LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

September 25/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.september25.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?"So the last will be first, and the first will be last
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 20/01-16/:'‘The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place; and he said to them, "You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right." So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, "Why are you standing here idle all day?"They said to him, "Because no one has hired us." He said to them, "You also go into the vineyard."When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, "Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first."When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, "These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat." But he replied to one of them, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?"So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’

I know your works your love, faith, service, and patient endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first
Book of Revelation 02/18-29/:"‘And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze: ‘I know your works your love, faith, service, and patient endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first. But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practise fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication. Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings; and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call "the deep things of Satan", to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden; only hold fast to what you have until I come. To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end, I will give authority over the nations; to rule them with an iron rod, as when clay pots are shattered even as I also received authority from my Father. To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 23-24/16
Grandchildren are treasures from Heaven
Three Dead in Washington State Mall, Gunman on the Run
Report: Lebanese-Palestinian Security Meeting in Sidon Following Recurrent Incidents
Elect Aoun or withstand vacuum: Lebanese Forces official
Adwan: Reconsidering Aoun's Election an Alternative for FPM's Street Mobilities
Yassine Recovers Psychological Trauma after Detention, Begins to Make Confessions
Report: Supporters of IS Emir in Ain el-Hilweh Shift Allegiance to Nusra
Female Arrested in Attempt to Smuggle Narcotics into Roumieh
Rahi from Terbol: Failing to partake in presidential electoral sessions a dangerous matter
Head of Higher Judicial Council returns from USA after official visit
Jumblatt meets with US ambassador in Mukhtara
Hariri congratulates Saudi Arabia on its National Day
Khalil: By preserving nation's Charter we preserve our country
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 24-25/16
Grandchildren are treasures from Heaven/Elias Bejjani/September 24/16
Egypt’s foreign minister affirms ‘solid and stable’ relationship with Israel/Al-Monitor Staff/Al-Monitor/September 24/16
Syrian opposition activist: Syrians no longer decision-makers to own destiny/Sardar Mlla Drwish/Al-Monitor/September 24/16
Rafsanjani takes aim at Iranian military spending amid furor/Saeid Jafari/Al-Monitor/September 24/16
Are US-Turkey military ties under threat?/Metin Gurcan/Al-Monitor/September 24/16
France: What Is Hidden Behind the "Burkini Ban"/Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/September 24/16
The week that might change history/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/September 24/16
Democracy is impossible with occupation and rebellion rule/Daoud Kuttab/September 24/16
How my village can teach a lesson in conflict resolution/Ehtesham Shahid/September 24/16
Brexit is a state of mind/Trisha de Borchgrave/September 24/16
UAE takes in 15,000 refugees: Why are people angry?/Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/September 24/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on September 24-25/16
Grandchildren are treasures from Heaven
Three Dead in Washington State Mall, Gunman on the Run
Report: Lebanese-Palestinian Security Meeting in Sidon Following Recurrent Incidents
Elect Aoun or withstand vacuum: Lebanese Forces official
Adwan: Reconsidering Aoun's Election an Alternative for FPM's Street Mobilities
Yassine Recovers Psychological Trauma after Detention, Begins to Make Confessions
Report: Supporters of IS Emir in Ain el-Hilweh Shift Allegiance to Nusra
Female Arrested in Attempt to Smuggle Narcotics into Roumieh
Rahi from Terbol: Failing to partake in presidential electoral sessions a dangerous matter
Head of Higher Judicial Council returns from USA after official visit
Jumblatt meets with US ambassador in Mukhtara
Hariri congratulates Saudi Arabia on its National Day
Khalil: By preserving nation's Charter we preserve our country

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on September 24-25/16
For First Time, Kuwaiti Delegation Stays to Listen to Israeli PM Speak at UN
Syrian, Russian Aircraft Pound Rebel-Held Aleppo
U.S., Russia Fail to Renew Syria Ceasefire Deal
Lavrov: Syrian ceasefire hinges on all sides involved
Syrian govt forces seize Aleppo camp from rebels
Syrian Regime makes advances as Aleppo pounded
Push for Iraq’s Mosul to start ‘in a few weeks’: UK
Iraq: Triple suicide attack north of Baghdad kills 11 troops
Coalition forces kill Houthi general on Saudi-Yemen border
War crimes tribunal sought to try ISIS detainees
Syria says belief in victory in war against terrorism ‘even greater’
Iraq: Triple suicide attack north of Baghdad kills 11 troops
Egypt court sentences 7 to hang for shooting officer
Iran: Stealing villagers’ properties by ‘law enforcement forces’
Iran: Destroying farmlands in Semnan (northern province) and displacing 80 families
THE DANGEROUS MYTH OF ROUHANI’S BOGUS MODERATION
Joe Lieberman: Iran regime under Khamenei & Rouhani has violated all principles of the United Nations charter
Concerns over “Iran Air transporting weapons, troops, and cash to terrorist groups and rogue regimes,"

Links From Jihad Watch Site for on September 24-25/16
Pope urges “sincere dialogue” between Christians and Muslims as he meets Nice jihad victims
The Islamic State has allegiance of 2,000 Muslim teens in France
French burkini controversy was set-up by Muslim activists and Australian TV station
Netherlands: Muslim migrants attack locals in reign of terror across entire city
Sweden: Police admit losing control of 55 no-go zones
Italy deports Muslima who “expressed hostility towards Shiites, West, Jews, and unbelievers”
NY jihad bomber’s father says he told FBI about his son’s fascination with jihad, FBI says he didn’t
India: Officials deny permission for Hindu festival for fear of offending Muslims
Egyptians meet with US officials to try to mend relations after Obama’s support for Muslim Brotherhood
Raymond Ibrahim: Is Obama Waging a “Narrative Battle” against ISIS or Reality?
Obama vetoes bill allowing families to sue foreign governments linked to terror attacks
India: Blogger arrested for criticizing Islam on social media
Child in the Islamic State: “Oh black-eyed virgins, we will meet in Paradise…We implement the sharia”
Netanyahu: “The UN, begun as a moral force, has become a moral farce”

Links From Christian Today Site for on September 24-25/16
Most Of The Victims Are Under Rubble': Warplanes In Fresh Attack On Rebel Areas In Aleppo
Jeremy Corbyn Re-elected As Labour Leader, Calls For Unity
Three Shot Dead In Washington Mall Shooting
Twelve Killed In Iraq In First Attack Of Its Kind Since 2015
Christians 'Hung On A Cross Over Fire', Steamrollered And Crushed To Death In North Korea
Meet The First Children To Return To Fallujah After ISIS
Mexican Priest Missing After Two Kidnapped And Killed
Relentless Decline Of The US Episcopal Church Continues
Same-sex attraction: Is celibacy sufficient to qualify for Christian ministry?
Anglican 'Church' For Conservative Christians Launches Mission In England

Latest Lebanese Related News published on on September 24-25/16

Grandchildren are treasures from Heaven
Elias Bejjani/September 24/16
A grandchild by definition: a grandchild is a special person in your life through a special person you gave life. a grandchild holds a special place in your heart, meant only for them to take part. a grandchild reminds you how to laugh and play, and makes you feel special in a whole other way. Thank Almighty God day and night for having the grace of grandchildren that enhance and fill your life with love, happiness and laughter. Back home in Lebanon we have a proverb that says: No one is dearer to your heart more than your own children, but your own grandchildren!! very true. I have had no more pleasure in my life than the time I spent with my grandchildren
 

Three Dead in Washington State Mall, Gunman on the Run
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 24/16/A manhunt was underway after a gunman killed at least three people and wounded two others late Friday during a shooting at a mall in the US state of Washington. Police spokesman Sergeant Mark Francis said there was at least one suspect in the shooting at Cascade Mall in Burlington, describing him as a "Hispanic male wearing gray." Officials initially released a still from video surveillance of the younger-looking suspect holding what appears to be a rifle, before releasing a closely cropped image of the same still showing only the suspect's head and torso. Francis told reporters that three women were killed and two men were wounded, with one suffering life-threatening injuries. He had earlier estimate the toll at four dead. Police received calls around 6:58 pm (0058 GMT) that shots were fired at the mall, located about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Seattle in the US Pacific Northwest state, Trooper Rick Johnson told CNN. "Right now we can't assume anything. So they're still interviewing witnesses and trying to get a good idea of exactly what action to take next. We're just asking people to, obviously, stay away from the area. Stay inside and obviously report anything suspicious that they may see." The suspect was last seen walking toward the Interstate 5 highway from the mall before police arrived, Francis said on Twitter, adding: "We're actively searching for suspect, tracking leads, etc." The mall was evacuated, police swarmed the area and medics rushed to the scene to help the wounded after the mall was initially placed on lockdown and cleared. Multiple law enforcement agencies and sniffer dogs were searching for the suspect. Francis said survivors were being transported by bus to a nearby church. Witnesses told KOMO News that a shooter walked into Macy's and opened fire. Nearby businesses were evacuated, the television station added.

Report: Lebanese-Palestinian Security Meeting in Sidon Following Recurrent Incidents
Naharnet/September 24/16/A security meeting took place between the Lebanese Army Forces Intelligence Chief in the south Brigadier General Khodr Hammoud, and a delegation from the Palestinian political leadership and the Palestinian Supreme Security Committee to address the situation in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh following the latest incidents, Al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday. The meeting was held at Mohammed Zgheib Barracks in Sidon and came to assess the conditions following an army operation in al-Tawari neighborhood in the camp and to stem clashes that erupted in al-Fawqani street against the backdrop of a killing incident that left Palestinian Simon Taha dead early this week. On Thursday, a Palestinian delegation led by Mohammed Yassine, the secretary of the Factions of the Palestinian Alliance in Lebanon, also held talks with General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim after gunbattles renewed between the Fatah Movement and members of the Islamist group led by Bilal Badr in the camp. “Talks tackled the situations in the Palestinian camps, especially the security situations at Ain el-Hilweh in light of the incidents of the past two days,” NNA had said. The fighting had first erupted on Wednesday in connection with the killing of taxi driver, Taha.
 

Elect Aoun or withstand vacuum: Lebanese Forces official
The Daily Star/ September 24, 2016/BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces deputy chief George Adwan Saturday laid out two options for Lebanon's future: the election of Michel Aoun as President or a prolonged power vacuum. "Regardless of our [the LF] support to [Change and Reform chief] Aoun, the choices are either to elect the latter or the continuation of a vacuum until further notice," Adwan told a morning talk show aired on a local radio station. He urged rivals to exert all efforts in order to avert any action that could lead to the destabilization of the country. Adwan also warned that the country was heading towards an "explosion."The presidential race is currently pitting Aoun, who is backed by Hezbollah, some of its March 8 allies and the Lebanese Forces, against Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Frangieh, who is supported by Speaker Nabih Berri, Future Movement leader Saad Hariri, MP Walid Jumblatt and some independent lawmakers. The presidential void has paralyzed the Cabinet and Parliament. The Free Patriotic Movement, headed by Aoun's son-in-law Gebran Bassil, announced last week that the party would take to the streets if its founder Aoun was not elected as head of state during Parliament’s presidential election session on Sept. 28. The party has also boycotted the Cabinet over the marginalization of Christians in state posts.

Adwan: Reconsidering Aoun's Election an Alternative for FPM's Street Mobilities
Naharnet/September 24/16/Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said on Saturday that an alternative to the street rallies that the Free Patriotic Movement has vowed to take on September 28 and October 13 is that al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri reconsiders the election of founder of the FPM MP Michel Aoun as president, the state-run National News Agency reported on Saturday. “The main problem in Lebanon is the absence of a president. The alternative to these moves (FPM's threats) is that former Premier Saad Hariri reconsiders the election of Aoun as a president of the republic,” said Adwan. “The Lebanese Forces would only take to the streets to support three issues: an electoral law, or a demand for any national law where all the Lebanese can partake in, or demands to preserve the national model,” he added. Adwan underscored the need to avoid any step that might endanger national stability. He doubted the possibility of reaching an agreement over a new “consensual” presidential candidate, he said: “The current situation displays a clear image (...) either elect Aoun or the vacuum continues.”The MP called upon all deputies to head to the parliament and vote for a new electoral law that would give the Lebanese some hope and “release the presidency.”

Yassine Recovers Psychological Trauma after Detention, Begins to Make Confessions
Naharnet/September 24/16/After sustaining a state of psychological shock following his arrest, the so-called emir of the Islamic State group in the refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh, Imad Yassine, has started to make confessions and has revealed information about terror schemes that he had planned to execute, sources following up on the investigation told As Safir daily. During the first 12 hours after his detention, Yassine was stunned and mumbling about his whereabouts and was asking: “Where am I ...Who brought me here and why? I want to go back home,” said the sources. They added that it took Yassine several hours to get over his psychological trauma as the result of his arrest during which his limbs were tensely shaking. The detainee later confessed that he had planned to carry out “unprecedented” terror bombings that would target the Casino du Liban in Keserwan, the UNIFIL peacekeepers in the south, overcrowded restaurants in Down Town Beirut and in Metn, the Central Bank of Lebanon, the Electricite Du Liban facilities in Jiyyeh and Zahrani in addition to military and security positions. Yassine has made serious confession that will remain “under wraps”, said the sources because the security apparatuses are keen to exert exceptional efforts to dismantle the criminal network of Yassine in all regions. On Thursday, the army intelligence arrested Yassine following close surveillance and followup and in a special operation, in Ain el-Hilweh's al-Tawari neighborhood. It was reported in July that Yassine had received orders from IS foreign operations chief Abu Khaled al-Iraqi to stage major "Iraq-like bombings" across Lebanon.

Report: Supporters of IS Emir in Ain el-Hilweh Shift Allegiance to Nusra
Naharnet/September 24/16/Supporters of the so-called Islamic State Emir in Ain el-Hilweh, Imad Yassine, have shifted their allegiance to the Nusra Front, which rebranded itself as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in July when it split from the al-Qaida movement, As Safir daily reported on Saturday. Following Yassines' arrest, groups affiliated to the detainee abandoned their homes and a state of “collapse” spread among the ranks of those who supported the Islamic State and Yassine, security sources said. Military sources likened the scene to a similar situation that took place in the northeastern border town of Arsal when the Lebanese army fatigued the IS militants in the area with heavy shelling, air and land operations that compelled the militants to change allegiance to Nusra. The same thing is happening today in Ain el-Hilweh, they said. The army intelligence arrested Yassine on Thursday following close surveillance and followup in Ain el-Hilweh's al-Tawari neighborhood. Yassine, who is wanted on multiple arrest warrants, had been plotting prior to his arrest to stage several terrorist bombings against army posts, vital and touristic facilities, shopping centers, popular gatherings and residential areas in several Lebanese regions. He was tasked with his missions by terrorist organizations based outside the country. It was reported in July that Yassine had received orders from IS foreign operations chief Abu Khaled al-Iraqi to stage major "Iraq-like bombings" across Lebanon. By long-standing convention, the army does not enter the twelve Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, leaving the Palestinian factions themselves to handle security. That has created lawless areas in many camps, and Ain el-Hilweh has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and fugitives. But the camp is also home to more than 54,000 registered Palestinian refugees who have been joined in recent years by thousands of Palestinians fleeing the fighting in Syria. More than 450,000 Palestinians are registered in Lebanon with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA. Most live in squalid conditions in 12 official refugee camps and face a variety of legal restrictions, including on their employment.

Female Arrested in Attempt to Smuggle Narcotics into Roumieh
Naharnet/September 24/16/Security forces at the Roumieh prison foiled an attempt to smuggle hashish and narcotics into the prison, an ISF statement said on Saturday. On 20/9/2016 prison authorities at Roumieh thwarted an attempt, by two female visitors, to smuggle g 250 of hashish, and 450 pills of narcotics into the juvenile ward, the ISF Public Relations Department said in a statement on Saturday. The statement added that one of the perpetrators was arrested while efforts continue to arrest the second one.

Rahi from Terbol: Failing to partake in presidential electoral sessions a dangerous matter
Sat 24 Sep 2016/NNA - Maronite Patriarch Bchara Butros al-Rahi considered, on Saturday, that "failing to participate in presidential elections parliamentary sessions is a critical matter that is totally rejected by any loyal Lebanese citizen."Speaking during a Mass ceremony he presided over at Saint Takla's Church in Terbol this evening, the second stop-over in his Beqaa Valley tour, Rahi stressed that "we cannot keep our hands crossed before such a deadlock situation.""The structure of the State and nation is being shaken, the Republic lost, the Parliament stalled, the Government paralyzed while corruption and bribery hover over State institutions," added al-Rahi. He urged civil society constituents to raise their voices against the current status quo, so as to put an end to the stalemate conditions threatening the country. "May God enlighten the conscience of regional war princes, blinded by selfishness, narrow economic interests and political strategies" concluded al-Rahi, hoping that they would finally rise up to their responsibilities and find solutions to the region's political crises.

Head of Higher Judicial Council returns from USA after official visit
Sat 24 Sep 2016/NNA - The media bureau of the Higher Judicial Council issued a statement on Saturday declaring that the Head of said Council, Judge Jean Fahed, returned from the United States after an official visit during which he met with prominent political, judicial and academic figures. The one week visit was prepared by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) at the US State Department and Northeastern University in Boston. Fahed was present along with a Lebanese judicial delegation that included State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud. The delegation examined the judicial penal law in the state of Massachusetts, and the work of both local criminal courts and public federal ones in said state. There was also a close inspection of the plea bargain law adopted by US courts. The delegation convened during the visit with a number of prominent figures, such as Dean of Northeastern University, Dr. Joseph Aoun, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the State of Massachusetts, Speaker of the House, Head of the Parliamentary Justice Committee of the state, and others. Fahed and Hammoud visited Washington during the trip and met with US attorney general Loretta Lynch. Talks with Lynch focused on challenges facing judicial systems in both countries, especially in combating terrorism. The gatherers also discussed ways of bilateral cooperation. The men also met with head of INL, William Brownfield.

Jumblatt meets with US ambassador in Mukhtara
Sat 24 Sep 2016/NNA - Head of the Democratic Gathering, MP Walid Jumblatt, met at his Mukhtara residence on Saturday with the Ambassador of the US Elizabeth Richard. The meeting was attended by Minister of Public Health, Wael Abou Faour, Jumblatt's son Taymour, and MP Ghazi Aridi.Talks focused on current political developments domestically and regionally.

Hariri congratulates Saudi Arabia on its National Day
Sat 24 Sep 2016/NNA - Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri congratulated the Saudi leadership and people on the 86th National day of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In an interview with the "Saudi Press Agency" on this occasion, Hariri hoped the Kingdom would remain a strong state and a leader of Arabs and Muslims in the world. He commended the role of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz in supporting Arab and Islamic causes. Hariri praised the strong Saudi-Lebanese relations, saying "The Kingdom is keen on supporting and assisting all Lebanese without exception, so that Lebanon can overcome its crises and internal problems and preserve its security and stability." He added: "The relations between the two countries will not be affected by the attempts of some parties to undermine the role of the Kingdom and distort its image for known regional interests, because the majority of the Lebanese are committed to the perpetuation of these relations, which are in the interest of both countries and peoples."

Khalil: By preserving nation's Charter we preserve our country
Sat 24 Sep 2016/NNA - Minister of Finance, Ali Hassan Khalil, said on Saturday that by preserving the nation's charter we preserve our country. The Minister added that the State's Institutions were disabled because of the political crisis between all Lebanese counterparts. Khalil stressed on the necessity for politicians to carry out their duties in order to ensure people's daily needs and wants. He also called on politicians to put their personal interests aside and go back to dialogue to reactivate Institutions' work. In his turn, Minister of Industry Hussein Hajj Hassan, reiterated the need to preserve national unity and stability in the country, and to reactivate Constitutional Institutions and the national dialogue. Minister Hajj Hassan stressed on politicians' will to preserve the country's stability by the equation of Army, people and the Resistance. He also praised the efforts held by the security forces and the Lebanese army in preserving Lebanon against any threat. Minister Khalil's and Minister Hajj Hassan's words came on the occasion of Eid al Ghadir in Shaat Village in the Bekaa.
 

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on September 24-25/16

For First Time, Kuwaiti Delegation Stays to Listen to Israeli PM Speak at UN
Barney Breen-Portnoy/algemeiner/September 24/16/In a potential sign that Israel’s ties with the Sunni Arab axis in the Middle East are indeed getting stronger, the Kuwaiti United Nations delegation — for the first time in history – did not walk out of the hall on Thursday during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the General Assembly on Thursday, the Hebrew news site nrg reported. Speaking with nrg, an Israeli diplomatic official said, “This was without a doubt a symbolic act that has not been seen before.”In his UN speech, Netanyahu said that in addition to Egypt and Jordan, which already have signed peace treaties with Israel, “many other states in the region recognize that Israel is not their enemy. They recognize that Israel is their ally. Our common enemies are ISIS and Iran. Our common goals are security, prosperity and peace. I believe that in the years ahead we will work together to achieve these goals.”There is still a long way to go, however, before Israel’s relations with former regional foes like Kuwait are fully normalized. Just last year, as reported by The Algemeiner, Kuwait Airways — the country’s flag carrier — shut down its New York-London route following a US Transportation Department demand that the airline stop illegally discriminating against Israelis through its policy of refusing to sell them tickets.

Syrian, Russian Aircraft Pound Rebel-Held Aleppo
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 24/16/Residents in rebel-held areas of Syria's Aleppo cowered in their homes on Saturday as relentless missile strikes and barrel bomb attacks pounded the besieged eastern half of the divided city. The raids by Russian and Syrian aircraft continued for a second night, after Damascus announced an operation late Thursday to recapture all of the city. Heavy bombardment on Friday killed at least 47 people, among them seven children, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. The toll was expected to rise with the ongoing strikes levelling entire buildings, and obliterating whole streets. "There are certainly deaths in the bombing (on Saturday) but we don't have tolls yet and people are still trapped under the rubble," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. An AFP correspondent in eastern Aleppo saw massive destruction in several neighbourhoods, including Al-Kalasseh and Bustan al-Qasr, where some streets were almost erased by the bombardment. Unexploded rockets were still buried in the roads in some areas, and elsewhere enormous craters around five metres (16 feet) deep and wide had been left by the bombing. esidents and activists described the use of a missile that produced earthquake-like tremors upon impact and razed buildings right down to the basement level where many residents desperately seek protection during bombing. The civil defence organisation known as the White Helmets was left overwhelmed by the scale of the destruction, particularly after several of its bases were damaged in bombing on Friday. The group says it has just two fire engines left for all of eastern Aleppo which, like its ambulances, are struggling to move around the city. With no electricity or fuel for generators, the streets of Aleppo are pitch black and difficult to navigate at night, and the fuel shortage has also made it tough to fill up vehicles. In many places, rubble strewn across streets has rendered them impassable and has effectively sealed off neighbourhoods to traffic. On Saturday morning, the streets were nearly empty, with just a few residents out looking for bread. The approximately 250,000 people in eastern Aleppo have been under near-continuous siege since government troops encircled the area in mid-July. A truce deal negotiated between Moscow and Washington brought a few days of respite from the violence, though no humanitarian aid, earlier this month. But the deal has fallen apart, and on Thursday the Syrian army announced an operation to retake all of Aleppo, urging civilians in the east to distance themselves from "terrorists" and promising them safe passage to government-controlled areas.

U.S., Russia Fail to Renew Syria Ceasefire Deal
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 24/16/The United States and Russia failed Friday to renew their pact to impose a ceasefire in Syria after a week of bitter diplomatic battles at the UN General Assembly. Despite the ferocity of the exchanges and the heavy fighting continuing on the ground, world powers at the meeting agreed the US-Russian talks must continue. But, as US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov prepared to leave New York, it was clear the sides remained far apart. The Russian minister said it would be "senseless" to restore a truce because the United States has failed to separate moderate rebel groups from terrorists. "We're all in favor of the ceasefire, but without the separation of Nusra, or rather the opposition from Nusra, the ceasefire is meaningless," Lavrov declared, referring to the jihadist group the Al-Nusra Front. Russian-backed Syrian forces ended the week-old ceasefire on Monday and launched an offensive against Aleppo, where US-backed rebels mingle with Al-Nusra members. The powerful Al-Nusra Front, which rebranded itself as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in July when it split from the al-Qaida movement, is not party to the ceasefire. "Any truce, seven days, three days, would be senseless," Lavrov said, claiming that "groups close to Al-Nusra" had launched 350 attacks during the week-long ceasefire. Lavrov also alleged that rebel forces had refused to retreat from the key Castello Road leading into Aleppo, as had been foreseen by the September 9 US-Russian plan. He complained about Washington's "absolute inability" to make good on its promise to convince the opposition to obey the terms of the truce and separate from Al-Nusra. "We understand that this is a difficult task, but everything is difficult in Syria," he said. "We want to see any sign that the coalition has influence on those that are on the ground. I don't think it's asking for much," he added. And the Russian foreign minister slipped into conspiratorial territory, darkly suggesting the US side might be trying to protect Al-Nusra as a force against Bashar Assad's regime. "I want to be mistaken," he told reporters innocently. "But it seems that maybe some people want to spare Nusra and to keep it for a later stage, when the notorious 'Plan B' might be announced." Earlier this year, Kerry briefed US lawmakers that if negotiations with Russia failed then he would suggest a "Plan B" -- reportedly tougher US military involvement. Kerry, too, has not minced his words, suggesting this week at the UN Security Council that his long-term sparring partner Lavrov was speaking from a "parallel universe." But on Friday, after they met for their latest fruitless encounter, he again tried to put an upbeat spin on the dialogue, suggesting there was room for maneuver."We have exchanged some ideas," he said. "I think we made a little bit of progress. We're evaluating some mutual ideas in a constructive way, period." - Historic responsibility -But the US position has also hardened, with Kerry declaring on Thursday that Moscow must force Assad to ground its air force if the truce is to be revived. "Let me be clear: The United States makes absolutely no apology for going the extra mile to try to ease the suffering of the Syrian people," he said. "But we can't be the only ones trying to hold this door open. Russia and the regime must do their part, or this will have no chance," he declared. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault was not impressed by his colleagues' efforts, sharing his frustration at the failure of their secretive dialogue. "The American-Russian cooperation has reached its limits. This method is not working. Discussions will continue but they seem interminable," he told reporters. "The United States has a special responsibility, which has a historic dimension. We ask them to rise to it -- it's time to turn to a more collective approach." Meanwhile, missiles rained down on Aleppo. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 45 civilians were killed on Friday by Russian and regime air raids.

Lavrov: Syrian ceasefire hinges on all sides involved
Reuters, Moscow Saturday, 24 September 2016/Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a revival of a ceasefire in Syria depends on all sides involved and not only on “Russia’s unilateral concessions”.“One can only speak about the ceasefire revival only on the collective basis,” he said in an interview for the TV news show ‘Vesti on Saturday’. Russia and the United States on Sept. 9 agreed to a deal aimed at putting Syria’s peace process back on track. It included a nationwide truce, improved humanitarian aid access and the possibility of joint military operations against ISIS and al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, formerly known as the Nusra Front. The truce effectively collapsed after a week when an aid convoy was attacked on Monday, killing some 20 people. Lavrov called for an investigation of the incident, repeating that Russian or Syrian air forces were not involved in the attack. He also reiterated his calls for the separation of opposition forces from the Nusra Front, adding that Russia had recently observed that opposition fighters had merged with the Nusra Front.

Syrian govt forces seize Aleppo camp from rebels
Reuters, Beirut Saturday, 24 September 2016/Syrian government forces seized ground from rebels north of Aleppo on Saturday, tightening their siege on the city’s opposition-held east as it came under fierce air strikes in a major offensive by the Russian-backed army. The capture of the Handarat camp a few kilometers north of Aleppo marked the first major ground advance by the government in an offensive that rebels say has unleashed unprecedented firepower against their half of the city. The captured area, elevated ground overlooking one of the main roads into Aleppo, had been in rebel hands for years. “Handarat has fallen,” an official with one of the main Aleppo rebel groups told Reuters. An army statement confirming the advance said “large numbers of terrorists” had been killed. Dozens of people have been reported killed in eastern Aleppo since the army announced the new offensive late on Thursday, burying any remaining hope for reviving a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia. Residents of rebel-held eastern Aleppo say it is being subjected to the most ferocious bombardment of the war. Rebel officials said heavy air strikes on Saturday hit at least four areas of the opposition-held east, home to more than 250,000 people. Rebels say the strikes are mostly being carried out by Russian warplanes. The attack has drawn on ordnance more destructive than anything previously used against the area and many buildings have been destroyed, residents say. Images of blast sites show craters several meters wide and deep.
“There are planes in the sky now,” Ammar al Selmo, the head of Civil Defense in the opposition-held east, told Reuters from Aleppo on Saturday morning. “Our teams are responding but are not enough to cover this amount of catastrophe.”
Rubble
A Syrian military source told Reuters the operation announced late on Thursday was continuing according to plan. Asked about the weapons being used, the military source said the army was using precise weapons “suitable for the nature of the targets being struck, according to the type of fortifications”, such as tunnels and bunkers, and “specifically command centres”. A senior official in an Aleppo-based rebel faction, the Levant Front, told Reuters the weapons appeared designed to bring down entire buildings. “Most of the victims are under the rubble because more than half the civil defence has been forced out of service,” he said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organisation that reports on the war, said it had documented 47 deaths since Friday, including five children. Selmo said the toll was more than 100. “The raids are intense and continuous,” Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters. The Syrian army says it is targeting rebel positions in the city and denies hitting civilians. “Every missile makes an earthquake we feel regardless of how far off the bombardment is,” one Aleppo resident said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a revival of a ceasefire in Syria depended on all sides involved and not only on “Russia’s unilateral concessions”. “One can only speak about the ceasefire revival only on the

Syrian Regime makes advances as Aleppo pounded
Reuters, Beirut Saturday, 24 September 2016/The Syrian army and militia allies seized ground north of Aleppo on Saturday, tightening a siege of the city’s rebel-held east while warplanes bombed it relentlessly in a Russian-backed offensive that has left Washington’s Syria policy in tatters. The capture of Handarat, a Palestinian refugee camp a few kilometers north of Aleppo, marked the first major ground advance of the offensive, which the government announced on Thursday. The camp, on elevated ground overlooking one of the main roads into Aleppo, had been in rebel hands for years. “Handarat has fallen,” an official with one of the main Aleppo rebel groups told Reuters. An army statement confirming the advance said “large numbers of terrorists” had been killed. The assault on Aleppo, where more than 250,000 civilians are trapped in a besieged opposition sector, could be the biggest battle yet in a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven 11 million from their homes. Two weeks after Moscow and Washington announced a ceasefire, President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies appear to have launched a campaign for a decisive battlefield victory that has buried any hope for diplomacy. Dozens of people have been reported killed in eastern Aleppo since the army announced the new offensive. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who hammered out the truce over the course of months of intensive diplomacy, was left this week pleading in vain this week with Russia to halt air strikes. Residents say air strikes on eastern Aleppo have been more intense than ever, using more powerful bombs. Rebel officials said heavy air strikes on Saturday hit at least four areas of the opposition-held east, and they believe the strikes are mostly being carried out by Russian warplanes. Video of the blast sites shows huge craters several meters wide and deep.  “There are planes in the sky now,” Ammar al Selmo, the head of the Civil Defense rescue service in the opposition-held east, told Reuters from Aleppo on Saturday morning. The group draws on ambulance workers and volunteers who dig survivors and the dead out of the rubble, often with their bare hands. It says several of its own headquarters have been destroyed in the latest bombing. “Our teams are responding but are not enough to cover this amount of catastrophe,” Selmo said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 45 people, among them 10 children, were killed in eastern Aleppo on Saturday. Rescue workers said Friday’s death toll was over 100.
The army says it is only targeting militants in the campaign announced on Thursday evening.
Long stalemate over? The war has ground on for nearly six years, with all diplomatic efforts collapsing in failure. Half of Syria’s population has been made homeless, the war has drawn in world powers and regional states, and ISIS- the enemy of all other sides - seized swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq. For most of that time, world powers seemed to accept that neither Assad nor his opponents was likely to be capable of decisive victory on the battlefield. But Russia’s apparent decision to abandon the peace process this week could reflect a change in that calculus and a view that victory is in reach, at least in the Western cities where the overwhelming majority of Syrians live. Assad’s fortunes improved a year ago when Russia joined the war on his side. Since then, Washington has worked hard to negotiate peace with Moscow, producing two ceasefires. But both proved short-lived, with Assad, possibly scenting chances for more battlefield success, showing no sign of compromise. Moscow says Washington failed to live up to its side of the latest deal by separating mainstream insurgents from hardened militants. Outside Aleppo, anti-Assad fighters have been driven mostly into rural areas. Nevertheless, they remain a potent fighting force, which they demonstrated with an advance of their own on Saturday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said rebels, including Jund al-Aqsa group, had seized two villages in northern Hama province, an area that is strategically important and close to the coastal heartland of Assad’s Alawite minority sect. A Syrian military source said the army was “fighting fierce battles” around the two villages, Maan and al-Kabariya. A rebel commander told Reuters he expected fighters would receive more weapons from sponsoring countries to counter the government’s latest advance, although there was no sign they would get advanced arms like anti-aircraft missiles they have long sought.
“There are indications and promises” of more weapons, though he only expected “a slight increase”, said Colonel Fares al-Bayoush, head of the Northern Division rebel group. He expected more “heavy weapons, such as rocket launchers and artillery”

 “Monstrous atrocity”
Damascus and its allies including Shi’ite militia from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon have encircled rebel-held areas of Aleppo gradually this year, achieving their long-held objective of fully besieging the area this summer with Russian air support. A pro-government Iraqi militia commander in the Aleppo area told Reuters the aim was to capture all of Aleppo within a week. A Western diplomat said on Friday the only way for the government to take the area quickly would be to totally destroy it in “such a monstrous atrocity that it would resonate for generations”. UNICEF, the UN children’s charity, said a pumping station providing water for rebel-held eastern Aleppo was destroyed by bombing, and the rebels had responded by shutting down a station supplying the rest of the city, leaving 2 million people without access to clean water. Tarik Jasarevic, spokesman for the World Health Organization, said on Saturday the water system was working “in around 80 percent of the city - both sides”. A Syrian military source told Reuters its operation was continuing according to plan, but declined to give further details. The source said on Friday the operation could go on for some time. Asked about the weapons being used, the source said the army was using precise weapons “suitable for the nature of the targets being struck, according to the type of fortifications”, such as tunnels and bunkers, and “specifically command centers”. In New York, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moalem told the United Nations General Assembly the Syrian government’s belief in victory is even greater now that the Syrian army “is making great strides in its war against terrorism”. Meanwhile a UN spokesman said on Saturday that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was appalled by the “chilling military escalation” in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
“Since the announcement two days ago by the Syrian Army of an offensive to capture eastern Aleppo, there have been repeated reports of airstrikes involving the use of incendiary weapons and advanced munitions such as bunker buster bombs,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
[Additional editing by Al Arabiya English]

Push for Iraq’s Mosul to start ‘in a few weeks’: UK
AFP, London Saturday, 24 September 2016/An offensive to encircle Iraq’s second city of Mosul should begin “in the next few weeks”, Britain’s Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said Friday, after a visit to the country. Mosul has been held by ISIS extremists since June 2014 and British jets are part of a US-led coalition flying missions against them in Iraq and Syria. “Though Mosul is a large and complex city, it will fall and will fall soon. I expect the operation for its encirclement to begin in the next few weeks,” Fallon said in London following a three-day trip to Iraq. He added that Iraqi forces were moving into a tactical assembly area in preparation for the assault. “We ought to be able to get Daesh (another term for the ISIS group) out of Iraq over the next few months -- the remaining months of this year and next year,” Fallon added. Top US military officers have hinted that the final push for Mosul could begin next month, but there are still significant military, political and humanitarian obstacles between the launch of the operation and entering and retaking the city. The drive will involve Iraqi soldiers and police, pro-government paramilitaries and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters - forces that in some cases have not operated together before and do not have unified command structures. The United Nations says that up to one million people may be displaced by the fighting.

Iraq: Triple suicide attack north of Baghdad kills 11 troops
The Associated Press, Baghdad Saturday, 24 September 2016/A triple suicide bombing against a security check point north of Baghdad on Saturday killed at least 11 members of the security forces, a police officer said. The spokesman for the Salahuddin province police force, Col. Mohammed al-Jabouri, said three militants rammed their explosives-laden vehicles early Saturday morning into the main check point near the town of al-Salam at the province’s northern entrance. Al-Jabouri added that 34 other security officers were wounded. He said the attack occurred as the local police chief and head of the provincial security committee were visiting the site. Both escaped unharmed. Almost at the same time, another group of militants on foot attacked a check point at the eastern edge of the province, killing four policemen and wounding two others, he added. One militant was killed in that attack, while the others fled the scene, he said. The governor of Salahuddin province, Ahmed al-Jabouri, accused the ISIS group of being behind the attacks, vowing to “retaliate for the martyrs by chopping off the heads of Daesh” militants, using the Arabic acronym for the group. Al-Jabouri called on security forces to review their plans and on residents to cooperate with the authorities. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but ISIS militants have claimed multiple similar attacks. The Sunni extremists frequently launch attacks targeting Iraq’s security forces and civilians in public areas. The group stepped up attacks in recent months as it has lost territory in northern and western Iraq that it had captured in 2014. In April 2015, Iraqi security forces drove out ISIS militants from the Salahuddin provincial capital, Tikrit, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Baghdad. The attack came days after government forces recaptured the town of Shirqat, north of Tikrit, from ISIS militants. Backed by the US-led international coalition and paramilitary forces, the Iraqi government is gearing up for a major military operation to dislodge the militants from the city of Mosul. The city, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, is the last major ISIS urban stronghold in Iraq. US officials have said for some time that they expect the Mosul operation to begin in October.

Coalition forces kill Houthi general on Saudi-Yemen border
Reuters, Dubai Saturday, 24 September 2016/A senior military officer of Yemen's Houthi movement has been killed in clashes on the border with Saudi Arabia, a source in the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iranian-allied group said on Saturday. Major-General Hassan Almalsi, head of Houthi special forces, was killed on Thursday while attempting to infiltrate a squad of Houthi fighters into the kingdom's southern province of Najran, the source said. The coalition has been fighting the Houthis since March 2015 to try to restore the internationally-backed government to power after Houthi rebels took over the capital Sanaa, made gains in other provinces and forced the government to flee into exile. UN-sponsored talks to end the fighting that has killed more than 10,000 people collapsed in failure last month and the Houthi movement and allied Yemeni forces resumed shelling into neighboring Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia sees Iran as the paramount threat to the Middle East's stability because of its support for Shiite militias that Riyadh says have inflamed sectarian violence. Tehran views the Houthis as the legitimate authority in Yemen but denies accusations by Saudi Arabia and Yemen that it supplies them with arms. The Houthis say they are fighting a revolution against a corrupt government and its Gulf backers.Houthi forces fire missiles or mortars almost daily into southern Saudi border areas including Najran, and often test Saudi defenses with guerrilla-style incursions.

War crimes tribunal sought to try ISIS detainees
The Associated Press, Washington Saturday, 24 September 2016/War crimes investigators collecting evidence of ISIS’s elaborate operation to kidnap thousands of women as sex slaves say they have a case to try ISIS leaders with crimes against humanity but cannot get the global backing to bring current detainees before an international tribunal. Two years after the ISIS’s onslaught in northern Iraq, the investigators, as well as US diplomats, say the Obama administration has done little to pursue prosecution of the crimes that Secretary of State John Kerry has called genocide. Current and former State Department officials say that an attempt in late 2014 to have a legal finding of genocide was blocked by the Defense Department, setting back efforts to prosecute ISIS members suspected of committing war crimes. “The West looks to the United States for leadership in the Middle East, and the focus of this administration has been elsewhere - in every respect,” Bill Wiley, the head of the independent investigative group, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, told The Associated Press. Officials in Washington say that the Defense Department and ultimately the administration were concerned that court trials would distract from the military campaign. But the diplomats say that justice is essential in a region whose religious minorities have been terrorized. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue. The US has no legal obligation to take on the genocide of the Yazidis, but President Barack Obama has said that “preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States of America.”Stephen Rapp, who stepped down as the administration’s ambassador at large for war crimes last year, says the administration should have moved early to help secure evidence of ISIS atrocities and push for the creation of special Iraqi courts to try war crimes. “The priority for the US government is to win the war against the ISIS and destroy them,” Rapp said. “It’s been profoundly disappointing, because the idea of accountability has been such a low priority.”
Rapp is now the chairman of the advisory board of the commission, whose investigators in Iraq work with the Kurdish regional government to formally document the ISIS crimes, including those against the Yazidi minority group. They have built a case implicating the entire ISIS command structure in a plot to kidnap Yazidi women and girls and establish a sex slave market. The plan was executed by an organized bureaucracy, from the temporary sorting facilities - including a prison, schools and a curtained ballroom where the Yazidis were divided by age and willingness to convert to Islam - to the waiting buses that would haul them by the dozens across the border to Raqqa. ISIS’s Shariah courts soon stepped in, to settle contract disputes and ensure that its finance hierarchy got its cut of the sex-slave proceeds. “You have members of ISIS who were engaged in ensuring that this system continued and that it functioned well,” said Chris Engels, the American lawyer who is leading the commission’s legal investigation. Without a legal documentation of their identities from the top down, many could “slide into refugee streams” and disappear, he said.
Though there are at least dozens of ISIS extremists in custody in Iraq, there have been no prosecutions for the crimes against humanity that the US - among many others - insist have taken place. On Tuesday, the Obama administration’s envoy for the coalition to counter ISIS militants, Brett McGurk, tweeted that he “pledged full accountability” for ISIS crimes against the Yazidis, whom ISIS considers infidels because of their religion. In 2012, Obama announced what he called a comprehensive strategy to prevent and respond to war crimes with the establishment of an atrocities prevention board. But in a recent investigation, the AP found that even in territories liberated from ISIS militants by Kurdish forces, dozens of mass graves have been left unsecured. “It’s a tragedy that we are not getting in there and securing these sites where we can and doing things like collecting DNA evidence,” said Rapp. A measure by the House that calls on the US to fund precisely the kind of court envisioned by the investigators is unlikely to advance anytime soon in an election year. The war crimes commission says it would need about $6.6 million and about six months to get the trials going. “If the administration was committed to criminal investigations of perpetrators, then it would be robustly funding criminal investigations of perpetrators,” said Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who sponsored the bill. The State Department said the US was promoting accountability, and spokesman Mark Toner said the administration is “supporting ongoing efforts to collect, document, preserve, and analyze evidence of atrocities for transitional justice processes.” He provided no specifics.

Syria says belief in victory in war against terrorism ‘even greater’
Reuters, United Nations Saturday, 24 September 2016/Syria said on Saturday its belief in victory was “even greater” now that the Syrian army was progressing in the “war against terrorism.”
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem was speaking at the annual UN gathering of world leaders, after the Syrian army and allied militia seized ground north of Aleppo on Saturday, tightening a siege of the city’s rebel-held east. Moualem accused the United States and its allies of being “complicit” with ISIS militants and other “terrorist armed organizations.”
“Our belief in victory is even greater now that the Syrian Arab Army is making great strides in its war against terrorism, with the support of the true friends of the Syrian people, notably the Russian Federation, Iran, and the Lebanese national resistance,” Moualem said. Moualem blamed Syria’s foes, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, for fomenting the crisis by supporting rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian government considers the insurgents “terrorists.”
Moualem rejected accusations the Syrian government was starving its population and placing it under siege. “Some countries continue to shed crocodile tears over the situation of Syrians in some areas, accusing the Syrian government of employing a policy of sieges and starvation,” he said.
“All the while these same countries continue to support and arm the terrorists that besiege civilians in these areas from the inside and use them as human shields and prevent delivery of humanitarian aid or confiscate it,” Moualem said. The United Nations, backed by the United States, Britain and other powers, has urged the Syrian government to end all sieges. Moscow and Washington agreed on Sept. 9 a deal aimed at putting Syria’s peace process back on track. It included a nationwide truce to improve humanitarian aid access and the possibility of joint military operations against ISIS militants and al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. The truce effectively collapsed after a week when an aid convoy was bombed on Monday, killing some 20 people. Moualem said his government was committed to moving forward with the UN-led peace process. US Secretary of State John Kerry has tried to revive the ceasefire deal while at the United Nations this week.
Kerry said on Friday he made “a little progress” in talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The pair are exchanging proposals, diplomats said. The issues at the heart of the current talks is a US demand for Russia and Syria to ground their warplanes for seven days to allow aid to get to besieged communities and for opposition groups to separate from Nusra, diplomats said.
“What is happening in Aleppo today is unacceptable. It’s beyond the pale,” Kerry said in Boston on Saturday. “If people are serious about wanting a peaceful outcome to this war then they should cease and desist bombing innocent women and children, cease cutting off water and laying siege in medieval terms to an entire community,” he said. Kerry spoke before meeting with his counterparts from the European Union, Britain, France, Germany and Italy on Saturday.

Iraq: Triple suicide attack north of Baghdad kills 11 troops
The Associated Press, Baghdad Saturday, 24 September 2016/A triple suicide bombing against a security check point north of Baghdad on Saturday killed at least 11 members of the security forces, a police officer said. The spokesman for the Salahuddin province police force, Col. Mohammed al-Jabouri, said three militants rammed their explosives-laden vehicles early Saturday morning into the main check point near the town of al-Salam at the province’s northern entrance. Al-Jabouri added that 34 other security officers were wounded. He said the attack occurred as the local police chief and head of the provincial security committee were visiting the site. Both escaped unharmed. Almost at the same time, another group of militants on foot attacked a check point at the eastern edge of the province, killing four policemen and wounding two others, he added. One militant was killed in that attack, while the others fled the scene, he said. The governor of Salahuddin province, Ahmed al-Jabouri, accused the ISIS group of being behind the attacks, vowing to “retaliate for the martyrs by chopping off the heads of Daesh” militants, using the Arabic acronym for the group. Al-Jabouri called on security forces to review their plans and on residents to cooperate with the authorities. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but ISIS militants have claimed multiple similar attacks. The Sunni extremists frequently launch attacks targeting Iraq’s security forces and civilians in public areas. The group stepped up attacks in recent months as it has lost territory in northern and western Iraq that it had captured in 2014. In April 2015, Iraqi security forces drove out ISIS militants from the Salahuddin provincial capital, Tikrit, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Baghdad. The attack came days after government forces recaptured the town of Shirqat, north of Tikrit, from ISIS militants. Backed by the US-led international coalition and paramilitary forces, the Iraqi government is gearing up for a major military operation to dislodge the militants from the city of Mosul. The city, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, is the last major ISIS urban stronghold in Iraq. US officials have said for some time that they expect the Mosul operation to begin in October.

Egypt court sentences 7 to hang for shooting officer
By AFP, Cairo Saturday, 24 September 2016/An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced seven men to hang for killing a police general in the unrest following the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi. It was the defendants’ second trial, after having won an appeal against an initial sentencing. They can appeal one last time. General Nabil Farag was shot dead in September 2013 when police raided the village of Kerdassa near Cairo where Mursi’s supporters had holed up more than two months after his overthrow. Farag died from a single 9mm bullet to the chest. The Cairo court sentenced five other defendants to 10 years in prison and acquitted another one. Mursi’s ouster, after a year in power, unleashed a crackdown on his supporters that saw hundreds killed and thousands detained. On Aug. 14, 2013, police killed hundreds of Islamists while dispersing two protest camps in Cairo. Mobs retaliated by attacking policemen and Christian properties. More than 10 policemen were killed in Kerdassa. Courts have since sentenced hundreds to death over the violence, but many, including the now-detained Mursi, have won retrials. Seven death sentences have been carried out, including for six men convicted of carrying out attacks for an Al-Qaeda-inspired militant organization that later pledged allegiance to the ISIS.
 

Iran: Stealing villagers’ properties by ‘law enforcement forces’
Friday, 23 September 2016/NCRI - According to reports from Sarbaz in Sistan and Baluchestan province (Southeastern Iran) , law enforcement agents have raided a rice trader’s home in a village near Sarbaz, attempting to steal his properties. According to this report, the agents in plainclothes were in several personal vehicles whose plates had been covered with labels. They broke into a rice trader’s house in “Batak” village at midnight on September 16, attempting to load 70 sacks of rice into their vehicles. In the meantime, people in the village notice the agents and ask them to show their judicial authorization. In response, the agents say that they have arranged with the magistrate. According to eye witnesses, people then call law enforcement and revolutionary guard’s officials
The witnesses added: “Following that, the agents beg people not to further pursue the matter.”
But similar incidents in several other villages by these same agents, prompted people to go to the police station to complain.
In the police station, Batak villagers have said: “The appearance of the agents’ vehicles match with those seen in similar incidents, like stealing air conditioners of Batak school and theft from Geran and Hyt villages.”
This has led to increased concerns among people in the region.
On September 18, the people met with the chief of police and some other regime’s officials at the Governor’s place.
According to reports, the chief of police in the meeting, while acknowledging that the thieves in Batak village two days before have been under his command, has said: “I acknowledge my agents’ inexperience, ignorance and lack of coordination with the court, but they don’t deserve to be called thieves!”
A source aware of the details in the meeting has said: “in response to the chief of police, one of Batak’s trusted men in the meeting has said that several armed, plainclothes men in civilian vehicles with covered plates raided overnight, broke the locks of people’s warehouses and stole their properties while having no judicial authorization, if it’s not theft then what is it?”
It should be pointed out that a wave of insecurity and stealing people’s properties is underway in Southern cities of Baluchestan while many people believe that the security organizations are responsible.

Iran: Destroying farmlands in Semnan (northern province) and displacing 80 families
Friday, 23 September 2016/NCRI - By declaring an area in “Mehdi Shahr” as a military area, the Revolutionary Guard in Semnan has destroyed the biggest apple garden in the province thereby displacing 80 families settled in the area. The displaced families have been engaged in plantation and exploiting the gardens and farmlands in the area for 150 years.
The families settled in the area set up an agricultural and livestock company in 1991.They cooperatively took all the farmlands under cultivation and set up the biggest apple garden in Semnan province. According to a member of one of the families, in order to provide the households with water and electricity and following the approval of Seman Electricity Department, the company installed more than five kilometers of power transmission lines at company members’ expense and also received the permit from the provincial officials to construct three earth dams.
He added: “From 1999, pressures on the families were boosted by preventing them from using the pastures followed by cutting off the power by the power department.
It seems that these pressures were aimed at forcing the families to leave. Since many of these families are Baha’is, these pressures are along the economic pressures on Baha’is to worsen their situation. By declaring the region as a military area in 2013, the Revolutionary Guard provided the arrangements for expelling the families and confiscating their properties and gardens with military and security excuses. The families have been in dire straits during the past four years, with their 150-year-old properties being confiscated and their sheep being on sale. After two years from filing a complaint by the families, their case has not yet been dealt with.

THE DANGEROUS MYTH OF ROUHANI’S BOGUS MODERATION
/NCRI /Friday, 23 September 2016 11:11
Members of the Rouhani government selected which political prisoners were killed.
Could any serious argument be made for holding back the shocking truths about the Rouhani administration’s human rights record both before and after Rouhani took office in 2013? If not, why it is buried underneath the supposed successes of the nuclear agreement and the January prisoner exchange? Gulio Terzi former Italian minister of foreign affairs answeres these questions and much more in his article published in NewsWeek on September 23, Following is the full text:
US Says $400 Million Payment To Iran Was 'Leverage' For Release Of Prisoners
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Thursday. It once again put the Iranian president and his American counterpart in fairly close quarters, this time more than a year after the nuclear deal.
The expected visit of Rouhani and his colleagues raises an essential question: will the Obama administration and its political allies finally challenge the Iranian government on the human rights abuses that had gone virtually ignored while the outcome of nuclear negotiations was still uncertain?
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was implemented only in January, and at the time it was still being promoted among its Western supporters as a possible gateway to a more moderate future for Iran.
That claim was seemingly bolstered by the fact that Iran agreed, around the same time, to release five Americans who had been falsely imprisoned by the Iranian judiciary.
More recently, however, it has come to light that the release was facilitated not just by the newfound diplomatic contact between the Iranian and American governments, but by the fact that the Obama administration agreed to pay $1.7 billion in a “debt settlement” that many critics have described as a ransom.
Furthermore, it has been revealed that Iran may not have been in full compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal at the time it was implemented. The suspension of economic sanctions, then, was a special concession by President Obama and other Western policymakers eager to start a new era in relations with the Islamic republic, regardless of whether the Iranian regime had truly earned such a change.
How has Tehran repaid this special treatment? It has continued with the same foreign provocations, even intensifying them in many respects.
In August, the naval forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps undertook several maneuvers to threaten U.S. warships passing through the Persian Gulf. In at least one incident, an American vessel was forced to fire warning shots into the water in order to make the approaching vessel depart and cease its apparent demonstration of Iran’s “swarm tactics.”
Early this month, Iranian state media also broadcast IRGC propaganda depicting American ships and aircraft being destroyed in the waters off the coast of Iran. Virtually every new statement or action coming out of Tehran seems to be more baldly aggressive than the last.
It is difficult to say how much of the courtship of supposed Iranian moderates by Western governments was justified by ignorance and how much was justified by deception. But it is clear that neither sort of justification can remain intact for much longer—not even through the U.N. General Assembly.
The growing catalog of Iranian provocations suggests that the time has come for the international community to seriously challenge the so-called moderates who are not standing in the way of those dangerous activities.
But it also highlights the fact that the international community is long overdue for challenging the Rouhani administration on other matters too.
That administration’s human rights record has always undermined the moderation narrative, and it is perhaps for that reason that the White House and its allies buried human rights underneath the supposed successes of the nuclear agreement and the January prisoner exchange.
Today it should be clear that such moderation is not taking hold. There is no longer any serious argument to be made for holding back the shocking truths about the Rouhani administration’s human rights record both before and after Rouhani took office in 2013.
There is no longer any reason to assume that Rouhani is substantively different from all the other figures who were active in the Iranian regime in its early days, and especially at the time of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988, primarily the activists of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
As recently revealed information about that massacre demonstrates, all those officials who voiced opposition to it or other human rights abuses were ousted from the regime. Those who participated, and especially those who participated eagerly, were richly rewarded and generally remain leading members of the regime to this day.
These include members of the Rouhani administration such as Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who was in 1988 the Intelligence Ministry’s representative to the Tehran “death commission,” tasked with selecting political prisoners for execution.
The prevalence of such figures in today’s Iranian government is a clear indication that the expectation of moderation is and always was based on an illusion.
Challenges to the regime’s foreign aggression and domestic violence cannot be expected to come from anywhere within the regime itself. They can only come from brave Iranian activists and from the international community.
** Giulio Terzi is a former foreign minister of Italy.

Joe Lieberman: Iran regime under Khamenei & Rouhani has violated all principles of the United Nations charter
Friday, 23 September 2016/NCRI - New York, United Nations, on Tuesday September 20, Joe Lieberman attended a demonstration, organized by the Organization of Iranian American Communities in the U.S., in which thousands of Iranian-Americans strongly criticized the visit to the United Nations by the Iranian regime’s president Hassan Rouhani and also urged the UN Security Council to scrutinize the shocking massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran in 1988, seen as one of the biggest human carnages since World War II.
Following is the full text of Mr. Lieberman’s speech:
Thank you, you know I accept your nomination. Your very kind and thank you for greeting me this way. I so wanted to be here this morning that not even the traffic of New York city could stop me.
I walked the last several blocks and I’m proud to do it, I’m proud to be here. We are here for a very special reason, and I can’t tell you how much I find the passion and commitment and enthusiasm in this crowd contagious. We are here in the cause of freedom. Which is America’s cause, but honestly it is God’s cause. Every person deserves freedom because every person was created by god. And this regime in Tehran which claims to be acting in the name of god. How could a regime that acted in the name of god take gods children and put them in Evin prison and torture and murder them.
How could a regime that believed in god suppress the human rights of its own people, women, journalists etc., political opposition. How could the regime that believed in god really sponsor terrorism and aggression across its neighbors, and repeatedly threaten to the united states of America that it wanted to be bring death to our people. No my friends, that is not a religious regime. That reminds me of something, two of Americas great founders franklin and Jefferson said that resistance to tyrants is obedience to god. Remember that. Resistance to tyrants is obedience to god.
And that’s why we’re here. We’re here in the cause of freedom right? And it’s a universal cause, an American cause, and in this case a cause of the people of Iran. We’re here to celebrate a victory of freedom, for the long suffering residents of camp liberty, a miraculous victory for freedom. We’re here to carry on the fight for freedom now, to all the people of Iran held hostage by this tyrannical regime. And we’re here in this week of the United Nations General assembly, when the worlds powers, heads of state, foreign ministers come here, to speak our truth to these powers. And to say to them, please look at the record. Don’t treat roughen as if he deserved the respect of a recognized leader of a civilized country, like president Obama. Rouhani should be treated as the United Nations would treat the leader of North Korea, Kim Jung Un if he came here today.
Right, and look at the record Iran under this regime. North Korea under Kim Jung Un. Both brutal totalitarian regimes. Both spending much too much money building weapons to threaten to their neighbors.
The fact is that the regime in Iran has more blood on its hands than even the regime in Pyongyang, so we say to the United Nations, don’t be fooled by Rouhani’s smile. And anyway he’s simply a puppet for Khamenei and the IRGC. It is time my friends for a change. It’s time for a change.
It’s never easy to take on power that suppresses. But we’re on the right side and we’re on the right side of history. And we have reason today to be optimistic, I want to say first what did happen at camp liberty. The United States made a promise to protect the people at camp liberty and Iraq under the increasing influence of Iran pushed and broke that promise. For too long too many people at camp liberty and Ashraf before they were killed or wounded, lived in fear, but thanks to the work of the MEK the PMOI and supported in this case I’m proud to say by the United States department of state, notwithstanding the increasing influence of Iran over Iraq, all the residents of camp liberty are now free. Thank god.
So…they said it couldn’t be done in camp liberty. But you and we all together did it. They say that the smart analyzers that we can’t bring freedom back to Iran. But you and I don’t accept that do we. Because understand our cause. And we understand the nature of this regime. We’re now as was mentioned, I’m proud to be the chairmen of a group called United against a nuclear Iran. This is more than a year after the Iran nuclear agreement was signed by the P5 +1 plus the Islamic republic of Iran. It’s almost 9 months into the implementation of the agreement. Remember that people in the United States government and all the governments of the P5+1 said this agreement would moderate the government in Iran. Would change its behavior, would bring it to be a member of the civilized community of nations. But what’s happened in the last year? Look at the record, there’s absolutely no change in the behavior in the regime in Tehran. It is in fact worse in every way. It is taking the money it got from the United States and other parties, strengthening its hold on the country, supporting terrorists who are killing people. Including threatening the lives and ending the lives of Americans. Sponsoring aggression throughout the region, and brutally continuing its suppression of the human rights of the people of Iran. So I would say that the record is clear look at the record, facts are stubborn things and they don’t lie. The Iran nuclear agreement has not changed the behavior, civilized moderated the behavior of the regime in Iran, if anything it is acting worse, and will continue to do so.
Now they’re going to think you and I rehearsed that. Because here’s what I want to say next. Based on the total absence of change in fact worse behavior, more threatening, more and more repeated threats to the united states and all of the civilized people of the world, I think we biter conclude that this regime in Tehran will not change. And therefore the only way to change the regime in Tehran is for the people of Iran to rise up and oust the regime that suppresses them and threatens most of the rest of the world.
We must together send that message to the regime but more to the courageous people in Iran who suffer under its brutal grip and they must believe that if they have the courage to rise up against this regime in the cause of freedom, following in the path of freedom fighters before them that unlike what happened during the courageous protests during the elections of June of 2009, this time beginning with the united states of America, we will stand with the people of Iran, we will work with the people of Iran, we will support the people of Iran until the people of Iran are truly free.
As much as you and I believe in our cause, I know that there are people who will tell us that we are foolish idealists. There have been people who have always said that to others who have fought for the freedom of themselves and their country, before. So don’t be discouraged by that. Remember what the great Margaret Mead once said, never underestimate the capacity of a small group of ordinary citizens to change the world, in fact, it’s the only way that has ever happened. We can do it. And remember what Martin Luther King said because, you who fight for freedom of Iran put yourself in the history, along with the heroes who fought for freedom, civil rights, human rights, women’s rights, gay rights, etc. etc. Including Martin Luther King, and Dr. King said at a dark and depressing hour in the civil rights movement, he reminded his followers the moral arc of the universe bends slowly, but it always bends towards justice and freedom. Remember that.
Let me go back a little further, to the American revolution. Because your cause is the quintessentially perfectly American cause. Consistent with the ideals in our declaration of independence, Thomas Paine one of the great courageous leaders of the America revolution said to his fellow revolutionaries when they began to rise up against the British who controlled them, and you know Britain was the great super power of the age, people looked at them as if they were foolish dreamers, and Paine said we have it in our power to begin the world over again. And against all odds they did. They began the world over again. They created a government to secure the rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, they won the American revolution just as I am confident the people of Iran can win what I would call the second and true Iranian revolution for freedom for justice and for peace.
Free Syria is right. Look at the- who is the major cause next to Assad of a half a million deaths in Syria. Of millions of refugees outside and inside. It is in Syria- it’s Iran it’s the IRGC, our government has not acted to stand with the people. Let me go back – I’m on your side. Let me go back to what Thomas Paine said much later, President Reagan recalled the words of Paine, to begin the world anew we must vanquish an evil empire, he was speaking of the Soviet Union. Today that evil empire is based in Tehran, with the regime there. It exists in total and I want to end this, in total opposition and contradiction to the United Nations charter, that’s where we are today. What did the charter entered into of June of 1945, after world war 2 say, it said that the purpose of the united nations was to take steps towards and suppress acts of aggression such as Iran has been involved in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen etc. Iraq. To develop friendly relations among nations based on the respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples. To encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without regard for race sex religion and language. Ladies and gentlemen this regime under Khamenei the IRGC , Rouhani has violated all of those principles of the United Nations charter, it is why Rouhani should not be greeted as an honored guest, but as an international pariah but as a violator of the principles of the united nations, it is why it is so important you are here today, and why I say to you based on what happened in camp liberty, based on the history that I tried to give you here this morning of those who have fought for freedom before you and causes that people thought could never succeed but did succeed, that we in our time , with the help of god and all of us pulling together, will live to see freedom and justice and the end of this regime in Iran. May it happen speedily in our days, God bless you. Go forward. I will be with you, every step of the way

Concerns over “Iran Air transporting weapons, troops, and cash to terrorist groups and rogue regimes,"
NCRI Iran NewsظSaturday, 24 September 2016/Senior Republican U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers made clear on Friday they will keep campaigning against Boeing and Airbus jetliner sales to the Iranian regime, despite the U.S. Treasury Department's announcement that it had begun issuing licenses for the exports, Reuters reported. Republican Representatives Pete Roskam and Jeb Hensarling wrote to Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which oversees sanctions, demanding more answers about any security implications of the delivery of aircraft to Iran. "There is little evidence indicating that Iran Air has indeed stopped transporting weapons, troops, and cash to terrorist groups and rogue regimes," the congressmen wrote in a letter, dated Thursday, seen by Reuters. Both congressmen hold influential financial positions in the House of Representatives. Hensarling is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Roskam is chairman of the tax-writing Ways & Means Committee's Oversight subcommittee.
Airbus and Boeing said on Wednesday they had received the Treasury's approval to begin exporting over 200 jets to Iran, under a deal struck in January. Some members of Congress have raised concerns that killing the deal could cost jobs at Boeing plants, but opponents of the deal argue that security concerns are more important. The letter to Adam Szubin, acting under secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, asked for answers to several detailed questions on issues including Iran Air's leadership, the Treasury's ability to control transfers of aircraft or parts once they are in Iran's hands and the nuclear pact. Foreign banks have been reluctant to finance the aircraft deals, fearing they could fall foul of remaining sanctions prohibiting the use of the U.S. financial system for Iranian business. With U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump strongly critical of the rapprochement, some banks fear they could be left with no insurance if sanctions against the Iranian regime "snap back." Republican members of Congress unanimously opposed the nuclear agreement last year, seen as one of Democratic President Barack Obama's foreign policy achievements.
Geoffrey Robertson: what happened in 1988 was a crime against humanity
NCRI - New York, United Nations, on Tuesday September 20, Geoffrey Robertson renowned human rights barrister, academic, author and broadcaster attended a demonstration, organized by the Organization of Iranian American Communities in the U.S., in which thousands of Iranian-Americans strongly criticized the visit to the United Nations by the Iranian regime’s president Hassan Rouhani and also urged the UN Security Council to scrutinize the shocking massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran in 1988, seen as one of the biggest human carnages since World War II.
Following is the full text of Mr. Geoffrey Robertson speech
It is ladies and gentlemen a great privilege to be here, and here in the shadow of the United nations which has much work to do, let me explain briefly why.
The killing of prisoners is the worst of all war crimes, it has been for hundreds of years. The prisoner is utterly at the mercy of the state. That is why international law, from the 15th century, has given a special protection to prisoners of war, Shakespeare henry the 5th, in those times you couldn’t kill a prisoner. The liber code in 1863, in America, America’s war code, made it absolutely criminal to kill a surrendered prisoner. The Geneva conventions in 1949, the basis of international law, make it an international crime to kill a prisoner.
There have been three since then, since the second world war, there have been 3 heinous and hideous examples of that.
The first was the Japanese army that war marched, death marched, 7000 American soldiers to their death in 1946. What happened to the Japanese commanders who ordered that crime, they were tried, and they were convicted and they were executed.
The second example was Srebrenica, in 1992 when 7000 Muslim men and boys were killed. What happened to those commanders who gave the orders to Millovech and Karadzic? They are on trial at The Hague at this time. They were punished and will be punished.
The third, the worst example, came in 1988 when thousands of upon thousands of prisoners who were in the first place members of the MEK then they came to the atheists, for the communists, for the liberals. People who were in prison for their politics, many of them had served their sentence, they’d been arrested in 1981 and were being held in prison although they finished their sentence, were killed, monstrously, and this is why, this dreadful act has never been punished. Has never even been investigated apart from an investigation that I did at the behest of the Boroumand foundation a few years ago.
I traveled all over Europe to meet survivors of this terrible period. People who were in prison and had escaped or somehow avoided being killed. Let me read you the conclusion of my report.
Late in July 1988 as the war with Iraq was ending, prisons in Iran that were crammed with opponents suddenly went into lockdown. All family visits were canceled television and radios switched off. Prisoners were kept in their cells not allowed exercise or trips to the hospitals. The only permitted visitation was from a delegation, turbaned and bearded, which came in black government BMW’s a religious judge, a public prosecutor, and an intelligence chief. Before them were paraded briefly and individually, almost every prisoner, and then thousands of them who were being jailed for adherence to the MEK.
The delegation and but one question for these young men and women, most of them detained since 1981, merely for taking part in street protests or possession of political reading material, and although they didn’t know it, on their answer their life would depend. Those who by their answer by evidence any continuing affiliation with the MEK were blindfolded and ordered to join a congo line that led straight to the gallows. They were hung from cranes 4 at a time, or in groups of 6, from ropes hanging from the front of the stage of the assembly hall, some were taken to army barracks at night, directed to make their wills, and then shot by firing squad. Their bodies were doused with disinfectant, packed in refrigerator trucks and buried at night in mass graves.
Months later their families, desperate for information about their children, would be handed a plastic bag with their few possessions they would be refused any information about the location of the graves, and ordered never to mourn them in public. By mid-august 1988 thousands of prisoners had been killed in this manner by the state. Without trial, without appeal and utterly without mercy.
And my report that was the conclusion on the facts. And my report was published as a book, Mullahs without Mercy. That mercilessness continued and thanks to Montazeri’s intervention, and we’ve recently had a recording of how he told Nayyeri and Pour Mohammadi and the prosecutors, you are bringing shame forever on Iran. By killing these prisoners. Thanks to his intervention, there was a lull for 2 weeks and then the killings began again, the killings of all the Marxists and all the communists and all who were suspected of being Mohareb, enemies of the state, or suspected of not worshipping in the way the mullahs ordered.
And so at the end of the day you have the worst war crime in modern history. And what has happened, why are all those people who are still prominent in the Iranian regime, the minister of justice was one of the death committee judged, Pour Mohammadi, Ardebili, Nayyeri. They’re all in high positions. They are 50-60 people, who were deeply involved in the bloody slaughter of the innocent prisoners, who are now in control of the state. Their supreme leader was president at the time, he gave the orders. He is a mass murderer. Rouhani, what was he doing August till October 1988. He was an assistant of Rafsanjani who was himself deeply involved.
It is time for the Prime Minister Rouhani, who is here, to explain what he was doing. Because the problem is and the reason why it’s appropriate to be here, is that the UN turned a blind eye. In 1988 in 1989 it knew. The New York Times in September, although the regime tried to cover it, the New York Times reported the mass graves that were being filled with hundreds of prisoners’ bodies. So it was known at the United Nations, unfortunately, it had a special representative for Iran. He was sadly a naïve diplomat, a person who was completely in awe of the Iranian government, believed their lives, did not – he actually when they allowed him to go to Evin prison, do you know they put on a band concert, yes they had a band, just as the Nazi’s would lead observers to the concentration camps played through by a band, they played the band for this useless naïve UN representative. They had actors dressed up prisoners who told him the food is superb, and the silly idiot actually put this in his report. And worst of all he never met the man who had invited him to Iran, the man who wanted to tell him the truth. The man who now so many years whose voice comes through on recordings recently released, telling that truth. Ayatollah Montazeri was not allowed to meet the UN representative. And the pathetic UN representative did not demand to meet him and did not cover the killings again in his report. The UN is at fault, the UN in 1988 and 1989 turned a blind eye to the most wicked war crime of all. And now we have Iran with the perpetrators of that crime still in power, which has more executions comparatively than any other country, which still goes on with brutality which still has brutality at the heart of the system. The very last example, let me mention the case of Nazaneen Radcliff, the utterly innocent charity worker dual national, who took her British Tehran 6 months ago, to show her parents. And was arrested and the baby arrested at the airport, charged with spying, a ridiculous charge, utterly false. Secretly tried in 5 minutes convicted and sent to jail for 5 years last week. That is an example of the cruelty that continued daily in Iran. And why doesn’t Britain protest? This is the problem. Britain’s pathetic and cowardly government will not stand up to the mullahs, not a squeak of protest, no demanding that her husband should be allowed to visit her, no demanding that the British counsel should be allowed to visit. Iran’s in breach of international law by refusing to allow them. But you see that British airways is just flying back to Iran, British firms are trying to do business with Iran, making money of Iran. That’s what happens when you overlook human rights. And President Obama and America overlooked them when negotiating with Iran to relieve the sanctions. What we should have had was an insistence that Iran give up and allow to investigated the perpetrators of 1988 and it should have changed its inhuman policies. But for the nuclear negotiators, that sadly did not figure. And they are very much to be condemned.
So let me finish by saying this, what happened in 1988 was a crime against humanity. Crimes against of humanity are of a special hideousness. They cannot be forgotten and they cannot be forgiven. There is a duty by the world community, represented by the United Nations, to take action. It’s too for the international criminal court because that can only deal with events after 2002, but it’s perfectly possible for the UN and security council should do it now, should set up an international ad hoc tribunal, like the one in Sierra Leone, that I was president of, like the one in Cambodia. To investigate and punish those who are guilty of the 1988 prison massacres. That is the duty that is on the security council, that is the duty now, President Rouhani is before it. There must be for crimes humanity, There must be an investigation, there must be punishment.

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on on September 24-25/16

Egypt’s foreign minister affirms ‘solid and stable’ relationship with Israel
Al-Monitor Staff/Al-Monitor/September 24/16
NEW YORK — Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, speaking to Al-Monitor during his visit to New York for the 71st session of the UN General Assembly, addressed his country’s position on the Middle East peace process, US-Egyptian relations and the ongoing conflicts in Libya and Yemen, among other topics.
Shoukry, who has served as minister of foreign affairs since 2014, is a career diplomat who formerly served as Cairo’s ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2012. In his post as top diplomat, he has worked to boost Egypt’s regional standing and help it regain a role in the Mideast peace process.
A transcript of the interview, conducted by Al-Monitor’s managing editor, slightly edited for clarity, follows below.
Al-Monitor: As you know, the US Congress is considering a proposal to cut economic aid to Egypt in half, down to $75 million. What impact do you believe this would have on the US-Egyptian relationship?
Shoukry: It’s, I think, inconsistent with what we generally promote and what we also extract from many of our friends, both in the administration and in Congress related to the strategic nature of the relationship and the mutual desire to enhance it. The assistance program has been helpful to Egypt in the past in meeting its developmental challenges and providing assistance. But it has also been a symbol of cooperation and the relationship and partnership that exists between Egypt and the United States.
And I don’t think that cutting it by half is indicative of all of these meanings, so I would hope that the decision would be reversed. … I would actually hope that the economic assistance to Egypt would be increased — it has been scaled down from originally $800 million to $400 million — as a matter of recognition of Egypt, the economic circumstances that necessitated this scaling down. And this was a cooperative agreement reached by both sides in the context of our feeling that this assistance program is of mutual benefit to us and is of mutual ownership to us, both the United States and Egypt.
So we sat down and we [came to an agreement on] organized manner in which to reduce the assistance program. Since then, on two occasions — and this would be the third — the US administration has taken the unilateral decision to reduce the assistance program. And in both cases, they did not sufficiently consult with Egypt, nor did they take into consideration the symbolic nature of the assistance program.
So I would think that, for all of those reasons, we hope that the assistance program might increase so that Egypt can face the many challenges, especially in this phase of its history where it is transitioning to a more democratic, more inclusive government with a potential of regaining its stability in the region.
Al-Monitor: Relations between Turkey and Egypt have been strained in recent years. What can you tell me about efforts to repair ties between Cairo and Ankara?
Shoukry: I can't say that there are any substantial efforts underway. Relationships have been strained — not for any actions that Egypt has undertaken. This is a conscious decision on the part of the Turkish government, which feels that it has the right to intervene and direct Egypt’s internal affairs in a certain manner. And this is, of course, unacceptable to us and has caused a cooling, if not a rupture, of relationships currently. But we have always indicated that we hold the Turkish people in every high esteem.
We have a long history of association and cooperation with Turkey at the popular level and also at the official level, and [when] the Turkish government [decides it will not] interfere in the internal affairs of Egypt, and [decides] to conduct foreign policy on the basis of respect of the principles of legitimacy and friendly relations, [at this time] Egypt will always be in a position to [restore] the relationship.
Al-Monitor: President [Abdel Fattah al-] Sisi was the first to reveal that Russian President Vladimir Putin was willing to host direct talks between [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and [Palestinian President] Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow, and has recently expressed a willingness to play a major role in a Mideast peace process. Given this announcement, what role does Cairo envision for itself in such a process?
Shoukry: Well this is [part of] an ongoing role that Egypt has been playing since its peace agreement with Israel. We have been promoting a full resolution of the conflict and end of [the] Palestine/Israeli conflict and normalization of relations within the states of the region so that [these states] can tap into the vast resources of cooperation and take full advantage of that for the betterment of the people of the region. And of course, the issue of stability and security for all is a fundamental principle. And Egypt has constantly taken advantage of its ability to be an interlocutor with all sides.
We have a very solid and stable relationship with Israel. We, of course, constantly support the Palestinian Authority in … the peace process. And we rely on many multilateral organizations, whether it’s the Arab League or the United Nations, to promote the peaceful resolution of the conflict.
We encourage and try to attract both sides to take flexible positions that will facilitate reaching a solution that guarantees the interest of both sides, both the Palestinians and the Israelis. And this is a commitment that we make — that the issue is not a matter of coercion or pressure, but it’s a matter of reaching both the Israeli leadership and public opinion and [ensuring that] the Palestinian leadership and public opinion [recognize and are determined] to proceed with [a source of] peace to create a new environment in the region and new prospects for the people of the region.
Al-Monitor: Yesterday, Russia implemented its ban on agricultural imports from Egypt after Cairo rejected a Russian wheat shipment that contained trace levels of a common fungus. Given that Russia is one of Egypt’s top export markets for fruit, this could have serious economic impact. Cairo announced it would send a team to Russia later this month to discuss the ban — what other efforts are being made to calm growing trade tensions?
Shoukry: Well again, it is primarily the ability to coordinate and have an open dialogue related to this issue. Of course, it’s of a technical nature and subject to the international rules and regulations that apply to agricultural exports. And I believe that, in view of the strong relations that we have, and in view of Russia being one of the major, if not the major exporters of wheat — and Egypt being the major importer at the global level of wheat — and also our need to continue to take advantage of the potential of increasing our agricultural export to Russia, that I would think we will be able to reach a mutually beneficial solution and find ways within the confines of a technical problem.
Al-Monitor: On Sept. 20, teams from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia signed final contracts for technical studies on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Does this step represent a milestone in overcoming issues between Egypt and upstream countries over the dam’s construction?
Shoukry: It’s certainly an important element within the confidence that has been being built over the last two years. The trilateral agreement that was signed in Khartoum by the three leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia — also the declaration that was issued between the president of Egypt and the prime minister of Ethiopia and Malabo — all culminated in the implementation of the declaration and the agreement. And this is an important portion of that agreement.
It is [reliant] on the scientific determination of an impartial consultant to determine the consequences and the impact of the Renaissance Dam on both Sudan and Egypt, primarily. So we believe that this is in the vein of confidence building — [and this will be] in the vein [of] the interest of the three parties without any of them superseding the interest of the other, but reaching an understanding that maintains these interests.
Egypt, of course, as you know, is a barren country with only the Nile as its sole source of water and with a population of 100 million almost. It is a very sensitive issue. And both Sudan and Ethiopia have other sources, but at the same time we recognize Ethiopia’s right to development and its need for energy generation — clean energy generation.
But there are international principles related to [the idea] — that project should not result in significant harm [to] the downstream countries, and that any negative impact should be [avoided].
So we presume that these are issues that even have a moral dimension, and thereby, the signing of the consultant’s contract is, again, the determination of the three countries to faithfully implement the trilateral agreement of Khartoum. And we look forward [to] all the future steps [dealing] with this issue [being] undertaken in the same spirit of cooperation, confidence-building and mutual benefit.
Al-Monitor: Since March of last year, the Egyptian air force has been participating in the Saudi-led military coalition’s war against the Houthis. Could you expand further on Egypt’s role in Yemen?
Shoukry: Well, Egypt has been a part of the coalition in support of legitimacy and its efforts to regain the stability and security of Yemen for the Yemeni people. Our military participation has been more concentrated [on] protecting the sea channels in the Red Sea and the entrance to the Red Sea. And we have been supportive logistically to the coalition, but at the same time we have been advocating for a peaceful resolution of the conflict through negotiations and dialogue upon the lines of the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] proposals and security council resolutions and the ongoing discussions that were undertaken under the auspices of Kuwait over the last period.
We believe that — whether it is in Yemen or any other conflicts of the region — that peaceful resolutions based on negotiations and compromise on acceptance of the various political interest must be the manner in which to deal with these issues. We see the scale of devastation and human suffering and do not believe that a military solution to these problems is in the best interest of the people of the region.
Al-Monitor: Egypt supports Gen. Khalifa Hifter, who refuses to recognize the UN-sponsored Government of National Accord and backs the Bayda-based parliament, while the [United States] has condemned Hifter’s recent moves to [take] militarily control of oil ports. What is Egypt’s view on this?
Shoukry: Well, Egypt’s view is that we should not personalize issues. Egypt does not support any specific personality. And I think it’s important also to recognize that the parliament in Bayda is a parliament that is a sitting parliament that came to power on free and fair and monitored elections in 2014, and is the only representative body that we can safely say does reflect the will of the Libyan people. So it is a legitimate parliament. It is part of the political solution that has been endorsed by the United Nations, and it should be deemed as competent to have endorsed the national Libyan army with Gen. Hifter as its commander.
So Egypt’s support is not personal support for Gen. Hifter; it is … support to the legitimate Libyan professional army that continues to be constituted from professional military personnel. And [this army] continues to challenge the presence of terrorists in Libya [and] is responsible for the well-being and the safety and security and territorial integrity of Libya.
Now, that does not discount that in the west of Libya and Tripoli there has been a usurpation of the capital by various militias — some of them associated [with] some very radical organizations — and that this is a situation that should be of much more concern than the activities of a professional army that is undertaking its responsibility with the approval of an elected legislative body.
I think we should not try to oversimplify the issues. Libya is a very complicated situation with varying and competing forces. The last moves — in that the Libyan army has now taken over for the protection of the oil fields — I think one has to ask what gave relevance and credence to those forces that were previously there. They have no specific authority to be there or to undertake that responsibility. So it’s not a matter of competing forces, but I think it’s a matter of consistency.
And again, I want to be very clear that Egypt supports and was fundamental in the success of the … UN-brokered [Skhirat] agreement and the composition of the presidential council and the potential Government of National Accord that it will submit to the [legislature] for endorsement and to the House of Representatives. These are the institutions that were enshrined in the Libyan agreement brokered by the United Nations.
All of these institutions should be preserved and should undertake their responsibilities as was envisioned by the accord. And it is of the application of democratic principle that the legislative body has oversight over the decisions and the composition of government, and that this is a matter of checks and balances.
Of course, there are other issues in Libya that complicate the matter, particularly the presence of terrorist organizations. And there has been success recently in targeting them both in Benghazi and Sirte. And it is important also that the militias — [there] are several and they have been a disruptive factor to the stability of Libya — must now recede, must now relinquish their arms and rely on the organized police force and military forces to undertake the responsibility of the protection of the country.

Syrian opposition activist: Syrians no longer decision-makers to own destiny
Sardar Mlla Drwish/Al-Monitor/September 24/16
GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Louay Hussein is a Syrian pro-opposition politician who was arrested by the Syrian regime several times, beginning when he was a university student. He was banned from traveling and prevented from obtaining a passport under the rule of President Hafez al-Assad as well as under his son, Bashar.
With the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, with a group of other young Syrians, Hussein founded the Building the Syrian State movement in September 2011, denouncing the current Syrian regime as authoritarian. The movement defines itself as a political organization with a futurist vision for Syria. Its involvement in the current conflict has aimed to advance patriotism.
Hussein left Syria through Turkey for Spain after he was released from detention in Damascus. He had been detained on several charges including "weakening national sentiment." Hussein has long been a controversial figure, as his orientations differ from those of most of the Syrian revolution’s activists and actors, and he has been criticizing the opposition’s performance. He is against militarization and extremism, and has been accused by Syrian activists of holding ideas and positions close to those of the Syrian regime.
His full interview with Al-Monitor follows:
Al-Monitor: The Building the Syrian State movement has recently prepared a memorandum outlining the movement’s vision of the transition period in Syria, in accordance with the UN approach toward the Syrian crisis. Would you please explain what this memorandum is about?
Hussein: We are in the midst of UN and international efforts to reach a settlement to end the situation in Syria, according to the Geneva-based international resolutions and UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
This effort focuses on involving all of conflicting parties in a transitional authority that would prepare the country to hold elections in a predetermined period of time. This matter requires many criteria, principles and details. This is why all political forces need to propose their vision regarding this process. For our part, we included many criteria which must be adopted when developing transition options, such as adopting the concept of "no victor and no vanquished" and including a minimum of 30% women in all institutions and bodies that are being formed, as well as including the opposition and other parties in all institutions, according to the Geneva statement. There is a number of key points that must be preserved, such as the adoption of a constitutional declaration for the transitional period, postponing the drafting of the constitution until a legislative body is elected by all Syrians, the formation of a supreme constitutional council to supervise the transitional executive bodies and their commitment to what was agreed upon in Geneva, the participation of all Syrian components in all authorities, without excluding any of them, but without being based on a proportional quota system. This is in addition to the distribution of power between all transitional institutions to avoid having a single institution capable of monopolizing and controlling the other institutions.
We stressed the need to have an independent judiciary headed by the Supreme Judicial Council, whose members will be appointed according to their posts, namely the head of the court of cassation, the general prosecutor, heads of the military and administrative judiciary and others. They will be selected through an agreement between the UN and the Syrian parties, and not in accordance with the quotas in the Geneva statement. It is hard to summarize the vision in a press interview, but I tried to introduce the criteria and principles according to which the transitional governance institutions are formed.
Al-Monitor: ​ The [memorandum] speaks of the protection of all religions in Syria to prevent the establishment of a sectarian system. Does that stem from your fears of a sectarian conflict in Syria? If that is the case, are these fears the movement's or your own?
Hussein: There are no fears. We want to have a state for all Syrians, not for any particular religious, nationalist or political party alone. We want a secular state.
Al-Monitor: Your vision includes demands for the confiscation of the properties of the Arab Baath Socialist Party and National Progressive Front, which are the governing authorities in Syria. Is that a clear call for a de-Baathification in Syria?
Hussein: Absolutely not. We do not accept de-Baathification. Yet in order for the competition between the political parties in the country to be legitimate, parties should not own properties that they obtained from the state as the leading parties. Thus, there is no way to compare Building the Syrian State with the Baath Party or any of the [National Progressive] Front’ s parties, which have headquarters and vehicles at the heart of the capital and the rest of the Syrian cities that are the state's properties and not their own. We only have partisan properties.
Al-Monitor: Taking into account the social, political and military divide of the Syrian scene and your previous statement that what is taking place cannot be called revolution, how do you see Syria today and in the future?
Hussein: I am not a political analyst to express how Syria will be in the future. I can say how I want the future to be and what I am trying to push to achieve it. Syria today is a field for international conflicts, not just Syrian ones. This does not mean that Syrians are not fighting among each other, but they are no longer the decision-makers when it comes to their own destiny, after all Syrian parties gave up to international powers. The conflict has become an international dispute being fought by Syrian proxies. The regional countries can only work through and influence sectarian Sunni and Shiite or nationalist militias, and for this reason this image of the conflict [as a proxy war] is becoming more and more pronounced.
We want Syria to be a state based on the concepts of citizenship and equality for all Syrian people without any discrimination on the grounds of religion, sect, race or sex. We want this state to adopt a democratic system of governance. We will not accept the prevailing growing sectarian and nationalist conflicts, but we will challenge them as much as we can.
Al-Monitor: In light of the ongoing sectarian and religious conflict in Syria, to what extent do you believe Syria can achieve freedom, dignity and democracy?
Hussein: Freedom, dignity and democracy are goals we must strive to achieve since one cannot expect that they will come about on their own. Such goals require enormous efforts in light of the impediments by several local, regional and international powers. These goals need a powerful will and relentless brave fighters who do not surrender. We are in the midst of this battle, and most of the powers are against these values and goals. But I personally expect to find such an indomitable will once the sound of the cannons stops for a while.
Al-Monitor: You usually talk about Syria as the homeland of all of its components. What do you say to those who accuse you of being sometimes biased in your statements in favor of the Alawite sect, given that you are Alawite yourself?
Hussein: No comment.
Al-Monitor: Why did you leave Syria while you were always adamant about staying there?
Hussein: I felt my life was in danger and that the regime was ready to assassinate me for my opposing opinions.
Al-Monitor: There have been talks that you were promised personal benefits by international parties for leaving Syria. What do you say about that?
Hussein: I will not reply. The rule is that the burden of proof is upon the claimant. The party making the accusation is supposed to provide evidence and not the accused party. Otherwise, a man could claim that 1,000 persons have robbed him and they would have to prove that they did not. I do not respond to such talk.
Al-Monitor: What are the reasons for your positions against the revolution? In your first appearance after leaving Syria, you refused to acknowledge the Syrian revolution's flag at a conference with the head of the Syrian National Coalition, Khaled Khoja, since you believe that the flag of the Syrian Arab Republic does not only represent the regime. Then, you joined the High Negotiations Committee only to definitively withdraw from it later on.
Hussein: I said over and over again that I stand with Syria and the Syrians, and not with any other party. I am only against the regime because it is against the interests of the Syrians. I will not support anything that claims to be a revolution unless it promotes the interests of the Syrians — and I mean all Syrians, no exceptions. I am not seeking to win favors with this or that party, but I try to have a clear conscience. I am always ready to be questioned and assume responsibility for any action I have taken that harmed the Syrians or caused the death of any of them.
Al-Monitor: A leaked audiotape attributed to you stirred controversy, as you were heard saying that you do not like the revolution and you do not want it. As an opposition politician, how can you be this daring, while politics require diplomacy?
Hussein: This has nothing to do with diplomacy. These statements were stolen without my knowledge and were distorted. But to clarify, I said “this revolution” and not “the revolution.” I was referring to the revolution that the thief and I were talking about when he was recording my statements without my knowledge. I was talking about the bloodthirsty, the sectarians, thieves and their ilk who call their movement a revolution. I not only reject this revolution, I fight against it.
And now I am also against the revolution led by Jabhat al-Nusra. It is not enough for a party or a person to raise the slogan of the revolution to be considered a good person or party. This is very simple. A person must be of a good nature to be later on described as a revolutionary. The movement must be beneficial to the people to be called a revolution and must not commit criminal acts.
Al-Monitor: You recently posted on Facebook a statement that raised the ire of the Syrian public from the Sunni sect and other activists, as you used the expression “Sunni scum” in reference to extremist fighters. This Syrian Sunni community was infuriated by the use of this expression. You did not stop there — the next day you wrote about “Alawite scum.” As a politician, don’t you think that these statements lack diplomacy and fuel the Syrians' hostility toward you?
Hussein: The word "scum" is not used to offend the Sunni community, since it is used here to describe a specific social category, just like we say, for example, Sunni intellectuals, Alawite peasants or Kurdish aristocrats. Those who were offended are not the Sunnis but the Sunni scum. Of course, scumbags may wear a tie, put on makeup or own a car. When some describe the so-called “Ibrahim el-Youssef massacre” as the “Sunni” massacre, they surely mean only the Sunni scum. The Sunnis — and I believe I am a part of them — do not glorify a sectarian killer such as Ibrahim al-Youssef.
Al-Monitor: Building the Syrian State includes members from all the Syrian components and its vision is based on the idea of Syrian patriotism. We are hearing that the Kurds are advancing in northern Syria and have declared a federal system. What is [your group's] take on the Kurds’ advancement, and how do you see the future of the Kurdish cause in Syria?
Hussein: I did not quite understand the expression “Kurds’ advancement.” If you are referring to the control by an armed Kurdish faction over large tracts of Syrian territory in the north of the country, we believe this is similar to the control imposed by other groups in other regions. These are partisan efforts to impose a political presence in Syria's future. We do not have any secession concerns.
As for my opinion about the future of the Kurdish cause, I am waiting for our fellow Kurdish citizens to explain what the Kurdish cause means now. This expression seems to have lost its meaning. There is no Kurdish cause now.

Rafsanjani takes aim at Iranian military spending amid furor
Saeid Jafari/Al-Monitor/September 24/16
TEHRAN, Iran — The chair of Iran's Expediency Council, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, delivered the following remarks Aug. 10 at the 33rd Summit of Managers and Heads of Education in the Country, organized by the Ministry of Education:
Today, you can see that Germany and Japan have the strongest economies in the world. These same two countries were prohibited from having military forces after the Second World War. When a country is at war, it spends so much money on its military. With no military spending, these countries could use that extra money on science and production and were able to create a science-based economy for themselves. As a result, they are no longer fragile. The door has been opened to a similar process in Iran. Managers, teachers, and concerned citizens should use this opportunity. I am sure that we can get there during President [Hassan] Rouhani’s second term.
In due time, radical and conservative media outlets and figures began to heap harsh criticism on Rafsanjani's remarks. Those not inclined to look upon Rafsanjani favorably seized the opportunity to attack him.
Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was among the first to criticize Rafsanjani. On Sept. 8, Hajizadeh said, “If he dares to go without his bodyguards for a few days, then he can claim that the country does not need military forces.” Hajizadeh also remarked that one of Iran’s major problems is the absence of any kind of “political redline,” asserting, “Individuals are willing to say anything or do anything in order to achieve their political objectives.”
Member of parliament and hard-liner Javad Karimi Ghodoosi also reacted harshly, saying on Sept. 10 that Rafsanjani’s remarks were relaying the good news to the United States that the Islamic Republic would be disarming itself. Ghodoosi does not believe that the comments originated with Rafsanjani, but were some sort of complex code conceived by think tanks in France, Britain and the Netherlands.
Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the hard-line daily Kayhan, a position appointed by the supreme leader, published an editorial on Sept. 3 titled “Mr. Rafsanjani, Don’t Send an Invitation Card to Daesh.” In it, he wrote, “Would Daesh [Islamic State], which is dreaming of entering Iran and committing atrocities similar to those it has committed in Iraq and Syria, hesitate for even one minute if given a chance to commit these atrocities? If the answer is ‘no,’ and considering that in case of disarmament Iran will become an easy target for enemies big and small, can we then doubt that Mr. Hashemi’s comments are basically inviting Daesh terrorists into Iran?”
Rafsanjani's office felt compelled to respond, issuing an explanation on Sept. 5 to media outlets regarding his remarks. The statement did not deny that Rafsanjani had made the comments, but rather focused on Rafsanjani’s revolutionary background while providing general explanations about what he had said:
Accusing someone who was the spokesman of the Supreme Defense Council during the Imposed [Iran-Iraq] War, who was appointed by the late Imam [Ruhollah] Khomeini as commander in chief of Iran's armed forces, who later, as president, played the most important role in strengthening the country’s defense system, of wanting to weaken the country’s armed forces, indicates that a coherent scheme is at work. This possibility becomes more likely when a series of insults and accusations suddenly appears in media outlets, big and small, that are connected to a particular circle.
This is not the first time that Rafsanjani has been harshly criticized and attacked over remarks about the military. On March 23, he had come under fire after a controversial post on Twitter, saying, “The world of tomorrow is a world of negotiations and not missiles.” On that occasion, Rafsanjani was not only attacked by the usual opponents, but also by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A week after the tweet, on March 30, Khamenei, in a meeting with a group of preachers, said, “There is a time and place for everything. Otherwise, our rights as a nation will be trampled upon. If, out of thoughtlessness, someone comes and says that the world of tomorrow is a world of negotiations and not missiles, then he is being thoughtless. However, if he says this knowingly, then he is being treacherous.”
After Khamenei's not-so-subtle response, Rafsanjani’s office first tried to deny any connection between the Twitter account and Rafsanjani personally. After a few days, however, a revised tweet was posted, explaining that Rafsanjani had been only partially quoted, suggesting that his words had been taken out of context.
Beyond these separate controversies, and beyond Rafsanjani’s resorting to either denial, revision or justification of his comments in the face of harsh criticism from his conservative opponents, a big picture is emerging. The question is, “How much traction will Rafsanjani’s increasingly clear vision of the Iranian military, and its role in the country, ultimately gain?” Only time will tell.

Are US-Turkey military ties under threat?
Metin Gurcan/Al-Monitor/September 24/16
Until two years ago, deep-rooted US-Turkey military relations were cited as a model of strength in the defense industry, military training and exercises, global peace support operations, global struggle against terror, NATO missions, and joint operations in Afghanistan. These were all signs of the high level of cooperation and interoperability between the US military and Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).
In those good old days, billions of dollars’ worth of defense projects between the two countries moved forward despite minor hiccups and, financed by the International Military Education and Training Fund, hundreds of Turkish officers and noncommissioned officers went to the United States for training. Every year, the two sides carried out about 20 bilateral or multilateral exercises and maneuvers, organized high-level military summits, and they even awarded each other medals of outstanding service.
The traditional model of US-Turkish military relations resembled a sort of "high politics" shaped behind closed doors by the Turkish General Staff and its US counterpart, where societal dynamics and the elected civilians of Turkey did not have much say. The relations were also an anchor of Turkey's untouchable links to the Western security bloc, thereby directly affecting Ankara's foreign policy choices.
Today, this traditional paradigm appears to be withering, as one can easily feel the cold winds blowing against US-Turkish military relations on the ground and at the diplomatic-strategic levels.
Ali Bilgin Varlik, a retired army colonel and an assistant professor of international relations at Esenyurt University in Istanbul, points to the societal dynamics that have begun to affect US-Turkish military ties, particularly after the July 15 coup attempt. Varlik told Al-Monitor that the Turkish public's lack of confidence in the United States has been overtaken by outright anger: "Turkey’s secular segments have been reacting to The Greater Middle East and moderate Islam projects the US was promoting at the beginning of the 2000s. After the 15 July coup attempt, the conservative circles of Turkey began to think that the US had planned the coup or withheld its support for the government against the attempt. … The net result is the loss of sympathy by most of the population. The 15 July coup attempt by Gulenists and the ongoing process for his extradition only amplified the lack of confidence in the US."
Varlik said because of popular pressure, the TSK cannot engage in close relations with the US military anymore, even it wanted to. He added that unless Fethullah Gulen is extradited and put on trial in Turkey, the pressure the TSK feels in its relations with the US military will not ease.
Ugur Gungor, a retired army colonel and associate professor of international relations, noted the government’s strengthening hand in civilian-military relations. "Now it is the civilian politicians of Ankara who determine the bilateral relations between the TSK and the US military and their cooperation in the field," he said.
Retired Gen. Ahmet Yavuz agrees with Gungor. Yavuz believes the United States, which sees the Syrian Kurdish group People's Protection Units (YPG) as a reliable partner in the struggle against the Islamic State (IS), is likely to maintain that relationship in the future. He also thinks that the United States intends to strengthen its diplomatic ties with the Democratic Unity Party (PYD), the Kurdistan Workers Party's extension in Syria, with the goal of replicating the Kurdistan Regional Government model of Iraq. But Washington also knows it needs the TSK's military support primarily for its Incirlik and Diyarbakir air bases in the war against IS.
Sources close to the US Embassy in Ankara, who asked not to be identified, view this perceptible weakening of US-Turkey military ties primarily as a structural issue rather than a result of daily issues, such as developments in northern Syria, the status of the PYD/YPG or the extradition of Fethullah Gulen. An American source in Ankara told Al-Monitor, "The constant daily changes in Turkey's attitude, the way Ankara comes up with excuses to turn down the alternatives we offer makes Turkey an unpredictable and at times incomprehensible actor. This ambiguity makes it hard for us to devise a robust structure for our military relations."
Another US source who also did not want to be identified said the transformation of civilian-military relations in Turkey that now allots a more prominent role to elected officials has been causing problems for the United States to identify the proper interlocutors in Ankara and in the field. "In the past, we had only one counterpart: the chief of staff. But now we don't know who we should be dealing with anymore. Shall we ask the chief of staff, the ministry of defense, the ministry of foreign affairs or directly the presidency?" he added.
A source in Turkey's security bureaucracy told Al-Monitor that the same problem also exists on the US side. In the past, the Turks generally knew who to approach in their military relations, but now that has become truly difficult: "In the old days, we used to coordinate NATO issues with the US European Command [EUCOM] and Iraq with Central Command [CENTCOM.] But today in Syria, for example, you have EUCOM, CENTCOM, Pentagon, CIA, the State Department and others. This complex structure creates issues of coordination between two countries and unnecessary misunderstandings."
Another US source said, "The US does not need to ask for Turkey's permission for steps it will take against [IS]. YPG forces in Syria have provided security for the international coalition fighting [IS] and proven themselves to be the best ally against terrorism. We still can't comprehend Ankara's intentions and final objective in combating [IS]. This is one reason for the loss of transparency and institutional deficiency in confidence between the two countries."
US sources note that when the civilian government in Turkey gains the upper hand, passionate narratives for domestic political consumption rather than rational reasoning take center stage. They note US officials resent the use of terms such as "selling out, back stabbing" in military relations between the two countries. Here, however, one must also take note of the deep suspicions in Ankara on whether US relations with the PYD are short-term, interested-oriented, purely military or a long-term strategic relationship that will have political ramifications.
"I think the US is still confused about its relationship with the PYD. The views of US Department of State officials who talk with us in Ankara do not mesh with signals we get from CENTCOM or the Congress," a source told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity.
In short, there is a major paradigm shift in US-Turkish military ties, but neither Ankara nor Washington appears to be aware of it. The following dynamics characterize the shift:
This new paradigm is more complicated than before, with multiple actors. This causes confusion and problems in identifying the proper interlocutor.
The decisive effect of the civilian government and popular pressure on the TSK is increasing. Washington seems to be having problems adapting to this change.
Ankara tends to exploit the relationship excessively in the daily routines of domestic politics.
Ankara's incessant rejection of US proposals and refraining from looking to find models and solutions disturbs Washington.
Mere references to cooperation are not enough anymore. When the parties do not notice the divergences between what is said and what is done in the field, crisis in confidence becomes inevitable.
Washington still has not comforted Ankara over the PYD matter, while Ankara has not persuaded Washington that it is giving priority to fighting IS.
Washington is not aware that the extradition of Fethullah Gulen is about to become a major crisis that will affect its military relations with Turkey.
Finally, because of both Ankara’s and Washington’s obliviousness to these massive changes, there is no joint mechanism envisaged to manage and coordinate the new paradigm. This naturally means more crises, more confusion and ambiguity, and worse, disintegration of confidence in US-Turkish relations.

France: What Is Hidden Behind the "Burkini Ban"
Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/September 24/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8971/france-islam-burkini
In thirty years, France has undergone an accelerated process of Islamization.
Yusuf al-Qaradawi, spiritual leader of the main Islamic movement in France, explained how Muslims living in the West have to proceed: they may use terror, they may use seduction, exploit Westerners' sense of guilt, grab public spaces, change laws, and create their own society inside Western societies until they become Muslim societies.
France used to be a country where religious neutrality in the public space was seen as an essential principle. Muslim extremists appear to be using Islamic veils and head-coverings as visible symbols to create the impression that Islam is everywhere.
Politicians claim that they respect human rights, but they seem to have forgotten the human rights of the women who do not cover up -- of those who suffer from Islamization, who are no longer free to write, think, or go for a walk on the street.
Politicians refused to "stigmatize" Islam and do not want to see the consequences: harassment, rapes, the destruction of freedom.
French journalists write under the threat of trial or assault, and almost never use the phrase "Islamic terrorism." Almost all books on Islam in French bookstores are written by Islamists or by authors praising Islam.
Have non-Muslims lost the will to fight?
In Sisco, Corsica, on August 13, a group of Muslim men arrived on a beach in the company of women wearing "burkinis" (full-body bathing costumes). The Muslim men firmly asked the tourists on the beach to leave and posted signs saying "No Entry". When a few teenagers resisted, the Muslim men responded with a harpoon and baseball bats. The police intervened -- but it was just the beginning.
In the following days, on beaches all over France, Muslim men showed up, accompanied by women in burkinis, and asking beachgoers to leave. Tourists packed up and fled. Several mayors of seaside resorts decided to ban the bathing costume, and the "burkini ban" scandal was born.
Some politicians said that banning the burkini "stigmatized" Muslims and infringed on their "human rights" to wear whatever they liked. Other politicians, including Prime Minister Manuel Valls and former President Nicolas Sarkozy, called the burkini a "provocation", and asked for a law to ban it. The Council of State, the highest legal institution, eventually declared that banning the burkini was against the law; the ban was lifted.
What is important to explain is what lies behind the "burkini ban."
Thirty years ago, France was a country where Islam was present but where Islamic demands were virtually absent and Islamic veils were rare.
Then, in September, 1989, in a northern suburb of Paris, three female students decided to attend high school with their heads covered by a scarf. When the dean refused, the parents, with the support of newly created Muslim associations, filed a complaint. The parents won.
All of sudden, Islamic headscarves multiplied in high schools and on the streets, and soon were were replaced by long black veils. Muslim associations called for an "end to discrimination," requested halal food in school cafeterias, and complained about the "Islamophobic content" in history textbooks. Unveiled women in Muslim neighborhoods were assaulted or raped.
After the French government created a commission of inquiry, a law banning "religious symbols in public schools" was passed in 2003. In the name of a refusal to "stigmatize" Islam and out of "respect for human rights," Christian crosses and Jewish skullcaps were also banned, in addition to Islamic headscarves.
Outside schools, black veils continued to proliferate, niqabs and burqas that cover the face appeared, and the demands of Muslim organizations escalated.
Suddenly, halal menus appeared in school cafeterias. Muslim students started to eat at separate tables, and refused to be seated next to non-Muslims. History textbooks were rewritten to show a more positive view of Islam. In high schools with Muslim students, professors stopped teaching topics such as the Holocaust. In Muslim neighborhoods, attacks on unveiled women did not stop. In one Paris suburb, an unveiled Muslim girl was burned alive. Muslim neighborhoods became "no-go zones."
The French government created a new commission of inquiry. In 2011, eight years after the enactment of the law prohibiting religious symbols in schools, a new law was passed: it became illegal to wear face-coverings in public places. In the name of a refusal to "stigmatize" Islam and out of "respect for human rights", the law did not mention the burqa or niqab by name.
Since then, black veils have become even more common, and face-covering niqabs, despite the ban, have not disappeared. Halal menus are present in virtually every school; students who do not eat halal food are harassed. History books praise Islamic civilization, and in most schools, speaking of the Holocaust or mentioning Judaism is understood to be forbidden. In Muslim neighborhoods, fewer women go out uncovered, and Muslim areas have become "sharia zones."
France has undergone, in thirty years, an accelerated process of Islamization.
France used to be a country where religious neutrality in the public space was seen as an essential cornerstone of the Republic. Now, Muslim extremists appear to be using Islamic head-coverings as visible symbols to create the impression that Islam is everywhere. The head-covering seems a way to stake out turf; a way to establish the visibility of Islam.
The broader desire of Muslim extremists seems to be to use the visibility of Islam to impose an Islamic worldview on still more domains.
The influence of Islam has now gone beyond transforming school cafeterias, classrooms and neighborhoods. Its effects are in the media, in the culture, everywhere. It is even more difficult, if not dangerous, to publish anything even questioning Islam. The murder of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists showed that "blasphemy" can lead to a brutal death.
Daily life is different now. Many women do not go out alone at night; Jews know that they are being watched.
When Islamic head coverings first appeared, French politicians said nothing -- in order, they said, not to "stigmatize" Islam. They remain blind, however, to the stigmatization of women who do not cover up. They do not want to see the harassment, the sexual assaults, the destruction of freedom.
French politicians who said that the burkini is a provocation are right. The women on the beach in Corsica were accompanied by men armed with a harpoon and baseball bats -- the encounter did not happen by accident. The sudden arrival of other women in full Islamic dress or in burkinis on other beaches seems to have been planned in advance. Men with cameras were there, waiting, and the places were known to be monitored by police.
The politicians claim they respect human rights, but they seem to have forgotten the human rights of the women who do not wear a veil. They do not seem concerned by the human rights of those who suffer from Islamization, who are no longer free to write, think, or go for a walk on the street.
Muslim extremists seem to have declared a multifaceted war on France. Some use violence to create fear; others use means that are less violent to create fear. The aim seems the same: Muslim extremists have already greatly transformed France, and they want to transform it more.
They know what French politicians do not want to know: that Islam is not only a religion but a complete way of life, a doctrine of one person's conquest and another person's submission.
They do not even try to hide what they are doing. In his book Priorities of the Islamic Movement in the Coming Phase, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars and spiritual leader of the Union of Islamic Organisations of France (UOIF), the main Islamic movement in France, explained how Muslims living in the West have to proceed: they may use terror, they may use seduction, exploit Westerners' sense of guilt, grab public spaces, change laws, and create their own society inside Western societies until they become Muslim societies.
Yusuf al-Qaradawi (left), spiritual leader of the main Islamic movement in France, explained that Muslims in the West may use terror, they may use seduction, exploit Westerners' sense of guilt, grab public spaces, change laws, and create their own society inside Western societies until they become Muslim societies. Right: Muslim extremists in France appear to be using Islamic veils and head-coverings as visible symbols to create the impression that Islam is everywhere.
Islamists in France use Qaradawi's strategy. It works.
They will not stop. Why should they? No one is compelling them to.
They seem to assume that the future belongs to them. Birthrates also give them hope. The transformation of France proves them right.
They are aware that the Muslim population is growing; that the majority of French Muslims age thirty or younger consider themselves Muslims first and want an Islamic France.
They see that almost no French politician, not even the most courageous ones, dares to say that Islam creates problems, and that French journalists write under the threat of trial or assault, and almost never use the phrase "Islamic terrorism."
They see that almost all books on Islam in French bookstores are written by Islamists or by authors praising Islam.
And they see that the non-Muslim French population is increasingly pessimistic about the future of the country.
Polls show that non-Muslims will vote for the populist "right" during the 2017 presidential elections. Polls also show that non-Muslims in France, no matter who wins, do not expect any major improvements.
After every attack in France, non-Muslim anger against Muslims thickens the atmosphere. But in general, non-Muslims are older than the Muslims, and decades of political correctness have had an effect. Have non-Muslims lost the will to fight?
**Dr. Guy Millière, a professor at the University of Paris, is the author of 27 books on France and Europe.
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The week that might change history
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/September 24/16
By the “history” referred to in the title of this column, I mean the history of more than seventy years of special ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia. This special relationship has been enduring a difficult test since a draft law allowing the families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government and institutions was okayed by Congress. US President Barack Obama must have informed Congress that he refuses the new legislation, using his right to veto.
However, both chambers of Congress informed the president that they will be extending the duration of the session, just in case senators need to vote against the veto and insist on the new law. Unless 34 out of 100 senators in Congress are convinced that the new law will be erroneous and dangerous and that they should support the president, this week is set to be the worst in the history of the two countries. It would also abolish the concept of sovereignty between the two nations and the relations between the two.
Over the past few days, a large number of senior politicians rallied against Congress’ decision, including former presidents of the United States. The European Union also advised against the adoption of the legislation and a number of world leaders are against it. Two days ago, the New York Times reported that President Obama said that even though he is not currently on good terms with Saudi Arabia, he is nonetheless against the decision for fear of its consequences on the sovereignty of the country and for fear of the damages it will engender on the international level. As for those who worked on the prosecution project, whether lawyers or politicians drafting the law and rallying the needed support for it, they spent a lot of time on it and won’t back down easily. They relied on emotions more than legality and set the dates of the vote in both chambers before the elections so that they could blackmail the candidates in their states and regions, on both the emotional and political level. During election season, they will remind representatives to either stand “with Saudi Arabia or the American victims and their families!”
It is a crucial week that will prove that those who have sought for decades to sabotage ties between the two governments have succeeded to a large extent, after having tried in vain in the past. Now, the most important question is whether there are 34 senators in the Senate who will heed logic and stand by President Obama. Or will this year end up not only with a nuclear agreement with Iran but also with a law sanctioning Saudi Arabia?
Bizarre legislation
The bizarre legislation is akin to holding the US’ ally Britain accountable after World War II. The Saudi Kingdom has actually been the US’ primary partner in the war on terror since 2001, after the 9/11 attacks. It is a crucial week that will prove that those who have sought for decades to sabotage ties between the two governments have succeeded to a large extent, after having tried many times in vain in the past. In the 1970s, there were calls to impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia because of the oil embargo and the rise in oil prices but successive US governments have refused to do so. Then, fresh calls demanded that the Saudis be held accountable for their support of the PLO – those calls did not succeed either. Ironically, in the late 1990s, there were waves of criticism from different organizations because Saudi Arabia had prosecuted and arrested extremist groups after the bombings in Riyadh and the formation of various organizations and associations that were accused of being affiliated with al-Qaeda in its infancy.
Articles and reports were published in the British and American press criticizing the imprisonment of extremist members in what they considered a violation of their human rights. After the September 11 attacks and the announcement of the US war on terror, there has been a significant improvement in the American stance and understanding toward the Saudi position. Cooperation in the security sphere improved and involved American security organizations, such as the FBI, for the first time. For nearly ten years, security ties were stronger than political ties.
This long history that extends from the discovery of oil, to the strong political alliance, then to fighting common wars and finally confronting terrorism in our current era, is now exposed to a great challenge threatening to demolish its achievements.
This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Sept. 24, 2016.

Democracy is impossible with occupation and rebellion rule
Daoud Kuttab/September 24/16
The overtly exaggerated power of electoral democracy has once again been put into question in the Middle East. Municipal elections slated for the West Bank and Gaza on October 8th will not take place due officially to a decision of the Palestinian High Court.
But the high court decision -whether you believe it was taken independently or not- reflects a clear problem in the situation that Palestinians were facing in the fall of 2016.
In most Arab countries the problem with electoral democracy is that it is often the only portion of democracy that is implemented and usually for a short period. The separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary and a robust free media are often missing in most cases where elections are taking place which are usually not even free or fair.
In the Palestinian example the last time municipal elections took place was in 2012 and was limited to the West Bank. The Islamic movement didn’t allow elections to take place in the Gaza strip which has been under their control since 2007 and at the same time they instructed their supporters in the West Bank to boycott the elections.
The continuation of the Israeli military control over Palestinian areas occupied in 1967 and the near daily Israeli army intervention make any democratic process a joke
This round, however, Hamas agreed to allow Ramallah-based election officials to organize in Gaza and were set to participate also in the West Bank when the Palestinian High court put a stop to the voting. The court responding to seven different appeals ruled that the elections should not take place with East Jerusalemites being barred (by Israel) and because courts in Gaza (mostly appointed by Hamas) had disqualified five pro Fatah municipal lists.
While municipal elections don’t generally reflect large political trends nor do they give a national mandate to those who win, a number of pundits were looking forward to the first ever elections in which the opposing leading Palestinian political factions were set to participate.
The current legal security and administrative scene in Palestinian is totally incompatible with the possibility for proper democratic processes to occur and be respected by the population. The continuation of the Israeli military control over Palestinian areas occupied in 1967 and the near daily Israeli army intervention make any democratic process a joke. The situation in East Jerusalem where 350,000 Palestinian live is of special concern. The fact of the unilaterally annexation of east Jerusalem to Israel (which no country in the world has recognized) has in fact meant that Palestinians in the holy city are totally disenfranchised. Palestinian Jerusalemites have in the past twice voted in national elections for the Ramallah-based presidency and parliament but in those cases they were only allowed to vote absentee or travel outside the city to vote.
Political orphans
Candidates from Jerusalem who had won as legislatures have been regularly harassed and arrested without any Israeli attention to the immunity that parliamentarians are usually guaranteed.
Since the unrecognized Israeli annexation of east Jerusalem the city has held regular Israeli municipal elections but the vast majority of East Jerusalemites have boycotted these elections in protest. No effort has taken placed since 1967 to try and involve Palestinians from Jerusalem in the decision making process of their lives and futures. Efforts to organize Palestinians or to involve the Palestinian government in the lives of Jerusalemites has been forcefully rebuffed by Israel. Cultural activities supported by the Ramallah government are banned by Israel enforced by the Israeli police. The absence of any Palestinian representation or even a ‘shadow local government’ has not occurred leaving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians as political orphans since they are residents and not citizens of Israel yet not allowed to participate in the Palestinian political life.
The situation in Gaza also runs against any realistic democratic culture. Armed personnel have seized power in Gaza since June 2007 and have allowed a renegade power to control the strip and to dictated policies, create laws, and make judicial appointments. The fact that the internationally recognized Palestinian government was able to make preparations for elections in Gaza was seen as a move towards the eventual end of this illegal rebellion and a return to legitimate rule. But the unexpected decision by the Hamas appointed courts in Gaza, evaporated any hope of the beginnings of a reconciliation process. The position of the Hamas leadership in Gaza appears to have given priority to partisanship over all other considerations including the will of the electorate.
Elections under occupation and renegade rule don’t pass the minimum standards for free and fair elections. The decision of the Palestinian high court appears to have based their judgment on this impossibility. Holding general political elections will require the ability to control all Palestinian territories by a single legitimate power not competing powers between Ramallah-Tel Aviv and Gaza which brings us back to square one. The end of the occupation and the establishment of an independent state that has power and control over all Palestinian territory is an essential component for any progress towards genuine democracy and the rule of law.

How my village can teach a lesson in conflict resolution
Ehtesham Shahid/September 24/16
Scenes of village panchayat (courtroom) are among my best childhood recollections. Disputing parties would gather around a group of wise, usually old, men. Cases such as theft, forgery, property and family disputes would be taken up. Disputing parties would present their cases and then the accused, the aggrieved party and the witnesses would be cross-examined. After a little bit of deliberation, some pressure tactics and open pleas, the verdict would be delivered.
Of course the process would be preceded by lobbying and sometimes followed by murmurs of dissent, even contempt. But there would be general consensus and recourse in the form of appeal, with the same protocol, at a mutually agreed time and place. At the end of it all, grievances would be addressed, the guilty would be punished and the victim compensated. More importantly, there will be no spillover. There were no winners or losers. It was a classic case of collective community compromise brokered and reached within the confines of a village with no outsider getting an opportunity to intervene.
It may sound a bit of a stretch but if you apply the same logic to a group of countries, it seems my village can still teach a lesson in justice, reconciliation and conflict resolution. An inward-looking approach to conflict resolution isn’t about institution building but instead focuses on a workable solution. It ushers in a better sense of camaraderie. If efforts are made to find solutions locally, then that means dealing with very similar socio-political and cultural milieu. There is likely to be more empathy and greater understanding of each other.
It also doesn’t make sense to involve a party that doesn’t have a locus standi on the matter. For instance, it is indeed great for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to become the first leader of his country to visit Communist-ruled Cuba. But bringing up North Korea’s nuclear program in his meeting with Fidel Castro was never going to gain much traction. At the cost of oversimplifying, it seems like my village folk travelling to a faraway place to discipline his feuding neighbor.
There is no denying the fact that multilateral platforms have their benefits. However, internationalizing a local or regional conflict mostly worsens it – as has happened in the case of Syria
In other words, why travel over 8,000 miles to mend fences with a country that is 800 miles away. Why can’t countries surrounding North Korea come together and resolve disputes as they are likely to understand each other better than the faraway Cubans?
The UNGA jamboree
Whosoever followed the last week’s flurry of activities at the United Nations General Assembly would have caught several neighboring countries trading jibes with each other. They were all taking their regional conflicts to the global stage. So it was India vs Pakistan, Israel vs Palestine, Russia vs Ukraine, and it even descended into a United States vs Russia over Syria.
It may be naïve to imagine that countries – with their varying size, resources and influence – would behave the way villagers do but as long as the focus remains on the solution and not the feuding parties, complex problems can find simple and local solutions. It is important to acknowledge this also because multilateral institutions have generally gone nowhere with conflict resolution of any kind.
There is no denying the fact that multilateral platforms have their benefits. However, internationalizing a local or regional conflict mostly worsens it – as has happened in the case of Syria. If you allow big and small “outsiders” into the battlefield, they are bound to bring with them their own sets of agendas and geostrategic calculations. This relegates the actual stakeholders to the background and can complicate the situation further.
This is why it probably makes sense to go back to more regional blocks that are more homogenous. This backward integration, if it really works, can lead to more and more conflicts being resolved locally. Whenever that happens, I will return to my village and try to become the wise old man who can be fair and deliver justice. I will then, at the least, contribute toward keeping the community together.

Brexit is a state of mind
Trisha de Borchgrave/September 24/16
UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s aphorism “Brexit means Brexit” continues to baffle a country and a continent’s destiny. At the same time, it is turning into a creeping realization that the British do not have the temperament nor the stomach to claw back some sort of membership of the European Union.
Forty-two years as an EU member helped Britain to become great again, by connecting the country to bigger European opportunities. But being part of this supranational institution remains an unnatural alliance. The legal, political and economic intimacy that it entails still feels like sharing a bedbug.
The effort to find a positive outcome to Brexit may make and break careers and continue to divide a nation for the next two, five or ten years, but the political fight to remain will not match the emotional instinct to leave. For the majority of the English, at least, being a member of the European Union is just not in them.
Irony
Masters of the understatement in the face of victory or defeat, the British are, above all, rule makers. Battling out the nitty-gritty details of shared laws and compromising clauses that must also benefit the citizens of 27 other countries does not constitute the British brand of sovereignty, which is entrenched in its maritime and diplomatic preeminence of old. The irony of the Brexit triumph is that it will now relegate the British to the category of “rule-takers” - the terms of their access to the EU’s single market will be agreed upon by the EU 27 without them.
Nostalgia and the desire to escape the stifling mantle of internal EU horse-trading is driving Britain to be in charge once again of pursuing its own trading partnerships
Yet the British are showing that they inherently prefer to dust off their own rule book, circa the empire, and polish up their past luster. “Inja” and Asia await. They chafe at the tedium of tending to the shared laws and regulations that link together the peace and prosperity of Europe’s mature economies. Not exactly swashbuckling stuff.
Nostalgia and the desire to escape the stifling mantle of internal EU horse-trading is driving Britain to be in charge once again of pursuing its own trading partnerships. Brexiteers would rather be leading the Commonwealth than contributing to the European Union.
Visions of new-found alliances between Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, buttressed by antipodean co-operation, are a lot more appealing than battling EU bureaucracy to broach the Mediterranean. No need to defer to EU simultaneous interpreters, let alone learn another language, when emerging economies have sensibly adopted English as their operational lingua franca.
The birth-based rank system
The fact is that going it alone on the world stage and strengthening old trading ties reflects a yearning to re-define Britain as an independent member of the international class hierarchy that it once dominated. Britain’s ingrained system of birth-based rank has to a large extent softened its parameters over the last thirty years, yet it still unites many English, whether from the upper or working class, in their sense of superiority over anyone or anything foreign.
Meritocratic British Prime Minister Theresa May well understands the risks of relying on such far-flung, hoped-for prosperity, referring to China in a recent EU speech as a trading partner complete with “dumping policies, protective tariffs and industrial-scale industrial espionage.” The Opium Wars are one chapter in history the Chinese will never forget.
For their part, India, Singapore, Canada and Australia will not serve as subalterns to a Britain outside the EU, however attractive its real estate. British private schools might thrive with their international students, but the intellectual software they nurture will return to prosperous and canny nation states or, like many foreign investors, go elsewhere, rather than park themselves at the guarded gates of the EU. Meanwhile, re-igniting the home fires of English identity will not protect Britain from the consequences of European politics, which drew the country into two world wars in the 20th century. Nor will it sustain peace in Northern Ireland when the power-sharing Good Friday Agreement of 1998 was built upon an essential commonality between Britain and Ireland as inter-connected members of the EU. But even if Theresa May’s government struggles to deliver what Leave voters think they voted for, a majority of the British still appear to want their Sceptred Isle back, orb and all. They are ready to embark upon the high seas of this Brexit adventure, free from the flat-lining effects of neighbors bickering about refugee quotas, agricultural subsidies and carbon emissions. Membership of the EU was a blip in Britain’s DNA. The country had a go and, then, when asked a second time, decided no thanks.

UAE takes in 15,000 refugees: Why are people angry?
Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/September 24/16
At last weeks “Leaders’ Summit on Refugees,” Reem Ebrahim al-Hashemi, the UAE’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, announced that the UAE will take in 15,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years.
While this is news that may people, including millions of refugees, have been waiting to hear, the online community was quick to react to the announcement. While some users praised UAE’s efforts, others claimed that the number is “shameful” and “low”. While it is inspiring that the public community is so accepting of refugees, it is important to recognize the significance of this number, and applaud it as a giant leap forward.
This isn’t the first time the UAE has addressed the crisis. In September 2015, a statement made to Gulf News reported that over 100,000 Syrians who have fled since the war started in 2011 have resettled in the UAE. This is in addition to over $1 billion that has been spent on Syrian refugees outside of the UAE by providing financial aid to refugee camps, including camps in neighboring Jordan.
It is important to recognize the difference in demographics, social and economic stability between host countries. Although Germany has granted 140,000 asylum claims, it has a population of 80 million, thus refugees make up 0.175 per cent of its population. The UAE in comparison has a population of 9.4 million, thus refugees also make up a close 0.16 per cent of its population. Additionally, it is important to recognize the industries that operate in each of the respective countries; Germany has a large manufacturing industry into which refugee can work for in the future, whereas much of the local industry in the UAE is the service industry.
Demographics play a key role because it impacts opportunities incumbent refugees. Demographics are a representation of how prepared a country is to receive refugees.
Understanding what it means to be a ‘refugee’
The UAE has not explained exactly how the refugees would be treated, what legal status they will be given, whether or not they will have the right to work, or the right to access healthcare or education. Additionally, it hasn’t set a timeline for when it will start accepting refugees, only that they will be taken in over the next five years. While the UAE has set the standard for neighboring Gulf countries to begin to take refugees in and give them official refugee status, hopefully it will also set the standard in how refugees should be treated: with dignity and respect.
Arguably more important than giving financial aid, it is important that refugees are also given a purpose. This comes in the form of a job or voluntary work. This has a positive impact on the mental health of refugees
Arguably more important than giving financial aid, it is important that refugees are also given a purpose. This comes in the form of a job or voluntary work. This has a positive impact on the mental health of refugees and helps overcome trauma of the war they have endured.
The sensitiveness of an open refugee flow
As well as demographics and preparedness of a country, one must understand the labor market and economic stability of those countries. When there are very little rules and limitations regarding the number of refugees, such as the case in Lebanon and Turkey when the war first started, the impact can be negative. The apparent open-door policy with limited preparation and resources in Lebanon has resulted in a lose-lose situation, for both the host Lebanon and for the refugees. Over one million refugees continue to live in camps. Lack of preparedness and social awareness of the situation has meant that the refugees have suffered abuse, exploitation and child labor. Unlike Lebanon, which has hosted Palestinian refugees for decades, the UAE is not accustomed to housing refugees and is delving into unfamiliar territory. If refugees in Lebanon continue to suffer due to lack of preparedness despite experience, one can only wonder what would happen to refugees and the host country if the UAE were to allow an open flow of refugees.
Therefore, starting with 15,000 refugees, however low the number may seem, is still a massive leap in the right direction and means that the refuges that are in fact taken in over the next five years are more likely to have a fair and respectful integration into the community.
I believe there is hope that the UAE will eventually increase the number of refugees as soon as it develops the infrastructure and facilities to accommodate them.