New Page 5

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.january22.16.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

Bible Quotations For Today

The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 22/24-30: "A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. But he said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. ‘You are those who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

The time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires
Second Letter to Timothy 04/01-08: "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully. As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on january 21-22/16
On Geagea’s endorsement of Aoun for Lebanon’s presidency/Khairallah Khairallah/Al Arabiya/January 21/16
Warlords to the Lebanese People: Let’s Forgive and Forget/Abir Ghattas/GlobalVoices/Posted 20 January 2016
March 14: A decade of continuous struggle/Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/January 21/16
ISIS Destroys Oldest Assyrian Monastery in Iraq, St. Elijah's Monastery of Mosul/By Martha Mendoza, Maya Alleruzzo and Bram Janssen//January 21/16
The nuclear deal and Iran’s wasted opportunities/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/January 21/16
Are the Palestinian Authority’s days numbered/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/January 21/16
Saudi Arabia: Securing interests, not making enemies/Mohammed Fahad al-Harthi/Al Arabiya/January 21/16
Syria Talks: Much ado about nothing/Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/January 21/16
Palestinians: Western Media's Ignorance and Bias/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/January 21/16
The Middle East After the JCPOA/Michael SinghéWashington Institute/January 21/16

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin for Lebanese Related News published on january 21-22/16
Netanyahu Says Influx of Cash to Iran to Boost Its Support for Hizbullah
On Geagea’s endorsement of Aoun for Lebanon’s presidency
Warlords to the Lebanese People: Let’s Forgive and Forget!
Democratic Gathering Hails LF-FPM Rapprochement, Says Helou Remains its Candidate
Samaha Appears in Military Tribunal amid Protest over Islamist Prisoners
Geagea Hails Democratic Gathering's Stance on Maarab Meeting
Salam Meets EU President, Heads to Davos
Report: Negotiations for Release of Hizbullah Members from Nusra Front Captivity
Rahi Heads to Vatican, Wants ‘Made in Lebanon’ President
Mustaqbal-LF Ties Getting ‘Complicated’
Israeli Drill Simulates Combat on Fronts with Syria, Lebanon
Hollande Hopes Iran, Saudi Arabia Would 'Help End' Lebanon's Presidential Vacuum
March 14: A decade of continuous struggle

Netanyahu Says Influx of Cash to Iran to Boost Its Support for Hizbullah
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 21/16/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Thursday that the influx of cash secured by Iran's nuclear deal with world powers would allow Tehran to further back armed groups in the region, including Lebanon's Hizbullah. It would be important to "resist Iranian aggression in the region, which continues and might even accelerate given the amount of funds that they're going to get with the lifting of sanctions,” the Israeli PM told the World Economic Forum in Davos. "And the strongest way to stop Iranian aggression is to bolster America's allies, first and foremost (of) which is Israel," he added. Israel fought a devastating 33-day war against Hizbullah in 2006 that cost the lives of 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. Israel is currently negotiating a new 10-year military aid package with Washington that it says will need to grow beyond the $3.1 billion yearly currently provided by the United States. Netanyahu reiterated his argument that the nuclear deal that has seen sanctions lifted against its regional rival Iran would require Israel to increase spending to maintain its military edge. Netanyahu, whose country is believed to be the sole nuclear power in the Middle East, though it has never declared it, strongly opposed the accord and labeled it a "historic mistake."His outspoken criticism, including in an address to the U.S. Congress, led to troubled ties with the United States. He has since scaled back his rhetoric and visited Washington in November as part of efforts to move past the rift. A U.S. delegation is due in Israel next week as part of discussions over the new military package, with the current agreement due to expire in 2017, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Israel's total defense budget amounts to some $16 billion, excluding the U.S. aid.

On Geagea’s endorsement of Aoun for Lebanon’s presidency
Khairallah Khairallah/Al Arabiya/January 21/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/01/21/khairallah-khairallah-on-geageas-endorsement-of-aoun-for-lebanons-presidency/
Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea’s endorsement of Michel Aoun’s candidacy for the presidency is significant, especially since it will reveal whether those obstructing the process of electing a president intend to alter their stance. Perhaps the most important aspect is that during their joint press conference, Geagea read a statement that Aoun does not believe in, which includes the principles of the March 14 coalition regarding the restoration of Lebanon’s freedom, independence and sovereignty. We cannot but welcome any Christian-Christian rapprochement in Lebanon, especially if there are guarantees to it, and if it contributes to ending the 19-month presidential vacuum. During his long political and military career, Aoun has worked to become president at any cost. Has the former army commander now become interested in the national charter, and in limiting the possession of arms to legitimate powers, meaning the army and internal security forces? We cannot but welcome any Christian-Christian rapprochement in Lebanon, especially if there are guarantees to it, and if it contributes to ending the 19-month presidential vacuum.
Aoun clapped for Geagea without listening to a word the latter said during their press conference, and without comprehending his statements. Aoun’s attention was focused on listening to Geagea’s endorsement of his candidacy for the presidency. Geagea wants to reshuffle the deck in Lebanon by endorsing Aoun. He wants to respond to Future Movement leader Saad Hariri, who reached an agreement with former minister and current MP Suleiman Franjieh, who also wants to become president, and is a friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Unlike Aoun, Franjieh has always stayed in a clear and known political path. At some point, he went far in being biased toward the Syrian regime. He had to make such statements, which he knew were only useful for domestic consumption. Franjieh never assumed the role of hypocrite, as others did.
History
LF members are believed to have murdered Franjieh’s father, mother and sister in 1978. Eyewitnesses said Geagea – who was part of the group, headed by Elie Hobeika – was allegedly injured on the way to the mission and transferred to hospital. Despite that, Franjieh reconciled with Hobeika, but remained a fierce rival of Geagea because this is what the Syrian regime wanted. Hobeika moved from the Israeli bosom to the Syrian one, while Geagea maintained his known stances, including supporting the 1989 Taif agreement that ended the civil war, and dissolving the LF militia.
Geagea reached a deal with Aoun shortly before Amin Gemayel’s presidential term ended in Sept. 1988. Aoun did not respect the deal, which made him interim prime minister until a president was elected. He limited his aspiration to eliminating the LF, which was still an armed militia, in the hope that this would convince Syria to make him president. Battles erupted between Aoun and Geagea between 1988 and 1990. Most Christians who fled Lebanon at the time did so due to these battles.
Change
It is impossible for Aoun to change. Proof of this is that Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, Aoun’s heir and son-in-law, in essence, I believe, represented Iran during the last Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo. The aim of the meeting was to voice solidarity with Saudi Arabia after the burning of its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad. Bassil’s stance adds to Arab suspicions regarding Aoun’s inability to be outside Hezbollah’s tutelage. Is this the man Geagea wants as president? Can Aoun retract his description of martyr Gebran Tueni as a “hired man?” Can he retract his justification of Hezbollah’s assassination of pilot Samer Hanna just because he flew an army helicopter above a zone over which Hezbollah claims exclusive control? Many other questions can be asked of Aoun.
The LF benefits from endorsing Aoun by knowing whether Hezbollah will allow a parliament session in which Franjieh and Aoun compete over the presidency. This question will be persistently asked in the coming days. The LF endorsement will overshadow the scandal over the military court’s release of Michel Samaha, who was convicted of transferring explosives from Syria to Lebanon and attempting to kill Lebanese in order to incite sectarian strife.

Warlords to the Lebanese People: Let’s Forgive and Forget!
Abir Ghattas/GlobalVoices/Posted 20 January 2016
https://globalvoices.org/2016/01/20/warlords-to-the-lebanese-people-lets-forgive-and-forget/
Lebanon is special, we know, because our ancestors are Phoenician and because we can swim and ski in the same day. But Lebanon is also special because key figures of the Lebanese civil war are still in power, waltzing on the corpses of thousands of dead civilians and the living bodies of 4.5 million Lebanese citizens.On January 18th, 2016, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea publicly endorsed his wartime rival Michel Aoun’s candidacy for president. This agreement means that Lebanon might finally have a new president, after 20 months in which the country's top post has been vacant.
Here’s some context. Geagea, the executive chairman of the Lebanese Forces, the second largest Christian political party in Lebanon, and Aoun, a former Lebanese Army Commander and founder of the Free Patriotic Movement, are former enemies who fought against each other during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). On January 31, 1990, the Lebanese Army, with Aoun as its commander-in-chief, clashed with the Lebanese Forces (then a militia). The latter objected to Aoun’s assertion that it was in the national interest for the government to “unify weapons”, meaning that the Lebanese Forces should submit to his authority as acting head of state. The clash resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians.
I felt the need to add my two cents’—or two liras—on this state of affairs because of what General Aoun said during what blogger Joey Ayoub compared to an acceptance speech at the Oscars—that he wanted to leave the past behind in order to build the future.
People are sharing stories online of the times Aoun and Geagea bombed their neighborhoods. I can't testify to that, as I was too young at the time and had the “luxury” of being born in a remote village in the north of Lebanon. I can't testify first-hand to the pain of the war, to the loss, to the fear, to the experience of living surrounded by death. But I can testify to the hatred I saw, and continue to witness, between people my age or younger who also did not live through the war. No matter what anyone says, Lebanon’s regions, cities and neighborhoods, already riven by sectarian divisions, are still divided between the Aoun and Geagea camps.
I am not dismissing the experiences of these young partisans, nor those of their loved ones. But I do wonder how they, with no direct experience of the war, manage to muster such hatred, why they listen to songs about an ugly war that ended 25 years ago that describe one leader as the alpha and omega and the other as god sent. I’m puzzled as to why they learn how to signal their support by honking their car horns—a “taratatata” or a “tata tatata tata tata tata” in the wrong place or time can get you into trouble—display party stickers on their cars, and wage their own second-hand war. A bloodless one, it’s true, but a cold war nevertheless.
“I’m puzzled as to why they learn how to signal their support by honking their car horns—a “taratatata” or a “tata tatata tata tata tata” in the wrong place or time can get you into trouble…”
Where is the urge to question those they blindly follow, and ask questions like “what happened”? “Who won”? “How many people died”? “What happened to those who were kidnapped”? “How many women and girls were raped”? “How many corpses were tied and dragged behind cars like war trophies”? “How many loaves of bread were stolen at checkpoints”?
During his “acceptance speech” Aoun basically said that what happened happened, and we should put it behind us, and maybe remember it so that we don't repeat it. Geagea was smiling beside him.
Well, even though it is our fault (we elected them, after all, over again over again, those times we were actually allowed to have elections), I don't want to stop believing that we deserve better. This endorsement, this deal between two war criminals, represents yet another nail in the coffin of our collective memory. Those of us who didn't experience the war are now stripped of our ability to hold these men accountable for the deaths of thousands. And now they tell us to forget and move on. Because it is convenient for them? Because after years of wanting to eliminate each other, this is the only way to survive? We shouldn’t question their pasts or demand justice, yet these men want us to trust them with our future? It’s about peacemaking, they say. But can peace really exist in a vacuum? How can we achieve peace without a reconciliation process? Without healing the wounds of the past? How can peace exist when a silent, brutal, cold, war is being waged every day? Where, indeed, is there room for peace when all we see is corruption, unaccountability, nepotism, theft, and the dismissal of an entire people?

Democratic Gathering Hails LF-FPM Rapprochement, Says Helou Remains its Candidate
Naharnet/January 21/16/The Democratic Gathering welcomed on Thursday the rapprochement between the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement but held onto the candidacy of MP Henri Helou for the country’s top Christian post. The bloc said following a meeting chaired by its leader MP Walid Jumblat that “Christian-Christian reconciliation is an important step in consolidating national understanding.”LF chief Samir Geagea’s support for FPM founder Michel Aoun’s candidacy encourages “national unity,” said the statement. But the bloc reiterated that Helou, who represents moderation, remains its candidate. It said Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh’s candidacy helps resolve the presidential deadlock, adding that Aoun’s candidacy meets the characteristics that the participants of the national dialogue held under Speaker Nabih Berri have agreed to. “These characteristics don’t abolish the role of moderates in Lebanese political life,” the Democratic Gathering stated. The bloc welcomed any step that is meant to encourage dialogue on the presidential crisis that erupted when the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014.It added that the election of a new head of state would regulate the work of constitutional institutions and help resolve economic and social issues.

Samaha Appears in Military Tribunal amid Protest over Islamist Prisoners
Naharnet/January 21/16/Former Information Minister Michel Samaha on Thursday stood before the judge at the Military Court of Cassation and answered a series of questions on the transfer of explosives from Syria to Lebanon for the purpose of carrying out terrorist acts. Samaha’s appearance in court came as the families of Islamist prisoners, who have been demanding their freedom under conditions similar to Samaha’s release, held a sit-in. The protesters held placards calling for “justice” and “general amnesty.”Talking to a TV station, a protester urged the authorities to release all the Islamists held in Roumieh prison. Another asked for speedy trials. Samaha's trial was adjourned to February 4. Last week, he was released on bail from prison under the controversial Military Court ruling that has sent shockwaves across the country. Under the 150 million Lebanese pounds ($100,000) bail conditions, Samaha, 67, would be barred from leaving the country for at least one year, speaking to the press or using social media. The ex-minister was arrested in August 2012 and charged with attempting to carry out "terrorist acts" over allegations that he and Syrian security services chief Ali Mamluk transported explosives and planned attacks and assassinations of political and religious figures in Lebanon. Samaha was sentenced in May 2015 to four-and-half years in prison, but in June the Cassation Court nullified the verdict and ordered a retrial. In new recordings leaked to local TV networks on Wednesday, Samaha and Syrian President Bashar Assad's adviser Buthaina Shaaban were heard using ambiguous and suspicious terms in two phone conversations.

Geagea Hails Democratic Gathering's Stance on Maarab Meeting
Naharnet/January 21/16/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea praised on Thursday the Democratic Gathering for its position on Monday's Maarab meeting that saw the LF chief endorse rival Change and Reform bloc head MP Michel Aoun for the presidency, reported the Central News Agency. Geagea added: “I hope all political blocs will take the necessary measures to stage the presidential elections as soon as possible. Democratic Gathering chief MP Walid Jumblat has always respected the National Pact and coexistence in Lebanon, he continued. “This was most evident during the famous Mount Lebanon reconciliation” in 2001, he remarked. “We were therefore not surprised with the Democratic Gathering and Progressive Socialist Party's stand on the Maarab meeting,” Geagea said. Earlier on Thursday, the Democratic Gathering welcomed the rapprochement between Geagea and Aoun, but held onto the candidacy of MP Henri Helou for the country’s top Christian post. “Christian-Christian reconciliation is an important step in consolidating national understanding,” it said. Lebanon has been without a head of state since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls.

Salam Meets EU President, Heads to Davos
Naharnet/January 21/16/Prime Minister Tammam Salam has met with European Union President Donald Tusk in Brussels, the state-run National News Agency reported Thursday. In addition to the delegation accompanying Salam, the meeting was attended by EU Ambassador to Lebanon Christina Lassen, Tusk’s chief foreign policy advisor Riina Kionka and several other EU officials. The premier had earlier visited the new headquarters of the Lebanese mission in Brussels. He is scheduled to travel to Switzerland on Thursday to attend the annual gathering of business and political elites at the ski resort of Davos.
During his two-day stay in Davos, Salam is expected to hold a series of meetings with world and Arab leaders and economists.

Report: Negotiations for Release of Hizbullah Members from Nusra Front Captivity
Naharnet/January 21/16/Negotiations are underway between Hizbullah and al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front on the release of three Hizbullah members taken captive in Syria’s Reef Aleppo around two months ago, al-Akhbar daily reported on Thursday. The newspaper said that the Nusra leadership has tasked Abou Malek al-Talleh, the so-called emir of al-Nusra in Qalamun, with carrying out the negotiations. The talks are focusing on the release of the Hizbullah fighters in return for the party to set free several al-Nusra gunmen taken captive by the party or arrested by the Lebanese authorities, it said. The terrorist group is also trying to pressure Hizbullah to ask the Syrian army to withdraw from a village or two towns that are under its control in the Qalamun region, said the report. A Qatari mediator is holding talks with the two sides to speed up the negotiations process, it added.

Rahi Heads to Vatican, Wants ‘Made in Lebanon’ President
Naharnet/January 21/16/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Thursday gave his blessing to any initiative aimed at resolving the presidential crisis but said the process should be Lebanonized. “We want a president who is made in Lebanon,” al-Rahi said at Rafik Hariri International Airport before heading to Rome. “Political and parliamentary blocs should assume their responsibilities while taking into consideration the regional situation and international conditions, and bring a president who is accepted regionally and internationally,” he said. Al-Rahi said he will discuss the 20-month presidential deadlock with Pope Francis and other top Vatican officials. The patriarch denied that he was informed about possible visits by al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri and Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh to Rome. “I am not aware of any meeting with Hariri or Franjieh at the Vatican,” he told reporters. The Marada chief also denied in a statement that he is planning to visit the Vatican. Al-Rahi said that Bkirki had encouraged parliamentary blocs to hold consultations to end the presidential crisis and choose the appropriate candidate. He hailed the initiative that was announced on Monday by Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea by describing it as “nice.”“We give our blessing to any initiative,” he said. Geagea endorsed his long-time rival Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun for the presidential elections.

Mustaqbal-LF Ties Getting ‘Complicated’
Naharnet/January 21/16/Relations between al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea have become more complicated after the head of the LF endorsed his long-time rival for the presidential elections. Newspapers published on Thursday said that a meeting was held by Hariri’s advisor Nader Hariri and LF official Melhem Riachi at the Center House a day earlier. The former premier also held two telephone conversations with Geagea, they said. But the attempts to bridge the gap between them are becoming “more complicated,” said al-Joumhouria. However, sources close to Hariri denied to Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) that the two officials have recently held phone conversations. Geagea announced on Monday his support for Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun, putting him at loggerheads with Marada Movement chief lawmaker Suleiman Franjieh, who is Hariri’s candidate. Geagea and Aoun, both presidential candidates, were angered late last year when Hariri nominated Franjieh for president without consulting them. The political spectrum is now divided between supporters for Aoun and those backing Franjieh. Several parliamentary blocs have not yet announced their stance from the rapprochement between the LF and the FPM, which makes it difficult to assess whether a president will be elected during the upcoming session next month.

Israeli Drill Simulates Combat on Fronts with Syria, Lebanon
Associated Press/Naharnet/January 21/16/Israel's military has conducted a drill to prepare for simultaneous combat along its northern frontier with Syria and Lebanon. It said Wednesday the two-week exercise that combined air, ground and naval forces was aimed at "preparing troops for a long-term multi-front conflict." Northern Command chief Aviv Kochavi said it showed how the military is able to "implement operational plans in all arenas."On the Syrian frontier, Israel has been warily watching as insurgents battle forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. Israel and Syria are bitter enemies but Assad kept the border quiet for decades. Israel, which fought a monthlong war against Hizbullah in 2006, said Wednesday it thwarted a plot by Hizbullah to recruit Palestinians to attack Israelis. Forces "apprehended a terror cell funded and guided by Hizbullah", an army statement said, adding the cell was "plotting a shooting attack."It said the cell was based in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank and was made up of Palestinians. The leader of the five-person cell was recruited online by Jawad Nasrallah, son of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the army charged.

Hollande Hopes Iran, Saudi Arabia Would 'Help End' Lebanon's Presidential Vacuum
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 21/16/French President Francois Hollande lamented on Thursday the ongoing vacuum in the presidency, warning that it could become “dangerous.”He hoped that “Iran and Saudi Arabia would contribute in ending the vacuum.”Lebanon has been without a head of state since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea endorsed on Monday his main Christian rival Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun as president in a hope to end the deadlock. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected to travel to France next week for talks with his French counterpart. Media reports last year said that the meeting between the two officials will address a range of regional issues, including the situation in Lebanon. Rouhani was set to travel to Paris in November 2015, but the attacks in the capital prompted him to cancel the trip and reschedule it for next week.
Iran's Return to International Stage now Possible, Says Hollande
Naharnet/January 21/16/French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday that Iran's return to the international scene was "now possible" after a nuclear deal saw sanctions lifted against the country. "It depends only on this great country to succeed," Hollande said just days ahead of a visit by President Hassan Rouhani to Paris, the first by an Iranian president in 17 years.Hollande said a "de-escalation" of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia was necessary and France was willing to play a role in this. "We must do everything to work together for stability in the region. It is with this in mind that I will soon visit Egypt, Jordan and Oman," he said.

March 14: A decade of continuous struggle
Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/January 21/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/01/21/myra-abdallah-march-14-a-decade-of-continuous-struggle/
The March 14 alliance was established in 2005 during the Cedar Revolution, a chain of anti-Syrian demonstrations triggered by the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005, that rocked the streets of Beirut. Tens of thousands of Lebanese protesters took to the streets calling for the end of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon and blaming Syria and the pro-Syrian Lebanese government for the assassination of Hariri. In 2005, March 14 was a dream come true for the Lebanese people who wanted to take matters of their country into their hands. The primary goals of the revolution were: the withdrawal of all Syrian troops from Lebanon, to unite all Lebanese in their fight for freedom and independence, to unmask the killers of Hariri and the organization of free parliamentary elections free from Syrian intervention.
In the beginning, March 14 was a successful alliance that kept its promise to fight for the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon. Its first success came when Omar Karami’s government collapsed under pressure from protesters who demanded the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. However, March 14 was met with opposition from Syria and pro-Syrian Lebanese parties. The assassinations continued and several March 14 leaders were assassinated, threatened or pushed to change their political stances. The use of violence was a key feature that led to the weakening of the March 14 alliance over the years— several March 14 figures were assassinated— and it was also effective because it achieved one of its main goals: many of the March 14 leaders changed their political stances and left the alliance, others were weakened politically and sometimes lost. Consequently, after 10 years, a large number of March 14 supporters have stopped believing in the initial dream they had in 2005, and the alliance no longer represented what they believe in, despite the continuous attempts by March 14 political leaders to revive the alliance and push the Lebanese people to keep believing in it.
The bombings and assassinations in Lebanon began after September 2004, when Syria pressured Lebanon’s parliament to amend the constitution to extend the term of former President Emile Lahoud. Consequently, late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated on February 14, 2005. Beginning of March 2005, directly after the assassination of Hariri, a series of bombings and assassinations struck Lebanon, specifically targeting politicians and areas—Christian areas in particular— that supported the March 14 alliance. Several political and intellectual leaders were killed, others were regularly threatened.
“Power dynamics that were not in March 14 coalition’s favor contributed in weakening the movement, especially the opposite side’s weapons; in addition to the incapability of March 14 to face this power and receive the needed external support,” said Dr. Imad Salamey, associate professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the Lebanese American University. “These unequal power dynamics resulted in continuous assassinations that targeted March 14 politicians, and the ability of one side to use weapons against the other side pushed March 14 to become a hostage of the security situation.”
The violent attacks carried out against March 14 had a clear mission: to weaken and repress the alliance. According to analyst Hazem Saghiyeh, as a result of the violence and bombings March 14 politicians became paranoid. “March 14 coalition could have developed more sophisticated and more mature ideas and practices if its politicians were living in a better security situation. Unfortunately, security threats were a component that pushed forward the worst of March 14,” he told NOW.
The security threats have not stopped. March 14 politicians might still be in danger, especially after Michel Samaha was released on bail, although the alliance has been accused by a number of politicians to have been part of the “deal” that got Samaha out of jail. Samaha was arrested in 2012 on charges of plotting terrorist attacks and endangering public safety, and was listed as a global terrorist by the United States for helping Syrian president Bashar al-Assad launch attacks in Lebanon, mainly against March 14 figures. “Judge Sakr Sakr, who is known for being affiliated with the Future Movement, did not accuse Samaha of terrorism,” said Tripoli MP Mosbah al-Ahdab. “However, he accused a young man from Tripoli who was carrying a gun of terrorism. This can raise a lot of doubts about the intentions and involvement of the March 14 alliance. This might be one the results of the dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah.”
For the past ten years, the March 14 alliance did not always make the best decisions. In fact, influenced by security threats and regional relationships, March 14, who was expected to maintain a minimum of coordination and make good decisions by their supporters, had to take decisions that were sometimes inexplicable.
“The quadrilateral alliance during the parliamentary elections in 2005 was one of the biggest mistakes,” said lawyer Marwan Sakr. “Following the quadrilateral alliance and after the elections, Siniora’s cabinet did not take strict decisions in order to restructure the main security forces. This issue was neglected leaving behind Syria-related officers who were members of the security forces before the liberation.”
March 14 started as a popular movement led by political leaders who the Lebanese people considered to be independent powers not subject to external powers—particularly Syria. Therefore, it represented a revolutionary movement. However, the leadership of March 14 was unable to translate the popular movement into an organized movement led by a modern group. The group was therefore led by traditional leaders which later resulted in its weakening. “Between 2007 and 2009, March 14 stopped being a big national and popular movement that included representatives from every Lebanese group and became an alliance between 3 main political parties, after all independents and civil society activists were alienated by the main parties because of internal administrative issues,” Sakr told NOW.
Unstable relations
March 14’s relations were unstable, internally and externally. From one side, respective politicians who constitute the alliance did not communicate all the time, which led to decisions being taken without any negotiations or consent from the various parties in the alliance. In addition, analysts who spoke to NOW said that the problem of March 14 goes back to 2005, when it was created. March 14 always had a fragile nature, since it was always affected by internal and external events. The alliance was unable to eliminate the sectarian differences between its supporters.
“Before speaking about the events [that led to the weakening of March 14], we have to speak about the nature of the alliance,” said Saghieh. “March 14 was a federalism of sects and no an alliance that united the different sects. Even during the peak of March 14’s success, we could always differentiate between the Sunni, Christian and Druze blocs and their respective slogans. Even later on, the distinction remained between the different sects. Serious friendships between people from different sects did not happen.”
Moreover, the absurdity of the March 14 leadership also contributed to its declining power. The leaders of the alliance were absurd and did not succeed in establishing good communication with Lebanon’s Shiite citizens. They could have tried to convince the Shiites of the righteousness of their decisions and distance them from Hezbollah and Amal Movement; and that could have been possible since numerous Shiites participated in the protest on March 14, 2005, and they were the only group to protest against leader of their sect. “Hezbollah and Amal Movement leaderships were able to repress any movement or activity organized by a Shiite group that might help in the success of March 14. They used all possible means to do it,” Salamey told NOW.
The external relations also played a big role in the swinging positions of March 14, specifically the relationships with Saudi Arabia and Iran. “Saudi Arabia’s different positions affected March 14 more than Iran, since the relationship with Iran was either non-durable or non-existent,” said Sakr. In fact, a lot of changes happened in Saudi Arabia in the last few years and this had repercussions on Lebanon especially that the external relations policies of March 14 were not very clear.
The future of March 14
The latest events related to the presidential vacuum might have been the last nail in the coffin of the March 14 alliance. From one side, Saad Hariri nominated Suleiman Frangieh for presidency, and from the other side, Samir Geagea nominated Michel Aoun. March 14 made the same mistake after the Doha agreement when Michel Suleiman was nominated, knowing that, back then, Suleiman was March 8 alliance’s number one candidate. The outcome of Frangieh and Aoun’s nominations on March 14 is not yet clear, but, the situation does not look promising for March 14.
“If March 14 still plans to build the Lebanese state and improve its institutions, it can offer compromises,” Salamey told NOW. “This will weaken the alliance in the short term; but in the longer term they will achieve their goal of making Lebanon a consensual system.”
“I don’t think that March 14 still has a future. March 14 politicians might agree on a few topics, such as their position on Hezbollah’s weapons. However, this can’t possibly revive the movement of March 14 as a national movement,” said Saghieh.

Syrian refugees are ‘Canada’s economic future’
Staff Writer, Al Arabiya English Thursday, 21 January 2016/When Syrian refugees arrive in Toronto, Canada’s prime minister welcomes them not as asylum seekers but as citizens, PM Justin Trudeau said at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “I welcomed them as new Canadians and as the future of the Canadian economy. Diversity is the engine of investment; it generates creativity and enriches the world. We know this in Canada,” Trudeau said. The prime minister noted that people respond to a positive and inclusive vision of society. “The result is creativity that enriches Canada and the world. It makes me profoundly optimistic and confident.” Trudeau’s predecessor, Stephen Harper, wanted Canada to be known for its resources. “I want you to know Canadians for our resourcefulness,” Trudeau said. “We have a diverse and outstandingly creative population, great education and infrastructure, social and financial stability and a government [willing] to invest in the future. We have remarkable confidence. We believe in progress and we are willing to work hard to get there,” he said. During his talk in Davos, Trudeau also warned that “new technology is always dazzling, but it needs to serve the cause of human progress.” He pointed out that technology will not determine our future, but “our choices and leadership” will. “I believe in positive and ambitious leadership,” he said. “The Fourth Industrial Revolution will not be successful unless it creates opportunities for the billions who are unable to be here today.”
Canadian economy
Turning to Canada’s economy, the prime minister maintained that Canadians believe that the economy and the environment go together. “We are a resource-based economy and we believe this is a huge opportunity for us. The world needs to do both,” he said. During his election campaign, Trudeau and his team made a strategic decision to present a positive vision: “We decided that, by presenting a positive vision, not only would we be able to get elected, we would have a strong and inclusive mandate to provide a government for Canadians. We wanted to bring forward what Canadians want to be, rather than what we are afraid of.”Trudeau noted that it’s easy to get elected by playing up to divisions and negativity. “Once you get elected through dividing people, it become hard to govern,” he said. “The primary responsibility of any government is to keep its citizens safe, but also to keep them free and true to our values. Getting this balance right in a responsible way is what people are looking for.”Over 2,500 leaders from business, government, international organizations, civil society, academia, media and the arts are participating in the 46th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, on 20-23 January. Under the theme, Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the programme comprises over 300 sessions, of which over 100 sessions will be webcast live.

Turkish PM Urges 'Concrete Steps' from EU on Migrants
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 21/16/Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday urged "concrete steps" from the European Union to help Turkey tackle the refugee crisis, a day before he holds critical talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Speaking at the annual Davos summit of economic and business leaders, Davutoglu said he wouldn't even ask Merkel about the 3 billion euros in financial aid the EU promised last year to grant to Turkey in return for stemming the flow of migrants into the bloc. "We are not asking (for) money, we are not negotiating (for) money... For us, it's a humanitarian duty, therefore the problem is not financial assistance," Davutoglu said. "We are asking solidarity, we are asking to have a sense of common destiny," he said. "We will be discussing these with my dear colleague Merkel and we hope the next steps will be concrete steps to address this issue," he added, speaking in English. Under increased pressure to reduce the number of refugees arriving in Europe, Merkel will host Davutoglu in Berlin for a joint meeting of key ministers from both governments. EU officials have complained Turkey was not doing enough to limit the numbers crossing the Aegean Sea despite the landmark deal in November providing Ankara cash as well political concessions in return for its cooperation in tackling Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II. Davutoglu suggested Turkey was doing more than its share, pointing to a government decision last week granting work permits to refugees, which was not part of the EU deal. He also said that Turkey, which is home to more than two million Syrian refugees, has so far spent around 10 billion dollars helping them. "We can spend some more for the poor orphans, victims of the Syrian tragedy," he said. "But it's not only a German issue, it's not a Turkish issue, and now not even a Syrian issue. It's a global issue."

Bomb Kills 6, Hurts 15 during Cairo Police Raid
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 21/16/A bomb blast killed six people including three policemen Thursday as a team of officers raided an apartment in the Egyptian capital suspected to be a militant hideout, police said. The explosion in Cairo's al-Haram district, near the pyramids, came ahead of Monday's anniversary of the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. "Six people have been killed in the blast, including three policemen. The others include a civilian and two unidentified men," a police officer told AFP. Fifteen other people were wounded. Security officials said the impact of the explosion damaged part of the residential building housing the apartment.

Palestinian militia discussed for E. Jerusalem to help bar terror and block ISIS influence
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report January 21, 2016
Israeli and Palestinian security officers are exploring the possible formation of a new Palestinian militia to take charge of enforcing law and order in the Arab districts of Jerusalem and halting the anti-Israel terrorist attacks emanating from those districts.
debkafile’s intelligence sources disclose that the dialogue is led by senior Israeli Shin Bet and police officials and the Palestinian General Intelligence (Mukhabarat) chief Maj. Gen. Majid Faraj. Our sources cannot confirm that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu or other top officials, such as Public Security Minister Gilead Erdan, are fully in the picture, but it will certainly have been brought to their notice.Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is kept up to date. The plan was first broached in top Israeli police circles, who first asked the Shin Bet and IDF if they had any objections to the creation of a special local Palestinian force or militia, whose members would serve under the orders of the Israeli Police, with a status similar to that of Jerusalem Arab permanent residents, who serve in the local police force. The new militia would undertake responsibility for maintaining order and security in the Palestinian districts of East Jerusalem, and a commitment to prevent the continuation of terror attacks from the districts under their authority.This plan gained rapid momentum in recent days over concerns on both sides over the rapidity with which the Islamic Sate was gaining adherents in Palestinian communities.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkott disclosed this week that an estimated 14-16 percent of Palestinians support ISIS – the highest proportion in the Arab world, where the average is no more than 5-6 percent.
In a little-noticed incident on Dec. 3, 2015, a Palestinian General Intelligence officer called Mazen Aribe, 37, suddenly turned his official rifle on Israeli soldiers. After he injured two, their comrades shot him dead.
Investigators of the incident later confirmed that it bore the hallmarks of an ISIS attack.
Aribe, who happened to be the nephew of the senior Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat, was a highly respected intelligence officer and a loyal supporter of his boss, the a/m Maj. Gen. Faraj. His sudden turn to violence against Israeli troops set off alarm bells in the Palestinian intelligence services as well as the Shin Bet and Israeli police. The progress of the talks for establishing the new force, since named the “Palestinian Popular Police for East Jerusalem,” can be measured by Israel’s consent to extend “a measure of autonomy” for certain administrative municipal appointments for its areas of control, provided their work is fully coordinated with Israeli government and municipal authorities.The discussions cover the Palestinian-populated districts of North Jerusalem - Shoafat, Hizme and Beit Hanina - and the two big refugee camps at Shoafat and Anata. Many of the recent terrorist attacks against Israelis were perpetrated in the last four months by dwellers of these sections of Jerusalem.
The Old City and the Palestinian villages of Issawiya, A-Tur and Jabal Mukabar have not been covered in the bilateral security discussions. Gen. Faraj is the live wire promoting the initiative. He is motivated most of all by the opportunity for his agency to gain a foothold in East Jerusalem. For decades, Israel has consistently blocked Palestinian attempts to establish their ruling bodies in its capital.While the two negotiating parties formally agree to the new militia coming under Israel’s security services, its da-to-day operations will effectively be subject to Faraj’s intelligence agency. In recent interviews, Faraj has made a point of stressing that cooperation between Israel’s army and Shin Bet and Palestinian security forces remains solid and must continue, notwithstanding the current wave of Palestinian terror. He also claims that his officers have thwarted 200 terrorist attacks and their detention of 100 would-be terrorists with large arms caches, had foiled several more. Faraj is clearly doing his utmost to bring to Israel’s attention the efficacy of the forces under his command and, by the same token, how valuable the new militia would be as a security, anti-terror asset for the city. debkafile’s counterterrorism sources note that the realization of the new Palestinian Police Force project - if it does get the green light in Jerusalem - would crown the four-month Palestinian knife intifada with a huge achievement, which has long proved elusive – the Palestinians would plant their first security footholds in the Arab neighborhoods of Israel’s capital. This would no doubt also provoke a flaming controversy on Israel’s political scene.

German Minister Hails Berlin's Help in Fight against IS
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 21/16/German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday visited a contingent of German troops stationed at a Turkish air base as part of the coalition to defeat Islamic State (IS), hailing their contribution in the fight against the jihadists in Syria.
Six German Tornado reconnaissance planes have been carrying out flights since January 8 from the Incirlik base in southern Turkey, as well as an Airbus refueling plane. Von der Leyen told reporters at the base that the Tornados had already carried out over 30 flights, while the tanker plane had flown 40 times to supply German but also French, British and Italian planes. "It's very good that the contingent has set itself up so quickly," said Van der Leyen. "The reconnaissance results that the Tornados deliver are of an extraordinarily high quality," she said. "We are thus making our contribution to thwarting the expansion of IS."The minister said she had felt in Turkey how much the country had been hurt by the suicide attack in Istanbul on January 12 blamed on IS jihadists. "In Turkey there is a strongly growing conviction that we must fight the enemy together," she said. Her Turkish counterpart Ismet Yilmaz said the Istanbul attack "once again made clear how important the international coalition is in the fight against terror." German lawmakers in December authorized the deployment of up to 1,200 German personnel and the aircraft to join international military operations against the IS group. On the ground in Incirlik, the German forces have joined planes from countries including Britain, France and the United States. However the German planes are not carrying out lethal raids on Syria.Post-war Germany has been traditionally reluctant to send troops into military missions abroad. But momentum for the deployment grew after the November 13 Paris attacks. Turkey was long criticized over its alleged reluctance to fully take on IS but Ankara's permission last year to allow foreign forces to conduct raids against IS from Incirlik was seen as a major breakthrough.

Kerry Confident Syria Peace Talks Will Go ahead January 25
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 21/16/U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday peace talks to solve the crisis in Syria would proceed on January 25 as planned, despite a dispute over who would represent the country's opposition. "It may be a day or two for invitations but there is not going to be a fundamental delay. The process will begin on the 25th and they will get together and see where we are," Kerry said on the sidelines of meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The latest bid to end the Syrian war through indirect talks between the government and opposition will take place in Geneva. But a disagreement over which parts of the opposition will be present at the negotiations, and who will represent them, is posing new obstacles. On Wednesday, the main coalition of opposition bodies, the so-called High Negotiations Committee, announced its own delegation to the talks.
But its decision to name a member of the Jaish al-Islam rebel group as its chief negotiator has drawn criticism both from some of its own members, and opposition figures excluded from the coalition. The National Coordinating Committee for Democratic Change, a key opposition body still present in Damascus, said the choice was "not acceptable". And Haytham Manna, an opposition figure who does not belong to the High Negotiations Committee, accused it of including "war criminals" in its delegation. Damascus's delegation will be headed by the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, and overseen by Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Moqdad, the Syrian government source has said.

Gunmen Kill Five Egyptian Police in Sinai
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 21/16/Gunmen have killed five Egyptian policemen at a checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said Thursday, in the latest attack claimed by the Islamic State group. The incident happened on Wednesday night in North Sinai province where security forces are battling a jihadist insurgency. "Unidentified gunmen opened fire on security forces at El-Etlawi square in the center of El-Arish," the ministry said in a statement, referring to the provincial capital. A gun battle ensued in which the five policemen were killed and three conscripts were wounded, it said. Security forces were searching for the attackers, the ministry said. The region is a bastion of the IS-affiliated group Sinai Province, which claimed the attack in a statement posted on jihadist websites. "Three soldiers of the Islamic State carried out a precise attack on a checkpoint of the infidel police at El-Etlawi square in El-Arish using light and medium weapons," the Sinai Province group said. IS fighters regularly target policemen and soldiers in the area. Wednesday's attack comes just days before the January 25 anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The insurgency in North Sinai swelled after the army ousted Mubarak's Islamist successor Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Jihadists say their attacks are in retaliation for a brutal government crackdown targeting Morsi's supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands imprisoned.

Syria Picks U.N. Envoy as Chief Negotiator for Peace Talks
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 21/16/Syria's U.N. envoy will be the regime's chief negotiator in upcoming peace talks, a government source said Thursday, as a dispute over the opposition's representatives threatened to delay the negotiations. The latest bid to end the Syrian war through indirect talks between the government and opposition was scheduled to begin on January 25 in Geneva. But a disagreement over which parts of the opposition will be present, and who will represent them, is posing new obstacles. Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, will be the government's chief negotiator, with Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Moqdad heading the delegation, the Syrian government source said. Jaafari also served as the regime's chief negotiator in a previous round of peace talks in Geneva in 2014. The Al-Watan daily, which is close to the government, said the delegation would also include several senior lawyers and other foreign ministry officials. On Wednesday, the main coalition of opposition bodies, the so-called High Negotiations Committee, announced its own delegation to the talks. But its decision to name a member of the Jaish al-Islam rebel group as its chief negotiator has drawn criticism both from some of its own members, and opposition figures excluded from the coalition. The National Coordinating Committee for Democratic Change, a key opposition body still present in Damascus, said it was "not acceptable" for the delegation's chief negotiator to come from the armed opposition."This sends the wrong political message to the Syrian people," it said in a statement. And Haytham Manna, an opposition figure who does not belong to the High Negotiations Committee, accused it of including "war criminals" in its delegation. He told AFP it was "impossible" for him to participate in an opposition delegation with figures like Mohamed Alloush, whose Jaish al-Islam group is active mostly around Damascus.
Damascus has not responded officially, but Al-Watan said "observers" deemed Alloush's appointment "a provocative step with the sole goal of thwarting any possible dialogue". Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday reiterated that Moscow viewed the Jaish al-Islam group and the powerful Ahrar al-Sham rebel organization as "terrorist" groups. There is also disagreement about whether the opposition will be represented by one or two delegations. The High Negotiations Committee insists it must be the sole opposition representative, but other opposition figures and Syria's Kurds have been excluded from its ranks and also want to participate in the talks. Al-Watan said that Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had discussed the issue in Zurich on Wednesday. The newspaper said Lavrov had proposed a joint delegation, with half the members chosen by Moscow -- a close ally of President Bashar Assad -- and the rest by the High Negotiations Committee. The daily said Kerry would now raise the proposal with Saudi officials, who have pushed back against the attendance of other opposition figures at the talks. It reported that Kerry would warn that Moscow was ready to insist two opposition delegations attend the talks. The High Negotiations Committee said Wednesday it would not attend the Geneva talks if another delegation was added. It also said negotiations were impossible if civilians continued to face regime strikes and siege tactics. According to Al-Watan, the U.N.'s special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will travel to Riyadh for talks on Sunday and hold a press conference on the Geneva talks on Monday.

Displaced Syrians Flock to Damascus District after Truce
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 21/16/Hundreds of displaced Syrian families returned to check on their homes in southern Damascus on Wednesday under a truce deal between the regime and opposition fighters. Carrying plastic bags and lugging suitcases, they gathered at a train station in the capital waiting to enter the rebel stronghold of Qadam. A deal for the district was struck in 2014 and is being gradually implemented -- one of many localized truces reached around the country. It called for an end to fighting and the return of a total of 2,000 families, Damascus governor Bushr al-Sabban said.
About 170 former opposition fighters will now "carry weapons in the right way, shoulder-to-shoulder with our brave forces to defend their region," Sabban said in comments carried by state media. Many of the families now live in the southwest of Damascus province and returned in large, green buses, an AFP journalist said. Umm Arab, 60, was squatting on the edge of the sidewalk with bags of food and clothes for her sons, who had stayed inside the district. "I have been waiting since this morning for them to allow us to enter. I left four years ago and I don't know what happened to my house," she said.
Rosa, a 29-year-old woman carrying her toddler, said she wanted to live in her house even if she found it reduced to rubble. "I left everything in my home, even my degrees, my documents, and my clothes, when I left three years ago, because I thought I would come back the next day," she said. Umm Ahmad, 42, said she was returning just in time for her brother's wedding. "We prepared everything for the celebration, and we will have a small party with my siblings and relatives," she said excitedly. A security source in Qadam said that residents would be allowed to enter on Wednesday to check on their homes, but would have to leave again later in the day. In the next stage of the agreement, the government will grant permission to residents who have registered with it to return more permanently and be able to come and go.Syria's government has championed similar local ceasefires to try to end the conflict which has killed more than 260,000 people since March 2011. But the opposition accuses the government of using siege tactics to force rebels to concede to the agreements.

German Minister Hails Berlin's Help in Fight against IS
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 21/16/German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday visited a contingent of German troops stationed at a Turkish air base as part of the coalition to defeat Islamic State (IS), hailing their contribution in the fight against the jihadists in Syria.
Six German Tornado reconnaissance planes have been carrying out flights since January 8 from the Incirlik base in southern Turkey, as well as an Airbus refueling plane. Von der Leyen told reporters at the base that the Tornados had already carried out over 30 flights, while the tanker plane had flown 40 times to supply German but also French, British and Italian planes. "It's very good that the contingent has set itself up so quickly," said Van der Leyen. "The reconnaissance results that the Tornados deliver are of an extraordinarily high quality," she said. "We are thus making our contribution to thwarting the expansion of IS."The minister said she had felt in Turkey how much the country had been hurt by the suicide attack in Istanbul on January 12 blamed on IS jihadists. "In Turkey there is a strongly growing conviction that we must fight the enemy together," she said. Her Turkish counterpart Ismet Yilmaz said the Istanbul attack "once again made clear how important the international coalition is in the fight against terror." German lawmakers in December authorized the deployment of up to 1,200 German personnel and the aircraft to join international military operations against the IS group. On the ground in Incirlik, the German forces have joined planes from countries including Britain, France and the United States. However the German planes are not carrying out lethal raids on Syria.Post-war Germany has been traditionally reluctant to send troops into military missions abroad. But momentum for the deployment grew after the November 13 Paris attacks. Turkey was long criticized over its alleged reluctance to fully take on IS but Ankara's permission last year to allow foreign forces to conduct raids against IS from Incirlik was seen as a major breakthrough.

Who are the women of Davos 2016?
Ceri Parker, World Economic Forum Wednesday, 20 January 2016
Women who are leading companies, countries and universities, who are breaking new ground in science and reimagining societies, will be gathering in Davos next week for the 46th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.
Rubbing shoulders in the snow will be the woman who holds the purse strings to Africa’s biggest economy (Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s Finance Minister), the woman in charge of the Large Hadron Collider (Fabiola Gianotti, Director General of CERN), Lithuania’s first female president, Dalia Grybauskaitė, Norway’s prime minister Erna Solberg, and the first woman to run a global car company (Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors), who is also one of the meeting’s three female Co-Chairs.
Our panel of six Co-Chairs is evenly split along gender lines, with Amira Yahyaoui, a Tunisian human rights activist who founded an online platform to hold the government to account, along with Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, steering discussions on the theme Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
They join Davos veterans including Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, and Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, among over 500 outstanding female leaders from every part of public life.
In business, female participants include Inga Beale, the first female CEO of insurance market Lloyd’s of London as well as the first woman to top a power list of LGBT executives. She’s joined by Meg Whitman, CEO of technology giant Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Zhang Xin, a self-made billionaire who rose from poverty on the outskirts of Beijing to co-found real estate company SOHO China, and Chanda Kochhar, who oversees $125 billion in assets as the CEO of ICICI Bank, India’s largest private bank. Influential women in economics include Elvira Nabiullina, the first woman to take the role of Governor of the Bank of Russia, and Hélène Rey, an economist tipped as "the next Piketty".
There’s no getting away from the fact that the context is tough for women in business: as CNBC reported last December, the number of female CEOs in America actually went backwards last year, with just 4% of S&P 500 companies run by women, while our tenth annual Global Gender Gap report showed that women’s progress in the workplace has stalled markedly over the last five years.
Against this backdrop, 18% of Davos participants this year are women (up from 17% in 2015 and 16% in 2014). Thanks in part to our quota, 20% of C-suite executives attending from our Strategic Partner companies are women. These rates are still too low, reflecting a whole host of factors that hold women back worldwide, and that we’re working to unpick, through initiatives like our Global Gender Gap report and Gender Task Forces.
For every sector alike, the biggest risk to the world today is undoubtedly climate change; and a woman is leading international negotiations to curb emissions: Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. She joins other female participants from the top tiers of governance and civil society, including Margaret Chan (Director-General of the World Health Organization), Winnie Byanyima (Executive Director of Oxfam) and Queen Rania of Jordan, who campaigns for education and development.
The theme of this year’s meeting, Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution, reflects the way digitisation is upending the way we live and work. Academia has a vital role to play in grappling with the challenges of this new economic era. Participants from this sphere include Drew Faust, the President of Harvard (and author of the immortal phrase, “I am not the female president of Harvard. I am the President of Harvard”), Elizabeth Blackburn, who won the Nobel prize for medicine and is now President of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Justine Cassell, a pioneering researcher in human-computer interaction and Jennifer Doudna, who co-invented a gene-editing tool.
A new industrial revolution means a new kind of leadership. Young female voices at Davos include Naadiya Moosajee, a civil engineer and the CEO of WomEng, a South African NGO that trains women as engineers, Marjolein Helder, CEO of ePlant, a Technology Pioneer company that’s found a way to generate electricity from the roots of living plants, Elizabeth O'Day, who founded Olaris Therapeutics, a company that develops tailor-made techniques to treat rare diseases, and Jen Hyatt, who has founded more than 30 social enterprises including a digital platform for tackling mental health problems.
And finally, culture has the power to make or break stereotypes, playing a crucial role in the move towards gender parity. Female participants from media and the arts include the the Oscar-winning Pakistani documentary-maker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Chinese actress Yao Chen, known as the “Queen of Weibo” for amassing the most followers on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter (78 million) and the Turkish novelist Elif Shafak.
If you’re interested in gender issues, you can follow the livestream of Davos sessions including a briefing, “The Gender Impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, on Thursday January 21 at 10.00am CET, and a debate on "Progress towards Parity" on Friday 22 at 4pm CET.

Queen Rania of Jordan raises plight of refugees
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Thursday, 21 January 2016éQueen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan spoke of the plight of refugees on Wednesday during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Panellists at the WEF annual Meeting in Davos called for a paradigm shift to help the world’s 60 million refugees, and said that traditional ways of helping refugees no longer work on their own as the world faces the worst crisis of displaced persons since World War II. Jordan hosts 1.3 million refugees as of 2015. Foreign and domestic investors can relocate supply chains there and equip refugees with skill sets needed to later bring back to their home countries once peace is achieved. "Refugees need to have independence and economic self-sufficiency," Queen Rania added, or else they open themselves up and become vulnerable to recruitment by extremists. She noted that the average time spent as a refugee is now 17 years. “Jordan alone cannot deal with the problem,” she said. International aid pays for only 36 percent of refugee upkeep, with the Jordanian government relying on borrowing to finance the rest. Queen Rania suggested one way of tackling economic strife of refugees if by building economic zones where refugees can seek employment and gain valuabel skill sets. “We are willing to create economic zones where refugees can find employment,” she said. Queen Rania's comments come after meeting with UK Prime Minister David Cameron a few days earlier, where he urged for the European Union to ease trade with Jordan in order to “provide real benefits to refugees in the region now, as well as enabling them to play a leading role in Syria’s reconstruction in the future.”“This is not just in the interests of Syria and her neighbors. It is in the interests of Europe, too. The more we do to enable people to stay in the region, the less likely we are to see them coming to Europe,” Cameron said.

U.S. VP Biden warns of digital age threats
Staff Writer, Al Arabiya English Thursday, 21 January 2016éU.S. Vice President Joe Biden warned about the possible dangers that the digital revolution and growing automation could pose to jobs on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum being held in Davos, Switzerland. A frequent veteran of the 45-year-old World Economic Forum while a U.S. Senator, Biden turned to the theme of this year’s edition — the Fourth Industrial Revolution — and expressed hopes it would produce “far more winners than losers” in his speech at a conference where roughly two-thirds of the 2,400-plus attendees are business leaders. “So my call to action here is simple: Embrace the obligation to your workers as well as your shareholders,” he said. Biden said the traditional bargain which stipulated that a worker who contributed to the success of his employer would get a share in the benefits has been broken. He decried a growing wealth gap, economic inequality, tax avoidance and data showing that wage growth is not keeping pace with productivity gains. He suggested that they were among the contributing factors to a rise of public disenchantment and frustration in many parts of the world, fanning radical movements like ISISand far-right extremists in Europe, and spawning an extreme political discourse in the United States. “So I say to all of you tonight that the digital revolution has the potential to exacerbate this breakdown, and not just in America but around the world,” he said. However, Biden said he’s more optimistic about the future of the world than ever amid the vast technological changes. “Never before we have had so much power in our hands to do better,” Biden said. “It’s not going to be easy. But it’s possible.”(With the Associated Press)

Canada condemns attack in Pakistan
January 20, 2016 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement condemning a terrorist attack in Charsadda, Pakistan:
“Canada condemns in the strongest of terms today’s terrorist attack at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Pakistan.
“Students, faculty and others were targeted in a centre of higher education where they were working to improve their lives and advance their communities.
“Canada will continue to support Pakistan in the fight against terrorism and believes that continued and determined action against all forms of terrorism is essential to building a prosperous and stable region.
“Canada stands with the people of Pakistan at this tragic moment. Our thoughts are with the family members and loved ones of those who were killed, and we wish a speedy recovery to the wounded.”

ISIS Destroys Oldest Assyrian Monastery in Iraq, St. Elijah's Monastery of Mosul
By Martha Mendoza, Maya Alleruzzo and Bram Janssen/2016-01-21
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/01/21/isis-destroys-oldest-assyrian-monastery-in-iraq-st-elijahs-monastery-of-mosul/
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35360415
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) -- The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the Islamic State group's relentless destruction of ancient cultural sites.
For 1,400 years the compound survived assaults by nature and man, standing as a place of worship recently for U.S. troops. In earlier centuries, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches and prayed in the cool chapel. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christ's name, were carved near the entrance.
Now satellite photos obtained exclusively by The Associated Press confirm the worst fears of church authorities and preservationists -- St. Elijah's Monastery of Mosul has been completely wiped out.
In his office in exile in Irbil, Iraq, the Rev. Paul Thabit Habib, 39, stared quietly at before- and after-images of the monastery that once perched on a hillside above his hometown of Mosul. Shaken, he flipped back to his own photos for comparison.
"I can't describe my sadness," he said in Arabic. "Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically leveled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land."
The Islamic State group, which broke from al-Qaida and now controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, has killed thousands of civilians and forced out hundreds of thousands of Christians, threatening a religion that has endured in the region for 2,000 years. Along the way, its fighters have destroyed buildings and ruined historical and culturally significant structures they consider contrary to their interpretation of Islam.
Those who knew the monastery wondered about its fate after the extremists swept through in June 2014 and largely cut communications to the area.
Now, St. Elijah's has joined a growing list of more than 100 demolished religious and historic sites, including mosques, tombs, shrines and churches in Syria and Iraq. The extremists have defaced or ruined ancient monuments in Nineveh, Palmyra and Hatra. Museums and libraries have been looted, books burned, artwork crushed -- or trafficked.
U.S. Army soldiers tour St. Elijah's Monastery on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq, in 2008.
"A big part of tangible history has been destroyed," said Rev. Manuel Yousif Boji. A Chaldean Catholic pastor in Southfield, Michigan, he remembers attending Mass at St. Elijah's almost 60 years ago while a seminarian in Mosul.
"These persecutions have happened to our church more than once, but we believe in the power of truth, the power of God," said Boji. He is part of the Detroit area's Chaldean community, which became the largest outside Iraq after the sectarian bloodshed that followed the U.S. invasion in 2003. Iraq's Christian population has dropped from 1.3 million then to 300,000 now, church authorities say.
The destruction of the monastery is a blow for U.S. troops and advisers who served in Iraq and had tried to protect and honor the site, a hopeful endeavor in a violent place and time.
Suzanne Bott, who spent more than two years restoring St. Elijah's Monastery as a U.S. State Department cultural adviser in Iraq, teared up when the AP showed her the images.
"Oh no way. It's just razed completely," said Bott. "What we lose is a very tangible reminder of the roots of a religion."
In this photo from Nov. 7, 2008, a U.S. Army chaplain leads soldiers on a tour of St. Elijah's Monastery on Forward Operating Base Marez on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq. The monastery was apparently destroyed by ISIS in 2014 (Maya Alleruzzo/AP).
Army reserve Col. Mary Prophit remembered a sunrise service in St. Elijah where, as a Catholic lay minister, she served communion.
"I let that moment sink in, the candlelight, the first rays of sunshine. We were worshipping in a place where people had been worshipping God for 1,400 years," said Prophit, who was deployed there in 2004 and again in 2009.
"I would imagine that many people are feeling like, 'What were the last 10 years for if these guys can go in and destroy everything?'" said Prophit, a library manager in Glenoma, Washington.
This month, at the request of AP, satellite imagery firm DigitalGlobe tasked a high resolution camera passing over the site to grab photos, and then pulled earlier images of the same spot from their archive of pictures taken globally every day. Imagery analyst Stephen Wood, CEO of Allsource Analysis, reviewed the pictures for AP and identified the date of destruction between Aug. 27 and Sept. 28, 2014. Before it was razed, images show a partially restored, 27,000-square-foot religious building. Although the roof was largely missing, it had 26 distinctive rooms including a sanctuary and chapel. One month later, "the stone walls have been literally pulverized," said Wood.
Soldiers celebrate a Catholic Easter Mass at St. Elijah's Monastery on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq in 2010.
"Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of gray-white dust. They destroyed it completely," he said. "There's nothing to rebuild."
The monastery, called Dair Mar Elia, is named for the Assyrian Christian monk -- St. Elijah -- who built it between 582 and 590 A.C. It was a holy site for Iraqi Christians for centuries, part of the Mideast's Chaldean Catholic community.
In 1743, tragedy struck when as many as 150 monks who refused to convert to Islam were massacred under orders of a Persian general, and the monastery was damaged. For the next two centuries it remained a place of pilgrimage, even after it was incorporated into an Iraqi military training base and later a U.S. base.
Suzanne Bott leads a tour at St. Elijah's monastery in 2009. Bott spent more than two years surveying and restoring the site as a U.S. State Department cultural adviser in Iraq.
Then in 2003 St. Elijah's shuddered again -- this time a wall was smashed by a tank turret blown off in battle. Iraqi troops had already moved in, dumping garbage in the ancient cistern. The U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division took control, with troops painting over ancient murals and scrawling their division's "Screaming Eagle," along with "Chad wuz here" and "I love Debbie," on the walls.
A U.S. military chaplain, recognizing St. Elijah's significance, kicked the troops out and the Army's subsequent preservation initiative became a pet project for a series of chaplains who toured thousands of soldiers through the ruin.
"It was a sacred place. We literally bent down physically to enter, an acquiescence to the reality that there was something greater going on inside," remembered military chaplain Jeffrey Whorton. A Catholic priest who now works at Ft. Bragg, he had to collect himself after viewing the damage. "I don't know why this is affecting me so much," he said.
The U.S. military's efforts drew attention from international media outlets including the AP in 2008. Today those chronicles, from YouTube videos captured on the cell phones of visiting soldiers to AP's own high resolution, detailed photographs, take on new importance as archives of what was lost.
One piece published in Smithsonian Magazine was written by American journalist James Foley, six years before he was killed by Islamic State militants.
St. Elijah's was being saved, Foley wrote in 2008, "for future generations of Iraqis who will hopefully soon have the security to appreciate it."
© 2016, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use.

The nuclear deal and Iran’s wasted opportunities
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/January 21/16
Ever since negotiations between the West and Iran headed toward reaching a deal, many saw it as a victory for Tehran and its patience and persistence. It is not an Iranian victory, however, as it backed down from its nuclear military program and pledged not to return to it for at least 15 years, during which time there will be international monitoring of its facilities. Some will be monitored by cameras 24 hours per day.
In pursuit of its nuclear program, Tehran wasted 20 years, billions of dollars and massive economic opportunities. In the end, it agreed to limit the program to peaceful purposes - this could have been achieved under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) without all that suffering and loss. Iran can only try to resume its original plan of a nuclear military capability in 2030 - does the regime think it will be easy to do so, and that it will stay in power until then?
Iran is talking about the massive economic opportunities that the nuclear deal will yield, but for a quarter of a century it was blind to domestic and regional opportunities.
Its project was one of the biggest political and nationalistic failures in modern history. The regime was deprived of the ability to develop its industrial and petroleum capabilities. Meanwhile, it deprived its citizens of a decent life, even though Iran has more resources than affluent countries such as its Arab Gulf neighbors.
It is reminiscent of Saddam Hussein claiming he wanted a massive military to protect Iraq, when in fact he wanted to expand and dominate. This cost him everything, including his post and life. Iran displayed the same stubbornness during its bloody war with Iraq in the 1980s. In the end, both sides retreated and agreed to stop the war and bloodshed.
Regional influence
Unfortunately, Tehran has yet to face reality. Its hardliners still think the way they did in 1979. Iran is a huge country with a population of 80 million and massive economic capabilities, so it does not need arms to bolster its status.
If it had chosen the path of co-existence with its neighbors and focused on developing science and economics, it would have been able to dominate the region in those fields, as many of the world’s developed countries have done. Iran is talking about the massive economic opportunities that the nuclear deal will yield, but for a quarter of a century it was blind to domestic and regional opportunities.

Are the Palestinian Authority’s days numbered?
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/January 21/16
Relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are increasingly riddled with contradictions. The Israeli government continuously criticizes the PA and its President Mahmoud Abbas for their dysfunctionality and weakness in the face of militancy and inciting against Israel. However, Israel is troubled - to say the least - by the prospect of the PA’s collapse.
The Israeli media quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a meeting of the diplomatic-security cabinet, as stating: “We must prevent the PA from collapsing if possible, but at the same time, we must prepare in case it happens.” He shares the view of most of the country’s security establishment and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
Yet senior cabinet colleagues disagree that Israel is worse off without the PA. The more extreme-right elements in government see the potential demise of the Palestinian leadership as an opportunity to resume full Israeli control of the entire West Bank.
Netanyahu and his political allies may rue the day they did not invest in empowering the current Palestinian leadership, treating it merely as Israel’s security sub-contractors instead of equal peace partners.
Three scenarios
There are three scenarios that might bring about the end of the PA. The first is through a voluntary decision by its own leadership to dismantle it. The aging Abbas, who will soon celebrate his 81st birthday, and his veteran colleagues are disillusioned with the prospect of a peace agreement with Israel, or even of a meaningful peace process.
They might reach the conclusion that only dismantling the PA, or the threat of it, might rekindle Israeli interest in a genuine peace process. The PA is also not oblivious to the negative view Palestinians hold of their leadership, and it might be a case of jumping before being pushed.
The second possible scenario is that the PA might crumble under domestic or external pressure, and consequently stop functioning altogether. If the number of stabbings or other violent attacks on Israelis increase, political, economic and military pressure might mount from the Israeli side, and maybe even from the United States. This could severely compromise the PA’s ability to provide services, and would further harm its credibility among its own people.
A third possible scenario is that a combination of the leadership’s lack of legitimacy, in conjunction with an inability to fulfil people’s aspirations, will lead to internal unrest, even violent uprising, that results in the breakup of the current order.
If any of these scenarios becomes a reality, both the Palestinians and Israelis will find themselves in unchartered and dangerous waters. It would mean the complete breakdown of law and order and potentially a power vacuum, which might suck in subversive elements from within Palestinian society, including those from the more militant-fundamentalist camp. One of the potential big winners of such a development might be Hamas, which might extend its influence from Gaza to the West Bank.
Security
Last month, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed grave concerns regarding the prospect of the PA’s collapse. He reminded Israelis that according to their own security officials, the role that 30,000 Palestinian security forces in the West Bank are playing is crucial to preventing the security situation from spiralling out of control.
Even when tensions rose during three wars with Gaza over the last seven years, the West Bank remained relatively calm, largely thanks to the Palestinian political leadership and its security forces.
Moreover, without a functioning PA, around 150,000 of its employees will not see their salaries paid, and those who rely on the PA’s services and benefits will be left wanting. This political and economic breakdown will only lead to anger, radicalization and deepening divisions within Palestinian society, of which Israel is likely to be on the receiving end.
After all, it is the occupying force, and seen by most Palestinians as bearing the lion’s share of responsibility for the current impasse in the peace process and the hardships they are enduring. Furthermore, as Israel is the occupying power, the international community is bound to hold it accountable for the situation, and responsible for the welfare of those who live under its rule in the West Bank.
Legitimacy
The question regarding the future of the PA highlights the complexity of its relations with Israel. It underlines the fact that the West Bank is gradually left without any source of legitimacy or power to ensure stability. The Israeli occupation never had any legitimacy, neither legally nor morally.
The PA’s legitimacy is in a freefall. It was established more than 20 years ago as an interim government on the road to self-determination and an end to Israel’s military presence, but failed to achieve either. To make things worse, neither presidential nor legislative elections have taken place for a decade, the administration is tainted by corruption allegations, and the economy is barely improving.
Much can be attributed to operating under uniquely difficult circumstances, which restricts the ability to function adequately. This is especially true of the occupation and the deep divisions with Hamas in Gaza. Nevertheless, much can be attributed to bad governance.
The malaise among ordinary Palestinians is spreading, and in a recent public opinion poll two thirds demanded Abbas’s resignation and rejected the two-state solution. There is also a clear majority in support of stabbing attacks against Israelis, and a return to an armed uprising.
These figures are very worrying. They indicate the PA’s weakness at a time when Israel needs it to be stronger than ever. Whatever the faults of the Palestinian leadership, Netanyahu and his political allies should reflect on the part they have played in undermining the PA every step of the way. They may rue the day they did not invest in empowering the current Palestinian leadership, treating it merely as Israel’s security sub-contractors instead of equal peace partners.

Saudi Arabia: Securing interests, not making enemies
Mohammed Fahad al-Harthi/Al Arabiya/January 21/16
In the past week, Riyadh has been visited by a number of leaders and politicians. The mere number might equal the total number of visitors to some capitals in a period of several months. There is presently intense political activity, significantly led by Saudi Arabia, which reveals the Saudi belief in a foreign policy of openness to everyone, in building common interests and not dwelling on the absence of similarities. No doubt, this week’s visits illustrate this. For example, there was an important visit by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif just days after a visit by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Islamabad.
There has been an ongoing discussion in some Saudi circles that deals with the Pakistani attitude toward the Kingdom, particularly when the latter has provided both historic and strategic support to Pakistan. There are solid links between the two that go beyond the usual bilateral relations between nations.
Saudi Arabia has said many times that geography and history have established the presence of Iran in the region and so consequently, there is a necessity for good relations.
Most recently, it came as a surprise when the Pakistani Parliament voted unanimously against sending troops when the operation in Yemen began. The decision was surprising not because of a desperate need for troops, but because many expected that Pakistan might be the first to offer real support to Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, the relationship between the two countries remained strong; the recent high-level visits reflect relations as they have always been. Pakistan has affirmed that Saudi security is Pakistani security and that Islamabad will not countenance any attack on Saudi Arabia or its territorial integrity.
Nawaz Sharif’s visit was perhaps a validation of the fundamental strategic relationship between the two countries that represents the essence of the Muslim world. Sharif’s visit to Tehran after Saudi Arabia is a confirmation of Pakistani mediation between Riyadh and Tehran. Saudi Arabia wants action rather than words. Iran has intervened in Arab countries and therefore the situation is Arab-Iranian instead of Saudi-Iranian. What is required is a clear change in Iranian foreign policy which means that Iran should stop intervening in the internal affairs of other countries.
Concerning its approach, Saudi Arabia is not against reconciliation. It is, however, waiting for concrete steps. Saudi Arabia has said many times that geography and history have established the presence of Iran in the region and so consequently, there is a necessity for good relations. At the same time of course, good relations require effort and cooperation by both partners.
Xi in Riyadh
In addition, the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Riyadh reveals the Saudi political approach in building upon interests despite differences. The visit gave rise to frequent speculation about Saudi Arabia’s political orientation moving to the East; it is clear that Riyadh believes it must go wherever the Kingdom’s best interests take it. China is a huge state and the economic relations between the two countries in 2015 amounted to something in excess of $71 billion. Chinese imports of Saudi oil amount to some 50 million tons per year and this represents only one aspect of the vast network of Saudi-Chinese relations.
China has developed into an economic power since its first engagement with the global economy in 1978. The relationship between the two countries has evolved and led to the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement in 1999. Differences naturally exist in some areas but these do not prevent pragmatic cooperation when it serves both countries’ interests.
Thus as a matter of political rationality, a Chinese-Saudi rapprochement remains important, not only for the two countries but also for the region, politically and economically. It is important that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) unify its foreign policies in order to earn more respect and influence in the capitals of the world. There is at present an economic agreement between the GCC and China for the establishment of a free trade zone between them.
The visitors to Riyadh have included foreign ministers, heads of parliaments and ministers of defense. The visits certainly suggest that intensive diplomatic movement is under way in the face of Iranian expansionism. The aim must always be to serve the best interests of the entire region. Saudi Arabia has a firm policy, but at the same time it is active diplomatically in order to achieve its strategic goals. In today’s world, power is not only arms and soldiers but includes economics, national benefits and political impact.

Syria Talks: Much ado about nothing
Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/January 21/16
Nothing about the current Peace Talks on Syria, proposed for Monday in Geneva, is certain. They might happen but the higher likelihood is that they will be postponed. The anti-Assad opposition might or might not attend. If it attends at all, the talks themselves will not be direct, and deep differences on the way forward completely dim their prospects.
In a nutshell, U.S. Secretary John Kerry's persistence is the only positive element around the whole process, as opposing factions trade accusations of terrorism and treason, and ground realities become increasingly detached from then diplomatic vision. Added to this, regional differences between Iran and the GCC countries plus Turkey, as well as the Russian backing of Assad, make the current exercise a mechanism to buy time and leverage until different military realities take shape.
No list, no invites
Four days before the Geneva talks, no invites have been sent yet by Envoy Staffan de Mistura, and Kerry's meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergie Lavrov yesterday failed to produce an agreement on the opposition's attendance. Moscow has been insisting on including Kurdish groups considered terrorist by Turkey and others who have ties to the Assad regime on the table. This has been rejected by the "Opposition Council" formed in Riyadh last month, and is threatening to scuttle the whole meeting.
Beyond the immediate effects, however, the battle over the opposition representation exposes a larger power play and is symptomatic of the proxy war ongoing in Syria. For Russia to insist on the Y.P.G participation is a signal to Turkey on who will set the rules in Geneva, and for the "opposition council" to threaten withdrawal if the in house opposition attends, it's a redline from their backers to the West on limits of compromise in Syria.
At every turn, the Geneva process clashes with the realities from Damascus to Idlib and beyond while holding very little prospect and leverage to change them.
As Liz Sly points out in the Washington Post Russia is using its strengthened position on the ground to reframe the negotiations. Moscow's calculus after more than hundred days of strikes in Syria, is to twist the opposition's arm and pressure the United States into accepting the new military realities, hence leaving the regime intact and forgetting the thought of a real transition. Such a proposal builds today on a weakened Free Syrian Army, and increased fear in the West from ISIS. However, neither the United States nor the regional actors or the opposition are ready to accept it.
Transition and Militias myths
For the Assad regime, accepting Geneva I and Geneva II invitations is one thing and embracing their narrative is another. While political transition has been now talked about for four years as the path for a resolution in Syria, the regime has continuously worked towards a different end. The approach from Damascus, very early on from the uprising in 2011, was to adopt few reforms and form a unity government with the internal opposition without touching the security and political hierarchy of the regime.
This is the Russian position today as well, who while dropping hints that it could accept Assad into asylum is in reality bolstering his support and making sure that any "transition" is according to the regime's vision, with its brand of opposition and undermines Turkey.
The Assad narrative clashes on every level with how the opposition and the rebels inside Syria view the conflict, thus limiting the room for breakthrough in Geneva. Only a real political transition with a credible exit for Assad is acceptable by the opposition, and one that brings a major restructuring for the country's security and intelligence apparatus.
Added to the complexities surrounding Geneva is the insistence of Arab countries on militias and foreign fighters withdrawal from Syria in any final solution. That includes Hezbollah and other Iraqi militias backed by Iran and operating in Damascus and Aleppo. Easier said than done, however. If anything Hezbollah has only deepened its involvement in Syria, creating a de facto bufferzone by the Lebanese border, and making its role crucial for keeping the Assad regime and its backers afloat. It is extremely unlikely that Hezbollah will give up its role in Syria anytime soon, or accept a defeat in Qalamoun based on statements signed in Geneva.
At every turn, the Geneva process clashes with the realities from Damascus to Idlib and beyond while holding very little prospect and leverage to change them. Its occurrence or postponement is a saving face tactic to buy time and wait for the battle lines to change again inside Syria.

Palestinians: Western Media's Ignorance and Bias
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/January 21/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7271/palestinians-western-media
Foreign journalists based in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have for years refused to report on the financial corruption and human rights violations that are rife under the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas regimes. Palestinian "suffering" and the "evil" of the Israeli "occupation" are the only admissible topics.
Another Ramallah-based colleague shared that a few years ago he received a request from a cub correspondent to help arrange an interview with Yasser Arafat. Except at that point, Arafat had been dead for several years. Fresh out of journalism school and unknowledgeable about the Middle East, the journalist was apparently considered by his editors a fine candidate for covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Western reporters would do well to remember that journalism in this region is not about being pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian. Rather, it is about being "pro" the truth, even when the truth runs straight up against what they would prefer to believe.
Two Western journalists recently asked to be accompanied to the Gaza Strip to interview Jewish settlers living there.
No, this is not the opening line of a joke. These journalists were in Israel at the end of 2015, and they were deadly serious.
Imagine their embarrassment when it was pointed out to them that Israel had completely pulled out of the Gaza Strip ten years ago.
You have to have some pity for them. These foreign colleagues were rookies who aimed to make an impression by traveling to a "dangerous" place such as the Gaza Strip to report on the "settlers" living there. Their request, however, did not take anyone, even my local colleagues, by surprise.
These "parachute journalists," as they are occasionally called, are catapulted into the region without being briefed on the basic facts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sadly, correspondents such as these are more the rule than the exception. A particular clueless British reporter springs to mind:
When Israel assassinated Hamas's founder and spiritual leader, Ahmed Yasmin, in 2004, a British newspaper dispatched its crime reporter to Jerusalem to cover the event. To this reporter, the region, as well as Hamas, were virgin territory. His editors had sent him to the Middle East, he said, because no one else was willing to go.
Well, our hero reported on the assassination of Ahmed Yassin from the bar of the American Colony Hotel. His byline claimed that he was in the Gaza Strip and had interviewed relatives of the slain leader of Hamas.
Sometimes one feels as if one is some sort of a lightning rod for these tales. Another Ramallah-based colleague shared that a few years ago he received a request from a cub correspondent to help arrange an interview with Yasser Arafat. Except at that point, Arafat had been dead for several years. Fresh out of journalism school and unknowledgeable about the Middle East, the journalist was apparently considered by his editors a fine candidate for covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In the three decades of covering this beat, journalists of this type have become quite familiar to me. They board a plane, read an article or two in the Times and feel ready to be experts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Some of them have even assured me that before 1948 there was a Palestinian state here with East Jerusalem as its capital. Like the ill-informed young colleagues who wished to interview the nonexistent Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip of 2015, they were somewhat taken aback to learn that prior to 1967, the West Bank had been under the control of Jordan, while the Gaza Strip had been ruled by Egypt.
Is there some difference between an Arab citizen of Israel and a Palestinian from the West Bank or Gaza Strip? My foreign colleagues may well not be able to say. Does the Hamas charter really state that the Islamist movement seeks to replace Israel with an Islamic empire? If so, my international co-workers may not be able to tell you.
One memorable journalist, several years ago, asked to visit the "destroyed" city of Jenin, where "thousands of Palestinians had been massacred by Israel in 2002." She was referring to the IDF operation in the Jenin refugee camp where nearly 60 Palestinians, many of them gunmen, and 23 IDF soldiers were killed in a battle.
Pity aside, this degree of incomprehension -- and professional laziness -- is difficult to imagine in the Internet age.
But when it comes to covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ignorance apparently is bliss. Misconceptions about what goes on here plague the international media. The binary good guy/bad guy designation tops the list. Someone has to be the good guy (the Palestinians are assigned that job) and someone has to be the bad guy (the Israelis get that one). And everything gets refracted through that prism.
Yet the problem is deeper still. Many Western journalists covering the Middle East do not feel the need to conceal their hatred for Israel and for Jews. But when it comes to the Palestinians, these journalists see no evil. Foreign journalists based in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have for years refused to report on the financial corruption and human rights violations that are rife under the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas regimes. They possibly fear being considered "Zionist agents" or "propagandists" for Israel.
Finally, there are the local journalists hired by Western reporters and media outlets to help the cover the conflict. These journalists may refuse to cooperate on any story that is deemed "anti-Palestinian." Palestinian "suffering" and the "evil" of the Israeli "occupation" are the only admissible topics. Western journalists, for their part, are keen not to anger their Palestinian colleagues: they do not wish to be denied access to Palestinian sources.
Thus, the international media's indifference in the face of the current wave of stabbings and car-rammings against Israelis should come as no surprise. One would be hard-pressed to find a Western journalist or a media organization referring to Palestinian assailants as "terrorists." In fact, international headlines often show more sympathy toward Palestinian attackers who are killed in the line of aggression than toward the Israelis who were attacked in the first place.
Of course, the above tales hardly apply to all foreign journalists. Some correspondents from the US, Canada, Australia and Europe are both very knowledgeable and very fair. Unfortunately, however, these represent but a small group among mainstream media in the West.
Western reporters, especially those who are "parachuted" into the Middle East, would do well to remember that journalism in this region is not about being pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian. Rather, it is about being "pro" the truth, even when the truth runs straight up against what they would prefer to believe.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.Those who were convinced are mostly from the LF and FPM members because sadly their priority as always is the leader not the cause. They walk behind the leaders no matter where they take them. very Sad reality. This reality applies on all the Lebanese partisans who are members in the the Lebanese so called parties.

The Middle East After the JCPOA
Michael SinghéWashington Institute/January 21/16
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
The United States and its allies are more than up to the challenges posed by post-deal Iran, but they will need to focus on objectives rather than tactics, and engage in long-term planning rather than continuing their reactive, shorter-term approach.
Below is an excerpt from the closing recommendations of Mr. Singh's prepared remarks.
Discussions of foreign policy too often begin with tactics -- whether, for example, to enforce the JCPOA strictly or to walk away from it altogether. I believe we will arrive at better policy if we instead begin by considering the objectives and outcomes we hope to achieve, and mapping our way to achieving them. We also have a regrettable tendency to think of foreign policy as an exercise in problem-solving, focusing first and sometimes last on addressing conflicts, and neglecting the more prosaic work of building relationships and heading off new problems. Yet in the Middle East, we are likely to have far more and faster success in bolstering alliances that have weathered the region's storms -- such as those with Jordan, the GCC, and Israel -- than in, say, ending Syria's civil war or building a new government in Libya. Finally, we have a tendency to think and plan in short increments, considering what must be done over the coming months, without reference to any clear longer-term agenda.
Despite the dramatic developments of recent years, our interests in the Middle East have not fundamentally changed. They include things like nonproliferation, counterterrorism, the free flow of energy and commerce, and the security of Israel. However, the obstacles to advancing those interests have changed starkly -- they include not only a flawed JCPOA, but also the rise of the Islamic State, the fall of allies (albeit problematic ones) in Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere, and so forth. This new context demands a new strategy -- a set of actions that, given the obstacles and opportunities we face, holds the best chance of advancing our interests. This is not the forum for articulating a new Middle East strategy in full. But as we consider how we move forward in the aftermath of the JCPOA, it is important that the post-deal Iran policy we devise be consistent with and reinforce such a strategy. It is worth noting that none of the policy steps I recommend below strictly require that the JCPOA be renegotiated.
The first objective of our policy toward Iran should remain preventing nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. While the JCPOA provides some useful tools in this regard -- chiefly by increasing the access of IAEA inspectors and recommitting Iran to implementing enhanced safeguards arrangements -- it also has significant weaknesses.
The first and most critical weakness of the JCPOA is that it is not strong enough to prevent Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon clandestinely. Iran is permitted to continue R&D on advanced centrifuges, the efficiency of which would be well-suited to the operation of a small, secret enrichment facility; it was not required to provide the IAEA with access to facilities and personnel involved in weaponization, making it difficult to have confidence that these will not be utilized again in a future weapons push; and it is permitted to openly pursue a ballistic missile program, and may receive international aid to do so within eight years. Uncovering a clandestine nuclear weapons program is complicated by the IAEA's lack of "anytime, anywhere" inspection authority, and the relative paucity of enforcement mechanisms, either in the JCPOA or in the national policies of the United States and its allies.
To address these weaknesses, I recommend the following steps:
IAEA efforts to gain access to PMD-related facilities and personnel should be resumed, using the access provisions of the Additional Protocol and the JCPOA;
The IAEA should use those same access provisions to verify the completeness of Iran's initial declarations regarding its uranium stocks, inventory of centrifuge components, and any related declarations;
The IAEA should use those same access provisions to perform end-use verification of both nuclear-related and dual-use items, even though the latter is not specifically provided for in the JCPOA procurement channel;
Whenever possible, the 24-hour inspection requirement of the Additional Protocol should be applied, rather than the 24-day schedule of the JCPOA dispute resolution mechanism;
The United States and its allies should press the IAEA to be forward-leaning in its access requests, and ensure that the next Director-General of the IAEA is focused and credible on this matter;
The United States, European Union, and other partners should agree on a "menu" of penalties short of full snapback to be applied in the event of Iranian delays or violations of the JCPOA, and indicate their willingness to begin applying those penalties during the 24-day dispute resolution mechanism if Iran proves slow or reluctant to cooperate with the IAEA;
The U.S. Treasury and State Departments, in conjunction with counterparts in allied capitals, should continue to actively educate U.S. and foreign firms about remaining sanctions on Iran, and invest resources in detecting Iranian efforts to circumvent them;
The United States and its allies should provide the IAEA with the funding it requires to carry out its mission in as robust a manner as possible;
The United States continue to invest in detecting illicit Iranian nuclear activities, and the United States and its allies should enhance their cooperation to gather intelligence on Iran's nuclear program and furnish information as appropriate to the IAEA to assist in its monitoring and verification mission;
The United States, European Union, and other partners should assist other states in putting in place and executing sufficient export controls to prevent illicit Iranian procurement, and should urge states to institute a presumption of denial for the export of sensitive goods to Iran; vigilance will also be required to monitor Chinese and North Korean compliance;
The United States and its allies should invest in deterrence, indicating clearly their continued willingness to use the military option if Iran violates the JCPOA, and ensuring that their force posture and actions reinforce the credibility of such statements; this should include investing in a sufficiently large Navy to provide coverage in multiple geographic theaters so the United States is not forced to "choose" between Asia and the Middle East.
It should be noted that many of the above steps rely on the United States retaining the support of four other members of the JCPOA's eight-member joint commission -- the EU, UK, France, and Germany. But there can be no guarantee that coming elections in France, Germany, and elsewhere will ensure these governments' continued support. Should political developments in Europe leave the United States with less support on the Joint Commission than needed to rigorously enforce the above actions, the United States will be left with little choice other than to reconsider its adherence to the JCPOA...
**Michael Singh is the Lane-Swig Senior Fellow and managing director at The Washington Institute.

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.january22.16.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006 Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006