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Bible Quotation For Today/
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 25/01-13: "‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, "Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him." Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." But the wise replied, "No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves." And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, "Lord, lord, open to us." But he replied, "Truly I tell you, I do not know you." Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

Bible Quotation For Today/
Letter to the Philippians 02/12-18: "Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labour in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. and in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 17-18/15
To All Canadians: Vote For The Conservatives/Elias Bejjani/October 17/15
Both Micheal Aoun & Hassan Nasrallah Are Evil Criminals/Elias Bejjani/October 17/15
Lebanese scramble for relevance/Joseph A. Kechichian/Gulf News/October 17/15
When will Lebanon get their kidnapped soldiers back/Esperance Ghanem/Al-Monitor/October 17/15
Obama’s scarred legacy in the Middle East/Hisham Melhem/Al Arabiya/October 17/15
A return to the Lockerbie bombing/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/October 17/15
Do American TV shows hate Arab culture/Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/October 17/15
Iran’s foreign prisoners and the ‘Game of Pawns’/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/October 17/15
Sweden Close to Collapse/Ingrid Carlqvist/ Gatestone Institute/October 17/15
Why the Syrian opposition rejected the UN's plan for Syria/Asaad Hanna/Al-Monitor/October 17/15

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin for Lebanese Related News published on October 17-18/15
To All Canadians: Vote For The Conservatives
Both Micheal Aoun & Hassan Nasrallah Are Evil Criminals
Lebanese scramble for relevance
When will Lebanon get their kidnapped soldiers back?
21 Arrested in Raids on Syrian Encampments in Zgharta
Hajj Hassan to Mashnouq: Hizbullah, AMAL Gave their All to Ensure Success of Bekaa Security Plan
Bassil Travels to Tehran with Boroujerdi on Two-Day Visit
Report: Cabinet Convenes Tuesday to Tackle Trash File
Report: Arab Diplomatic Efforts to Be Kicked Off to Address Presidential Deadlock

To All Canadians: Vote For The Conservatives
Elias Bejjani/October 17/15
Do not be fooled by any way with the carnival-like, theatrical and disguised election campaign frantically conducted by both the NDP and Liberal Parties. On Monday do not go against you conscience, discretion, reality or rational. On Monday fully focus on Canada's future, welfare, safety, peace as well on all distinguishable Canadian and ethical values...focus and vote Conservative. Voting For Mr. Harper & The Conservative Party is a vote for Canadian values and righteousness and for a leader & Party that honour in spirit,, mind, rhetoric and actual acts your dignity, respect and every hope you long for our beloved Canada. Vote Conservative, For a patriotic, courageous and well informed leadership.

Both Micheal Aoun & Hassan Nasrallah Are Evil Criminals
Elias Bejjani/October 17/15 (summary of my Arabic piece)
Sadly our Lebanon, the land of the Holy Cedars, and our peace loving Lebanese people are mercilessly and helplessly exposed to the evilness of the derailed two criminal leaders who with no conscience or fear of God and His Day Of Judgment are destroying the country and killing the Lebanese each with his own devastating weapon. Michael Aoun, the mentally unbalanced Christian MP. Michael Aoun is viciously and evilly killing with ignorance, day dreaming and lies the intelligence and all that is discretion in the minds of his naive and subservient sheep-like followers, while Hassan Nasrallah, the Iranian Terrorist Hezbollah's leader is murdering with cold blood his community's young men by Syrian bullets and in futile military battles fought in Syria while in vain trying to support and defend the Syrian butcher and dictator Bachar Al Assad. In actuality both Aoun and Nasrallah are mass criminals but each one is practising the killing with a different weapon. In conclusion Lebanon will not be able to reclaim its independence, freedom or sovereignty while these two leaders are still leading . In conclusion all those Lebanese who by any means support either of the two leaders, Aoun and Nasrallah are in reality and practicality victim for their weapons.

Lebanese scramble for relevance
Joseph A. Kechichian/Gulf News/October 17/15
Boston,USA: Immersed in narrow outlooks, Lebanese politicians scrambled for relevance as regional and global actors increased their involvements in Syria, where heightened tensions endangered the relative internal stability of this vulnerable country. As confrontations increased in frequency and violence, elites huddled around national dialogue round-tables that, for lack of a better term, required seriousness or meaningful objectives. After months during which politicians engaged in conversations, shared viewpoints, and otherwise pretended to place the interests of the nation ahead of narrow goals, they failed to settle on the principal roadblock, namely the election of a head-of-state. Instead, each and everyone concentrated on peripheral issues that skirted fundamentals, further distancing the body politic from citizens.
On Thursday, Brigadier-General Chamel Roukoz addressed a rally organised in his honor at Beirut’s Martyrs Square, ostensibly as a sign of “solidarity” only a few hours after he retired from the army. “I’m Chamel Roukoz, an army commando officer who was promoted hours ago to the rank of ‘citizen’,” declared the outgoing Commando Regiment chief, though what was remarkable with this farewell was the promise that this officer would presumably “not retire [from political life] because struggle and love for one’s country are not confined to a suit, a post or a job.”
Roukoz promised to “always be the man you know” as he pledged to have “further meetings” with supporters. Except for his father-in-law, General Michel Aoun, no other retiring army officer ever made such a promise for a transition that, truth be told, stood out as yet another sign of the direction he intended to pursue. For his part, Aoun stated that the Free Patriotic Movement ministers would no longer attend cabinet meetings aimed at addressing mundane concerns, including the lingering waste crisis, because he objected to the way Prime Minister Tammam Salam and his government handled the contentious security promotions and appointments file. Rather than accept the course set by Samir Moqbel, the Minister of Defense, and General Jean Qahwaji, the Commander of the Army, Aoun declared his readiness to sabotage the work that the government to which he belongs ought to devote.
This confusion was, regrettably, not limited to Aoun after the Progressive Socialist Party leader, Walid Junblatt, trekked to Saudi Arabia where he met with senior officials as well as the head of the Future Movement, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, to whom he proposed a new “comprehensive” deal over the presidential deadlock and the garbage disposal crisis.
Beyond comical aspects that tied these two issues together, what was incredibly naïve was to believe that an agreement could thus be reached over a new president, along with understandings over a new government and parliamentary elections. After all, it was Junblatt who fielded his own tangential applicant, Henri Helou, precisely to either prevent Aoun, the March 8 candidate, or Samir Geagea, the March 14 nominee, from being elected in the first place. By putting Helou’s nomination forward, Junblatt telegraphed his desire to play “King-maker” though he neglected to consider that such maneuvers came to naught, in the absence of a kingdom where all subjects presumably accepted the ruler’s authority. Whether the significantly weakened March 14 hierarchy perceived the Junblatt confusion as a good omen or not was secondary to its own machinations. In fact, Interior Minister Nouhad Mashnouq warned everyone on Friday that the Future Movement might quit the government and the ongoing dialogue sessions if the political deadlock continued. This act of defiance highlighted the level of frustration that existed among Lebanese elites, with Mashnouq stating that “former Prime Minister Saad Hariri would not accept turning the ‘suspension of conflict’ (with Hezbollah) in the cabinet, into a ‘suspension of patriotism, conscience and voices’.”
Mashnouq believed that Hezbollah hijacked state institutions and reneged on various promises to implement security plans throughout the country that were still in abeyance. He also defied Michel Aoun, declaring that “the doors of the Lebanese political system cannot be opened through ‘the approach of storming and smashing’,’ which was certainly a colorful way of putting the current deadlock. Naturally, and after three months of bickering over how to collect most of the garbage that was still sitting in most street corners throughout Beirut and Mount Lebanon, this major impasse may have been finally solved as Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb pleaded for the implementation of the agreement reached during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tammam Salam last Thursday. According to the latest information, the plan foresaw the establishment of a landfill in the Bekaa Valley, to be used alongside the Srar dump in the northern region of Akkar, even if inhabitants in the area were unhappy with the choice.
Amazingly, wily politicians deliberately postponed such mundane decisions that should have been resolved within hours, and plunged the country into a trash disposal crisis after the closure of the Naameh landfill on July 17. Their methods spoke volumes on their abilities to agree on what would further damage the economy and threaten public health. Nevertheless, what the delays illustrated was how convenient these actions were. No matter how often civil society members complained about or demonstrated against, no politician was ready to alter tested mechanisms in place that served them well, even when they were confronted by looming internal and regional crises. Politicians scrambled for meaningful discourses while the country further sank into chaos that, amazingly, was not deemed to be a recipe for disaster.

When will Lebanon get their kidnapped soldiers back?
Esperance Ghanem/Al-Monitor/October 17/15
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/lebanon-kidnapped-soldiers-families.html
BEIRUT — It has been more than 14 months since the kidnapping of 40 Lebanese military and security personnel by Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State (IS) during fighting in Arsal on Aug. 2, 2014. Without new information from the government on the soldiers' fate, their parents on Oct. 4 announced the resumption of street actions they had suspended, blocking main roads in Beirut, including a road in Riad al-Solh Square, the airport road and the Raouche road, and demonstrating at the Interior Ministry. Following the mass kidnapping, several parties proposed initiatives to obtain the soldiers' release, namely, the Muslim Scholars Committee, the Salafist Sheikh Wissam al-Masri and Ahmed Fliti, deputy chief of the Arsal municipality. On Aug. 31, 2014, a ministerial crisis group was formed and held a series of meetings to follow the issue. Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, director general of Lebanon’s General Security, was assigned to conduct negotiations with al-Nusra, with Qatari mediation. Al-Nusra had released some of the soldiers in batches: three on Aug. 5, two on Aug. 17 and five on Aug. 30. Five of the soldiers were killed. The group continues to detain 16 men, while IS holds another nine.
Advocating for their sons' release, the parents repeatedly blocked the Dahr al-Baydar road linking Beirut to the Bekaa Valley and other vital roads in various areas. They also erected tents in central Beirut's Riad al-Solh Square, where they continue to gather daily. In November 2014, after receiving assurances from Lebanese officials that work on the release of their children was ongoing amid a positive atmosphere, the parents called a halt to their street protests, but did not remove their tents.
“According to information we received, the waste, electricity and garbage dossiers took priority over our issue,” the parents said in a joint statement. Since mid-July, Lebanon has experienced numerous demonstrations because of the garbage that began piling up following the expiration of a contract with Sukleen, the company in charge of waste management in Beirut and Mount Lebanon. Plans to close the Naameh landfill, the country's largest waste disposal site, also generated protests.The scope of the garbage protests soon expanded to include demands related to electricity and water supplies and political issues, such as taking action against corruption and bringing down the government. The parliament had held its last session in November 2014, and the government remained paralyzed by differences among its various camps. Thus, the parents of the soldiers concluded that obtaining their sons' release was no longer a priority.
Hussein Youssef, chairman of a committee formed by the soldiers’ families, spoke to Al-Monitor, stating, “Our escalatory steps and return to street actions are aimed at getting any type of information, be it positive or negative, about our sons. We were expecting positive news early last summer when Maj. Gen. Ibrahim announced the end of the negotiations with al-Nusra, but months passed without us hearing any news. Our actions will be escalatory and progressive.”
Youssef continued, “There are 16 soldiers held by al-Nusra, and their families have been to the barren lands of Arsal to try and see them, most recently on Eid al-Fitr, but then we no longer heard anything about them. Previously, we had decided to open the roads without removing the tents for the sit-in at Riad al-Solh as a goodwill gesture, but now our steps may go so far as to disconnect Beirut from the rest of Lebanon.” In regard to the soldiers held by IS, Youssef said, “There has been no information about them for nearly 11 months. The last thing we received from them was a video threatening to execute them. We are waiting for the political powers to take action. After all, they are their sons as well, not just ours. They belong to the military institutions, and they have risked their lives to defend this country. Is this how they are rewarded? “This is why we decided to resume our action and bring the soldiers’ dossier back to the table for discussion. Three national dialogue sessions have been held so far and, unfortunately, no mention of the kidnapped soldiers was ever made. Aren’t these soldiers part of the Lebanese people?” Youssef said. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri convened the dialogue in August 2015 to bring together all Lebanese parties in a bid to reach consensus on controversial issues.
A security source involved in the soldiers' case spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, claiming that the negotiations with al-Nusra have been stalled since July 17, 2015. Al-Nusra reportedly informed Ibrahim, through Ghanem al-Qubaisi, the Qatari intelligence chief, that no deal would be possible unless Hezbollah stopped bombing Zabadani, in Syria, where both groups are engaged in the ongoing civil war. If not, al-Nusra declared, negotiations on a prisoner exchange deal would return to “square one.”Indeed, this appears to have happened, the source said. According to him, the Qataris told Lebanese officials on Aug. 6 that the negotiations had ended with al-Nusra, which also retreated from any prior commitments and obligations. On Aug. 17, the Qataris told Ibrahim that al-Nusra was considering executing a soldier to set an escalatory tone and pressure Lebanese authorities. Visits by Ibrahim to Qatar and Turkey on Aug. 20 are said to have resulted in the two countries interfering to prevent the killing. The source said the soldiers held by IS are thought to have been moved from Lebanon to Syria and then to Iraq in June 2015. There has been no news of them since. Lebanon asked Turkish authorities to interfere with IS, but to no avail. In an Oct. 10 interview, Ibrahim said that the families' protests hinder progress being made, because they lead the kidnappers to stake out an intransigent position. Ibrahim claimed that he had concluded an agreement at some point with al-Nusra through the Qatari mediator, but that its implementation has been suspended. He also said he has spared no effort to open channels of communication to get information on the fate of the soldiers detained by IS, but that all his efforts have been rebuffed.

21 Arrested in Raids on Syrian Encampments in Zgharta
Naharnet/October 17/15/The army carried out on Saturday raids against Syrian refugee encampments in the northern area of Zgharta, reported the National News Agency. It said that 21 Syrians were arrested in the region of Zgharta and Miziara. They are held for illegally entering Lebanon and not having the proper legal documents. Security forces frequently raid Syrian encampments in search for illegal refugees and wanted suspects. Dozens of arrests have been made over the past months.

Hajj Hassan to Mashnouq: Hizbullah, AMAL Gave their All to Ensure Success of Bekaa Security Plan
Naharnet/October 17/15/Industry Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan criticized late on Friday Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq's remarks on the failure to implement the Bekaa security plan, accusing the minister of contradicting himself. He said in a statement: “The plan has and still is a pressing demand for Hizbullah and AMAL, both of whom have presented all the support to security agencies to perform their duties.” “What we heard from the minister at the national dialogue is completely different from what we hear in the media and we are now confronted by two faces,” he added. “Escaping failure and shortcomings by placing blame on others does not lessen the size of the responsibility on the interior minister’s shoulders,” continued Hajj Hassan. “If the minister is prepared to publish the transcripts of the national dialogue sessions, then we are ready to do comply to allow the public to know who the minister is really blaming for the failure of the security plan,” he stressed. Mashnouq had declared on Friday: “A year ago, I asked Hizbullah to end its sponsorship of security chaos in the Bekaa region in order to implement a security plan, but the Bekaa security plan is still 'ink on paper' and empty promises.”The Bekaa security plan was kicked off in February and was aimed at clamping down on criminals in certain areas, such as the town of Brital, which are known to be a safe haven for car-theft gangs and drug dealers, as well as networks that kidnap people in return for ransom. The army had launched a crackdown on suspects and fugitives in the northern city of Tripoli and several other areas in an attempt to halt security chaos across the country.

Bassil Travels to Tehran with Boroujerdi on Two-Day Visit
Naharnet/October 17/15/Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil traveled to Iran on Friday on the same plane as Chairman of Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi.Boroujerdi had paid a visit on Friday to Lebanon where he held talks with senior officials, including Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Bassil, and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Bassil will kick off his two-day trip by attending a regional conference affiliated with the Munich Security Conference at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Mohammed Javad Zarif, reported the daily An Nahar. The conference will be attended by a number of regional and international foreign ministers. Bassil will also address bilateral ties with numerous Iranian officials, as well as discuss the ongoing presidential vacuum in Lebanon. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls.

Report: Cabinet Convenes Tuesday to Tackle Trash File
Naharnet/October 17/15/The government is expected to hold a session next week to address the ongoing garbage disposal crisis, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday. Ministerial sources said that the session will be held on Tuesday “unless there are surprises in store on Sunday.”“Should the cabinet not be held for some reason, then Prime Minister Tammam Salam will announce that the government can no longer remain a victim of whims,” they added. This is a position that he had announced during the most recent national dialogue session, clarified the sources. Lebanon plunged in a waste disposal crisis following the closure of the Naameh landfill in July, which led to the pile up of trash on the streets throughout the country. Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb recently launched an initiative to end the crisis, which the cabinet is hoping to tackle on Tuesday. Government work has been obstructed over the contentious issue of the security appointments and promotions. Change and Reform bloc ministers have been boycotting cabinet sessions over a dispute on its decision-making mechanism. The head of the bloc MP Michel Aoun announced that the ministers will continue on boycotting sessions, even ones tackling the trash crisis, despite the lawmaker's support of Shehayyeb's proposal. Aoun had been lobbying for the appointment of outgoing Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz, his son-in-law, as army commander. But Roukoz reached the age of retirement on Thursday after the failure of a proposed settlement that would have kept him in the military and made him eligible to lead the institution in the future.

Report: Arab Diplomatic Efforts to Be Kicked Off to Address Presidential Deadlock
Naharnet/October 17/15/Beirut will witness next week diplomatic Arab activity aimed at tackling the Syrian crisis and its impact on Lebanon, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday. Arab diplomatic sources told the daily that the efforts will attempt to help Lebanon overcome its presidential vacuum. They hope to conclude with reaching a “consensual initiative” that will assist Lebanon in ending its political deadlock, they revealed. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls.
Lebanon

Saudi Shiites Hang on to Rituals after 5 Killed in IS-Claimed Shooting
Naharnet/Agencies/October 17/15/Saudi Shiites vowed Saturday to continue commemorations of Ashura, among the holiest occasions for their faith, even after a gunman killed five people at one of their gatherings, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. Friday's attack in the Qatif area of Eastern Province was the latest in a series of bombings and shootings linked to the Sunni extremist group in Saudi Arabia over the past year. A suspect with an automatic weapon "started to shoot randomly" at a Shiite place of worship in the Saihat area of Qatif city in the evening, an interior ministry spokesman said in a statement. Five Saudis, including a woman, were killed and nine others were wounded, he said. Police intervened and opened fire, killing the suspect, the spokesman said without giving details about the attacker, adding that the shooting was being investigated. A group calling itself Islamic State-Bahrain Province said in a statement that one of its "soldiers", Shughaa al-Dosari, "attacked a Shiite infidel temple with an automatic weapon" in Saihat. "Infidels will not be safe in the island of Mohammed," it warned. Most previous attacks in Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia have targeted the minority Shiite community which often complains of marginalization. A video, allegedly of the attack, posted on YouTube showed terrified people, among them many children, running frantically for cover inside the place of worship while gun shots could be heard. Ali al-Bahrani who witnessed the attack said that the gunman was shooting at random as worshipers attended a sermon. The Ashura commemorations -- which peak late next week -- mark the killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by the army of the Caliph Yazid in 680 AD. That event lies at the heart of Islam's divide into Shiite and Sunni sects. Jaafar al-Abbad, the uncle of the dead woman, Buthaina al-Abbad, 22, said she died a "martyr for the sake of her beliefs". "She was about to graduate from university as a doctor. Now she is a martyr, and this is even better," he said. "People are pouring in to congratulate her parents," said Abbad. He echoed other Shiites saying such attacks "will not deter us from continuing to observe our rituals".Nasema al-Sada, an activist from Eastern Province, said that since the start of Ashura volunteers have set up checkpoints at the entrances to places of worship in coordination with authorities. Residents from the city of Dammam, where Shiites are not allowed to build places of worship, come to Saihat to attend sermons which take place regularly during Ashura, said Sada. Witnesses said the Shiite place of worship known as a husseiniya and an adjacent mosque were both targeted in Friday's shooting. "We demand more protection and a law that would criminalize sectarianism," said Sada. "We are living in a place made out of paper, which could catch fire any minute.""People are angry. And these attacks will only make us more attached to our rituals," she said. "They can't stop us from practicing our beliefs." Security has been tightened at Shiite facilities since May when separate suicide mosque bombings killed 25 people. Both attacks were claimed by IS, which considers Shiites to be heretics. During Ashura last year, gunmen killed seven Shiite worshipers, including children, in the eastern town of Al-Dalwa. The interior ministry said the unprecedented incident had links to IS -- which has also targeted Saudi police. Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Gulf neighbors last year joined a United States-led military coalition that is bombing IS in Syria and Iraq where the jihadists have set up an Islamic "caliphate". In July, Saudi Arabia said it had broken up an IS-linked network and arrested more than 430 suspects involved in attacks and plots. Earlier Friday, Saudi Arabia's top cleric, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, branded IS as an enemy of Islam. "The reality is that they are shedding Muslim blood and destroying Islam. There is no good in them," he said during weekly prayers at the Imam Turki bin Abdullah mosque in Riyadh.

Two dead in Iran attack on Shiite worshippers
By AFP | Tehran/Saturday, 17 October 2015/Two Iranians were killed late Friday in a shooting attack on Shiite worshipers marking Ashura, one of the holiest commemorations of the faith, the official IRNA news agency reported. Two people were also wounded in the attack in the town of Dezful in Khuzestan province, the news agency said. The southwestern province, which borders Iraq, has a significant ethnic Arab community, some of it Sunni, and has seen a number of armed attacks in recent years, according to Iranian media. The assailants opened fire on the Shiite place of worship from a car carrying no license plates. "It's not still clear whether the attack was a terrorist one," provincial police official Colonel Rahman Mousavi said. "Investigators are reviewing the matter and will announce the results as soon as possible." Ashura commemorations -- which climax on October 24 -- mark the killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by the army of the Caliph Yazid in 680 AD. That event lies at the heart of Islam's divide into Shiite and Sunni sects. In recent years, there has been a spate of attacks on Ashura celebrations around the region by Sunni extremist groups which regard Shiites as heretics. On Friday evening, five people were killed in a shooting attack claimed by militants linked to ISIS group against Shiite worshipers in Saudi Arabia.

Israeli soldiers and settler kill three Palestinians
By AFP | Jerusalem and Washington/Saturday, 17 October 2015/Israeli soldiers and a settler shot dead three Palestinians in separate incidents in annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the army and police said. In the first attack at just before 0600 GMT, a Palestinian tried to stab an Israeli settler in the center of the West Bank city of Hebron near a Jewish enclave where 500 settlers live under army protection surrounded by nearly 200,000 Palestinians. The settler responded by opening fire on his assailant, the army said, adding that the Palestinian had tried but failed to wound the Jewish man. Palestinian sources identified the alleged assailant as 18-year-old Fadel al-Kawatsmi and confirmed his death. Police spokeswoman Louba Samri said the Palestinian, who was not immediately identified, was killed on the spot after he tried to stab the soldier in the Israeli settlement neighborhood of Armon Hanetsiv, also known as East Talpiot. Minutes later in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, a second Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces when he tried to stab a soldier at a checkpoint, police said. Following this, a Palestinian woman allegedly attempted to stab a female Israeli soldier in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron before being shot dead by her victim, Israeli police said. Israeli security forces have deployed massively in Jerusalem after two weeks of Palestinian attacks in the city and across Israel. The violence has sparked fears that a third Palestinian intifada, or uprising against Israeli occupation, could break out. In the Palestinian uprisings of 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, thousands were killed and many more wounded in near daily violence. The latest incidents come a day after Palestinians called for a "Friday of revolution" against Israel. They also follow a Thursday night arson attack on Joseph's Tomb, a shrine in the West Bank city of Nablus which many Jews believe to be the final resting place of the biblical patriarch Joseph. The shrine, where Muslims believe an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yussef (Joseph) Dawiqat was buried two centuries ago, is under Palestinian control. The violence began on October 1, when a suspected cell of the Islamist movement Hamas murdered a Jewish settler couple in the West Bank in front of their children. Those killings followed repeated clashes at east Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound in September between Israeli forces and Palestinian youths.U.S. President Barack Obama expressed concern Friday about the outbreak of violence centered in Jerusalem, and called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to tamp down inflammatory rhetoric. Obama's statement comes amid mounting clashes in Israel and the Palestinian territories that have raised fears of a full-scale surprising. "We are very concerned about the outbreak of violence," Obama said at a news conference with visiting South Korean President Park Geun-Hye. "We condemn in the strongest possible terms violence directed against innocent people, and believe that Israel has a right to maintain basic law and order and protect its citizens from knife attacks, and violence on the streets," he added. "We also believe that it's important for both Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu and Israeli elected officials, and President Abbas and other people in positions of power, to try to tamp down rhetoric that may feed violence or anger or misunderstanding," he said. At 37 Palestinians have died and hundreds more been wounded in clashes, while at least seven Israelis have been killed and dozens wounded in the violence. "Over time, the only way that Israel is going to be truly secure, and the only way the Palestinians will be able to meet the aspirations of their people, is if they are two states living side by side in peace and security," Obama said. But right now, he said, "everybody needs to focus on making sure that innocent people aren't being killed." Meanwhile U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in Milan as part of a European tour, called Netanyahu on Friday to discuss "how best to end the recent wave of violence, and to offer U.S. support for efforts to restore calm as soon as possible," a State Department official said. On Thursday Kerry called Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and "reiterated the importance of avoiding further violence and preventing inflammatory rhetoric, accusations and actions that will increase tensions," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Kerry also said he "hoped to visit the region at the appropriate moment."Netanyahu and Kerry are planning to meet in Berlin next week, according to U.S. and Israeli officials, although the exact details have yet to be confirmed.

Saudi-led coalition destroys armed trucks near Yemen border
Staff writer, Al Arabiya News Channel/Saturday, 17 October 2015/The Saudi-led coalition destroyed a mobile platform to launch Scud missiles in the capital Sanaa and trucks loaded with arms and ammunitions near the Saudi border, Al Arabiya News Channel reported Saturday. Raids were also launched on Sanaa, and other provinces such as Saada and al-Hudayda including two military camps. In the Red Sea port city of Taiz, resistance sources said dozens of the Iran-backed Houthi militias were wounded in confrontation in a number of neighborhoods. Civilians were also killed after random shelling by the insurgents.

Turkish air strikes kill 11 Kurdish militants in southeast: military
By Reuters | Diyarbakir, Turkey/Saturday, 17 October 2015/Turkish air strikes against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) bases in the southeastern province of Hakkari have killed 11 suspected militants and destroyed weapons depots and shelters, the military said on Saturday. The air strikes on Friday targeted the Yuksekova area of Hakkari close to the borders with Iran and Iraq, it said in a statement. The operations came despite a PKK call a week ago ordering its forces to halt all militant actions in Turkey unless attacked. The government has dismissed the move as an election gambit to bolster the pro-Kurdish opposition ahead of Nov. 1 parliamentary polls and has said military operations will continue until PKK fighters disarm and leave Turkey. The PKK, deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU, has been fighting an insurgency since 1984, demanding greater Kurdish autonomy in the southeast of the country. Some 40,000 people have been killed in the fighting.The conflict has surged again since a two-year ceasefire collapsed in July, leaving peace negotiations in tatters.

Turkish air strikes kill 11 Kurdish militants in southeast
By Reuters | Diyarbakir, Turkey/Saturday, 17 October 2015/Turkish air strikes against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) bases in the southeastern province of Hakkari have killed 11 suspected militants and destroyed weapons depots and shelters, the military said on Saturday.
The air strikes on Friday targeted the Yuksekova area of Hakkari close to the borders with Iran and Iraq, it said in a statement. The operations came despite a PKK call a week ago ordering its forces to halt all militant actions in Turkey unless attacked. The government has dismissed the move as an election gambit to bolster the pro-Kurdish opposition ahead of Nov. 1 parliamentary polls and has said military operations will continue until PKK fighters disarm and leave Turkey. The PKK, deemed a terrorist organisation by the United States and the EU, has been fighting an insurgency since 1984, demanding greater Kurdish autonomy in the southeast of the country. Some 40,000 people have been killed in the fighting. The conflict has surged again since a two-year ceasefire collapsed in July, leaving peace negotiations in

U.S. group scales back plan to monitor Egypt election
By Reuters | Cairo/Saturday, 17 October 2015/Democracy International said on Friday it would monitor Egypt’s parliamentary elections but has scaled back its plans after having trouble getting visas for all its staff. Egyptians will begin voting on Sunday in long-awaited elections, the final step in a process that aimed to put the country back on a democratic course but which critics say has been undermined by state repression. The voting will take place over two rounds on Oct 18-19 and Nov 22-23, with two sets of run-offs in constituencies where no clear winner has emerged. Democracy International has been accredited by Egypt’s High Election Commission to observe the polls but the U.S. based group said in a statement that “some visas for accredited core team members and short-term observers have not been issued and most visas have not been issued for the duration necessary to observe the entire election process.” It said that without the necessary and appropriate visas for its accredited observers it would not be able to conduct the comprehensive observation it originally expected to carry out. Egypt’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Independent monitoring of Egypt’s parliamentary election is expected to be limited because of pressure from the government on non-governmental organisations and civil society groups. The Carter Center, for example, closed its Egypt office a year ago and said at the time it would not be monitoring future polls as the political space had narrowed to the extent that elections could not advance a genuine democratic transition. Egypt has been without a parliament since June 2012 when a court dissolved the democratically elected main chamber, then dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, reversing a major accomplishment of the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. As army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted elected President Mohamed Mursi of the Brotherhood the following year, banning Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement, and jailing thousands of its members alongside the youth activists at the forefront of the 2011 revolt. Sisi went on to win a presidential vote in June last year. Democracy International monitored that election comprehensively and found that “disregard for Egyptians’ rights and freedoms prevented a genuine, democratic presidential election.”The Brotherhood is banned and not taking part in the latest polls and smaller opposition parties are struggling to make their voices heard.

Syrian army advances south of Aleppo
Reuters, Beirut/Saturday, 17 October 2015/Syrian troops backed by Hezbollah and Iranian fighters made advances on Saturday in their offensive to retake territory around the northern city of Aleppo from insurgents and jihadist fighters, a monitoring group said. The campaign around Aleppo, which the army launched on Friday, is one of several assaults it has waged against rebel fighters since Russian jets began carrying out air strikes on Sept. 30 in support of President Bashar al-Assad. It has concentrated so far on clearing rebel areas south of Aleppo rather than the city itself, which is home to 2 million people and divided between government forces and rebels. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army and its allies retook three villages amid fierce fighting in which at least 17 Islamist fighters and eight soldiers or allied forces were killed. Troops are also trying to advance to the east of Aleppo towards Kweires military airport, aiming to break a siege on the base by ISIS and other insurgents, the UK-based Observatory said. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television said the army had captured the village of Huwaija, on the way to Kweires. The Observatory said it the army was advancing in Huwaija, one of several villages where heavy fighting was continuing. The army and its allies have also been fighting to retake parts of the northern provinces of Hama, Idlib and Latakia seized by rebels in recent months, as well as insurgent areas north of Homs city, around the capital Damascus, and in the southern province of Deraa near the Jordanian border. The Observatory reported fighting around the town of Talbiseh, part of a rebel-held enclave north of Homs city which has faced heavy bombardment by Russian jets for the last two weeks, and a ground offensive by the army and allied militias. The monitor said that at least 72 people, including 31 children and women, were killed in the past 48 hours in the assault in Homs.

Iran: none of its missiles designed for nuclear capabilities
AFP, Tehran/Saturday, 17 October 2015/Iran said on Saturday that its recent test launch of a long-range missile does not violate U.N. Security Council resolutions as claimed by the United States and France. “Our missile tests have nothing to do with Resolution 2231, which only mentions missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told a news conference. Speaking in Tehran alongside his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, he added: “None of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s missiles have been designed for nuclear capabilities.” Iran announced Sunday it had successfully tested a new domestically produced long-range missile without specifying its exact range. Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said the new missile “can be guided and controlled until hitting the target.”The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power on Friday said the missile launched by Iran is a “medium-range ballistic missile inherently capable of delivering a nuclear weapon.”“This was a clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929,” she said, echoing similar criticism from the French foreign ministry, adding that the US would seek action at the Security Council. Resolution 1929 prohibits Tehran from conducting ballistic missiles tests. Resolution 2231, which was adopted a few days after Iran struck the July 14 landmark nuclear deal with world powers, bars Iran from developing missiles “designed to carry nuclear warheads.”The nuclear deal reached with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States aims to limit Iran’s nuclear program in return for lifting international sanctions. Iran insists it has no plans to develop atomic weapons. Zarif told the news conference that “nuclear weapons have no place in the military doctrine of Iraq” and said that the missile program of the Islamic republic does not violate U.N. resolutions.

Twelve migrants drown as boat sinks off Turkey
By AFP | Ankara/Saturday, 17 October 2015/Twelve migrants drowned Saturday when their boat sank off the Turkish coast as they were seeking to reach Greece, while around 25 others were rescued, the Anatolia news agency reported.The Turkish coastguard recovered the bodies from the wooden boat, which had sailed from northwest Turkey’s seaside town of Ayvalik headed for the Greek island of Lesbos, the Turkish news agency said. The rescuers managed to save about two dozen others on board the sinking boat who had called for help on their cellphones, Turkish media reported. Anatolia did not indicate the migrants’ nationalities. Turkey has been swamped with an influx of refugees due mainly to the civil war in neighbouring Syria. More than 3,000 migrants and refugees have died while trying to get to Europe this year, most of them drowning in the Mediterranean. With many refugees currently failing to lodge asylum requests upon arriving in Greece, fearing they will be trapped in the recession-hit country, the European Union’s top migration official warned that a recent deal to share out refugees in the bloc could flounder. On Friday the EU’s much-hyped deal with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants looked shaky after Ankara said Brussels had offered too little money to cope with the two and half million Syrians who have sought refugee on Turkish soil.

Number of displaced Iraqis hits 3.2 million: U.N.
By AFP | Baghdad/Saturday, 17 October 2015/The number of people who have been displaced by conflict in Iraq since the start of 2014 has reached 3.2 million, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday. The UN agency said it identified 3,206,736 internally displaced Iraqis (534,456 families) from then through September 29 of this year. Of those, 42 percent were from the western province of Anbar, the statement added. Fighting continues on several fronts in Anbar, where a major government operation to recapture the provincial capital Ramadi from the Islamic State group is under way. Displacement in Iraq continues to increase; displaced people are in need of comprehensive support; most fled their homes with only what they could carry,” said IOM's Iraq chief, Thomas Lothar Weiss. There are 7.6 million displaced people in neighbouring Syria. More than four million fled the country, including about 250,000 to Iraq. The world is grappling with its worst refugee crisis in 70 years, and UN chief Ban Ki-moon said recently the world body's humanitarian agencies were “broke”.Appeals for both Syria's and Iraq's emergency response plans are massively under-funded.

Hungary seeks to ‘protect EU from Muslim migrants’
By Marton Dunai and Aleksandar Vasovic | Reuters Hungary/Saturday, 17 October 2015/Hungary declared its southern border with Croatia closed to migrants on Friday, diverting them into tiny Slovenia in a measure of Europe's disjointed response to the flow of people reaching its shores in flight from war and poverty. With autumn winds and rain whipping the Balkans, a last train drew up at the border, and some 2,000 migrants disembarked for the short, muddy walk past razor wire into Hungary as a midnight cut-off point expired. Hungary has erected a steel fence almost the length of its southern frontier, declaring it is duty-bound to secure the borders of the European Union from mainly Muslim migrants threatening, it says, the prosperity, security and "Christian values" of Europe. A month ago, the right-wing government of Hungary’s fiercely anti-immigration prime minister, Viktor Orban, shut down the migrant route across its frontier with Serbia, slamming the door on hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern, African and Asian migrants, many of them refugees from war in Syria, streaming across the Balkan peninsula. They were diverted into Croatia, from where they entered Hungary, crossing in recent weeks at a rate of 5,000 to 8,000 per day en route to Austria and Germany, the preferred destinations of most. With that route now sealed, too, Croatia said it had a plan in place to send them to Slovenia from midnight, in agreement with its fellow former Yugoslav republic. Both Croatia and Slovenia indicated they would not restrict the flow so long as Austria and Germany kept their doors open. But the scale threatens to test the resources of Slovenia, an Alpine state of two million people, and of Croatia and Serbia if a backlog builds, with weather conditions deteriorating fast. Confirming “operational talks” with Croatia, Slovenia said it would convene its national security council on Saturday. “If Germany closes its border or restricts border crossings, then Slovenia will act accordingly,” Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec told a news conference. “But so far there are no indications or information that Germany is to change its policy.”The EU has agreed a deal – resisted by some of its members in eastern Europe, including Hungary – to share out 120,000 refugees, only a small proportion of the 700,000 or so people expected to reach Europe this year.
Transit zones
At a summit in Brussels, the bloc offered Turkey a possible three billion euros ($3.4 billion) in aid and the prospect of easier travel visas and "re-energized" talks on joining the bloc if it will help stem the flow of migrants across its territory. But Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said this fell short of Budapest's demands, which include formation of a common force to protect the borders of Greece, where many arrive by boat and dinghy across the Aegean from Turkey before heading north through Macedonia and Serbia. Migrants would be able to submit asylum requests at two so-called 'transit zones' to be set up on the border with Croatia. A similar system in place on Hungary's border with Serbia has seen asylum requests summarily rejected, slowing the flow of migrants to a trickle and drawing fire from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) and human rights groups, who say refugees are being denied their right to protection under international conventions. Those who try to breach the fence are rounded up, put on trial and in almost all cases expelled. Rain-soaked and exhausted, thousands trudged through mud across the Zakany frontier from Croatia into Hungary on Friday, past razor wire and a field of conifer trees grown for Christmas.“We are the last refugees,” said Khodarsus, a 35-year-old teacher and father of two young children. “Winter is coming, so we will together arrive in Germany before that, Inshallah.”At another crossing, Baransjko Petrovo Selo in Croatia, a Croatian police officer hurried the migrants from buses, tossing luggage to the ground. "Quickly, hurry, hurry, unless you want to travel even more," the officer shouted. Izaat, a 23-year-old Iraqi from Baghdad, was relieved but anxious. “Our trip was difficult because it was cold and rain was falling,” he said. “I’m worried what will happen with ‎the other people arriving after us.

Half a million Yemen children face malnutrition
By Stephanie Nebehay | Reuters Geneva/Saturday, 17 October 2015/More than half a million children in Yemen face life-threatening malnutrition as a risk of famine grows, a senior official of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday. The figure, a three-fold jump since fighting erupted in March, reflects depleted food stocks compounded by a failing health system unable to care for hungry children or vaccinate them against disease, said Afshan Khan, director of UNICEF emergency programs worldwide. "We are facing the potential of a huge humanitarian catastrophe ... The levels of malnutrition that are being reported for children are extremely critical," Khan told Reuters, saying more data and hard evidence was needed to declare a famine. "A nutritional survey will be done at the end of October. How close are we to a famine declaration? We see some zones that are worse than others," she said. In addition to 537,000 children aged under five at risk of severe acute malnutrition, marked by visible wasting of their bodies, 1.3 million are moderately malnourished, according to the latest U.N. figures. Fewer than one in five therapeutic feeding centers across Yemen are functional, Khan said. UNICEF operates 43 mobile teams that screen children for malnutrition but areas such as the al-Qaeda-held eastern province of Hadramawt are inaccessible. Saudi Arabia has led an Arab military intervention against Houthi fighters since March 26 to restore the exiled Yemeni government and fend off what it sees as the creeping influence from Iran. At least 5,400 people have been killed in the conflict in the Arab world's poorest country where an estimated 10 percent of the 23 million population are now internally displaced. The death toll includes at least 502 children, UNICEF says. Yemen, which imported 90 percent of its food before the crisis, is subject to a Saudi-led blockade imposed on commercial vessels, which are inspected by a U.N. verification mechanism. "We are allowed small passages of goods where the papers are clear," Khan said. "We have been unable to sufficiently replenish medical supplies." The lack of fuel imports is preventing mills from grinding grain, she said. "Humanitarian access is getting more and more difficult ... We hope fuel imports are restored so the cold chain (for vaccines) is re-established and sufficient fuel is available for running water treatment," she said. Of 2.7 million children targeted for vaccination against measles and polio, only 676,000 have been reached, she added.

Obama, Abu Dhabi crown prince discuss Syria
Reuters, Washington/Saturday, 17 October 2015/U.S. President Barack Obama spoke by telephone on Friday with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan and they agreed that Russia's military operations in Syria should focus on ISIS, not moderate Syrian opposition groups, the White House said. Obama and Al Nahyan, who holds a senior post in the armed forces of the United Arab Emirates, also reaffirmed the importance of establishing the conditions necessary for a political transition in Syria, the White House said in a statement. Earlier on Friday, Obama said the Syrian civil war was a magnet for extremists and could only end with a political solution leading to a new inclusive government. Speaking at a news conference after meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Obama said the only area of U.S. understanding with Russia on Syria was on how to prevent accidental clashes between their planes engaged in the conflict, but they differed on principles and strategies to bring peace. "There's no meeting of the minds in terms of strategy," he said, which reflected a fundamental difference with President Vladimir Putin over the continuing rule of President Bashar al-Assad. "President Putin believes if he continues to do what he has been doing over the last five years, and that is to prop up the Assad regime, that the problem will be solved." Obama said he believed in continuing the fight against the Islamic State and other extremist groups, but said the civil war "will only go away if we're able to get a political track and a legitimate inclusive government inside of Syria."The only understanding with Russia was how to "de-conflict in the event that our planes and their planes might be occupying similar space over Syrian skies," he said. "We have arrived at an understanding and some channels for communications."He said it was essential to get "the Iranians, the Russians, the Turks, the Gulf countries and all the interested parties to sit down and recognize we have to have a political transition if we want to end the humanitarian crisis and save the structure of a unified Syrian state."

Kerry calls Abbas, Netanyahu to urge Mideast calm
By AFP, Milan/Washington/Saturday, 17 October 2015/U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has called the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to express concern at recent violence and ask them to work to restore calm, an official said Friday. The move comes amid mounting clashes in Israel and the Palestinian Territories that have raised fears of a full-scale uprising, with an overnight arson attack on a Jewish holy site in the West Bank the latest incident to heighten tensions. U.S. and Israeli officials said Friday that Netanyahu and Kerry plan to meet in Berlin next week. Officials were not able to confirm the exact timing of the talks, but Netanyahu already has a scheduled meeting with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday. State Department spokesman Mark Toner noted that Kerry had previously spoken of a desire to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders about the unrest in the coming days. “I can confirm that he’s likely to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu, probably in Germany, but I would stress that we’re still finalizing the details,” he said. U.S. officials could not confirm reports Kerry plans to meet with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah as he tries to defuse the crisis. An Israeli official told AFP that details were being worked out but “Netanyahu and Kerry agreed to try to meet when the prime minister travels to Berlin next week.”The news broke as Kerry was already on a flight to Europe for planned meetings in Milan, Madrid and Paris.Kerry had earlier said he hoped to travel to the Middle East region “in the coming days” to cool tempers amid a new spate of violence in Jerusalem.

Obama’s scarred legacy in the Middle East
Hisham Melhem/Al Arabiya/October 17/15
President Barack H. Obama inherited from his predecessor George W. Bush the two longest and seemingly unwinnable wars in U.S. history. Candidate Obama projected himself as the anti-war crusader who will extricate America from Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact Obama won the nomination of his own party mainly because of his early opposition to that ‘stupid’ war in Iraq that his opponent in 2008 Hillary Clinton supported. It must be painful in the extreme, for this President who prides himself on his pragmatic realism in the conduct of foreign policy – grounded in his constant awareness of America’s limits of power- to face his own limits of power as a leader who will be forced, after two terms in office to bequeath to his successor the two unfinished wars. Obama’s legacy in the Middle East will be defined and deeply scarred by the region’s inconclusive wars; the horrific bloodshed and dismantlement of Syria, the rise of the ‘Islamic State’ (ISIS) the latest and most vicious of apocalyptic movements in modern times , the inheritance of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the continuing struggle against what was left of al-Qaeda’s branches. Listening to the President’s speech last Thursday announcing his intention to keep 5,500 troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016, and stressing that, ‘this isn’t the first time those adjustments have been made; this won’t probably be the last.’ I was struck that ‘making adjustments’, and limited incremental alterations forced on him by determined enemies, instead of making bold moves, had been at the core of his approaches to theses wars. When faced with stark choices to settle these wars; disengage or escalate, Obama demurs.
Elusive victories
The ghosts of Iraq were hanging over Obama’s decision on Afghanistan. He saw in the brief takeover of the city of Kunduz by the resurgent Taliban a potential repeat of the disastrous fall of Mosul in June 2014 in the hands of ISIS, a pivotal setback that forced Obama to redeploy 3000 Special Forces and advisors to Iraq and later to begin the air campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The Jarring reality that the next president will face, when he or she makes the decision to withdraw the troops from Iraq and Afghanistan or end the aerial war in Syria is that the end will not be considered victory or even approximation of success. More likely the terms of disengagement will be set mostly by America’s enemies and/or domestic forces seeking an immediate exit. The nature of these conflicts, mostly unconventional counter-insurgencies, where non-state actors resort to asymmetric warfare supported by states fighting each other through proxies, when combined with lack of domestic support make achieving military victory in the traditional sense very elusive. The last time the U.S. achieved such a victory was the war against Iraq in 1991.
Russian irredentism, Chinese hegemony
Divining the legacy of a leader while in power or even immediately after his reign ends, is usually fraught with risks. But after almost seven years in office, and with his signature domestic achievement the Affordable Care Act relatively secure and the nuclear agreement with Iran, the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action surviving the Republican congress, two ‘legacy’ defining victories for the President and his supporters, one can make a preliminary attempt at defining the contours of Obama’s legacy knowing that most legacies change with the passage of time. Beyond the Middle East, Obama’s legacy will be marred by his timid response to Putin’s brazen irredentism towards the Ukraine, leading to the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Eastern Ukraine by irregular Russian forces. Even before the Ukraine debacle the whole ‘reset’ policy towards Russia was collapsing. Despite his poor economy and a shrinking GDP, brought about mainly by declining oil prices, Putin threw the Gauntlet in Obama’s face by dispatching his air force and Special Forces beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union, this time to Syria and engaged in combat on behalf of the regime of the Syrian dictator Assad, for the first time since the ‘war of attrition’ between Egypt and Israel (1969-70).
Obama, through his dithering, his lack of resolve and by his willful blindness and inaction, has presided over the termination of America’s long and unique moment in the Middle East
While Russia went on a rampage in the Ukraine and Syria with impunity, China was pursuing equally aggressive policies in the South China Sea enlarging and building islands and sandbanks in disputed waters and turning them into military zones equipped with air strips, combat aircraft and radar sites. Claiming sovereignty over these islands and their territorial waters would endanger international trade unless the U.S. and its allies mount an effective challenge to China’s claims. Putin’s bold moves in Syria, have already changed the security and political dynamics in the region. Putin speaks openly and derisively of the ‘weakness of the American position’ in Syria. For President Obama to take comfort in the fact that Russia’s economy is weak, or that Putin is being forced to rush to the aid of a besieged client is not a consolation for the tormented Syrian people and does not negate the fact that Putin has put the American President in an embarrassing position. And yet the Obama administration does not treat these aggressive moves as dangerous, and still believes that diplomatic engagement is the only solution. Even when Putin’s air force was being readied for combat American officials were planning to ask Putin about his true intentions and to explore ways for cooperation with Russia in Syria.
Russia and China are challenging the U.S. in different ways, including enhancing their strategic cooperation. In recent months Chinese and Russian navies conducted war games in the waters of the eastern Mediterranean. A Chinese aircraft carrier has joined the enhanced Russian fleet which patrols the coast of Syria from its base in Tartous. Yet, there are some bright spots in Obama’s foreign policy legacy. The recent Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement which covers more than 40% of world trade is a net plus for the global economy and will enhance liberal governance in Asia. Obama’s decision to begin the dismantlement of an archaic 55-year sanction regime against Cuba and begin the long process of normalizing relations was commendable and long overdue.
Words, words, words
President Obama wanted to transcend what he and his advisors saw as the political wreckage caused by President Bush in Iraq and his ill-defined ‘war on terrorism’, by having a new beginning with the Muslim world. The man, who lives by words, admires diction and has mastered the phrasing of cadence, delivered eloquent and refined speeches to entranced audiences in Ankara and Cairo. America is not, and will not be in a war with Islam he intoned. ‘I've come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition’. It is a measure of the failure of these lofty words to change hearts and minds that few years after they were uttered relations with Cairo are tense and cold with Turkey. In fact America’s relations with many Muslim majority states are estranged. Obama is not solely responsible for this sorry state of affairs; oppressive Muslim autocrats, cultural and political resistance to reform, Arab civil strife and rampant sectarianism and proxy wars are major causes of the current impasse.
Obama wanted to revive the peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel and to stop the expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands. But he was not ready to engage forcefully and creatively with an intransigent Israeli Prime Minister, and a dysfunctional and divided Palestinian leadership. When the season of Arab uprisings began, Obama supported the overall objectives of these mass movements, particularly political empowerment, economic reform and accountable governments, but Obama failed in doing so consistently. To paraphrase George Orwell, It looked as if not all demonstrators were created equal and some demonstrators were more equal than others. Obama’s drone war against al-Qaeda brought the Reaper to its leadership, including the elimination of Osama Bin Laden. But the administration was surprised by the sudden rise of ISIS and its stunning military victories in 2014. President Obama initially dismissed ISIS’ military threat by condescendingly describing them as junior players (varsity team).
However, Obama’s historic failure to intervene more forcefully in Syria, particularly in the early stages of the non-violent uprising, and his abject betrayal of his own commitments to punish the Assad regime after it was caught using Chemical weapons against his own people, will tar his legacy forever. With the exception of Libya, where the president admitted that he failed to do the necessary political follow up to the military campaign that ousted the Qaddafi regime, Obama never owned his mistakes and blunders in Iraq, where he was so eager to withdraw American forces that he contributed to the collapse of order in that country, or in Syria where he is still living in denial and not acknowledging what his half-backed actions and inactions have wrought. Obama’s supporters argue that his nuclear deal with Iran will secure his international legacy. At best the agreement, if fully implemented, will delay Iran’s nuclear program for 10 to 15 years. But most of the nuclear infrastructure will remain intact, and Iran will become in the not so distant future a ‘threshold’ nuclear power. In the wake of the agreement, Iran in collaboration with Russia doubled down on helping Assad remain in power and by intensifying and directly participating in Assad’s war on his own people. It is very ironic, that after the agreement with Iran, and the historic opening to Cuba, both countries dispatched Special Forces to Syria, to prop up the Assad regime. It could very well be that history will show that President Obama through his dithering, his lack of resolve and by his willful blindness and inactions has presided over the termination of America’s long and unique moment in the Middle East.

A return to the Lockerbie bombing
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/October 17/15
“26 years have passed... It is a very long time. Many people died and stories were forgotten…”This is also the view of the victims’ parents who died on the U.S. plane that exploded over the Scottish village of Lockerbie. This crime represents an important mark in the history of terrorism against international civil aviation. Since all evidence points to Libya and denounces Colonel Muammar Qaddafi's regime, the reopening of investigations and trial no longer makes sense. Qaddafi, the prime suspect, was killed by his nationals who revolted against him in October 2011. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only Libyan who was convicted and imprisoned, died of cancer in his home in Tripoli after he was released due to his severe illness one year after the Libyan revolution. The question is: was Megrahi really involved in that crime or was he a scapegoat at the time, to satisfy international investigators? Up until he reached his deathbed, Megrahi kept proclaiming that he was innocent and that he didn’t have any secrets, but was he a victim like the rest of Lockerbie victims? Since all evidence points to Libya and denounces Colonel Muammar Qaddafi's regime, the reopening of investigations and trial no longer makes sense. Tens of thousands were killed in Libya. However, no one can give a precise number because, unlike Syria, there are no organizations that are able to monitor and document the events in Libya during the four troubled years throughout the ongoing war. Amid the continuing chaos, no one should ask to reopen an old investigation and hold accountable those who participated in the planning and execution of the bombing of the Pan Am flight, that was heading from London to New York in late 1988. The crime was committed by a regime that was headed by one person who is fully responsible for a huge number of crimes in Libya and around the world. Qaddafi and many of his men have died. Those who are left are either in prisons or hiding behind tribal organizations in search of protection. Justice has been served although many innocent Libyans were falsely tried because of ongoing disorder in the country. Due to massive destruction and a rising death toll since the Libyan revolution, Libyans, who have suffered decades of persecution from Qaddafi’s regime, no longer want to talk about the injustice of that era. They are now complaining about the militias and terrorists replacing Qaddafi's secret police. If the goal of re-opening investigations into the Pan Am bombing was to find out whether Megrahi was innocent, or whether there were other governments involved in the planning and execution of the attack, then the move is justified. However, if this was done is order to serve selective justice, while ignoring the crisis and killings in Libya today, this will be greater injustice. Searching for suspects in a crime committed 26 years ago, and stems from a country whose people are calling on the world to help end a tragedy that is still haunting them in the post-Qaddafi era, should be condemned.

Do American TV shows hate Arab culture?
Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/October 17/15
This week, Berlin-based Arab graffiti artists took a stand against the anti-Arab rhetoric that is prevalent on American TV. The artists were commissioned to paint graffiti on a set from TV show Homeland to make it look like a Syrian refugee camp. The artists used this opportunity to highlight the lack of research by the show’s producers. The graffiti they painted mocked the show, calling it racist. These artists wrote a heartfelt letter to the public explaining their actions. However, it is Hollywood that needs to explain the grudge it holds against Arabs. From shows such as 24, which aired for years, to more recent ones such as Tyrant and Homeland, Hollywood seems obsessed with portraying Middle Eastern culture negatively. Hollywood seems obsessed with portraying Middle Eastern culture negatively.
Impact
The impact that these shows have on Western public attitudes toward Arabs is real. The negativity that plagues shows such as Homeland is the main reason behind the racist stereotypes assumed in the West. Hollywood would not dare stereotype other races in such a way, so why is it acceptable toward Arabs?
Scenes that showcase all women as covered, that show men degrading them, the way in which families interact – all these are prevalent themes in both Tyrant and Homeland. Yet having lived in the Middle East for more than 12 years, I can comfortably say they are not accurate. Such TV shows pour fuel on the fire, instigating racism and possibly leading to hate crimes. Research is not the only thing that Hollywood producers need to invest in. The media is one of the most influential tools on the planet, with the power to bring nations together and promote peace, so why do American TV shows promote hate? In 2010, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) denied the film crew of Sex and the City 2 permission to shoot in the country, despite parts of the movie being set there. The UAE’s strong stance is commendable, and was due to the poor depiction of women in the movie.
However, it is not just American TV shows that are to blame for racist rhetoric – award shows perpetuate the situation by honoring them.

Iran’s foreign prisoners and the ‘Game of Pawns’
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/October 17/15
Jason Rezaian, Tehran bureau chief for the Washington Post - who has been behind bars in Iran since July 2014 - was this week convicted of espionage. After 447 days in jail, a court finally handed down a verdict. The Iranian Students’ News Agency quoted Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, a spokesman for Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, as saying Rezaian had been found guilty. Interestingly, Mohseni-Ejei, who was intelligence minister from 2005 to 2009, said he did not know the details of the sentence. The verdict will most likely be appealed, as Mohseni-Ejei said the ruling was not final and could be appealed in the next 20 days. The major controversies concerning this sentencing included the lack of due process and judicial transparency. One other crucial issue, when it comes to foreign prisoners - particularly dual citizens - is linked to the intersection between Iran’s judiciary and Tehran’s power and political objectives on the global stage. Foreigners or dual citizens became a tool that can be used to advance Iran’s political objectives. In other words, the politics behind detaining, incarcerating and sentencing those who hold dual citizenship become complicated in Iran’s labyrinth of power and political machinations.
Bargaining chips
When it comes to the fate of foreign or dual-citizenship political prisoners in Iran, the office of the president does not have any significant influence, just as the president does not have the final say over Tehran’s fundamental foreign and ideological policies. The judicial system - which is closely connected to Iranian intelligence - and the office of the supreme leader call the shots. In addition, the judicial system, informed by the intelligence agency, closely monitors Iran’s relations with other nations and Tehran’s everyday politics. Therefore, although it appears that these three pillars of government act separately, there exists no genuine separation of power among Iran’s judicial, legislative and executive branches. This suggests that when a foreigner is arrested, Iran’s relations with the prisoner’s country become the major platform through which the judiciary and intelligence agency make decisions and direct the outcome of the case. As such, evidence often does not play a role, hence why these cases are often conducted in secret or behind the scenes. Forced confessions and questionable methods of interrogation are common. In these cases, foreigners or dual citizens became a tool that can be used to advance Iran’s political objectives, as has happened to Rezaian, who holds citizenship from Iran’s geopolitical and ideological rival, the United States. His trial unfolded against the backdrop of negotiations between Tehran and six world powers, which resulted in a nuclear deal. It is not unrealistic to argue that Iran’s intelligence and judiciary might sometimes target a foreigner or dual citizen as part of a plan to put pressure on his country of citizenship, and achieve Tehran’s political or ideological objectives. When the objectives are met, the prisoner is often released. Currently, Iran is searching for an opportunity to swap 19 Iranians held in U.S. custody, with the three Iranian-American citizens held in Iran (Rezaian, pastor Saeed Abedini, and U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati). Iran’s intelligence and judiciary might sometimes target a foreigner or dual citizen as part of a plan to put pressure on his country of citizenship, and achieve Tehran’s political or ideological objectives.
“If the Americans take the appropriate steps and set them free, certainly the right environment will be open and the right circumstances will be created for us to do everything within our power and our purview to bring about the swiftest freedom for the Americans held in Iran as well,” said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. However, it is difficult to make an analogy between those arrested in Iran on questionable charges, and the Iranians detained in the United States.
Political liberalization
The sentencing came weeks after Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif sealed the nuclear deal in order to pave the way to lift political and financial sanctions against Iran. The deal created hope that the government may partially liberalize domestic politics and loosen its grip on freedom of expression, press and assembly, among others. However, that hope is irrational. Iran’s main objective when negotiating was to force the West to lift sanctions because they were endangering the political establishment’s hold on power. Therefore, from Tehran’s perspective, the deal was solely tactical, and was never intended to trigger any changes in Iran’s fundamental domestic, foreign policy and ideological principles. Hardliners believe that Rouhani and Zarif went too far in communicating with the United States. Zarif was heavily criticized for shaking hand with President Barack Obama. They are thus sending a message not only to the West, but to Iranian moderates that they are in charge, and that the nuclear deal will not lead to further rapprochement with Washington.

Sweden Close to Collapse
Ingrid Carlqvist/ Gatestone Institute/October 17/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6697/sweden-collapse
If the wave of migrants keeps coming, in 10-15 years, Swedes will be a minority in their own country. That there is, in fact, an exchange of populations going on, should be clear in any sober assessment.
The final consequence of... Sweden's immigration policy is that the economy will collapse -- because who is going to pay for it all? And economic breakdowns, once they happen, always happen very fast." -- Lars Hedegaard.
In the last two weeks, more than 1,000 "unaccompanied refugee children" have arrived from Germany via ferry; more than half of them have now vanished and are listed as missing.
For the last few weeks, the central train station in Sweden's third largest city, Malmö, has been overrun with migrants; the volunteers that for the first few days showed up with food, water and clothes now seem to have lost interest.
It will not be long until the Swedes realize that the state will not look after them. The country that just 20 years ago was considered one of the safest and most affluent in the world, is now in danger of becoming a failed state.
Sweden is fast approaching a complete collapse. More and more municipalities are raising the alarm that if the migrants keep coming at this pace, the government can no longer guarantee normal service to its citizens. In addition, ominous statements from government officials have left Swedes in fear of what tomorrow may bring. If the migrant wave keeps coming, in 10-15 years, Swedes will be a minority in their own country.
At a press conference October 9, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said that Sweden is in a state of crisis. However, when asked to clarify what he meant by this, Löfven was unable to produce a single coherent sentence.
Three ministers appeared by the Prime Minister's side at the hastily summoned press conference, which came on the heels of an extraordinary government meeting. The purpose of the press conference seems to have been to convey two messages:
To explain to the world and the Swedish people that Sweden is facing "one of the largest humanitarian efforts in Swedish history."
That there is no more housing available, and migrants should be prepared to live in tents.
During the question period after the ministers' speeches, journalist Tomas Ramberg of Ekot Public Radio asked: "You say that Sweden is preparing for a crisis situation, what do you mean by those dramatic words?"
Stefan Löfven's reply was incomprehensible:
"Yes, well first of all we, we are in the middle of what I mean seriously when I'm saying, when I express a, a big thank you to all the people doing such a great job, because it is a humanitarian effort, it's just as the Minister for Justice and Migration just said. What we are actually doing is that we are saving lives when people who come from bombs, from, from killing, from oppression, their lives are shattered. We, we help them and that is a, that is a great humanitarian effort, and of course now that we can see the number of people who need it, that are seeking protection, then it is one of the greatest humanitarian efforts. And that we are facing a crisis situation, that is in part why I, we are outlining today that we are also preparing for a situation where we may need to house people in tents, because we stand up with the humanitarian refugee policy, right of asylum, but we can now also see that we cannot close our eyes to the fact that there are more coming than ever in such a short time, and we need to provide a roof over their heads. Then it is -- other things may be required."
However, the fact that the government is now talking about housing migrants in tents, may be a signal that Sweden, despite everything, may not want to be on the front lines of the "humanitarian" battle anymore, after all. The prospect of spending an ice-cold Swedish winter in a tent may make migrants choose countries other than Sweden. If not, a complete collapse of the Swedish system is imminent.
In 2014, the Danish historian and social commentator Lars Hedegaard prophetically remarked in the book "Farliga ord"(Dangerous Words), that the economic breakdown of a nation always happens quickly and unexpectedly:
"If there is any lesson to be drawn from history, it is that what you do not think will happen, does. Time and again. The final consequence of the West and, above all, Sweden's immigration policy is that the economy will collapse -- because who is going to pay for it all? And economic breakdowns, once they happen, always happen very fast."
Right now, the Swedish government is borrowing money abroad to pay for immigration. But that amount is not enough. On October 8, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKL) warned that municipalities need to increase the tax rate by 2%. The average municipal income tax is already 32%, on top of which many Swedes also pay a federal income tax. A 2% rise in the tax rate would mean 15,000 kronor ($1,825) more in taxes each year for the average household.
High-ranking politicians and officials are also saying the situation is extremely grim. On October 1, Minister for Home Affairs Anders Ygeman said that the current wave of immigrants will lead to "huge economic strains;" and a few days later Immigration Service Director General Anders Danielsson explained that "within the framework of the system we all know, we are now approaching the end of the road." Statements such as these have never been heard before in Sweden, especially in connection with the "sacred" issue of migration. Until now, Swedes have perpetually been told that we live in a rich country that has no problem handling all asylum seekers who want to come here.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven (left) said last week that Sweden is in a state of crisis. Pictured at right, the results of rioting in a Stockholm suburb, December 2014.
In the shadow the 1.5 million migrants expected to arrive this year in Germany, the EU's largest country (population 81 million), migrants are also pouring into a rather smaller Sweden. Geographically Sweden is large, but consists mainly of forests and wilderness, and fewer than 10 million people live in the country. Until 2010, Sweden took in about 25,000 migrants a year. However, in 2010, then Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt made a deal with pro-immigration Green Party, (Miljöpartiet) -- by his own admission to punish voters for allowing the anti-mass-immigration Sweden Democrats party (Sverigedemokraterna) into parliament.
Reinfeldt's deal opened the immigration floodgates. In 2014, 81,000 people sought asylum in Sweden; and 33,500 were granted asylum. However, as many of the immigrants subsequently brought over their relatives, that figure substantially increased. Last year, 110,000 people were granted residency status in Sweden. One should add to this figure an unknown number of illegal aliens.
There is now talk of 180,000 asylum seekers coming to Sweden in 2015. That number is more than twice as many as the year before. If half of them are granted asylum, and they each bring over three relatives, we are talking about 270,000 new immigrants to Sweden -- within one year. Over 8000 people arrived just last week, 1,716 of whom were so-called "unaccompanied refugee children."
Swedes who only follow the mainstream media get the impression that all the migrants arriving are war refugees from Syria, but the number of Syrians is actually less than half of the total: 2,864 people last week claimed to be from Syria. 1,861 claimed to be from Iraq, and 1,820 from Afghanistan. Clearly, many people from countries that are not at war are taking their chances and applying for asylum in Sweden; but this is something about which the mainstream media does not see fit to inform its followers.
That there is an exchange of populations going on, should be clear in any sober assessment. The Swedish economist Tino Sanandaji (of Iranian-Kurdish descent, and therefore tougher than most Swedes, who, if they criticize the immigration policy, are immediately accused of racism) writes on his blog that Swedes could soon be in the minority in their own country:
"1,000-1,500 asylum seekers a day for 15 years equals 5.5 to 8.2 million asylum seekers. At the end of 2014, the Statistical Central Bureau, SCB, calculated that 21.5% of the Swedish population were of foreign descent: 2.1 million, out of 9.7 million. The number of people of Swedish descent -- born in Sweden with two parents born in Sweden -- has been stable at about 7.7 million and is expected to remain stable or increase slightly due to birth surplus. If those of foreign descent increase their number by about 5.6 million, they will become the majority."
One of the municipalities that has been flooded with migrants is Trelleborg (population 43,000), located on Sweden's southernmost coast. Over 100 "unaccompanied refugee children" arrive from Germany via ferry on a typical day. During the last two weeks, more than 1000 such youths have been registered; more than half of them have now vanished and are listed as missing. No one knows why, or where they have gone. Add to this 13,000 adult asylum seekers.
Impromptu temporary lodgings have been created in sports centers, ice rinks, and at the Sturup airport hotel, to name a few.
Trelleborg has written a desperate letter of appeal for help to the government, just as, a few weeks ago, the Örkelljunga municipality did in vain. The mayor and the Municipal Director of Trelleborg, who signed the letter on October 1, wrote:
"In the past, many asylum seekers have taken the route through Denmark to Malmö, but this changed about two weeks ago. From September 10 until the morning of October 1, 14,100 asylum seekers arrived in Trelleborg by ferry. There is no indication that the pace is slowing; if anything it is continuously increasing. On Tuesday, September 22, Trelleborg received word from the Immigration Service that the municipality where children and young people arrive is by law the authority that is required to provide housing, care and living expenses, until such time as the Immigration Service decides upon a designated municipality. ... Trelleborg has quickly ended up in a situation where the regular services to the community are at great risk of being affected. ... By writing this letter, we would like to bring to your attention the enormous strain we now find ourselves under."
Apparently, the Minister for Justice and Migration, Morgan Johansson, has since been in contact with Trelleborg's mayor via telephone to discuss possible solutions. On October 9, the Immigration Service decided that Trelleborg should be exempt as a designated municipality for unaccompanied children. However, it is unclear how this will alleviate Trelleborg's plight as far as the new arrivals go. The only concrete help so far has come from some of the neighboring municipalities, who have opened up facilities to house some of the Trelleborg migrants.
Malmö, about 18 miles from Trelleborg, is also in dire straits. For the last few weeks, the central train station in Sweden's third largest city has been overrun with migrants, and the volunteers that showed up for the first few days with food, water and clothes now seem to have lost interest. The daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet summed up the desperate situation in Malmö, where even the city's empty jail was considered (and rejected) as possible housing for refugee children. It now looks more like a possibility for adult refugees.
The Social Democratic mayor of Filipstad, Per Gruvberger, also recently raised the alarm that his municipality of 6,000 people will not be able to provide schooling and childcare for the 1,100 asylum seekers now assigned to his municipality.
The reply of the Minister for Justice and Migration, Morgan Johansson, to this cry for help was: "If need be, Filipstad will just have to expand its operations."
This insensitive statement from Johansson caused the Mayor of neighboring Årjäng, Daniel Schützer, to go ballistic. He wrote about his fellow party member on Facebook:
"Pardon my French, but Morgan Johansson is totally f---ing stupid. 'Expand,' he says. It is not f---ing bricks and planks that we are lacking, it is teachers!!!!"
The Immigration Service, which is tasked with reviewing the asylum seekers' reasons for immigrating, is understandably swamped with work. Even before the latest "refugee crisis" -- and despite 1,200 new employees being hired last year -- its staff is struggling. The employees' union is now raising the alarm, concerning more and more incidents of violence, vandalism and suicide attempts -- this year (up to August), 1,021 such incidents were reported.
"The work situation for the entire authority is very strained. The pressure is enormous. The work environment has deteriorated severely," said Sanna Norblad, local chairperson of the ST union, to daily Norrköpings Tidningar.
While all this plays out, large portions of the Swedish people watch in horror from the sidelines and wonder when the unavoidable collapse will occur. At the same time, a surprisingly large portion of the citizenry still overconfidently believe that "Daddy State" will make everything all right. This a very Swedish view, like the wishes of children, that Peter Santesson, head of polling institute Demoskop, wrote about on the website Dagens Opinion. Santesson states that the Swedes have an unusually high level of trust in the social order, and that they are convinced that "somewhere higher up, there is always someone smarter and more informed, taking responsibility and making sure everything works." If the government officials turn out to be incapable of handling the refugee chaos they themselves have created, it could be disastrous. Santesson continues,
"Responsible decision makers need to ponder the trust the people have now bestowed on them, and they need to handle this trust with care in this difficult crisis. If the people's confidence is betrayed by them turning out not to be able to handle the situation – if 'Sweden' turns out to be insufficient as a miracle cure and the crisis becomes too much to handle -- the outcome could be political and social consequences reaching far beyond the issue of immigration."
The blogger Johan Westerholm, a Social Democrat who is critical of the government, points out in an October 7 titled "System infarction in the Immigration System," that in addition to those who are already in Sweden, we need to add those who are not granted asylum in Norway and Finland, and will therefore be sent back to the last country they were in -- Sweden. Considering that Finland rejects 60% of asylum applications, it is fair to assume that during the coming weeks, the chaos will only escalate.
Westerholm writes that the situation in Malmö is "out of control," and states that we do not have any idea who those arriving in Sweden are:
"A very large group of administrators [at the Immigration Service] do not even know the designated terror organizations, and then there are the sympathizers -- people who, on principal, would never file a report to the Immigration Service security department, for ideological reasons. A large group consists of those who are scared into silence. In an organization characterized by fear and stress, to do nothing is a surefire way to keep your job. If a report of suspicion is filed anyway, typically nothing happens. If the life and health of the terrorist is threatened, as is often the situation, the person gets to stay. Initially he is given a temporary residence permit, but in practice, this turns out to be permanent."
The 152 asylum seekers reported to the Security Service so far this year as possible threats to national security, are thus most likely just the tip of the iceberg.
The Swedes who have already lost faith in the authorities and the politicians are now preparing for the unthinkable -- that their once so secure society is about to collapse. On the website 72timmar.se, the Civil Contingencies Agency informs the public on "our five most basic needs: Water, food, heat, sleep and security." The readers are told to keep water and canned goods at home, and make sure they can stay warm.
"Prepping" is becoming more common in Sweden. Last summer, the daily Svenska Dagbladet ran a story on the first Swedish online store for preppers, and that interest was huge. According to the polling institute Sifo, until recently, seven out of ten Swedes have been completely unprepared for a crisis that knocks out the power supply and thereby the infrastructure. The owner of the online store, Fredrik Qvarnström, told the paper that, in his estimation, the Swedes are the worlds most poorly prepared for a crisis:
"There is lot of talk about the greenhouse effect and economic crisis. People seem to be aware that there are problems, but I do not think they know how vulnerable we really are. We rely on the state to take care of us, as it has in the past."
It will not be long until the Swedes realize that the state will not look after them. The country that just 20 years ago was considered one of the safest and most affluent in the world, is now in danger of becoming a failed state.
**Ingrid Carlqvist is a journalist based in Sweden, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow of Gatestone Institute.

Why the Syrian opposition rejected the UN's plan for Syria
Asaad Hanna/Al-Monitor/October 17/15
ISTANBUL — The political and armed Syrian opposition forces appear to be drawing closer to a unified position, rallying around their rejection of UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura's plans for regime change through political transition involving President Bashar al-Assad.
After the Syrian revolution broke out in March 2011, several types of opposition movements formed. The Syrian public was divided after the first year between those who supported arming the opposition and forming the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and those who wanted to maintain the peaceful political movement.
However, now four years into the revolution, being armed has become a reality imposed on everyone. But the revolutionary brigades under the FSA’s umbrella always lacked a unified leadership; they are organized groups with each group following its own leader. The groups were able to establish a loose structure for the purposes of organization, planning and joint work. Under that network, the groups turned into alliances, as some of them merged together, but they still weren't able to agree on a single command. The opposition's factions held different ideologies, as did their backers, some of which had their own ideas about shaping Syria’s future.
After many Western and Arab meetings and initiatives, which failed one after the other, in July 2014, the UN Security Council finally appointed de Mistura as a UN envoy and mediator between the Syrian regime and the opposition. A year later, in August, de Mistura formed four committees to change the current Syrian regime through a political transition. These committees were to work with both the Assad regime and the opposition to solve the Syrian crisis. On Oct. 1, for the first time ever, Syrian armed factions agreed on something: They rejected de Mistura’s initiative. Seventy-five of the largest military factions operating under the FSA’s name issued a statement, which political experts and academics described as the first of its kind in terms of the quality of the diplomatic speech. In the statement, the factions stressed their rejection of de Mistura’s initiative in its current form, saying it contains loopholes that could lead committee members into political traps from which there would be no escape.
To signify military and political unity, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) also approved the statement.
Col. Maamoun al-Omar from Idlib, a deputy commander of the 101st infantry fighting under the FSA banner, told Al-Monitor by phone, “The FSA’s mission is purely military in terms of protecting the Syrian territory from division and protecting civilians. But it also believes in a political solution to find a way out of the Syrian crisis. This phase necessitated unifying ranks between politicians and military men, and this is why the [opposition] rejected de Mistura’s plan, which threatens the Syrian revolution." Omar continued, "We, as part of the FSA, will continue to defend our country until the demands for which the Syrian people took to the streets are met, because the revolution’s fundamentals cannot be waived or bargained away."Omar's words reflect the need to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people who revolted against the regime, guarantees that the new regime is different from the current one, and prevents the return to power of those who participated in military and security operations that resulted in the death of more than half a million Syrians.
The last point was missing from de Mistura’s initiative. The opposition believes his initiative does not provide any guarantees for the future and does not clarify Assad’s fate, whose isolation is considered the first step in the revolution’s demands. The SNC issued a statement saying, “The efforts made by the UN mediation since the Geneva 2 conference … were not built on clear foundations to ensure a peaceful transition of power and the establishment of a transitional governing body. It only gave partial solutions such as a temporary cease-fire, or holding consultative meetings, without serious and responsible action to stop the regime from targeting Syrian cities with rockets and explosive barrels.”Suhair al-Atassi, a member of the coalition’s political committee, said in an interview with Al-Monitor in Istanbul that its support of the armed factions' statement is a "natural result of a new methodology pursued by the National Coalition for strategic participatory work between it and the fighting revolutionary factions."
Atassi added, "It is a first step toward the unity of the decision between the political and military aspect on the essential issues of the Syrian revolution, leading to a decision-making cell that would work on a joint action plan to achieve the revolution’s goals.”The Syrian public's reaction also was very positive regarding the unprecedented consensus. Activists in Syria and in neighboring countries support it and see it as the first step toward unifying the ranks and forming a single political opposition body as an alternative to the current Syrian regime. Independent media activist Sherif Sarmada from Idlib told Al-Monitor via Skype, “This is a positive step for cooperation between the coalition and factions. I believe that cooperation is very essential at the current stage, especially since the revolution needs a political aspect along with the military one, regardless of the negative aspects of the coalition and its members. But I think things are moving forward, toward more cooperation between the two sides.”
Atassi, who believes the international community’s reaction was positive and hopeful, also stressed that sentiment.
“Assad’s regime and its allies had always relied on the division between the political opposition and the FSA. I think that this statement — as well as the steps that will follow, such as workshops, plans and visions — will address Assad’s regime and its partners’ war crimes and crimes against humanity. The statement will also support the positions of friendly countries supporting the Syrian issue in the face of the dual Russian-Iranian occupation,” said Atassi. After becoming closer to the factions, the political opposition now hopes to obtain public support and restore its legitimacy, a big part of which it lost in the Syrian street. Perhaps it can count on that support more than that of the foreign countries that used to support it, and then abandoned it. The political experience of the military factions and the coalition is now being put to the test by the diplomatic forces, especially since the Russian intervention in Syria in early October, which led to ongoing negotiations between international parties that will include the opposition formations.

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