LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 07/16
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.october07.16.htm
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Bible
Quotations For Today
Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and
drunkenness and the worries of this life
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ
according to Saint Luke 21/34-38/:"‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not
weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and
that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all
who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you
may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to
stand before the Son of Man.’Every day he was teaching in the temple, and at
night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was
called. And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in
the temple."
The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil
and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world he was thrown down to the earth, and
his angels were thrown down with him.
Book of Revelation 12/01-12/:"A
great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon
under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and
was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth. Then another
portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,
and seven diadems on his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of
heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who
was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was
born. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations
with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his
throne; and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared
by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred and
sixty days.And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against
the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and
there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown
down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of
the whole world he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down
with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, ‘Now have come the
salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his
Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them
day and night before our God. But they have conquered him by the blood of the
Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in
the face of death. Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But
woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great
wrath, because he knows that his time is short!’"
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from
miscellaneous sources published on October 06-07/16
Tweets addressing failure of the Lebanese politicians & clergy/Elias Bejjani/October
06/16
Hizbullah’s Ploy for More Power in Lebanon/Katie Beiter/The Media Line/October
06/ 16
Aoun awaits blocs’ responses to his presidential bid/Hasan Lakkis/The Daily
Star/ October 06/16
Lebanon can't elect a president - but that's the least of our problems/Kareem
Chehayeb/Middle East Eye/October 06/016
Lebanon’s trash bin politics/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now Lebanon/October 06/16
The curious case of Huma Abedin (aide to Hillary Clinton) and her father/Huda
al-Saleh, AlArabiya.net/October 06/016
Antonio Guterres to be next UN Secretary General/Ismaeel Naar/Al Arabiya English
Thursday, October 06/16
Iranians see Trump as dangerous — but to Iran or the US/Saeid Jafari/Al
Monitor/October 06/16
German economy minister gets himself in hot water in Iran/Misha Zand/Al
Monitor/October 06/16
Egyptian Regime Approves Church Construction Law, Satisfying Coptic Church;
Interfaith Conflict Continues/C. Meital/MEMRI/October 06/16
Who Will Take al-Bab/Fabrice Balanche/The Washington Institute/October 06/2016
Iran Shows Off Its Bounty of Crashed Drones and New UAVs/Farzin Nadimi/The
Washington Institute/October 06/016
Germany Imports Child Marriage/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/October 06/16
Can the new UN chief help resolve the Syrian crisis/Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/October
06/16
Why Sisi needs more implicit ‘walk-the-talk’ policies/Mohammed Nosseir/Al
Arabiya/October 06/16
JASTA, another nail in the coffin of US-GCC relations/Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al
Arabiya/October 06/16
False rumors and the future of conflict in Yemen/Mshari Al Thaydi/Al Arabiya/October
06/16
Titles
For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on October
06-07/16
Tweets addressing failure of the Lebanese politicians & clergy
Former Hezbollah leader slams group as US-Russia ‘pawns’
Rifi says Hariri's support for Aoun presidency would be a mistake
Salam Chairs Cabinet Meeting amid Partial Participation of FPM
Mustaqbal Lauds Bkirki Stance, Urges Election of President without
'Preconditions'
Israel Charges 7 Accused of 'Plotting Hizbullah Attacks'
Hariri Meets with British and Turkish Ambassadors
Zasypkin Says Moscow Ready to Help in Presidential File
Report: Intelligence Directorate Rearrests Sheikh al-Tarras
Germany Convicts 3 Lebanese of Supporting Syria Hardline Group
Azzi after cabinet session: To compensate farmers with LL5000 for every 20 kg
box of apples
Salam in Bared reconstruction meeting: Bared project message against takfiris
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs to visit Lebanon
Council of Ministers appoints Fouad Ayyoub LU President
Derbas, Miller hold joint press conference on Syrian displacement file
Hizbullah’s Ploy for More Power in Lebanon
Aoun awaits blocs’ responses to his presidential bid
Lebanon can't elect a president - but that's the least of our problems
Lebanon’s trash bin politics
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports
And News published on on
October 06-07/16
De Mistura Urges al-Nusra to Leave
Aleppo, Offers to Escort Them
Security Council Unanimously Backs Guterres to be Next U.N. Chief
Iranian regime’s participation in the killing of people in Aleppo
Millions in U.S. Told to Flee Hurricane, 108 Dead in Haiti
Hurricane Matthew could hit Florida as death toll rises to 140
Blast at Syria-Turkey border kills 29 rebels
UN will not accept another Rwanda in Aleppo
Assad offers rebels amnesty if they surrender Aleppo
Upset with Turkey, Iraq seeks Security Council session
Tit-for-tat: Saudi Arabia and Iran compare naval power
Blast in Istanbul caused by ‘motorbike bomb’, wounds five
Pakistan parliament passes legislation against ‘honor killings’
Norway seeks ban on burqas in the classroom
Saudi airstrikes kill dozens of militias near Jazan
Iran: Poor conditions of Zahedan prison and pressure on inmates
Iran: Financial Victims of a Company Related to Ministry of Agriculture Stage
Protest Gathering
Iran: On International Teacher's Day, the Education Ministry faculty protest
their dire living conditions
Links From Jihad Watch Site for on
October 06-07/16
Pakistan: Christian girl kidnapped, raped because family refused
to convert to Islam
New report: Islamic State recruits not driven by poverty, and above average in
education
Australia: Muslim migrant cabbie says “all Australian women are sluts and
deserve to be raped”
Shelbyville, Tennessee: Muslim shoots up three churches, says “Read the Qur’an”
Australia: Muslim preacher expelled for saying “global peace will only be
established when the last Jew is killed”
St. Louis-area Muslims post ‘HEY ISIS, YOU SUCK’ billboard
Germany: Fears of jihadi attack ruin Oktoberfest celebration
Al-Qaeda resurgent, plotting jihad massacres in UK and Europe
Saudis + Obama vs. 9/11 Families — on The Glazov Gang
Iraq PM to Erdogan: get out of Iraq or face possibility of regional war
Dress depicting planes flying into Twin Towers horrifies British shoppers
EU orders British press NOT to reveal when terrorists are Muslims
Links From Christian Today Site for on
October 06-07/16
Helping Haiti 'In Jesus' Name': Christian Groups Move In After
Hurricane Matthew Wreaks Havoc
Exclusive: Why Are There So Few Christian Refugees From Syria In The UK?
Pope And Archbishop Lament Culture Of Indifference, Waste And Hate
So Terrified Of Being Euthanized, Christian Grandmother Gets Herself A Tattoo
Evangelical Pastors Support Trump Over Hillary But Like 'Undecided' Best Of All
Pastor Lim's Church Begs For His Release From North Korea Jail
24/7 Prayer For Release Of Christian Asia Bibi From Death Row
How Christianity, Not Secularism,
Shaped The West
Latest Lebanese Related News published on on October
06-07/16
Tweets addressing failure of the
Lebanese politicians & clergy
Elias Bejjani/October
06/16
**Geagea and Al Hariri are ought to resign because they failed destroyed the
14th March Coalition. No fit for leadership
**Saad Al Hariri is a very nice person, but he is one of the worst politicians
in Lebanon. No vision, no leadership traits
**Lebanon's top notch politicians are a bunch of thieves, Mafioso, liars and
Trojans. No self respect, No Honour, No conscience
**The Maronite Bishops Council in Lebanon is derailed abandoning its holy
obligations and supporting the Iranian terrorist Hezbollah. No Faith
**Lebanese Maronite Bishops Council is keeping a blind eye on Hezbollah's
confiscating of the Maronites' & Maronite Church Land. No faith
**Geagea the LF leader has changed his skin and moved to the Iranian-Syrian
Axis. He is now advocating for the Axis's Puppet Aoun to be the president
Former
Hezbollah leader slams group as US-Russia ‘pawns’
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English, Thursday, 6 October 2016/Subhi al-Tufayli, the former leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese Shia militia
Hezbollah has slammed the group for its aggression in Syria. Hezbollah joined
the war in 2012 in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and has been a
key player in keeping the president in power.In a video that surfaced on the internet early this week, Tufayli called on
Hezbollah fighters in Aleppo to stop their involvement in the war. “If there is
anyone honorable among you [Hezbollah], then repent and reconsider,” he said,
“Do not be pawns serving the US and Russia.”Tufayli, who was the first leader of
Hezbollah from 1989 until 1991, accused the US and Russia of conspiring against
the children of Muslims. “Aleppo today is being destroyed like Berlin. Warplanes
never leave its skies, its children are bombed night and day,” Tufayli said. The
besieged east of Aleppo has come under intense aerial bombardment since a
cessation of hostilities brokered by the US and Moscow collapsed last month.
Russia launched its military operation in Syria last September to back up
long-time ally Bashar al-Assad to Western ire, helping to shore up the regime’s
embattled forces. Whereas the US and allies back the anti-regime Syrian Rebels.
“Whoever allies with these people, American or Russian, I swear to God, he is an
enemy,” Tufayli said.
Rifi says Hariri's
support for Aoun presidency would be a mistake
The Daily Star/October 06, 2016/BEIRUT: Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi
said that former Prime Minister Saad Hariri would be making a mistake if he
endorsed MP Michel Aoun for the presidency. In an interview with MTV Wednesday
night, Rifi said the Future Movement leader should not trust Aoun because he is
linked to the “Iranian project.”Rifi added that even Hariri’s presidential
candidate, Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh, is a copy of Syrian
President Bashar Assad. “The choices of Sleiman Frangieh and Michel Aoun are
strategic mistakes and are two sides of the same coin. [Hariri] needs to go back
to the principles...” he said, referring to the policies of the March 14 camp.
Although Hariri previously endorsed Frangieh earlier this year, recent meetings
with top Lebanese leaders suggest that he may be open to other options, such as
backing Aoun in his presidential bid. Rifi said that it was Interior Minister
Nouhad Machnouk and Hariri’s advisers, Ghattas Khoury and Nader Hariri, who were
to blame for leading the former premier to the “wrong choices.” The resigned
minister also commented on the recent dispute over Parliament Speaker Nabih
Berri’s package deal, saying that he backs Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai’s
objection to it. Last Sunday, the patriarch questioned the legality of
conditions that Berri’s package deal would set for the next president. “We will
not accept the package deal. [The presidency] needs to be based on the
constitution and have full prerogatives,” he said.
The package proposal calls for the election of a president, an agreement on a
new voting system and the formation of a new government.
Salam Chairs Cabinet Meeting amid
Partial Participation of FPM
Naharnet/October 06/16/Prime Minister Tammam Salam chaired a cabinet meeting on
Thursday at the Grand Serail, where the ministers discussed the agenda's items
that have been pending since the last session two weeks ago. The session
witnessed a hot debate between the ministers over the thorny issue of
appointments. It convened in the absence of the Free Patriotic Movement minister
Jebran Bassil, who is boycotting the meeting, Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon,
Economy Minister Alain Hakim, Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi and
Information Minister Ramzi Jreij. However, the FPM Minister of Education Elias
Bou Saab and Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian attended the meeting. Salam
adjourned the session after around 90 minutes when a dispute erupted between the
ministers over the thorny issue of appointments. But the PM soon resumed the
meeting after a quarrel between Bou Saab and another minister whose name was not
disclosed. The ministers agreed to appoint Fouad Ayoub as president of the
Lebanese University, and Abdullah Ahmed as Director General of the Ministry of
Social Affairs. Before he joined the interlocutors, Bou Saab said: “Minister
Bassil is not going to attend the meeting, and this has great connotations. We
are participating today because there are some positive atmospheres in the
country. This session is a test for the positions and how we are going to be
dealt with.”Ahead of the meeting, Minister of Social Affairs Rachid Derbas said:
“Some appointments might be made during the session.”For his part, Interior
Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq said it is “unlikely to agree on major issues
including the appointments.”Hizbullah Minister of Administrative Development
Mohammed Fneish said: “Because we are keen not to obstruct, Hizbullah decided to
participate in the cabinet meeting,” as he highlighted the necessity not to
discuss controversial issues.
Mustaqbal Lauds Bkirki
Stance, Urges Election of President without 'Preconditions'
Naharnet/October 06/16/Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Thursday hailed the
latest stance of the Council of Maronite Bishops regarding the presidency and
the Constitution, calling for the election of a president “without any
preconditions.”“The bloc welcomed the call that was issued by the Council of
Maronite Bishops yesterday, especially as to the need to abide by the
Constitution and its stipulations, and the importance of electing a president
who can unite the Lebanese and achieve national reconciliation,” said the bloc
in a statement issued after a Center House meeting chaired by ex-PM Saad Hariri.
“The presidential post has been vacant for around two and a half years now due
to the wrongful, obstructive stance of Hizbullah and its allies, which it is
imposing on the Lebanese in a manner that contradicts with the Constitution's
stipulations and the Lebanese democratic parliamentary system,” Mustaqbal added.
It also reiterated that “the return to respecting the Constitution is the main
and only way to activate the work of state institutions, starting by the
election of a president without any preconditions or restrictions.”In a
statement that was issued after a Bkirki meeting on Wednesday, the Council of
Maronite Bishops stressed that “no preconditions should be imposed on the
president” and endorsed an earlier statement by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi,
who warned that any candidate who accepts a so-called “package deal” would be
lacking “dignity.”Speaker Nabih Berri has recently called for a package deal
involving agreements on the electoral law and the next government, warning that
“we would be crucifying any elected president” without an agreement on such a
package deal, “especially regarding the electoral law.”Hariri's recent return to
Lebanon has triggered a flurry of rumors and media reports about a possible
presidential settlement and the possibility that the former premier has finally
decided to endorse Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun for the
presidency in a bid to break the deadlock. Lebanon has been without a president
since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change
and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's
electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Hariri, who is close to
Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement
chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with
reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The
supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than
Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his
bigger influence in the Christian community.
Israel Charges 7 Accused of
'Plotting Hizbullah Attacks'
Naharnet/October 06/16/Israel has charged seven residents of a divided border
village of spying for Hizbullah, Israeli police said Thursday. The seven
suspects were arrested last month after a bag containing explosive devices was
discovered near the town of Metulla in northern Israel, police said. They were
accused of spying for Hizbullah, contact with foreign agents and trafficking
weapons and drugs, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Israel's public radio said a
Hizbullah member had allegedly ordered the suspects to carry out bomb attacks in
the northern Israeli city of Haifa. After an Israeli withdrawal from southern
Lebanon in 2000, the United Nations drew up a blue line in the disputed border
region between the two countries. The line divided the village of Ghajar, with
its northern part falling inside Lebanon and the south becoming part of the
Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Ghajar's residents are Alawite Muslims of Syrian
origin.
Hariri Meets with British and
Turkish Ambassadors
Naharnet/October 06/16/Former prime minister Saad Hariri held talks Thursday at
the Center House with British Ambassador to Lebanon Hugo Shorter, the ex-PM's
office said. The two men discussed “the latest developments,” the office added.
Hariri also met Thursday with the Turkish Ambassador, Cagatay Erciyes, who said
that he held “fruitful talks” with the ex-premier that tackled the situation in
Lebanon and the region. The former premier had on Tuesday held talks with
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Hariri told Lavrov that he has
made “several initiatives to end the presidential vacuum in Lebanon” but
lamented that “Hizbullah is the main party that is blocking the solutions.”
Hariri's recent return to Lebanon has triggered a flurry of rumors and media
reports about a possible presidential settlement and the possibility that the
former premier has finally decided to endorse Free Patriotic Movement founder MP
Michel Aoun for the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock. Lebanon has been
without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and
Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been
boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed
quorum. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late
2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency
but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian
parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue
that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of
his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
Zasypkin Says Moscow Ready to
Help in Presidential File
Naharnet/October 06/16/Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin has
announced that his country is willing to help the Lebanese in the stalled
presidential file. “We are ready to help the Lebanese in the presidential file,
but without interfering in the domestic affairs,” Zasypkin told al-Joumhouria
newspaper in remarks published Thursday. Ex-PM Saad Hariri's latest presidential
drive is aimed at “breaking the deadlock and seeking a way out of the dilemma,”
the ambassador said, referring to Hariri's recent return to Lebanon and his
latest meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. “It would
not be beneficial to talk optimistically or pessimistically about Hariri's
efforts, but we must exert efforts within our jurisdiction. Consensus among the
Lebanese is needed and we would accept anything that the Lebanese would accept,”
Zasypkin added. Hariri's return to Lebanon has triggered a flurry of rumors and
media reports about a possible presidential settlement and the possibility that
the former premier has finally decided to endorse Free Patriotic Movement
founder MP Michel Aoun for the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock.
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in
May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies
have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the
needed quorum. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in
late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the
presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main
Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential
bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the
size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian
community.
Report: Intelligence
Directorate Rearrests Sheikh al-Tarras
Naharnet/October 06/16/State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Hani al-Hajjar
has given the orders to rearrest Sheikh Bassam al-Tarras, who was briefly held
and then released before Eid al-Adha, in the case of the Ksara bombing that
rocked the city of Zahle in August, al-Akhbar daily reported on Thursday. In
September, the General Security held Sheikh al-Tarras in accusations of meeting
Islamic State members and the attack's mastermind during a visit to Turkey. Last
month, the General Security busted a terrorist cell that comprises Lebanese and
Syrian nationals was receiving instructions and logistic support from the
Turkey-based Lebanese fugitive Mohammed Qassem al-Ahmed, aka Abou al-Baraa. Abou
al-Baraa's real identity was unveiled by Tarras during interrogation. Tarras had
met in “Turkey's Lares area with Abou al-Baraa, the Lebanese A. M. Gh. who is
currently in custody, and the Turkey-based Lebanese national B. A. Kh, a General
Security statement had said. The four men held their meeting in an apartment
owned by the Syrian M. H. R., aka Abou Alaa, who is wanted in several terror
cases. The busted cell was operating in the Bekaa region and its activities
involved recruiting members for Syria-based terrorist groups, providing
bomb-making material, and surveilling Lebanese regions with the aim of staging
bomb attacks. According to General Security, the cell was behind the August 31
Zahle bombing as well as the explosive device that was discovered on the
Saadnayel-Zahle road on May 6.
Germany Convicts 3 Lebanese
of Supporting Syria Hardline Group
Associated Press/Naharnet/October 06/16/A German court on Thursday convicted
four men who procured tens of thousands of euros worth of supplies for the
ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham group in Syria of supporting a terrorist
organization. Lebanese citizen Kassem El-R., 33, was sentenced to 3 and a half
years in prison by the Stuttgart state court. Hassan A.S., 30, also Lebanese,
32-year-old German-Lebanese dual citizen Ali F., and 50-year old German Nuran B.
received suspended sentences. Their last names weren't given in accordance with
German privacy rules. In 2013 and 2014, they provided the group with 7,500 boots
and 6,000 jackets and other goods worth 130,000 euros, procured through B.'s
army-surplus company in Amstetten and in a delivery organized by El-R. -- who
also provided five ambulances. Ahrar al-Sham is Syria's most powerful
non-jihadist rebel group, with a commanding presence in Idlib and Aleppo
provinces. It espouses a hardline Islamist ideology and works closely with
former al-Qaida affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front.
Azzi after cabinet session: To
compensate farmers with LL5000 for every 20 kg box of apples
Thu 06 Oct 2016 /NNA - The cabinet concluded a while ago its session presidied
over by Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail, with Acting Information
Minister Sejaan Azzi reading out the Cabinet's key decisions. Minister Azzi
announced that the government agreed to compensate LL5, 000 for every box of
apples weighing 20kg. The cabinet also approved a series of appointments. "It
approved the appointment of General Hatem Mallak as Army Chief of Staff, and
Fouad Ayoub as President of the Lebanese University," said Azzi. "Abdallah Ahmad
was appointed as the General Director of Ministry of Social Affairs. As for the
mandate of the Secretary General of National Council for Scientific Research,
Mouine Hamze, was extended for one year," he indicated.
Salam in Bared reconstruction
meeting: Bared project message against takfiris
Thu 06 Oct 2016/NNA - A
meeting was held Thursday among the donor countries for Nahr Al Bared
reconstruction project at the Grand Serail under the patronage of PM Tammam
Salam, with the latter saying that the accomplishment of said project would be a
message of never leaving the region for takfiri forces and sectarian tendencies
which terrorist Fatah Islam group had been their start. Salam called for
investing in Lebanese stability in order to accomplish the final step of the
project, as part of the respect of the Arab and international communities to
Palestinians.
Italian Minister of Foreign
Affairs to visit Lebanon
Thu 06 Oct 2016/NNA - The Italian Embassy in Beirut announces the visit to
Lebanon of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation, Paolo Gentiloni, on Friday October 7th, 2016. Minister Gentiloni
will meet with the President of the National Assembly, Speaker Nabih Berri, the
President of the Council of Ministers, Tammam Salam, and the Lebanese Minister
of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Gebran Bassil.Foreign Minister Gentiloni will
attend the evening ceremony for the inauguration of the National Museum basement
floor. A project to the realization of which Italy has contributed. A joint
press conference will follow the meeting with Minister Bassil.
Council of Ministers appoints
Fouad Ayyoub LU President
Thu 06 Oct 2016/NNA - The Council of Ministers appointed Dr Fouad Ayyoub as
President of the Lebanese University (LU) and Judge Abdullah Ahmad as the
Director General of the Ministry of Social Affairs. The Cabinet met on Thursday
in session, presided over by Prime Minister Tammam Salam, who called for
speeding up the election of the president of the republic as "the protector of
the Constitution and nation" notably at these critical circumstances. The
Council of Ministers also approved the appointment of Major General Hatem Malak
as Army Chief of Staff. Reading out Cabinet's key decisions, Acting Information
Minister Sejaan Azzi said that the Cabinet approved compensations to wheat and
apple farmers.Premier Salam hailed the resumption of the Cabinet's sessions to
address the State and people's affairs after a compulsory, unavoidable absence,
away from the rampant political ire in the country. Salam said that he attempted
to dissociate the Cabinet from the existing political polarizations yet not from
the national and political causes, out of his concern for the well-functioning
of the Cabinet's work. The Premier also briefed the Cabinet on the outcome of
his recent trip to New York.
Derbas, Miller hold joint
press conference on Syrian displacement file
Thu 06 Oct 2016/NNA - Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas held a joint press
conference with German Development Minister Girard Miller after a meeting
between the two at the Grand Serail mainly to tackle the Lebanese and German
Affairs, and the Syrian displacement issue. "This visit reflects the German
government's interest in the role played by Lebanon toward Syrians seeking
refuge. It also shows Germany's concern over Lebanon's burden and its
willingness to offer the necessary aid," Derbas said at the beginning of the
conference. Praising Germany's role in receiving Syrian refugees and in
providing assistance to host communities, Derbas said Premier Salam had met with
Miller and explained to him the policy of the Lebanese State, and "now I speak
in my name, and on behalf of the government when declaring my gratitude for the
German friendship interpreted by this most welcomed visit."In turn, Miller said
"The friendship between Lebanon and Germany dates several years, and I was
pleased to meet with the Prime Minister at the end of this tour in Lebanon. I
would like to highlight, in this regard, the efforts exerted to receive more
than one million Syrian refugees.""We will pursue this cooperation in accordance
with the commitments that we made at the London Conference," he pledged, hoping
to make deals with both Lebanon and Jordan in terms of refugees. "The stability
of Lebanon is an important goal for us, same as is preserving the religious and
political diversity and the sense of tolerance in the country. Electing a new
president of the republic is very important and holding parliamentary elections
next year also has its importance and this is what makes Lebanon interacting
with the crisis in the region," Miller said.
Hizbullah’s Ploy for More Power in
Lebanon
Katie Beiter/The Media Line/October 06/ 16
Lebanon’s parliament tries for the 45th time to elect a president
With a five-year civil war grinding on in next-door Syria and a flood or
refugees, coupled with high unemployment and growing debt, Lebanon is facing
increasing political instability. For more than two years, and despite dozens of
efforts, the Lebanese parliament has failed to elect a new president, who
according to Lebanon’s laws, must be a member of the Christian minority. “The
tone is pretty grim because we have two million refugees and the war in syria is
really affecting political instability,” Carmen Geha, an associate professor at
the American University in Beirut, told The Media Line. “One of the Lebanese
parties is actively fighting within Syria and we have not had presidential
elections.”
She was referring to Hizbullah, the Shi’ite terrorist group, which has been
actively fighting in Syria on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Hizbullah also plays an important role in Lebanon, as both a political party and
a social welfare organization especially in south Lebanon. Critics say that
Hizbullah has been trying to delay presidential elections as it seeks electoral
reform that will give it more power. The parliament, whose term expired in 2013,
has postponed elections until 2017. And, there has been no President of Lebanon
for 28 months. “There is a lot of political activity going on in Lebanon right
now,” Hilal Khashan, chair of the department of political studies and public
administration at the American University in Beirut, told The Media Line. “But,
to tell you the truth, it is ungainly political activity because I don’t think
it will amount to much. I don’t think we are about to elect a new president.”
Lebanon has worked out a complicated system to include the three major religious
groups in the country in its political process: Shia Muslims, Sunni Muslims, and
Maronite Christians. The presidential position is reserved for a Maronite
Christian and he serves as both head of state and head of the armed forces;
however, this position has become more symbolic than political. The last
president of Lebanon, Michel Suleiman, left office in May 2014. Since then, the
parliament has failed to replace him over 40 times. Currently, the most
prominent presidential contender is Michel Aoun, founder of the Free Patriotic
Movement. In 2006, Aoun and Hizbullah created an alliance to diminish the power
of Sunni Muslims in the country. Since then, analysts say, Hizbullah has
remained aligned with Aoun so as not to be seen as an extremist party.
According to Khashan, Hizbullah wants to be on good terms with Aoun but it does
not want him becoming president because it wants to push through electoral
change that would give Hizbullah more power. Politically, there are currently
two “package deals” in the country. The first is an agreement between
Presidential candidate Michel Aoun and ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri to support
each other. “Aoun has made it obvious that if he is nominated by Hariri (to be
president), he would help enable Hariri to become prime minister. Essentially,
you help me become president and I help you become Prime Minister again,”
Khashan said. “(They are) two men who are desperate for political office.”
Hariri, who had campaigned to nominate Marada Movement Chief Suleiman Franjieh
as president in 2015, recently returned from a two month jaunt to Europe and
Saudi Arabia. In an effort to move past this political impasse, parliamentary
speaker, Nabih Berri, who also heads the Shia Amal Movement, allied with
Hizbullah, proposed another “package deal.” This proposal is Hizbullah’s way of
sabotaging the first “package deal” and stopping the election of Michel Aoun as
president, who they support in public but not in private. While this deal
seemingly resolves the issue of the president, shortens the term of parliament
and fixes the electoral law in the country, analysts believe that this “deal” is
actually a disguise to create a new constituent assembly dominated by Hizbullah.
While the country is facing mounting political instability, the five-year civil
war in Syria continues and unemployment has risen. In many cases, Syrian
refugees are willing to work for much lower wages than Lebanese nationals.
“Lebanon seems to be more subordinated and is very much impacted by the Syrian
conflict,” Tamarice Soukhoury, an assistant professor and the associate director
of conflict resolution at the American University in Beirut, told The Media
Line.
The dominant concerns in the country are about containing ISIS radicalization
and finding a solution to the Syrian conflict, which has left Lebanon with some
1.5 million documented refugees. As a small country, Lebanon has long been
affected by its neighbors.
“There is an overarching feeling that for Lebanon, it all depends on what
happens in the region and what will happen in Syria and Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Maybe in the past they could have talked about the predominance of power but now
it is about what will happen in the region,” Tamarice Soukhoury said.
**Katie Beiter is a student journalist at The Media Line
Aoun awaits
blocs’ responses to his presidential bid
Hasan Lakkis/The Daily Star/ October 06/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/10/06/hasan-lakkisthe-daily-star-aoun-awaits-blocs-responses-to-his-presidential-bid/
Now that MP Michel Aoun has presented himself as a Christian leader and a
serious candidate for the presidency, the heads of various political blocs must
assess his position and take a decision either to elect him as a head of state,
or to return to the labyrinth of “rumors and gossip” that has dominated the
presidential election issue for more than two and a half years, political
sources say. Parliamentary sources sympathetic with Aoun, the founder of the
Free Patriotic Movement, described as “big” the reassurances he made to various
blocs during a wide-ranging interview with the FPM-affiliated OTV station
Tuesday night.
Aoun has also provided the required clarifications on the country’ security, the
Taif Accord and Hezbollah’s arms, as part of his public commitment to the
people, politicians and officials, the sources said.
With regard to other demands, such as the distribution of ministerial
portfolios, Lebanon’s offshore oil and gas reserves, and administrative
appointments, Aoun has not made any commitment, at least publicly, but this
might happen behind the scene if he decided to make such a commitment, the
sources added.
Concerning Aoun’s strained ties with Speaker Nabih Berri and other parties that
oppose his presidential bid, the sources could not confirm that this problem
could be solved, particularly in the case with Berri that has a personal nature.
In the OTV interview, Aoun did not want to embarrass Hezbollah, but left the
door open to party leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah to use Aoun’s remarks in the TV
interview in a positive way in his contacts and consultations with the
Parliament speaker, even though Berri wanted a commitment from the party that
the FPM founder would not bother him if he became a president, the sources said.
Berri, who staunchly opposes Aoun for president, is backing Aoun’s rival, Marada
Movement leader MP Sleiman Frangieh, who also has the support of former Prime
Minister Saad Hariri, MP Walid Jumblatt and some independent lawmakers.
Aoun said in the OTV interview that relations with Berri “should be good. There
is no dispute between us in politics.”
The same sources saw no difficulty in Jumblatt being convinced of Aoun’s option
for president if he became sure that Hariri has finally decided to go with this
option.
However, parliamentary sources in the Future Movement said that the picture
which Aoun presented during the OTV interview signaling that Hariri had reached
an understanding with him over the presidential election is not accurate.
The sources said that former MP Mustafa Alloush, a senior Future official,
reflected this situation when he said that although a number of the movement’s
MPs gave Hariri freedom of decision, 80 percent who have been polled within the
Future Movement’s public have rejected Aoun’s option for president.
While Aoun struck an upbeat note about the presidential election, hinting that
his “positive” meeting with Hariri last week might eventually lead the Future
Movement to support his bid for the country’s top Christian post, Berri was
quoted as saying by visitors that the head of the Future Movement is still
endorsing Frangieh’s candidacy. Perhaps, the obstacle facing Aoun’s bid for the
presidency which a number of leaders, particularly Berri, fear is that Aoun, if
elected president, would be the first head of state since the 1989 Taif Accord
who enjoys a weighty parliamentary bloc and that this bloc might increase its
size if the current understanding between the FPM and the Lebanese Forces
endures, political sources said. With regard to the attitudes of Arab and
foreign countries that exert influence in the presidential election, mystery
still reigns. There is no public indication that any of these countries is
siding with any of the two main rival candidates: Aoun and Frangieh. But it
appears that there is no longer any public veto on Aoun as was the case at the
beginning of the presidential race in May 2014, when former President Michel
Sleiman’s six-year term ended.
Yet, the ambiguity over the presidential election can only be cleared by Hariri’s final stance following his return to Beirut from visits to Riyadh and Moscow.
Lebanon can't
elect a president - but that's the least of our problems
Kareem Chehayeb/Middle East Eye/ October 06/016
Lebanese president, Michael Aoun, Hezbollah, Free Patriotic Movement, civil war,
Syria
Show comments
Would another cog in the feudal-mafia machine of Lebanese politics do the people
any good?
The presidential seat at Lebanon’s Baabda Palace has been vacant since 24 May
2014.
As parliament has failed time and again to have a fruitful session regarding the
president, the political vacuum has always been part of the discussion since
then. The political vacuum has become the butt of jokes among residents in
Lebanon, who still laugh at the fact that it took less time for Brazil to bring
in a Lebanese president. It has become the butt of jokes among residents in
Lebanon, who still laugh at the fact that it took less time for Brazil to bring
in a Lebanese president. It has been used as an excuse for almost all of
Lebanon’s problems by the corrupt establishment - even the garbage crisis.
And major news outlets around the world always find a way to plug in this
entertaining fact in almost every story about Lebanon. But here’s a reality
check: ending that presidential void won’t solve any problems. In fact, over the
past two years, it’s been business as usual in Lebanon.
Don’t judge a book by its cover
All it takes is a good look at Lebanon’s constitution, most recently amended in
1989 as part of the Taif Agreement, ending a brutal 15-year long civil war.
Lebanon’s three most powerful seats in government belong to the speaker of
parliament, prime minister and president. While the constitution does not state
that incumbents must belong to certain sects, the National Pact, a verbal
agreement made in 1943 between multi-confessional leaders, allocated key
positions in government and the military to different sects, notably a Maronite
Christian president, a Sunni Muslim prime minister, and Shia Muslim speaker of
parliament.
Tammam Salam, then prime minister, shakes hands with Saad Hariri in Beirut (AA)
Today, the president is the least powerful among the three, and is best
described as a subordinate. The official website of the Lebanese presidency
explicitly states what they call “prerogatives” of the head of state, the vast
majority of which are mere advisory roles, require the consent of the prime
minister or speaker of parliament.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam is currently Lebanon’s acting president, and there
has been no evidence that his power has increased in his new role.
Even the president’s most significant role, the appointment of a prime minister,
cannot be done without the advice of the speaker of parliament. This so-called
consultancy truly puts it lightly given that the current speaker of parliament,
Nabih Berri, has held that position since 1992 alongside his leadership of the
Amal Movement, and is one of Lebanon’s most powerful politicians. None of the
presidents elected after the civil war ended have come close to his power and
influence.
Let’s look at the last two presidents, former military generals Michel Suleiman
and Emile Lahoud. Suleiman was a consensus candidate: he was elected to end a
previous vacuum as a result of constant rifts between Lebanon’s March 14 and
March 8 factions. Lahoud’s decisions were all made with the approval of Syria,
which at the time occupied Lebanon.
Things could actually get worse with a president
Lebanon’s political establishment decides on a president through parliament, the
only national government branch elected directly by the people – the same one
that has been illegally extending its terms since 2013. So it would not be
farfetched to think that having a president has the potential of making things
worse.The most obvious example of a president who made the country worse is
Emile Lahoud, who illegally extended his term by three years, with help and
influence from the Syrian government, despite it being unconstitutional.
And given the sway of foreign financiers over the Lebanese establishment, a
collection of civil war-era political entities in suits, many candidates to fill
the void wouldn't necessarily improve the situation.
While no army formally occupies Lebanon, excluding the Shebaa Farms occupied by
Israel, the country’s political establishment is still heavily reliant on
foreign aid from regional countries and major powers, from the United States to
Russia, from Saudi Arabia to Iran.
A recent example is Saudi Arabia pressuring Lebanon to weaken ties with Iran and
to take a harsher stance on Hezbollah’s role in Syria by repealing a promised
$3bn injection of military aid via French weapons. A further $1bn that was
promised for Lebanon’s police, the Internal Security Forces (ISF), would have
been revoked as well, but that aid was already given.
Despite Lebanon’s plethora of security concerns, the ISF used their new riot
gear and weapons to viciously attack independent protesters throughout the
summer and fall of 2015 who opposed the entire political establishment.
Would another cog in the feudal-mafia machine of Lebanon really do the people
any good?
Meet Lebanon’s likely next president
Michel Aoun is not an exception in Lebanon’s establishment when it comes to wily
manoeuvring best described as a painful amalgam of feudalism and mafia-style
rule. It's there in his party’s structure, rhetoric and artful flip-flopping of
positions, as well as local and regional alliances.
Currently a member of parliament, Aoun was a military general, and towards the
end of the Lebanese civil war led a rebellion against the occupying Syrian army,
but was defeated and fled to France.
Fifteen years later - and less than two weeks after Syrian troops left Lebanon
after large-scale protests - he returned to Lebanon on 7 May 2005, only to
eventually sign a memorandum of understanding with Hezbollah and align his newly
formed political party, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), to the pro-Syria
March 8 alliance. Though he is still the main figure of the party, the de facto
leader of the FPM is Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, Aoun’s son-in-law.
Ever since the civil war, Aoun has both supported and quarrelled with Samir
Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces, another Christian political party. In
2005, Geagea was released from prison, and he and Aoun both spent the next
decade trying to become the next president. Back in 2008, the lack of compromise
played a role in temporarily reviving violence across Lebanon reminiscent of the
civil war - even Hezbollah was involved, temporarily occupying Beirut
neighbourhoods. An emergency Qatari-mediated agreement led to the election of
military general Michel Suleiman.
Even after Suleiman’s term ended, the rivalry continued between the two led to a
strange plot-twist, where Geagea and the Lebanese Forces endorsed Aoun as
president in the interest of Christian and national unity.
So what can we expect from Aoun? The former military general’s supporters chant
“God, Lebanon, and only Aoun” at his rallies, reminiscent of the idolisation of
Lebanon’s political elite in general. When Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil was
inducted as de facto leader of the FPM, he looked to Aoun during his speech and
said, “My comrades and I kneel before you…so you can bless me, as I nor anyone
else can replace you.”
The FPM takes a pro-Assad stance when it comes to the Syrian conflict. Despite
trying to portray themselves as more secular than other Christian parties in
Lebanon, Bassil often betrays the sectarian and racist ideology that mimics the
rest of the establishment.
Having called the refugee crisis a “threat to Lebanon’s identity”, he has also
recently stated at Lebanese diaspora conventions in the US that while he
supports the right for Lebanese women to pass their nationality to their
children, he would not include that right to those married to Palestinians and
Syrians.
Distraction from the real problems
If we set aside the vast majority of Lebanon’s issues, including the rubbish
crisis, the lack of adequate public services including healthcare, water,
electricity and education, which are rooted in the country’s neoliberal
post-civil war reconstruction project, there are still bigger fish to fry before
being remotely irked by the lack of a president.
Despite having never lived in the town of Aley, I am only eligible to vote for
candidates there and not in Beirut where I actually live
Lebanon’s only two forms of direct elections, parliamentary and municipal, have
archaic voting laws where people vote for candidates in their hometowns, not
places of residence. Despite having never lived in the town of Aley, I am only
eligible to vote for candidates there and not in Beirut where I actually live.
There is also a parliament that has been illegally extending its term over the
past three years, using security concerns as an excuse, despite the fact that
elections went on routinely during the civil war. When people took to the
streets, they were met with riot police and barricades.
Then there is the speaker of the parliament Nabih Berri who has held his
position since 1992. Perhaps there ought to be some term limits for both speaker
of parliament and prime minister. But, as expected, that has never been part of
the discussion.
Laws regarding many social issues do not exist in the form of a civic code,
including domestic violence, and go back purely to interpretation from
respective religious institutions. This has not been changed since Lebanon
followed the Millet System under the Ottoman Empire.
So why is the establishment making such a big deal out of the presidency
problem? Simple. It makes a good distraction for citizens whose distrust and
disillusionment of the establishment increases by the day. Right now, many want
to organise and get to the bottom of these problems, and the last thing the
Lebanese elite would want is for the media to focus on how they’re profiting off
a failed state.
- Kareem Chehayeb is a Lebanese writer and musician based in Beirut. He is the
co-founder of Beirut Syndrome, a grassroots media platform. You can follow him
on Twitter @chehayebk
Lebanon’s trash
bin politics
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now Lebanon/October 06/16
A basket deal to solve the presidential impasse would benefit the country’s
tribal chieftains while continuing to ignore the welfare of ordinary citizens
Haggling and disagreements over new spoils, masquerading as negotiations over
the presidential election, dominated Lebanon’s political scene over the past
week.
As characteristic of Lebanese politics, the vote for a new president is a
contest between tribal chiefs. The process is always disconnected from actual
governance. Other than “restoring Christian rights” or “recognizing Shiite
demographic increase and political ascendance,” the presidential election has no
relevance to the country’s needs, its resources, or how to match the two.
Lebanese politicians are often consumed by their meaningless squabbling and
start behaving as if the general public is raptly following their petty
proposals and counterproposals, the most recent of which was Speaker Nabih
Berri’s “basket” offer to presidential candidate Michel Aoun. In Lebanese
political lingo, basket means a series of deals, stricken all at once. In this
case, Berri — who has been singlehandedly obstructing Aoun’s election — agrees
to support Aoun to become president, only if Aoun agrees to later steps. That
is, before Aoun becomes president, he has to agree to the selection of a prime
minister, the choice of parliamentary election law and other concessions.
While “other concessions” required of Aoun might include some form of
constitutional amendment in favor of the Shiites, and perhaps agreeing to share
any potential revenue from Lebanon’s to-be-explored gas reserves, Aoun has
pushed back, trying to argue that it is unconstitutional to slap preconditions
on the election of a president.
Needless to say, Aoun ignores the fact that — over the past decade — he has set
a series of conditions at almost every step that he or his parliamentary and
ministerial blocs took. Aoun’s ministers never attend cabinet meetings without
having determined the outcomes of the meeting beforehand. Aoun’s parliamentary
bloc has skipped close to 50 parliamentary sessions for the election of a
president, so long as the result of the election is not in favor of Aoun for
presidency. When confronted with constitutional mandates of attending
parliamentary sessions dedicated to presidential election, Aoun and his bloc
often countered by reverting to the National Pact, which in their minds is
violated if Aoun is not elected president. Hence, to Aoun, the so-called pact
trumps the constitution.
Lebanon’s presidential bickering is not only silly and irrelevant to the lives
and interests of the Lebanese, there is no reason why Lebanese politicians
should have blown it out of proportion.
To put things in perspective, consider that while Lebanon’s chief executive
presides over a country of five million people and an annual budget of $10
billion, the mayor of New York runs a city with 10 million residents and a
yearly budget of $58 billion.
If electing Aoun president, along with a series of compromises known as the
basket, help break Lebanon’s political impasse, then let it be. The problem is,
with or without Aoun in Baabda, and with or without compromises, the Lebanese
state will continue to be a failing one. Lebanon’s failure is structural, and
cannot be rectified by redistributing state positions to the same old oligarchs.
For Lebanon to dig itself out of the hole it lives in, politics will have to
reflect the interests of its people. Presidential election, and the ensuing
prime ministerial and cabinet appointments, will have to be connected to the
nation’s problems and how to solve them.
Modernizing Lebanon’s politics by connecting them to reality requires upgrading
the underlying sociopolitical culture. This seems impossible given the ease with
which Lebanon’s oligarchs can agitate the majority of the Lebanese by simply
reverting to sectarian fear mongering.
As long as Lebanon’s sociopolitical culture cannot sustain modern politics, all
sorts of Lebanese elections — presidential, parliamentary or municipal — will
remain irrelevant to the welfare of the country and the interest of its
citizens.
And as long as Lebanon’s political terminology includes words like basket, which
in Arabic can also mean a trash bin, the country will keep living in the piles
of garbage that it has been for two years now. Unfortunately, Lebanon has become
a dumpster, and its political lingo reflects just that. Maybe if the current
political brass is trashed altogether, another generation of leaders might
emerge with slightly less trashy lingo and ideas. Until then, the Lebanese can
only watch and try to keep their cool.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on October 06-07/16
De Mistura Urges al-Nusra to Leave
Aleppo, Offers to Escort Them
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 06/16/The U.N.'s Syria envoy on Thursday
made an impassioned appeal to save eastern Aleppo, warning the city faced total
destruction and urging Islamist fighters to leave so civilians can get aid. "In
maximum two months, two and half months the city of eastern Aleppo may be
totally destroyed", Staffan de Mistura told reporters in Geneva. The rebel-held
eastern part of Aleppo has been hammered by a Russian-backed government
offensive, including multiple attacks on hospitals. De Mistura noted that the
presence of al-Nusra fighters in the city has been used as a justification by
Moscow and Damascus for the continued assault. The former al-Nusra Front has
recently changed its name to Fateh al-Sham Front following a break with
al-Qaida, but many still see the two groups as tied. "Can you please look at my
eyes", de Mistura said in a direct appeal to Nusra leaders, before pleading with
them to quit Aleppo. "If you decide to leave with dignity... I am personally
ready to physically accompany you," the U.N. envoy said. The U.N. estimates that
275,000 civilians are under siege in east Aleppo, with aid deliveries all but
impossible since government forces seized the last supply route in July.
Security Council Unanimously
Backs Guterres to be Next U.N. Chief
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 06/16/The Security Council on Thursday
unanimously backed Antonio Guterres, the former prime minister of Portugal who
was the UN's refugee chief for a decade, to be the next secretary-general. The
15 council members adopted a resolution formally presenting Guterres as their
choice to be the world's new diplomat-in-chief and requesting that the General
Assembly endorse him. Applause rang out during the closed-door meeting as the
council recommended Guterres for a five-year term from January 1, diplomats at
the session told AFP.
Speaking in Lisbon after the vote, Guterres expressed gratitude and pledged to
work with "humility" to serve "those that are most vulnerable" in the world. "To
describe what I feel at the present moment two words are sufficient: gratitude
and humility," he said in remarks delivered in English, French, Portuguese and
Spanish. The 67-year-old politician pledge to serve especially "those that are
most vulnerable: the victims of conflict, of terrorism, the victims of the
violation of rights, the victims of poverty and injustices." The General
Assembly's 193 member-states are set to vote next Thursday on endorsing Guterres
as the successor to Ban Ki-moon, the former South Korean foreign minister who
steps down after two five-year terms on December 31.Guterres will become the
ninth secretary-general of the United Nations, but the first who has served as a
former head of government. The unanimous backing followed an informal vote on
Wednesday during which 13 of the 15 members supported his candidacy and none of
the five veto-holding permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and
the United States --blocked him. Speaking in Rome, Ban hailed Guterres as a
"superb choice," saying that "his wide knowledge of world affairs and lively
intellect will serve him well in leading the U.N. in a critical period."The
outcome however confounded some U.N. diplomats who did not expect such an
outspoken candidate with strong political experience to win support from the
five permanent council members.
Speaks his mind
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, this month's council president, told
reporters after the vote that Guterres was a "great choice."As U.N. high
commissioner for refugees, a post he held until December, Guterres traveled the
world and saw "some of the most gruesome conflicts we have to deal with," he
said. Churkin cited his experience as prime minister and described him as "a
person who talks to everybody, speaks his mind, a very outgoing, open
person."Guterres will inherit "some of the most complicated challenges to peace,
security, human rights and development that the world has known," said U.S.
Ambassador Samantha Power . The war in Syria, now its sixth year, has raged on
as the council has been bogged down in deep divisions between Russia, which
backs President Bashar Assad, and Western powers supporting opposition rebels.
With a record 65 million people displaced globally, the United Nations has been
struggling to provide humanitarian aid and ensure that the rights of refugees
are protected. Peacekeeping operations, at the heart of the United Nations's
mandate, have been clouded by a string of allegations of sexual abuse by the
blue helmets sent to protect civilians in Africa.
Ukrainian Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko said Guterres must "return leadership
to the United Nations" to address so many urgent crises. "The role of the U.N.
has never been as important as it is today and for that Mr Guterres is the right
leader," said Ambassador Francois Delattre of France, which strongly backed
Guterres throughout his campaign.
More women at the U.N.?
Guterres, a socialist who served as Portuguese prime minister from 1995 to 2002,
won the number-one spot in all of the informal votes held by the Security
Council. There were 13 candidates in the race, two of whom dropped out,
including seven women who stepped into the fray amid calls from civil society
and some countries for a woman to take the top post for the first time, after
eight men. uterres has promised to ensure gender parity at the United Nations --
a tall order given that women currently hold only 25 percent of its senior
leadership positions. Expectations are that a woman will be appointed to be the
U.N.'s number two, its deputy secretary-general. With the arrival of a new
secretary-general, the world body is headed for a shakeup of its top positions,
which have traditionally been held by nationals from the powerful countries on
the Security Council. Churkin on Thursday addressed speculation that Russia had
traded its support for Guterres in exchange for a Russian-backed appointee to a
plum post, possibly as head of the U.N.'s political affairs department. "There
were no under-the-table deals," he said. "There were questions asked. No direct
promises given."
Iranian regime’s participation in the killing of people in Aleppo
Thursday, 06 October 2016/NCRI
- In an exclusive interview with ‘Simaye Azadi’, Iran Resistance National
Television, Dr. Riyad Nassan Agha, the Syrian Opposition High Negotiations
Committee spokesman, criticized the inaction of the international community
regarding the crimes committed by Assad regime as well as the Iranian regime and
stressed the solidarity of Syrian opposition with Iranian resistance. He said:
“humankind is witnessing an unprecedented crime against humanity in Aleppo. But
the sad thing is the Iranian regime’s participation in the killing of the people
in Aleppo. This regime has participated in the killing of a lot of Syrian people
in the past as well, and is supporting an authoritarian and dictatorial regime.
Iran’s armed forces are fighting in the front line in Aleppo. So, the Syrians
are witnessing the occupation of their land by the Iranian regime. Dr. Riyad
Nassan Agha added: “the leaders of the Iranian regime are the enemies of Arab
people and of Islam. They only pretend to be Muslims.”On the situation in
Aleppo, the Syrian Opposition High Negotiations Committee spokesman said: “the
most dangerous weapons are being used in Aleppo and the city is under the
heaviest bombardments. People are killed under the rubble of their houses. Some
stay alive under the rubble but there’s no means to rescue them.”Regarding the
solidarity of the Syrian revolutionaries and the Iranian resistance, the Syrian
Opposition High Negotiations Committee spokesman said in his interview with
Simaye-Azadi: “we have very good relations with the Iranian resistance since the
resistance has a humane viewpoint which doesn’t accept that Iran be a
threatening force for its neighbors. We have a long-standing relationship with
this opposition. Since the Syrian revolution was formed, our friends in Iranian
opposition stood by our side. In fact, we are by their side, too. Both the
Syrian opposition and the Iranian opposition will take this pain and suffering
to a great relationship in the future. May God prevail the Iranian opposition as
well as the Syrian opposition so that a great and healthy relationship be formed
between Syria and the Iranian people.
Millions in U.S. Told to Flee
Hurricane, 108 Dead in Haiti
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October
06/16
Some three million people on the U.S. southeast coast faced urgent evacuation
Thursday as monstrous Hurricane Matthew -- now blamed for more than 100 deaths
in Haiti alone -- bore down for a direct hit on Florida. President Barack Obama
declared a federal state of emergency in Florida, as highways there and in
neighboring states clogged up with people streaming inland to escape the storm
blasting its way through the Caribbean. Officials warned the Category Four
hurricane will be ferocious and dangerous: beach-eroding waves as tall as two
story buildings and winds strong enough to snap trees and blow away roofs or
entire houses.Poor and vulnerable Haiti remained essentially cut in half two
days after Matthew hit. Interior Minister Francois Anick Joseph said at least
108 Haitians have died, with 50 killed in a single town in the south where the
coastline was described as wrecked. In its latest target, the storm slammed the
Bahamas Thursday, blowing off roofs, downing trees and knocking out power.
Weather forecasters working out of Nassau airport had to flee for their lives. A
hotel employee in Nassau described the whole glass entrance of the building
being blown in by fierce 100 mph (160 km) winds."You could see the wind was
pushing it and pushing it, and it was shaking," said the woman, who asked not to
be named. "I screamed out as it shattered in the lobby." One resident living
southeast of Nassau took to Facebook to plead for emergency rescue. "Help!"
Tamico Gilbert posted shortly before noon. "Water over bed now.
"I'm on a chest of drawers. Phone battery low." Matthew was forecast to be very
near or over the east central coast of Florida Thursday night or early Friday.
As US gas stations ran dry, frantic shoppers flocked to stores for essentials.
They snapped up batteries, transistor radios, bread, canned goods, bottled
water, ice, pet food, toilet paper and assorted supplies to gird for what
Florida Governor Rick Scott warned would be a devastating, killer storm, with
winds howling at up to 150 miles per hour (240 kph). "Evacuate, evacuate,
evacuate," Scott told a news conference. "Time is running out."Matthew has
regained strength as it approaches Florida and was upgraded a notch Thursday to
Category Four by the National Hurricane Center on its 1-5 scale.
18-foot waves
Around 1.5 million coastal dwellers are under an evacuation order in Florida
alone. More than a million others in South Carolina and other coastal states
were also told to escape the path of the storm, which first made landfall in
Haiti Tuesday. Mandatory evacuations were also ordered in six coastal counties
in Georgia that are home to some 520,000 people. Some 6,000 US Marine recruits
were evacuated off a base at Parris Island, South Carolina. Miami International
Airport cancelled 90 percent of its incoming and outgoing flights on Thursday.
Even Walt Disney World -- in Orlando, 35 miles inland from the Atlantic -- said
it would close early on Thursday and stay shut Friday. Obama's emergency decree
frees up resources to help Florida authorities and authorizes the federal
government to coordinate all emergency relief efforts. The National Hurricane
Center called Matthew the strongest in the region in decades. It said waves
whipped up by the hurricane could be as high as 18 feet (5.5 meters) -- nearly
as tall as a two-story building. Debris tossed into the air by the storm will be
capable of blasting through buildings and cars, the NHC said in a bulletin.
Scott said the forecast is for storm surges of five to nine feet (1.5 to 2.7
meters), not counting the waves on top of that. "Stop and think about that," he
said. "Waves will be crashing on your roof if you're right close to where the
storm surge is happening and you're close to where the waves are." He said power
outages, possibly lengthy, are a near certainty.
'It's pretty bad'
Amid the massive flight, officials warned a worrying number of people were not
heeding the evacuation order. In South Carolina's coastal Charleston and
Beaufort counties, Governor Nikki Haley said 175,000 people had evacuated as of
Thursday morning -- out of 250,000 who were told to leave. "That is not enough,
we need to have more people evacuating," she said. As Matthew barreled
northwest, Caribbean nations continued the grim task of assessing damage and
fatalities, with four dead in the Dominican Republic in addition to the surging
toll in Haiti -- which until now stood at 23. In Cuba, where some 1.3 million
people were evacuated, there were no reported fatalities but four cities in the
east were cut off because roads were blocked by large chunks of rock hurled by
the storm. Haiti had not been hit head on by a Category Four storm in 52 years.
The country's presidential election, scheduled for Sunday, has been postponed.
In one southern department alone, 29,000 homes were destroyed, the interior
minister said. The town of Roche-a-Bateau, where at least 50 died, is
devastated, said a local lawmaker, Ostin Pierre-Louis. "No one's house is left
standing," he told AFP.
He added: "I don't know what to do to help these people because we have not
received any aid."
Hurricane Matthew could hit Florida
as death toll rises to 140
Reuters, Jupiter, Orlando Thursday, 6 October 2016
Hurricane Matthew, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, strengthened
as it barreled toward the southeastern United States on Thursday after killing
at least 140 people, mostly in Haiti, on its deadly northward march. As Matthew
blew through the northwestern Bahamas on Thursday en route to Florida’s Atlantic
coast, it became an “extremely dangerous” hurricane carrying winds of 140 miles
per hour (220 kph), the US National Hurricane Center said.
That made it a Category 4 hurricane and it was likely to remain so as it
approached the United States, where it could either take direct aim at Florida
or brush along the state’s coast through Friday night, the center said. Some 136
people were killed in Haiti, local officials said, and thousands were displaced
after the storm flattened homes, uprooted trees and inundated neighborhoods
earlier in the week. It was too soon to predict where Matthew might do the most
of its damage in the United States more than 12 million people in the United
States were under hurricane watches and warnings, according to the Weather
Channel.
Roads filled with evacuees
Roads in Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina were jammed and gas
stations and food stores ran out of supplies as the storm approached with not
just high winds but strong storm surges and drenching rain. Florida Governor
Rick Scott warned there could be “catastrophic” damage if Matthew slammed
directly into the state, and urged some 1.5 million people there to heed
evacuation orders. “If you’re reluctant to evacuate, just think about all the
people who have been killed,” Scott said at a news conference on Thursday. “Time
is running out. This is clearly either going to have a direct hit or come right
along the coast and we’re going to have hurricane-force winds.”Scott, who
activated several thousand National Guard troops to help deal with the storm,
warned that millions of people were likely to be left without power.
Florida, Georgia and South Carolina opened shelters for evacuees. As of Thursday
morning, more than 3,000 people were being housed in 60 shelters in Florida,
Scott said.
Federal emergency response teams were coordinating with officials in Florida,
Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina and stockpiling supplies.
Blast at Syria-Turkey border
kills 29 rebels
AFP, Beirut Thursday, 6 October 2016/At least 29 Syrian rebels were killed in a
blast at a border crossing with Turkey on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said.
The Britain-based monitoring group said it was unclear what caused the explosion
at the Atme crossing between Turkey and the northern Syrian province of Idlib,
adding that around 20 people had also been wounded. ISIS, which has been
fighting the rebels and their Turkish allies, said a “soldier of the caliphate”
detonated a car bomb as the rebel fighters were crossing into Syria, US-based
monitor SITE Intelligence Group reported.
The ISIS statement said several commanders of the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham rebel
group were among the dead. Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency said the
deadly blast took place during a “change of guard” among Syrian rebels in the
area. Rebel fighters have been targeted at the crossing before. ISIS claimed
responsibility for a mid-August suicide attack there that killed at least 32.
The rebels killed on Thursday were among those participating in Turkey’s
Operation Euphrates Shield in neighboring Aleppo province. Ankara began the
unprecedented cross-border operation on August 24, saying it was targeting both
ISIS and the Kurdish YPG militia which Turkey considers a “terrorist” group. The
operation has so far captured the ISIS stronghold of Jarabulus and is pushing
towards the militant-held towns of Dabiq and Al-Bab.
Dabiq holds symbolic importance for ISIS because of a Sunni prophecy that states
it will be the site of an end-of-times battle between Christian forces and
Muslims.
UN will not accept another
Rwanda in Aleppo
By Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Thursday, 6 October 2016/UN Special Envoy
for Syria Staffan de Mistura warned on Thursday that the eastern part of Aleppo
may be “totally destroyed” by the year’s end, vowing that the international body
will not allow the Syrian city to be another Rwanda or Srebrenica. In what is
known as the Rwandan genocide, an estimated 500,000–1,000,000 Rwandans were
killed in 1994. The Srebrenica massacre, meanwhile, witnessed the killing of
more than 8,000 Muslim Bosnians, mainly men and boys, in and around the town of
Srebrenia during the Bosnian War in 1995. De Mistura said if Syria and Russia do
not accept offer to end fighting in Aleppo, history will judge their use of
terrorists as an “alibi” to destroy the city. Meanwhile, UN humanitarian advisor
Jan Egeland said at least 376 were killed and 1,266 wounded in the past two
weeks in eastern Aleppo, and there is still no greenlight from the Syrian
government to send aid convoys anywhere in the country in October.
De Mistura says total number of opposition fighters in eastern Aleppo is maximum
is 8,000.
Russia’s arms ‘reliable’ in Syria. Meanwhile, Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei
Shoigu boasted on Thursday about Moscow’s “reliable” arms in Syria. He said
Moscow’s year-long bombing campaign in Syria has showcased the “reliability” of
Russian weaponry as the Kremlin has helped stabilize the war-ravaged country.
“In that period we have managed to stabilize the situation in the country (and)
liberate a significant part of the territory from armed international terrorist
groups,” Shoigu told a conference. “Many types of modern weapons produced in our
country were tested in difficult desert conditions and generally have shown
their reliability and effectiveness.” The comments come as international anger
grows over Moscow’s air support for a ferocious regime assault on eastern Aleppo
that has prompted accusations of potential war crimes. The United States on
Monday suspended talks with Russia on a ceasefire in Syria in protest at Moscow
stepping up its bombing campaign. Russia launched its military operation in
Syria last September to back up long-time ally Bashar al-Assad to Western ire,
helping to shore up the regime’s embattled forces.Russia’s military has denied
repeated accusations that it has struck civilian targets in the country during
its year-long bombing campaign.
Moscow has used Syria as a testing-ground for a range of new weaponry including
long-range missiles fired from ships, submarines and warplanes.Those include the
X-101 rocket that has a range of 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) and was fired
from bombers that took off from bases in Russia, Shoigu said. Built on the
foundations of its Soviet-era predecessor, Russia’s arms industry is a key
source of income for the country and brought in some $14.5 billion (13 billion
euros) in 2015.(With AFP)
Assad offers rebels amnesty
if they surrender Aleppo
By Ellen Francis and Tom Miles Reuters, Beirut/Geneva Thursday, 6 October 2016
Rebels holed up in Aleppo can leave with their families if they lay down their
arms, President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday, vowing to press on with the
assault on Syria’s largest city and recapture full control of the country. The
offer of amnesty follows two weeks of the heaviest bombardment of the
five-and-a-half-year civil war, which has killed hundreds of people trapped
inside Aleppo’s rebel-held eastern sector and torpedoed a US-backed peace
initiative.
Fighters have accepted similar government amnesty offers in other besieged areas
in recent months, notably in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus that was under siege
for years until rebels surrendered it in August. However, rebels said they had
no plan to evacuate Aleppo, the last major urban area they control, and
denounced the amnesty offer as a deception.
“It’s impossible for the rebel groups to leave Aleppo because this would be a
trick by the regime,” Zakaria Malahifji, a Turkey-based official for the
Fastaqim group which is present in Aleppo, told Reuters. “Aleppo is not like
other areas, it’s not possible for them to surrender.”
Washington was also sceptical of government motives: “For them to suggest that
somehow they’re now looking out for the interests of civilians is outrageous,”
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, citing the heavy civilian toll from air
strikes and bombardment.
The army announced a reduction in shelling and air strikes on Wednesday to allow
people to leave. It backed that up with an ultimatum: “All those who do not take
advantage of the provided opportunity to lay down their arms or to leave will
face their inevitable fate.”
The government also sent text messages to the mobile phones of some of those
people trapped in the besieged sector, telling them to repudiate fighters in
their midst. More than 250,000 people are believed to be trapped inside
rebel-held eastern Aleppo, facing dire shortages of food and medicine.
Speaking to Danish television, Assad said he would “continue the fight with the
rebels till they leave Aleppo. They have to. There’s no other option.”He said
that he wanted rebels to accept a deal to leave the city along with their
families and travel to other rebel-held areas, as in Daraya. Neither Assad nor
his generals gave a timeline for rebels to accept their offer. Washington
accuses Moscow and Damascus of war crimes for intentionally targeting civilians,
aid deliveries and hospitals to break the will of those trapped in the besieged
city. Russia and Syria accuse the United States of supporting terrorists by
backing rebel groups. The war has already killed hundreds of thousands, made
half of Syrians homeless, dragged in global and regional powers and left swathes
of the country in the hands of jihadists from ISIS who have carried out attacks
around the globe. The United States and Russia are both fighting against ISIS
but are on opposite sides in the wider civil war, with Moscow fighting to
protect Assad and Washington supporting rebels against him. Storming Aleppo’s
rebel-held zone, which includes big parts of the densely populated Old City,
could take months and cause a bloodbath, the UN Syria envoy warned on Thursday.
“The bottom line is in a maximum of two months, two and a half months, the city
of eastern Aleppo at this rate may be totally destroyed,” said Staffan de
Mistura, invoking the 1990s atrocities of the Rwandan genocide and Yugolsavia’s
civil war.
Lighter bombardment
Residents of eastern Aleppo said the aerial bombardment was significantly
lighter overnight and on Thursday after the government’s statement, but they
said heavy fighting continued on the frontlines and people were afraid. The army
and its allies, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Shiite militias from Iraq and
Lebanon backed by Russian air power, seized half of the Bustan al-Basha quarter
of Aleppo, north of the Old City on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights, a war monitor, reported. “The bombardment decreased a lot in the eastern
districts, but there’s a sense of foreboding... people are still scared. And
because there’s still the siege, there’s nothing at all in the shops,” said
Ibrahim Abu al-Laith, a Civil Defense official in eastern Aleppo. Amir, a
resident of the rebel-held district who did not want to be identified with his
family name, said it was true that air strikes had diminished, but that he had
not yet seen any way for civilians to leave the area. “It’s not true that there
are safe crossings,” he said.
Residents in eastern Aleppo forwarded to Reuters text messages they said had
been sent by their telecom provider carrying a government urging them to
distance themselves from rebels and warning that they should depart. “Our people
in Aleppo: save your lives by rejecting the terrorists and isolating them from
you,” read one message. “Our dear people in the eastern districts of Aleppo!
Come out to meet your brothers and sisters,” read another. Meanwhile, rebels
continued the shelling of residential areas of government-held western Aleppo,
where dozens of people have also been killed since the end of a ceasefire two
weeks ago. The Observatory said 10 people were killed 52 wounded in
government-held areas of Aleppo city by rebels on Thursday.
The government-held western districts of the city are still home to more than
1.5 million civilians who face far less daily danger than in rebel-held areas.
Video footage obtained by Reuters showed people in the city enjoying a night
club in the Seryan district, while war rages in the east.
Militant group
Russia says it is targeting the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch which
changed its name in July and says it broke ties with the network founded by
Osama bin Laden.
The UN envoy De Mistura on Thursday urged Moscow and Damascus to accept a deal
under which the fighters of that group would leave the city, while other
insurgents and civilians would be allowed to remain. He said there were fewer
than 1,000 members of the hardline Islamist group inside Aleppo, part of a
contingent of around 8,000 rebel fighters, and offered to lead them out of the
city himself to guarantee their safety. Russian presidential envoy Mikhail
Bogdanov said it was “high time” such an offer was made, but it was not
immediately clear if Moscow was also willing to stop the bombing. Distinguishing
between fighters from the former Nusra Front and other groups has been difficult
in the past, including during the week-long ceasefire which collapsed last month
when the army launched its offensive. Russia accused the United States of
failing to ensure that other rebels separated themselves from Nusra, which
Moscow and Washington both regard as a terrorist group excluded from the
ceasefire.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Paris on Oct. 19 to discuss Syria
with his French counterpart Francois Hollande, the only diplomatic track still
active over efforts to bring peace to the country. In his Danish TV interview,
Assad accused Washington of using Nusra as a proxy, and said this was why the
ceasefire had collapsed. “It’s an American card. Without al-Nusra, the Americans
cannot have any real, let’s say, concrete and effective card in the Syrian
arena,” he said.
Upset with Turkey, Iraq seeks Security Council session
Associated Press, Baghdad Thursday, 6 October 2016/Iraq has requested an
emergency UN Security Council session over the presence of Turkish troops in
northern Iraq, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday, a development that
could further increase tension between the two neighbors. Turkey however,
remained defiant, with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim vowing on Thursday to
maintain Turkish troop presence “no matter what Baghdad says.”Yildirim on
Thursday dubbed Iraq’s reaction to Turkey’s military presence at the Bashiqa
army base north of Mosul as “incomprehensible” and the soldiers will remain
there to ensure the region’s demographics do not change.His comments, in a
speech to businessmen, followed Iraqi condemnation of a Turkish decision to
extend by a year the deployment of some 2,000 troops in northern Iraq. Prime
Minister Haider al-Abadi warned Turkey risked triggering a regional war.
Turkey-Iraq relations strained
Turkey-Iraq relations became strained after Ankara late last year sent troops to
the region of Bashiqa, northeast of Mosul, to train anti-ISIS fighters there - a
move Baghdad considers a “blatant violation” of its sovereignty. Iraq has
demanded Turkish withdrawal but Ankara has ignored the call. Baghdad is now
asking the Security Council for the emergency session to discuss “Turkish
violations on the Iraqi soil and the interference in its internal affairs,” said
the ministry spokesman, Ahmad Jamal. Jamal said Iraq also asked the council to
“shoulder its responsibility and adopt a resolution to end to the Turkish
troops’ violation of Iraq’s sovereignty” and “intensify international support”
ahead a major Iraqi military operation to take back Mosul from ISIS militants.
In Ankara, Yildirim said Turkish troops would stay in northern Iraq to prevent
“efforts to forcibly change the demographic structure in the region” - an
apparent reference to Turkish fears that once Mosul is liberated from ISIS,
Kurds or Shiite groups may take Mosul over Sunni Arabs or Turkmens. “It is a
waste of time for the Iraqi government to focus on Turkey’s presence there, when
there are troops from 63 different countries” to fight ISIS, Yildirim said.
Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed Ankara’s
willingness to join the imminent battle for Mosul. Yildirim later warned that
the operation could spark Shiite-Sunni sectarian tensions if the majority Sunni
region around Mosul were to be placed under Shiite militia control after the
offensive. Meanwhile, Iraq’s parliament adopted a resolution denouncing the
extension of Turkish troops’ presence, asking the government to consider them as
“occupation forces.” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Ankara’s
insistence on maintaining troops in Iraq could lead to "regional warfare."Mosul,
Iraq’s second-largest city, is ISIS’s last remaining urban stronghold in Iraq.
The government is now gearing up for the Mosul offensive and has pledged to
recapture the city from ISIS this year. (With inputs from Reuters)
Tit-for-tat: Saudi Arabia and
Iran compare naval power
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Thursday, 6 October 2016
Saudi Arabia recently began its naval war games that included live fire
exercises in the Arabian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important
oil route. Warships, speedboats, air navy aircraft, marine corps and special
security naval units were some of the artillery that were in focus during the
exercises.
According to several reports, Saudi Arabia boasts the third strongest navy in
the region after Turkey and Israel. Established during the 1950s, the Saudi navy
was heavily involved in the second Gulf War when they were able to assist
neighboring Kuwait in resisting occupying Iraqi ground forces. In recent times,
the Saudi navy has been used to protect maritime borders and key Saudi ports
from Houthi militia attacks. Its planned expansion will involve purchases of
German-make submarines as the majority of its arsenal on that front were
purchased from France.
Saudi Arabia’s Navy
Saudi Arabia’s naval force overtakes Iran’s by far greater numbers as its
frigates cannot be monitored by radars and has appropriate defenses covers
suitable air ranges. Iran’s frigates were last purchased and designed during the
1970s and are modeled after the Moudge and Alvand classes.
Saudi frigates
Saudi Arabia has three al-Riyadh-class frigates that have been modified from the
French La Fayette-class frigate. (Supplied)
Saudi Arabia has three al-Riyadh-class frigates that have been modified from the
French La Fayette-class frigate. They are fully loaded at a displacement of
4,725 tons, are armed with eight MBDA Exocet MM40 Block II surface-to-surface
missiles (SSM), two eight-cell Sylver vertical launch systems for the Eurosam (MBDA
and Thales) Aster 15 surface-to-air missile (SAM), the main gun is the Oto
Melara 76 mm/62 Super Rapid while there are four 533 mm aft torpedo tubes.
Saudi Arabia has nine al-Sadiq-class patrol boats built in the United States.
(Supplied)
Saudi Arabia has nine al-Sadiq-class patrol boats built in the United States
(Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Full load displacement of 495 tons
and armed with four Harpoon SSM, one 76 mm OTO gun, one 20 mm Phalanx CIWS, two
20 mm guns, one 81 mm mortar, two 40 mm grenade launchers, two triple 12.75 inch
torpedo tubes.
Iran’s Navy
Iran has two independent naval forces with parallel chains of command. The usual
navy is called the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN) while a second naval
wing belong to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGCN). Both have overlapping functions
and areas of responsibility, but are different in terms of how they are trained
and equipped, according to RealClearWorld, a leading voice on global news and
commentary.
Iran's three destroyers are over 50 years old and are kept in material reserve
at Bushehr.
Most of Iran's Western-supplied weapons were purchased during the time of the
Shah and were never upgraded. (IRNA)
Most of its Western-supplied weapons were purchased during the time of the Shah
and were never upgraded. Recently, Tehran has been acquiring new weapons from
Russia, China and North Korea.
Despite signing a historic nuclear deal with the United States and powerful
nations in order to see sanctions lifted, Iran has made threats more recently
when it showed off a parade late last month. At the port of Bandar Abbas on the
Gulf, the navy showed off 500 vessels, as well as submarines and helicopters
during a parade marking its 1980 Iraq invasion.
US officials say there have been more than 30 close encounters between US and
Iranian vessels in the Gulf so far this year, over twice as many as in the same
period of 2015.
Blast in Istanbul caused by
‘motorbike bomb’, wounds five
Agencies Thursday, 6 October 2016/An explosion near an Istanbul police station
on Thursday was caused by a "motorcycle bomb blast" and wounded five people, one
of them seriously, provincial governor Vasip Sahin wrote on Twitter. Reports say
the cause of the blast near the police station in Yenibosna district was not
immediately known. Many ambulances were dispatched to the scene, it added.
Television pictures showed several cars wrecked and shards of glass scattering
the ground after the blast. Witnesses told CNN-Turk that they heard a powerful
explosion as well as gunshots. Turkish police sealed off the area on suspicion
of a possible second blast. The force of the blast blew out the windows of the
police station. Turkey has already been hit by a bloody year of militant attacks
in its two biggest cities that have left dozens of people dead and put the
country on a high security alert. Kurdish militants have twice struck in Ankara
in deadly attacks, while suspected ISISsuicide bombers have on three occasions
struck in Istanbul.
Pakistan parliament passes
legislation against ‘honor killings’
Reuters, Islamabad Thursday, 6 October 2016/Pakistan’s parliament unanimously
passed legislation against “honor killings” three months after the high-profile
murder of an outspoken social media star. A joint session of the lower and upper
houses of parliament, broadcast live on television, approved the new anti-honor
killing law, removing a loophole in existing law that allows family members to
pardon a killer. “Laws are supposed to guide better behavior, not allow
destructive behavior to continue with impunity,” former senator Sughra Imam, who
initially tabled the bill, told media. Some 500 women are killed each year in
Pakistan at the hands of family members over perceived damage to “honor” that
can involve eloping, fraternizing with men or any other infraction against
conservative values that govern women's modesty. In a majority of cases, the
victim is a woman and the killer is a relative who escape punishment by seeking
forgiveness for the crime from family members.
Norway seeks ban on burqas in
the classroom
AFP, Oslo Thursday, 6 October 2016/Norway's government on Wednesday announced
plans to ban the full-face veil from classrooms and university lecture halls.
Education Minister Torbjorn Roe Isaksen, quoted in the Vart Land newspaper, said
the government was seeking "national regulations prohibiting the full-face veil
in schools and universities".Women are rarely seen wearing such veils in Norway,
let alone in schools. But the issue has come up recently in political debates,
with less than a year to go before parliamentary elections. Several political
parties including the opposition Labour Party had expressed support for such a
ban. Roe Isaksen stressed that the ban would not apply to headscarves that leave
the face exposed. People should be allowed to express their faith in public in
Norway, he said. "I want a young Christian girl who wears a cross to be able to
show it," he told parliament. "I want a Jewish boy who wears a kippa to be able
to show it. And I do not want a ban on the hijab."The Norwegian plan comes as
several European countries have moved to ban the face-covering niqab and
full-body burqa. Bulgaria on Friday banned women from wearing the full veil in
public, and Switzerland's lower house last week narrowly approved a draft bill
on a nationwide ban. In August Germany's interior minister came out in favour of
a partial ban. France and Belgium have both banned the burqa and niqab in
public, while French beach resorts sparked international controversy this summer
with local bans on the full-body "burkini" swimsuit. A poll published earlier
this month showed Britons to be strongly in favour of a burqa ban.
Saudi airstrikes kill dozens
of militias near Jazan
Staff writer, AlArabiya.net Thursday, 6 October 2016/Saudi Arabia’s Apache
helicopters killed dozens of Houthi militias and Republican Guard officers – who
are loyal to deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh – in targeted air strikes on
Thursday at the border near the southwestern Saudi province of Jazan. Saudi
forces also repelled an attack by militias off the Yemeni border, an Al Arabiya
News correspondent reported, which targeted Asir region, south of Makkah. The
Apache attacks come after a Houthi rocket landed on Wednesday in Jazan and
injured a Yemeni resident in al-Tawal village. Saudi Arabia has been ramping up
counter-attacks in recent days after militias launched several cross border
rocket attacks.
Clashes in Taiz
Meanwhile, six Houthi militants and their Saleh allies were killed and 13
wounded in clashes with the Popular Resistance – who are backed by Abd Rabbuh
Mansur Hadi’s government – in the western province of Taiz, south of Yemen’s
capital Sanaa. Yemen’s government led by Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr
returned to Aden from exile in Saudi Arabia last month. Hadi and his cabinet
fled to Saudi Arabia, which led a Saudi-led Arab coalition against the Houthis
in March 2015. After 18 months of fighting, the Houthis and their allies control
most of the north - including the capital Sanaa - while forces loyal to Hadi and
the popular resistance control the south.
Major setbacks
A year and a half into Yemen’s ongoing war between the Saudi-backed government
of Hadi and Iran-backed Houthi militias have caused several loses on both sides,
however recent months have seen the Houthi movement suffer major setbacks after
the deaths of senior militia leaders.
Military analysts consider the formation of a national salvation government by
the militias as a response to the crisis caused by their losses, AlArabiya.net
reported.
Iran: Poor conditions of
Zahedan prison and pressure on inmates
Thursday, 06 October 2016/NCRI
- According to reports, Zahedan city prison (South Eastern Province) with 2000
inmates and more than 350 convicts on death row is in a very poor and
deteriorating condition. The status of nutritional and medical care is poor and
inadequate in this penitentiary, and despite the lack of medical facilities
inside the jail, transfer of the patients to hospitals outside the custodial is
hardly carried out due to lack of cooperation by the prosecutor's office and
prison guards. According to an inmate, “Despite the fact that ward 3 of the jail
has a capacity of no more than 230 people, the prison officials have placed more
than 350 prisoners in this ward. In addition, despite its population, there are
only 8 toilets and 3 bathrooms in this ward and there is no hot water in winter
and the water is cut off several times a day.” “Most foods smell bad and there
is no medical care or treatment for sick inmates. The prisoners are not allowed
to leave the ward and go to the other wards or sections of the prison either,”
he added.
Iran: Financial Victims of a Company Related to Ministry of Agriculture Stage
Protest Gathering
Thursday, 06 October 2016 /NCRI
- On Monday October 3, victims of “Sayeh Gostaran of Iranian Lives” who lost
their assets due to fraud by this company staged a protest gathering in front of
the Court Branch 31 in Shariati Ave in Tehran and called for the remaining cases
and records of this company’s frauds to be sent to court. The Cooperative
company “Sayeh Gostaran” is under the management of Amir Sharifi who was
introduced by Ahmadinejad’s government as the top entrepreneur in 2013 creating
jobs in the province of Alborz and was present in the government’s provincial
trips. The company received license from the Ministry of Agriculture and
Ministry of Cooperatives in order to create domestic jobs and started
“widespread advertising in the National TV and various radio and television
networks” to attract public capital in line with the so-called “resistive
economy” on the ground of “producing organic fertilizer vermicomposting” and
relevant agricultural products through its headquarters in Karaj, Tehran and
agencies located in cities across the country. However, after a year, concurrent
with obtaining high liquidity, the company’s offices suddenly closed and Amir
Sharifi disappeared. But after a while announcing lack of safety for his life
from the (threat of) creditors and victims, he introduced himself to the
authorities and has since been sent to prison.
Iran: On International Teacher's Day, the Education Ministry faculty protest
their dire living conditions
Thursday, 06 October
2016/Simultaneous with the International Teachers Day, the faculty of the
Ministry of Education and its retired personnel staged a demonstration on
Wednesday morning, October 5, 2016, and protested their low salaries and
benefits as well as abysmal living conditions. In Tehran, the repressive forces
of the IRGC Intelligence and plainclothes agents gathered in Sepah Square at
9.30 a.m. and prevented the demonstrators from marching towards the regime's
parliament (Majlis). Agents of the IRGC Intelligence had threatened many of the
personnel and faculty of the Education Ministry the day before, in a bid to
dissuade them from taking part in the demonstration. The internet service was
also disrupted in the central and western parts of the capital to prevent their
organizing efforts and mass mobilization for the demonstration. Nevertheless, a
large number of the Education Ministry faculty and retired personnel managed to
get to the Majlis and stage their protest. They held up placards which read,
"Earning a decent living is our inalienable right." In Shiraz, hundreds of the
retired personnel of the Department of Education staged a gathering outside the
department's building. In Mashhad, a group of the retired personnel of the
Education Department staged a gathering. They held placards which read, "Motto
of the International Teachers Day: Respect the status of teachers, and improve
their dignity and status." In the north Iranian Province of Gilan, teachers and
the faculty of the Education Department issued a statement on the occasion of
the International Teachers Day, demanding abolition of discrimination in
salaries, benefits, and provision of the minimum living, removal of security,
political and social pressures on teachers, removal of the obstacles for the
teachers' organized activities and their affiliated media, provision of social
and health insurances, balancing the salaries and benefits of the working and
retired personnel of the Education Department with other educational facilities,
and improvement of classroom conditions to match international standards. The
working and retired teachers and faculty of the Education Ministry do not enjoy
a dignified social and political status under the rule of the clerical regime in
Iran, but are deprived of their most rudimentary rights. All of them live in
abysmal conditions. This is while the Iranian people's assets are spent on
warlike efforts and export of terrorism to other countries, particularly in the
Middle East, on missile projects, or are plundered by the regime's leaders.
Parts of such astronomical embezzlements are revealed in the course of the
regime's internal feuding. The Iranian Resistance hails all the freedom-loving
teachers and education faculty of Iran and calls on the nation, particularly on
women and youths, to rise in solidarity with the teachers' protest
movement.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran/October 5, 2016
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on on October 06-07/16
The curious
case of Huma Abedin (aide to Hillary Clinton) and her father
Huda al-Saleh, AlArabiya.net Thursday, 29 September 2016
Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaks to the media
after testifying at a closed-door hearing of the House Benghazi Committee, on
Capitol Hill, Friday, Oct. 16,
Media in the West, especially those in the United States, has been recently
focusing coverage on one other American female politician: Huma Abedin, the
director of Hillary Clinton's campaign.
A Muslim woman of Indian origins, she’s been accused of her affiliations to the
“Muslim Brotherhood” group. In 1976, she was born in Kalamazoo city, Michigan.
Her father Syed Zaynul Abedin – an Indian –and mother Saleha – a Pakistani had
just immigrated to the US and then moved to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for several
years. Her parents then moved back to the US again.
Dr. Abedin founded the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs with offices in
Saudi Arabia and London and served as the editor of the institute’s Journal –
now run by his wife Saleha Mahmoud Abedin. He was born in New Delhi in April,
1928. He suffered from a physical disability after falling off a horse after
completing his Master’s degree. He died in 1993.
Syed Zaynul Abedin and his wife Saleha had four kids: Hassan, Huma, Mahmoud, and
Hiba. The first-born is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Oxford Center
for Islamic Studies (linked to the Oxford University's Institute that was
founded in 1985), in addition to his sister, Hiba Abedin who is now living in
New York City. She was a member of the editorial staff of the “Muslim Minority
Affairs” magazine and took the post after her sister Huma who joined Hillary
Clinton’s team in 2008.
Hiba Abedin introduces herself on her official Facebook and LinkedIn pages as a
Fashion Consultant and Marketing advisor.
Syed Zaynul Abedin grew up amid important political events, including the South
Asian regions. He witnessed the ideological struggle era, the political
independence of India, the end of the East India Company and the British Empire.
He was also present during the imperative existence of the Muslims of India and
Pakistan later on.
This is why, Abedin decided to be part in the “Islamic Group” that was founded
and led by Abul Ala Maududi. According to some, this group is similar to the
Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, but it is located in the Indian sub-continent.
According to “Sayed Mohammed Sayed” in a letter after Zaynul Abedin death, he
became an official member in the mid-fifties, when he was barely 25 years old.
When Abedin graduated from the English Literature Department, he simultaneously
graduated from Sanvi Darsgah University, an Islamic school founded by Maududi.
Abedin was very active and had a prominent role in the establishment of the
Islamic Thought journal; he then became its editor-in-chief.
Abedin focused his work at the time on finding the right path to the success of
the Muslim minority in India after the independence under the democratic rule,
by the majority that is controlled by the caste system in India.
His ideas evolved to find the relationship between Islam and modernity, from
cultural and religious point of view of Muslim minorities.
Abedin was close to the Indian Muslim group. He then settled in the United
States in Philadelphia and completed his higher education.
In the beginning of the 1980s, he became a Muslim World League consultant, and a
member of the Union of Muslim Scholars presided by Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He was
always focused on the idea of integrating the Muslim minorities into Western
societies in light of its increasing numbers in the Diaspora.
Abedin joined a number of Islamic centers in the UK and the United States,
including the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies that includes “Abu Hassan Nadwi”
in its Board of Trustees, as the head of the symposium scientists and the Head
of Research and Islamic publications Academy in India, along with Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
head of the Muslim Scholars Union, in addition to other scientists of India and
Pakistan.
However, what was obviously overlooked by the researcher, is that Syed Zaynul
Abedin’s opinions were only a transition from the adoption of the “civil era”
theory, which was the basis for the “Abul Ala Maududi” theories embodied in the
“Hakimiah and Jahiliah” (Governance and Ignorance), which he already joined in
the mid-fifties, to the “Makkahera” embodied in the Jihad calls, as a prelude to
the stage of empowerment, and adopted by “Abu Hassan Nadwi”, through the
relationship and convergence of ideologies combined by the “Oxford Islamic
Studies” Center; however, both roads lead to one target the “reinstatement of
the caliphate.”His relations with the Nadwi ideology is manifested in Syed
Zaynul Abedin’s quotes when saying: “The role of the Prophet Muhammad –peace be
upon him– in Makkahand in Medina had different aspects; The Prophet was the
Messenger of Allah in Makkahand in Medina the events gave him another role in
addition to his spiritual one, as he was also the head of the state. So playing
both roles is not compulsory, as happened in Medina, as for the role played in
Mecca, there is no escape from it.”
He added: “There is a small historical fact that we all tend to disregard, the
Prophet did not invade Medina; he was invited to go there by its residents.”
The same call was addressed by Abu Hassan Nadwi during a ceremony for the
“Muslim Brotherhood” in Egypt in 1370, that coincided with the decision to
disband the group. His speech was entitled: “I have wanted to talk to the
Brotherhood for 50 years now”. He said in his speech that the government was a
gift from God and a means to achieve the goals of the religion. “The government
was not a goal itself but a normal outcome for calls and Jihad”, he added. Nadwi,
who described the Muslim Brotherhood as the greatest contemporary Islamic
movements, which worked for reform and Jihad added: “there is a big difference
between the purpose that is meant and the purpose that is shown. We must purify
our minds to calls only. We must lead people from darkness to light, from
ignorance to Islam, from distorted religions, unfair systems and instinctual
doctrines to the justice of Islam”.
This is part of Zaynul Abedin’s biography, the father of Huma who is Clinton’s
advisor. She has joined Hillary since 1996 up until 2016 and aroused
controversies, especially after being appointed as the director of the US
presidential candidate campaign. President Obama had also defended her.
The question remains: Does Huma Abedin have any relation with the Muslim
Brotherhood?
Antonio
Guterres to be next UN Secretary General
By Ismaeel Naar/Al Arabiya English Thursday, 6 October 2016
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/10/06/antonio-guterres-to-be-next-un-secretary-general/
Antonio Guterres, the former Portuguese prime minister and United Nations
refugees chief, has been officially nominted to become the next UN Secretary
General after a vote at the security council.
During a surprise show of unity on Wednesday, all 15 ambassadors from the
security council emerged from a sixth straw poll to announce that they had
agreed on Guterres, who was UN high commissioner for refugees for nearly a
decade.
“Today after our sixth straw poll we have a clear favorite and his name is
António Guterres,” Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, told a group of eager
reporters with his 14 council colleagues standing alongside him.
Guterres, 67, would replace Ban Ki-moon, 72, of South Korea, who will step down
at the end of 2016 after serving two terms. For Guterres to be formally
recommended to the 193-member General Assembly for election, the Security
Council still needs to adopt a resolution behind closed doors. The resolution
needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes to pass.
Antonio Guterres to Al Arabiya: This is my vision for the UN
Analysts and former diplomats told Al Arabiya English that it was a combination
of several factors that led to Guterres’ as the favorite choice to lead the
United Nations, mainly his experience both at the governmental and
non-governmental fields.
“His striking combination of having been a head of government in Portugal, which
reflects political talents that are extremely important for the job. Secondly,
he headed up a multi-lateral agency with widespread praise for his actions,
including his repeated engagement in crises by negotiating with other
governments and actors to try and find solution [to the global refugee crisis],”
Former UN Assistant Secretary General Michael Doyle told Al Arabiya English.
‘Bittersweet for feminists’
The race for the UN’s top job has not been an easy ride for most vying
candidates, especially Guterres. The Portuguese was not generally considered a
frontrunner at the beginning, given the calls to appoint a woman and the
informal practice of regional rotation.
The UN has never had a woman in the top job. Of the 13 candidates this year,
seven were women. Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme
Helen Clark and Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres were considered the top
female choices early in the race before polling low during previous straw polls.
“Guterres was not the only qualified candidate, but he clearly brings a wealth
of experience at the UN, regional and government level to the post,” Natalie
Samarasinghe, executive director of the United Nations Association – UK (UNA-UK),
told Al Arabiya English.
While many observers are praising Guterres for his role in championing the
rights of refugees worldwide, but many say his confirmation is still
“bittersweet”.
“Bitter: not a woman. Sweet: by far the best man in the race. Congrats Antonio
Guterres! We are all with you,” Costa Rican diplomat Figueres, an early
frontrunner and who recently lead the historic Paris Agreement on climate
change, tweeted as soon as the secret ballot result on Wednesday was announced.
“After 70 years of men I think the world should have been ready! Many UN member
states and civil society groups campaigned for a woman to be appointed,”
Samarasinghe said.
“I too would have loved to have seen a woman on the 38th floor but felt it was
important that the decision be based on candidates' merit, which I strongly felt
should include a visionary feminist agenda with concrete plans for
implementation. I very much hope Guterres will deliver on this,” she added.
Tackling the global refugee problem
When Guterres first started his tenure as the High Commissioner for Refugees in
2005, there were about 25 million refugees in the world. That number has more
than tripled when he left at the end of 2015, mainly due to the tragic Syrian
civil war.
Compared to his predecessor, Guterres is known not to keep silent on pressing
issues, especially when it comes to transparency and handling of sensitive
issues, among them the cases of sexual abuse by peace keeping forces.
“Sometimes the United Nations doesn’t act in the best possible way. We’ve
unfortunately had very tragic situations like the peace-keeping forces.
Sometimes huge confrontations can happen between nation states but I managed to
be truly independent and to fully abide by the humanitarian values accepted,” he
told Al Arabiya News Channel’s New York bureau chief Talal al-Haj.
Observers say that it is no coincidence, despite reservations, that both Russia
and China voted either “encouraging” or “no opinion” during the secret straw
poll after they were resistant to outspoken activists in top UN posts in the
past.
“The issue of refugees is the most dominant challenge facing the collective work
of the United nations. It is also a unique challenge to the European Union.
Guterres has both the experience and the backing of Europe to start tackling
this issue from day one in office,” UN expert and Burea Chief of Alquds Alarabi
at United Nations, told Al Arabiya English.
Iranians see
Trump as dangerous — but to Iran or the US?
Saeid Jafari/Al Monitor/October 06/16
TEHRAN, Iran — When US presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
went head to head in their first debate on Sept. 26, Iran took up a significant
part of the foreign policy discussion. During the debate, Republican Trump
challenged Democrat Clinton’s policies while serving as secretary of state
2009-2013, saying, “You started the Iran deal. That’s another beauty where you
have a country that was ready to fall; they were doing so badly. They were
choking on the sanctions. And now they’re going to be actually probably a major
power at some point pretty soon, the way they’re going.”
Given the harsh rhetoric of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton toward Iran,
which candidate do Iranians prefer to be the next US president?
The former first lady, however, defended the nuclear deal with Iran. She said,
“When I became secretary of state, Iran was weeks away from having enough
nuclear material to form a bomb. … I spent a year and a half putting together a
coalition that included Russia and China to impose the toughest sanctions on
Iran. And we did drive them to the negotiating table. And my successor, John
Kerry, and President [Barack] Obama got a deal that put a lid on Iran’s nuclear
program without firing a single shot.”
Looking back at Clinton and Trump’s Iran-related remarks over the past few
months, both in the preliminary debates or in their campaign speeches, it
becomes evident that neither's tone is soft toward Iran the way Obama's has
been. But which of the two do Iranians see as the better option?
Nasser Hadian, a prominent professor of international relations at Tehran
University, told Al-Monitor, “At a first glance, it might seem as if Trump is
the worst option for Iran mainly because he is constantly talking of dismantling
the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA]. He threatens Iran, talks of
the damages [to US interests] of the nuclear deal or the need to attack and
destroy Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf. But if we look at the bigger picture,
Trump can first of all jeopardize the legitimacy of the US global dominance and
this might be more favorable for Iran. Even today, you see many high-ranking
Republicans who are willing to vote for Clinton so that Trump doesn’t win
because in US society as well as in the international arena, Clinton is viewed
as a reasonable individual.”
But how can one consider Trump the better option when he continually attacks the
JCPOA? In his speech at the Republican convention July 21, he described the
agreement as one of the worst deals in US history. Can Trump really dismantle
the landmark accord with Iran? In June, the White House emphasized that no one —
including a potential President Trump — will have the power to tear up the
nuclear deal. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reaffirmed this
position while attending a session of the French Senate Committee on Foreign
Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces in June and said that the JCPOA was not an
agreement between Iran and the United States alone.
In an interview with Iran’s Khabar Online in September, Mohammad Reza Takhshid,
dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Tehran University, said, “Of
course, we should differentiate between the comments these candidates make
during the primary and final rounds [of the elections] and when they enter the
White House. Some of these remarks should not be taken too seriously. But it is
obvious that Trump is an unpredictable person, and this unpredictability can be
to both Iran’s advantage and disadvantage. This is while Clinton will remain
committed to Obama’s legacy on Iran, although she might impose new sanctions
against Tehran over its missiles or human rights. But these sanctions will not
be so much as to make Iran forgo the JCPOA. I also believe that Clinton will do
everything in her power to maintain the JCPOA.”
There is a wide range of opinions in Iranian society about what may lie ahead.
Following the first presidential debate, Khabar Online asked its readers to
express their views. One user identified as “Iman” wrote, “I hope Trump will
become US president. The anti-Iran sanctions were designed by Clinton and [the
Islamic State] was created by Clinton and the Democrats to maintain the regional
balance of power. On the other hand, the Republicans brought the downfall of
Saddam Hussein and the Taliban. They also put more pressure on Saudi Arabia.
Choosing Trump as president will engage the United States and Americans in an
internal fight for four years.” Meanwhile, another anonymous reader wrote that
he believes Clinton and Trump would be the same for Iran and pointed out, “The
US’ animosity toward Iran has always continued, and it makes no difference who
ends up in the White House. Whoever comes will pursue the path of animosity with
Iran.”
Hadian, the Tehran University professor, said, “The chance of Hillary Clinton
winning is much higher than Trump, and she will pursue a tougher line than Obama
in regard to Iran and the JCPOA.” In a July interview with Khabar Online, former
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Maleki said, “Mrs. Clinton does not know
much about Iran and has no interest to know much, either. It is natural that
under such circumstances she cannot have a clear comprehension of Iran. This is
while Mr. Kerry, for instance, knows Iran.”
Commenting on the suitability of Clinton in the eyes of Tehran, Iran's former
ambassador to Germany Hossein Mousavian said at Princeton University in June,
“She has stated that the worst US sanctions against Iran were imposed during her
time as secretary of state. Therefore, if she wants to follow this policy, the
answer is clear.” Mousavian added, “And the Republicans are after more
animosity.”
As such, it appears that there is no consensus among Iranians as to whether they
prefer Clinton or Trump. While Iranians believe Kerry had a more influential
role in making the JCPOA a reality than Clinton did, they do believe that
Clinton will not turn her back on Obama’s legacy. However, they also know that
if Clinton wins, she will likely pursue a policy of offense rather than defense
toward Iran.
There’s a similar ambiguity surrounding Trump. Some in Iran believe that his
threats should not be taken seriously. Given his view that US foreign policy
should be less interventionist as well as his interest in trade and doing
business, he could turn out to be a better option for Iran. Others argue that
with the blow he will likely deal to America’s global standing, he will tarnish
the prevailing international consensus against Iran. Yet, there are those in
Tehran who do take Trump’s threats seriously — and they are not a small number.
They believe that a Republican win in the polls will even threaten the nuclear
deal.
German economy minister gets
himself in hot water in Iran
Misha Zand/Al Monitor/October 06/16
When Germany's Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel entered Iran
Oct. 2, accompanied by more than 100 German businessmen, he probably did not
expect that some of his comments would cause a minor diplomatic crisis between
the two countries and reactions in every Iranian newspaper.
Germany's economy minister sparks controversy in Tehran over his demand that
normalization of ties is impossible without Iran’s recognition of Israel.
In an interview with the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, Gabriel listed
the issues he planned to discuss with Iranian officials during his visit to
Tehran. Among the matters Gabriel brought up was Iran's role in the war in
Syria, its human rights record and how friendly relations with Germany would
only be possible once Iran recognizes Israel.
Gabriel’s comments were harshly criticized by Iranian judiciary chief Ayatollah
Sadegh Larijani. In an interview with Mizan, a media outlet close to the
judiciary, on Oct. 3, Larijani said, “Officials of the Islamic Republic [of
Iran] will not allow [figures] such as the German minister to interfere in
[Iran’s] internal affairs, and I suggest to the government and the foreign
minister that they not allow these figures to enter the country.” Larijani, who
is directly appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, added,
"Apparently, he has been sleeping and does not know that Iran has for the past
30-odd years resisted these types of demands and endured great pressures in
pursuit of its beliefs.”
In this vein, parliament Speaker Ali Larijani — a brother of the judiciary chief
— canceled his meeting with Gabriel without providing a reason. Later on Oct. 3,
news surfaced that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had canceled a meeting
with the visiting German minister as well. Amid speculations of the reason for
the cancellation, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said it was “due to Zarif’s busy
schedule.” However, Gabriel late on Oct. 3 reportedly held an “unexpected”
meeting with Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri.
The day after Gabriel's visit, Iranian media was flooded with reactions,
opinions and analyses of why the reactions to the German minister’s comments
escalated on such a high level. But Gabriel’s comments are not new. In July
2015, upon his first visit to Iran, he also called on Iran to stop questioning
Israel’s “right to existence.”
According to an editorial in Noavaran, a Reformist news outlet, the reasons for
the escalation are the “pressures and attacks on the government … to knock down
the government in any way possible.” The editorial suggests that the pressures
on the government are pre-planned: “One day, [it is] the canceled concerts,
another day efforts to cancel a soccer match and the day after [it is about]
German’s economy minister not coming to Iran.”
Meanwhile, hard-line daily Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Iran’s
supreme leader, wrote an editorial Oct. 5 criticizing government spokesman
Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht for supposedly trying to downplay the comments made by
the German minister. In this vein, Kayhan resorted to irony and asked whether
Nobakht is the spokesman of the Iranian or the German government.
Of note, an op-ed published in Reformist newspaper Arman Oct. 5 embraced Zarif’s
decision to cancel the meeting with Gabriel amid the escalated atmosphere in the
media and wrote, “The loss of the meeting between the Iranian foreign minister
and the German economy minister was not a diplomatic punishment — but a smart
diplomatic move. It was a maneuver by the government to respond amid the
domestic, regional and international political atmosphere.”
Egyptian Regime Approves Church
Construction Law, Satisfying Coptic Church; Interfaith Conflict Continues
By: C. Meital/MEMRI/October 06/16
Introduction
In recent months, tensions have been rising between Copts and Muslims in Egypt.
Recurring violent incidents between Muslims and Copts in the rural areas of
Upper Egypt in the Minya and Bani Suef Governorates[1] have led to increased
protests by the Coptic Church,[2] even requiring the involvement of President
Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who in July 2016 met with Coptic Patriarch Tawadros II to
try to calm and reassure the Coptic community.[3] In light of these events, the
Egyptian government, along with Coptic Church representatives from around the
country, joined forces to promote a law regulating the construction and
renovation of churches in Egypt; the law received final presidential approval on
September 28, 2016.[4]
The new law regulates the construction and renovation of churches and related
structures, and sets out a legal definition of the term "church" and other
relevant terms. Under it, the Coptic Church's legal counsel would submit a
request to build or renovate a church to the local governor, who has four months
to respond; if he denies the request he must give his reasons in detail. The law
also states that the size of the church and adjacent structures will be set in
accordance with population sizes and requirements.[5]
Prior to the law's passage, in early August 2016, it was reported that the
Egyptian government and Coptic Church (which consists of three branches:
Orthodox, Evangelical and Catholic) had reached an agreement on its wording.[6]
But while some MPs, particularly Copts, welcomed it, stating that it would
contribute to ending the religious conflict, others, among them MP 'Atef Makhlif,
argued that some sections of it were vague, such as Section 2 concerning how
large churches may be.[7] The section stated: "The size of the church and of the
accompanying structure for which the [building] permit is filed must be in
accordance with the number and needs of the Christians in the area where it will
be established, taking into consideration the population growth rate..."[8]
The Orthodox Church issued a statement claiming that "unacceptable changes and
impractical additions" had been made to the agreed-upon wording, "which could
jeopardize national unity in Egypt because of their complexities and flaws, and
due to the failure to take into account the national sentiment and civil rights
of the Copts in Egypt."[9]
Following these objections to the proposed wording of the law from some Copts
and MPs, the government hastened to discuss the disputed sections, fearing an
increase in the Muslim-Coptic tension.[10] Additionally, Church representatives
met with Egyptian Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Magdy Al-Agaty,[11]
and Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Isma'il met with Patriarch Tawadros II.[12]
On August 25, the Church announced that it had reached an agreement with the
government regarding the wording of the law,[13] which was approved by the
Egyptian parliament five days later, on August 30. The Salafi Al-Nour party
remained opposed; its members abstained and left the room after the vote,[14]
and Al-Nour MP Mohammad Isma'il Gadallah said that the law would lead to the
eradication of Egypt's Islamic identity.[15] After the law's passage, Patriarch
Tawardos II thanked state officials, including President Al-Sisi and Prime
Minister Isma'il, stressing, "This law aims to correct a mistake that has lasted
160 years."[16]
In contrast to Church representatives' positive reactions to the law, it has
sparked outrage from the beginning of its ratification process in the government
and parliament, and was also opposed by many public and media figures, including
Copts, liberals, and Islamists. Thus, for example, Orthodox Coptic attorney
Naguib Gabriel stated that the law did not bring about equality among citizens,
and expressed his objections to Section 2, about the size of a church as
proportional to the size of the local Christian population. There were no such
restrictions, he said, on mosque construction.[17] Kamal Zakher, coordinator of
the Secular Copts movement, criticized parliament's fast-tracking of the law,
arguing that it divided Muslims and Christians.[18] He added that several Coptic
movements as well as public figures, politicians, and civil society
organizations had presented an official memo to President Al-Sisi requesting
that he not sign the law and instead send it back to parliament.[19] The main
argument against the law is that it sets Christians apart from the rest of
Egyptian society, and that the issue of church construction should have been
included in a broader, more general law regulating the construction of all
places of worship.[20]
President Al-Sisi meets with Coptic Patriarch Tawadros II (Al-Ahram, Egypt, July
29, 2016)
Following are excerpts from articles by Egyptian writers, both Copts and
Muslims, reflecting the discourse on this issue throughout the process of the
law's approval in the government and parliament:
Coptic MPs: Apply The Same Law To Churches And Mosques
Coptic MP: Current Law Does Not Solve The Problem Of Churches
Before the passage of the law, Dr. 'Imad Gad, a Coptic MP and deputy chairman of
the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, argued that it would
not change the harsh reality faced by churches, and that a separate law for
churches would divide Christians and Muslims. He suggested that there should be
instead a single law for all houses of worship:
"The law in its current form does not solve the problem of the old churches and
does not address the problem of building new ones. The government purposely
dodged this, and behind the scenes are the security apparatuses – particularly
the national security apparatuses – who are ready to hunt down and exploit
instances of ambiguous wording in order to deal with the whole issue. This is
why the Orthodox Church expressed the hope that the law would be implemented
honestly and in accordance with the assurances that it provided.
"The law allows the governor of the district in question to decide on a request
[to construct or renovate a church] within four months, but does not set out
what course of action should be pursued if the request is denied – neither
sanctions on governors who repeatedly reject requests, nor a channel for filing
a complaint about injustice or a governor's rejection... Therefore, there is
nothing new here... With regard to building new churches, the governor may deny
the request, and the party submitting the request must turn to the courts and go
through the process of filing a complaint, which can take years...
"As for the message that this law conveys: Passing a law concerning the
construction and renovation of churches that is separate from a law concerning
the construction and renovation of mosques will only deepen the religious
discrimination among Egypt's [citizens], and splinter the unity between a Muslim
Egyptian and a Christian Egyptian, and between a mosque and a church, so that
each have their own space and their own law. Therefore, all Egyptians must join
forces to oppose this law and demand a single law for houses of worship...
"We must pass a law with only two sections that will fundamentally solve this
problem and end the tension that has existed in our hearts for decades and the
whole debate on this issue by setting uniform, objective standards for [both]
mosques and churches. The 'Egyptians Against Religious Discrimination' group has
already drawn up both sections of this law. Section 1 states: 'All unauthorized
Christian houses of worship that host religious worship at the time of the
passage of this law will become licensed, so that the sections of this [new] law
[only] apply to Christian houses of worship that are to be constructed,
reinforced, renovated, expanded, or have stories added.' Section 2 states: 'All
regulations regarding the construction, maintenance, renovation, and
expansion... of houses of worship serving Egypt's Muslim citizens, or regarding
adjacent structures that serve them, will apply [also] to the houses of worship
of Egypt's Christian citizens.' Thus this pointless debate surrounding church
building will end."[21]
Coptic Intellectual: There Must Be Social Consensus About Church Construction
Law
Also prior to the law's passage, Gamal As'ad, a Coptic intellectual and former
MP, attacked both the Salafi Al-Nour party and what he referred to as "Coptic
activists." About the former, he argued that the party's opposition to the law
constituted explicit support for revoking Copts' rights and citizenships and for
marginalizing them; regarding the latter, he said that their actions are
enraging Muslims and fueling the Muslim-Copt schism. He wrote:
"Every law is aimed at regulating the internal ties among sectors of the public
and between the public and the regime. There must be a social consensus about a
law's importance in order to create an agreement that will allow it to be
implemented... [In the Copts' case,] there are obstacles that prevent us from
thinking that the problem of the churches was solved when this law was passed,
because the Salafi stream, represented by the Al-Nour Party, champions beliefs
and opinions that are in line with its own partisan and political interests, and
exploits the religious sphere for political purposes... The [Al-Nour party's]
rejection of the churches law is not a normal political and parliamentary
expression, but an explicit statement [in support of] revoking the rights and
citizenship of the other, and marginalizing him, while flouting the
constitution...
"On the other hand, there are the so-called 'Coptic activists' who are the other
side of the same coin, even if passively, because they act just like [Al-Nour]
and bring about the same results. They and others hijack this issue in order to
make their presence known, and they delude themselves that they are playing a
role, when they are not sufficiently knowledgeable [to play it]. The strange
thing is that these activists presume to demand a civil state, but at the same
time their methods perpetuate a religious state. They speak on behalf of their
sect and make sectarian demands on a sectarian basis, and this angers the Muslim
majority, as if [their demands] were aimed at preventing the construction of
mosques, not obtaining a law for churches. They do this instead of acting to
create a [sympathetic] political environment that includes and unites everyone,
because if everyone is not satisfied, and if everyone is not included, it will
not help solve this or other problems. Therefore, before this law [is passed],
it is more important to eliminate the atmosphere that [the Coptic activists] are
exploiting. This is an obligation for everyone, on all levels – starting with
Al-Azhar and the [Coptic] Church."[22]
Muslim Egyptian Writers: The Church Construction Law Undermines Christian-Muslim
Equality
Egyptian Writer: Building Houses Of Worship Is Not Just A Christian Right – The
Law Must Apply To Everyone
Muslim Al-Ahram columnist Dr. Osama Al-Ghazali Harb argued that the law, if
passed, I don't want to say "prior to the passage of the law" yet again would
express the failure of the civil state and the citizenship law, and called on
parliament to reject it. He said that there was need for a more general law
regulating the construction of houses of worship, and that such a bill should be
discussed by all Christian and Muslim citizens – not by Christians and the
government. He wrote:
"The current debate in parliament regarding the church construction law is a
failure of the civil state in Egypt and the citizenship law, and history will
hold accountable anyone who took part in it, whether Christian or Muslim, [for
the following reasons:]
"- The claim that this law implements Section 235 of the constitution – which
states that 'in its first legislative term following the effective date of this
Constitution, the House of Representatives shall issue a law to regulate
constructing and renovating churches, in a manner that guarantees the freedom to
practice religious rituals for Christians' – does not rule out the possibility
that this will be carried out under a more general law regarding the
construction of [all] houses of worship. Section 64 of the constitution supports
my claim, as it states that freedom of religious worship and the freedom to
establish houses of worship are anchored in the law, that is, it does not
restrict the legal arrangement in this matter to churches only.
"- The sides in this debate are not only the government and the Church, but are,
first and foremost the Christian and Muslim citizens; their religious
institutions are to join the debate later on. The argument that the Church
represents the Copts is purely sectarian; this debate should be conducted by all
citizens, Copts and Muslims, as citizens with equal rights and obligations, and
without differentiation or discrimination.
"- It would be unfortunate and shameful to forgo [the passing of] a single law
for the construction of houses of worship for both Muslims and Christians, and
to refer only to the construction of churches...
"I call on parliament to oppose the church construction bill and to go back to
the concept of a single law for houses of worship. If the Egyptian parliament
indeed does this, then it will go down in history... Finally, I say to President
Al-Sisi that his visit to St. Mark's [Coptic] Cathedral [in Alexandria] to
extent holiday greetings to the Copts was a wise move indicating his interest in
them, and the Copts accepted this with love, esteem, and gratitude, as he
deserved. However, there is [still] a great need for [improving] the full rights
of Cops in Egypt after the January 25 and June 30 revolutions."[23]
Muslim Writer: The Law Constitutes A Church Crime Against Struggling Christians,
And It Revokes Their Equality In The Homeland
Muslim Al-Masri Al-Yawm writer Hamdi Razaq criticized the Egyptian churches,
claiming that they agreed to the law in return for approval for installing bells
in church towers and placing crosses atop them, and accused them of actualizing
the extremist Muslim plan to marginalize Christians and revoke their
citizenship. He wrote:
"The 15th draft of the church construction bill explicitly refers to church
towers with bells and crosses. Is the problem really bells and crosses?...
"The three churches [Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelist] have willingly signed
on to something that the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafis, and their supporters were
unable to accomplish. The latter's historic plan was to revoke the Christians'
citizenship and single them out in their homeland by means of a bell and a
cross. [It is as if they said:] 'Here is the bell and the cross that make you
Christians in the homeland, instead of citizens. You are dhimmi, [non-Muslims
protected by] others.
"The evil of the Salafi [Egyptian] state is terrible. It hanged Christians from
bells and crosses as it passed its shameful law. The Christians shouted, Where
is the bell? Where is the cross? The bell and the cross distracted them from a
law revoking their citizenship and expelling them from the public, as if the
Christians' [entire] cause depends on a cross...
"This law is a perfectly grounded crime against the homeland, and its passage,
with the consent of the three churches, is a crime against the Christians by the
churches. All those who worked to pass this law, [it is as if] they plunged a
knife deep into the heart of the state... [by] accepting this law as approved,
as if it was preordained.
"The Egyptians' struggle for equality in a single homeland has become an
illusion. The chances of [equal] citizenship have been reduced to a cross on a
bell tower... The Egyptian homeland will not accept any distinction between
Muslim and Christian, church and mosque, bell tower and minaret, bell and
[Muslim] call to prayer, crescent and cross. Throughout Egypt's history, its
crescent has embraced its cross, and its cross has been at the heart of the
crescent – because that is how Egypt was designed.
"If the government has committed a crime by proposing this law, then the
Church's crime is even worse. Both have transgressed against the civil state,
against every Egyptian – and against the Muslims even before the Christians.
Lately, we Muslims and Christians have become brothers – [but] unfortunately it
is as a result of [the government's] harmful partnership with the Salafis.
"To those of you who raise a ruckus about the cross – where is the motto of
'citizens, not subjects'? Who decided on this unfair differentiation between a
law for mosques and a law for churches?... Tolerance has been lost deep in our
hearts, and our homeland has become a place... where Christians [need to] pray
in their homeland under [the protection of a special] law... We are not at the
mercy of the Salafis. Do not discriminate among us on the basis of religion.
This law is religious discrimination of the first degree...
"A law for a bell and a cross... brings us back to the ancient period of dhimmi
[that is, when Jews and Christians lived under Muslim rule]. Is this law
appropriate for Egypt? We have nothing to do with this law, and the bell hangs
around the necks of all of us – both rulers and ruled."[24]
* C. Meital is a research fellow at MEMRI.
Endnotes:
[1] For more on violent anti-Copt incidents, see MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series
Report No. 1265, Three Years Into Al-Sisi's Rule: Difficult Challenges At Home
And Abroad, August 14, 2016.
[2] For example, Tawadros II said that there have been 37 assaults on Copts in
the past three years, and that the church, which has thus far managed to contain
Coptic rage in and out of Egypt, cannot continue to do so for much longer. Al-Masri
Al-Yawm (Egypt), July 25, 2016. Criticism was also voiced by Copts in exile in
the U.S., among them a Bishop known as Mark Aziz, who claimed that Al-Sisi
deceived them regarding addressing this matter. Egyptian Copts, who are among
Al-Sisi's supporters, dismissed this criticism from abroad. Al-Misryyoun
(Egypt), July 21, 2016; Akhbar Al-Yawm (Egypt), July 23, 2016.
[3] Al-Sisi and Tawadros II met on July 28, 2016 and discuss interfaith tensions
in Egypt and the importance of national unity. Al-Ahram (Egypt), July 29, 2016.
[4] Al-Shurouq (Egypt), September 28, 2016.
[5] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), August 30, 2016.
[6] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), August 2, 2016.
[7] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), August 4, 2016.
[8] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), August 30, 2016.
[9] Al-Ahram (Egypt), August 19, 2016.
[10] Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), August 19, 2016.
[11] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), August 8, 2016; Al-Watan (Egypt), August 20,
2016.
[12] Al-Ahram (Egypt), August 23, 2016.
[13] Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), August 25, 2016. The law was published in full in
Al-Masri Al-Yawm on August 27.
[14] Al-Ahram (Egypt), August 31, 2016; Al-Watan (Egypt), August 30, 2016.
[15] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), August 30, 2016.
[16] Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), August 31, 2016.
[17] Rassd.com, August 31, 2016. Egypt has no laws regarding mosque
construction, and they are built in accordance with conditions set out in 2001
by then minister of religious endowments Mahmoud Hamdi Zakzouk and passed by the
government. According to those conditions, a mosque can only be built when the
existing mosques in a certain area are insufficient to serve the local
worshippers; a new mosque cannot be built within 50 meters of an existing mosque
or on stolen or disputed land; and no mosque may be smaller than 175 square
meters. The Ministry of Religious Endowments is in charge of approving new
mosques. 'Abd Al-Ghani Hindi, the coordinator of the Popular Movement for an
Independent Al-Azhar, said that the most recent law regulating mosques was
passed in 1949 under President Nasser, but only dealt with the administration of
large mosques, and that no laws regulate the construction and administration
mosques in general. He stressed that Zakzouk's conditions are regulations, not
law, and that that they are currently not implemented, because the Ministry of
Religious Endowments is never contacted before construction on a new mosque
begins. Al-Watan (Egypt), July 20, 2016.
[18] Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), September 1, 2016.
[19] Al-Watan (Egypt), September 6, 2016.
[20] Writer 'Adel Naaman claimed that the law was a Salafi law. Al-Masri Al-Yawm
(Egypt), August 31, 2016. Dr. Mustafa Al-Fiqi wrote that he would have preferred
the law to be a "Construction of Places of Worship Law" instead. However, he
said that the law was a mark of pride for the government, and that he hoped it
would end sectarian hostilities in the country. Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), August
30, 2016.
[21] Al-Watan (Egypt), August 27, 2016.
[22] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), September 5, 2016.
[23] Al-Ahram (Egypt), August 31, 2016.
[24] Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), August 28, 2016.
Who
Will Take al-Bab?
Fabrice Balanche/The Washington Institute/October 06/2016
The last remaining Islamic State stronghold in eastern Syria is poised to fall,
and given the potentially major strategic implications for the Kurds, Turkey,
the rebels, and other actors, one of them may act quickly to determine its fate.
After the Syrian cities of Manbij and Jarabulus were recently liberated from the
Islamic State, observers began to focus on al-Bab, the last major IS-held town
west of its proclaimed capital in Raqqa. Several actors are within striking
distance of the city, so who will try to conquer it first? According to Turkish
president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syrian rebels should free al-Bab with the help
of the Turkish army, which is already inside Syria only thirty kilometers away.
But military developments on the ground suggest a different scenario. On October
3, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) took Arima, an IS
stronghold on the road from Manbij only twenty kilometers east of al-Bab, while
other SDF units have advanced to twenty kilometers west of the city. Meanwhile,
the Syrian army is only ten kilometers south.
AL-BAB DURING THE WAR
In 2011, around 100,000 people lived in the al-Bab area. The city has not
suffered from much combat during the war, making it a good destination for
refugees from other parts of Aleppo province. Today, it has a Sunni Arab
majority population with a Kurdish minority. As with most other parts of the
province, the Assad regime's administrative personnel and police forces left the
city in spring 2012 and rebel forces took over. In January 2014, IS seized al-Bab
and has controlled it ever since.
Given the city's prewar history, a significant portion of the population may
well sympathize with the Islamic State's radical credo; beginning in 2003, for
example, many al-Bab youths went to Iraq to fight American troops. More
recently, the group has faced less local opposition in al-Bab than it did in
Manbij, where protests against IS conscription efforts in November 2015 provoked
a cycle of rebellion and strong repression.
At the same time, IS does not seem particularly committed to retaining al-Bab.
After a string of defeats on the Turkish border and in Manbij, al-Bab lost most
of its strategic importance for IS, and outlets such as ARA News began reporting
that the families of IS soldiers were departing for Raqqa, along with the
group's local police department, training camps, military supply depots, and
Islamic tribunal. IS now seems focused on defending Raqqa and the Euphrates
Valley, especially given the reportedly imminent coalition campaign against its
last major Iraqi stronghold, Mosul.
THE SYRIAN ARMY IS CLOSEST
Since November 2015, when they retook Kuweires military airport, the Assad
regime's army forces have been only ten kilometers south of al-Bab. The regime
has conducted airstrikes on the city and local IS positions but has not tried to
take it over. Yet while the army's first priority is to reconquer Aleppo city,
it may be able to move against al-Bab at the same time. From January to March,
the army seized the area between Aleppo and Kuweires while simultaneously
closing the Azaz corridor north of Aleppo with help from Shiite militias and
Kurdish forces (it remains uncertain whether the Kurds were directly
coordinating with the regime in any way or just fighting a common foe, but the
results of their simultaneous offensives are clear). And since August, thousands
more Shiite fighters have arrived in Aleppo to help the army retake the whole
city. In addition, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and
the pro-regime al-Masdar News announced on September 21 that some 3,000 Russian
conscripts were present in al-Safira southeast of Aleppo, though the claim has
not been confirmed since then.
The regime and its allies have every interest in taking al-Bab before
Turkish-supported rebels do. Although Syrian and Turkish military officials met
last month in Baghdad and came to an ''understanding'' about the Turkish role
north of Aleppo, Damascus and Ankara are still in competition regarding the
overall fate of northern Syria. If the rebels were to take al-Bab, they would
not only pose a threat to Aleppo, but could also use the Islamic State's retreat
as an opportunity to advance toward Raqqa and other parts of the Euphrates
Valley. And in symbolic terms, letting the rebels take al-Bab when the army is
only a few kilometers away would be a sign of weakness. Furthermore, the city
could fall to the regime with relative ease, as happened in Palmyra when IS
forces essentially abandoned the town shortly before the army surrounded it.
Alternatively, the regime might allow the SDF to take al-Bab given the shaky but
ongoing modus vivendi they established some time ago. A small SDF corridor --
realistically, a Kurdish corridor -- extending from Manbij to al-Bab to Afrin
could serve as a defensive barrier north of Aleppo, perhaps deterring
pro-Turkish rebels from attacking the army. The regime might also believe it
cannot easily hold al-Bab because the local Sunni Arab majority would view the
army and associated militia forces as Shiite occupiers; in contrast, the SDF's
mix of Sunni Arab and Kurdish fighters would probably be more accepted. In this
scenario, one cannot rule out the possibility of Russia giving the U.S.-armed
SDF the air support they need to advance on al-Bab. After all, facilitating the
creation of a Kurdish corridor could prevent Turkey-backed Arab rebels from
making further advances against IS, thus reducing Washington's incentive to
support them.
THE "EUPHRATES SHIELD''
Beginning in August, a coalition of Arab rebels called the "Euphrates Shield"
quickly conquered Jarabulus and other border areas with help from the Turkish
army, then progressed south slowly and carefully. The umbrella group has easily
freed Turkmen villages, but it has encountered more difficulties when trying to
free Arab villages. First, its forces number only 1,000 to 1,500 fighters.
Second, apart from one Turkmen unit (the Sultan Murad brigade), most of the
coalition's fighters are Arabs from Idlib province to the west, so they have no
real links with the local Arab population. In contrast, IS has been recruiting
and indoctrinating local fighters since 2013, and many of them are now keen on
fighting to save their territory and avoid potentially bloody reprisals from
Islamist rebel factions.
Moreover, the Euphrates Shield cannot move forward without artillery and air
support from Turkey, and it is unclear how far Ankara is prepared to go in that
regard. On the one hand, Erdogan claimed at the UN General Assembly last month
that the group would seize around 5,000 square kilometers of territory in total
(or 2,000 square miles) -- this is five times the area it currently holds, which
would presumably mean taking al-Bab. Advancing on the city would also block
Kurdish efforts to join their western canton of Afrin and their eastern canton
of Kobane into a unified zone along the entire Turkish border; in fact,
preventing that outcome appears to be Erdogan's main reason for entering Syria.
On the other hand, some Turkish officials have privately indicated that Ankara
may not want to send troops deeper into Syria, perhaps because Erdogan and
Vladimir Putin have apparently agreed on some implicit redlines about how far
each will go. It seems unlikely that Putin would be pleased with a Turkish
presence inside al-Bab and so close to Aleppo, which Russian forces are heavily
committed to retaking. Al-Bab is also Moscow's best leverage on Turkey and the
SDF.
KURDISH GOALS
The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which dominates the SDF, still
hopes to unify its border cantons into a self-proclaimed statelet that it calls
Rojava. Accordingly, SDF fighters are moving on al-Bab from two sides. On
October 3, they advanced 20 kilometers west of the city, their first move in
that direction since Turkey's August intervention. To the east, SDF units from
Afrin have advanced to a similar distance in an offensive bolstered by regime
and Russian operations, as happened when the Kurds took the Azaz corridor in
February and the Castello Road in July.
In October 2015, a PYD delegation in Washington noted that Russia had proposed
to recognize Rojava and support Kurdish efforts to join Kobane and Afrin. What
they really wanted was a similar promise from the United States, as well as more
military support. Afterward, U.S. forces backed the Kurdish-led offensive on
Manbij, which the PYD interpreted as American acceptance of a unified Rojava.
Yet when Vice President Joe Biden visited Turkey this August, he stated that
Washington's support for that offensive was conditioned on Kurdish SDF
components handing Manbij over to their Arab allies after liberating it and then
leaving the city. Although the PYD has made no public statements in response,
Biden's remarks greatly angered them and will only heighten the prospect of
Putin attracting them to his side.
THE ISLAMIC STATE'S CALCULUS
As mentioned previously, the self-proclaimed IS "caliph" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
may have an interest in abandoning al-Bab in order to concentrate his forces
around Raqqa, since he knows that the survival of his territory is based on
contradictions between his enemies. For some of these enemies, continued IS
control over Raqqa arguably serves their near-term interests: it gives the PYD a
strategic annuity to further its goal of establishing a unified Rojava, and it
helps the Assad regime continue portraying the war as a fight against
terrorists.
At the very least, if al-Bab must fall, it is in Baghdadi's interest to have the
Syrian army and/or the SDF take the city rather than the rebels. The army is too
weak to launch an eastward campaign against the Euphrates Valley any time soon;
its first priority is to eliminate the rebels (an IS enemy) from western Syria.
As for the SDF, they would be more preoccupied with defending an Afrin-Kobane
corridor from Turkey than conquering Raqqa, a city they have no interest in.
CONCLUSION
Since 2011, most Western (and Russian) analysts have underestimated Iran and
Moscow's support to Damascus and the resilience of the Assad regime, arguing
that the Syrian army's manpower shortage would be an insurmountable handicap.
Once again, however, the regime and its allies appear strong enough to launch
further offensives, including against al-Bab. Their siege of Aleppo seems close
to success given the recent breakdown in U.S.-Russian ceasefire talks, so more
troops may soon be freed up for such offensives. To be sure, cities such as Hama
and Damascus continue to face rebel threats, but the danger is probably not dire
enough to draw massive forces away from the north in the near term. And if the
army and its Shiite allies are not sufficiently strong to retake al-Bab, Assad
and Putin's interests may still be served by allowing the SDF to conquer the
city or even helping them do so. These scenarios leave Washington with two
salient alternatives: support an SDF advance on al-Bab and risk alienating the
Turks, or push for a strong offensive by Turkey-backed rebels to take the city
quickly, which could damage relations with the Kurds, the principal U.S. partner
against IS thus far.
**Fabrice Balanche, an associate professor and research director at the
University of Lyon 2, is a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute.
Iran Shows Off Its Bounty of Crashed Drones and New
UAVs
Farzin Nadimi/The Washington Institute/October 06/016
The IRGC has sought to prove the resilience and technological prowess of its new
UAVs by displaying them next to recovered models from other countries, but it
may also be trying to mask key shortcomings.
At a widely publicized event on October 1, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC) unveiled a scale model of a new drone based on the American RQ-170
Sentinel stealth unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that crash-landed in its
territory in 2011. Hung underneath the model were four electro-optically guided
Sadid bombs/missiles. The lookalike is named Saegheh (Lightning) and is claimed
to be part of a family of drones based on the Sentinel, equipped with either jet
or piston engines.
The IRGC was no doubt rushing to convince observers that it was on the cusp of
developing a UAV on par with advanced U.S. drones, releasing a video purportedly
showing a full-size version (Simorgh, named after a mythical bird) taking to the
air. Yet even if Iran is closing in on the original Sentinel aerodynamically, it
could still be years away from fully reverse-engineering that UAV's
sophisticated internal systems and electronics. And while the added Sadid
weapons could technically give the Iranian model a notable antisurface
capability, they would ruin the low-observable qualities that a stealth design
is supposed to have -- assuming it could even fly and operate effectively with
such a load.
To be sure, Iran's UAV industry has made noticeable progress in recent years,
producing large drones such as the Shahed 129, which is armed with guided
air-to-surface weapons. Unveiled in 2013, the Shahed is probably the most
developed and successful Iranian drone, with repeated sightings over Iraq and
Syria. There are few reports of them crashing; one was lost on the Iran-Pakistan
border in 2015. Tehran also unveiled the long-endurance Fotros (a mythical
Shiite angel) UAV in 2013, with a large wingspan and the claimed ability to
loiter for more than a day at 25,000 feet. It bears a striking resemblance to
the Israeli Heron UAV.
Despite such progress, however, the Iranians still lag behind in crucial areas
such as systems integration and long-range navigation, data links, and fuel
systems. Tehran claims that its drones can operate at ranges exceeding 3,000
kilometers with an endurance of up to thirty hours, but without real-time
satellite communications and data feed, their effectiveness would be highly
questionable at such ranges.
During the same event, the IRGC also showed several wrecked drones that it had
stitched back together, including an almost intact RQ-1A (erroneously identified
as MQ-1C) Predator beside a similar size Shahed 129, an RQ-7 Shadow, a ScanEagle,
and an RQ-11 Raven handheld drone. ScanEagles and Ravens were widely used by the
U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they are also in service with Iraqi,
Pakistani, Lebanese, and Yemeni armed forces, among others, so the origin of the
IRGC's version is uncertain. As for the Predator, the U.S. military has lost a
number of that model in Taliban-held portions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, so
locals may have turned one or more over to the IRGC's elite extraterritorial
branch, the Qods Force, in exchange for weapons and ammunition.
Iran has two copied versions of the ScanEagle, called Kavosh (Search) and Yasser
(Butcher) by the IRGC. The latter model has been seen supporting the Assad
regime and its allies in Syria since 2013. That same year, Iran presented an
example of the copied drone to visiting Gen. Viktor Bondarev, commander of the
Russian Aerospace Forces.
Finally, the IRGC also displayed the reconditioned wreckage of a small UAV that
it has misidentified as an Israeli Hermes 450 since 2014, when it claimed to
shoot the vehicle down near the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. This drone,
and the Iranian copy also displayed, look identical to an Armenian UAV seen in
2012 in service with the armed forces of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which
borders Iran. One potential reason for the misidentification, if not done
purposefully, is that Armenian writing on the wreckage might look like Hebrew to
Iranian personnel.
Regarding the actual capabilities of Iran's existing drones, in addition to
conducting surveillance and reconnaissance missions at ranges of at least 200
kilometers, they can now apparently take out individual ground targets using
guided bombs and missiles. The Sadid missile is similar in configuration to the
Israeli Spike antitank guided missile, which has a range of 2.5 to 5 kilometers
when launched from the ground. The unpowered glide version of the weapon can add
some stealth capability by eliminating the missile's launch signature. Iran has
also been trying to improve the flexibility of its drones. In the past it has
shown various UAVs with man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) under their
wings, modified to work as air-to-air missiles. While such a capability would be
of little use against high-performance aircraft, it could pose a threat to
slow-moving military and civilian planes or helicopters, assuming it can be used
operationally.
Going forward, the lifting of sanctions under the nuclear deal will give Iran an
opportunity to seek international collaboration on its drone program, including
with Russia, Belarus, China, India, and the Czech Republic. These potential
partners could help Tehran obtain the technology and parts it needs to make more
advanced drones with longer ranges, better endurance, and versatile data links.
At the same time, countries in the region and their foreign allies should not
underestimate the potential challenges created by Iran's existing drones -- even
less-advanced UAVs can pose significant threats to civilian infrastructure if
used aggressively, as shown when Dubai's airport shut down recently due to an
unidentified drone in the vicinity.
**Farzin Nadimi is a Washington-based analyst specializing in the security and
defense affairs of Iran and the Persian Gulf region.
Germany Imports
Child Marriage
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/October 06/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9078/germany-child-marriage
The true number of child marriages in Germany is believed to be much higher than
the official statistics suggest because many are being concealed.
In May, an appeals court in Bamberg recognized the marriage of a 15-year-old
Syrian girl to her 21-year-old cousin. The ruling effectively legalized Sharia
child marriages in Germany.
"Religious or cultural justifications obscure the simple fact that older,
perverse men are abusing young girls." — Rainer Wendt, head of the German police
union.
"This is not a question of tolerance and openness, but a question of the
protection of children and minors. We therefore need a clear rule: Assessing the
marriageable age of a person ... will in the future always be determined by
German law." — Bavarian Justice Minister Winfried Bausback.
German authorities are debating the contours of a new law that would crack down
on child marriages after it emerged that some 1,500 underage brides are now
living in the country.
The married minors are among the more than one million migrants from Africa,
Asia and the Middle East who entered Germany in 2015.
The German Interior Ministry, responding to a Freedom of Information Act
request, recently revealed that 1,475 married children are known to be living in
Germany as of July 31, 2016 — including 361 children who are under the age of
14.
Most of the married children are from Syria (664), Afghanistan (157) and Iraq
(100). Nearly 80% (1,152) are girls. The true number of child marriages in
Germany is believed to be much higher than the official statistics suggest
because many are being concealed.
German law currently allows minors aged 16 or over to get married if their
partner is of legal age and the parents or guardians consent. Germany does not
recognize marriages contracted abroad if a partner is under 14, but German
family courts have discretion to determine the validity of marriages concluded
abroad by minors who are 14 or older.
Zeinab, a married 14-year-old girl refugee from Syria, lives in a tent-camp in
Lebanon. Germany hosts many thousands of migrants and refugees from Syria, among
whom are at least 664 married children. Under current law, German family courts
have discretion to determine the validity of marriages concluded abroad by
minors who are 14 or older. (Image source: World Vision UK video screenshot)
In May, an appeals court in Bamberg recognized the marriage of a 15-year-old
Syrian girl to her 21-year-old cousin. The court ruled that the marriage was
valid because it was contracted in Syria, where such marriages are allowed
according to Islamic Sharia law, which does not set any age limit to marriage.
The ruling effectively legalized Sharia child marriages in Germany.
The case came about after the couple arrived at a refugee shelter in
Aschaffenburg in August 2015. The Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) refused to
recognize their marriage and separated the girl from her husband. The couple
filed a lawsuit and a family court ruled in favor of the Youth Welfare Office,
which claimed to be the girl's legal guardian.
The court in Bamberg overturned that ruling. It determined that, according to
Sharia law, the marriage is valid because it has already been consummated, and
therefore the Youth Welfare Office has no legal authority to separate the
couple.
The ruling — which has been described as a "crash course in Syrian Islamic
marriage law" — ignited a firestorm of criticism. Some accused the court in
Bamberg of applying Sharia law over German law to legalize a practice that is
banned in Germany.
"Religious or cultural justifications obscure the simple fact that older,
perverse men are abusing young girls," said Rainer Wendt, head of the German
police union.
Monika Michell of Terre des Femmes, a women's rights group that campaigns
against child marriage, said: "A husband cannot be the legal guardian of a child
bride because he is involved in a sexual relationship with her — a very obvious
conflict of interest."
The Justice Minister of Hesse, Eva Kühne-Hörmann, asked: "If underage persons —
quite rightly — are not allowed to buy a beer, why should the lawmakers allow
children to make such profound decisions related to marriage?"
Others said the ruling would open the floodgates of cultural conflict in
Germany, as Muslims would view it as a precedent to push for the legalization of
other Islamic practices, including polygamy, in the country.
Child marriage is a Germany-wide problem: 559 married children are living in
Bavaria; 188 in North-Rhine Westphalia; more than 100 in Lower Saxony; and at
least 100 in Berlin.
In Baden-Württemberg, the number of known child marriages jumped seven-fold in
the past two years, from 26 in 2013 to 181 at the end of 2015. Of those, 162 are
girls, and 18 are younger than 15 years of age.
The exact number of child marriages in Germany is unknown, partly because German
authorities appear to have lost track of the identities or whereabouts of
potentially hundreds of thousands of migrants. Of the 1.1 million migrants who
entered Germany in 2015, only 477,000 have applied for asylum. The German
government blames the discrepancy on an accounting problem, but others say that
many migrants have gone underground to avoid being deported because they are not
legitimate refugees fleeing war zones but economic migrants seeking a better
life in Germany.
The Justice Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Guido Wolf, said foreign marriages
should only be recognized if one partner is at least 16 years old and the other
is 18, in line with existing German marriage law. Wolf described marriages
contracted at 14 or 15 years of age as forced marriages. "I find it hard to
believe that someone who is younger than 16 would decide autonomously and
self-determinedly for marriage," he said. Wolf has called for raising the legal
age for all marriages in Germany to 18.
Members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and their Bavarian
allies in the Christian Social Union have called for outlawing child marriage. A
strategy paper states:
"An 11-, 13- or 15-year-old girl belongs not in marriage but in school. In the
future, the principle must be the annulment of child marriages contracted
abroad. The primacy of the child's welfare and the equal treatment of men and
women are pillars of our society and of our understanding of values. Child
marriage is therefore absolutely incompatible."
A proposed law, which will be submitted to the German parliament in November,
would require all Youth Welfare Offices (Jugendämter) in Germany to report child
marriages as soon as they become aware of them, and to bring all such cases
before family courts so that they can be annulled. Judges would be allowed
discretion to make exceptions only in cases where the wife is already close to
the age of majority.
Bavarian Justice Minister Winfried Bausback said:
"This is not a question of tolerance and openness, but a question of the
protection of children and minors. We therefore need a clear rule: To assess the
marriageable age of a person — that is, the question of the age at which
marriage can be contracted — will in the future always be determined by German
law."
Stephan Harbarth of the Christian Democratic Union called for child marriage to
be abolished in Germany by the end of 2016. "According to our cultural
perspective, child marriage is unacceptable," he said. "The suffering of those
affected requires quick action. Our proposals are on the table. We can
immediately legislate. For us, family clans do not decide about a marriage.
Rather, each individual does. We will not tolerate illegal Islamic parallel
justice — not even in marriage."
**Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He
is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de
Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on
Twitter.
Follow Soeren Kern on Twitter and Facebook
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
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or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Can the new UN
chief help resolve the Syrian crisis?
Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/October 06/16
United States has officially announced the suspension of diplomatic cooperation
with Rus-sia on Syria. That brings to an end coordination of efforts to counter
terrorism and also the ceasefire that was in place. Basically, it seems,
Washington failed to distinguish between Jabhat an-Nusra and the so-called
moderate rebels. Russia, on the other hand, has failed to fulfill its
commitments. Irre-spective of whether this is due to lack of influence on
Damascus, Russia has driven itself to a narrow corridor with not so well thought
out policy. It seemed to be following Napoleon’s logic of jumping into the fray
and then figuring out what to do next. There have been miscalculations,
difference over stated and real objectives in the Syrian conflict while the
geopolitical intrigues and mistrust have brought about the paralysis of the
entire political process. The UN has failed in its mission due to many reasons
including tension between global players such as Russia and the US. This has
been exacerbated by the opposition’s lack of be-lief in any talks with Damascus
and the UN’s failure to invoke the international system. A new round of talks
was scheduled to be held in the end of August but is now unlikely in the near
future. Under these circumstances, which are pushing the world to the brink of a
global conflict, we need more than ever the strong a truly powerful United
Nations. The problem is that while promoting their candidate countries are
guided not by the desire to strengthen the UN as an institution, to enable it to
tackle global threats, but instead follow their own interests
New Secretary General
The election of the new Secretary General of the UN deserves special attention.
Ban Ki-moon’s successor will not only inherit unresolved conflicts but also the
full new pack of rapidly developing threats coming from two superpowers. The
problem is that while promoting their candidate countries are guided not by the
desire to strengthen the UN as an institution, to enable it to tackle global
threats, but instead fol-low their own interests. The US seems to be interested
in a female candidate to occupy the chair, while Russia promotes Eastern
European candidate. The leader of the UN should have enough courage to push the
entire organization toward reforms. For this the UN needs a very determined and
resolute person who is ready to take risk and bear the responsibility for each
step taken and its consequences. The new UN Sec-retary General should be truly
independent and try to return to the UN its damaged reputa-tion.
The new Secretary General should also be as active as possible in the media,
competing with the major world leaders in popularity. Theoretically he or she
should be a well-known per-sonality with an unblemished reputation and enjoy
universal esteem. The UN needs a leader that helps the world body truly serve
the cause of peace, not interests of any player or a group of players. The
problem is that among the candidates to the Secretary General there is no figure
that would correspond to all of these parameters. It is likely that the UN will
continue to face the same challenges, which means it will continue to become
more and more irrelevant and far removed from the global agenda leaving crisis
resolution to the US and its allies. Russia, on the other hand, will try to
bring debates back to the UN, trying to use the advantages of the UN in its
current form; based on the same mechanism as in 1945.
UN reforms
The debates over comprehensive UN reforms have continued for too long and will
not change no matter who is elected. However, it is the right moment to fully
realize the fun-damental importance of the UN. The conflict seems to have
reached a dead-end in Syria with all sides having little under-standing of what
to do next. What is clear is that the country will be generously fueled with
arms. The US and Russia tensions and mutual accusation will continue to rise.
Even as diplomacy stalls, Russia continues to deploy its advanced anti-missile
and anti-aircraft system SA-23 Gladiator and bombers. This time the air defense
system is deployed not just to protect Russia’s contingency, but Damascus and
the ruling regime even as the already deployed S-400’s purpose is changing as
well. Russia will try all possible means to prevent the repeat of Libyan
scenario in Syria. The sig-nificant build-up of weapons in Syria and the
deepening rivalry enhances the possibility of the Russian collision with
coalition forces in the air. To prevent the worst case scenario, we need the
strong and mighty UN, to convincingly en-courage the parties involved to
understand the dangerously developing situation and act to ensure peaceful
coexistence. Otherwise it seems like we are all doomed.
Why Sisi needs more implicit ‘walk-the-talk’ policies
Mohammed Nosseir/Al Arabiya/October 06/16
Being perceived as the “strongman of Egypt” always prompts Egyptian President
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to resort to flexing his muscles as a means to reach a
political consensus concerning most of the political and economic challenges
encountered by his country. The president’s recent statement about its Armed
Forces’ ability to deploy across all Egypt’s governorates in six hours sends out
an explicit message: under threat from internal and external forces, Egypt is
not a stable country. The frightening messages that al-Sisi is so keen to convey
are negatively perceived by many stakeholders that have genuine interests in
Egypt – but they will never scare people who are determined to commit acts of
terrorism. Listening to the president’s continuous and explicit remarks about
all the threats facing our country definitely discourages foreigners who are
interested in either investing in, or visiting, Egypt. These people will put
their projects on hold due to the perceived instability. Furthermore, knowing
the threats that endanger their country, even Egyptians will reduce their
investments.In the meantime, the Muslim Brotherhood, clearly defined as a
terrorist group by the Egyptian state, with most of its cadres imprisoned, is
not really in a position to be frightened. The Brotherhood is determined to
bring violence and terrorism to the country and is not concerned with the harsh
measures adopted by the state. Political Islamists constitute a
“mentally-blocked” society whose members have been brainwashed for decades and
who have a strong willingness to sacrifice their lives for their misconceptions
of Islamic values. The president’s provocative remarks are simply adding fuel to
an already raging fire.Political Islamists constitute a “mentally-blocked”
society whose members have been brainwashed for decades and who have a strong
willingness to sacrifice their lives for their misconceptions of Islamic values.
Al-Sisi’s “shooting-from-the-hip” attitude is scaring off many good birds that
Egypt needs, while sparing the bad ones who know how to hide and maneuver. The
president needs to deliver Egyptians’ demands in terms of security and economy –
without threatening anyone. Taking steps to bring more security to hazardous and
chaotic Egyptian streets where violence is increasing on a daily basis, and
making sound economic decisions that will boost investor and tourist confidence,
is what will bring the stability that Egypt is severely in need of.
Favored projects
Al-Sisi can easily be described as an impulsive, unpredictable president who
prefers to rush headlong into political and economic decisions before
undertaking the necessary thorough studies. The development of the Suez Canal
Waterway, the new Administrative Capital and many other projects prove that
instead of comprehensively exploring an idea and then determining its
feasibility, the president tends to run projects that he favors and to justify
the need for them later. Requesting a $12 billion loan from the IMF won’t help
Egypt much unless we first learn where and how the $12.5 billion that we
received from the Gulf countries over the past three years were spent. Al-Sisi’s
messages of warning won’t avert the Egyptian state’s nightmare concerning the
occurrence of mass demonstrations. Chaos will erupt in Egypt if we continue to
marginalize Egyptian youth (two-thirds of our population) in favor of the
current obsolete and corrupt figures that dominate all key state positions. The
substantial decline in freedom, justice and job opportunities, the significant
rise in prices and crime rate and ineffective state policies are speedily and
surely pushing Egyptians toward a “nothing to lose” position. The combination of
all these factors will precipitate the descent of many Egyptians to the streets,
regardless of the president’s threatening messages. Al-Sisi needs to replace
many of his explicit messages with implicit “walk the talk” policies. People
must enjoy the benefits of security and stability on the ground, without the
president’s continuous reminders. Egyptians and foreigners need to be able to
see Egypt as a country that adheres to the rule of law, a country where laws are
enforced, justice is applied and freedom of expression is practiced. Investments
and jobs will grow spontaneously when we seriously address the issue of the
lacking liberal values in Egypt. Threatening messages are only adding more
troubles to the government’s existing overload of catastrophes.
JASTA, another nail in the
coffin of US-GCC relations
Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/October 06/16
Congress has done the unimaginable by almost unanimously passing a law allowing
the families of 9-11 victims to lodge civil cases against Saudi Arabia (and
other states) for aiding and abetting terrorism, which flouts all international
laws and conventions protecting sovereign states from frivolous lawsuits. The
Congress, it seems, has arrogantly rewritten international law in a display of
unprecedented arrogance and disrespect for one of its closest allies. It is true
that some senior lawmakers who led the charge to overturn President Barack
Obama’s veto are having second thoughts. This is probably because it has hit
home that reciprocity could entangle US diplomats, service personnel and
intelligence agents abroad who could find themselves entangled in cases against
the US government in relation to its military interventions, torture and drone
attacks. Republican senators, including Lindsey Graham and Senate Foreign
Relations Chairman Bob Corker, would like the law amended to protect Americans
without infringing upon what they refer to as the rights of 9-11 families and
blame President Obama for not spelling out the potential repercussions. In
reality, the President did, but without any real conviction. The backtrackers
say he did not mount a full offensive to get his points across and did not
respond to requests from lawmakers for a meeting to thrash out the implications.
Throughout the wrangling, Obama made no defence of Saudi Arabia which was
vindicated from playing any part in the September 11 attacks. Instead, he
emphasized his sympathies for the families of victims and his concerns about US
citizens outside the country. President Obama used his veto knowing that the
bill had overwhelming bipartisan support in the House and the Senate and that
garnering the requisite two-thirds vote needed to overturn it was a given. I
have long suspected that Saudi Arabia has become Washington’s target but now my
suspicions are confirmed. Riyadh is being undermined at every turn. The time for
diplomatic speak is over
Collusion?
I am beginning to wonder whether this episode was a scenario with the collusion
of the White House to further undermine the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. White House
claims of embarrassment ring hollow. Hundreds of would-be beneficiaries are
lining up to lodge cases in courts that are empowered to freeze Saudi assets
until such lawsuits reach their conclusion. This is nothing short of a hostile
act which cannot go unanswered. Today, Saudi Arabia is in the crossfire.
Tomorrow, other states could be targeted including other Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) member countries. A spokesman for France’s Foreign Ministry said
France and other European Union (EU) member states consider JASTA a violation of
international law. The EU issued a statement condemning the law as conflicting
with the principle of state sovereign immunity. The Dutch parliament
characterized the law as “a gross and unwarranted breach of Dutch sovereignty”.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and Turkey have variously
warned that the US could suffer consequences in terms of loss of investments,
trust and cooperation. Naturally, investors will hesitate to deposit their money
where it can be seized on the say-so of a judge with little or no knowledge of
foreign affairs or the fact that al-Qaeda considered Riyadh as its greatest
enemy. The idea that the Saudi leadership, which stripped Osama bin Laden of his
nationality, had any relationship with al-Qaeda is laughable but if Congress,
supposedly a repository of superior intellect, can behave with such ignorance,
what can we expect from the judiciary! It seems to me that Congress is
responsible for shooting its own country in the foot. An article in The
Washington Post – The unbearable idiocy of Congress. “How low can they go,”
heads another in Salon? The Huffington Post calls the law “irresponsible and
dangerous”.Meanwhile, in light of JASTA, an Iraqi group is seeking compensation
for the US invasion. According to a report in Al Arabiya English, Arab Project
in Iraq, an Iraqi lobbyist organization, views JASTA as a window of opportunity
to claim compensation from the US for abuses committed by American forces in
Iraq.
Among its demands is “a fully-fledged investigation over the killing of
civilians, loss of property and individuals who suffered torture and other
mistreatment at the hands of US forces.” Congress has handed it that right on a
silver platter. US exceptionalism has gone beyond all acceptable limits. The US,
a prime instigator of the Rome Treaty creating the International Criminal Court
in The Hague, refused to ratify its own membership.America reportedly twisted
the arms of over 100 of its allies, including NATO partners, to sign
non-reciprocal Status of Forces (SOFA) agreements that solely protect US
military personnel from being subjected to criminal or civil justice systems.
Moreover, the US leant on the UK to sign up to a non-reciprocal extradition
treaty allowing the US to extradite British citizens and others for allegedly
committing offences in contravention of US law on the grounds of “reasonable
suspicion” rather than hard evidence.
Firm stand
Saudi Arabia and Gulf States should take a firm stand against such unfair,
self-interested practice of which JASTA is a glaring example. Dr Khalid bin
Abdulaziz Alnowaiser, a Saudi specialist in international law, has called upon
the Shura Council to pass its own form of JASTA allowing Saudi citizens to file
lawsuits in local courts against countries and organizations that support terror
against the Kingdom. I not only commend Dr Alnowaiser’s proposal, I urge the
Kingdom and all its GCC partners to implement similar laws not only to protect
the rights of its nationals but also to send a strong message to Washington that
we will not submit quietly to being singled out for mistreatment and insult. I
have long suspected that Saudi Arabia has become Washington’s target but now my
suspicions are confirmed. Riyadh is being undermined at every turn. The time for
diplomatic speak is over. First, one of the world’s biggest sponsor of state
terrorism, Iran, and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah both complicit in the crimes
of the Syrian war criminal, Bashar al-Assad, were removed from America’s
national security intelligence assessment. On the heels of that shock was the
news the Obama administration had been secretly negotiating a deal that served
to enrich and empower Tehran to the detriment of its closest regional allies,
thus altering the balance of power. Thirdly, the United Nations secretariat got
in on the act by adding the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen to a blacklist relating
to “Children in Armed Conflict” that was swiftly removed. National correspondent
for The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg’s revelation that President Obama had dubbed
the Kingdom and other allies as “free riders” while urging Saudi to share the
neighbourhood with Iran was a major poke in the eye. All the while the oil price
war was ongoing diminishing revenues caused by a glut, and further worsened when
sanctions were lifted on the sale of Iranian oil. I have written on more than
one occasion asking the US “Are you with us or against us?” With the passing of
JASTA, despite appeals from Saudi government officials not to go that route,
regretfully I now have my answer.
False rumors and the future
of conflict in Yemen
Mshari Al Thaydi/Al Arabiya/October 06/16
Every now and then the question of when the war in Yemen will end is raised.
There are various concerns that trigger this question. It could be keenness to
usher in peace and start a political process to prevent bloodshed and protect
people’s lives and property. Any reasonable person with a clean conscience
cannot argue with that. However, even good wishes may sometimes face enormous
challenges before they fructify. Some countries who are part of the coalition
are also driven by domestic compulsions even though they support the action in
Yemen and call it legitimate. The coalition mainly includes Gulf countries,
particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia is the
central pillar of this coalition while the UAE is the second major power that
stands for decisive action. Concerns have also been raised over whether this war
is affecting the economic capabilities of the countries involved in fighting.
Will they lead to political and social worries?
These questions are legitimate and should be addressed. However, some ask these
questions in a way that serves the Iranian propaganda machinery and the idea of
western leftist dailies which have launched a media campaign against Saudi
Arabia and the Operation Decisive Storm. They don’t resort to this for
humanitarian purposes as they claim but with the aim to besiege Saudi Arabia and
the Gulf countries.
There are also those within Saudi Arabia and the Gulf – even though they may be
few and far between – who echo false rumors. This is probably the most accurate
description of what they’re doing. Under these circumstances, it is the opposing
party that benefits and helps circulate false rumors suggesting a rift in public
opinion. Is it possible to coexist with a Yemeni regime which is controlled by
the group and ideology of Abdulmalik and Hussein al-Houthi?
Reasonable solutions?
The bigger issue is that they do not suggest any reasonable solution. According
to Saudi Arabia and most Gulf countries, a reasonable solution would be to
reject the presence of a “statelet”, which toes the lines of “Khomeini
revolution” in Yemen. This is not a point they are willing to argue and they
cannot accept the presence of such a “statelet” even if some politicians think
otherwise. Is it possible to coexist with a Yemeni regime which is controlled by
the group and ideology of Abdulmalik and Hussein al-Houthi? Think about it. This
is about Saudi interior security, and it’s about most of the Gulf countries’
internal security before it is about a mere foreign war to be won or lost.
Recently, coalition airstrikes killed two Houthi leaders. One of them was named
Abdullah Qayed al-Fadeea who was reportedly in charge of the frontline at the
border opposite Saudi Arabia’s Najran province. The other was Hamid al-Azi who
was killed with 10 of his companions in a border area near al-Mawsim governorate
in Saudi Arabia’s Jazan. These are examples of neighbors and there are those who
want us to accept their presence under regional and international pressure.
Moreover, what is the need to retreat when the situation in Yemen has improved
due to the remarkable progress made by Yemeni army and the resistance
particularly in Marib, Taiz and Nahm, which is close to Sanaa?Political
maneuvers are part of the strategy – and they are sometimes required – but
withdrawing from war for no valid reason is nothing more but disquieting talk
that amount to political and security recklessness.