retail, culture and society, or the business and finance industries. Without being disrespectful toward the incredible women and their strong achievements one can say that this list is a testament to the failure of governments, culture, and society to foster an environment that encourages women to thrive in technical STEM-related fields.
However, role models inspire women to achieve greater heights. Having role models from similar educational, cultural, and monetary backgrounds makes success seem that much more realistic and achievable and therefore pushes women to work even harder.
Additionally, role models can provide strong mentoring and support to women, which their Arab male counterparts may find in after-work activities at their local golf club or shisha bar. Sadly, the region faces a severe shortage of Arab women as role models and mentors in STEM-related industries.
Critical for growth
The case for involving more Arab women in STEM-related careers is not just about allowing them fulfil their dreams – it’s also about the economy. Involving women in STEM-related careers is key to the region’s advancement. STEM industries are some of the fastest growing industries in the world. Middle East cannot expect to catch up with the rest of the world, or even be at par with it, if it leaves 50 percent of its population behind.
More efforts are needed to attract and retain women in STEM-related subjects. University degrees are more than just wall-decorations; they are the key to entering a world of opportunities, for the individual and for the region. Thus, the socio-cultural barriers that restrict the activities of women outside of traditional working hours must be waived.
Governments and private firms need to put in more efforts to allow women to achieve their goals – all of them, whether they are at home, or at work. Additionally, more female role models and opportunities to network are required to make this change come about.

Has happiness in the UAE troubled Arabs?
Mohamed Chebarro/Al Arabiya/February 13/16
When considering Arab and Muslim countries, I always search for a positive sign that could indicate a move towards a better future for societies. However, my many moments of optimism are often eradicated by feelings of disappointment.
Dubai ruler and UAE Vice President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum’s recent announcement that a government reshuffle will include the creation of a “Minister for Happiness” post was a source of hope for the wider region.
To put it simply, and perhaps with an element of naïveté, I think this move could prove infectious, encouraging greater happiness among wider Arab societies. More importantly, this position initiates a raison d'être for the government to ensure that the pursuit of happiness is possible.
Sheikh Mohammed's call for this new position is not surprising; it came from a visionary who helped to catapult Dubai from obscurity to becoming a prime global destination. What's more, his decisions have made sure that the Emirati government is one of the most advanced in the region and beyond.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
As a political science student, I was fascinated by the Magna Carta, the very first document that establish human rights as a basic right for all mankind. From as early as the 1200s, the charter has guided British governments towards this.
Arab constitutions, or at least those from countries that have bothered to write one, skirt around the subjects of liberty, freedom, the supremacy of laws and the equality of citizens
I was also struck by the way that the American constitution, written later in 1776, clearly sets the agenda for the government, ensuring that “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are a corner stone that enables society to live within the rule of law. They are described as “unalienable rights given to all humans by their creator and governments are created to protect those rights.'
Many countries, including Canada and France and later Japan and Vietnam, went on to include similar clauses in their constitutions and borrow from one of America's founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson. He may well have been inspired by philosopher John Locke.
The issue here is not to look at the American constitution, but to stress that every country must find tenants that characterize its government and set the basis for a covenant between the rulers and the ruled. This could be achieved if governments work to assure life, liberty and happiness.
Returning to the Arab world, many reactions seen on social media relating to the appointment of the Minister for Happiness are alarming. These comments show a failure to grasp the intended wider reach of the step taken by the UAE.
Furthermore, the concept of state and society, the mention of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not only non-existent in Arab countries, they are barely referred to as a source that guides the work of governments. They also do not influence key objectives for many Arab rulers.
Arab constitutions, or at least those from countries that have bothered to write one, skirt around the subjects of liberty, freedom, the supremacy of laws and the equality of citizens, while trying to define Arabism, socialism, religious pluralism and rights for minorities.
In the pre- and post-Arab Spring era, we hardly hear any mention of life, liberty, equality or happiness in debates on what the Arab youth need to see from their governments. Until the day comes when we see such terms being discussed, I doubt that we will march towards progressive and developing societies.
For many countries in the region, steps taken by the UAE to create a Ministry for Happiness should set a prime example which should be emulated.

Why smart cities should create ‘smart villages’ too
Ehtesham Shahid/Al Arabiya/February 13/16
Smart cities were very much on the agenda at the World Government Summit, held in Dubai last week. Experts on the subject discussed the various dimensions of smart cities, from digital transformation to agile governance, and their challenges and enablers.
As part of the process to encourage government sector to take to smart ways, best government services on smartphone were honored.
Policymakers also discussed the next-gen opportunities and the numerous organizational, technological, cultural and policy challenges related to smart cities. Stakeholders from all over the world exchanged experiences, tried to build synergies and signed cooperation agreements. A report – Smart City for Public Value – shed light on the impact of a regional network of smart cities, besides listing its accomplishments.
There was a feeling though that while rapid progress is being made vis-à-vis smart cities, waiting eagerly for their turn are far-flung villages, which have virtually given birth to metropolitan cities that we inhabit today.
Smart cities would do well to adopt a village each – may be more – and replicate all the products and services they have managed to implement
Dubai in particular, and the UAE in general, has been at the forefront of this drive toward smart cities. Its stated objective is to improve the quality of life and raise the levels of public “happiness”. “Dubai’s vision is not just to be the “smartest” city in the world by 2017 but also to be one of the “happiest” places on earth to live and work,” says the report.
The UAE is ranked 32nd in the U.N.’s ICT Development Index and 23rd in the World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index. Internet penetration in the country stands above 90 percent while penetration of mobile subscriptions is nearly 117 percent and progress is being made due to the infrastructure already available. Unfortunately, this is not the case all over the world, which also raises the question of equitable distribution of technology and services related to it.
There is no denying the advantages of having smart cities. It builds efficiency, enhances productivity and apparently also makes its inhabitants “happy”. But promised improvements in quality of life also, understandably, attract a large flow of population to mega cities. It is not surprising that the population of Dubai is expected to increase to five million by 2030.
With services getting better, communications getting smarter and lives getting “happier”, more aspirants are only expected to arrive in these cities from all over the world. More importantly, smart services may be reaching remote areas in the UAE but it is definitely not the case all over the world.
During the Summit, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, had a succinct and direct message. “We must address emerging digital divides between genders, generations, urban and rural areas, as well as between countries in peace and countries in crisis,” he said.
Adoption technique
The momentum being built by smart city applications is bound to reach villages at some stage. But for now, smart cities would do well to adopt a village each – may be more – and try and replicate all the products and services they have managed to implement in their respective cities.
Such attempts are already being made in some parts of the world but they are still few and far between. Moreover, these are not examples of a smart city adopting a village but instead of projects running parallel with little attempts to synergize the two.
It is also important not do this in a patronizing sort of a way. Last thing a deprived village would need is a shoddy corporate social responsibility exercise making a mockery of their already miserable condition. In effect, these adopted villages should become extended entities, even sounding boards, of some of these smart city developments.
Better still, if one needs to get away from the din and bustle of the city life, to unwind at a quiet place close to nature, they should be able to enjoy “smart village tourism” with the same set of facilities they enjoy in a smart city. If a few enterprising ones choose to settle down in a village, expecting to expand their businesses in villages, so be it.
That will truly be a case of smart cities and smarter villages.

The Worst of the Syrian Refugee Crisis Is Coming for Europe
Fabrice Balanche/Washington Insdtitute/February 13/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/02/13/fabrice-balanche-the-worst-of-the-syrian-refugee-crisis-is-coming-for-europe/
The Assad regime's Russian-aided military campaign and the onset of spring augur another mass refugee flow into the EU, and the only surefire way to stop it is by addressing the root of the crisis inside Syria.
The recent offensive by regime and allied forces around Aleppo is pushing tens of thousands of new Syrian refugees into Turkey. Some of them have fled their homes for the first time, while others left informal camps close to the northern border before the fighting could reach them. For most of these refugees, Turkey is only a transit country to Europe. They have lost hope for a quick end to the conflict, and those who supported the rebellion know it would be particularly difficult to return. The European Union can therefore expect a massive new influx of Syrians in the coming months, despite Ankara's promises to keep them in Turkey.
BIG INCREASE IN TURKEY
As of this month, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has registered 4.6 million Syrians in neighboring countries, against 3.3 million in January 2015. Even this considerable number underestimates the problem because not all Syrians formally apply for refugee status. In Jordan, for example, the government's Department of Statistics counted 1,250,000 Syrians in a recent census, nearly double the 623,000 officially registered by UNHCR (see "Jordan Reaches the Refugee Saturation Point").
More important, UNHCR figures indicate that the vast bulk of the increased flow since 2015 is being shouldered by Turkey. The number of registered refugees actually declined in Lebanon (1,070,000 last month, down from 1,146,000 in January 2015), Jordan (623,000, down from 633,000), and Egypt (123,500, down from 138,000), while increasing a little in Iraq (245,000 against 234,000). These people did not return to Syria, however -- they traveled to Europe via Turkey by road, plane, or boat. As a result, Ankara's claimed number of refugees increased from 1.5 million in January 2015 to 2.5 million last month.
To be sure, Turkey has likely exaggerated this number somewhat in order to get more help from the EU. But other official statistics understate the increase, since many of the refugees who registered in Middle Eastern countries have moved on to Europe so quickly that their original host governments have not yet removed them from their rolls.
The main cause of this accelerated flow is the Russian intervention. In spring 2015, some Syrian refugees had actually begun to return to Idlib after rebel offensives led regime forces to pull out. Yet these same refugees are now fleeing the country once again -- massive bombardments have driven at least 300,000 from their homes in the past four months alone.
Today, most of the refugees in Turkey do not want to stay there. For four years, they patiently remained in southern provinces near the border hoping to return home quickly when conditions permitted it, but the Russian-powered offensive has spurred many to abandon that hope and head for more hospitable countries in Europe (see "Why Now? The Syrian Refugee Flow to Europe," PolicyWatch 2515). Other Syrians have left relatively safe regime-controlled zones back home for economic reasons, heading straight to Europe.
On January 1, Turkey reversed its visa-free entry policy for Syrians, effectively cutting off several legal avenues for refugees to cross the border (e.g., via plane from Beirut or via shipping lines between Tripoli and Mersin). Yet illegal passage remains a readily available option, whether by land or on cargo vessels. And plenty of these boats will no doubt attempt to carry refugees directly to European coasts.
ANOTHER MASS FLOW TO EUROPE THIS SPRING
Last year, 1.5 million illegal immigrants reached the EU by various routes. More than 850,000 crossed the sea between Turkey and Greece, and another 150,000 arrived in Italy from the Libyan coast. Syrians constituted one-third of these immigrants -- as of December, the total number of Syrian asylum applicants in the EU was 897,000, up from 235,000 in only a year's time. Much of this increase began last spring, peaking at 156,000 in October.
Although the Russian intervention is responsible for the sheer size of the latest spike, the numbers also show a seasonal pattern. From June to November 2014, over 10,000 asylum requests were made per month; that average decreased by half in the winter months, then increased in spring 2015 as better weather and calmer seas facilitated passage. The number dropped by half again last November due to weather conditions and more stringent control measures by Turkish authorities. But when spring returns, it should regain its stride -- likely helped along by a large regime offensive in northwestern Syria.
While the migratory flow to Europe is linked to deteriorating conditions for refugees in Middle Eastern countries, the evolution of the crisis inside Syria is becoming an ever-greater factor. Continued fighting is further damaging the economic situation even in peaceful areas of the country, pushing more Syrians to leave -- particularly those in the private sector, who do not have the guaranteed salaries of state employees. But the largest group of refugees will be those fleeing new offensives, particularly where aerial bombardment is heaviest. This is why some Russian airstrikes have deliberately destroyed hospitals and other infrastructure -- as a means of urging civilians to flee and thus isolating the rebels. The Syrian army cannot attempt to retake an area if noncombatants are present en masse; such operations would cause heavy civilian losses that could exacerbate international condemnation and further alienate the population. An effective counterinsurgency policy therefore requires encircling such areas and waiting for civilians to leave (see PolicyWatch 2554, "The Battle of Aleppo Is the Center of the Syrian Chessboard").
ONE MILLION REFUGEES TO THE EU IN 2016?
Over the coming year, more than two million people could be displaced by fighting in northwestern Syria -- specifically the rebel-held portions of Idlib province and western Aleppo province, and the Islamic State's territories in eastern Aleppo province. The drastic increase in Turkey's refugee numbers since September is a major indicator of where many of these refugees will head. Therefore, unless a major geopolitical shift changes the prevailing situation inside Syria, Europe has to prepare itself to welcome as many as a million new refugees in 2016. This estimate is extrapolated from several factors: the location of the populations most under threat from new regime offensives, their most likely routes of escape, the past migration patterns seen under similar conditions, and the recent trend of refugees leaving Turkey for the EU.
Part of the reason for this increase is that refugees who have already made it to Europe tend to serve as bridgeheads for others still in Syria or neighboring countries, providing information and money to family members and friends seeking to join them. Many are also able to exercise family reunification rights that could provide visas to hundreds of thousands of people.
Short of addressing the roots of the problem in Syria, the EU is largely helpless to stop this mass migration once it is under way. Some European countries are taking unilateral actions -- for example, Serbia, Hungary, and Slovenia have erected barriers on their borders. Yet these measures are ineffective at the moment (e.g., refugees can bypass the barriers by going through the Czech Republic and Poland), and they risk shattering the Schengen Area.
Massively increasing refugee-related funding to Syria's neighbors will not halt the flow to Europe either. The EU's welfare system is too strong a magnet for poor migrants, as is the promise of safety and, perhaps, a passport.
EUROPE'S PARADOXICAL POLICY
Interestingly, European countries have authorized very few Syrian immigration requests from foreign consulates, yet have legalized almost all refugees who managed to reach their shores through other means. In doing so, Europe is actually encouraging illegal immigration. If refugees who arrived by such means had no chance of being legalized, they would be less likely to attempt the journey. The EU should therefore consider reserving residency permits for those who apply from neighboring countries.
Unofficially, the subsidies that the EU grants to adjacent nonmember states under the European Neighborhood Policy are conditioned on effective border control and a commitment to take back illegal immigrants. This may explain why the Syrian refugee flow across the Strait of Gibraltar is so low (around 5,000 in 2015) -- unlike Turkey, whose EU accession process has been roiled by controversy for years, Morocco is more dependent on European trade and therefore quite serious about its various legal obligations to the union.
In the end, the best way to prevent mass refugee flows into Europe is to address the roots of the problem in Syria, assuming it is not already too late. Turkey is refusing new refugees even if they are in an awful situation on the other side of the border, partly to avoid helping the Russian counterinsurgency strategy. Western countries could adopt a similar policy, but only if they are willing to alleviate the resultant humanitarian crisis. Such considerations bring the idea of implementing a safe haven to protect civilians in northern and southern Syria back to the forefront of the debate.
**Fabrice Balanche, an associate professor and research director at the University of Lyon 2, is a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute.