LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
November 9/16
Compiled
& Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The
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Bible Quotations For Today
They do not belong to the world,
just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is
truth
Holy Gospel
of Jesus Christ according to Saint
John 17/14-19/:"I have given them your word, and
the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do
not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but
I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world,
just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is
truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in
truth."
For we know the one who said, ‘Vengeance
is mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people
Letter to
the Hebrews 10/26-31/:"If we wilfully persist in sin after having received
the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a
fearful prospect of judgement, and a fury of fire that will consume the
adversaries. Anyone who has violated the law of Moses
dies without mercy ‘on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ How much worse
punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of
God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and
outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, ‘Vengeance is mine,
I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’It
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
Titles For
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on November 08-09/16
Why Iranian-Saudi game in Lebanon is far from over/Saeid
Jafari/Al Monitor/November 08/16
On Aoun’s most difficult task/Turki
Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/November
08/16
The Minorities in the Bigger Picture of the Levant/Eyad
Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/November
08/16
Best Candidate…Obama’s Departure/Salman Al-dossary/Asharq Al Awsat/November
08/16
US Election Day – Come Back America/Amir Taheri/Asharq
Al Awsat/November 08/16
Palestinians: When Fatah Becomes the Problem/Khaled
Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/November 08/16
The Day After the Election/Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone
Institute/November 08/16
Middle East Leaders Await U.S. Election Results With Bated Breath/Zvi Bar'el /Haaretz/November
08/16
Russia may be Wounded, but it can Still Bite/David Ignatius/The Washington
Post/November 08/16
Can Egypt's Brotherhood restore ties with Cairo/Amr Mostafa/Al Monitor/November 08/16
Does America matter to the Arab world/Khaled M. Batarfi/Al Arabiya/November 08/16
Will the Arabs ever learn/Khaled Almaeena/Al
Arabiya/November 08/16
US Elections: Why Iran could prefer Trump over Clinton/Camelia
Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/November
08/16
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on November 08-09/16
Zarif Meets Hariri, Berri,
Salam, Says Iran Ready to Cooperate with 'All Lebanese Sects'
Zarif Discusses Local, Regional Developments with Nasrallah
Change and Reform: No Ministerial Portfolio Can be Permanently Allotted to
Certain Sect
Mustaqbal Urges Parties to be 'Realistic' in Their
Cabinet Demands
Aoun to Bankers: No Turning Back Economically
AMAL, Hizbullah to Get 3 Portfolios Each, Including
Finance, Public Works
Hariri, Banks to Launch 'Preemptive Battle' to Keep Salameh in Post
Democratic Gathering Proposes 3 Candidates for New Govt., Including Hamadeh
Firefighters Battling Huge Wildfire in Ain el-Rihaneh,
Bkirki
US Ambassador from Awkar: American people believe in
their country's constitution
Cypriot, Greek foreign ministers arrive in Beirut late at night
Why Iranian-Saudi game in Lebanon is far from over
Titles For Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on
November 08-09/16
The American Presidential Elections
U.S.-Backed Forces Push Closer to IS 'Capital' Raqa
Raid Kills Children, Pregnant Women in Syria Rebel Bastion
In Besieged Aleppo, Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Saudi Coalition Says Yemen Rebels Blocked 34 Aid Ships
Kurdish Forces Retake Town of Bashiqa near Mosul
U.S. Using Apache Helicopters in the Battle for Mosul
Palestinians to Open Museum to Longtime Leader Arafat
Merkel Warns of Possible Russian Interference in German Vote
Iran regime alliance with al-Qaeda and Houthi
revealed in: Yemen: Abd Rabbuh
Mansur Hadi
Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union support Iranian political prisoners
Al-Hayat: Calls for trial of Khamenei
and Rouhani for the 1988 massacre in Iran
Iran: Children are auctioned in the streets!
Links From
Jihad Watch Site for on November 08-09/16
Islamic State forces 1,500 families to retreat with them, abducts 295
Iraqi Security Forces
Indonesia: Muslim protests turn violent, police question Christian
governor over blasphemy claims
Iran: Muslims kill Baha’i, say Qur’an sanctions killing “apostates”
Australia-born jihadi says he has no
obligation to have any loyalty to Australia
68% of Saudis prefer Hillary
Ohio Muslim arrested for trying to join the Islamic State
Latest Lebanese Related News published on November 08-09/16
Zarif Meets Hariri, Berri, Salam,
Says Iran
Ready to Cooperate with 'All Lebanese Sects'
Naharnet/November
08/16/Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced Tuesday that Tehran is willing to cooperate
with “all Lebanese sects and components,” on the second day of an official
visit to Lebanon. “We are fully ready to cooperate with the brotherly Lebanese
people and all its sects and components,” said Zarif
after talks with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri
at the Center House. “The approach of wisdom, rationality and democracy has
triumphed in the Lebanese political arena,” he noted. The Iranian visitor also said that he
expressed to Hariri Tehran's “determination to cooperate and show openness
towards the brotherly Lebanese republic in all fields, during the current
government's term as well as under the next government's term.”Turning
to the regional developments, Zarif said he discussed
with Hariri the various conflicts in the region and stressed the need to
“reconcile political viewpoints among the various regional forces in order to
find the appropriate political solutions.” Speaking after talks with caretaker
Prime Minister Tammam Salam earlier in the day, Zarif called for a speedy formation of the new government.
And after talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh, the top
Iranian diplomat said the parliament speaker's role is “essential and
constructive.” “We support his national approach and we hope that the Lebanese
government will be formed soon,” he added. Zarif had
held talks on Monday with President Michel Aoun and
caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil.
Aoun, who is allied to Iran-backed Hizbullah, was elected last week as Lebanon's 13th
president, which ended around two and a half years of presidential and
political vacuum. Aoun's election and Hariri's appointment as PM-designate
have raised hopes that Lebanon
can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund
political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. The
process of forming a government could take months, with horsetrading
likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the finance, defense and energy ministries. Hariri is likely to struggle
with his government's policy statement, which will have to make reference to Israel, as well as the war in Syria, both
potential flashpoints with Hizbullah.
Zarif Discusses Local, Regional Developments with Nasrallah
November/November 08/16/Visiting
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has held talks with Hizbullah
chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,
state-run National News Agency reported. NNA did not say whether the meeting
was held overnight Monday or on Tuesday morning. Zarif
was accompanied by Mohammad Irani, head of the Middle
East and North Africa dept. at Iran's
foreign ministry, and Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Fathali, and the meeting was held in the presence of a
number of senior Hizbullah officials, the agency
added. Talks tackled “the latest political events and developments in Lebanon and the
region,” it said. Zarif had arrived in Lebanon on
Monday on an official visit aimed at congratulating President Michel Aoun on his election and holding talks with senior Lebanese
leaders. The visit carries political significance seeing as Zarif
is among the first foreign officials to visit Lebanon after Aoun's
election, knowing that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
was among the first leaders who congratulated Aoun on
his election. Aoun, who is allied to Iran-backed Hizbullah, was elected last week as Lebanon's 13th
president, which ended around two and a half years of presidential and
political vacuum. Zarif described Monday the election
of a new president as a “victory for all Lebanese.” Some Iranian officials have
described Aoun's election as a victory for Hizbullah and the so-called “axis of resistance.”
Change
and Reform: No Ministerial Portfolio Can be
Permanently Allotted to Certain Sect
Naharnet/November
08/16/The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc stressed Tuesday that no certain
ministerial portfolio can be permanently allocated to a certain sect, in
reference to Speaker Nabih Berri's
insistence on keeping the finance portfolio with his AMAL Movement. “We will
not establish practices that pave the way for wrong norms,” said the bloc in a
statement issued after its weekly meeting, calling for the rotation of
ministerial portfolios and stressing that there is no “national interest” in
“permanently allotting a certain portfolio to a certain sect.” “The course of
the government formation categorically proves that there are no bilateral or
tripartite deals regarding the government,” Change and Reform added, calling
for the creation of “a national unity cabinet in which everyone and all
components would be represented.”Turning to the
rapprochement between the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces, the
bloc emphasized that the emerging alliance is not aimed at “excluding or
marginalizing anyone.”“This agreement is aimed at
restoring the presence of our Christian component in national decision-making
and we call on everyone not to attack this agreement,” Change and Reform added. Outlining its vision
for the coming period, the bloc called for a speedy government formation and
for “passing an electoral law conforming with the
National Pact to pave the way for holding the parliamentary polls on time.”
President Michel Aoun's “oath of office is our project for the coming period
and we will attach importance to the economic situation,” Change and Reform
went on to say, underlining that the files of “electricity, water, dams, oil
and telecommunications are all pressing issues that cannot withstand any
delay.”
Berri's
AMAL Movement has clearly stated that it wants the finance portfolio while
noting that “all other portfolios are negotiable.” But while Berri's
partners in the negotiations have suggested, according to al-Akhbar newspaper, that “the Taef
Accord did not stipulate that the finance portfolio should always be allocated
to the Shiite sect,” Berri has noted that “the Taef Accord stipulates that it should be part of the Shiite
sect's share on the basis that the finance minister's signature on decrees is
the only Shiite signature in the executive authority.” “The
finance portfolio was not with the Lebanese Forces so that I try to take it
from them. They are the ones saying that they want to adhere to the Taef Accord,” Berri has been
quoted as saying by his visitors. Media reports have also said that the Free Patriotic
Movement is also seeking to grab the finance portfolio. Aoun's
election as president and Saad Hariri's appointment
as premier-designate have raised hopes that Lebanon can begin tackling
challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the
influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. The process of forming a
government could take months, with horsetrading
likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the finance, defense and energy ministries.
Mustaqbal Urges Parties to be 'Realistic' in Their Cabinet
Demands
Naharnet/November
08/16/Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Tuesday urged all political parties to be
“realistic” in their demands regarding the line-up of the new government. “The
bloc calls on all political forces to seize this positive moment and facilitate
the formation process,” Mustaqbal added in a
statement issued after its weekly meeting. “Seizing the current chance to form
a government under the guidance of the oath of office (of President Michel Aoun) would create a major momentum in the country that
would reflect positively on everything,” the bloc urged. Aoun's
election and Hariri's appointment as premier-designate have raised hopes that Lebanon can
begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political
class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In a sign that Hariri's task ahead might
not be easy, Hizbullah's MPs declined to endorse him
for the prime minister post, even though his nomination was all-but-assured. Hariri is likely to
struggle with his government's policy statement, which will have to make
reference to Israel, as well
as the war in Syria,
both potential flashpoints with Hizbullah. The
process of forming a government could take months, with horsetrading
likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the finance, defense and energy ministries.
Aoun to Bankers: No Turning Back Economically
Naharnet/November
08/16/President Michel Aoun on Tuesday reassured a
delegation from the Association of Banks in Lebanon that there will be “no
turning back” economically after “the general situation in the country
witnessed a tangible improvement in the past two weeks.”Aoun
was referring to the period that followed his election as president after
around two and a half years of presidential and political vacuum. The president
stressed “the importance of devising a comprehensive economic plan based on sectoral plans in order to boost the situation in the
country.” He also underlined the need for “coordination among the various
ministries and public administrations and the endorsement of planning, because
the State cannot be built without that.”“The priority
will be for developmental projects in which national capital can take part,” Aoun added, noting that “security and political stability
must be accompanied with economic stability.”Aoun's
election and Saad Hariri's appointment as
PM-designate have raised hopes that Lebanon can begin tackling
challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the
influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. Analysts have warned that Aoun's election will not be a "magic wand" for Lebanon, which has seen longstanding political
divisions exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria and has
struggled to deal with an influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In
addition to pledges of economic growth and security, Aoun
said in his oath of office that Lebanon
must work to ensure Syrian refugees "can return quickly" to their
country. Aoun also pledged to endorse an
"independent foreign policy" and to protect Lebanon from
"the fires burning across the region."
AMAL,
Hizbullah to Get 3 Portfolios Each, Including
Finance, Public Works
Naharnet/November
08/16/The Shiite community will be represented by six ministerial portfolios in
the new cabinet, including three for Speaker Nabih Berri and three for Hizbullah
that is inclined to give one of them to a March 8 ally, a media report said.
“The finance portfolio and the public works portfolio, or one of the same caliber, will go to Berri, in
addition to a third portfolio other than energy and water, which the speaker
has refused that it be part of his share,” unnamed sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Tuesday. Hizbullah wants to represent its other allies, specifically
the Syrian Social National Party, with one of the three portfolios, the sources
added. Berri's AMAL Movement has clearly stated that it wants the
finance portfolio while noting that “all other portfolios are negotiable.” But
while Berri's partners in the negotiations have
suggested, according to al-Akhbar newspaper, that
“the Taef Accord did not stipulate that the finance
portfolio should always be allocated to the Shiite sect,” Berri
has noted that “the Taef Accord stipulates that it
should be part of the Shiite sect's share on the basis that the finance
minister's signature on decrees is the only Shiite signature in the executive authority.”“The finance portfolio was not with the Lebanese
Forces so that I try to take it from them. They are the ones saying that they
want to adhere to the Taef Accord,” Berri has been quoted as saying by his visitors. The
sources have also noted that the Free Patriotic Movement is also seeking to
grab the finance portfolio.
Hariri,
Banks to Launch 'Preemptive Battle' to Keep Salameh
in Post
Naharnet/November
08/16/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and Lebanon's banks
will launch a “preemptive battle” to keep Central
Bank Governor Riad Salameh
in his post after the formation of the new government, a media report said. “Hariri knows that some forces will propose a replacement,
that's why he will wage a media and political campaign to draw red lines
regarding Salameh's post,” al-Akhbar
newspaper said on Tuesday. Salameh, who has long been
praised for stabilizing the monetary situation in the country, sounded a note
of optimism after Hariri was named PM-designate on Thursday. "The election
of Michel Aoun should lead to the normal activity of
the constitutional institutions, thus increasing confidence in economy,"
he said. "The formation of a government will
help in attracting foreign aid and mitigating the cost of the Syrian presence
in Lebanon,
which we estimate at five percent of GDP," he added. Aoun's
election after two and a half years of presidential void and Hariri's
appointment as PM-designate have raised hopes that Lebanon can begin tackling
challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the
influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. The process of forming a
government could take months, with horsetrading
likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the finance, defense and energy ministries.
Democratic
Gathering Proposes 3 Candidates for New Govt., Including Hamadeh
Naharnet/November
08/16/MP Walid Jumblat's
Democratic Gathering bloc might propose the appointment of Ayman
Shqeir and the MPs Marwan Hamadeh and Talal Arslan as ministers in Saad
Hariri's government, a media report said on Tuesday. According to An Nahar
newspaper, ex-MP Ghattas Khoury
and MP Jean Oghassabian of al-Mustaqbal
Movement are also among the reported candidates. “There
are also discussions about the Greek Orthodox figure that will be named deputy
premier and (caretaker Education) Minister Elias Bou
Saab (of the Free Patriotic Movement) is among the candidates,” An Nahar said. Caretaker Foreign Minister and FPM chief Jebran Bassil will also be in the
new government but his portfolio has not been specified yet, the daily added. President Michel Aoun's election and Hariri's appointment as premier have
raised hopes that Lebanon
can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund
political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In a sign that
Hariri's task ahead might not be easy, Hizbullah's
MPs declined to endorse him for the prime minister post, even though his
nomination was all-but-assured. Hariri is likely to struggle with his government's
policy statement, which will have to make reference to Israel, as well as the war in Syria, both
potential flashpoints with Hizbullah. The process of
forming a government could take months, with horsetrading
likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the finance, defense and energy ministries.
Firefighters
Battling Huge Wildfire in Ain el-Rihaneh, Bkirki
Naharnet/November
08/16/Firefighters and army helicopters were on Tuesday battling a huge
wildfire that has been raging since Monday evening in the forests of the Keserwan town of Ain el-Rihaneh
and the Daroun Valley. The blaze spread Tuesday to
the outskirts of Aintoura and Bkirki's
mountain. Strong winds, the region's steep slopes and the lack of routes have
complicated the firefighting efforts and contributed to the spread of the
flames.
US
Ambassador from Awkar: American people believe in
their country's constitution
Tue 08 Nov 2016/NNA - The US
Embassy in Awkar opened on Tuesday its doors before
the American community in Lebanon
to take part in the US
presidential election. US
Ambassador to Lebanon,
Elizabeth Richard said "tonight, we'll see who will the
American people vote for. The American people believe in the
constitution of their country with great emotion. The constitution puts us
together around the government and institutional system, not around persons at
the office". She added "Tonight, we will continue to watch the final
stage of the presidential election. There will be millions of the American
people who will be pleased with the results, and others unhappy, and this is a
reality. As President Barack Obama said last month, the most important features
of American democracy that after the completion of the electoral process, and
regardless of the party or candidate who wins, the loser congratulates the
winner, and this is what strengthens our democracy and our hopes, and this is democracy". Richard congratulated once again,
President Michel Aoun, on his election as president
of Lebanon.
"We appreciate like you this event, particulalry
amid the regional incidents," the Ambassador concluded.
Cypriot,
Greek foreign ministers arrive in Beirut
late at night
Tue 08 Nov 2016/NNA - Foreign
Ministers of Cyprus and Greece
are expected to arrive respectively in Beirut
late at night, aboard private jets, NNA reporter said on Tuesday. The visit by
the Cypriot and Greek Ministers to Beirut comes
in the context of the completion of talks which were launched last September in
the Greek island
of Rhodes with the
Foreign and Expatriates Minister in the caretaker government Jibran Bassil. This also comes as
a continuation of the first of its kind conference on security in light of the
refugee and migrants' crisis, in order to discuss the challenges facing
regional security in the Middle East. For the
same purpose, Bulgarian Foreign Minister is expected to arrive in Beirut tomorrow, where he
will partake in these talks.
Why
Iranian-Saudi game in Lebanon
is far from over
Saeid Jafari/Al Monitor/November 08/16
Lebanon’s long leadership vacuum
came to an end on Oct. 31, after the parliament elected former general Michel Aoun as the country’s new president. The 81-year-old was
appointed after he obtained the backing of the two major blocs, the March 8
coalition and the anti-Syrian March 14 coalition, led by Saad
Hariri, whom Aoun tapped as prime minister on Nov. 3
to form a new government. Political infighting between the two coalitions had
produced the two-and-a-half-year deadlock that left Lebanon without a head of state.
Some observers view their consensus as turning Lebanon
into the new focal point in the rivalry between Iran
and Saudi Arabia, with Riyadh backing Hariri and his allies and Tehran supporting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other members of the March 8 coalition. That
said, what ended Lebanon’s
political stalemate, and who was the winner and loser
in all this?
Iranian officials were quick to
congratulate Michel Aoun on becoming president of Lebanon, while
their Saudi rivals, not so pleased with his new position, took a little longer.
On Oct. 26, former Saudi diplomat
Abdullah al-Shammari told Al-Monitor’s Ali Hashem, “This is an implication of the change in relations
with Saudi Arabia, mainly
with the new leadership that deals with Lebanon reasonably and not
passionately. Maybe this is good for Hariri. It is time for him to take his
decisions by himself after all these years of addiction to Saudi money and
staying at his palace in Riyadh;
it is time for him to gain strength and return to his popular base.”
One informed Lebanese source
speaking on condition of anonymity shared more details with Al-Monitor about
the behind-the-scenes dealings between Nasrallah and
Hariri. He asserted, “In a recent meeting with [Saudi Deputy Crown Prince]
Mohammad bin Salman, Saad
Hariri clashed with the Saudi prince over the political future of Lebanon.
[Mohammad] was subsequently infuriated after hearing of the agreement between
Hariri and Hezbollah on Aoun’s presidency, and since
then, Hariri’s ties with Saudi
Arabia have become tarnished.”
The source added, “This agreement,
and of course the premiership, should be seen as an opportunity for Hariri, but
one should not see Saudi Arabia as a party to this arrangement.” Indeed,
Hariri’s decision to back Aoun’s presidency has
proven costly for him, not only with Saudi Arabia, but also among some
MPs from within his March 14 coalition who have
voiced their dissatisfaction.
In this equation, one key question
is whether Iran has
benefited from the new consensus in Lebanon. Not too long ago, Aoun, a military commander during the Lebanese civil war,
was fiercely opposed to Syrian influence. In 1990, after being besieged by
Syrian troops, he sought refuge at the French Embassy in Beirut. From there, he fled to Paris, where he remained in exile until Syrian troops left
Lebanon
in the aftermath of the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. In a twist decades later, with Aoun viewed as an ally of Iran
and Hezbollah, his presidency is being seen as a victory for Damascus and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Indeed, Iranian politicians were
quick to welcome the election of Lebanon's new president. Only hours
after Aoun became head of state, President Hassan Rouhani congratulated him during a telephone conversation.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that such an election, which took place
following a healthy and free contest, was not the victory of a particular
faction but was a manifestation of the peaceful coexistence of all various
sects in Lebanon and a very sweet success for the Lebanese nation,” Rouhani said. “Iran
has always emphasized that Lebanon's
people are very capable of electing their country’s president if they are
relieved of foreign pressure.”
Both Lebanon
and Iran
expressed interest in expanding bilateral ties. Iranian Foreign Minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif
congratulated the Lebanese people via Twitter the same day. “Congratulations to
all Lebanese on election of President Aoun,” he
wrote. “Stability and progress assured when Lebanese themselves decide for Lebanon.”
Moreover, arriving in Beirut
on Nov. 7, Zarif became the first foreign minister to
meet with President Aoun.
Meanwhile, Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign policy adviser to Iran’s supreme
leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told the Iranian
state broadcaster Oct. 31 that Aoun’s election was a
victory for Hezbollah. Velayati called the
arrangement a remarkable achievement for Hezbollah, as Nasrallah
had supported Aoun’s presidency from the start and,
after lengthy disputes, had seen his preferred candidate emerge victorious.
Nosratollah
Tajik, former Iranian ambassador to Jordan,
told Al-Monitor, “Although Iran
had no specific problems with [Aoun’s rival
candidate] Suleiman Frangieh, Tehran
believes that at this point in time Michel Aoun is
more beneficial for Lebanon
and can more easily create a balance of power.” Tajik further said, “Aoun is an 81-year-old politician who has served as
commander of the Lebanese army and is very experienced in different fields.
Although he was opposed to Hezbollah and Syria
in the past, regional developments and the mistakes of Turkey and Saudi Arabia have made the
situation today very different from that of yesterday, and he is now a
Hezbollah ally.”
In contrast to Iranian officials'
haste in congratulating Aoun and the people of Lebanon, Saudi
Arabia appeared to need a little more time to assess the
situation and decide how to deal with the change in Beirut. Indeed, only on Nov. 1 did the Saudi
king pick up the phone to congratulate the new Lebanese president.
Given that Saudi Arabia
appears dissatisfied with the changes on the Lebanese political scene, it would
be foolish to consider the game there as over. Indeed, history demonstrates Riyadh’s sensitivity toward developments in Beirut. It is thus
unlikely that the Saudis will back away, even though their financial
difficulties — in part caused by the kingdom’s adventurism in the region — have
now more than ever put them in a tight position.
On
Aoun’s most difficult task
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/November
08/16
In 1990, Lebanese General Michel Aoun escaped from Baabda with 20
of his aides in two armored vehicles as the shelling
by Syrian warplanes intensified. These interesting details were narrated by
former French ambassador to Lebanon Renee Ala. Aoun’s
destination was the French embassy. After fleeing Baabda,
Aoun announced through a radio broadcast that the
soldiers must adhere to the orders of then army commander-in-chief Emile Lahoud. Afterwards, the French intelligence coordinated a
complicated plan to get Aoun out of Lebanon
following the bloody wars which were destined to go on although the general had
wanted otherwise.
He spent 15 years in Paris. Those close to him
say he’s fond of reading and a believer in secular principles as he’s drawn a
dream for the state of Lebanon
in his mind. He returned from exile in 2005 as part of a big settlement in Lebanon
following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq
Hariri. The return was met with thunderous applause. Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said Aoun’s return to Lebanon was like a “tsunami.”
However the transformation was in his visit to Syria and alliance with Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, he continued to attack the Taif Agreement.
Given all this, separating from the March 14 coalition was a must.
The biggest affair which Aoun must address is that of the struggle between the
“state” and those who desire the state of “no state.”
He was elected president last
week. His oath included a major shift in his path and he focused on the concept
of the state. For the first time ever, he adopted the Taif
Agreement and voiced the importance of its implementation while reminding of Lebanon’s
independence, sovereignty and importance of distancing it from the crises in
its surrounding countries. All these are essential and necessitated by any real
and actual activity that aims to revive the hierarchy of the state in Lebanon and to
restore whatever is left of its institutions.
With the end of the presidential
vacuum, the Taif Agreement triumphed again. It’s as
if the scene repeated itself when the members of parliament boarded a plane
from the Kleiat
Airport - as Beirut’s
Airport was not safe at the time - to go to Saudi Arabia in the late 80’s. This
is when they sealed the Taif Agreement, the first
nucleus towards rebuilding the state. After signing it, Lebanon lived
through its most prosperous phases on the economic and developmental levels
since the independence.
The series of assassinations and
obstructing the election of a president were attempts by the Syrian-Iranian
axis to wipe out the Taif Agreement and establish a
constituent assembly that leads Lebanon
to become like Iran and so
Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah,
becomes the supreme guide of the Islamic republic in Lebanon.
Aoun’s
oath
Saudi Arab Gulf Affairs Minister Thamer al-Sabhan’s recent visit
to Lebanon had a distinctive
mark on the history of relations with Lebanon,
the country which Saudi kings since the days of King Faisal and up until the
era of King Salman have looked after and which Saudi Arabia
will not give up on. However, in exchange, the Saudi kingdom wants two major
things: to maintain the Taif Agreement considering
it’s a guarantee of Lebanese civil peace and confirming Lebanon’s
Arabism. Both these points were noted in Aoun’s oath.
The biggest difficulty in implementing this lies in the fact that the president
does not have many executive powers and that some may put spoke in the wheel
like we’ve previously seen with some governments which were toppled overnight.
The biggest affair which Aoun must address is that of the struggle between the
“state” and those who desire the state of “no state.”
Perhaps Aoun,
who is in his 80’s and whose supporters call “everyone’s father,” can confront
all parties considering the necessity to resume building the state and can
decide the fate of struggles which Hezbollah is part of in Syria, Yemen and
Gulf countries.
If Aoun
is truly like his students say, a lover of France and its secularism and
institutions and an admirer of its human rights philosophies, justice theories
and civil society foundations, then this is his historical opportunity to apply
what he read. If he does not implement the theories which he proposed to his
disciples, who visited him while he was in France, during his current term as
president, then his experience in governance will be tantamount to the “second
escape” as he’d be escaping from confronting the parties which operate outside
the context of the principle of the state.
German Philosopher Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel wrote: “The state is the actuality of the ethical idea. It is
the ethical mind the substantial will manifest and revealed to itself, knowing
and thinking itself, accomplishing what it knows and in so far as it knows it.”
Lebanon today is in a dire need for
actuality which always comes after the ethical idea. This is a reality that’s
decided in Beirut, like in Paris
or Beirut’s
southern suburb where the general was born more than 80 years ago and which is
a Hezbollah stronghold today.
**This article was first published
Asharq al-Awsat on Nov. 08,
2016.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports
And News published on November 08-09/16
The American Presidential
Elections
The whole world is anxious and watching the on
gaining USA
presidential elections. The official results are expected to be announced
today.
U.S.-Backed
Forces Push Closer to IS 'Capital' Raqa
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 08/16/A U.S.-backed
Kurdish-Arab alliance pushed closer to Raqa in Syria
while Iraqi forces seized a key town near Mosul as offensives advanced Monday
against the two Islamic State group strongholds.After
announcing the launch of the long-awaited assault on Raqa
on Sunday, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance said it had moved south
towards the city despite fierce jihadist resistance. South of Mosul, Iraqi forces retook Hamam al-Alil from IS, a key
objective in their three-week advance on the city. Iraqi forces said they found
a mass grave in the area containing around 100 decapitated bodies. Raqa and Mosul are the last
major cities in Syria and Iraq under the
jihadists' control. Their capture would deal a knockout blow to the self-styled
"caliphate" IS declared in mid-2014. The U.S.-led coalition that launched
operations against IS two years ago is providing crucial backing to the
offensives, with air strikes and special forces advisers on the ground. SDF
spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed told AFP that the
alliance's forces had advanced on two fronts towards Raqa
amid heavy fighting. SDF fighters had pushed at least 10 kilometers
(six miles) south towards the city from the towns of Ain Issa
and Suluk, she said. In both cases the SDF was still
some distance from Raqa -- on the Ain Issa front at least 30 kilometers
(20 miles) away. "The offensive is going according to plan," said
Ahmed, adding that the SDF had captured at least 10 villages.
'Fight will not be easy'
An SDF commander said IS was
fighting back with its favorite tactic of sending
suicide bombers in explosives-packed vehicles against advancing forces.
"IS is sending car bombers but coalition planes
and our anti-tank weapons are limiting their effectiveness," the commander
said, speaking on condition of anonymity. After taking Abu Ilaj
north of Raqa, SDF fighters dug trenches and piled
sandbags at the entrance to the village. "In every
area that we advance we are digging trenches with tractors and bulldozers to
protect the front line, to prevent the jihadists from getting in and to stop
car bombs," one fighter said. The SDF says some 30,000 of its fighters are
taking part in operation "Wrath of the Euphrates"
which aims to surround and isolate IS inside Raqa
before assaulting the city itself. Officials have warned that the battle is
likely to be long and difficult. "As in Mosul, the fight will not be easy and there
is hard work ahead," U.S. Defense Secretary
Ashton Carter said. "But it is necessary to end the fiction of ISIL's caliphate and disrupt the group's ability to carry
out terror attacks against the United
States, our allies and our partners,"
Carter said, using an alternative name for IS. Driving IS from both cities has been the
endgame since the U.S.-led coalition launched air strikes against it in summer
2014, shortly after the jihadists seized large parts of Syria and Iraq. Some 50
U.S.
military advisers are involved in the Raqa operation,
particularly to guide air strikes, according to an SDF source. Near Mosul, federal police,
army and elite interior ministry forces established full control over Hamam al-Alil, the last town of
note on the way to the city from the south, AFP reporters said. It lies on the
west bank of the Tigris river, about 15 kilometers (nine miles) southeast of the edge of Mosul. Life quickly resumed in Hamam al-Alil, with some
residents reopening shops and others bathing in the town's sulfur
springs.
Mass grave found
However, police said they found a
mass grave Monday at an agricultural collage west of Hamam
al-Alil. The Joint Operations Command said
"Iraqi forces found... 100 bodies of citizens with their heads cut
off". Fighting also continued east of Mosul,
with Kurdish forces advancing into the town of Bashiqa and the
elite Counter Terrorism Service battling IS in the city's suburbs. "Up to
seven neighborhoods are under the control of
counter-terrorism forces, and they are now completely securing them and
clearing them of pockets of terrorists present inside the houses," CTS
spokesman Sabah al-Noman
told AFP. A peshmerga statement said late Monday its
forces were in Bashiqa and had "begun
house-to-house clearances." The Mosul
offensive has advanced faster than expected, but the battle for Raqa is more complicated. Unlike in Iraq where the coalition has a state-controlled
ally in federal forces, in Syria
its ground partner is comprised of local militias, including some rebel groups
that have battled President Bashar Assad's regime.
The domination of the SDF by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) has
also raised deep concerns in Turkey,
which considers the YPG a "terrorist" group linked to the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Aid groups have voiced concerns for civilians
trapped in both Mosul
and Raqa, warning they may be used as human shields.
More than 34,000 people have been displaced since the Mosul operation began on October 17, the
International Organization for Migration said on Monday. A U.S. government
official put the number at "just over 33,000 people."More
than a million people are believed to be in Mosul.
Raqa had
a population of some 240,000 before 2011 but more than 80,000 people have since
fled there from other parts of Syria.
Raid
Kills Children, Pregnant Women in Syria Rebel Bastion
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 08/16/At least seven
children and two pregnant women were killed in an air strike on Syria's rebel
stronghold province of Idlib on Tuesday, a monitor
said. The strike, which hit the town of Khan Sheikun, in the south of the province, appeared
to have been carried out by Syrian government ally Russia, the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights monitor said. The Britain-based group, which relies on a network
of sources inside Syria
for its information, says it determines what planes carried out raids according
to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved. Russia began
its air campaign in support of the government in September 2015, saying it was
targeting "terrorists." "The strike hit a street where children
were playing. Three of the dead children were from one family and were visiting
their grandfather," Observatory director Rami
Abdel Rahman said. He said the dead children were
four girls and three boys, but did not immediately have each of their ages. Idlib
province is mostly controlled by a rebel alliance known as the Army of
Conquest, which groups Islamist factions with jihadists of the Fateh al-Sham Front, formerly al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate. Fateh al-Sham is blacklisted by the United Nations and the United States as a "terrorist
organization" and Russia
says its fighters are a legitimate target.
In
Besieged Aleppo, Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 08/16/16/Cigarettes
stuffed with grape leaves instead of tobacco, gardens on bombed-out rooftops,
and batteries powered by rusted bicycles: In Syria's besieged eastern Aleppo, necessity is the
mother of invention. More
than 250,000 people have been under a government siege in the rebel-held side
of the northern city since July, without access to aid, food, fuel, medicine or
even cigarettes. The blockade has sparked severe shortages and exorbitant
prices for the few basic goods available, and has forced residents to find
innovative ways to cope.
"We've been forced back
into the Stone Age," says Khaled Kurdiyah, who lives in Aleppo's eastern district of Karam al-Jabal. Kurdiyah is the mastermind behind "the can" -- a
metal container outfitted with a fan to create a highly controlled wood fire
that acts as a substitute for a gas stove. "I punched a hole in a used
ghee can that we were going to throw away and fixed a fan on it," he
explains to AFP. The pudgy 25-year-old breaks up a few pieces of wood and
tosses them into the dented container, lighting a fire and crowning it with a teapot."This way, we can direct the flames from the
wood in a certain direction to create an even bigger fire while rationing our
firewood," he says.
Pedaling power
Like many basic goods, gasoline
and diesel are increasingly precious in Aleppo's
east, where state-run electricity is mostly cut. Some residents have developed
a system to melt scraps of plastic into fuel, which is then used to run
electricity generators. But the process can produce unexpected explosions and
be deadly. So Abu Rahmo has developed a cleaner form
of energy, using the pedaling power of residents. In his workshop in the Ansari neighborhood, the
48-year-old mechanic welds a dynamo -- the small generator used to charge car
batteries -- onto the back of an old bicycle. "We have neither electricity
nor generators... So I take the dynamos out of cars and fix them onto bicycles
to charge car batteries," he says. The batteries can then be used to turn
on lights, charge phones, and "even power washing machines", Abu Rahmo says. The balding Aleppan
sells one bicycle every few days at a price of about 10,000 Syrian pounds
($20). Once the sale has been confirmed, he carries the contraption to the
buyer's house for a demonstration of how it works and any final adjustments.
A lanky teenager slips his
sandaled feet into the pedals of a recently sold bicycle, pumping until the
attached lightbulb flickers on.
Cigarettes 'worth more than gold'
Just a few streets away in the Kalasseh district, 28-year-old Amir Sendeh
unlocks a metal door, disappearing into a small outdoor courtyard. He checks on
a handful of scrawny chickens -- invaluable in a place like Aleppo -- before shuffling up a flight of
stairs to his roof. There, white foam boxes are organized in neat rows, some of
them lush with bright green sprouts. "I bought some seeds and planted them
on the roof of my house," says Sendeh, caressing
the plants. Since government forces surrounded Aleppo in July, food items have become hard
to find or prohibitively expensive, or both. The price of sugar has gone up
nearly tenfold to 3,500 ($7) pounds per kilo, and salad ingredients like
parsley or tomatoes are at least five times more costly than before the siege.
So some residents of Aleppo
have planted small rooftop gardens to harvest their own food. "Right now,
I've got parsley, radishes, and soon I'll have some spinach and chard," Sendeh says proudly. In moments of calm, residents of east Aleppo sit along
bombed-out streets and deftly roll cigarettes -- but instead of tobacco, they
stuff them with dried, shredded grape leaves. "A pack of cigarettes is
worth more than gold these days, and the price goes up every day," says
Ahmad Oweija, 43. Residents now refer to real
cigarettes, stuffed with tobacco, as "foreign". They sell for about
2,000 Syrian pounds ($4) each, he says. Before the siege, that was the price
for a whole pack of 20.
Oweija sells hand-rolled cigarettes filled
with vine leaves that he picks, dries out, then grinds
up in the Bustan al-Qasr
district. If he has real tobacco to spare, he sprinkles a small amount in each
cigarette -- just for taste. With real cigarettes so rare and costly, they even
serve as their own form of currency, Oweija claims.
"I know people who have bought houses and cars for a few packs of foreign
cigarettes."
Saudi
Coalition Says Yemen
Rebels Blocked 34 Aid Ships
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 08/16/16/The
Saudi-led coalition battling rebels in Yemen accused the insurgents on Tuesday
of having seized a total of 34 aid boats bound for the conflict-wracked country
over a six-month period. Major General Ahmed Assiri
said the Iran-backed Huthi rebels had seized the
vessels and accused them of blocking humanitarian supplies to the Yemeni port of Hodeida, which they control. "Aid
to the port of Hodeida has been blocked for six
months" by the rebels and allied forces, Assiri
said in a statement.
"Today there are no more United Nations humanitarian personnel in Hodeida... who can
inspect and supervise the distribution of aid and medical supplies."He
said the rebels had intercepted 34 boats carrying aid "in the last 186
days". Yemen
has been rocked by war since the Huthi rebels and
their allies expanded from their northern strongholds to seize the capital Sanaa and other parts of the country, prompting the coalition
to intervene in support of the government.
More than 7,000 people have been killed and nearly 37,000 wounded in
violence since March 2015, and the U.N. says millions are in need of food aid.
Another 21 million people urgently need health services, according to the UN
health agency.
Kurdish
Forces Retake Town of Bashiqa near Mosul
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 08/16/Iraqi Kurdish
forces have retaken the town of Bashiqa,
one of the last areas east of Mosul
to be held by the Islamic State group, a top security official said Tuesday.
Kurdish peshmerga fighters had launched an assault on
Bashiqa the day before, advancing on the town from
three sides as the battle to retake Mosul,
the last IS-held Iraqi city, entered its fourth week. The town is under
"complete control", Jabbar Yawar, the secretary general of the Kurdish regional
ministry responsible for the peshmerga, told AFP by
telephone. "Our forces are clearing mines and sweeping the city," Yawar said. "In the morning, there was a group of
terrorists hiding inside some of the houses who wanted to escape... and 13 of
them were killed," he said, adding that five more were found inside
tunnels. Forces from Iraq's
autonomous Kurdish region are operating north and east of Mosul, but aside from the Bashiqa
operation, federal forces have shouldered the bulk of the fighting in recent
days. The
operation to retake Mosul
was launched on October 17, with Iraqi forces advancing on the city from the
north, east and south. Special forces have battled IS inside eastern Mosul,
while forces have also approached the city from the north, but those on the
southern front, which had the longest way to go, have still not reached its
outskirts. IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but has been on the
defensive since last year, and Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led air support have
regained much of the territory they lost to the jihadists.
Syria Daily Dismisses Raqa Fight as 'Media' Operation
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 08/16/The Syrian al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the government, on
Monday dismissed a new assault on the Islamic State group's Syrian stronghold
of Raqa as a "media" operation. The daily
said the fight, led by the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was
intended to "focus American public opinion on the 'war on terror' and show
the seriousness of the current administration in the fight against the
terrorist group Daesh (IS)." Citing what it
described as a "Western diplomatic source in Paris," the newspaper said the SDF
lacked the capacity to fight IS "even if they were backed by Washington
and Paris with all their power."The daily said
the operation's "sudden announcement" was intended to "cover up
the inability of the U.S. to
make quick and qualitative progress in cooperation with the Iraqi army in Mosul," citing the
same source. It
also said the operation was timed to coincide with the U.S.
presidential elections, which take place Tuesday, especially "with the
scandals surrounding the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton."The
SDF is a key ally of the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria,
where it does not coordinate its strikes with the government in Damascus. President Bashar Assad's government accuses the U.S.-led coalition of
failing to tackle IS in Syria, and alleges that Washington and other supporters
of rebel groups fuel "terrorism" in the country.
U.S. Using Apache Helicopters in the Battle
for Mosul
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 08/16/The United States is using Apache helicopters in the
battle to retake Iraq's
second city of Mosul
after more than two years of Islamic State group rule, the Pentagon said. The U.S. military,
backing the ground campaign by Iraqi forces, is directing the attack
helicopters against explosives-packed vehicles the jihadist group is employing
for suicide bombings, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said Monday. The
helicopters are being used "with significant effect" in Mosul, he said. "We
anticipate that this nimble and precise capability will continue to enable Iraqi
progress in what we expect will be tough fighting to come," Cook added.
However, few helicopters are being used, with officials suggesting that the
number of choppers is in the single digits. Before their deployment to Mosul, the US
military employed Apaches very occasionally for combat operations against the
jihadists, especially in the Tigris
River Valley
in June. Their use reflects the increasing level of risk the Obama
administration has had to accept to defeat the IS group in Iraq. The helicopters fly
at lower altitudes and slower speeds than fighter jets and bombers, making them
much more vulnerable to enemy fire and increasing the risk of casualties. President Barack
Obama -- who as a senator in 2003 opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq launched by his predecessor George W. Bush
-- ruled out using American soldiers on the ground against the fighters in Iraq and Syria. Faced with the difficulties
the Iraqi army is confronting against the jihadists, however, he has adjusted
his policy, bringing U.S.
ground forces closer to the fighting. Special forces
have been enabled to conduct raids to capture or kill IS group leaders. U.S. military
advisers are also moving closer to the front line.
Palestinians
to Open Museum to Longtime
Leader Arafat
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 08/16/A museum
dedicated to Yasser Arafat, including the room where the Palestinian leader
spent much of his final years under Israeli siege, will open on Wednesday ahead
of the anniversary of his death. Current Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas will formally open the Yasser
Arafat Museum
next to the gravesite of the fighter-turned-statesman in Ramallah in the
occupied West Bank. The museum, which cost $7
million, is the first of its kind dedicated to the longtime
leader, according to the Yasser Arafat Foundation. The
opening comes two days before Palestinians commemorate the 12th anniversary of
his death in a hospital near Paris
on November 11, 2004 from unknown causes. On display over two floors are a range of Arafat's possessions,
including the famous sunglasses he wore when addressing the United Nations in 1974. The interactive museum also features videos and
photographs of key moments in Palestinian history, some from Arafat's private
collection. The Nobel Peace Prize, which Arafat won in 1994 along with his
Israeli negotiating partners Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres for the Oslo Peace
Accord of the previous year, is on display too. The final exhibit in the museum
is the room where Arafat
holed up after Israeli tanks surrounded his headquarters during
the second Palestinian intifada or uprising. "People will get the chance
to see Yasser Arafat's legacy and history as a person and a political
leader," museum director Mohammad Halayqa told
AFP, saying the project had been years in the making. "They will also see
the main events the Palestinian cause went through in the last 100 years."
Arafat rose to become the leader of the Palestinian movement after the creation
of Israel
in 1948, leading an armed struggle against it. Decades later he disavowed
violence and famously shook hands with Rabin on the White House lawn, though
the peace the Oslo
accords were supposed to bring never materialized.
More than a decade after his
death, Arafat remains a towering figure in Palestinian culture, politics and
society. Palestinian politicians from across the political spectrum seek to
present themselves as heirs to Arafat's legacy. Palestinians accuse Israel of
poisoning Arafat, a claim the Israeli government has flatly rejected.
Merkel
Warns of Possible Russian Interference in German Vote
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 08/16/Chancellor
Angela Merkel on Tuesday said Russia
could try to influence Germany's
general elections next year through cyber attacks or disinformation campaigns,
after Washington accused the Kremlin of
similar meddling in the U.S.
vote.
"We are already, even now,
having to deal with information out of Russia or with internet attacks that are
of Russian origin or with news which sows false information," Merkel, said
at a press conference alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. Dealing with that was
already "a daily task", she told reporters in Berlin.
"So it may be that this could also play a role during the election campaign."The comments came in response to a question
about whether Germany
could experience the type of cyber attacks that have plagued the White House
race, notably targeting Hillary Clinton's Democratic party.
Washington last month formally accused the
Russian government of trying to "interfere" in the election by
hacking U.S.
political institutions, charges the Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed. Germany's domestic secret service earlier
this year accused Russia of a series of international cyber spying and sabotage
attacks, including a case which targeted the German lower house of parliament
last year. Germans are scheduled to go to the polls in September 2017. Merkel
has yet to announce her candidacy but is widely expected to run for a fourth
term.
Iran regime alliance with al-Qaeda and Houthi
revealed in: Yemen:
Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi
Tuesday, 08 November 2016/NCRI -
Yemen’s president, Abd Rabbuh
Mansur Hadi, emphasized in his speech that the
experience of war and conflict in Yemen over the past year shows that in
playing a role (in the conflict), there is a coalition and coordination between
the Iranian regime, al-Qaeda and the Houthi putschists. “The experience of the war inflicted on Yemen
nation by the putschists (conductors of coup) backed
by Tehran has clearly exposed the level of coordination and sharing of role
between Iranian regime and al-Qaeda terrorist group and Houthis
putschists,” he said. “We have abundant evidence of
the coordination and cooperation between the three axes of Iran, Houthis and al-Qaeda, the most obvious of which was exposed
after the occupation of the cities “Abyan, Al-Houta, and Hadhramaut” by
al-Qaeda. When al-Qaeda occupied Hadhramaut, the Houthis backed by Iranian regime not only did not confront
it..., but also reduced pressure on al-Qaeda by storming our forces. However,
when our forces freed these cities, the Houthis
fought with full forces against us in the cities,” Mansur Hadi
said. He once again warned about the Iranian regime's expansionism in the
region and their threat to unsafe shipping activities in international waters
from the Strait of Hormuz to Bab-el-Mandeb by their agents in the region.
Australian
Manufacturing Workers’ Union support Iranian
political prisoners
Tuesday, 08 November 2016/NCRI -
The President of Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union Andrew Determer has in a letter to International Labor Organization (ILO) pointed to the lashing of the
workers at Agh-Darreh gold mine and while bringing
Iran’s membership at this international organization into question, has called
for the organization’s intervention aimed at releasing the political prisoners
or cancelling the sentences of some of the defenders of the workers and
teachers’ rights. Addressed to ILO Director-General Guy Rider, the letter
reads: “Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) is against the corporal
punishment in any form and above all, the union believes that using corporal
punishment to prevent workers from seeking their legitimate demands as the
members of workers’ unions is extremely worrying. AMWU is fully aware that an
Iranian court has sentenced 17 of Agh-Darreh gold
mine workers to corporal punishment for their protest against being sacked from
work. Considering this move as well as Iran’s
continuous violation of ILO and UN conventions, AMWU believes that Iran’s membership
in ILO is under question. Besides, we ask for your urgent intervention for
releasing the Iranian political prisoners as well as cancelling the prison
sentences of those who fight for workers and teachers’ rights.
Al-Hayat: Calls for trial of Khamenei
and Rouhani for the 1988 massacre in Iran
Tuesday, 08 November 2016/NCRI -
The Saudi Al-Hayat newspaper in an article titled
“Call for trial of Khamenei and Rouhani
for the 1988 massacre” reviews the rising international movement for justice
for victims of the massacre of political prisoners in 1988 in Iran.
The following is translation of
excerpts of the article published in 5 November issue of Al-Hayat
Arabic daily: Last June, the Iranian people commemorated the anniversary of
heinous massacre of political prisoners by Iranian regime. The massacre, which
carried out by “Death Commissions” starting late June 1988, is considered to be
one of the most terrible crimes (against humanity). In this massacre, thousands
of political prisoners, mostly supporters of the opposition movement the
People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)
and some other groups, were executed.
The massacre witnessed the worst
form of political purgation whereby the investigation leading to the death was
limited to asking a question from the victim to specify their allegiance
(loyalty) and fate. In fact, this brutal massacre has recorded the most brutal
and violent actions in prisons in the history of Iran...Following the release
of an audio recording of Ayatollah Montazeri,
Khomeini’s former heir, the issue has taken new dimensions. After the release
of the audio file, a large number of the victims’ families inside Iran and abroad
decided to disclose the information on the (secret and exposed) mass graves
where these political opponents were buried. Recently a group of jurists called
on the United Nations for an investigation into this massacre. They stressed at
a press conference in Geneva that they have
information on 12 new mass graves (in Iran) that have not been disclosed
before. They note, “This information includes the exact address of these
graves....”A number of Iranian regime leaders face several charges that place
the responsibility for the massacre on their shoulder. These people include Khamenei, Supreme Leader and then President, and Rouhani the current President of the regime, who under the
shadow the government of indiscriminate executions, interpret (and justify) the
continued torture of Iranian people.
Iran: Children are auctioned in the streets!
Tuesday, 08 November 2016/NCRI - Mehr New Agency affiliated with Iranian regime’s Ministry
of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) on 7th November 2016 published a report
about the indigence and misery of the Iranian people under the clerical regime.
The people are so desperate that they put their children for auction.
A part of this report reads:
"It has been a while that the
children are being sold and it becomes a popular trend in the streets but what
makes the people sell their children?
Until a few years ago, some leaflets
were installed in the streets entitled as:"an
immediate sale of kidney" or "the sale of O+ blood type" and so
on. Many people try to solve their problem by selling the kidney. Nevertheless,
the hidden way of advertising has now transformed in the cities and some people
stick the auctions of their body parts on the walls of streets.
"Newborn baby sale" or
"children sale" are the phenomena that are being repeated again and
again in these days. But this phenomenon is a new happening and they are
actually the attractive subjects for the media to publish.
The sale of Fetus,
Urgent!
"One fetus
to be born in twenty days will be sold since there is not a proper condition to
be taken care of. Urgent!"
This is the last attempt of a
pregnant woman who has stuck this hand-written leaflet on a wall in the Azadi Street
of Tehran. On
the other hand, a newborn baby was abandoned on the street. A picture is
exchanged in social media channels entitled as:"the
green space workers found a newborn baby girl in the 24-Metri Street of Ahvaz .The baby had been abandoned without
any clothes today at 6 PM.
Another instance is the picture
that shows a newborn baby amidst the garbage. One of the staffs of the garbage
recycling field described the story bitterly. He talks about the fetuses that have been found in the garbage bags.
Sales of children in advertisement
websites
The ads are not only some sketches
on the street walls. You can also find the ads of selling babies on the
internet websites. In one of these banners, the seller tells her story:"I am a 32-year-old woman and 4 months pregnant.
Those who do not have children and want the custody of a child please let me
know. Thus they will also get a baby. I am also a single woman with no source
of income and I cannot raise a child."
Urgent: A new baby who is expected
to be born in 20 days is offered for sale as the conditions are not right to
take care of that baby.
The sale of newborn babies is a
rare phenomenon
The head of the public relations
centre of the Ministry of Health, Abbas Zareh in an interview with Mehr
News agency stated:"the sale of newborn babies
is a rare phenomenon. I do not say that people were not aware of such incident
before and only the social media channels released them; rather I say that
these cases were also available in the pat though they were rare."
From selling the newborn babies to
6-year-old children!
In one of the advertisements, a
6-year-old girl was put for auction. The father of this child said that he
wants to sell his child to provide his wife's dowry money since they got
divorced. The story is not about babies but it is also about the 5-yearold
children too.
Latest LCCC
Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November
08-09/16
The Minorities in the
Bigger Picture of the Levant
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq
Al Awsat/November 08/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/08/eyad-abu-shakraasharq-al-awsat-the-minorities-in-the-bigger-picture-of-the-levant/
The Lebanese Parliament has elected Michel Aoun, MP, as Lebanon’s new president and has
thus ended the ‘Presidential Vacuum’ brought about, since May 25th 2014, by the
boycott carried out by Hezbollah and its subservient parliamentary blocs which
would accept no candidate for the post other than their man… Aoun. On
another front, in north western Iraq
and northern Syria new maps
of influences are being drawn by Iran’s
expansionism, the Kurds’ ambitions, and Turkey’s calculations.
Aoun’s securing the Lebanese
presidency, whatever excuses are given to justify it, is yet another victory to
Iran’s grand plan in the Arab ‘Mashreq’ whose
fulfilment began with another Republican US administration, and solidified,
sponsored and nurtured by another US administration, but Democrat this time
around.
However, Iran’s
new victory in Lebanon –
with due respect to both the country’s absent sovereignty and the post of
president – is but a small drop in the sea of Tehran-led Arab-named militias
inside Iraq and Syria.
Lebanon,
its presidency, parliament, and government are insignificant details that mean
nothing in the ‘big regional picture’ that includes religious and sectarian
uprooting and displacement here, and ethnic cleansing there. Only some Maronite Christians still take the Lebanese presidency with
undeserved seriousness refusing to accept why Iran
– through its arm Hezbollah – nominated Aoun in the
first place; with Washington’s
indirect blessings.
Frankly, Lebanon’s
president is not going to a real ‘president’ simply because Lebanon has
ceased to be a real ‘country’. At present it is nothing more than a coastal
part of Iran on the east
coast of the Mediterranean, and a large
training camp run by a religious militia accorded regional duties which have
brought down the political borders internationally drawn & recognized in
1920.
Those who do not want to see the facts on the ground, must
look no further than the duties that Hezbollah is ordered to execute in Syria,
Yemen, Iraq, the GCC countries, and even Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Then, follow
the development of Iraq’s
Shi’ite militia starting with small groupings such as
‘Assa’eb Ahl al-Haqq’, ‘Badr Brigade’ (later Badr Organization), ‘Abu’l Fadhl Al-Abbass Brigade’, ‘Al-Nujabaa’’ etc.. and
reaching the ‘umbrella’ organization ‘The Popular Mobilization Forces’ (PMF)
that was legalized and legitimized by Haidar Al-Abadi’s government. Incidentally, that is the same Al-Abadi who defended the appearance of General Qassem Suleimani, the commander
of Iran’s IRGC’s ‘Al-Quds
Brigade’ on Iraqi battlefields by declaring that he was acting as an advisor of
his US-backed government!
Evidently, in the meantime the ‘tri-partite’ liaison between
the rump of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in Syria, Iran
and Russia
gathers pace. The Moscow
meeting that took place last week was yet another landmark on the road to
confirm the Russo-Iranian ‘Dual Trusteeship’ in the ‘Useful Syria’. The
Russians and Iranians are now actively helping the Al-Assad regime in its
campaign of religious uprooting and displacement throughout ‘Useful Syria’ in
the western part of the country, including the northern
provinces of Aleppo
and Idlib. Elsewhere, while the regime’s army and
Iran’s Shi’ite militias bolster the defences of the
capital Damascus through displacing the Ghouta towns
and suburbs surrounding it, Al-Assad and Tehran strive to keep the southern
‘front’ in the Golan calm in order to assure Israel of the ‘positive rewards’
of it accepting its share of Iran’s grand plan in both Syria and Lebanon.
Details are different in eastern and north eastern Syria where the Kurds and Turks are playing a
pivotal role that reverberates inside Iraq. The other day, in an
extremely poignant development ‘The Popular Mobilization Forces’ (PMF)–
sponsored and backed by the Iraqi government – announced that after achieving
the “liberation” of the city of Mosul, they will move into Syria to support the
Assad regime!
The PMF’s notorious record in acts
of vengeful sectarian violence is well known and documented everywhere it has
operated, from Al-Fallujah and Al-Ramadi to Al-Muqdadyyiah and Saleheddin Province.
Furthermore, in addition to this militia’s sectarian crimes under the command
of General Suleimani, the “Iraqi Government advisor”,
several aggressive and abominable pronouncements were made by the leading
figures of the PMF such as Qais Al-Khaz’ali, Hadi Al-Ameri et al, which uncover deeply held sectarian hatred
that is surely destructive to Iraq’s national unity and any chance of
coexistence between its major communities.
Consequently, the PMF’s crimes and
its leaders’ rhetoric and threats have pushed even Washington
to “advise” the Baghdad government not to allow
this hateful militia to take part in the attack planned against the largest
Sunni Arab Iraqi city, i.e. Mosul.
American endeavours, however, seem to have failed with a
government that is nothing but a façade of the hegemony of Iran – Washington’s
new Middle East ally – over Iraq. Indeed, the PMF went further by insisting on
attacking Nineveh Plain then the predominantly Sunni Turkmen town of Tal Afar.
In both northern Iraq
and northern and north eastern Syria,
Turkey
feels concerned and has vital interests in two areas:
1- Protection of the Turkmen minorities.
2- Prevention of the creation of ‘Greater Kurdistan’.
Given the above, Turkey has launched the ‘Euphrates Shield’
between the city of Aleppo and the Turkey – Syria border west of the Euphrates
River in order to protect the Turkmen and prevent the linking of the Kurdish
Afrin – in the north west corner of Syria – enclave with the bulk of the
Kurdish-majority territories in the north and northeast; and is now deeply
concerned about the fate of the Turkmen of northern Iraq, as well as
secessionist Kurds’ aspirations for independence.
In fact, Turkey
is absolutely right to be concerned about the situation in both its southern
neighbours. The Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk – inhabited by Turkmen, Kurds and
Arabs – has long been a tinderbox of friction and antagonism, and the candidly
expressed desire of Iraqi Kurds for full independence may have grave
repercussions in the Kurdish regions of eastern Turkey; noting that Iran has
already made inroads within ‘Iraqi Kurdistan’ through the Jalal
Talebani wing in the Sulaymaniyah
District of the so-far ‘autonomous region’. Hence, the last thing that the
Turks want along their borders is a Shi’i Arab –
Kurdish alliance under Iran’s
influence against Arab Sunnis and Turkmen left to face an unknown future in the
aftermath of the broad understanding and cooperation between Washington
and Tehran.
In such a situation, the Christian presence in Iraq, Syria
and Lebanon
is dwindling as a result of unwise strategies adopted by several Christian
leaders in their respective fragile and fractious countries; either by aligning
themselves with illegitimate ruling elites, or relying
too much on Western protection without realizing that interests and not moral
commitments drive Western policies.
Best Candidate…Obama’s
Departure
Salman Al-dossary/Asharq
Al Awsat/November 08/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/08/salman-al-dossaryasharq-al-awsat-best-candidateobamas-departure/
Who is best for the region, Democratic candidate Hillary
Clinton or Republican candidate Donald Trump?
Who will win? Is it the lady who participated, planned and
implemented Barack Obama’s administration policies, or is it the first
presidential candidate who out speaks about his rivalry with many Americans,
antagonizes Muslims, immigrants, people with special needs and Mexicans and is
proud of his sexual harassments?
This question, which has been asked repeatedly during the
past weeks, will be answered the moment results of the U.S.
presidential elections are announced at Wednesday’s dawn, GMT timing.
Maybe the two candidates are lucky for competing against
each other; if Trump was competing against another Democratic candidate, he
would have had better chances to win and vice versa.
When it comes to issues concerning the Middle East, debates
between Clinton
and Trump, which have reached an unprecedented immoral level, haven’t discussed
any solution or clarified the two parties’ opinions and plans in this regard.
For example, on the nuclear deal with Iran, Trump did not propose any clear substitute
for what he has repeatedly attacked whereas Clinton
defended this deal then admitted that Iran’s regime poses a threat and
hinted the use of military power in case of breach of the deal, but she still
did not submit any detailed proposal to counter it.
Moreover, the two candidates neglected bringing up Syria and its
catastrophic humanitarian crisis in modern history. This means that they both
will carry on with Obama’s policy that could be described as the “indifference
strategy.”
Also, debates on Iraq,
the U.S.
invasion in 2003 then withdrawal in 2011 were futile.
Unfortunately, most of the debates between Trump and Clinton addressed
previous stances instead of discussing detailed new policies.
They also did not mention any of what the elected president will explain for his/her people in the inaugural
speech, except for what was leaked to public by the two candidates’ teams, and
those are not conclusive policies that can be built upon in their strategies in
the future.
In my opinion, everyone in the Middle East describe Obama’s
policy as hesitant and misleading, starting from his well-known speech in
Cairo’s University in 2009, to the heinous lie on Bashar
al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons and the nuclear deal with Iran, which turned
out to be a reward for a regime that supports terrorism, according to the U.S..
Keeping in mind that Clinton has been one of Obama’s tools
and is a partner inside Obama’s administration, whether in her advisory role or
her post as his Secretary of State, and the fact that Washington’s management
for the region’s files during the so-called “Arab Spring” has led to the burst
of many internal wars in some regional countries, it is normal not be
optimistic when it comes to thinking that Clinton will undertake a policy
different from the one that she has adopted during the past years.
Meanwhile, the only positive thing about what Clinton could hold for the Middle
East is that she will not come up with anything worse than what is
happening nowadays.
On the other hand, no politician can bet that an unsteady
character as Trump could be less vile than President Obama.
In contrast, we might wake up to the election of a harassing
U.S. president and a new
terrible world led by the United
States.
Certainly, Trump fits to be an evil president; therefore,
knowing that Arab states still do not know Trump’s approach towards them, and
they are not sure whether his policies will be positive or worse than the current
administration, they cannot specify what is possible and what is not possible
during his rule.
If President Barack Obama’s administration has adopted the
policy of communicating with the opponents more than boosting relations with
partners during the past eight years, then the next White House resident will
be very aware of the fact that abandoning the region is not an option.
Or as Hillary Clinton was quoted saying: “The U.S. would
commit a grave mistake if it abandons its responsibilities or gives up the
reins of leadership.”
Regardless of who will reside in the White House, the region
is in desperate need for the departure of the current one once and for all,
especially that his policies have affected the region negatively like no
others.
US Election Day – Come
Back America
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/November 08/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/08/amir-taheriasharq-al-awsat-us-election-day-come-back-america/
Millions of Americans will go the polls today to elect their
45th president at the end of an unusually bruising campaign.
Though many have already voted through the post, the
question remains: how many will go to the polls today? An estimated 250 million
people are eligible, of whom just over half are expected to vote. Voter turnout
this time is of special importance because whoever wins would need a strong
popular base from which to try and heal the wounds inflicted or opened in this
campaign. Most elections are labeled historic, even
if they are not. This time, however, the label is not far-fetched. If Hillary
Clinton wins, she will make history by being the first woman to capture the
White House, something that even such a formidable intellect like that of
Eleanor Roosevelt couldn’t even dare dream of. Hillary will also add a new
presidential dynasty, the Clintons,
to the four previous ones (Adams, Harrison, Roosevelt and Bush). More
importantly, she would be the first since the end of the Second World War to
win a third consecutive presidential term for the Democrats. On a less
flattering note, she would also be the first person elected as president while
still under the cloud of an FBI investigation, albeit suspended, in connection
with a criminal case.
If Donald Trump wins he will be the first businessman to
reach the top of the greasy pole of politics in America, succeeding where such
giants as Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh failed. He would also be the first
to enter the White House with no political and/or military experience. (Even
Barack Obama had been senator for two years.) On a personal level, Trump would
also be the first serial-divorcer to reach the White House and the first to
have a foreign-born spouse. More interestingly, he would be the first to
complete the home-stretch in the face of rejection by the establishment of his
party. On a less flattering note, Trump would also be the first US President to
have in common with Al Capone the fact of not paying any taxes for decades. For
months the good and the great, the literati and the glitterati, have sneered at
the American presidential campaign which, this time round, has been as full of
twists and turns as a soap opera. However, even by washing dirty linens in public,
the two candidates have shown the strength and resilience of America’s
democratic system which allows for both brutal honesty and mendacious excess.
In other countries, skeletons are kept in locked cupboards
protected by Omerta guard. My guess is that America will
emerge from this annoying, bizarre and bewildering experience stronger and more
united and thus better able to resume its role as a major contributor to
promoting peace and stability across the globe. Whoever wins, tomorrow’s America will be
better. As for the mistakes made in the past eight years, the sanest message
would be: Come back America,
all is forgiven!
Palestinians: When
Fatah Becomes the Problem
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone
Institute/November 08/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9278/palestinians-fatah
The upcoming conference coincides with mounting tensions in
Fatah, the result of internal bickering and growing discontent with Abbas's autocratic rule.
Since its founding 50-some-odd years ago, the secular Fatah
faction and its leaders have brought nothing but disaster, not only to
Palestinians, but to other Arabs as well.
The business of Fatah is relevant to the entire
international community, including Israel. Why? Because Fatah
dominates the PA, which is supposed to be Israel's
peace partner and which is funded and armed by the US, EU and other international
donors.
Hamas will continue to exploit Fatah's corruption in order
to gain more popularity among the Palestinians. The truth, however, is that
neither Hamas nor Fatah has fulfilled repeated promises to improve the living
conditions of the people.
Abbas and his old-guard cronies
will continue to clutch onto power and resist demands for real reforms. And
they will continue to blame Israel,
and everyone else, for the misery of their people, misery they themselves have
wrought.
Barring last-minute changes, the Palestinian Fatah faction,
which is headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud
Abbas, is scheduled to hold its Seventh Conference in
Ramallah on November 29. This will be the first gathering of its kind since
August 2009.
The upcoming conference coincides with mounting tensions in
Fatah, the result of internal bickering and growing discontent with Abbas's autocratic rule. Some 1,300 delegates to the
conference will be asked to vote for two of Fatah's key decision-making bodies
-- the 23-member Central Committee and the 132-member Revolutionary Council.
Palestinian political analysts predict that the Fatah
conference will deepen divisions among the faction's rival camps, particularly
in the wake of Abbas's continued efforts to eliminate
his critics. Abbas, they say, decided to convene the
parley in a bid to tighten his grip on Fatah and block the emergence of new
leaders.
"The Seventh Conference should not be held under the
current difficult and complicated circumstances that Fatah is undergoing,"
said Hani Habib, a prominent political analyst in
Ramallah. "Internal disputes in Fatah and Arab pressure on the Fatah
leadership could even result in the postponement of the conference."
According to Palestinian sources, a number of Arab
countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have recently
exerted pressure on Abbas to patch up his differences
with ousted Fatah strongman Mohamed Dahlan. These
counties, according to the sources, would like to see Dahlan,
an arch-enemy of Abbas, as the next PA president.
"The Fatah leadership is under pressure from the Arab
'quartet' not to hold the conference before Abbas and
Dahlan reach a reconciliation agreement and end their
dispute," said another political analyst, Raed Nueirat. Referring to the ongoing rivalry between Abbas and Dahlan, he added:
"Holding the conference now could deepen the schism in Fatah and aggravate
its internal crisis."
Yet all indications are that Abbas
is hoping to take advantage of the upcoming conference to rid himself once and for all of Dahlan
and his other rivals in Fatah. Ahead of the conference, Abbas
already expelled several Fatah members suspected of affiliations with Dahlan. The expulsions are meant to send a warning message
to Abbas's critics, silencing them at the Seventh
Conference. For Abbas, the only good conference is
one in which the only delegates present are his loyalists. In this regard, he
seems to have endorsed the North
Korea model of autocracy.
If all goes according to plan, Abbas
is expected to emerge triumphant at the Seventh Conference. His political
rivals, first and foremost Dahlan, who lives in the United Arab Emirates,
will not be among the conference invitees. Most of Dahlan's
supporters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
will also be excluded from the gathering, as well as any Fatah member whose
loyalty to Abbas is considered questionable.
All indications are that Mahmoud Abbas (right) is hoping to take advantage of the upcoming
Fatah conference to rid himself once and for all of Mohamed Dahlan
(left) and his other rivals in Fatah. (Image source: World Economic Forum)
Fatah conferences are mainly intended to discuss internal
reforms and pave the way for new faces to have a greater say in
decision-making.
But ever since Fatah lost the parliamentary election in 2006
to Hamas, it has failed to embark on major reforms or present new and young
leaders. The very Fatah officials who lost the election continue to run the
same old, tired show. Internecine squabbling and financial and administrative
corruption handed Hamas a victory in that election. More recently, the
Palestinian local elections were called off amid fears that Fatah candidates
could once again lose to Hamas.
Fatah's failure to implement reforms and introduce new faces
remains a driving force for Hamas's popularity among Palestinians. Hamas is
here to stay, until Palestinians are offered a better alternative -- and Fatah
is definitely not seen as such an alternative.
Since its founding 50-odd years ago, the secular Fatah
faction and its leaders have brought nothing but disaster, not only to
Palestinians, but to other Arabs as well.
Fatah played major roles in the civil wars that erupted in Jordan and Lebanon during the 70s and 80s,
which resulted in the killing of tens of thousands of people. Before and after
the signing of the Oslo Accords and the establishment of the Palestinian
Authority in the early 90s, Fatah members participated in hundreds, if not
thousands, of terror attacks against Israelis. Internecine fighting and massive
corruption, as well as double-talk and conflicting messages to their people and
the rest of the world, have always been the main hallmark of Fatah.
"Fatah is facing a severe crisis," said political
analyst Dr. Abdel Sattar Qasssem.
"Neither Fatah nor the Palestinian Authority has the courage to tell the
people the truth. No one knows what Abbas wants or
how he is running the show. Every now and then Abbas
expels some Fatah members and this has led to many splits. Abbas
is working toward dismantling Fatah."
Some Fatah officials and activists were hoping that the
Seventh Conference would discuss the super-sensitive issue of Abbas's succession or, at least, the appointment of a
Deputy Palestinian Authority President. But these issues are considered taboo
by the 81-year-old Abbas. He does not tolerate any
talk about his future successor or sharing powers with someone else.
For years, Abbas has stubbornly
turned down demands to appoint a deputy or prepare for the day after he is
gone. Those who raised these issues, both in private and in
public, were stripped of their powers or removed from their jobs. Abbas, his critics charge, manages Fatah as if it were his
private fiefdom.
The business of Fatah is relevant to the entire
international community, including Israel. Why? Because Fatah
dominates the PA, which is supposed to be Israel's
peace partner and which is directly funded by the US, EU and other international
donors.
Fatah is the faction with which Israel is supposed to make peace in
the future. This is the faction that is supposed to control any future
Palestinian state. A weak, corrupt and torn Fatah that has little credibility
among its own supporters in particular and Palestinians in general is worth
less than nothing for the betterment of Palestinians. Why less than nothing?
Because Hamas will continue to exploit Fatah's corruption in order to gain more
popularity among the Palestinians.
Hamas continues to present itself to the Palestinians as the
only party capable of improving their living conditions. The truth, however, is
that neither Hamas nor Fatah has fulfilled repeated promises to improve the living
conditions of the people.
In 2006, Hamas ran in the election under the banner of
"Change and Reform." The list's electoral platform promised to
"bring about justice and equality among the people, to protect public
freedoms and put an end to administrative, financial and moral
corruption."
Needless to say, Hamas's promises have never been fulfilled.
On the contrary, the living conditions of the Palestinians living under Hamas's
rule in the Gaza Strip have since deteriorated on all levels. The only change
Hamas has brought has been more suffering and misery for its people. Moreover,
it is hard to point to any reforms implemented by the Hamas leadership ever
since, nearly a decade ago, their movement seized control of the Gaza Strip.
Similarly, Fatah has never kept its promises to reform its
corruption-riddled institutions. "President Abbas
has hijacked the decision-making process of all institutions belonging to the
Palestinian Authority, the PLO and Fatah," charged Majed
Abu Shamaleh, a senior Fatah official and critic of
the PA president. "Abbas's attempts
to get rid of many Fatah members is a crime against Fatah and the
Palestinian people. Abbas alone bears full
responsibility for the continued crisis in Fatah and the Palestinian arena.
Many of the current Palestinian Authority and Fatah leaders are acting out of
personal interests."
Abbas, by all accounts, appears to
be determined to march in the opposite direction. This week, the PA's "constitutional court" granted Abbas the power to strip Palestinian legislators of their
parliamentary immunity. The decision paves the way for Abbas
to expel his Fatah critics from the Palestinian Legislative Council. The
decision drew strong condemnations from many Fatah officials.
"The court's decision is the last nail in the coffin of
Palestinian democracy," said Fatah legislator Najat
Abu Baker. "Stripping legislators of their parliamentary immunity without
seeking the approval of the parliament means that we are killing
democracy." Abu Baker called on her Fatah colleagues to submit collective
resignations from the faction and parliament in protest against the court
decision.
Regardless of the results of the upcoming Seventh
Conference, here is what we know: Fatah is far from taking any steps towards
major reforms and transparency. Abbas and his
old-guard cronies will continue to clutch onto power, and continue to resist
demands for a changing of the guard and real reforms. And, of course, they will
continue to blame Israel,
and everyone else, for the misery of their people, misery they themselves have
wrought. And this is the Fatah that members of the international community are
funding and arming and continuing to bury their heads in the sand about, and
pretending that all is fine.
It is time to realize that Fatah has become part of the
problem and not part of any solution. That is, unless its leaders are willing
to take brave and real measures to change -- an upheaval that does not seem
likely to happen.
**Khaled Abu Toameh,
an award-winning journalist, is based in Jerusalem.
© 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.
The Day After the Election
Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone
Institute/November 08/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9290/day-after-election
With the world's attention focused on the U.S. presidential election, some
attention must be devoted to the problems we will continue to face the day
after the election, regardless of who is elected. Here are some of these
problems.
1. The world will continue to move away from the center and
toward the extremes on both the right and the left. In many parts of Europe --
from Poland to Hungary to Greece -- neo-fascist parties are
strengthening their influence in their governments. In the United States
the "alt-right" has been considerably strengthened during this
election.
The hard left is also increasing its influence in some part
of Europe and on many university campuses. The
British Labour Party has now been hijacked by radical extremists on the left.
In many universities, the absurd concept of "intersectionality,"
which has become a code word for anti-Semitism, is dominating discussions and
actions by the hard left.
The center is weakening. The empowerment of extremes poses
great dangers to the world. The hard right and the hard left have more in
common than either has to centrist liberals and conservatives. They both hate America,
distrust government, demonize Israel
and promote anti-Semitic tropes.
2. Following the election President Obama may try to tie the
hands of his successor, regardless of who it may be. During the lame-duck
period, when Presidents can act without political accountability, he may
foolishly send the Israel-Palestine conflict to the United Nations. This would
mean the end of the peace process, because the Palestinian would be dis-incentivized from entering into the kinds of direct
negotiations without preconditions that the Israeli government continues to
offer, and that is the only realistic road to peace. The only hope of stopping
this counterproductive move would be for the President-elect to insist that her
or his hands not be tied by the lame-duck president.
3. The problem revealed by FBI director Comey's
ill-advised statements over the past four months will not end with the
election. Comey is a good man, but he has
demonstrated an inability to control himself and his agents. The problem of
unlawful FBI leaks has become pervasive. It must be addressed by the new
administration. Replacing Comey will not be enough, the
entire culture of the FBI must be changed and it must be restored to its
rightful position as the silent investigative arm of the Justice Department.
Indeed, even more fundamental structural changes are now required. The entire
Justice department, of which the FBI is one component, has become too
politicized. In most other western democracies, there is a sharp division
between the Minister of Justice, who is a political aide to the president or
prime minister, and the Director of Public Prosecution, who is a civil servant
completely removed from politics. Only the Director of Public Prosecution
decides who to investigate and who to prosecute. The political minister plays
no role in such decisions. But in the United States we merged these two
distinct roles into the job of Attorney General. This must change if our system
of justice is to be de-politicized.
4. This election has exacerbated the long-standing problem
of criminalizing policy differences. We are quick to confuse differences in
policy with charges of criminal behavior. During this
election, both sides accused the other of criminal conduct. I have long railed
against this development, whether it involved accusations against Democrats
like Hillary Clinton or Republicans like Congressman Tom Delay and Governor
Rick Perry. The criminal law must be reserved for willful,
deliberate and clearly defined crimes. We are moving away from that
understanding and toward a dangerous expansion of the concept of crime in the
context of political differences.
5. Finally, the healing process must begin the day after the
election. Lincoln's
words should be our guide: "With malice toward none, with charity for
all." It is unlikely that either the winners or the losers will be able to
avoid malice and extend charity following this most contentious of elections,
but it is essential that the loser accept the result and that the winner be
gracious. Both Richard Nixon and Al Gore provide somewhat different models of
appropriate responses.
This election revealed that there are deep divisions within
the American electorate. Some of these divisions are reasonable and indeed
desirable. These include differences over economic policies, foreign policies
and other political issues. But this election revealed that there are divisions
across impermissible lines: racial, ethnic, gender, religious, class, and a
willingness to resort to violence. These divisions will be much harder to heal.
But the process must begin on the day after the election.
*Alan M. Dershowitz, Felix
Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus and author of Taking
the Stand: My Life in the Law and Electile
Dysfunction. An earlier and somewhat different version of this article appeared
in the Boston Globe.
© 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.
Middle East Leaders
Await U.S.
Election Results With Bated Breath
Zvi Bar'el
/Haaretz/November 08/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/08/zvi-barel-haaretz-middle-east-leaders-await-u-s-election-results-with-bated-breath/
At least two leaders aren’t chewing their nails in advance
of the United States
election. One is Benjamin Netanyahu, while the other is Mahmoud
Abbas.
Netanyahu isn’t scared of Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump
has already made pleasant noises about moving the American embassy to Jerusalem. If he survived
Barack Obama, Netanyahu is certain he can handle Clinton. And Trump can be trusted not only
because of his warm embrace, but because of the huge amount of money Sheldon Adelson invested in his fellow billionaire’s campaign.
But if Bibi is confident, Abbas can also relax. No new peace process will arise in
the coming years. No flags of hope are flying on the American horizon.
Several other Mideast
leaders, in contrast, have good reason to be losing sleep as they monitor the
polls. The first is Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi,
who desperately needs strong American backing to extricate his country from its
economic crisis. Obama, who was very tardy in giving Sissi
his stamp of approval after the latter seized power in July 2013, later
reversed course and became a strong supporter of the Egyptian president, mainly
because he was fighting Islamist terror in his own country.
That, however, isn’t the only reason. Sissi’s
relations with Russia
have grown closer over the past year, inter alia producing an agreement to
build a nuclear plant to generate electricity, and the White House has been
watching this rapprochement suspiciously. So if Trump wins, and if the
pro-Putin signals he has sent prove real, Sissi may
obtain new backing from him – this time, not as part of a battle for influence
between East and West, but as a mutual friend of both Putin and Trump.
As for Clinton,
Egyptians believe she won’t let their country collapse. But she is liable to
view it as a country of marginal importance, whose strategic value has been
steadily waning.
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks on as PM
Benjamin Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas shake hands in 2010.J. Scott Applewhite,
AP
Moreover, Clinton supported
the nuclear deal with Iran
and will try to promote diplomatic dialogue with it, which could change the
balance of power in the Middle East. Sissi is already taking this possibility into account: Last
month, he supported the Russian-Iranian position on Syria at the United Nations
Security Council by voting for a Russian resolution on the subject and against
a French one. That vote infuriated the Saudis.
Saudi Arabia
has suffered several harsh diplomatic blows over the last two years. The worst
of these, in its view, was the nuclear deal with Iran,
followed by Obama’s Syria
policy, which effectively handed control of the country over to Moscow, Tehran
and Bashar Assad.
The kingdom is also embroiled in a war in Yemen. It had
thought it could defeat the Houthi rebels relatively
easily, but instead, it is bogged down in a battle against forces backed by Iran.
Saudi Arabia
has had it with Obama, and the Saudi media, with considerable justice, view Clinton as more of the
same in terms of foreign policy. Thus in theory, it would be bad news for Riyadh if Clinton
wins.
But Saudi
Arabia has always invested for the long
term, and if reports by WikiLeaks are correct, it was
one of the largest donors to the Clinton Foundation during the years when
Hillary was secretary of state. Riyadh
also made a massive, $80-billion arms purchase during Obama’s term. Thus it
could be that money, rather than policy, would drive ties between Clinton’s Washington and Riyadh.
Trump, in contrast, has played the card of Saudi Arabia’s good relationship with the Clintons for all it’s worth, depicting it as a moral stain
that obligates Clinton
to return the money. Yet in January 2016, Saudi Prince Al-Waleed
Bin Talal tweeted a painful
reminder to Trump that he once saved the American businessman from collapse.
The prince was evidently referring to his purchase of Trump’s yacht and the
Trump Plaza Hotel, which helped reduce Trump’s enormous debt, estimated at $900
million.
Granted, these are petty concerns compared to the strategic
calculations that worry the Saudis, who always had excellent ties with
Republican presidents, and especially with the Bush family. But this time, what
matters is Trump, not his party. Thus Riyadh’s
past ties with the Republicans might not be enough.
Iran,
meanwhile, continues to feign apathy toward the outcome of the election.
According to pro-regime columnists there, Clinton
and Trump are identical in terms of the West’s plans to take over Iran or
undermine its regime.
But for President Hassan Rohani,
who will run for reelection in June 2017, there’s a
major difference between a Democratic president who supports the nuclear
agreement, and may therefore be willing to compromise over commercial ties with
Iran, and a Republican president who is seen as an enthusiastic supporter of
Israel and is liable to make it hard for Rohani to
realize his plans for Iran’s economic rehabilitation.
It’s not completely clear what Trump’s policy toward Iran will be.
But all his talk against it will play into the hands of Rohani’s
opponents, bolster the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and undermine the basis for
trust created by the nuclear deal. In January, Trump declared that he opposes
the deal and will seek to reopen negotiations on the signed agreement.
The most immediate regional dilemmas relate to the conduct
of the war against the Islamic State in both Iraq
and Syria
and an eventual diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict. Obama can only hope
that the war to liberate Mosul
ends when his term does, and that coalition forces together with the Syrian
rebels will also manage to oust Islamic State from Raqqa.
Both Clinton
and Trump share this hope; they’d be happy to be spared this difficult, tragic
inheritance.
Nevertheless, Obama leaves office in less than three months.
That may be enough time to make military gains in Mosul and Raqqa,
but the Syrian crisis will certainly await a new American president. And that
president is liable to find himself or herself without
any diplomatic cards to play, because they have all been taken by Russia.
Russia may be Wounded,
but it can Still Bite
David Ignatius/The Washington Post/November
08/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/08/david-ignatiusthe-washington-post-russia-may-be-wounded-but-it-can-still-bite/
Whoever wins Tuesday’s presidential election will face an
assertive, aggrieved Russia
whose risk-taking behavior under President Vladimir
Putin is increasingly worrisome to U.S. experts.
Today’s pushy, headstrong Russia presents a paradox: By most
measures, it is a country in decline, with a sagging economy, an underdeveloped
technology base and a shrinking population. Corruption pervades nearly every
sector. The collapse of the Soviet Union is still an open wound, and many
Russians blame the United
States for taking advantage of them during
their years of decline.
Yet this inwardly weak Russia displays the cockiness of a
street fighter. It is waging war in Syria,
Ukraine and cyberspace with
a seeming disdain for U.S.
power. According to Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr.,
Russian hackers sought to “interfere with the U.S. election process,” on
authority of the highest levels of the Russian government.
“Putin’s definition of risk-taking has evolved in the
direction of greater boldness and less attention to how it will affect the U.S.,” argues Dimitri Simes, president of the
Center for the National Interest. “Putin thinks that American positive
inducements are next to nonexistent, and that the penalties are minimal, and
will be imposed whatever he does.”
The next president must assess how to alter Russian behavior without direct military confrontation. Is that
best done by cutting deals with Putin, as Donald Trump suggests? Or should it
be a firmer process of asserting U.S. power and interests, as
Hillary Clinton has argued? This may be the biggest national-security issue in
the election.
Future U.S.
strategy should begin with a clear understanding of how Putin’s Kremlin looks
at the world. And here, leading U.S.
analysts offer some disturbing warnings. Moscow
sees itself as the wounded party, fighting back after decades of U.S. supremacy.
Putin, the ex-KGB officer, is turning the tools of covert subversion and
information operations developed during the Cold War back against the United States.
“The evidence does not seem to suggest that Putin favors one candidate over the other this November. Instead,
it suggests that he favors chaos. He wants the
American political process to look bad,” writes national security analyst James
Ludes in a blog post for War on the Rocks titled “The
Russians Read our Cold War Playbook.” Moscow’s
new propaganda themes include U.S.
government surveillance, political corruption that benefits elites and rigged
elections, he argues.
Russia’s
strategy has been characterized as “hybrid warfare,” but historian Angus E.
Goldberg contends in Small Wars Journal that a better term is the Russian word
“bespredel,” which means “absence of limits,” or
“anything goes.” The word is often used to describe the behavior
of the corrupt oligarchs who have prospered in Putin’s Russia.
Moscow’s
new weapons range across the spectrum of hard and soft power, overt and covert.
“What binds them together as a coherent system is the willingness of the Russian Federation
to implement them without any constraints,” writes Goldberg.
Putin himself displays an unusual combination of personal
traits. “He can be emotional, headstrong, even impulsive,” argues Stephen Sestanovich, a Russia
expert at Columbia
University. But Putin is
also calculating. “The Russians have a saying: Measure seven times, cut once.
He’s that kind of careful guy.”
Over the past few years, Putin’s risk tolerance has clearly
grown. “In the history of the Cold War, they never did anything remotely like
the intervention in Syria,”
notes Sestanovich. Moscow calculates that “the risk of dangerous
payback is less than it used to be.”
Putin’s behavior is also shaped by
the increasing ascendancy of military and intelligence officials in his inner
circle. Like Putin, they are Cold War veterans with a sense of grievance
against the United States.
A well-placed Russian recently described to Simes the
worldview of these Kremlin insiders: “We are being surrounded. America wants
to destroy us. The only thing they understand is force.”
So back to the question for Election Day: Which approach to
dealing with this newly threatening Russia makes the most sense? Many
analysts fear that Trump’s conciliatory words would be read in Moscow
as a sign of U.S.
exhaustion and feed new demands. Cybersecurity expert
Dmitri Alperovitch argued in a recent podcast with
War on the Rocks that if Moscow’s
covert meddling isn’t deterred, it’s “going to be played over and over again
across the globe.”
Clinton’s tougher stance
sounds like a better way to protect U.S. interests, so long as she
doesn’t make Putin feel humiliated or backed into a corner. This Russia is
weaker than it looks, but it has been wounded by recent history and is all too
ready to lash out.
Can Egypt's Brotherhood restore ties with Cairo?
Amr Mostafa/Al
Monitor/November 08/16
Dealing with facts is the only way to make logical
predictions, and the facts do not favor a reconciliation between the Egyptian regime and the
outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Don’t expect the Egyptian regime to forgive or
forget the serious crimes of Muslim Brotherhood leaders, but there may be some
hope for youthful offenders. Since the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in 2013, the facts have never pointed toward a
potential compromise between the Brotherhood and the governments since then:
the transitional regime that was led by President Adly
Mansour, the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, or the
current regime headed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi,
elected in 2014. In fact, all the evidence points to the contrary. A
get-together hardly seems to be on the political horizon when one considers all
the reports compiled against Brotherhood leaders; their persecution; the
“dispersal” at Rabia al-Adawiya
Square in August 2013 — sometimes called Egypt’s Tiananmen Square; the
continuing crackdown on the Brotherhood’s funds and companies; and the
sentences issued against members.
The government’s Oct. 4 slaying of Brotherhood official
Mohamed Kamal forced observers and analysts to seek
real answers to citizens’ questions about how serious reconciliation attempts
are.
They didn’t have to wait long for input.
Egypt’s
Court of Cassation on Oct. 22 rejected an appeal of 20-year sentences against Morsi and some Brotherhood leaders in a case known as the Ittihadiya clashes. They had been found guilty of inciting
violence that led to the death of 10 people in 2012 and of detaining and
torturing protesters. The ruling was final and cannot be appealed. On Oct. 26,
the court upheld the 25-year prison sentences of Mohamed Badie,
the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, and 36 other leaders and members
for their roles in blocking the agricultural road of Qalyoub,
which was considered a terrorist crime. This ruling also was final and cannot
be further appealed. Every time politicians propose a reconciliation initiative
between the Brotherhood and the state, the Brotherhood insists that Morsi be returned to power as the “legitimate” president.
The demand is not realistic and it may even be stranger than fiction. On the
other hand, public and political figures have been focusing on getting the
jailed leaders and young members of the Muslim Brotherhood released. That
demand, especially regarding the leaders, has become harder since the final
appeals have been ruled on. Sisi mentioned the
questions regarding reconciliation with the Muslim Brotherhood when he
participated in the first round of the National Youth Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh on Oct. 27. “The decision to reconcile with
the Brotherhood is not mine alone to make, as it is also a decision for the
state,” Sisi said.
Yousry El-Ezbawy,
a researcher at Al-Ahram Center
for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, “The word 'state'
includes the political regime represented by a president, government, house of representatives, judiciary and the people. It is
impossible for a political regime to interfere by pressuring the judiciary to
amend provisions that were issued indicting leaders of the Brotherhood or
indicting the Brotherhood itself as a terrorist organization.”He
said that even if the current regime actively sought to reconcile with the Brotherhood,
it would not be able to as long as there were judicial sentences in place that
cannot be further appealed. Samir Ghattass,
a lawmaker and the head of the Middle East Center for Strategic Studies, told
Al-Monitor, “If we find that someone was not involved in a crime, they can
practice their life activities normally — including political ones — but not
under the title of the Brotherhood, a terrorist organization under the law.
Therefore, the word [reconciliation] does not exist, as the state does not
reconcile with terrorism or those indicted by the judiciary.”
Ghattass posed the rhetorical
question, “Could the state reconcile with [the Islamic State]?” Ezbawy did hold out a bit of hope, based on specific
situations and a flexible definition of “reconciliation.” If reconciliation
means releasing young people who are thought to have participated in protests
organized by the Brotherhood, “this is possible to discuss, as Sisi can pardon them on certain occasions,” he said. He
added, “Moreover, Sisi could interfere using his
constitutional right to reduce sentences issued against some leaders for
considerations of age or illness.” Such considerations can be made for all
prisoners, without a political basis. Also at the youth conference, Sisi pledged to form a committee from among the conference
youths to look into the cases of children remanded into custody in which no
criminal sentences have been issued. He promised that the committee’s reports
would be considered in the release process.
Does America matter
to the Arab world?
Khaled M. Batarfi/Al
Arabiya/November 08/16
When asked about the state of our relations with the United States of America,
I would assure my questioner that it is solid. Then I would qualify, “We have
had better days!” Our
85-year old partnership with the “Leader of the Free World” is not about to end
anytime soon. The bases are too vital and concrete to be affected by political
differences. Our partnership has started with oil business, but flew to higher
skies since then. Sheikh Abdullah Balkhair, who
worked with King Abdulaziz as a media secretary and
interpreter, related to me that once he attended an event hosted by US
officials. He conveyed to them how the king viewed our relations with America and Britain, “There are friends and
partners. Britain is a
friend and America
is an ally. When it comes to national interests, partners come ahead of
friends,” the king said.
Since the first meeting between the founder of Saudi Arabia and US President, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, in 1945, kings and presidents were building bridges between the two
peoples and nations. However, there comes a time in any relationship when
interests diverge, and each partner goes her own way. US blind support of Israel has always been a dividing
issue. So was the US
invasion of Iraq
(2003) and its policies there and toward the Syrian crisis. Hopefully, the new
administration, whether under Tramp or Clinton,
would be more aware and a better learner from historic lessons. The interests
of great nations are too important to gamble with
Disagreement over Iran
Today, we could add Iran right at the top of our
disagreements. Somehow, America
decided to repeat its historic misstep. Recently disclosed records showed that
the Carter’s administration and Britain
were secretly communicating with exiled Khomeini and in support of his
revolution. After paving the way for his victorious return to Tehran
in 1979 from Paris,
rewards for betraying their closest friend in the region, the Shah, had not
materialized. Within months, Iran
was screaming “Death to America,”
confiscating US interests and occupying its embassy for 444 days. President
Obama came up with the same pacifist massage President Carter sugarcoated his dirty politics with. He decided to bet on Iran against America’s
best friends, hoping for a more reliable, pragmatic partner, who would not
hesitate to serve US, Britain
and Israel’s
interests.
Shiite terrorists, as John Kerry put it to Syrian opposition
in a recent meeting, are not attacking us, but Sunnis are. Both president and
secretary of state seem to forget how it was like during the 1980s in Iran and
Lebanon, and why America had to withdraw from Beirut and pay hefty and
embarrassing ransoms (like the scandalous Iran Contra) to free hostages in both
countries. Hopefully,
the new administration, whether under Tramp or Clinton, would be more aware and a better
learner from historic lessons. The interests of great nations are too important
to gamble with. If you have to choose between solid old allies and newly-found
partners with criminal records, you should go for the most reliable and decent
choice. Not to mention, that betraying friends would force them to switch
camps. Old and new partners would learn not to trust you. No matter how strong
or big you think you are, time will come when you need
what only true friendship provides. Realpolitik and
interest-based relationships are not good enough to build lasting solid
alliances. Our
best option is to continue our political, military and economic
diversification. The US
would always be a friend and a partner. You cannot ignore “the” superpower of
the world. Our relationship is too intertwined and deeply rooted to be weakened
by current disagreements. Our interests on most fronts are mutual.
However, when you have a partner who thinks of your
relationship as a business deal, and is willing to sell your bond for the
highest bidder, you need options.
More solid partners and “safer,” higher yielding markets can
be found if we keep looking. In Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and Russia we may
find plenty of opportunities. But let’s start with our Arab and Muslim nations.
We should form a 1.5 billion-customer common market. Our Islamic military
alliance against terrorism could be upgraded to a NATO-like defense
pact. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation should activate all its agencies
and projects. We urgently need to set up the Islamic Court of Justice and put
other cultural, media and economic institutions under its umbrella.
The Gulf Cooperation Council and Arab League must do better
— and faster. The Arab Military Alliance can be made permanent. Allies like Morocco, Jordan
and “new” Yemen, should join the GCC as full or partial members in a GCC+
format.
Once we had developed our own capabilities and strengthened
our “reliable” alliances, we could say to those offering their mercenary
service: Thanks, but your presence is no longer needed! If you are not here to
protect your interests, you may as well leave — we could take care of our own!
**This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on
Nov. 08, 2016.
Will the Arabs ever
learn?
Khaled Almaeena/Al
Arabiya/November 08/16
In 24 hours Americans go to the polls and the new entrant to
the White House will be packing his or her personal belongings for a four-year
stay. Also in the next 24 hours, many Arabs will be sitting around their TV
screens or following on social media the course of events in America. This
is the most divisive election in American history and the focus is all on
domestic issues. However, this race that has tightened sharply and become wide
open is also of crucial importance to Arabs. You have Hillary Clinton who has
totally bowed down before the Israelis and has pandered to them in very undignified ways. She has made comments, such as her
intention of inviting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to be the first foreign
leader to visit her in the Oval Office. She has gone out of her way to confirm her support for a
government that occupies and suppresses, murders young children and practices
the worst form of apartheid. The latest revelations from WikiLeaks
expose her e-mails that show that she believes the destruction of Syria is beneficial to Israel. Since most Arabs lack
political education and do not do their own research to understand American
politics or do their own homework to be able to choose correctly who to ally
themselves with, they end up being disappointedز
She is also a woman who has had no qualms about crucifying those women
who accused her husband of rape. How will the Arabs deal with a woman who will
go to any extent to gain power? Arabs who think she will be good for them
should be warned that they are in for a big surprise.
Of no benefit
As for Trump, he too will not be of any benefit for the Arab
position. Naive and inexperienced, he will do what he thinks is best for
himself. After all, why should he be sympathetic to the Arabs when they
themselves are slitting each other’s throats. The
political chaos in the Middle East will make
him hesitant to step in. Therefore, the Arab world should not expect much from
either candidate. However,
the most dangerous is the woman with many faces: Hillary Clinton. But since
most Arabs lack political education and do not do their own research to
understand American politics or do their own homework to be able to choose
correctly who to ally themselves with, they end up being disappointed and let
down. Will the Arabs ever learn?
**This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on
Nov. 06, 2016.
US Elections: Why Iran could prefer Trump over Clinton
Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al
Arabiya/November 08/16
The day of the US presidential election is upon us
and although Super Tuesday took place during the primaries, this is a “super”
Tuesday indeed. November
8, 2016 will mark a significant shift in US politics and will also impact the
world – the election will have consequences for everyone, everywhere. The close race
between Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald
Trump not only confused Americans but also the people of the Middle
East who are not sure what they will wake up to on Wednesday
morning. Iran has made a point of commenting on the US election,
with President Hassan Rowhani recently stating that
the choice came down to bad and worse. Then came the supreme leader’s turn to
make his thoughts known. Ayatollah Khamenei chose not
to mention the candidates by name, rather arrogantly. He instead referred to
them by their gender and called “the man” more honest than the other candidate.
Speaking to a crowd who had gathered to mark 38 years since the occupation of
the US embassy in Tehran on November 4, the supreme leader criticized the
presidential election in the US by saying “the remarks made by these two U.S.
presidential candidates over the last few weeks on immoral issues — which are,
for most part, not baseless accusations — are enough to disgrace America.”
Some observers believe that political leaders in Tehran are more fearful of Clinton than Trump
Camelia Entekhabi-Fard
Observers have taken his remarks to mean he has more interest
in the Republican candidate despite Trump’s stated disillusionment with the
Iranian nuclear deal which he thinks is a bad deal for the US. Surprisingly, some
Iranian officials have repeated Trump’s negative reactions and praised him by
saying that the deal wasn’t a good deal, not even for the Iranians. Preparing themselves
for Trump? Khamenei said that people are paying more
attention to the male candidate “because the people look at what he says and
see it is true. They see it in the facts of their lives.”
Some observers believe that political leaders in Tehran are more fearful of Clinton
than Trump and see Trump as more open to negotiation than Clinton. These analysts say that Iran’s perceived lean toward the Republicans
stems from a fear of Clinton.
Perhaps human rights issues and Iran’s
controversial presence in Syria
and regional interferences are pushing the Iranian establishment to support
Trump. Complaining
about the implementation of the Iranian nuclear deal has become a staple of
Ayatollah Khamenei’s public speeches. In the past few
months, he has used all opportunities to express his frustration and
disappointment toward the nuclear accord and has called Americans
untrustworthy. Perhaps
in his view, the Americans are not to be trusted as the economic and political
benefits granted to Iran as
part of the deal have not yet been realized and the US
has not accepted Iran’s
adventures in the region.
Iranians are not worried about the fate of Iran’s
nuclear deal that was reached over a year ago for they know that the nuclear
accord is an international bond and is hard to dismiss by the next US president,
despite the difficulties he or she can cause over its implementation. What Iran has fears from the next US president is a lack of tolerance regarding Iran’s regional
adventures. The presence of Iran’s
Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria
and Iraq and Tehran’s support of the Houthis
in Yemen.
It seems that Hillary Clinton is not okay with such affairs and will address
the matter if she becomes the American president. But for the rest of the
region, they will be waiting to see how the next president deals with Iran and Syria. Tuesday November 8 is a
historical day on the US
calendar and whichever way the election goes, the outcome will be considered
phenomenal.