LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

July 05/16

 Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.july04.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

Jesus Teaches His Disciples" The Our Father" Prayer
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11/01-04/:"He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’He said to them, ‘When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins,for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.’"

When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them
Acts of the Apostles 15,36-41.16,1-3.6-10./:"After some days Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Come, let us return and visit the believers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.’Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul decided not to take with them one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work. The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. Paul went on also to Derbe and to Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer; but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him; and he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them."

Pope Francis's Tweet For Today
The summertime offers many people an occasion for rest. It’s also a favorable time to take care of our human relationships.
L’été est pour beaucoup l’occasion de se reposer. C’est aussi un moment favorable pour entretenir des relations humaines.
يقدّم فصل الصيف للكثيرين فرصة للراحة. إنه وقت ملائم أيضًا للإعتناء بالعلاقات الإنسانيّة.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 04-05/16

Made in Our Image: The Allure of ‘Moderate Muslims/Raymond Ibrahim/July 04/16
Westerners who don hijabs in Iran are a disgrace/Amir Taheri/New York Post/July 04/16
Erdogan’s latest wake-up call on Islamic State/Week in Review/Al-Monitor/July 04/16
Jihadists Trying to Dislodge Bangladesh's Secular Government/Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/July 04/16
Britain: Labour Party Finds Itself Innocent/Douglas Murray/Gatestone Institute/July 04/16
Russia needs Turkey in the war on ISIS/Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya/July 04/16
God’s traveling people/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/July 04/16
Teresa May could emerge the true winner of Brexit/Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/July 04/16
The Myth of Cosmopolitanism/Ross Douthat/The New York Times/July 04/16
After Istanbul Attack, Turkey Shows Solidarity on Fighting Terrorism/David Ignatius/The Washington Post/July 04/16
How Brexit Could Avert New Cold War/Katrina Vanden Heuvel/Asharq Al Awsat/July 04/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on July 04-05/16

Army Raids Syrian Refugee Encampments in al-Qaa
Presidency Talks Intensify ahead of Expected Berri-Aoun and Nasrallah-Franjieh Meetings
Casualties as Nusra Clashes with IS in Outskirts of Arsal, Ras Baalbek
Report: Berri-Bassil Oil Talks to Pave Way for New Electoral Law
'Soldier' Accidentally Wounded in Sidon Shooting
ISIS attacks Nusra along Lebanon border
Lebanese Politician Wiam Wahhab: We Should Boycott Banks That Comply With U.S. Anti-Hizbullah Law, Switch To Euro
Grand Mufti: Wednesday first Fitr day
Reelection of STL President and Vice President
Mashnouq, Slovak official take up Lebanese European cooperation means
Clashes renewed in Arsal outskirts between Daash, Nusra
Kataeb fears Lebanon oil would become divisive
Lebanese Army stages raids in Wadi Khaled outskirts, apprehends three Syrians
Hezbollah condemns terrorist blasts in Saudi Arabia
Fire ravages through Houla outskirts
 

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 04-05/16

Trudeau, wake up!
Multiple Suicide Bombings across Saudi Arabia
Syria intelligence chief visits Rome: pro-Assad daily
Israel hits Syrian military targets after stray fire on Golan
Anger over Security as Iraqis Mourn Over 200 Dead in Baghdad Bombing
Kuwait busts three ISIS cells plotting terror attacks
Saudi air force intercepts ballistic missile
ISIS suspects held at Istanbul airport days after attack
Turkey proposes cooperation with Russia in fighting ISIS
ISIS suspects detained at Istanbul airport - less than week after attack
Frustrated Iraqis want crackdown on sleeper cells
US-backed militias face second ISIS counter attack
Saudi deputy crown prince discusses Yemen with UN envoy
Israel approves 560 new homes in West Bank settlement
Jordan eager to reach nuke deal with US
More than two dozen Nobel laureates declare support for major "Free Iran" gathering in Paris on July 9
Statement by 80 Church leaders from the U.S. and UK in support of the Iranian opposition’s July 9 gathering in Paris
Maryam Rajavi: Painful loss of Elie Wiesel, the messenger of humanity
Iran regime msssacring people of Syria - MEP
Slovak MEP: 'clear improvement' in Iranian human rights a pre-condition for expanded relations with EU
Ban on food, medicine and fuel deliveries to Camp Liberty enters 2nd week
Yemeni PM. Dr. Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr: Iran Stands behind Regional Conflicts…Yemeni Hezbollah-Inspired Entity Will Not Be Permitted

Links From Jihad Watch Site for July 04-05/16
Jihad-martyrdom bombers hit 3 Saudi cities, including Muhammad’s mosque in Medina
Video: Robert Spencer on Islam’s View of Women
Islamic State beheads men for “mocking Islam,” “pledging allegiance to infidels”
Jihadists are “weaponizing political correctness” and tricking us, former Defense Dept official warns
Jihadist group Hizballah has 100,000 missiles ready to strike Israel
It’s time to ditch the entire “Countering Violent Extremism” strategy
An appeal from a Yazidi leader: “Please help our peaceful people”
Sweden: Muslim migrant mob sexually assaults children as young as 12 at festival
Top aide to Khamenei: US will disintegrate within 25 years
Death toll in Islamic State jihad bombing in Baghdad now 213
Robert Spencer in FrontPage: The Qur’an Test in Dhaka
Why We Fight
Reading the Qur’an during Ramadan 30: Juz Amma
Convicted Muslim rapist “did not understand what is acceptable in UK”

Latest Lebanese Related News published on July 04-05/16

Army Raids Syrian Refugee Encampments in al-Qaa
Naharnet/July 04/16/The army on Monday raided Syrian refugee encampments outside the eastern border town of al-Qaa, including in the Masharii al-Qaa and Nuaimat areas, state-run National News Agency reported.Troops from the army's Airborne Regiment arrested 35 Syrians in the raids and seized a number of motorcycles, LBCI television said. NNA meanwhile said that the army "seized all motorbikes at the encampment and arrested several people who were not carrying identification papers."Later in the day, the agency said 25 of those arrested were freed as ten were kept in custody. The raids are part of a major crackdown that followed unprecedented suicide bombings in the predominantly Christian border town of al-Qaa. Eight suicide bombers attacks the town in two waves last Monday, killing five people and wounding 28 others.

Presidency Talks Intensify ahead of Expected Berri-Aoun and Nasrallah-Franjieh Meetings
Naharnet/July 04/16/Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun will meet soon and another meeting is also expected between Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh, a media report said on Monday. The latest drive in the talks over the presidential crisis “has reached its peak, ahead of an expected meeting between Berri and General Michel Aoun and another between Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and MP Suleiman Franjieh,” An Nahar newspaper reported. It also quoted the privately-owned Central News Agency as saying that “Franjieh has recently met in Paris with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.” The Saudi side stressed, according to the agency, that “the kingdom does not have a candidate and that it does not also have a veto on any nominee.”“It backs any agreement among the Lebanese but it also fears that Lebanon could further come under Iran's hegemony,” the agency added. An Nahar newspaper also reported that FPM chief Jebran Bassil – Aoun's son-in-law – has met with ex-PM Saad Hariri's close aide Nader Hariri. Ministerial sources have however noted that “the regional atmosphere is not currently befitting for such settlements, unless we start believing that Lebanon can elect its president without Saudi and Iranian influence.”The reports come in the wake of a series of meetings that were held last week, the last of which was between Hariri and Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz in Jeddah on Saturday. A suhur banquet has also gathered Hariri and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea at the Center House. Geagea has also met with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat in recent days. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, the FPM and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions at parliament, stripping them of the needed quorum. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. Hariri's move was followed by Geagea's endorsement of his long-time Christian foe Aoun for the presidency after a rapprochement deal was reached between their two parties. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Casualties as Nusra Clashes with IS in Outskirts of Arsal, Ras Baalbek
Naharnet/July 04/16/Armed clashes erupted overnight between the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front rival jihadist groups in the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, media reports said. “Fighting erupted at dawn after the IS seized control of a Nusra checkpoint in the al-Malahi area,” state-run National News Agency reported. Al-Jadeed television said “fierce clashes” were underway in the al-Malahi, Wadi Hmeid and Wadi al-Zamarani areas, east of Arsal. Hizbullah's al-Manar TV meanwhile said that the fighting has spread from the al-Malahi area to al-Ajram and most of the two groups' posts in Arsal's outskirts and Syria's Qalamoun region. “Machineguns and RPG rockets are being used in the clashes and there are casualties on both sides,” al-Manar added. Later in the day, fierce clashes renewed and "various types of medium- and heavy-caliber weapons" were being used in the fighting in the outskirts of Arsal and Ras Baalbek, NNA said."Both sides have suffered casualties," the agency added. Al-Nusra meanwhile set up a "checkpoint" in the Wadi Hmeid area, NNA said. These are not the first clashes between the two sides in the border region. More than a month ago, fighting broke out when the IS tried to seize control of several posts of the Qaida-linked Nusra in Arsal's outskirts. Militants from the two groups are entrenched in rugged mountains along the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Lebanese army regularly shells their positions while Hizbullah and the Syrian army have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border. The two groups overran the town of Arsal in 2014 and engaged in deadly battles with the Lebanese army for several days. The retreating militants abducted around 35 troops and policemen of whom four have been executed and nine remain in captivity.

Report: Berri-Bassil Oil Talks to Pave Way for New Electoral Law
Naharnet/July 04/16/The meeting that was held in Ain al-Tineh between Speaker Nabih Berri and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil in the presence of Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil did not involve any discussions about the presidential crisis and the two sides focused on the oil and gas exploration file, a media report said on Monday. Al-Mustaqbal newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying that Berri's rapprochement with Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun is not linked to the presidential issue. “The meeting with Bassil did not include any word about the presidency,” the daily quoted Berri as saying. “The issue of oil is something and the presidency is a totally separate issue, but what happened is definitely important in terms of improving the relation with Aoun, pacifying the situation in the country, and immunizing its rights,” Berri added, according to the newspaper. Sources close to Berri meanwhile told An Nahar newspaper that “the oil agreement was not the starting point of the package deal that involves a deal over the presidency, but rather a gateway for agreeing on a new electoral law.” “The indications about a possible agreement emerged from the meeting between Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, and the meeting between Geagea and MP Walid Jumblat, during which the parties confirmed their acceptance, in principle, of a hybrid electoral law that mixes the proportional representation and the winner-takes-all systems,” the sources added.

'Soldier' Accidentally Wounded in Sidon Shooting
Naharnet/July 04/16/A soldier was accidentally wounded as a dispute between two men erupted into gunfire in the southern city of Sidon on Sunday, media reports said. “A personal dispute between two men from the Batakji family erupted into gunfire at the al-Amercan roundabout, which resulted in the accidental wounding of a third person,” state-run National News Agency reported. “The army intervened immediately and arrested the shooter,” NNA added. Al-Jadeed television meanwhile said that the wounded person is a soldier.
 

ISIS attacks Nusra along Lebanon border

BEIRUT/Now Lebanon/July 04/16/Heavy fighting has erupted once again between ISIS and Al-Nusra Front along Lebanon’s troubled northeastern border with Syria. “Clashes began Monday morning between ISIS and Nusra in the outskirts of Arsal after ISIS took control of a Nusra checkpoint in the Malahi area outside the town,” Lebanon’s state National News Agency reported. The report did not go into further details on the matter, while Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television—which closely follows developments in the border region—said that the fighting had spread to most of Nusra’s frontline positions with ISIS in the Arsal outskirts and Qalamoun. Another Hezbollah-affiliated outlet, Central Military Media-Syria, said that both sides had suffered casualties in the battles, which were also raging in the Wadi Ajram area, one of the sites of fierce fighting between the two jihadist groups in January 2016. Nusra, for its part, has yet to issue any official statements on the fighting, while its ISIS foes have also not made any comment on the situation. The A3maq news agency affiliated with ISIS has so far remained mum on the clashes along the Anti-Lebanon mountains that straddle both countries’ borders. The pro-rebel Syrian Press Center outlet covered the fighting, claiming that ISIS launched an offensive against Nusra “from several directions” with one ISIS member blowing himself up in the fighting after being surrounded by Nusra fighters. Despite Hezbollah’s blistering campaign in mid-2015 in Syria’s Qalamoun region, which saw it sweep through a series of strategic mountaintops along the Lebanese border, militants continue to maintain two small pockets of territory outside Arsal and the Syrian town of Qara. A Hezbollah unit commander in the area told NOW in April 2016 that ISIS fields 1,000 fighters in the Arsal area compared to 250 for Al-Nusra Front, which in the past was considered the more powerful of the two organizations in the border region. Arsal, which has a higher population of Syrian refugees than locals, has been rocked by a number of security incidents, including bombings, shoot-outs and rocket attacks, since the start of the uprising in Syria. In August 2014, ISIS and Nusra militants briefly raided the town.
*NOW's English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola) wrote this report. Amin Nasr translated Arabic-language material.
 

Lebanese Politician Wiam Wahhab: We Should Boycott Banks That Comply With U.S. Anti-Hizbullah Law, Switch To Euro
MEMRI/July 04/16/Former Lebanese minister Wiam Wahhab called to boycott what he called "American" banks in Lebanon - banks that comply with the American law that imposes sanctions on banks that knowingly do business with Hizbullah. Speaking on LBC TV on June 16, he said: "Let's begin by boycotting the 'American' banks in Lebanon. Let's begin by boycotting the banks that implement the American resolution. Why should we keep working with them?" Wahhab further said: "We can switch to the euro. Why should we stay with the dollar?"
Following are excerpts
Wiam Wahhab: "This country belongs to us, not to the Americans. This country abides by Lebanese laws, not by the laws of Congress. "Some populists want to give the Americans more than they asked for. But there are other banks that do not comply with this resolution. I want to say to Hizbullah, to the March 8 Alliance, and to anyone who wishes to be with us: There are patriotic banks, and there are 'American' banks. Let's begin by boycotting the 'American' banks in Lebanon. Let's begin by boycotting the banks that implement the American resolution. Why should we keep working with them? There are other, excellent, banks, the owners of which followed the instructions of the Banque du Liban, and [its governor] Riad Salameh. "Whoever wants to destroy the homes of half of the Lebanese people will have to bear [the consequences]. "This law should be implemented over there, not here. We can switch to the euro. Why should we stay with the dollar? Why stay with the dollar? Let's switch to the euro. Many countries have already done it. All of Europe uses euros. Does anybody there use the dollar"

Grand Mufti: Wednesday first Fitr day
Mon 04 Jul 2016/NNA - Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdullatif Darian announced on Monday that Wednesday would be the first day of Fitr, as the holy month of Ramadan ends tomorrow. The Mufti shall perform Fitr prayers and deliver his message at Mohammad al-Amine mosque on Wednesday morning.He shall then receive well-wishers at Dar-al-Fatwa.

Reelection of STL President and Vice President
Mon 04 Jul 2016/NNA - The Judges of the Appeals Chamber today unanimously re-elected Judge Ivana Hrdlickovل of the Czech Republic as President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and Judge Ralph Riachi of Lebanon as Vice President for another term of 18 months beginning on 1 September 2016. The President of the Tribunal has a wide range of tasks, including oversight of the effective functioning of the Tribunal and the good administration of justice, as well as representing the STL in relations with States, the United Nations and other entities. In the President's absence, her duties are fulfilled by the Vice-President. The re-election of the President and the Vice-President is in accordance with Article 8(2) of the Tribunal's Statute and Rule 31 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. You can read biographies of Judge Ivana Hrdlickovل and Judge Riachi on the STL website. High resolution pictures of the STL Judges can be found on our Flickr page.--STL

Mashnouq, Slovak official take up Lebanese European cooperation means
Mon 04 Jul 2016/NNA - Interior and Municipalities Minister, Nuhad Mashnouq, met on Monday at his Ministry office with a delegation of Slovakia, led by Slovak Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Luca Sparizk, accompanied by Slovak Ambassador to Lebanon, Lobo Marmicko, and a number of Slovak Ministry officials. The Slovak official's visit to Beirut comes on the occasion of his country's assumption of the current presidency of the European Union. Talks reportedly dwelt on means of bolstering Lebanese-European cooperation between Lebanon and the EU, as well as bilateral relations. Minister Mashnouq then met with German Ambassador to Lebanon, Martin Huth, with talks between the pair reportedly touching on means of strengthening bilateral ties. Mashnouq also met with the Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Lebanon, Ambassador Sigrid Kaag, where they discussed the general situation in Lebanon and the region, and the role of the United Nations in assisting Lebanon at all levels.

Clashes renewed in Arsal outskirts between Daash, Nusra
Mon 04 Jul 2016/NNA - Clashes were renewed between the terrorist "Daash" and "Nusra" organizations with battles intensifying between them using different types of medium and heavy weapons in the outskirts of Arsal and Ras Baalbeck, NNA reporter said on Monday. Casualties were reported in their ranks. Nusra Front is manning a checkpoint in the locality of Wadi Hmayyid. On the other hand, the Lebanese army ended its raids staged this morning in Qaa project, whereby the army confiscated a number of motorcycles and arrest 35 violators. The army then released 25 detained persons and kept 10 in custody pending investigation.

Kataeb fears Lebanon oil would become divisive
Mon 04 Jul 2016/NNA - Kataeb party considered on Monday that the national oil resources constituted a substantial hope for the future generations, warning that this issue would become divisive among the Lebanese. The party, whose politburo convened today in Saifi under the chairmanship of MP Sami Gemayel, regretted that the current government was seeking to endorse the oil and gas dossier amid the presidential vacuum and the absence of monitoring apparatuses. On a different note, Kataeb urged the Lebanese army chief to intensify military presence among the borders "starting from Qaa."
"The legitimate security forces are the sole side entitled to command and to spread the state authority nationwide," the party said in a statement, slamming self-imposed security measures.

Lebanese Army stages raids in Wadi Khaled outskirts, apprehends three Syrians
Mon 04 Jul 2016/NNA - Lebanese army Strike Force carried out raids on houses in the outskirts of the border town of Wadi Khaled's al-Fard, and arrested three Syrians, NNA reporter said on Monday.

Hezbollah condemns terrorist blasts in Saudi Arabia
Mon 04 Jul 2016/NNA - Hezbollah condemned in a statement on Monday "the terrorist suicidal blasts" that targeted the vicinity of Prophet's mosque in Medina, and another mosque in Qatif, Saudi Arabia. "The explosions that targeted the holiest places at the holiest times, only prove terrorists' disrespect of Muslim sanctuaries, and their split from religion," the party said. "Terrorist acts in Saudi Arabia today, as well as in Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon and everywhere else, highlight the necessity of clear political and popular solidarity to eradicate this malign tumor," it added. "This is the acid test for the world against terrorism and terrorists who are used for political reasons," the statement concluded.

Fire ravages through Houla outskirts
Mon 04 Jul 2016/NNA - Fire erupted today in the outskirts of Marjeioun town of Houla, National News Agency correspondent reported on Monday. Firemen still did not manage to extinguish the flames, as they reached to a nearby border zone planted with Israeli land mines and cluster bombs.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 04-05/16

Trudeau, wake up!
Veterans For The Conservative Party of Canada/Trudeau is full of excuses in an effort to avoid reality. He's more than happy to blame mental illness, homophobia, depression, workplace violence, criminality or sexism...anything except radical Islamic terrorism, in this case apparently led by a Canadian. This isn't a first as the attack on the gas plant in Algeria was also led by a Canadian who supported al-Qaeda. At some point we need to stop pretending this is anything other radical Islamic terrorists attacking non-Muslims (or Muslims who don't share their vision of what interpretation of Islam should be followed and how all Muslims must act) in order to force all people to obey their version of Islam. Canada is not immune to attack nor are we so bloody awesome that we don't produce our share of terrorists. Acknowledging it is the first step Trudeau, wake up!

Multiple Suicide Bombings across Saudi Arabia
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 04/16
Three suicide bombers struck in Saudi Arabia on Monday in a rare incidence of multiple attacks in the kingdom where the Islamic State group has previously staged deadly attacks. There were no immediate claims of responsibility. The latest explosion occurred at one of Islam's three holiest sites, the Prophet's Mosque in Medina in the kingdom's west where Mohammed is buried, Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel reported. Other blasts occurred in the Red Sea city of Jeddah near the US consulate and in Shiite-dominated Qatif on the other side of the country. The interior ministry said two security officers were wounded in the Jeddah bombing. Residents of Qatif said only the bomber died in that attack, blowing his body apart near a Shiite mosque. Al-Arabiya said the Medina incident occurred during sunset prayers after which Muslims break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan, which ends Tuesday. It showed images of fire raging in a security forces parking lot with at least one body nearby. The Prophet's Mosque is particularly crowded during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is supposed to be a time of charity but has seen spectacular attacks around the region.
Sunni extremists from IS claimed, or weer blamed for, a suicide bombing in Baghdad on Sunday that killed more than 200 people as well as other attacks in Bangladesh and at Istanbul's Ataturk airport. At about the same time as the Medina blast, another bomber killed himself in Qatif, residents there said. "Suicide bomber for sure. I can see the body" torn apart, said one witness to the attack in Qatif. Nasima al-Sada, another resident, told AFP that "one bomber blew himself up near the mosque", frequented by Shiites in downtown Qatif on the Gulf coast.
No bystanders were hurt, she said. Another witness, who gave his name only as Ayman, told AFP there were two explosions near the mosque. "One of them was from a car parked outside the mosque and in which there was a man who was, unusually, not joining the prayer," Ayman said.
Pictures said to be from the scene and circulated by residents showed a small fire burning in the street, severed limbs and what appeared to be a severed head.
Bombings, shootings
Since late 2014 a series of bombings and shootings claimed by IS in Saudi Arabia has targeted minority Shiites as well as members of the security forces, killing dozens of people. Most of the attacks have been staged in Eastern Province, home to the majority of Shiites in the Sunni-majority Gulf state. Monday's first bombing, near the US consulate in Jeddah, was carried out not by a Saudi but by a "resident foreigner," General Mansour al-Turki, the interior ministry spokesman, told Al-Arabiya. Millions of expatriates, many from Muslim-majority nations in the Middle East and Asia, work in the kingdom. Turki told state Al-Ekhbaria news channel that the suspect, in his 30s, was closer to a mosque in the area than to the American consulate. "Investigations (are) ongoing to find out the goals and motives of the bomber," said Turki. He also said on the news channel's Twitter account that "devices that failed to explode (were) found in the vicinity of the site."The American embassy in Riyadh reported no injuries among US consulate staff. The interior ministry said security personnel became suspicious of the man near the parking lot of a hospital which is across from the US diplomatic mission. When they moved in to investigate at around 2:15 am (2315 GMT Sunday) the man "blew himself up with a suicide belt," the ministry said. A picture carried by the Sabq online newspaper, which is close to authorities, showed a large body part lying on the ground between a taxi and the open door of another car that was peppered with holes. The attack coincided with the July 4 Independence Day holiday in the United States. "The US embassy and consulate remain in contact with the Saudi authorities as they investigate the incident," it added, urging Americans to "take extra precautions when traveling throughout the country." IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has called for attacks on Saudi Arabia, which is taking part in the US-led coalition bombing the jihadists in Syria and Iraq. The group also considers Shiites to be heretics. Despite the upsurge in attacks against Saudis, foreigners have rarely been targeted in recent years.
 

Syria intelligence chief visits Rome: pro-Assad daily
Syrian General Intelligence Directorate chief Major General Mohammad Deeb Zaytoun was sanctioned by the EU in 2011.

BEIRUT/Now Lebanon/July 04/16/ A leading pro-regime newspaper has reported that a top Syrian intelligence chief sanctioned by the EU recently made a secret visit to Italy. "A high-level Syrian security delegation visited Rome last week, where they met with senior Italian security officials," Al-Watan reported Sunday. The newspaper—which is owned by Bashar al-Assad's influential cousin Rami Makhlouf—cited a "Western diplomatic source in Beirut" as saying that Syrian General Intelligence Directorate chief Major General Mohammad Deeb Zaytoun headed the delegation. "Zaytoun, who was accompanied by a number of officers, made a two-day visit in Rome during which he met with his [Italian] counterpart and a number of security officials," the source told the newspaper. "A special Italian government plane took the Syrian delegation to and from Beirut," the daily also reported, adding that it was "unable to confirm or deny the report from any official Syrian source." Zaytoun—a close confidant of the Syrian president—was sanctioned by the EU in May 2011 for his involvement "in violence against demonstrators" during the early months of the Syrian uprising. His purported meeting in Italy comes after Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Feisal Mekdad visited Prague in April 2016, the first trip by a high-ranking Syrian official to the EU since the start of the Syrian civil war. In the past year, Syrian National Security Bureau chief Ali Mamlouk, a top-troubleshooter for the regime, reportedly visited Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in secret to conduct negotiations with top officials. ​ NOW's English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola) wrote this report. Amin Nasr translated Arabic-language material.

Israel hits Syrian military targets after stray fire on Golan
AFP, Jerusalem Monday, 4 July 2016/The Israeli army attacked two Syrian military targets on the Golan Heights after stray Syrian fire damaged the security fence along the demarcation line, a spokeswoman said Monday. “In response to errant fire yesterday from Syria that hit the border with Israel, damaging the security fence, the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) responded and targeted two Syrian military targets in the central Golan Heights,” an Israeli military spokeswoman told AFP. While Israel has sought to avoid being dragged into the Syrian civil war, it has attacked Syrian military targets when fire from the conflict spills over into its territory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also acknowledged in April that Israel had attacked dozens of convoys transporting weapons in Syria destined for its enemy Hezbollah. Israel seized 1,200 square kilometers of the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.

Anger over Security as Iraqis Mourn Over 200 Dead in Baghdad Bombing
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 04/16/Iraqis on Monday mourned more than 200 people killed in a Baghdad suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group and accused the government of not doing enough to protect them. The search continued for bodies at the site of the attack, which ripped through the Karrada district early on Sunday as the area was packed with shoppers ahead of this week's holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced efforts to address longstanding flaws in Baghdad security measures following the blast, which came a week after Iraqi forces recaptured the city of Fallujah from IS. But on the streets of Baghdad, Iraqis were angry at the government's inability to keep residents safe, even as its forces push IS back outside the capital. "I swear to God, the government is a failure," said a woman who gave her name as Umm Alaa, who lost her apartment in the attack. IS "tactics are changing. Why does the Iraqi government have fixed tactics?" a man said at the site of the bombing, criticizing the government's "stupid checkpoints" and use of fake bomb detectors. As the country marked three days of national mourning, security and medical officials told AFP the number of dead from the attack had risen to at least 213. More than 200 were also wounded, they said. In Karrada, a young man lit a candle on a staircase leading to the basement of one charred building, adding to dozens of others left by mourners at the site of bombing, which sparked infernos in nearby buildings.
Digging through ashes
Down the stairs, young men dug through the ashes using shovels and their hands, searching for those still missing following the blast. Black banners bearing the names of victims -- including multiple members of some families -- hung from burned buildings, announcing the date and locations where their funerals would be held. Abadi was met with an angry response when he visited the site of the bombing on Sunday, with one video showing men throwing rocks at what was said to be the premier's convoy, while a man could be heard cursing at him in another clip. But the premier struck a conciliatory tone. "I understand the emotional feelings and actions that occurred in a moment of sadness and anger," Abadi said in a statement. IS claimed the attack in a statement saying it was carried out by an Iraqi as part of "ongoing security operations." The jihadist group said the blast targeted Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, whom the Sunni extremists consider heretics and frequently attack in Baghdad and elsewhere.Bombings in the capital have decreased since IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, with the jihadists apparently more concerned with operations elsewhere. But the group has struck back against Iraqi civilians after suffering military setbacks, and in May, Baghdad was rocked by a series of blasts that killed more than 150 people in seven days.With thousands of vehicles moving in and out of the city each day, such bombings are difficult to prevent.
- 'Cowardly and heinous act' -
But there are also flaws in security measures in the city, especially the use of fake bomb detectors at checkpoints years after the man who sold them to Iraq was jailed for fraud in Britain. Abadi announced a series of changes to security measures following the Sunday bombing, including scrapping the fake detectors. He also ordered the deployment of scanning devices at entrances to Baghdad to be sped up, directed that security personnel be banned from using mobile phones at checkpoints, and called for increased aerial reconnaissance and coordination among security forces. But soldiers and policemen still carried the fake detectors at some checkpoints in central Baghdad on Monday, saying the order to stop using them had not yet been passed down. The bombing came after Iraqi forces completely recaptured Fallujah, a city 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Baghdad, a week ago. Anti-government fighters seized Fallujah in early 2014 and it later became one of IS' main strongholds in the country. IS' defeat there was compounded by a devastating series of air strikes targeting jihadist forces as they sought to flee the Fallujah area that officials said killed dozens and destroyed hundreds of vehicles. Sunday's attack was widely condemned, with the UN Iraq envoy Jan Kubis calling it a "cowardly and heinous act of unparalleled proportions."

Kuwait busts three ISIS cells plotting terror attacks
AFP, Kuwait City Monday, 4 July 2016/Kuwaiti security authorities have broken up three ISIS cells plotting “terror” attacks in the country, the interior ministry said Monday. Five Kuwaiti nationals were arrested, including a policeman and a woman, who all confessed to plotting attacks against a Shiite mosque and an interior ministry target, the ministry said in a statement. All members of the three cells also confessed to being members of the ISIS group. Kuwaiti police are still looking for a Gulf man and an Asian who assisted one of the cells, the ministry said. The action against the cells comes a year after an ISIS-linked suicide bomber blew himself up in a Shiite mosque, killing 26 worshippers in the worst attack in Kuwait. A court sentenced one man to death and jailed eight others for assisting the Saudi bomber. Among those arrested in the latest police action was 18-year old Talal Raja who confessed to have been plotting a suicide attack against a Shiite mosque and an interior ministry installation by the end of Ramadan on Tuesday, the ministry said.The second cell consisted of a mother and son who were arrested in Syria in the ISIS-controlled Riga and brought back to Kuwait, the ministry said. It provided no details of how they were arrested. The 28-year old son had cut short his petroleum engineering study in Britain to join the ISIS after his younger brother was killed while fighting for the group in Iraq, the ministry said. The third cell comprised of two Kuwaitis, one of them a policeman, who were seized along with two Klashnikov rifles and ammunition. The pair confessed to plotting attacks in the country, the ministry said. In November last year, Kuwaiti police busted an international cell led by a Lebanese man that was sending air defence systems and funds to the ISIS group. Several suspected ISIS militants and sympathizers were tried in Kuwait for a suicide bombing last month claimed by the group.

Saudi air force intercepts ballistic missile
By Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 4 July 2016/The Saudi air force intercepted a ballistic missile over the city of Khamees Mushait in the kingdom's southwest, Al Arabiya News Channel reported on Monday. It remains unclear where the missile had been fired from. Houthi militias in Yemen, in which Saudi Arabia has led a war against the Iran-backed group, have previously fired missiles towards Saudi Arabia.

ISIS suspects held at Istanbul airport days after attack
AFP, Istanbul Monday, 4 July 2016/Two suspected ISIS militants have been detained at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport days after it was hit by suicide bombers, as Turkish authorities move to boost security at sensitive sites. Dogan news agency said the two suspects held late Sunday were Kyrgyz nationals, identifying them only by their initials, K.V. and F.M.I., aged 25 and 35 respectively. Police found night-vision binoculars and military-style clothes in their suitcases, the agency said, along with two passports in different names. The pair were questioned by anti-terror police in Istanbul. It was not clear whether they had been leaving or arriving at the airport. Their detention came as 13 suspects, including three foreigners, were charged Sunday over the June 28 gun and suicide bomb assault at the airport that killed 45 people including 19 foreigners. Officials believe ISIS was behind the attack, the worst in a series to hit Turkey's biggest city this year. In total police have detained 29 people “including foreigners” in connection with the airport assault, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. Yildirim said Monday that police were on high alert and had boosted their presence at the airport and other sensitive Istanbul sites including metro stations and the Marmaray rail tunnel. A team of 80 special forces troops have been patrolling Ataturk airport, one of Europe's busiest hubs, since Sunday. Last week’s carnage “followed a new model” of attack in Turkey, Yildirim said, noting that the bombers had first sprayed passengers with bullets, allowing them to get inside the terminal before blowing themselves up. Of more than 200 people injured, 47 are still in hospital. Authorities believe the attackers were a Russian, an Uzbek and a Kyrgyz national. State news agency Anadolu has named two of them as Rakim Bulgarov and Vadim Osmanov, without giving their nationalities. Central Asia's former Soviet republics have been a major source of foreign jihadists travelling to fight with IS and other extremist groups in Iraq and Syria. Turkish media have identified the strike’s organizer as Akhmed Chatayev, the Chechen leader of an ISIS cell in Istanbul who allegedly masterminded two other deadly attacks that killed tourists in the city. Turkey has been rocked by a series of attacks over the past year, blamed on both ISIS militants and Kurdish rebels.

Turkey proposes cooperation with Russia in fighting ISIS
Reuters, Ankara/Moscow Monday, 4 July 2016/Turkey has proposed cooperating with Moscow to combat ISIS in Syria, suggesting it could open its Incirlik Air Base to Russia - comments that highlight a revival in ties strained by Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian warplane last year. Moscow pledged to rebuild relations after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan last week expressed regret over the shooting down of the aircraft, with the loss of the pilot, near the Syrian frontier. Moscow had broken off virtually all economic ties and banned tourists from visiting Turkish resorts. “We will cooperate with everyone who fights Daesh. We have been doing this for quite a while, and we opened Incirlik Air Base for those who want to join the active fight against Daesh,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview on state broadcaster TRT Haber on Sunday, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. “Why not cooperate with Russia as well on these terms? Daesh is our common enemy, and we need to fight this enemy.” The Kremlin described the suggestion that Turkey could open up Incirlik as a “serious statement” although it said it had not had any contact with Ankara on the matter. “This is certainly a serious statement which has yet to be analysed from a military and political point of view,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. While both Turkey and Russia recognize the threat of ISIS, they are on opposing sides in the Syrian conflict, raising questions about the viability of Russian use of Incirlik. Turkey has been one of the most steadfast opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran. Turkey’s NATO partners may also be wary of Russian use of the base, which is located 5 miles (8 km) north of the Turkish city of Adana near the Syrian border. Incirlik hosts aircraft from the United States, Germany, Britain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar involved in the US-led air campaign against ISIS.

ISIS suspects detained at Istanbul airport - less than week after attack
AFP, Istanbul Monday, 4 July 2016/Two suspected ISIS militants have been detained at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, the Dogan news agency reported, less than a week after it was hit by a triple suicide attack. Dogan said the two suspects held late on Sunday were Kyrgyz nationals, identifying them only by their initials, K.V. and F.M.I., aged 25 and 35 respectively. Police found night-vision binoculars and military-style clothes in their suitcases, the agency said, along with two passports in different names. They were questioned by anti-terror police in Istanbul. It was not clear whether they had been leaving or arriving at the airport. Their detention came as 13 suspects, including three foreigners, were charged Sunday over the June 28 gun and suicide bomb assault at the airport that killed 45 people including 19 foreigners. Officials believe the Islamic State group was behind the attack, the worst in a series to hit Turkey's biggest city this year. In total police have detained 29 people "including foreigners" in connection with the airport carnage, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Sunday. Of more than 200 people injured, 49 are still in hospital including 17 in intensive care. Authorities believe the attackers were a Russian, an Uzbek and a Kyrgyz national. State news agency Anadolu has named two of them as Rakim Bulgarov and Vadim Osmanov, without giving their nationalities. Central Asia's former Soviet republics have been a major source of foreign jihadists traveling to fight with ISIS and other extremist groups in Iraq and Syria. Turkish media have identified the strike's organizer as Akhmed Chatayev, the Chechen leader of an ISIS cell in Istanbul who allegedly masterminded two other deadly attacks that killed tourists in the city

Frustrated Iraqis want crackdown on sleeper cells
Saif Hameed and Maher Chmaytelli, Reuters, Baghdad Monday, 4 July 2016/The death toll from a suicide bombing in a Baghdad shopping district has risen to over 150, fueling calls for security forces to crack down on ISIS sleeper cells blamed for one of the worst ever single bombings in Iraq. Numbers rose as bodies were recovered from the rubble in the Karrada area of Baghdad, where a refrigerator truck packed with explosives blew up on Saturday night when people were out celebrating the holy month of Ramadan. The toll in Karrada stood at 151 killed and 200 wounded by midday on Monday, according to police and medical sources. Rescuers and families were still looking for 35 missing people. ISIS claimed the attack, saying it was a suicide bombing. Another explosion struck in the same night, when a roadside bomb blew up in popular market of al-Shaab, a Shiite district in north Baghdad, killing two people. Iraqis family members who went missing after a car bomb hit Karada, a busy shopping district in the center of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, July 3, 2016. (AP) The attacks cast a shadow over victory statements made last month by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s government, after Iraqi forces dislodged ISIS from Falluja, the stronghold of the ultra-hardline Sunni insurgents near Baghdad. Government officials ordered the offensive on Falluja in May after a series of deadly bombings in Shiite areas of Baghdad that they said originated from Falluja, about 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital. “Abadi has to have a meeting with the heads of national security, intelligence, the interior ministry and all sides responsible for security and ask them just one question: How can we infiltrate these groups?” said Abdul Kareem Khalaf, a former police Major General who advises the Netherlands-based European Centre for Counterterrorism and Intelligence Studies think tank. In a sign of public outrage at the failure of the security services, Abadi was given an angry reception on Sunday when he toured Karrada, the district where he grew up, with residents throwing stones, empty buckets and even slippers at his convoy in gestures of contempt. He ordered new measures to protect Baghdad, starting with the withdrawal of fake bomb detectors that police have continued to use despite a scandal that broke out in 2011 about their sale to Iraq under his predecessor, Nuri al-Maliki. The hand-held devices were initially developed to find lost golf balls, and the British businessman who sold them to Iraq for $40 million was jailed in Britain in 2013. Abadi ordered that the fake devices be replaced by efficient detectors at the entrances to Baghdad and Iraq's provinces. Karrada, a largely Shiite district with a small Christian community and a few Sunni mosques, was busy at the time of the blast as people were eating out and shopping late during Ramadan, which ends this week with the Eid al-Fitr festival. Fallujah was the first Iraqi city to fall to ISIS in January 2014. Abadi said the next target of the Iraqi forces is Mosul, the de facto capital of the militants and the largest city under their control in both Iraq and Syria.

US-backed militias face second ISIS counter attack
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 4 July 2016/Syrian militias backed by US-led air strikes have repelled a second ISIS counter attack in 24 hours near a city being targeted in a major offensive against the militant group, an official and a monitoring group said on Monday. At least 13,000 civilians have fled the ISIS group bastion of Manbij in northern Syria since the launch of a US-backed offensive there, a monitor said Monday. The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance grouping Kurdish and Arab fighters launched an offensive last month to capture Manbij from ISIS, part of an operation aimed at dislodging the group from the border with Turkey. ISIS, seeking to break a siege on Manbij, counter attacked on three fronts around the city on Saturday, followed by a further counter attack over Sunday night and in the early hours of Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an SDF official said. Both assaults had been repelled, they said.“Dozens of air strikes repelled (ISIS forces),” Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said. “The SDF has made no progress in Manbij for 10 days,” he said, noting that progress had been slow in part because ISIS fighters had heavily mined buildings in the city. Manbij had served as a vital stop along an IS supply route from Turkey, from the border town of Jarabulus to its bastion province of Raqqa. The SDF offensive on the town is backed by a US-led coalition that has been bombing ISIS in Iraq and Syria for nearly two years. The UN’s humanitarian office has not released its own estimates of how many people have fled Manbij, but said in late June that about 60,000 people were still in the town. The US-backed campaign in northern Syria aims to drive Islamic State away from its last foothold at the border with Turkey. Syrian government forces, backed by Russia, are waging a separate campaign against the militants in the same area. (With Reuters and AFP)

Saudi deputy crown prince discusses Yemen with UN envoy
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 4 July 2016/Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman met with UN envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed on Sunday evening in Mecca to discuss the situation in Yemen. Saudi intelligence head Khalid Humaidan and the kingdom’s ambassador to Yemen Mohammad al-Jaber also attended the meeting.Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Wednesday that Yemen’s warring parties were taking a two-week break from the peace talks which have made little headway. The UN says more than 6,400 people have been killed in Yemen since March last year, most of them civilians.

Israel approves 560 new homes in West Bank settlement
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Monday, 4 July 2016/Israel has approved 560 new homes for the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim, a spokesman for the settlement said Monday, in a move likely to raise tensions following a series of Palestinian attacks. The Maale Adumim mayor was on Sunday night officially informed of the decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman to allow the planning of the homes in the settlement east of Jerusalem, the spokesman told Agence France-Presse. The decision follows calls among Israelis for a harsh response to a series of Palestinian attacks in the occupied West Bank in recent days.

Jordan eager to reach nuke deal with US
AP, Amman Monday, 4 July 2016/Jordan is eager to reach a nuclear cooperation deal with the United States after a long impasse over uranium enrichment and both sides appear ready to compromise, the kingdom’s nuclear chief said. An agreement would give Jordan access to US technology, including small modular reactors that could fit well into the country’s fledgling nuclear energy program, said Khaled Toukan, chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission. For now, the centerpiece of Jordan’s program is a $10 billion deal with Russia for two larger nuclear power reactors, to be built by 2025.
Toukan acknowledged in an interview that financing isn’t locked in yet and that Jordan is still looking for a third partner. The probability of the two reactors being built is “70 to 75 (percent) ... it is not 90 percent,” he told The Associated Press on Sunday in his office on the edge of the capital of Amman. He said some large firms approached by Jordan expressed interest and that he believes the problem can be solved. Even if the Russia deal fell through, “we will still pursue nuclear, but maybe not the big reactor, maybe we will have these small modular reactors,” he said.In any scenario, an agreement with the United States could be key.“It is important for us to have the US on board,” Toukan said. “Even if we build the Russian reactors, you might have small modular reactors for water desalination in the future.”Jordan launched its nuclear program almost a decade ago to address the country’s worsening energy woes. Jordan has to import fossil fuels for 98 percent of its electricity, demand keeps rising and the country buckles under growing debt from energy imports. Jordan needs a mix of alternatives, including nuclear energy, said Toukan. Domestic critics say Jordan rushed into a risky program it cannot afford at the expense of developing solar and wind energy and that Toukan's commission lacks transparency and oversight. Toukan ignored warnings by experts voicing safety concerns, said Saed Dababneh, a former vice chairman of Jordan’s nuclear regulatory commission. “There is now, in my view, only one way ... to prove that our concerns are justified, that is for a disaster to happen,” Dababneh wrote in response to a request for comment. US-based expert Chen Kane said nuclear energy may not be the right fit. “I think nuclear energy is a way too expensive, risky and unpredictable option” for Jordan, said Kane, director of the Middle East program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Toukan said Jordan has submitted to stringent international oversight, including a review by a high-level International Advisory Group. In its report, to be published later this month, the panel said Jordan is on a “well-planned path” to acquiring nuclear energy, including training local scientists at a domestic research reactor. The panel said Jordan could do more to bring the public on board and should get more international experts involved. Financing of the two power reactors appears “somewhat nebulous” and the 2025 deadline for completing two reactors is “overly optimistic,” the report said. Meanwhile, revived nuclear talks with the US could open the door to alternatives, such as the smaller reactors. Talks stalled after Jordan refused to drop the right to pursue future uranium enrichment capabilities which can have peaceful and military uses. As part of non-proliferation efforts, the US insisted that Jordan forego that right, as the United Arab Emirates previously did in a deal with Washington. Jordan which has some uranium deposits said it should not be asked to close the door to future enrichment for peaceful purposes. Toukan suggested that there is room for compromise. “We are trying to find an intelligent way in the middle to more or less give the US assurance about non-proliferation, safeguards and so on, but at the same time not relinquishing rights under international treaties,” he said. The US Embassy in Jordan said it hopes a deal can be reached that reflects the US-Jordan partnership and a “shared commitment to nuclear nonproliferation, safety, and security.”

More than two dozen Nobel laureates declare support for major "Free Iran" gathering in Paris on July 9
NCRI Iran News | Iran Resistance/ Monday, 04 July 2016/Twenty-five Nobel laureates have declared their support for the major "Free Iran" gathering in Paris on July 9 and its objectives. The academicians and scientists who are signatory to this declaration are Nobel Prize winners of the years 1979 to 2014. The Nobel laureates declared their solidarity with the objectives of the July 9 grand gathering and wished success for the Iranian people's "great campaign in pursuit of democracy and human rights in Iran."While expressing concern about the conditions of the members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) in Camp Liberty in Iraq, they called on the "international community, especially the United States and the United Nations, to carry out all possible measures to guarantee the security of these refugees in Iraq until the last individual is resettled in a third country."Hundreds of prominent international personalities and lawmakers from the United States (in a rare bipartisan show), France, other European countries, Canada, Australia and large delegations of personalities, lawmakers and activists from Arab and Middle Eastern countries as well as the moderate Syrian opposition will take part in the July 9 grand gathering. The “Free Iran” gathering will take place on the eve of the first anniversary of the P5+1 nuclear deal with the Iranian regime.
Organizing committee of the July 9, 2016 gathering

Statement by 80 Church leaders from the U.S. and UK in support of the Iranian opposition’s July 9 gathering in Paris
NCRI Iran News | Iran Resistance/ Monday, 04 July 2016/Statement by 80 Church leaders from the U.S. and UK in support of the Iranian opposition’s July 9 gathering in Paris
Expressing concern about the increase in suppression of Christians in Iran and calling for conditioning ties with the Iranian regime to an improvement in human rights
Nearly 80 Church leaders and personalities from the United Kingdom and the United States have signed a declaration expressing deep concern over the suppression of Christians in Iran and urging Western governments to condition any improvement of relations with the Iranian regime to an improvement of the human rights situation including the situation of Christians in Iran. The Bishops, including John Pritchard, former Bishop of Oxford; and Rachel Treweek, the Bishop of Gloucester who is the Church of England's first diocesan bishop, and priests reiterated that the suppression of Christians in Iran has increased during Hassan Rouhani’s tenure. They added: “Iran’s ruling theocracy is rightly a source of grave concern for human rights organizations and institutions with a particular interest in the protection of the rights of Christians. … Reports by the UN Secretary General, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, and the U.S. State Department all indicate that the repression of Christians has not only continued but intensified during the presidency of Hassan Rouhani.”These Christian leaders reiterated: “In such circumstances, we call on all Western countries to consider the deplorable situation of human rights in Iran, particularly the painful situation of Christians and the intensification of their oppression, in navigating their relations with Iran. We call upon them to precondition improvement of those relations on the cessation of oppression of Christians and on a halt in executions.”
The bishops and priests declared their support for the major “Free Iran” gathering on July 9 and its objectives in the run-up to the anniversary of the P5+1’s nuclear deal with the Iranian regime.They added: “The time has come for us to listen to the wishes of the Iranian people for freedom, including religious freedom, and to add our voices to the grand international gathering titled ‘Free Iran’ that is to be held on July 9, 2016 in Paris to promote freedom and human rights in Iran.”Organizing committee of the July 9, 2016 gathering

Maryam Rajavi: Painful loss of Elie Wiesel, the messenger of humanity
Sunday, 03 July 2016/NCRI - On Saturday, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance said: The whole world, and not only the people of his country and family, is mourning the painful loss of Elie Wiesel. He was the rebellious conscience against genocide and crime against humanity. From his time as a child in the Nazi concentration camps until his last moments, Elie Wiesel was the embodiment of rebellion against “indifference.” In his own words, “Indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor--never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten.” And he admonished those who knew “what was going on behind those black gates and barbed wire” and did nothing because “in denying their humanity, we betray our own.”In diametric opposition to such people, Elie Wiesel rose to the defense of the residents Ashraf amidst attacks on Camp Ashraf by proxies of the religious dictatorship ruling Iran and admonished those who remain silent. Humanity needed Elie Wiesel, but we must not allow our world to become devoid of rebellion against indifference, Maryam Rajavi added. One minute silence for paying homage to PMOI (MEK) membes martyred in Camp Ashraf – Paris, April 2011

Iran regime msssacring people of Syria - MEP
Monday, 04 July 2016/NCRI - In addition to abusing the human rights of its own people, Iran’s regime stands accused of massacring the innocents in Syria, according to Pál Csaky, a Member of the European Parliament from Slovakia. Slovakia's former Deputy Prime Minister for European affairs, human rights and minorities also said his sympathy for the Iranian opposition came from his having known liberation after the long years of oppression in an Eastern Europe governed by dictatorship. Having signed a statement, together with more than 270 MEPs, about the gravity of the human rights situation in Iran, Mr Csaky wanted to invite concerned citizens to a rally for a free and democratic Iran. The major Free Iran rally by tens of thousands of supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) will be held on July 9 in Paris. The rally supports the 10-point plan of Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the NCRI.

Slovak MEP: 'clear improvement' in Iranian human rights a pre-condition for expanded relations with EU
Monday, 04 July 2016/NCRI - Slovak MEP, Ivan Stefanec, said that he had joined with more than 270 Members of the European Parliament, from all groups and across all states, to call for a 'clear improvement' in human rights in Iran as a pre-condition for the Iranian regime's expansion of relations with the European Union. A senior international business leader, as well as an MEP from Slovakia, Mr. Stefanec said there was 'a moral duty to speak out' about the abuses by the Iranian regime. 'We see the horrible pictures of public hangings every day,' he said. Assuring the Iranian people that MEPs like him 'are fighting for you every day', Mr. Stefanec declared, 'Freedom will come back to Iran.' The supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) are to hold a major Free Iran rally on July 9 in Paris where the opposition will be joined by an audience of policy-makers and civic and religious leaders as well as Iranians from across the world. The event supports the 10-point plan of Iranian opposition President-elect, Maryam Rajavi.

Ban on food, medicine and fuel deliveries to Camp Liberty enters 2nd week
National Council of Resistance of Iran/ Monday, 04 July 2016/
Blocking sewage trucks places camp before major hygiene crisis
On Sunday, July 3, for the 7th consecutive day the crackdown committee having control over Camp Liberty prevented the entrance of trucks delivering fuel, food stuffs, medicine and hygiene products to the camp as Baghdad remains under 50 degree C heat during the holy month of Ramadan when Liberty residents are fasting. Therefore, the inhumane siege imposed on Liberty enters its second week. The pretext resorted to for this inhumane measure is the administrative documents of the camp’s logistics supplying company vehicles being outdated. Whereas, these vehicles have been continuously commuting to Camp Liberty and the Baghdad International Airport vicinity for years now, and the logistics supplying company had according to annual customary measures extended all the necessary documents and informed the relevant Iraqi organs and entities more than 15 days ago.
At a time when all the camp’s vital systems including water purification, sewage depletion, cooling systems, the main kitchen and food preservation units rely on electricity, and the only source of producing electricity are the camp’s already worn-out power generators, preventing the delivery of fuel has quickly resulted in these systems coming to a halt and rendering a dangerous crisis in Liberty. To impose further pressure, on Saturday, July 2, the crackdown committee also banned the entrance of sewage dump trucks into the camp. Considering the camp’s decadent sewage tanks, this will lead to black water overflowing, contaminating the residents’ living areas, and ultimately the spread of various illnesses. This is in flagrant violation of the 25 December 2011 Memorandum of Understanding signed by the United Nations and Iraqi government which stipulates, “The Government shall facilitate and allow the residents, at their own expense, to enter into bilateral contact with contractors for provision of life support and utilities such as water, food, communications, sanitation, and maintenance and rehabilitation equipment.”The objective sought by the crackdown committee in these inhumane measures under the 50 degrees Celsius temperature is to impose maximum pressure and to torture the residents psychologically and physically. The Iranian Resistance reiterates the numerous and written commitments provided by the United Nations and U.S. government vis-à-vis the residents, calling for their immediate intervention to bring an end to this inhumane siege, so providing the residents’ necessities to the camp would be resumed, and all obstacles placed against the entrance of fuel, food, medicine and utility vehicles would be lifted completely.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran/July 4, 2016

Yemeni PM. Dr. Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr: Iran Stands behind Regional Conflicts…Yemeni Hezbollah-Inspired Entity Will Not Be Permitted
Mohamed Ali Mohsen/Asharq Al Awsat/July 04/16
Aden- Yemeni Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr completely rejected the emergence of a Hezbollah-inspired Houthi version which threatens the Stability and security of Yemen. Daghr accused Iran of backing both Houthis and the insurgency, and that it stands to be the reason behind any regional conflict.The Yemeni PM urged Tehran to seize its meddling with Yemen’s internal affairs and to halt conflicts and grudges against Yemen’s peaceful and forgiving community. Meeting with state, army, local and resistance authorities, commemorating Aden’s liberation, Daghr reiterated the imperative nature of ending the insurgency in Yemen so that the whole nation is restored to legitimacy. A year into Aden being Insurgency-free, Daghr gave emphasis to upholding achievements and national unity between the political and social spheres. “It’s true that each of Aden, Lahij, Abyan and Dhale has been freed; nevertheless, the enemy still lurks awaiting the opportune moment to strike regional stability and security; which is why the situation demands that all support is given to legitimate authorities, which are represented by Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the national army ,” said Daghr. The support is so that state military forces can protect and fulfill its duties towards the people of Yemen, aid in the reconstruction of state institutions, putting an end to political brawl and directing efforts towards the construction and development of Yemen. Daghr clarified hat Yemen will not experience true and effective peace so long insurgency militias do mend and alter their ways and mindsets. According to the Yemeni PM, Houthi militias should commit to U.N. Security Council resolution 2216, the Gulf initiative and the outcome of national dialogue. Moreover, insurgency militants ought to turn in arms power to state authorities and harbor true intentions for achieving peace, according to PM Daghr. On another scale, Daghr confirmed that his administration saves no efforts in resolving issues of public service in Aden and neighboring governorates, especially those concerning power supply and oil provisions.
He further asserted the persistence of Arab support regarding oil supplies, to be detailed over the next few days, which will take down the edge of summer-depravation facing Yemeni citizens, providing enough energy for coming years.

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 04-05/16

Made in Our Image: The Allure of ‘Moderate Muslims’
Raymond Ibrahim/July 04/16
One of the greatest problems with the much cherished “moderate/radical” Muslim dichotomy is that it’s entirely based on Western assumptions that have nothing to do with the realities of Islam.
This came out in a study published in Arabic (my recent translation here): http://www.raymondibrahim.com/2016/05/25/radical-vs-moderate-islam-a-muslim-view/

Islamic researchers are agreed that what the West and its followers call “moderate Islam” and “moderate Muslims” is simply a slur against Islam and Muslims, a distortion of Islam, a rift among Muslims, a spark to ignite war among them. They also see that the division of Islam into “moderate Islam” and “radical Islam” has no basis in Islam—neither in its doctrines and rulings, nor in its understandings or reality.
In keeping with various disturbing polls , the study found that everything associated with “radical Islam”—adherence to Islamic law (Sharia), subordinate position for women and non-Muslims, draconian punishments, jihad to spread Islam, and opposition to democracy—is a reflection of authentic Islam.
Objectively speaking—from a doctrinal, historic, and even contemporary perspective—such observations are hard to deny. Yet the idea of the “moderate Muslim” continues to allure and resonate with many in the West.
Why? Because growing numbers of Western people are unaware that they belong to a distinct civilization and unique heritage. Rather, they arrogantly see themselves as the culmination of all human history—supposed enlightened thinkers who’ve left all cultural and religious baggage behind. (Such was the thesis of one much touted book, the prophecy of which remains unfulfilled: The End of History and the Last Man.)
Forgotten (or suppressed) is that Western civilization did not develop in a vacuum. All values prized by the modern West—religious freedom, tolerance, humanism, gender equality, monogamy—are inextricably rooted to Judeo-Christian principles which, over the course of some 2,000 years, have had a profound influence on Western epistemology, society and culture. While they are now taken for granted and seen as “universal,” it’s not for nothing that these values were born and nourished in Christian—not Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Confucian, or pagan—nations.
This is why there are no “moderate” and “radical” Christians. Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, Christians don’t have to “moderate” their religion to coexist peacefully in the secular West. The teachings of their holy book comport quite well with the laws governing society (unsurprisingly so, since many of these laws are based on the principles of that book).
All this is missed by those ignorant of the spiritual and intellectual roots of Western civilization. They embrace notions of relativism and multiculturalism, the idea that all religions and cultures are the same and, more subtly, that they are destined to develop like the West, which is no longer seen as a distinct culture but rather the end point of all cultures.
If the boons of Western civilization are not a distinct product of Christian principles, then they must be standard for and appreciable to all civilizations. According to this view, the Muslim is ultimately an embryonic Westerner. Whatever his religion seems to say—whatever he says—surely he appreciates the need to practice it privately, respect religious freedom, gender equality, and so on. Thus is he made “in our image” (except, of course, we forget the roots of “our image”). Overlooked is that the Muslim has his own unique and ancient worldview and set of principles—which in turn prompt behavior that is deemed “radical” by Western standards (falsely assumed “universal” standards). Such thinking is further arrogant and ethnocentric—two things that liberals always warn against yet constantly do. While the conservative acknowledges that Islam has its own principles, the liberal ignores these, believing instead that Muslims “are just like us.” This view, which arrogantly brushes aside Islam’s role in the Muslim’s life, doesn’t seem ethnocentric because the “us” is not believed to be particular (Western or Christian) but universal. Western egoism has gotten to the point that whenever Muslims behave in “radical” ways that are antithetical to Western standards—but consistent with traditional Islam—they are dismissed as mentally insane.
Faith in moderate Islam is faith in the notion that a human can be both secular and Muslim at the same time. Portraying what at root is a Christian paradigm as “universal,” and then applying it to an alien culture like Islam, is doomed to failure. Christians can and always have lived and thrived in secular or even anti-Christian environments because Christian teachings transcend the law and render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s. Conversely, Islam and the law are one and the same; without the law Islam is meaningless. The Arabic word Islam literally means “submit.” Submit to what? Allah’s commandments as codified in Sharia and derived from the Koran (literal words of Allah) and Hadith (words and deeds of Islam’s prophet Muhammad). And these commandments—from death to the apostate and blasphemer, to jihad and subjugation for the infidel—are anything but “Western.”
(Note: There are of course Muslims who fit into secular societies. But that’s because they are not observant of Islam—as opposed to being observant of some sort of “moderate Islam.” “There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam,” as Turkish president Erdogan famously pointed out. Simply being named Muhammad does not make one a Muslim any more than being named John makes one a Christian.)
In the final analysis, “moderate Islam” is really nothing less than an Islam without Islam—or “Western Islam,” an oxymoron—explaining why it is viewed with great scorn outside the West (even London’s first Muslim mayor disparagingly refers to moderate Muslims as “Uncle Toms”). The idea that Muslims can be true to their religion and yet naturally fit into Western society is false—and built on an equally false premise: that Christianity somehow also had to moderate itself to fit into a secular society—when in fact, Christian principles, which are so alien to Islam, were fundamental to the creation of the West.

Westerners who don hijabs in Iran are a disgrace
Amir Taheri/New York Post/July 04/16
In Iran, do as the mullahs say, not as Iranians do. This seems to be the motto adopted by a string of foreign dignitaries rushing to Tehran in the wake of the mythical “nuke deal” marketed by the Obama administration.
For more than a decade almost no one wanted to go to the capital of the Islamic Republic, designated by many as “the world No. 1 sponsor of international terrorism.” This year, however, heads of state and other senior officials from over 60 nations, including most Western powers, have taken the flying carpet to Tehran to pay tribute to Obama’s “new moderate Iran.”President Obama’s seven-year campaign to restore diplomatic relations to Iran was never likely to alter the Khomeinist regime’s destructive behavior. But some European powers were keen to disregard the Islamic Republic’s visceral anti-Americanism and focus on obtaining juicy commercial deals.
The mullahs seized the opportunity to claim “total victory over the Great Satan” as part of a new narrative according to which “the whole world” was rushing to Iran to pay tribute to the “Supreme Guide” as the living incarnation of Islam. It was no surprise that high-profile visitors like Russian President Vladimir Putin or his Chinese counterpart Xi Jingping failed to mention such issues as human rights, executions and terrorism in polite dinner-table conversation in Tehran. The surprise came from Western leaders visiting the Islamic Republic and talking in strict accordance with scripts established by the ruling mullahs.
German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel went to Tehran twice, recalling their “common historic bonds” which presumably include the claimed “joint Aryan ancestry.” But he uttered not a word about such embarrassing issues as Iran topping the list of nations in the number of executions and political prisoners.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was warm in paying tribute to the “great Iranian culture,” but was too polite to mention that for three decades the Islamic regime has been busy trying to destroy that very culture to the point of establishing a list of words that cannot be mentioned in Persian poetry.
Meanwhile, Austrian President Heinz Fischer, whose term has since ended, put flowers at Ayatollah Khomeini’s mausoleum and praised the despot who had presided over the execution of more than 120,000 Iranians as “a man of peace and spirituality.”Then we have Cardinal Vincenzo Paglia, head of the Vatican’s office on family affairs. He went to the “holy” city of Qom to persuade the ayatollahs there to enter an alliance with the Catholic Church in defense of “the sacred institution of marriage” and against “deviant ways.”
The cardinal’s visit came just two days after the massacre at a gay bar in Orlando, Fla., and was seized upon by the Tehran media as a reminder by the church that a “same-sex relation” is a sin.The Western women officials who visited the mullahs didn’t always behave in a dignified manner either. They discarded their ordinary attire in favor of dress codes and hijab styles approved by the Islamic Foreign Ministry, the same dress codes and hijabs that millions of Iranian women are fighting against each day. The European Union foreign policy tsarina Federica Mogherini, a frequent hobnobber with mullahs, came dressed in black, the color of Bani-Abbas. She went even further by inviting Islamic Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to join the dialogue on “human rights in Europe” and suggest measures in favor of Islam which Mogherini says is an “integral part of Europe.”
The Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop brought a whole delegation of “Islamic scholars” with her to Tehran. They went around claiming that Australia was “thirsty for Islam” while the Islamic Republic was hungry for the import of Australian mutton. Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, head of Office for Islamic Convergence, promised Bishop that Iran would open a full university in Australia to train “Islamic scholars” Down Under.
But the crown for vile flattery goes to Christine Defraigne, president of the Belgian Senate, who went around telling the mullahs and their minions that the West had “a lot to learn from Islam” to “improve the status of women.” She ignored the fact that, while she was flattering the mullahs, hundreds of Iranian women were arrested and insulted by Islamic vigilantes who claimed their hijab was “inadequate.”Defraigne tried to justify her own wearing of the hijab by claiming that the headgear was “part of Iranian culture,” a manifest lie as it was invented in the 1970s and imposed from 1980 onwards.
Two officials behaved with dignity. One was South Korean President Park Geun-hye who dressed normally and wore a white, thin, headpiece and said not a word in praise of the mullarchy. Another was Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who wore thin headgear covering half of her blond hair at official functions but not during unofficial sightseeing. The mullahs retaliated by posting photos of her in swimsuits on the Internet and even attacking her as “a slut with no qualms about wearing a bikini.”
However, the main prize for dignified behavior must go to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
She simply refused to visit the Islamic Republic because she would not wear the hijab and dress up for what amounts to a farce endorsing tragedy.
http://nypost.com/2016/07/03/westerners-who-don-hijabs-in-iran-are-a-disgrace/

Erdogan’s latest wake-up call on Islamic State
Week in Review/Al-Monitor/July 04/16
The Obama administration is considering a plan to coordinate airstrikes with Russia against Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, in return for Russia’s commitment to pressure the Syrian government to end its airstrikes against civilians and US-backed moderate armed groups operating in Syria.
This column wrote in May that the United States should take up the Russian offer to coordinate airstrikes and put Moscow to the test on its and the Syrian government’s targeting decisions. The announcement of US-Russian negotiations comes a little more than a week after the leaking of a “dissent” cable by State Department diplomats calling for an escalation of US military involvement in the war by undertaking airstrikes against the Syrian military. The Obama administration, in our view, has rightly kept the focus on trying to end the war and defeat terrorist groups, rather than follow the escalatory and misguided course of action recommended in the cable. What we find perplexing is resistance in some quarters to US-Russia coordination, despite numerous UN resolutions calling for international cooperation against al-Qaeda and its affiliates, including and especially Jabhat al-Nusra, and recent warnings that al-Qaeda may declare an emirate in northern Syria. A Washington Post editorial cites “several experts on Syria” as making the case that US-Russia coordination would be a bad deal because “Jabhat al-Nusra forces are intermixed with other rebel units” and “an assault on them could have the effect of allowing the Assad regime to achieve what it says is its foremost objective, the recapture of Aleppo, tipping the balance of the civil war in its favor. The anti-Assad rebels backed by the West could be decisively undermined, even if Russia and the Syrian regime respected the no-bombing zones — which, given the history of past agreements, is a most unlikely prospect.”
There is absolutely a place for pressure on Assad, and we agree in putting Moscow to the test on whether it can deliver. But there is no place, ever, for giving al-Qaeda, its affiliates and its partners a pass. We should know how this ends by now. Our view is that those groups that ally with Jabhat al-Nusra are making their choice, and it’s the wrong choice, and it should have consequences, given the many UN Security Council resolutions sanctioning any cooperation with al-Qaeda, as well as al-Qaeda’s well-known record of uncompromising hatred and terrorism, which, we would have thought, would be well known to most "experts" on Syria.
Turkey’s failure of intelligence on IS
Turkey suffered a horrific terrorist bombing at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on June 28 that killed 44 people and injured more than 200. CNN reports that the bombers have been identified as foreign fighters linked to the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.
This was the seventh terrorist attack linked to IS in Turkey. Turkey’s recent increased detention and arrest of terrorists on its Syrian border, the result of domestic and international pressure, may be stoking IS’ ire. Fehim Tastekin observes that “the measures Turkey is taking against IS — even though they are at times hypocritical and for show only — are enough for IS to terrorize Turkey with suicide attacks.”
Cengiz Candar provides further context. “For a few years now, Turkey has been the ‘jihadi highway,’ and its porous long frontier with Syria has been an easy passage for all sorts of Salafi opposition groups under the support of Ankara, Riyadh and Qatar, including al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch Jabhat al-Nusra and IS participants. It is an open secret that IS has many sleeper cells in Turkey. Under the favorable umbrella of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) for all sorts of Islamist activities, IS found an affectionate bosom to entrench, expand and stay relatively safe within the territory of Turkey. The Turkish security agencies tasked with supporting anti-Bashar al-Assad Salafi opposition groups consequently established contacts with many Salafists, most of them residing in the refugee camps along the border or in the Turkish border towns. Thus, they accumulated a lot of precious information about ‘who is who’ in the ‘jihadi highway.’ “Why then is there an intelligence lapse?” Candar asks. “It is mainly because of the laxity of the AKP political rule in the assessment of terrorism. For a long time, Turkish authorities refrained from affixing the label of terrorist to IS, but it easily stuck the label on the Syrian Kurdish groups fighting the Turkish government.”While the IS attacks are blowback for Turkey’s role in Syria, the mainstream Turkish press hawking the government line has sought to link the attack to those opposed to Ankara’s making amends with Russia and Turkey.
Erdogan sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 27 seeking to bury the hatchet over Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian fighter jet on Nov. 24, 2015. Putin and Erdogan spoke by phone soon after the terrorist attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport the following day. Maxim Suchkov writes, “The most common explanation among one group of Russian experts and decision-makers was that Erdogan’s move was driven by Russia’s economic blow to Turkey,” as well as that “Ankara’s relations with Europe aren’t working out the way he planned. Syria and the Kurds remain a prime headache, while the Turkish president simply has no chemistry with Washington. Moreover, in recent years Turkey has wasted some of the vast soft-power resources it had without obvious gains for itself. These arguments, often voiced in Moscow, created a perception that Erdogan was cornered. The common perception is: It took Erdogan a long time to understand his own situation and now it’s up to Putin to pardon him.”
Erdogan also restored ties with Israel. Metin Gurcan writes that "pressure from the Turkish armed forces” forced Ankara to restore ties with Israel, and that Turkey urgently need to compensate for its “disturbing isolation in the region.”
Ben Caspit reports from Israel that Israel-Turkey ties will never reach the level of partners or strategic allies, as was once the aspiration. “What we should expect is an ad hoc partnership based on common interests, shared suspicions and the kind of bargaining that one would expect to find in the Turkish bazaar. Israel and Turkey are equally worried about Iranian influence in Syria. They both share the same concerns regarding an Iranian Shiite state pressed up against the border fence on the Golan Heights and Idlib. Having many fronts and challenges to deal with, Erdogan had to cut his losses and reduce the number of unnecessary fronts. The one he opened against Israel was the most superfluous of all. And so, he climbed down from his tree, taking with him his demand that Israel lift its naval blockade of Gaza. That being said, he did receive a candy in return, with the possibility of sending goods to the Gaza Strip through the Israeli port in Ashdod, and of developing projects in Gaza. This is a win-win situation, at least as far as Israel is concerned. These kinds of projects would make life easier for Hamas and reduce the overall pressure in Gaza. This, in turn, could postpone the next Hamas-Israel round of fighting.”
We wrote here in October 2014 about “Erdogan’s slow turnaround on foreign fighters in Syria” as a result of domestic and international pressure. Although we did not expect it would be this slow, the turnaround now seems to be taking form, the result of Turkey’s failed Syria policies and blowback from its deliberate ambiguity in dealing with terrorist and affiliated groups crossing into Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed his hope for increased Russian-Turkish counterterrorism cooperation after meeting with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Moscow on July 1.
Mustafa Akyol suggests that the Istanbul attack should force Turkey to resume peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and intensify its efforts against IS. “While you can negotiate with the PKK, as we have seen, you possibly cannot negotiate with IS. And if we Turks had any delusion of seeing IS as somehow less dangerous than the PKK, then we must have been woken by the ferocious attack on the Ataturk airport,” Akyol writes.
Hamas resumes ties with Iran
In a related trend, Hazem Balousha reports from Gaza that Hamas is resuming its ties with Iran, which have frayed since 2011 over Syria. “After right-wing hawk Avigdor Liberman’s appointment to the head of Israel’s Ministry of Defense and the rise of rhetoric about the possibility of waging a new war against Gaza, Hamas’ military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, found itself in desperate need for financial and military support, while its political wing sought public and explicit political backing,” Balousha writes.He adds, “Hamas tried to postpone the resumption of relations with Iran after the toppling of some Arab leaders and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. But the fall of the Brotherhood and the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013 made Hamas, which is a Brotherhood branch in Palestine, more open to resuming its relations with Iran."
A senior Hamas leader told Balousha, "The Arab world is undergoing a redrawing of its political map. The Syrian regime is achieving success on the ground against its opponents, Saudi Arabia is preoccupied with its war in Yemen and Turkey is restoring relations with Israel. As a result, Hamas fears a continuation of its isolation due to regional developments. It is thus consciously resuming its rapprochement with Iran out of its leadership’s full conviction that doing so was the best option to safeguard its strength militarily and politically.”

Jihadists Trying to Dislodge Bangladesh's Secular Government
Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/July 04/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8382/bangladesh-jihadists
It seems that either al-Qaeda, with or without the Islamic State, has been linking up with Bangladesh's indigenous radical networks.
If the Hasina government cannot restore a sense of normalcy, the booming Bangladeshi economy is likely to stagnate, Western corporate investment may dry up, and liberal technocrats probably will seek security elsewhere. If this happens, Bangladesh's minorities will feel even further isolated.
"They believe that we are all going to hell, and no matter how they treat us, that they will all go to heaven." — Former Catholic seminarian.
Friday's Islamic terrorist attack in the swankiest section of the Bangladesh's capital of Dhaka, in which 20 people were murdered, had been expected by the country's law enforcement services. When this attack took place, the government had been in the midst of a nationwide crackdown on known terrorist sympathizers. The police had made hundreds -- some reports claim thousands -- of arrests. They had also seized explosives, firearms, machetes and jihadi tracts. Most of the arrests consisted of members of indigenous, outlawed jihadist groups such as the Jamaatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Harakat-ul Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), and Ansarullah Team.
Bangladeshi soldiers toss a grenade into a restaurant in Dhaka, in which Islamic terrorists murdered 20 hostages, July 1, 2016.
There have also been also other assassinations in the last few months. Most of these murders were of religious minorities: a Hindu priest, a Buddhist nun, the owner of a Catholic grocery store. Bloggers and students critical of Islamic extremists, and who opposed an increasingly enforced version of Islam, were murdered as well, often hacked to death, along with liberal intellectuals and a LGBT couple.
The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had continued to deny that either al-Qaeda or the Islamic State had cells in Bangladesh, even as the incidents increased in number and grew more widespread. The government, in keeping silent about the escalating abuses, was reportedly afraid to "provoke a backlash" -- which came anyhow.
It seems, however, that either al-Qaeda, with or without the Islamic State, has been linking up with indigenous radical networks.[1] The goals of these groups are different. According to a former mid-level Islamist civil servant living in exile in the United States, opposition parties are determined to prevent Bangladesh's popular Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from remaining in power.[2] He also implied that one of the parties, the Jammat-e-Islami, which opposes Bangladesh's governing coalition of 19 political parties, has ties to domestic terrorist networks.[3]
Meanwhile, some in the government's coalition, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), would apparently like to move closer to Pakistan and away from the present administration's pro-India tilt. Pakistan's Inter Survives Intelligence (ISI) is active in efforts to move Bangladesh away from its pro-India stance. It was the ISI, with the Pakistani-supported terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, that "aided Mumbai terror attacks" in India in November 2008, and there are reports that Lashkar-e-Taiba recruits agents in Bangladesh.[4]
Pakistan's principal objective, with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, is presumably to end the officially secular tradition of Bangladesh and establish a regime that elevates Islam above other religions. They likely also want to establish Sharia courts and legislate blasphemy laws, as in Pakistan.
If the Hasina government cannot restore a sense of normalcy in the country, the booming Bangladeshi economy is likely to stagnate, Western corporate investment may dry up, and liberal technocrats probably will seek security elsewhere. If this happens, Bangladesh's minorities will feel even further isolated, providing a pretext for Bangladesh's military to seize power under the rubric of "restoring order" -- a theme Bangladesh's generals have employed in the past.
One Catholic Bishop interviewed stated that, "We Christians always depend upon the goodwill of our Muslim neighbors. We are no longer confident that we can trust in this sentiment."[5]
A former Catholic seminarian was more blunt: "They believe that we are all going to hell and no matter how they treat us, that they will all go to heaven."[6]
Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve, where he was a Military Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Israel.
[1] HuJI-B has had ties to Al-Qaeda at least since 2009. Combating Terrorism Center, West Point, N.Y. "The Sentinel," May 2009.
[2] Bangladesh's Constitution does not limit the terms of its Prime Minister (PM). Hasina has served as PM from 1996-2001, 2009- 2014 and 2014-present.
[3] Interview with Mohammad Ahsanul Karim Bangladesh Civil Service 29 June 2016
[4] Funding Methods of Bangladeshi Terrorist Groups by Paul Cochrane. Combating Terrorism Center, West Point, N.Y. "The Sentinel" May 2009.
[5] Interview with Catholic Bishop (name withheld).
[6] Interview with Bangladesh Catholic Deacon and former Seminarian. (name withheld).
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Britain: Labour Party Finds Itself Innocent!
Douglas Murray/Gatestone Institute/July 04/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8364/uk-antisemitism-inquiry
The findings of this inquiry have now been published and amazingly the Labour party has found itself innocent.
In British left-wing politics, you cannot even clear yourself of accusations of anti-Semitism without having an outbreak of it right there and then.
Readers who have followed the UK Labour party's recent travails will be surprised to hear the results of the party's latest inquiry into its own behaviour. After a slew of anti-Semitic comments emanated from a Member of Parliament, a number of councillors and a member of the party's executive committee, party leader Jeremy Corbyn finally ordered an inquiry into anti-Semitism in the party. The findings of this inquiry have now been published and amazingly the Labour party has found itself innocent. But even that has not gone down without incident.
The Labour party's anti-Semitism problem began to be exposed at the start of this year when stories of routine anti-Semitism emerged from a junior wing of the party -- specifically the Oxford University Labour Club. That scandal involved a number of resignations, and revelations of the use of anti-Semitic language as routine and commonplace among Labour students at Britain's most prestigious university. An inquiry into these events, ordered by the party and conducted by Labour's own Baroness Royall, promptly found "no evidence" of "institutional anti-Semitism."
Then came the scandal of Naz Shah MP, who was suspended from the party pending an investigation into messages on social media, as well as the suspension of a number of Labour councillors for posting anti-Semitic content on Facebook and other sites.
Kerosene was promptly thrown onto this smouldering fire by National Executive Committee member, Ken Livingstone. The former Mayor of London used the opportunity of an anti-Semitism row to go on the BBC and talk about which early policies of Adolf Hitler's he thought the Jewish people had agreed. The resulting firestorm culminated in Mr Livingstone locking himself in a disabled lavatory at the BBC while journalists shouted questions about Hitler under the door. Sensing that his party was in difficult public-relations waters, Jeremy Corbyn ordered an inquiry into the Labour party's anti-Semitism problem, and asked left-wing campaigner Shami Chakrabarti to conduct the inquiry. Chakrabarti promptly joined the Labour party and started work.
On Thursday of last week Chakrabarti produced her findings. At an event in London organised by the Labour party, she announced that the Labour party was not in fact overrun by anti-Semitism "or other forms of racism," but conceded that there was an "occasionally toxic atmosphere." She also added that there was "too much clear evidence... of ignorant attitudes."
UK Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn (left) appears at a press conference with left-wing campaigner Shami Chakrabarti (right), to present the findings of an inquiry into the Labour party's anti-Semitism, June 30, 2016.
The man she was helping to vindicate, Jeremy Corbyn, then took to the stage and called for an end to Hitler and Nazi metaphors, and an end to comparisons between different human rights atrocities. He went on to say, "Racism is racism is racism. There is no hierarchy, no acceptable form of it." In the hands of anyone else that might have been an end of it, but this is the modern Labour party of Jeremy Corbyn, and in the modern Labour party of Jeremy Corbyn no opportunity for a public relations catastrophe is ever missed. And so it was that at the launch of an inquiry into anti-Semitism a set of anti-Semitic incidents occurred. First, there were the words of the leader himself. In his remarks attempting to curb anti-Semitism in the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn said, "Our Jewish friends are no more responsible for the actions of Israel or the Netanyahu government than our Muslim friends are for those various self-styled Islamic states or organisations." This none-too subtle linkage between Israel and ISIS was promptly seized upon by commentators and religious leaders. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis condemned the comments as "offensive," and stated that rather than rebuilding trust with Britain's Jewish community, Corbyn had in fact caused even "greater concern."
Former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks called Corbyn's comments "demonisation of the highest order, an outrage and unacceptable." He went on to say that the comments showed "how deep the sickness is in parts of the left of British politics today." Meanwhile, in the audience of the event, a Labour MP who is Jewish -- Ruth Smeeth -- found herself the victim of anti-Semitic slurs from one of Jeremy Corbyn's hard-left grassroots supporters. This individual insisted that Ms Smeeth was working in collusion with the "right-wing media" -- an anti-Semitic trope of precisely the kind at which the Chakrabarti report had been meant to look. Corbyn failed to intervene, so the Jewish MP walked out of the event. Smeeth subsequently joined the majority of Labour MPs who have already -- for a whole multitude of reasons -- called on Corbyn to resign. By failing to intervene in an anti-Semitic incident going on right in front of him, Corbyn had, she said in a statement, shown a "catastrophic failure of leadership," adding: "It is beyond belief that someone could come to the launch of a report on anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and espouse such vile conspiracy theories about Jewish people, which were ironically highlighted as such in Ms Chakrabarti's report, while the leader of my own party stood by and did absolutely nothing." Yet here we are. It is 2016 and in British left-wing politics you cannot even clear yourself of accusations of anti-Semitism without having an outbreak of it right there and then. There are those who have long noticed this fact. There are also those who have long rued this fact. But only the current leadership of the Labour party can imagine that they are going to get away with avoiding this fact.

**Douglas Murray is a current events analyst and commentator based in London.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Russia needs Turkey in the war on ISIS
Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya/July 04/16
Turkish policy, whether local, regional, European, or international, is passing through an interesting phase, if not a surprising one, reflecting a tactical change in the vision and strategy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The man who hardly admits mistakes apologized this week to Russia, and drank the poisoned chalice as he bowed his head down to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the downing a Russian jet several months ago. The man who backed Hamas and challenged the Israeli leadership, and engaged in one-upmanship with the Palestinian leadership, decided this week to seek reconciliation with Israel and restore ties with Tel Aviv, claiming that Israel had met Turkish conditions, drawing ire both in Turkey and abroad. His policy on Syria has changed a lot, and the Turkish president is no longer the spearhead of the battle against his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, or the spearhead of the support for the armed Syrian rebels, as he appears ready to climb down from both these positions.
Moreover, ISIS’s war on Turkey did not come from a vacuum, but is the result of a radical change in Turkey’s dealings with fighters it reportedly allowed to cross into Syria via its borders, before it became a partner in the US-led coalition against ISIS, opening its airports for planes to strike the radical group in Syria and Iraq. The war being waged by ISIS on Turkish cities is a retaliatory war for what the group considers the betrayal of the Turkish leadership, whose backing ISIS assumed to have had. Perhaps ISIS was infuriated by Ankara’s détente with Israel and Russia, its arch-enemy. But most likely, the radical terror group had prepared the attack on Ataturk Airport in Istanbul in response to Turkey’s new alignment on the side of the implicit American-Russian agreement in Syria and explicit agreement against ISIS. Today, following the results of the referendum on Britain’s EU membership in favor of Brexit, Turkey and Russia are likely to gain from European weakness and possibly fragmentation after London leaves the EU, each for its own reasons. But clearly, the Turkish president has returned to the drawing board to review his policies that he had boasted of and pledged not to reverse. This requires a close watch on his coming positions, locally, regionally – e.g. vis-à-vis the Gulf, Iran, and Egypt – and internationally, for example as regards restoring ties with Russia and Israel.
One will also have to watch the implications for the Syrian opposition represented by the High Negotiations Commission (HNC) and the internationally backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which comprise both Arab and Kurdish factions. The deal struck by Erdogan with Hamas and Israel were a slap in the face of the leadership of the Palestinian Authority represented by President Mahmoud Abbas and Egypt and its president Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, given the direct Turkish presence in Gaza along the border with Egypt now and the boost it gives to the Muslim Brotherhood both in Gaza and Egypt. Vladimir Putin has benefited from this about-face, not only because he enjoyed hearing Erdogan apologize, but also because he won him over in Syria
Blow to reconciliation
Practically speaking, the Turkish president dealt a blow to the reconciliation negotiations in Palestine and to Palestinian national unity, because he affirmed Hamas’s weight in the Palestinian arena at the expense of the Palestinian Authority and its leadership. He engineered a truce between Israel and Hamas, and an agreement among the three parties that it would be a permanent truce. The lifting of the blockade will normalize life in Gaza, into which Turkey will bring building material and build hospitals as a prelude to having a permanent say in Palestinian affairs. This is a big achievement for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as it consecrates his role in Gaza and his support for Hamas, his understanding with Israel, his support for the Muslim Brotherhood, his challenge against el-Sisi’s Egypt, and his assault on Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority. There is no change here, but there is affirmation of Erdogan’s attitudes against the Palestinian Authority in support of Hamas. Erdogan converges with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the common desire to destroy the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian unity, and Hamas stands to benefit by acting as the guarantor of the common Turkish-Israeli vision.
Egypt will not be comfortable by this great breakthrough achieved by Turkey, and will see Turkish presence in Gaza as directed against Egypt. What will the Egyptian leadership and diplomacy do? They have started efforts with the Palestinian Authority and Israel but the proposals are not clear yet. Nevertheless, there is no doubt the issue is a very serious one for Cairo for both its Palestinian and Muslim Brotherhood angles, and it is no doubt preparing to respond in one way or another to Ankara. Ankara made a demarche this week with Moscow, which considers Cairo a strategically important asset in its Middle East and North Africa outlook. Both Moscow and Cairo are categorically opposed to the rise of Islamists to power. Ankara adopts the opposite position, because Erdogan is the engineer of the rise of Islamists to power and a proponent of spreading the Turkish model of “moderate Islam” as the West views it.
The Russian leadership may not adopt hostile attitudes toward the Turkish leadership for challenging the Palestinian and Egyptian leaderships in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. But it will keep its gazed fixed on Egyptian-Turkish relations. For Russia, Egypt is a strategic friend while Turkey is a strategic rival. The Russian leadership understands that Erdogan’s apology was out of necessity rather than volition. The Turkish president found himself in a predicament in Syria, and decided he needed Russia to extricate himself. Vladimir Putin has benefited from this about-face, not only because he enjoyed hearing Erdogan apologize, but also because he won him over in Syria.
Putin is fighting a fateful battle in Syria. He is determined not to make true the dreams of those who want him to venture into a quagmire. Putin knows he is not yet out of the woods, and thus sees a huge advantage in Erdogan reconsidering his Syria policies, where he has become a de-facto partner of the US and Russia in the war on ISIS, especially after the latter decided to target Turkey and its security and economy in retaliation.
Putin also realizes that ISIS must be planning similar attacks against Russia. Indeed, Russia is the logical next stop for ISIS, given that Moscow is a military ally of the regime in Damascus and is staging strikes against ISIS meaning to destroy it. ISIS’s attacks have struck in European capitals, US cities, and several Turkish sites, and perhaps the group is preparing its most formidable attacks yet against Russia. Therefore, the Russian leadership is willing to accept Turkey’s apologies and open a new page, as hard as that will be, because it too needs the Turkish partner in the war on ISIS. The other element in the page of open accords among the members of the international coalition, including the US, Europe, Russia along with the latter’s Iranian ally in Syria and Turkey and its friends in the Gulf, has to do with the question of which Syrian rebel faction can be the most effective on the ground, and which groups fighting in Syria should be added to the list of terror organizations. Among the groups the international coalition and Russia both believe to be militarily effective on the ground are the SDF, which comprise both Arab and Kurdish factions. If Turkey is now a backer of this grouping, because it is fighting ISIS on the ground with air cover from coalition planes flying out of Turkey, the question is whether the deals include the Kurdish element, at least in Syria.
The common denominator between Turkey and Iran is their shared problem related to the Kurdish element, which they both see as a threat to their national security. Both are determined to block Kurdish security if it is at the expense of Turkish or Iranian security.
Erdogan has a working relationship with Iran that intersects with his good relations with Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Indeed, he believes that containing Iran helps reassure Gulf countries, and he believes he is able to navigate complex relations regionally and internationally along a trajectory that secures his internal political positions. His relations with the European Union overlap with his local calculations. To Erdogan, Brexit creates two opportunities simultaneously: the prospect of Turkey acceding to the union in light of the latter’s drive to expand its borders. And the possibility of further “exits” from the EU by one or more of its 27 member states, and the possibility of the EU weakening or even collapsing. Both possibilities benefit Turkey, whose efforts to join the EU have so far been blocked despite being a NATO member. If a miracle happens and Russia and Turkey seek a serious partnership, they will both benefit greatly from a weakened and fragmented Europe. But now, it is too early to tell whether Putin will remain at the height of his power because victory in Syria is still elusive and the prospect of a quagmire there is very real. It is too early to tell as well whether Erdogan’s new tactics will be rewarding, especially since he is in the eye of the storm blowing from Syria.
**This article was first published in Al-Hayat on Jul. 01, 2016 and translated by Karim Traboulsi.

God’s traveling people
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/July 04/16
Saudi wives’ travels helped discover other societies with different religions and values, creating tolerance. Saudi society closed in on itself for a while, but it was only a matter of time before it went back to traveling. One sees Saudis everywhere, and those who are well-off own houses in the East and West. During vacations, and particularly in the summer when the heat worsens, Saudis pack their bags and travel. Traveling helps discover other existences, environments and cultures. The young Saudi generation cannot be blamed for wanting to entertain itself. Saudi youths’ travels may be absurd, as they may waste their time partying and having fun instead of discovering the cities they go to. This is due to lack of planning the journey. Places are like people, as they are worthy of learning about and perhaps learning from. Traveling helps discover other existences, environments and cultures
Influential civilizations
Countries with influential civilizations, such as in Europe, are top of the list of places worth visiting. Tourists can visit museums, attend famous plays, check out statues, tour cities, and even write notes about what they see to enrich their knowledge. This achieves both aims of being entertained and gaining knowledge. Whatever the travels are and regardless of how much one benefits from them, touring and walking in God’s land have great benefits. At least it reminds us that humans are brothers on this planet!
**This article was first published in Okaz on July 4, 2016.

Teresa May could emerge the true winner of Brexit
Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/July 04/16
The turmoil of Brexit has been ongoing for a week. Living in the UK, it is difficult for a few hours to pass without anyone mentioning the referendum. The Leave campaigners worked tirelessly to promote Britain’s exit from the EU, but it is a real shame they did not work half as hard to come up with a solid plan of action once they got what they wanted. Britain voting to leave the European Union has left the political and economic situation in a shambles. The arguments of the leave campaign went around in circles but almost consistently lead back to one core topic: immigration. The “leave” campaign fear-mongered the British public into gambling the future of its own citizens. It dragged along millions of immigrants, European and others like me, who call Britain home. The vote cannot be taken back: democracy has spoken, and regardless of whether a second referendum is called, and when Lisbon article is instated, the British public is now looking for a new prime minister. Boris Johnson, one of the “leave” campaign leaders, has announced that he will not be running for the position this year. He is probably aware that whatever deal is negotiated with the European Union will be criticized. Johnson is clearly keeping his eye on the big picture: winning a general election. There is no need for him to put himself in a situation where he is liable for public scrutiny and further criticism when his eye is on the real prize: the general election of 2020.If May were to win the election, the impact on immigration would be substantial regardless of whether Britain is in or out of the European Union
Come what May
Teresa May, current Home Secretary, has decided that she is fit to lead the Conservative Party, and has chosen to run for prime minister. If May were to win the election, the impact on immigration would be substantial regardless of whether Britain is in or out of the European Union. Although the media is projecting May as a progressive, her policies prove that what she would bring to Britain could not be farther from the truth. May sees foreigners as pure investors in the British economy. She would prefer that they do their investments from abroad and not benefit from even the paved roads and streets of Britain.
I have myself been a victim of May’s policies, specifically those implemented in 2011. This was related to the transfer of student visas to work visas for international students who on an average spend over £50,000 on a degree in the country, including international tuition fees and living expenses. May’s policies made it increasingly difficult for students like me to remain in the UK after completing their degrees. Exceptions were made for those who studied subjects that were deemed on the “skills shortage list”. However, the bigger picture was clear: May wanted as many international students to spend as much money in the UK while they are students, and for them to leave as soon as their visa expires, completely disregarding the benefit foreigners can bring to the economy, including diversity and taxes. May has previously stated that she believes that the UK can reduce net migration without impacting the economy. Perhaps this proves that May is in fact one of the better suited candidates to negotiate the British deal with the European Union – after all the British public was made to believe that leaving the European Union would mean jobs taken by Europeans would be given to British nationals.
The real winners
The real winners of Brexit are few and far between. Although 17 million people voted to leave the European Union, I don’t believe all of them would have voted to see the UK in the political, economic, and social turmoil that it is in now. The volatility of the Sterling is a limiting factor to foreign investment at least until the currency stabilizes. UOB has suspended London mortgage agreements and Obama has stated that he stands by his initial comments that Britain will be at the “back of the queue” when it comes to trade deals. The political future of the country is being questioned in both the main political parties and the social relations between classes, ages. Even the leader of the Scottish National Party has stated that a second referendum for Scottish Independence is on the table. The truth remains that so far there have been few clear winners as a result of Brexit – few of whom are the people who have actually voted. Those who have gambled and placed bets on the value of the Sterling may have won; currency traders may have won, assuming they predicted the result to leave. Perhaps the true beneficiaries are the Arab tourists who plan to visit Britain for Eid, considering the poor value of Sterling will make their goods and shopping cheaper. If May comes to power who knows what will happen to the British visa system. Whether she will make it difficult for holidaymakers to visit the UK remains to be seen.

The Myth of Cosmopolitanism
Ross Douthat/The New York Times/July 04/16
Now that populist rebellions are taking Britain out of the European Union and the Republican Party out of contention for the presidency, perhaps we should speak no more of left and right, liberals and conservatives. From now on the great political battles will be fought between nationalists and internationalists, nativists and globalists. From now on the loyalties that matter will be narrowly tribal — Make America Great Again, this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England — or multicultural and cosmopolitan. Well, maybe. But describing the division this way has one great flaw. It gives the elite side of the debate (the side that does most of the describing) too much credit for being truly cosmopolitan. Genuine cosmopolitanism is a rare thing. It requires comfort with real difference, with forms of life that are truly exotic relative to one’s own. It takes its cue from a Roman playwright’s line that “nothing human is alien to me,” and goes outward ready to be transformed by what it finds. The people who consider themselves “cosmopolitan” in today’s West, by contrast, are part of a meritocratic order that transforms difference into similarity, by plucking the best and brightest from everywhere and homogenizing them into the peculiar species that we call “global citizens.”
This species is racially diverse (within limits) and eager to assimilate the fun-seeming bits of foreign cultures — food, a touch of exotic spirituality. But no less than Brexit-voting Cornish villagers, our global citizens think and act as members of a tribe.They have their own distinctive worldview (basically liberal Christianity without Christ), their own common educational experience, their own shared values and assumptions (social psychologists call these WEIRD — for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic), and of course their own outgroups (evangelicals, Little Englanders) to fear, pity and despise. And like any tribal cohort they seek comfort and familiarity: From London to Paris to New York, each Western “global city” (like each “global university”) is increasingly interchangeable, so that wherever the citizen of the world travels he already feels at home.
Indeed elite tribalism is actively encouraged by the technologies of globalization, the ease of travel and communication. Distance and separation force encounter and immersion, which is why the age of empire made cosmopolitans as well as chauvinists — sometimes out of the same people. (There is more genuine cosmopolitanism in Rudyard Kipling and T. E. Lawrence and Richard Francis Burton than in a hundred Davos sessions.) It is still possible to disappear into someone else’s culture, to leave the global-citizen bubble behind. But in my experience the people who do are exceptional or eccentric or natural outsiders to begin with — like a young writer I knew who had traveled Africa and Asia more or less on foot for years, not for a book but just because, or the daughter of evangelical missionaries who grew up in South Asia and lived in Washington, D.C., as a way station before moving her own family to the Middle East. They are not the people who ascend to power, who become the insiders against whom populists revolt. In my own case — to speak as an insider for a moment — my cosmopolitanism probably peaked when I was about 11 years old, when I was simultaneously attending tongues-speaking Pentecostalist worship services, playing Little League in a working-class neighborhood, eating alongside aging hippies in macrobiotic restaurants on weekends, all the while attending a liberal Episcopalian parochial school. (It’s a long story.)
Whereas once I began attending a global university, living in global cities, working and traveling and socializing with my fellow global citizens, my experience of genuine cultural difference became far more superficial. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with this. Human beings seek community, and permanent openness is hard to sustain.
But it’s a problem that our tribe of self-styled cosmopolitans doesn’t see itself clearly as a tribe: because that means our leaders can’t see themselves the way the Brexiteers and Trumpistas and Marine Le Pen voters see them. They can’t see that what feels diverse on the inside can still seem like an aristocracy to the excluded, who look at cities like London and see, as Peter Mandler wrote for Dissent after the Brexit vote, “a nearly hereditary professional caste of lawyers, journalists, publicists, and intellectuals, an increasingly . hereditary caste of politicians, tight coteries of cultural movers-and-shakers richly sponsored by multinational corporations.” They can’t see that paeans to multicultural openness can sound like self-serving cant coming from open-borders Londoners who love Afghan restaurants but would never live near an immigrant housing project, or American liberals who hail the end of whiteness while doing everything possible to keep their kids out of majority-minority schools. They can’t see that their vision of history’s arc bending inexorably away from tribe and creed and nation-state looks to outsiders like something familiar from eras past: A powerful caste’s self-serving explanation for why it alone deserves to rule the world.
 

After Istanbul Attack, Turkey Shows Solidarity on Fighting Terrorism
David Ignatius/The Washington Post/July 04/16
As Turkey counts the death toll from the horrific terrorist attack at the Istanbul airport Tuesday, a Turkish government that has sometimes dragged its feet on U.S. counter-terrorism policies appears to be standing firmly on the side of its Western allies in combating jihadist terrorism — a welcome sign for Washington. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said evidence suggests that the attack was the work of the ISIS terrorist group — which would put Turkey on the same side as Western governments that have struggled with the recent wave of ISIS-inspired attacks in Paris, Brussels and Orlando. The Istanbul assault tactics — use of multiple bombers and explosives at a busy airport — were eerily similar to the ISIS attack on the Brussels airport three months ago. This terrible attack could mark a change if it brings Turkey more firmly into the camp fighting ISIS — a battle in which it has sometimes been a passive observer. The attack on Istanbul, a symbolic crossroads for the Muslim world, also underscores that Western and Muslim nations alike are targets of jihadist violence. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed solidarity with Western countries in his statement about the attack, saying it could have happened anywhere and showed that there was “no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin.” That’s the kind of unified message the United States has wanted to hear more from Turkey.Because ISIS hasn’t issued any public statement asserting responsibility for the attack, assessing the terrorists’ motive is largely speculation at this point. But some little-noticed recent events might explain why the jihadists could have decided to strike now.
For more than two years, the Obama administration has been cajoling and pleading with Turkey to close a roughly 70-mile hole in its border with Syria, west of the Euphrates River, which has been a superhighway for extremist fighters, cash and supplies. The Turks have made counter-demands and complained about U.S. reliance on a Syrian Kurdish militia called the YPG, which the Turks claim (largely correctly) is an arm of the Kurdish nationalist group called the PKK that they claim is terrorist. Just over a month ago, President Obama delivered an ultimatum to Erdogan: If you don’t close the border, we will. And in late May, the United States did indeed launch an offensive by about 3,000 fighters from a coalition known as the Syrian Democratic Forces against what’s known as the “Manbij pocket,” south of the Turkish-Syrian border. This attack, directed by U.S. Special Forces advisers on the ground, featured a mixed assault force that included Syrian Kurds from the YPG and Syrian Arab forces, partially answering Turkish complaints.
The assault against ISIS’ key gateway has been largely successful, U.S. commanders say. Manbij is surrounded, cutting the jihadists’ access between Turkey and Syria and the flow of what had been tens of thousands of foreign fighters, who in recent years have initially come through Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, the same spot that was targeted Tuesday. American sources say that more than 1,000 ISIS fighters have been killed so far in the Manbij campaign. The Turks have been uneasy about Manbij, but they haven’t publicly complained, and they’ve allowed the United States to fly daily bombing missions against ISIS positions by A-10 “Warthog” ground attack aircraft, based at Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey. The Turks, in short, may have grumbled in public, but behind the scenes they have been fairly cooperative allies. Now they have gotten a gut punch in Istanbul, perhaps in retaliation against the Manbij operation. Again, they haven’t complained so far and have instead stressed Turkish solidarity with other nations fighting violent extremism. The terrorists must have hoped their attack on a symbol of Turkey’s modern, interconnected economy would bring backbiting and recriminations. They were trying to drive a wedge. But so far, the split they may have wanted hasn’t happened.

How Brexit Could Avert New Cold War
Katrina Vanden Heuvel/Asharq Al Awsat/July 04/16
The Washington Post-The stunning British vote to leave the European Union has roiled foreign and economic ministers and central bankers across Europe and the United States.
The political establishments on both sides of the Atlantic are finally beginning to get the message. For too long, their policies have failed to provide either shared prosperity or security. For too long, they have ignored the many who are struggling while catering to the few who are thriving. The British vote should force fundamental reassessments in the E.U. and the United States — of austerity, of rule by technocrats, of immigration policy, and of economic and foreign policies. With its allies in NATO, the United States should join in this reassessment, with a particular focus on the dangerous descent toward a new Cold War with Russia that has received shamefully little attention. William Perry, defense secretary under President Bill Clinton and a scientist with a lifelong expertise in nuclear deterrence, warns that “today, the danger of some sort of a nuclear catastrophe is greater than it was during the Cold War and most people are blissfully unaware of this danger.” U.S.-Russian relations have deteriorated dangerously in the past few years. The dominant Western media and establishment narrative has treated Russia as the sole aggressor while failing to account for the E.U. and NATO members’ role in the crisis in Ukraine and worsening relations. In the past few years, the United States and its NATO allies have imposed sanctions on Russia, deployed anti-ballistic missile systems in Poland and Romania, dramatically augmented land, air and sea forces, and expanded military exercises on Russia’s borders. Not surprisingly, Russia has responded by reinforcing its forces along its Western borders, including more nuclear-capable missiles — increasing the risk of accident, miscalculation and escalation.
Meanwhile, E.U. members France and Germany have either failed or refused to move the Ukrainian government to live up to its agreements under the tenuous Minsk accords, which were designed to bring about a negotiated end to the civil war. The roots of this escalating tension and military buildup come from the U.S. decision to expand NATO to Russia’s very borders after the end of the Soviet Union. Instead of building a zone of peace that would acknowledge Russian security concerns, the United States pushed to incorporate former Soviet satellites into NATO, even including newly independent states such as Georgia and Ukraine that were historically part of Russia and the Soviet Union. George Kennan, one of the fabled post-World War II “Wise Men” and author of the famous X Article, which formed the basis of the Cold War “containment” strategy, warned prophetically that NATO’s expansion into former Soviet territory would be a “strategic blunder of potentially epic proportions.”The United States and NATO countries have compelling reasons to try to cooperate with Russia: to coordinate efforts to take out ISIS, to help negotiate an end to the Syrian civil war, to restart progress on loose nukes, to halt nuclear proliferation and to advocate nuclear disarmament. Commentary about the Brexit vote has focused largely on its potentially destructive economic consequences to Britain and the E.U., and on the ignorance and supposed second thoughts of “leave” voters.
Foreign policy commentary has sounded the dangers that Brexit might weaken NATO or strengthen Russia’s role in a divided Europe. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the people’s vote forced the E.U. to lighten its destructive austerity, gave impetus to a negotiated settlement in Syria and led NATO to reconsider its increasingly reckless posture toward Russia? If that happened, the voters in Britain, unknowingly or not, will have done a great service.