LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
August 06/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
First Letter to the Corinthians 12/28-31/13-01-07:”And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

’Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on August 05-06/2019
They distort and prostitute freedom to promote for immorality, defilement and atheism
Presidential Sources: Jumblatt Aims to Paralyze Lebanon's Government
Aoun meets former ministers Shamseddine, Qortbawi
Qabrshmoun Suspects Appear before Judge, Get Arrest Warrants
Raad Meets Berri, Says Political Situation 'Needs Prayer'
Report: Govt. Stalemate Awaiting Berri’s Initiative
Report: Hariri’s Adviser Discussed Lebanon's Situation with Bogdanov
Bou Saab Says ‘Won’t Allow’ any Meddling in Judiciary
Bassil: Everyone in Lebanon is Hizbullah Partner
Berri chairs dialogue table in support of industrial sector, says continuing status quo keeps Lebanon distorted
US Ambassador meets Frangieh, attends Ehdeniyat Festival 2019
Guidanian says Lebanon recording tourism growth despite security, political obstacles
No resolution in sight for Lebanon's government crisis
Health Check: why swimming in the sea is good for you

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 05-06/2019
Iran thinks it can do whatever it wants in the Gulf - analysis
UK Joins U.S. in Gulf Mission after Iran Taunts
Zarif Says US Can't Build Gulf Naval Coalition
Netanyahu Comes Under Fire for Party 'Loyalty Pledge'
Sarraj’s Government Bans UN Envoy from Using Zuwarah Airport
Arab States Welcome Sudan’s Agreement on Constitutional Document
Coalition Downs Houthi Drones Targeting Saudi Civilian Airports
Syrian Regime Resumes Idlib Airstrikes after Scrapping Ceasefire
Centuries-old Bazaar in Syria's Aleppo Making Slow Recovery
Nothing but Blood': Woman Cartoonist Draws Syria's Idlib
Qatar, Iran Hold Joint Coast Guard Meeting to Boost Field Cooperation
Kuwaiti Government Denies Intention to Dissolve National Assembly
Tunisia to Witness Promising Olive Harvest
Sisi Calls Deadly Car Blast 'Terrorist Incident'
Trump Condemns Racism, White Supremacy after U.S. Mass Shootings

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 04-05/2019
They distort and prostitute freedom to promote for immorality, defilement and atheism/Elias Bejjani/August 04/2019
No resolution in sight for Lebanon's government crisis/Georgi Azar/Annahar/ August 05/2019
Health Check: why swimming in the sea is good for you/NNA/05 August/ 2019
Iran thinks it can do whatever it wants in the Gulf - analysis/Jerusalem Post/August 05/2019
Hero or Villain: Is this the End of Zarif/London - Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 05/2019
Political paralysis in Algeria is hampering urgently needed economic reforms/Omar Benderra/Carnegie MEC/August 05, 2019
Ethiopia, Sudan, and a Strange Visitor Named Hope/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 05/2019
Is This Europe’s Politician of the Future?/Leonid Bershidsky/Bloomberg/August 05/2019
Analysis/Faced With U.S. Threats, Iran Warms Up to Arab Neighbors – Even Riyadh/Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz/August 05/2019
The Green New Deal: Poverty for Everyone!/Eric Rozenman/Gatestone Institute/August 05/2019
Iran brings drones to two redeployments near Syria-Israel border/DEBKAfile/August 05/2019
Russia, Turkey, Iran: Adversaries of the West's NATO Alliance/Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/August 05/2019
Canada should look into its own backyard before preaching to others/William Neal/Arab News/August 05, 2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on August 04-05/2019
They distort and prostitute freedom to promote for immorality, defilement and atheism
Elias Bejjani/August 04/2019
Currently, in our beloved Lebanon, the actual and Godly concept of freedom is derailed, distorted and deformed by thugs, Dhimmitudians, Leftist atheists, and those who are fully ignorant of the teachings of the gospel. They are vulgarly and with no shame promoting and advocating for immorality, defilement and atheism under the tag of freedom.

Presidential Sources: Jumblatt Aims to Paralyze Lebanon's Government
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 05/2019
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The Progressive Socialist Party is expected to hold a press conference on Tuesday to reveal a judicial interference in a deadly shooting in the Aley village of Qabr Shmoun as ministerial sources close to the president accused PSP chief Walid Jumblatt of seeking to paralyze the government. “Results of the investigations show that several PSP officials are directly involved in the shooting,” the sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. “The PSP leader asked to meet the ambassadors of several major powers at the headquarters of a European embassy in Beirut to brief the diplomats on his version of the Qabr Shmoun incident,” the source said, adding that Jumblatt told the ambassadors he was being subjected to a campaign to isolate him. The ministerial sources said that Jumblatt insists on not referring the Qabr Shmoun case to the Justice Council. On Sunday, Industry Minister Wael Abou Faour, who represents the PSP in the cabinet, said that during next Tuesday’s press conference, his party would inform the public about blatant interference in the judiciary by some people who pledged to protect the Constitution. The Lebanese government has been paralyzed since last month over the June 30 clashes that left two aides to Minister of State for Refugee Affairs Saleh Gharib dead in the Aley town of Qabr Shmoun. Efforts to mediate a way out of the standoff are deadlocked over which court should hear the case. Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan has called for referring it to the Judicial Council, a specialized court that handles highly sensitive security issues. Gharib is an LDP member. On Friday, President Michel Aoun telephoned Prime Minister Saad Hariri, asking him to call for a cabinet session as soon as possible, igniting a silent crisis between the two authorities over constitutional powers.

Aoun meets former ministers Shamseddine, Qortbawi
NNA - Mon 05 Aug 2019
President Michel Aoun met Monday at Baabda palace with former minister Ibrahim Shamesddine over the latest local and regional developments. Aoun later received former minister Shakib Qortbawi with whom he discussed an array of current affairs.

Qabrshmoun Suspects Appear before Judge, Get Arrest Warrants
Naharnet/August 05/2019
Four suspects detained in connection with the deadly Qabrshmoun incident appeared Monday before Military Examining Magistrate Marcel Bassil. The National News Agency said the four detainees were not interrogated by Bassil after they asked for a grace period to appoint defense lawyers. “It was decided to grant them a 24-hour grace period and arrest warrants were issued against them as per the charges brought against them,” NNA added.

Raad Meets Berri, Says Political Situation 'Needs Prayer'
Naharnet/August 05/2019
MP Mohammed Raad, the head of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc, held talks Monday in Ain el-Tineh with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. LBCI television said the discussions tackled “the latest developments.” Asked whether the political deadlock is headed for a solution, Raad told reporters: “We need prayer.”The Cabinet has not convened for several weeks now in connection with the political standoff over the deadly Qabrshmoun incident. Several initiatives to resolve the crisis have been rejected by the feuding parties.

Report: Govt. Stalemate Awaiting Berri’s Initiative
Naharnet/August 05/2019
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The repercussions of the deadly Qabrshmoun incident raise fears of an aggravating political crisis in light of failed attempts to resolve the issue that suspended cabinet meetings since July 2, amid Speaker Nabih Berri’s initiative to resolve the stalemate. The cabinet paralysis has taken a toll on the financial and economic levels, said An Nahar newspaper, adding to a new tension arising between Baabda Palace (President Michel Aoun) and the Grand Serail (PM Saad Hariri) against the background of Aoun urging Hariri to call for a cabinet session as soon as possible. The President’s call sparked a new row over constitutional powers of the president and prime minister as stipulated in the 1989 Taef Accord. The Premier’s al-Mustaqbal Movement defended the premier’s right in convening the cabinet. A ministerial source who spoke on condition of anonymity told Saudi Asharq al-Awsat daily that “Hariri is keen on convening the cabinet since it falls in his interest to reactivate the government work.” But added that “reaching a comprehensive reconciliation ahead of cabinet meeting is preferable to counter any political clash inside the cabinet.”The source added that Speaker Nabih Berri believes a “reconciliation (between the Progressive Socialist Party and Lebanese Democratic Party) is a compulsory corridor,” before the cabinet convenes. The pan-Arab al-Hayat daily quoted unnamed sources as saying that “efforts are underway focusing on the initiative put forward by Berri and that will focus on three solution routes: the judicial, security and political. It also focuses on pushing for a government session without including the Qabrshmoun incident on the agenda.”Sources of Hariri said they pin hopes on the initiative of Berri to reconcile between the PSP of ex-MP Walid Jumblat and the LDP of MP Talal Arslan, and to facilitate a cabinet meeting. Moreover, PSP sources said they “insist that a representative of Hizbullah participates in the reconciliation with the Lebanese Democratic Party so that we can reconcile with the original and not with the agent.”

Report: Hariri’s Adviser Discussed Lebanon's Situation with Bogdanov
Naharnet/August 05/2019
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Bogdanov received on Saturday George Shaaban, Prime Minister Saad Hariri's adviser for Russian affairs, the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily said on Monday. The daily said that Shaaban's visit to Moscow comes in the context of foreign contacts being conducted by Hariri on the situation in Lebanon with key countries and permanent members of the Security Council to explain the developments in Lebanon. Sources following up on these contacts did not rule out the possibility of Hariri visiting several “decision making” countries, including Moscow in light of accelerating regional developments affecting Lebanon, added the daily. The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that Shaaban-Bogdanov discussions highlighted the developments in Lebanon from various political and economic aspects.
The statement affirmed Russia’s “support for Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence and unity, and for the efforts exerted by its government led by Prime Minister Saad Hariri.”Al-Hayat added that discussions also tackled the “practical steps to develop the Russian-Lebanese relations in various fields for the benefit of the two countries.”

Bou Saab Says ‘Won’t Allow’ any Meddling in Judiciary
Naharnet/August 05/2019
Minister of Defense Elias Bou Saab said that any attempt to interfere in the judicial affairs will not be tolerated, renewing trust in Lebanon's judicial system, the National News Agency reported on Monday. “We have learnt from President Michel Aoun not to meddle in (the state’s) institutions. We do believe in the judicial system and the state. We will not let anybody interfere,” said Bou Saab in remarks at the inauguration ceremony of the Army Square in Kerserwan’s Qattine-Harharaya region. "My role is to protect the judges who have been under threat but who fear nothing today for we are in a strong state under a strong tenure,” the Minister said. Bou Saad was referring to the Qabrshmoun case that triggered controversy between political parties over its referral to the Judicial Court.

Bassil: Everyone in Lebanon is Hizbullah Partner
Naharnet/August 05/2019
Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil has noted that “everyone in Lebanon is a partner of Hizbullah,” not only the FPM. Admitting that his movement’s alliance with the Iran-backed party has been “costly,” Bassil told Euronews: “Our partnership with Hizbullah has been costly at the popular and diplomatic levels, but we have gained Lebanon’s stability and unity, because Hizbullah is a part of a people and not an armed group.”“This partnership is not limited to the FPM, seeing as everyone in Lebanon is a partner of Hizbullah, as proved by the presence of a national unity government,” Bassil added, pointing out that “we have no other choice but civil war.”“We can’t accept the classification of Hizbullah as a terrorist organization, as designated by Washington and one can’t compare between Hizbullah and the other groups that entered into the conflict arena in Syria,” the FPM chief went on to say.
Bassil also said that the U.S. sanctions on Hizbullah are harmful to Lebanon and that the Lebanese government is exerting efforts to have them lifted. Separately, Bassil acknowledged that Lebanon is reeling from a “severe” economic crisis but reassured that “the country is not on the brink of bankruptcy and collapse thanks to an adopted economic plan that has started to yield results through the decrease in the treasury’s deficit.”

Berri chairs dialogue table in support of industrial sector, says continuing status quo keeps Lebanon distorted
NNA - Mon 05 Aug 2019
Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, on Monday stressed the fact that a rise in investments, industry, agriculture, tourism, or economy was farfetched without political and security stability. "The continuation of the current situation keeps 'war disfigured' Lebanon waiting on the pavement of international institutions and outside the doors of donor countries, renewing loans and donations," Berri warned. The House Speaker's fresh stance came during his chairmanship of a dialogue session in support of the Lebanese industry, as part of a campaign launched by Annahar newspaper in cooperation with Minister of Industry, Wael Abu Faour. "We are going through a very dangerous phase, which we hope will end very soon," Berri said, congratulating the newspaper and its employees marking its 87th anniversary.

US Ambassador meets Frangieh, attends Ehdeniyat Festival 2019
NNA - Mon 05 Aug 2019
Marada Movement leader, Sleiman Frangieh, and his wife, Rima Frangieh, welcomed US Ambassador to Lebanon, Elizabeth Richard, on Sunday evening at Frangieh's palace in Ehden. Talks reportedly touched on the general situation in Lebanon at the political, economic, and social levels. The US diplomat took part in the Ehdeniyat Festival 2019, at the invitation of Marada Movement leader, and she expressed high appreciation of the audience's interaction with the festival.

Guidanian says Lebanon recording tourism growth despite security, political obstacles
NNA - Mon 05 Aug 2019
The Ministry of Tourism on Monday issued its tourism statistics for the month of July and reported a growth rate of 7.06% in the number of arriving tourists in comparison to July 2018, and has recorded an increase of 8% during the first seven months of this year in comparison to the same period last year.
"This growth would have been better had it not been for the security and political hurdles that shook the country last month, and thus affected the influx of tourists and reservations," Tourism Minister Avedis Guidanian said. "In terms of figures, hotel occupancy in Beirut ranged from 70 to 80 percent in July, and the percentage outside Beirut has reached 45 and 50 percent. "The first seven months of this year registered a growth rate of 8 percent in comparison to the same period last year, which means that we exceeded last year's figures by an increase of 90,000 from different nationalities," he said. It is to mention that the aforementioned statistics exclude Lebanese expatriates, Syrians, and Palestinians.

No resolution in sight for Lebanon's government crisis
جورجي عازار/النهار: لا حل بالمدى المنظور للأزمة الحكومية في لبنان
Georgi Azar/Annahar/ August 05/2019
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Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who solely has the authority to set a meeting, has shown restraint for fear of further division if a political agreement isn't reached.
BEIRUT: With the government deadlock entering its second month, President Michel Aoun is still adamant in attempting to convene the Cabinet despite the lack of a political resolution to the conflict. Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who solely has the authority to set a meeting, has shown restraint for fear of further division if a political agreement isn't reached.  The premier had sought to forge a reconciliation between Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt and his Druze rival, Lebanese Democratic Party head Talal Arslan, but has seen his efforts flounder in the midst of increasing political bickering and infighting.
The conflict has pitted the Lebanese Democratic Party, Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah against the Progressive Socialist Party and its allies, the Lebanese Forces and Future Movement.Arslan, along with the FPM and Hezbollah, has insisted on including the issue on the Cabinet's agenda, which would be  followed by a vote on whether to refer the case to the Judicial Council, Lebanon's highest court tasked with taking on sensitive affairs. Jumblatt and his allies, however, continue to voice their rejection.
Over the weekend, Aoun labeled the Qabrshamoun incident as an ambush aimed at Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, further stoking tensions as Lebanon's economic uncertainty continues to make headlines. Voice recordings and confessions obtained during the investigation of 21 individuals show "detailed instructions, including ordering the use of weapons to block the convoy of Bassil from reaching Kfar Matta" on June 30, sources close to the president said. "State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib can pass but others cannot," a PSP leader told supporters, according to sources close to the president's office, who have also stated that PSP affiliates in the region were supplied with “boxes of tomatoes and eggs,” believed to be code names for ammunition.
Following an investigation carried by out by Lebanon's security agency, the case was then referred to the Military Tribunal which has filed complaints against 21 suspects. Meanwhile, Jumblatt has attempted to cast doubt on the neutrality of the Military Tribunal, accusing the president of piling pressure on the judges presiding over the case and accusing his allies of fabricating evidence.  In response, sources close to the president have labeled this campaign as an attempt to "divert attention from what really happened in Qabr Shamoun and mislead the public."Jumblatt, who has feuded with both the President and his son in law and Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil, held a meeting with European ambassadors and envoys over the weekend, with sources labeling the sit down as an attempt to gather support and political protection. "Jumblatt is portraying himself as a victim who is being isolated," sources said, accusing him of "doubling down on his stance and rejecting all initiatives that seek to solve the crisis." Lebanon's government has been paralyzed since gunmen affiliated with the PSP opened fire on Gharib's convoy in the village of Qabrshamoun, killing two of his bodyguards.
The convoy was clearing the way for Bassil, who was scheduled for a visit to the nearby village of Kafar Matta.

Health Check: why swimming in the sea is good for you
NNA - 05 August/ 2019
If you live near the sea, make frequent trips to the beach, or are planning an island holiday this summer, chances are you're getting more out of it than just enjoyment. It has long been thought sea frolicking has many health benefits. Historically, doctors would recommend their patients go to the seaside to improve various ills. They would actually issue prescriptions detailing exactly how long, how often and under what conditions their patients were to be in the water. Using seawater for medical purposes even has a name: thalassotherapy. In 1769, a popular British doctor Richard Russell published a dissertation arguing for using seawater in "diseases of the glands", in which he included scurvy, jaundice, leprosy and glandular consumption, which was the name for glandular fever at the time. He advocated drinking seawater as well as swimming in it.
To this day, healing and spa resorts by the seaside abound. They are thought of as places where people can not only let go of their troubles but, in some cases, even cure arthritis.
But does the evidence actually stack up? Does seawater cure skin conditions and improve mental health symptoms?
Ocean water differs from river water in that it has significantly higher amounts of minerals, including sodium, chloride, sulphate, magnesium and calcium. This is why it's highly useful for skin conditions such as psoriasis. Psoriasis is a chronic, autoimmune (where the immune system attacks healthy cells) skin condition. People with prosiasis suffer often debilitating skin rashes made of itchy, scaly plaques. Bathing in natural mineral-rich water, including in mineral springs, is called balneotherapy and has long been used to treat psoriasis. There is also evidence for climatotherapy (where a patient is relocated to a specific location for treatment) in the Dead Sea being an effective remedyfor the condition. Nasal irrigation, or flushing of the nasal cavity, with salty solutions is used as a complementary therapy by many people suffering from hay fever as well as inflammation and infection of the sinuses.
Ocean swimming and exposure to the salt environment are possibly associated with reduced symptoms of hay fever and sinusitis, as well as other respiratory symptoms. This is because the saline effect on the lining of sinuses may reduce inflammation, although scientific evidence for this is less robust. Exercising in natural environments has been shown to have greater benefits for mental health than exercising elsewhere. This is because it combines the benefits of exercise with the restorative effects of being in nature. Swimming in the ocean is no less the case. It can be relaxing, meditative and reduce stress. In his 2014 book Blue Mind, marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols brought together evidence for why people find themselves in a meditative and relaxed state when they are in, on or under water. One reason is the breathing patterns used during swimming and diving. These stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system (the system that controls organ function and quietens the brain) and have effects on brain waves and hormones that influence the brain positively. The weightlessness of water can also have a calming effect on the mind, even changing or slowing down brain waves.
It can help provide a distraction from life, giving a sense of mindfulness, which is a state in which one is aware of one's surroundings in a meditative sort of fashion. Hydrotherapy (water therapy) and swimming have also been shown to decrease symptoms of depression and anxiety. One study showed the effects of balneotherapy were comparable to a commonly used anti-depressant drug called paroxetine. Hydrotherapy has been extensively used in rehabilitation, but here I will focus on the health benefits of swimming in cooler ocean water. Cold-water swimming activates temperature receptors under the skin that release hormones such as endorphins, adrenalin and cortisol. These have therapeutic benefits for musculoskeletal conditions - such as fibromyalgia, which is a condition with chronic pain and tenderness all over the body - and skin discomfort.
Recurrent cold water exposure may also lead to enhanced function of the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps with organ function. This has been linked to an increase in the release of dopamine and serotonin. Depending on the temperature, swimming in colder waters will use up more calories to preserve body temperature - although the overall effect on fat mass is controversial. Frequent exposure to cold water has also been shown to increase the body's immunity. Overall, you would be wise to make ocean swimming a health habit.--The Conversation

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 04-05/2019
Iran thinks it can do whatever it wants in the Gulf - analysis
Jerusalem Post/August 05/2019
Tehran has read the American playbook and through its recent actions is attempting to assert power in the Persian Gulf, power beyond just the areas controlled by its coastal waters.
A Nour missile is test fired off Iran's first domestically made destroyer,  Iran said that it seized another ship on Sunday – an oil tanker it accused of smuggling oil from Iraq. Tehran has also mocked America's attempt to create an international coalition to protect shipping in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. In short, Iran’s message is: We can do whatever we want in our Gulf and Strait.  This is a far cry from the early days of May when the US warned Tehran against any provocations and threatened “unrelenting force.” Instead Washington has been cautious in its response. First came the sabotage of four tankers in May 12 and then the attack on two more on June 13, rockets fired near US bases in Iraq in mid-June, the downing of the US drone on June 20, harassment of a British oil tanker on July 11, capture of the tanker Riah on July 13 and the capture of a British tanker on July 19, as well as the recent seizing of another tanker on August 4. Iran would argue that all of these incidents are responses, or deny that it had even carried out some of them. But it increasingly appears that the Islamic republic is involved not only in the attacks in Iraq, but also attacks in Saudi Arabia and against the tankers. But the real message is that Iran can do what it wants, and there is no “unrelenting” response. In fact, there is little response. The US has said that sanctions are breaking Iran and that it is facing “relentless” pressure. Iran says it faces “economic terrorism” and accuses the US and UK, as well as others, of working against it. Iran is scrapping parts of the nuclear deal in response. But its real message is closer to home. Iran knows that no country has the stomach for a conflict with it, and most won’t join a US coalition in the Gulf. It also knows that the UK wants de-escalation amid the Brexit crisis and that US President Donald Trump does not want war.
Tehran has read the American playbook and, through its recent actions, is attempting to assert power in the Persian Gulf: power not just in the areas controlled by its coastal waters, but real power – to show that it is the only one that guarantees security in the Gulf.
Iran has said as much and wants to show that this is the case. Yet it holds out a fig leaf about peace to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Javad Zarif, who was sanctioned by the US last week, has reached out to Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. The UAE appears to be reciprocating, with one Emirati minister indicating that both Gulf countries want diplomacy over conflict.

UK Joins U.S. in Gulf Mission after Iran Taunts
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 05/2019
Britain said Monday it will join forces with the United States to protect merchant vessels in the Gulf amid heightened tensions with Iran, after Tehran taunted Washington that its allies were too "ashamed" to join the mission. Britain's decision to form the joint maritime taskforce with the United States marks a departure in policy under new Prime Minister Boris Johnson, after efforts under his predecessor Theresa May to form a European-led grouping. It follows a spate of incidents -- including the seizure of ships -- between Iran and Western powers, in particular Britain and the U.S., centered on the vital Strait of Hormuz thoroughfare. "The UK is determined to ensure her shipping is protected from unlawful threats, and for that reason we have today joined the new maritime security mission in the Gulf," Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement. The announcement from Britain's defense ministry did not detail which, if any, other countries would be joining the new naval coalition. Britain was also at pains to stress that it had not changed its broader policy towards Tehran. "We remain committed to working with Iran and our international partners to de-escalate the situation and maintain the nuclear deal," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said. The announcement came hours after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Washington was increasingly isolated in its hardline stance against Tehran and its allies were too "ashamed" to join its forces in the Gulf. He also dismissed U.S. calls for talks as a sham, confirming he had turned down an offer to meet President Donald Trump last month despite the threat of U.S. sanctions against him. "Today the United States is alone in the world and cannot create a coalition," he said. "Friendly countries are too ashamed of being in a coalition with them," Zarif told a news conference, saying they had "brought this situation upon themselves, with law-breaking, by creating tensions and crises."
Germany 'not in favor'
Tehran and Washington have been locked in a battle of nerves since last year when Trump withdrew the U.S. from a landmark 2015 deal placing curbs on Iran's nuclear program and began reimposing sanctions. Tensions have spiked since the Trump administration began stepping up a campaign of "maximum pressure" against Iran. Drones have been downed and tankers seized by Iranian authorities or mysteriously attacked in Gulf waters, while Britain has detained an Iranian tanker off Gibraltar. At the height of the crisis, Trump called off air strikes against Iran at the last minute in June after the Islamic republic's forces shot down a U.S. drone. Iran said on Sunday its forces had seized a "foreign" tanker carrying smuggled fuel in what would be the third such seizure in less than a month in Gulf waters -- a conduit for much of the world's crude oil. Last month the Guards said they had impounded the Panama-flagged MT Riah for alleged fuel smuggling as well as the British-flagged Stena Impero for breaking "international maritime rules". In response to such incidents, the U.S. has been seeking to form a coalition -- dubbed Operation Sentinel -- to guarantee freedom of navigation in the Gulf. Last month Britain, while still led by former prime minister May, proposed a European-led maritime protection force.  But both plans struggled to find partners, with European countries believed to be reluctant to be dragged into a conflict.
Germany said Monday it was currently "not in favor" of joining an American-led coalition.
'Left the table'
Meanwhile the U.S. continues to target Iran economically, while holding out the prospect of possible talks. It imposed sanctions against Zarif on Wednesday --under the same sanctions already applied to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- targeting any assets he has in America and squeezing his ability to travel. Meanwhile however the New Yorker magazine reported that Senator Rand Paul had met Zarif in the US on July 15 and had Trump's blessing when he invited the Iranian minister to go to the White House. Zarif dismissed as disingenuous U.S. "claims" it wants dialogue. "They were the ones who left the table... Who do they want to negotiate with?" he said. But Zarif did not rule out talks in the future, saying: "Even in times of war negotiations will exist."

Zarif Says US Can't Build Gulf Naval Coalition
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 5 August, 2019
Washington is unable to build a naval coalition to escort tankers in the Gulf because its allies are too "ashamed" to join it, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday, lambasting recent US financial sanctions against him as a "failure" for diplomacy. "Today the United States in alone in the world and cannot create a coalition. Countries that are its friends are too ashamed of being in a coalition with them," Zarif told a news conference in Tehran. "They brought this situation upon themselves, with lawbreaking, by creating tensions and crises,” Agence France Presse quoted him as saying. Iran and the United States have been locked in a battle of nerves since May 2018 when President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 deal placing limits on Iran's nuclear program and began reimposing sanctions. Tensions soared after the Trump administration stepped up a US campaign of "maximum pressure" against Iran, with drones downed and tankers mysteriously attacked in Gulf waters. In response, the United States has been seeking to form a coalition whose mission -- dubbed Operation Sentinel -- it says is to guarantee freedom of navigation in the strategic Gulf waters.
Asked on Monday about reports that he had been invited to meet Trump in the White House, Zarif said he had turned it down despite the threat of sanctions against him. The United States imposed sanctions against Zarif on Wednesday, targeting any assets he has in America and squeezing his ability to function as a globe-trotting diplomat. "Sanctioning a foreign minister means failure in talks," Zarif said.  He reiterated that European powers still party to the nuclear deal should accelerate efforts to salvage it, though Iran would leave the pact if necessary. Zarif's press conference came a day after Iran announced its forces had seized a foreign ship in the Arabian Gulf allegedly carrying smuggled fuel. It was the Revolutionary Guard's third seizure of a vessel in recent weeks.

Netanyahu Comes Under Fire for Party 'Loyalty Pledge'
Tel Aviv/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 5 August, 2019
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced harsh criticism and mockery Monday by election rivals and a former cabinet colleague after members of his Likud party were asked to pledge support for his leadership. The request for Likud politicians to pledge to support Netanyahu as prime minister after September 17 elections came with rivals in the opposition calling on members of his party to ditch him. His opponents went as far as to accuse Netanyahu of engaging in "North Korea"-like tactics due to what some were labeling a loyalty pledge. The veteran premier is engaged in a tough re-election campaign while facing the possibility of being indicted for corruption in the months ahead. He failed to form a governing coalition after April polls despite his Likud along with its right-wing and religious allies winning a majority of seats. The main opposition Blue and White alliance has called on Likud to abandon Netanyahu and form a unity government with them. At the weekend, former defense minister Avigdor Lieberman, of the hardline Yisrael Beitenu party, warned that the next vote has to produce a government, and if Netanyahu cannot do the job another Likud MP should step forward. With Likud accusing Lieberman of trying to encourage rebels, Netanyahu loyalist David Bitan on Sunday enlisted the top 40 party candidates to sign up to a document saying that they would support only Netanyahu in the next coalition-building attempt. "Prime minister and Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu is the only Likud candidate for prime minister -- and there will be no other candidate," said the pledge distributed by Likud. Moshe Yaalon of the centrist Blue and White was among opponents likening the Netanyahu government to that of Kim Jong Un. "It reminds me of the North Korean requirement for every citizen and tourist to make deep bows before every statue of the leader," he wrote on Twitter. Netanyahu snapped back on social media that Likud chose its leader and electoral candidates in democratically run primaries. "Are there primaries in North Korea? There are none," he wrote, pointing out that Yaalon's Blue and White did not hold primaries. Netanyahu biographer and fierce critic Ben Caspit wrote Monday in Maariv newspaper that "Bibi", as he is widely known, is smart enough to know that Likud members' pledges will have no value if it becomes clear he is a lame duck. "Once he fails to put them in power, they will recalculate their course," he wrote. Another blow was delivered by former Likud cabinet minister Limor Livnat, once one of Netanyahu's most stalwart supporters, in a commentary in Yedioth Aharonot newspaper addressed to Likud members. "It´s good that you signed," she wrote. "Actually, you had no choice.""What will happen afterwards? Well, that is a different story."

Sarraj’s Government Bans UN Envoy from Using Zuwarah Airport
Cairo - Khalid Mahmoud/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 5 August, 2019
For the first time since assuming his position as the sixth UN Envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame was banned by Fayez al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) from using Zuwarah International Airport in the country’s west. No official comment was made by the UN envoy regarding the ban, yet pro-government media revealed that the envoy informed the airport’s administration that the mission’s employees would stop using it. In televised statements, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport Hisham Bushkiwat said Saturday that no landing permit would be given to Salame's airplane at the facility, saying his plane should land at Mitiga International Airport, the only airport operating in Tripoli. Earlier, Bushkiwat called on Salame to visit Mitiga airport along with his deputy to confirm that it is being used for civil purposes only, unlike his briefings to the Security Council.
Meanwhile, pro-Sarraj militias demanded Salame to apologize for his controversial reading to the Council on Monday regarding the political and military situation in Libya. The Counter-Terrorism Force expressed its firm rejection to the envoy’s statements with respect to extremists fighting in the ranks of Sarraj's forces in Tripoli, demanding an apology. Days earlier, Sarraj announced that he summoned Salame and handed him a memorandum to object fallacies in his reading on the situation in Libya. In his reading, Salame called on the authorities in Tripoli to stop using the airport for military purposes, and the attacking forces to stop targeting it – hinting to the forces loyal to Libyan National Army (LNA) leader Khalifa Haftar. He also spoke about uncertain claims of violations against human rights in Garyan, after Haftar’s forces laid hands on it.

Arab States Welcome Sudan’s Agreement on Constitutional Document
Cairo, Jeddah – Sawsan Abu Hussein/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 5 August, 2019
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Bahrain and GCC, Arab and Islamic organizations welcomed the agreement reached on the constitutional document between Sudan's Transitional Military Council (TMC) and Forces of Freedom and Change in Sudan. Saudi Arabia praised the qualitative step, saying it will move the country towards security, peace and stability. The Kingdom commended efforts exerted by all parties to give priority to the national interest and open a new chapter in the country's history, according to a source at the Foreign Ministry. The source reiterated the Kingdom's full commitment to support Sudan stemming from the close ties between the two countries and peoples. Egypt also welcomed on Sunday the agreement for a new period of the transitional government, describing the deal as an important step to achieving security and stability in Sudan.
The Foreign Ministry asserted its full support to the choices and aspirations of the Sudanese people as well as the state institutions. Recent steps that were taken in Sudan, including the agreement on the constitutional declaration and the agreement to form a civilian government, prove that Sudan is back on the constitutional path, read the statement, noting that the suspension of Sudan's membership in the African Union should be lifted. Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the initial signing of the constitutional declaration, underlining the importance of the step in further establishing peace and stability in the country and realizing the aspirations of the Sudanese people in achieving progress and prosperity. Bahrain appreciated the keenness of all parties on protecting the greater interest and for the efforts exerted to reach this agreement, according to the statement. The Ministry reiterated Bahrain’s firm stance of solidarity with Sudan, especially during this crucial stage in history and its support for all that enhances Sudan’s interests and benefits its people.
For his part, UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said Sudan was turning over the page of the former regime and Muslim Brotherhood. “Sudan is turning the page of the rule of Al-Bashir and the Muslim Brotherhood into a new era in its political history by turning to civil rule,” Gargash said on Twitter. The Minister noted that the path to a state of institutions, stability and prosperity will not be filled with roses, asserting UAE’s confidence in Sudan and its people. Also, GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif al-Zayani praised the signing of the constitutional document saying it is an important historic step to establish stability, security and peace in Sudan. Zayani called upon the Sudanese people and all national forces to strengthen confidence and consensus, unite ranks and efforts, uphold national unity and embark on building a democratic and civil state in accordance with the principles of justice to achieve the aspirations of the Sudanese people. OIC Secretary-General Yousef al-Othaimeen also welcomed the signing between the TMC and the Forces, which paves the way for handing over the administration of the country to a transitional civilian government. Othaimeen stressed that this agreement is an important step in the course of the political process and the fulfillment of the requirements of the transitional period. The Sec-Gen reiterated that OIC stands by Sudan at this delicate stage to achieve the aspirations of its people for security, peace, stability and development.

Coalition Downs Houthi Drones Targeting Saudi Civilian Airports
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 5 August, 2019
The Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen said it intercepted on Monday Houthi drones targeting civilian airports in Saudi Arabia. The Coalition, in a statement published on the Saudi Press Agency, accused the Iran-backed militias of violating international law, saying attacks on civilian airports are considered “war crimes.”According to SPA, Spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki reiterated that the Coalition will continue to carry out deterrence measures against the terrorists to limit their capabilities in line with international humanitarian law.

Syrian Regime Resumes Idlib Airstrikes after Scrapping Ceasefire
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 05/2019
Damascus resumed air strikes on northwest Syria Monday, a war monitor said, scrapping a ceasefire for the jihadist-run bastion and accusing rebels of targeting an airbase of its ally Russia. "Regime warplanes launched their first air strikes on the town of Khan Sheikhun in Idlib's southern countryside" since late Thursday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The bombardment came minutes after Syria's army said it would resume operations against the Idlib region, just days after it agreed to a truce ending months of deadly bombardment. "Armed terrorist groups, backed by Turkey, refused to abide by the ceasefire and launched many attacks on civilians in surrounding areas," state news agency SANA reported Syria's military as saying, referring to jihadists and rebels. "The armed forces will resume their military operations against terrorists," it said, ending a truce that came into effect on Friday.
Minutes later, Damascus said rebel fire hit near a key Russian air base.
"Terrorist groups targeted the Hmeimim air base with a flurry of rockets that fell near the airbase and caused great human and material losses," SANA reported a military source as saying. Most of Idlib province and parts of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia -- which currently hosts some three million residents -- are controlled by former Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The region is supposed to be protected from a massive government offensive by a Turkish-Russian buffer-zone deal that was reached in September last year, but it has come under increasing fire by Damascus and its backer Moscow since the end of April. The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accused Turkey of dragging its feet in implementing the deal, which provided for a buffer zone of up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) between the two sides, free of heavy and medium-sized weaponry. On Monday, the Syrian army said it would resume bombardment because last week's truce had been "conditional" on Ankara implementing the buffer zone, according to SANA. It accused Ankara of "failing to meet its obligations" by allowing armed groups to continue carrying out attacks, SANA said. Air strikes on the Idlib region had stopped on Friday after the government's truce announcement. Fighting since late April has killed 790 civilians in regime and Russian attacks, according to the Observatory. Fighting over the same period has claimed the lives of nearly two thousand combatants, including 900 regime loyalists, the monitor says. Around 400,000 people have been displaced and dozens of hospitals and schools damaged, according to the United Nations. Syria's conflict has killed more than 370,000 people and driven millions from their homes since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.

Centuries-old Bazaar in Syria's Aleppo Making Slow Recovery
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 5 August, 2019
Bit by bit, Aleppo's centuries-old bazaar is being rebuilt as Syrians try to restore one of their historical crown jewels, devastated during years of brutal fighting for control of the city. The historic Old City at the center of Aleppo saw some of the worst battles of Syria's eight-year civil war. The bazaar, a network of covered markets, or souks, dating as far back as the 1300s and running through the Old City, was severely damaged, nearly a third of it completely destroyed. Most of it remains that way: blasted domes, mangled metal and shops without walls or roofs, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
But planners are hoping that by rebuilding segments of the bazaar and getting some shops back open, eventually they re-inject life into the markets. Before the war, the historic location drew in Syrians and tourists, shopping for food, spices, cloth, soap made from olive oil and other handicrafts.
The latest to be renovated is al-Saqatiyah Market, a cobblestone alley covered with arches and domes dotted with openings to let in shafts of sunlight. Along it are 53 shops, mostly butchers and shops selling nuts and dried goods. This souk had seen relatively less damage, and the $400,000 renovation took around eight months, with funding from the Aga Khan Foundation. One butcher, Saleh Abu Dan, has been closed up since the summer of 2012. Now he's getting ready to open again in the next few weeks. He said he's happy with the renovation, which added a solar power electrical system, though he still needs to spend about $2,000 to fix his refrigerator and buy a new grill and meat grinder. "I inherited this shop from my grandfather and father and I hope that my grandchildren will work here," he said. The market's official inauguration is scheduled for later this month. But rebuilding is one step — bringing life back is another. Al-Saqatiyah is the third souk to be rebuilt in Aleppo, after the Khan al-Gumruk and the copper market. A year after their reopening, both those souks still struggle to attract customers. Most days they are largely empty. "I open for few hours a day but rarely sell anything," mourned the owner of a cloth shop in Khan al-Gumruk. Many of the customers who used to throng the markets before the war have either left the country or got used to shopping in other parts of the city since business stopped in old Aleppo. Getting into the opened markets in the souk today is still difficult as many of the alleys are closed and deserted. Aleppo, Syria's largest city, was the country's main commercial center before the war. Reconstruction of its devastated eastern sector has hardly begun. Basel al-Dhaher, the architect who led renovation of al-Saqatiyah market, said it will take tens of millions of dollars to rebuild the entire bazaar. Western sanctions that block money transfers to and from Syria are delaying work, he said, according to AP. He said al-Saqatiyah was chosen for renovation because the work could be finished quickly and inspire others to rebuild in other parts of the bazaar. Some shopkeepers are hopeful that strategy can work. In the copper market, Ahmad Zuhdi Ghazoul used his hammer to gently tap an embossed decoration into a copper piece. Across the alley, workers were fixing the ceilings in two other shops. "Thank God they are all coming back to renovate," said Ghazoul, who has been a copper worker for three decades. "Business will be stronger than before."

Nothing but Blood': Woman Cartoonist Draws Syria's Idlib
London/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 5 August, 2019
Bent over a computer tablet in war-torn northwest Syria, cartoonist Amani al-Ali takes her pen to the screen to sketch life in the embattled opposition bastion of Idlib. "I'm trying to get across what others struggle to say," said the 30-year-old artist, dressed in a long red jacket and lacey white headscarf. Idlib, a militant-run region of three million people, has come under increasing bombardment by the regime and its Russian ally since late April despite a months-old truce deal. Through her cartoons, Ali has boldly challenged traditions to comment on life in the anti-regime bastion, and to condemn seeming international indifference to civilian deaths. In one, the world is depicted as an ostrich burying its head in a mound of blood-drenched skulls as red missiles rain down all around. In another, titled "Eid in Idlib", a warplane drops candy wrappers containing TNT, instead of the sweets usually distributed during the Muslim holiday. The sketches are etched out in black and white, with splashes of red, colors the artist says are inspired by life in the opposition stronghold. "We see nothing but blood, darkness, and destruction," she said. The spike in violence over the past three months has killed more than 790 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says, despite the truce deal struck by Russia and rebel backer Turkey. Ali has sketched this accord too, as a blood-stained paper bearing the words "the Idlib agreement".On Thursday, the Syrian government said it had agreed to a new truce, giving at least a temporary reprieve for Idlib's residents.
- 'Broke with customs' -
Though her cartoons have now been exhibited as far away as the Netherlands and United Kingdom, Ali had to study drawing on the sly growing up, because her father forbade it. "I consider myself to be a girl who broke with customs and tradition," Ali said. "I confronted my parents and managed to impose the life I wanted for myself."Her society, she said, frowned upon women who engaged in political satire through cartoons or art. Before civil war erupted in 2011, Ali worked as an art teacher at a private school in Idlib so she could "be close to the field that I love". But after the region fell to rebel forces, she "started a new life" as a cartoonist, often dabbling in satire to capture the reality of a war that has cost more than 370,000 lives and displaced millions across Syria. "I hope to convey even the smallest part of civilian suffering," she said. But beyond regime and Russian airstrikes, Ali has also criticized militants and rebels controlling Syria's northwest -- a daring move that has seen others detained or targeted. In November, fellow cartoonist, radio presenter and vocal activist Raed Fares was shot dead by unknown gunmen. In January, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham -- a group led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate -- took over full administrative control of Idlib.
Fans and enemies
Ali said she does not criticize HTS itself, but rather its behavior, especially when it mirrors that of the regime. "For eight years, we have been fighting to get rid of the habits and remnants of the regime," she said. But even now Idlib is outside government control, "some mistakes are still happening because of a lasting regime culture," she said. In one cartoon from last year, a bearded man in a short robe typical of ultra-conservatives inserts a giant syringe into another's ear to stuff his head with notions of what is "illicit", or religiously forbidden. In another, she criticizes overpriced higher education. Ali's work, she said, has earned her both fans and enemies. "Many people tell me I should be careful, that I don't know what I'm doing," she said. "The thing I hear most is that I'm a girl and I shouldn't be drawing such things."
But abroad, people are impressed. "During my exhibition in the UK, lots of British academics were surprised there was a girl doing drawings like this under HTS," she said. A new exhibition has opened in France and she may soon showcase her work in neighboring Turkey.
Though she is unlikely to attend either without the necessary visa to travel, she hopes both will help to bust stereotypes about women in northwest Syria. Women in Idlib are not "voiceless people who are unable to leave their houses and always clad in black", she said.
"Yes, there are certain limits, but we're resisting."

Qatar, Iran Hold Joint Coast Guard Meeting to Boost Field Cooperation
Dammam /Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 5 August, 2019
The 15th joint coast guard meeting between Iran and Qatar was held Sunday in Tehran to develop field cooperation and boost bilateral good-neighborly relations, according to Iranian media. The Iranian side was headed by Border Guard Commander Brigadier General Ghasem Rezaei and the Qatari delegation was headed by Lieutenant Colonel Abdulaziz Ali al-Mohannadi, assistant director-general of the country’s Coasts and Borders Security, according to IRNA. Ties between Iran and Qatar have been bolstered since the GCC decided to boycott Doha in June 2017 after accusing it of supporting terrorism. Last week, Tehran also received UAE Coast Guard Commander Brigadier General Mohammed Ali Musleh al-Ahbabi to discuss means of enhancing border security between the two countries. The two sides signed on Thursday a maritime border cooperation deal and agreed to hold meetings to discuss border cooperation every six months. Qatar-funded media has launched a propaganda campaign against UAE's effort to hold border cooperation talks with Iran. It exploited UAE's move to disrupt the Gulf alliance despite the official announcement by Abu Dhabi that its talks with Iran were routine and didn’t reflect any shift in regional policy.

Kuwaiti Government Denies Intention to Dissolve National Assembly
Kuwait - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 5 August, 2019
Kuwait’s government officially denied on Sunday reports about its intention to dissolve the National Assembly by February. It stressed that its relations with the legislative authority are based on cooperation. Government spokesman Tariq al-Mezrem has dismissed as “baseless” a press report about a ministerial committee’s recommendation for dissolving the National Assembly. “The report published by a local newspaper with a headline reading ‘Ministerial Report Recommends National Assembly’s Dissolution,’ is baseless and totally untrue,” Mezrem asserted in a press statement. He also stressed that the relations between the executive and legislative powers are based on cooperation with the separation of powers. He pointed out that the government is working during the parliamentary holiday to prepare its legislative agenda for the upcoming legislative term as requested by Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Hamad al-Sabah. Mezrem urged the media and press to pursue accuracy and to double check their information with official sources before publishing it.

Tunisia to Witness Promising Olive Harvest
Tunis – Mongi Saidani/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 5 August, 2019
Tunisia is expected to witness a promising olive harvest season this year with olive oil production reaching 350,000 tons, the Ministry of Agriculture has announced. These prospects would make Tunisia the world’s second top oil producer after Spain, having for years been among the top five, competing with Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal. Director General of Tunisia’s National Olive Oil Board, Chokri Bayoudh, said that during its recent meetings, the Board discussed mechanisms to support the quality and control the production of olive oil, further adjust the market and facilitate the access of exporters of olive oil and producers to state funding. The government continues to support the development of the industry by planting millions of olive trees to ensure Tunisia stays among the top international producers. However, there remain several obstacles, namely lack of workers in olive harvesting which usually runs for a short period between November and March. Last year, Tunisia’s olive oil production dropped to 140,000 tons, 117,000 of which were exported with a value of about $526 million, compared to a record high in 2017. During recent years, Tunisia's olive oil production reached 185,000 tons, however, it is expected to improve in the coming years to reach 230,000 tons at an annual rate. This will place Tunisia at a leading position among major international olive oil producers. The Tunisian olive oil production is a major contributor to the economy’s stabilization. Reduced olive oil exports have affected the food trade, which was about $226 million during the first half of the year. Production has improved globally this season among the largest producing countries except for Spain, showed figures. Tunisia’s National Observatory of Agriculture (ONAGRI) announced that olive oil production in Spain will reach 1.35 million tons during the coming season, compared to 1.77 million tons in the previous season. ONAGRI also noted that production in Italy will reach 270,000 tons and Greece 300,000 tons, marking an improvement compared to the previous season, and the rate in Portugal will reach 130,000 tons. These countries are among the most competitive with Tunisian olive oil in international markets.

Sisi Calls Deadly Car Blast 'Terrorist Incident'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 05/2019
A huge blast which killed 20 people in central Cairo was caused by a speeding car packed with explosives, Egyptian officials said Monday as the president decried a "terrorist incident."The car was driving against the traffic when it smashed into three other vehicles just before midnight Sunday evening, setting off a massive explosion just outside the country's National Cancer Institute.  Four of the 20 people killed remain unidentified, the health ministry said, while 47 others were wounded. Between "three and four (of the injured) are in critical condition in the intensive care unit," Khaled Megahed, a spokesman for the health ministry, told a press conference.He said they suffered from burns of varying degrees. Body parts were also retrieved from the scene, he added. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi described the blast as a "terrorist incident". In a social media post, he offered his condolences to the victims' families and the Egyptian people. The interior ministry said a technical inspection indicated "an amount of explosives was inside the car, which caused it to explode when it collided." Both the ministry and police said they suspected the Hasm group, an armed affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, of being behind the attack. Social media users posted footage of cars ablaze at the scene and of patients being evacuated from the Cancer Institute, which was severely damaged and charred in the explosion. Megahed said 78 cancer patients from the institute were moved to other hospitals to continue their treatment.

Trump Condemns Racism, White Supremacy after U.S. Mass Shootings
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 05/2019
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday told a nation mourning the death of 31 people in two weekend mass shootings that he rejected racism and white supremacist ideology, moving to blunt criticism that his anti-immigrant rhetoric fuels violence. As flags flew at half mast at the White House and across the country and the death toll edged up by two, Trump made an unusually direct condemnation of racists as he took on the role of consoler in chief. But as the country tried to digest weekend shootings that left 22 dead at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas and another nine outside a bar in Dayton, Ohio, Trump offered little in the way of new ideas for a country awash with guns and painfully accustomed to mass shootings. "Our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy," Trump said. He stressed that mental illness was the main culprit fueling mass shootings in America, as opposed to the ready availability of firearms or extremist thinking, as argued by gun control advocates. At the sites of America's latest massacres -- numbers 250 and 251 so far this year -- people came to honor the dead. Makeshift memorials with candles, flowers, heart-shaped balloons and posters with messages of condolence sprang up outside the Walmart in Texas and the Dayton bar. "You are loved," read an inscription on a small yellow cardboard heart placed outside the Ned Peppers Bar. Outside the Walmart store that was attacked Saturday, people paused to pay their respects at the memorial. Balloons shaped like stars -- Texas is the Lone Star State -- fluttered in the morning breeze. One poster read: "A date never to forget: August 3, 2019."
In his brief address, Trump made no mention of two ideas he had tweeted hours earlier: tightening background checks for gun buyers and linking gun control reform to changes in immigration law. The president did say he supported "red flag" laws allowing authorities to confiscate weapons from people believed to present grave risks. Many people were grateful that even more were not killed in Ohio. In Texas, 25 people were wounded, and another 26 were hurt in Ohio, where the shooter was killed in roughly 30 seconds by police who were patrolling nearby.
Two of those wounded in Texas died Monday.
- 100-round drum magazine -
Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl told a news conference Sunday that the quick police response was crucial, preventing the shooter from entering a bar where "there would have been... catastrophic injury and loss of life." Biehl said the shooter wore a mask and a bullet-proof vest and was armed with an assault rifle fitted with a 100-round drum magazine. Police named the gunman as a 24-year-old white man called Connor Betts and said his sister was among those killed. She had gone with him to the scene of the shootings. Police said Monday they had no evidence so far that race played a part in the Dayton shooting. In Texas, police said the suspect surrendered on a sidewalk near the scene of the massacre. He was described in media reports as a 21-year-old white man named Patrick Crusius. He was believed to have posted online a manifesto denouncing a "Hispanic invasion" of Texas. El Paso, on the border with Mexico, is majority Latino.
- 'Amplifying and condoning' hate -
Seven of those killed in the El Paso shooting were Mexican, the country's foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said Sunday. The manifesto posted shortly before the shooting also praises the killing of 51 Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in March. Police said the suspected shooter has been charged with capital murder and could face the death penalty, and a federal official said investigators are treating the El Paso shooting as a case of domestic terrorism. Despite a string of horrific mass shootings in the U.S., where gun culture is deep-rooted, efforts to strengthen firearms regulations remain divisive. The latest two shootings capped a particularly bloody week for gun violence: three people died in a shooting at a food festival last Sunday in California, and two more Tuesday in a shooting in a Walmart in Mississippi. On Twitter Saturday, Trump described the El Paso attack as "an act of cowardice." But critics said the president's habit of speaking in derogatory terms about immigrants is pushing hatred of foreigners into the political mainstream and encouraging white supremacism. "To pretend that his administration and the hateful rhetoric it spreads doesn't play a role in the kind of violence that we saw yesterday in El Paso is ignorant at best and irresponsible at worst," said the Southern Poverty Law Center, a major civil rights group.It cited Trump actions like calling Mexican migrants rapists and drug dealers and doing nothing when a crowd at a Trump rally chanted "send her back" in reference to a Somali-born congresswoman.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 04-05/2019
Hero or Villain: Is this the End of Zarif?
London - Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 05/2019
Hero or villain? The question is making the rounds in Tehran’s political circles with regard to controversial Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. The question has acquired new intensity thanks to a decision by the Trump administration in Washington to impose sanctions on Zarif.
Washington justifies its decision to sanction Zarif, which means excluding him from any future talks, by claiming that he is just an actor playing the role of foreign minister. Thus, the Trump administration intends not to repeat the mistake of previous presidents who did not understand the nature of the Iranian regime, a regime in which the formal government is no more than a façade for a “deep state” that operates in the dark.
Some American analysts believe that the Trump administration never trusted Zarif because of his close ties to the US Democratic Party under President Barack Obama. According to that view, Zarif helped Obama concoct the so-called “nuke deal” as the principal element in his presidential legacy.
However the talks that led to the deal stared two years before Zarif was named Foreign Minister on an initiative by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and approved by the “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei.
However, now that the agreement has all but collapsed, Khamenei is trying to shift the blame to President Hassan Rouhani and his team of which Zarif is a key member.
Rouhani, however, is implicitly blaming Khamenei for the failure of the “nuke deal” saga. In a speech last Thursday, he claimed that he had asked the “Supreme Guide” to grant him “full powers” with regard to negotiations with the US and the other 5+1 nations. Khamenei, however, refused the demand by insisting that “such a heavy responsibility” would be too much for Rouhani.
That Khamenei never trusted Zarif is no mystery. Iran’s policy regarding the Middle East was never entrusted to the foreign ministry as Khamenei fielded the Quds (Jerusalem Corps) and its chief Major-General Qassem Soleimani to advance the Islamic Republic’s interests in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, the GCC states, Yemen and the Palestinian territories.
Soleimani’s number-two General Esmail Qa’ani has described those countries as Iran’s “forward defense lines” that cannot be handled by diplomats and politicians.
At the same time, Khamenei has used Chief of Staff Major-General Muhammad Baqeri as point man in relations with Turkey and Pakistan, again excluding Zarif and the foreign ministry. Khamenei’s top adviser Ali-Akbar Velayati handles a further segment of foreign policy concerning Russia, Central Asia, Afghanistan and India.
Thus the formal government, that is to say Rouhani and Zarif, were left to handle relations with the US and the European Union.
With relations with the EU in a dead-end while the love-fest with Obama is also over, Zarif is left with nothing but failure as foreign minister. Few people, however, are prepared to consider the possibility that Zarif’s failure is due, at least in part, to his lack of real authority combined with the Trump administration’s pathological hatred for Obama and anyone associated with his administration.
Even before the Americans sanctioned Zarif, his critics in Tehran were calling for his hide. Hojat al-Islam Hamid Rasa’i, a former parliament member, claims that during Ahmadinejad’s presidency, Zarif who had been forcibly retired wanted to defect to the United States and even filled an application at the US Embassy in Turkey. Rasai has called for Zarif’s passport to be withdrawn and he be subjected to an investigation regarding the presence of foreign spies in his team.”
Former secretary of the National Security Council Sa’id Jalili said in a speech in Hamadan last week that sanctioning Zarif was nothing but an additional means for Washington to pressure Iran and did not imply a determination to cut all channels with Tehran.
One of the official Iranian Radio and TV network’s “stars” castigates Zarif as “the most pro-West and Infidel friendly foreign minister in the history of the Islamic Republic.” He claims that Zarif “fully deserves whatever humiliation inflicted on him.”
In an editorial, the official news agency IRNA, controlled by the Rouhani faction, claimed that just as a “Team B” was trying to incite the US to launch a war against Iran, another “Team B” in Tehran was trying to block all channels of diplomatic dialogue for peace. In that analysis, Zarif has fallen a victim to both “Team Bs”.
Zarif’s semi-secret meetings with Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein and Republican Rand Paul plus at least two meetings with two of Trump’s closest “fundraisers” in New York showed that Zarif is still able to get a sympathetic hearing from many elements in the United States. Reports that Senator Paul conveyed an invitation for Zarif to visit National Security Adviser John Bolton at the White House has not been officially confirmed but should not be dismissed as mere rumor.
However, the best guess in Tehran is that Zarif is unlikely to be given a role in any eventual dialogue between Khamenei and the Trump administration. The ayatollah is reportedly preparing to field a new point man: former Foreign Minister Kamaleddin Kharrazi who also has good contacts in both Washington and London. Hero or villain, the man labeled “Grand Apologist” by Washington may have reached the end of his leash.

Political paralysis in Algeria is hampering urgently needed economic reforms.
Omar Benderra/Carnegie MEC/August 05, 2019
For six months, Algeria has been shaken by peaceful mass protests. Millions of people have been demonstrating every Friday asking for the departure of remnants of the regime of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and an overhaul of the political system.
However, progress has been stunted by two things. The military, the real locus of power in Algeria, is adamant about organizing elections under current conditions. It has failed to reassure protesters about its intention to change the system. At the same time, the protesters themselves have been unable to appoint representatives or mediators who can speak in their name and draft realistic demands.
The country seems to have reached a political impasse as presidential elections have already been canceled twice in four months. This blockage is alarming considering the looming economic crisis that will add a layer of complexity to an already complicated situation. Although the protest movement has had political demands, it is only a matter of time before these demands extend to the economy. Algeria’s future leaders will have to face serious financial challenges in a country that has been energy-dependent for decades, with an economic system that appears increasingly untenable because of an inability to introduce diversification.
The structure of the Algerian economy is particularly vulnerable. It is rent-based and relies on the export of hydrocarbons—namely oil and natural gas—which account for 95 percent of export earnings, 40 percent of budget revenues, and 30 percent of GDP. The share of hydrocarbons in government revenue has been extremely volatile. In 2013, when oil prices were at a high, Algerian oil averaged $110.80 a barrel and accounted for 65.4 percent of government revenue. The share fell dramatically to 33.6 percent in 2016, when oil prices averaged $36.60 a barrel. Since then, as the average oil price recovered to $71.50 a barrel, oil revenue steadily increased to exceed 40 percent of government revenue in 2018. In order to balance its 2019 budget, the country needs oil at $116 a barrel.
In October 2017 the government began printing money to finance its budget deficits. This unorthodox measure raised a total of $56 billion, of which $8.5 billion was raised in January 2019, representing 30 percent of GDP for 2018. It allowed the government to meet its internal commitments by paying its creditors, including construction and public works companies, thereby maintaining a certain level of activity and business. However, it was also inflationary, with the International Monetary Fund estimating inflation at 4.3 percent in 2018, with projections that it would increase to 5.6 percent in 2019.
To avoid this, in June 2019 the newly appointed government decided to suspend monetary creation for the rest of the year, but reserved the possibility of using it as the law permits until 2022. The Bank of Algeria has also undertaken to sterilize liquidity resulting from monetary creation as needed.
According to a June 2018 IMF report, Algeria’s economic situation is deteriorating inexorably. While growth in the non-hydrocarbons sector may be positive, it was only 2.2 percent in 2017 and it appeared to have peaked at 4 percent in 2018. The overall GDP growth rate is even lower as a result of the contraction in hydrocarbon production. It averaged 3.5 percent from 2001 until 2017, then reached its lowest point in the fourth quarter of 2017, when it was – 0.4 percent, before rising again to 1.2 percent in the last quarter of 2018.
According to the same report, unemployment is on the rise. In September 2017, unemployment was estimated at 11.7 percent, compared to 10.5 percent during the same period the previous year. This affects young people in particular, with unemployment among 15–24 year olds at 28.3 percent for men and 20.7 percent for women.
More worrisome is the rapid decline in foreign reserves. Due to high oil prices between 2003 and 2013, Algeria amassed vast foreign currency reserves that made it the world’s eighth-largest holder of such reserves, amounting to $193.6 billion in 2014. However, the country was hit by the drop in oil prices in the middle of that year, and as a result the government has had limited options and has used its reserves for public projects and generous subsidies. According to the Bank of Algeria, reserves stood at $79.9 billion at the end of December 2018, against $97.3 billion at the end of 2017, a year-on-year decrease of $17.4 billion. This trend is continuing, with reserves having declined to $72.6 billion by the end of April and the IMF projecting that they may fall further to $64 billion by the end of 2019 to eventually reach $47.8 billion by the end of 2020.
As a result of this precipitous decline in reserves, what remains at the end of this year is likely to cover thirteen months of imports. Since Algeria imports 70 percent of what it consumes, this will have significant social repercussions.
The Algerian debt crises of 1986 and 1994 showed the nature of the difficulties that the leadership is going to face. Back then, the financing of imports of staple goods for 21 million Algerians represented an almost insurmountable challenge. What will happen in 2021, with a population of 44 million Algerians? The implementation of an emergency program is the first step before taking structural measures. For this to happen, it is crucial to reach a settlement in the current political crisis and have an open discussion on the challenges the country will face in the upcoming years.
All efforts for reorienting the economy and increasing productivity have to focus on the youth, Algeria’s most valuable resource. Youths have been driving the protest movement from its inception. Unless they are given a chance to participate in political life and help the country transition to a more genuine democracy, their aversion for their leaders may escalate and erode national stability.

Ethiopia, Sudan, and a Strange Visitor Named Hope
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 05/2019
I visited Ethiopia only stealthily in the mid-1980s. Eritrean armed groups had invited some journalists, including me, a delegate from Lebanon’s An-Nahar newspaper.
The name of the country’s leader was Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam. He was a staunch Soviet agent in Africa. He did not tolerate spies, traitors, opponents, dissidents, or separatists.
We have put our fates into the hands of our hosts. Their only concern, in the infiltration operation, was to avoid the President’s aircraft, which are usually merciless.
Our tent was in the middle of a camp, hiding in the shade of slender trees. One night, we heard the clatter of arms and discovered in the morning that the organizations were on the verge of fighting over Eritrea’s identity, which had not yet been liberated. The bread was like bread but from afar. The water was water-like but very turbid. But cruelty seems exciting to a young journalist, who thinks that the profession is worth the effort.
The journey left a certain amount of depression inside of me. The conflict seemed to be a fierce battle between the poor, and the war of independence was a long journey on the brink of hunger.
That was not the hardest chapter of the trip. We visited refugee camps on the Sudanese-Ethiopian border. We heard in the news before we came that people were dying of hunger there. I refused to believe that the world could allow people to starve in a known camp. The profession later taught me that the world can allow even worse than that. During our camp visit, weeping sounds rose. One of them said a child has died because of hunger. I had doubts. I waited. Minutes later, I saw an elderly man carrying a small body whom he was going to bury at the edge of the camp.
The man was holding the body of his grandson calmly as if death had become a daily occurrence in that abandoned spot of the world.
Thus, Ethiopia, in my mind, has been associated with the tragedies of poverty and hunger and the wars in which poor people are dying and growing poorer. The same can be said about the long and bitter conflict between the Khartoum and southern Sudan authorities.
Before that, I visited Sudan, which was under the grip of Field Marshal Jaafar Nimeiri. A friend advised me to visit the Attorney General, who was named Hassan al-Turabi. I spoke with Turabi about the situation in Sudan and the ambitions of the team he belonged to. He was skilled at concealing intentions and wounds, using soft expressions.
Before leaving his office, I asked him playfully: “What is a man like you doing in a regime like the Nimeiri’s?” He replied with his famous smile and said: “We are Islamizing the regime step by step.”
I later recalled that phrase, especially when Turabi summoned an officer named Omar al-Bashir, arranged a conspiracy with him and told him: “Tomorrow, you go to the palace and I go to the prison.” The two men will exhaust Sudan as Mengistu did in Ethiopia, but of course with differences in the sources of each of the two teams. This is without forgetting that the love between the President and the Sheikh who made the president was not final. The feast of whatever power does not sate the hunger of those wishing to control the country.
Two days ago, an Ethiopian worker asked me about my profession. I did not expect her to be very involved in the affairs of her country. Sometimes, we ignore this remarkable ability of social media to connect threads between the cosmic village. With a clear sense of trust, she gave me her phone to see a picture. It is Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed planting a tree in the framework of a campaign launched to combat desertification creeping on his country. She proudly said the government’s campaign resulted in the planting of 350 million trees within 12 hours.
I had a desire not to believe, especially since I came from a failed republic, where failure is its only heroic achievement.
The cultivation of a handful of trees in Lebanon requires a bitter national dialogue and a fair distribution of the seedlings purchase deal to ensure that environmental balances between regions and sects are not disturbed. Dialogue often ends with the postponement of the afforestation campaign and the preference for desertification.
Out of the arsenal of Lebanese diseases, I asked her about Abi Ahmed, whom I saw as a guest at Davos.
She said: “I don’t care if he was from the Oromo, Amhara or Tigray. I don’t care about his religious beliefs. I am interested that he re-launched the hope of a nation fighting poverty and injustice, especially after he stopped the war with Eritrea.”
I understood that she was using her phone to incite her countrywomen to uphold their rights in the countries where they work and gave me examples of exploitation and oppression that I cannot describe due to lack of space.
The talk about hope drew my attention. It is a rare coin in this difficult part of the world, which in my memory was associated with scenes of famine, ethnic ruptures, and wars of the poor.
Another point also drew my attention. A forty-year-old man named Abiy Ahmed could give hope not only to the residents of his country but also to those abroad, working to bring a few dollars back home if they find in it a government that defends their dignity and gives them bread, work, and medicine.
It is difficult for a mobile journalist like me to write about hope, as I have often returned to the office with quite a bit of depression and uncertainty. But the news from Sudan has left me in a state of hope without forgetting the reservation that accompanies experienced journalists.
It is clear that the agreement between the military council and the “forces of freedom and change” turns the page of the Bashir regime and paves the way for the establishment of a civil state.
The journey will not be easy, but it is clear that Sudanese youth insists on taking the historic opportunity, saving the country and compensating for the lost decades.
Hope is a strange visitor in this part of the world. The bet is that the people embrace this visitor.
Hope is now knocking on doors it has long forgotten.

Is This Europe’s Politician of the Future?
Leonid Bershidsky/Bloomberg/August 05/2019
Sandro Gozi, the former Italian minister now working for the French government, could be a man of the future – a politician for whom borders between European Union countries don’t exist.
The populist leader of one of Italy’s governing parties has accused Gozi of betraying his homeland. That looks unfair. There is a strong case for allowing the 4% of EU citizens living outside their home countries to vote and run for office where they reside rather than where their passports were issued.
Gozi, a career diplomat, worked for the European Commission in Brussels, then won a seat in the Italian parliament and served as undersecretary for European affairs. That came to an end last year when the center-left Democratic Party lost power to the Five Star-League coalition. The fluent French speaker then fell in with President Emmanuel Macron’s Republic on the March party and, along with several other foreigners, secured a place on its electoral list for the European Parliament.
Macron is an advocate of transnational party lists for the European Parliament, an idea that has failed to take off in an EU that is, for the main part, still run by member states’ national leaders. So he has created one of his own. Gozi will become a member of the European Parliament once the UK pulls out of the EU and its seats are redistributed among the remaining member states. In the meantime, he is advising French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on European policy, a role for which he is eminently qualified.
Five Star leader Luigi di Maio sees it differently, though. He responded by saying: “You represent and serve the Italian state and then at some point you betray it and enlist for a different government. We have much in common with France, but we also have conflicting interests.”
Gozi, of course, is within his rights. The EU has an open labor market, and citizens can vote and be elected in any country’s municipal and European Parliament elections. Di Maio has said the government should consider stripping him of his citizenship, but that threat would be unlikely to stand up in a European court. The case, however, draws attention to a broader issue: Should Europe’s politics be as borderless as its labor market?
In many ways, the answer is yes. The millions of people who live outside their home states pay their taxes in their countries of residence, but can’t vote in general elections. That puts them at a disadvantage, particularly as their interests differ from those of their less mobile neighbors. As Alberto Alemanno, an Italian academic who lives in Spain and works in France, put it in a recent Guardian op-ed: “How representative can a local candidate – who’s never experienced our brand of mobility – really be for us?”
Letting expats vote and run where they live makes more sense than having them take part in elections in their countries of origin. They have more affinity with their local agenda than with that of their distant home; though turnout among “mobile Europeans” in municipal elections is much lower than among local citizens, millions of them do vote. And countries have elected foreigners in municipal elections. In June, the people of Rostock in northeastern Germany elected Danish citizen Clauss Ruhe Madsen as their mayor.
Putting expats on local voter rolls is a simpler process than trying to organize foreign voting – something some EU countries, such as Ireland and Greece, don’t even try to do.
The idea isn’t new; in 2013, Euronews Chief Executive Officer Philippe Cayla and a number of like-minded allies launched a European citizens’ initiative demanding EU citizens get the right to vote where they live. It failed to get the 1 million signatures necessary for the European Commission to consider proposing the change.
The arguments against enfranchising expats aren’t easy to dismiss. For one thing, national parliaments and governments make decisions that affect the future as well as the present. Some argue that non-citizens don’t have a stake in a country’s future, even if they live there today. Besides, if residency were to confer electoral rights, it would be illogical to enfranchise only EU citizens alone – and then almost anyone could vote anywhere, possibly in several countries at once.
The answer to these concerns, though, is that all Europeans are, in some way, invested in the future of the Union – something that is shaped by the national parliaments and governments as much as by supranational institutions. This distinguishes the citizens of EU member states from other resident foreigners. It’s also a big argument in favor of EU-wide electoral rolls.
Gozi isn't the only European politician to seek a seat in the European Parliament outside his home country -- former Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Rostowski tried in London and as did former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis in Germany. But only the Italian still has a chance of a seat. Voters may still be unaccustomed to supporting people who have served in foreign governments. But they may start to see experienced politicians from neighboring countries as a valuable resource. A mood change, say, in Poland may keep talented individuals out of office there – but they could still find support elsewhere.
Di Maio is right that conflicts arise between the EU and its member states from time to time as their interests diverge. But not all Italian citizens happily back the populist government there. And since it says both “European Union” and “Italy” on their passports, they can be excused for deciding that they are more aligned with the EU than with today’s Italy – and for trying to smooth out these conflicts by working for whichever country needs their expertise.
A right to vote and run anywhere in the EU would make this European alignment a meaningful option for all politically-minded Europeans and help shape a common identity. It’s hard to imagine most European governments supporting the idea today, but the more people follow Gozi’s example, the more likely it is that a true European citizenship will one day emerge.

Analysis/Faced With U.S. Threats, Iran Warms Up to Arab Neighbors – Even Riyadh
زفي برئيل/الهآرتس: في مواجهة التهديدات الأميركية إيران تتقرب حتى من السعودية ووكذلك من جيرانها العرب الآخرين
Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz/August 05/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/77284/%d8%b2%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%a6%d9%8a%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%87%d8%a2%d8%b1%d8%aa%d8%b3-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d9%85%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%ac%d9%87%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d9%87%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%aa/
The picture of the commander of the United Arab Emirates Coast Guard, Gen. Mohammed Al-Ahbabi, happily shaking hands with his Iranian colleague, Gen. Qassem Rezaei, during their meeting in Tehran last week caused shockwaves in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. This meeting, at which a cooperation agreement on maritime security in the Gulf was signed, is the latest surprising expression of a turnabout in the UAE’s relationship with Iran.
First, Abu Dhabi announced a “redeployment” of its forces in Yemen, where it is Riyadh’s main partner in the war against the Houthis. In practice, this means a reduction of its forces there.
The UAE insisted that it wasn’t withdrawing completely, and that all its moves are coordinated with Riyadh. But then the Houthis’ commanders announced that they’ve decided to stop attacking UAE targets on both land and sea in light of the country’s changed policy. Saudi Arabia, in contrast, remains a Houthi target.
At first glance, the UAE seems to have concluded that its shared war with the Saudis in Yemen is pointless, economically damaging and, above all, liable to create conflicts with the U.S. Congress, as has already happened to Saudi Arabia. But is this really an independent decision that constitutes a “betrayal” of Riyadh and an end to the countries’ military alliance?
Riyadh has recently hinted heavily that it’s willing to negotiate with Iran. Two weeks ago, its UN ambassador, Abdallah al-Mouallimi, said that even though Iran’s behavior is liable to undermine international peace and stability, “We stress that we’re willing to have relations of full cooperation between the Arab states and Iran, on two fundamental conditions: that this cooperation be based on good neighborliness, and nonintervention by Iran in other countries’ internal affairs, while respecting their sovereignty.”
This was a new tone from Riyadh, and was greeted accordingly in Tehran. “We welcome these statements, and we think they should also be accompanied by actions,” said an Iranian government spokesman, Ali Rabiei. “We have always called for stability and security for the region’s states and we respect bilateral relationships and security agreements.”
This public exchange between Iran and Saudi Arabia comes as Washington is trying to forge its own diplomatic track with Tehran. According to the New Yorker, U.S. President Donald Trump invited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to meet with him at the White House, but Tehran rejected the invitation, saying it doesn’t want to give Trump a photo op for public relations purposes.
Nevertheless, the two might still meet during the UN General Assembly next month, if progress is made in the talks Senator Rand Paul is conducting on Trump’s behalf with Zarif and other senior Iranian officials, as well as in the talks Iran is holding with European signatories to the nuclear deal.
Both Iranian President Hassan Rohani and Zarif said that on September 7, Iran will implement stage three of its gradual withdrawal from its obligations under that deal, though they didn’t specify what this will entail. But in the same breath, Rohani said that Iran was negotiating with the deal’s other signatories in an effort to find a mutually acceptable solution, and he hopes an agreement will be reached by September 7.
If so, Iran would be willing to immediately implement the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (which was supposed to go into effect in 2023). This protocol allows for closer and more frequent monitoring of the nuclear facilities covered by the nuclear deal. For now, Washington has rejected this offer. But given Trump’s declared desire to launch a diplomatic process, a more flexible version of the Iranian offer might serve as a basis for new negotiations.'
Paul’s talks with Iran and the White House invitation to Zarif should seemingly have provoked a sharp response from Saudi Arabia. But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler, has apparently also concluded that the war in Yemen is too expensive, both diplomatically and militarily, and it’s better to switch to diplomatic channels.
Ending the war in Yemen could restore his status in Washington, where he has become a pariah, and extricate his country from its military failure during four years of fighting. And the possibility of a military conflict between America, Israel and Iran doesn’t cause him any joy; he has repeatedly expressed opposition to a new war in the region.
To bolster its diplomatic overtures, Riyadh recently released an Iranian tanker that had been detained in the port of Jiddah for months, despite Iran’s “policing operations” in the Persian Gulf, during which it seized two tankers. On Sunday, Iran seized yet another foreign tanker, claiming it was engaged in oil smuggling.
Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a former adviser to the UAE’s crown prince who remains close to the country’s government, recently said, “The war in Yemen has ended from the UAE’s perspective; all that’s left is to announce it officially.” Granted, he holds no official position and doesn’t represent the government, but his statement seems to reflect the views not only of Abu Dhabi, but also of Riyadh.
Trump now has the opportunity for a “deal of the century” with a better chance of success than the one he has proposed for Israel and the Palestinians. If the leader of North Korea has become his dear friend, Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei is surely an even more important asset.

The Green New Deal: Poverty for Everyone!
Eric Rozenman/Gatestone Institute/August 05/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14665/green-new-deal-poverty
"The interesting thing about the Green New Deal... is it wasn't originally a climate thing at all... Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing." — Saikat Chakrabarti, the outgoing chief of staff for freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Chakrabarti seems to have deduced two things. First, he saw a glass largely full and still filling but for some still empty, and concluded he must first shatter the glass. After that, he apparently failed to consider that the dystopian streets of San Francisco -- homeless people living in tents and defecating on sidewalks near high-rent high-rises, and the middle class and affordable housing squeezed by heavy taxes and constrictive zoning -- might be a result of local "progressive" politics. The problem is that if his "change-the-entire-economy-thing" would ever be imposed, America as a whole might resemble those dystopian streets. If Soviet Russia, Cuba or Venezuela come to mind, consider India before 2014, when its prime minister, Narendra Modi, was elected.
A free economy, in which countless healthy, growing businesses can spring up and actually hire countless people, and that way offer economic advancement for everyone? Not for Bose in the 1940s. And not, it seems, for today for many who have not looked at how socialism really works -- or unfortunately does not work.
Epitomizing today's progressives -- one might even call them reactionaries of the left -- is Saikat Chakrabarti, outgoing chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Chakrabarti was recently photographed wearing a shirt embossed with the face of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Bose was an Indian nationalist who opposed Mahatma Gandhi and spent World War II collaborating first with Nazi Germany, and later with Imperial Japan. Pictured: Bose shares a laugh with German military officers, in a photo taken ~1941-1943. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
"A liberal is intolerant of other views. He wants to control your thoughts and actions." — President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1967.
Johnson, the Texas Democrat who extended Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal with his own Great Society, was an old-school liberal, certainly on domestic policy. The political activist-agitators LBJ impugned then as "liberals" are today's progressives—one might even call them reactionaries of the left.
Epitomizing them is Saikat Chakrabarti, the outgoing chief of staff for freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y). Chakrabarti recently starred in a Washington Post article. The spotlight left a key to the influential staffer's undemocratic mentality in shadows.
Chakrabarti, 33, acknowledged "The interesting thing about the Green New Deal," Ocasio-Cortez's multi-trillion dollar zero-carbon emissions mirage, "is it wasn't originally a climate thing at all... Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing."
He evidently wants to change the U.S. economy -- the freest and most prosperous on the planet; that has lifted a great number of people out of poverty, and that currently enjoys low unemployment, low inflation and higher wage growth—for a government-centric model known to have succeeded nowhere. Why?
A Harvard University computer science graduate and former hedge fund employee, Chakrabarti moved to San Francisco in 2009 and co-founded a tech company. According to the Washington Post:
"... San Francisco was a shock. 'You see, like, holy crap, is this the dystopian future we're signing up for?' he says. 'I mean, it's just huge amounts of wealth and some very rich people, and then just poverty and homelessness very visually and very viscerally... [W]hy is it that as our society is progressing ... things seem to be regressing and getting worse for a large number of people?'"
Chakrabarti seems to have deduced two things. First, he saw a glass largely full and still filling but for some still empty, and concluded he must first shatter the glass. After that, he apparently failed to consider that the dystopian streets of San Francisco -- homeless people living in tents and defecating on sidewalks near high-rent high-rises, and the middle class and affordable housing squeezed by heavy taxes and constrictive zoning -- might be a result of local "progressive" politics. The problem is that if his "change-the-entire-economy-thing" would ever be imposed, America as a whole might resemble those dystopian streets. If Soviet Russia, Cuba or Venezuela come to mind, consider India before 2014, when its prime minister, Narendra Modi, was elected.
Where Chakrabarti got his social-economic blinders tells us something about his, and the progressive movement he helps lead, especially its economic prescriptions and intolerance of dissent.
In January 2019, the writer Ananya Dasgupta "noticed something interesting" in one of Ocasio-Cortez's Instagram posts:
"A video of a scruffy-looking young man, wearing a moss green t-shirt with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's face embossed on it. My Bengali Leftist sentiments were immediately jolted awake."
Bose? Bose, it turns out, was an Indian nationalist who opposed Mahatma Gandhi on non-violence and other policies and was pushed from the Indian National Congress Party's leadership. Vehemently anti-British, he spent World War II collaborating first with Nazi Germany, and later with Imperial Japan. His vision of socialism for India attempted to combine elements of Hindu spiritualism, authoritarianism, and centralized industrial planning.
According to Dasgupta, it was Chakrabarti, late of Senator Bernie Sanders' 2016 Democratic presidential primary campaign, who made Bose his T-shirt fashion statement.
"While working on the Sanders campaign, Chakrabarti met Alexandra Rojas and Corbin Trent. Together they co-founded Justice Democrats, a political action committee whose one-line introduction says, 'Our time – it's time to usher in a new generation of diverse working class leaders into the Democratic Party...'
"Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress, a similar committee also co-founded by Chakrabarti, worked together to recruit candidates by engaging with the masses."
While Chakrabarti worked as Ocasio-Cortez's campaign manager and Justice Democrats endorsed the other members of the self-named "Squad" -- freshmen Representatives Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) -- they energized the Democratic Party's leftist wing. "Chakrabarti," Dasgupta says, "is perhaps a die-hard socialist and his pet project seems to be the Green New Deal, an 11-page Google document..."
Dasgupta wonders: "At a time when the Bengali Leftist movement is at its lowest at home, is it seeing a revival at the center of the bastion of Capitalism?" Could be -- many Democratic presidential primary candidates endorsed the Green New Deal, regardless of its apparent requirement of trillions of dollars in new taxes and the assurance of "equality" -- but, save for the few political leaders and their friends and family at the top -- in equal poverty, actually destitution, for everyone else.
The rest of LBJ's 1967 observation about liberals was "you know the difference between cannibals and liberals? Cannibals eat only their enemies."
In tacit confirmation, Chakrabarti told Politico, "there's going to be a war within the party: 'We are going to lean into it." He blamed "radical conservatives" for blocking sweeping environmental legislation, "Medicare for all," abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and providing free college education. An imaginative young man, Chakrabarti discerned non-existent "radical conservatives in the Democratic Party... who are holding the party hostage."
Fighting the intra-party war in June, Chakrabarti, according to Kimberley Strassel in the Wall Street Journal, "accused moderate Democrats who backed a compromise border-spending bill of 'being hell bent to do to black and brown people today what the old Southern Democrats did in the '40s.'" Moderation? Compromise? A free economy, in which countless healthy, growing businesses can spring up and actually hire countless people, and that way offer economic advancement for everyone? Not for Bose in the 1940s. And not, it seems, for today for many who have not looked at how socialism really works -- or unfortunately does not work.
Eric Rozenman, the author of Jews Make the Best Demons: 'Palestine' and the Jewish Question, is based in Washington D.C.
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Iran brings drones to two redeployments near Syria-Israel border
موقع دبيكا الإسرائيلي: إيران تقيم قاعدتين للطائرات بدون طيارعلى الحدود السورية الإسرائيلية
DEBKAfile/August 05/2019
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Iran has redeployed UAVs opposite Israel at Al-Dimas near the Syria-Lebanon border, after the Revolutionary Guards Al-Qods Brigades obtained the permission of the Syrian ruler Bashar Assad. It is located west of Damascus and 40km from the Israeli border opposite the IDF’s Mt Hermon positions, DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources report. The new UAV post is embedded in a cluster of camps belonging to the Syrian army 4th Division, which is the Republican Guard under the command of the president’s brother Maher Assad.
Our sources report that the Iranians are moving into the small Syrian air base at Al Sharae, just 20km from the Tal Al-Harara hill, which is around 40km from the Israel’s Golan border in the east.
Eight months ago, the Iranian force first stationed at Al-Dimas came under an Israeli air raid. The Al Qods Brigades retaliated by firing a missile into central Israel. There were no casualties and both Tehran and Jerusalem kept quiet about this incident. Then, 10 days ago, Israeli surface missiles destroyed a new observation station just established by Iranian intelligence on Tal Al-Harara. Since this attack, Iranian drones were seen landing and taking off from Al Sharsae air base.
The attached map illustrates the extra efforts Tehran is making to recover its former positions and string them along the full length of the Syria-Israel border.
Reports coming out of Damascus this week meanwhile reveal that the Russians have deactivated the advanced S-400 air defense systems guarding the Syrian military Masyaf weapons research center in the west. Some sources report that Syria is now left only with S-300 systems, against which Israeli warplanes are equipped with effective evasive measures. No explanation is offered for these military movements which are infrequently disclosed by Moscow or Damascus.

Russia, Turkey, Iran: Adversaries of the West's NATO Alliance
كون موكلن/معهد جيتستون/تركيا وإيران وروسيا هم أعداء حلف الناتو الغربي
Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/August 05/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/77288/%d9%83%d9%88%d9%86-%d9%85%d9%88%d9%83%d9%84%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%87%d8%af-%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%aa%d8%b3%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%aa%d8%b1%d9%83%d9%8a%d8%a7-%d9%88%d8%a5%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%88%d8%b1/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14650/russia-turkey-iran-adversaries-nato
Germany's outright rejection of Washington's request [to support Washington's proposal for a maritime protection force in the Arabian Gulf to protect shipping from attacks by Iran] is likely to inflame tensions further between Washington and Berlin. U.S. President Donald J. Trump is already at odds with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a range of issues, from Germany's obstinate refusal to meet its Nato funding commitments to its pursuit of closer energy ties with Russia through the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Mr Trump is highly critical of the project. He argues that it will make Europe, and especially Germany, too dependent on Moscow for its energy needs, which could undermine the resolve of the Nato alliance to take a robust stand against Moscow in any future confrontation.
So, at a time when the Western alliance is already struggling with how to respond to Turkey's deepening military ties with Russia, Germany's refusal to fulfil its obligations to protect shipping in the Gulf will be interpreted by adversaries of the West such as Moscow and Tehran as yet further evidence of what would doubtless please them very much: deepening divisions within the Western alliance.
Germany's point-blank refusal to support Washington's proposal for a maritime protection force in the Arabian Gulf to protect shipping from attacks by Iran is yet another example of Berlin's diplomatic and economic sabotage of the Western alliance. Pictured: U.S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a press conference on April 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Germany's point-blank refusal to support Washington's proposal for a maritime protection force in the Arabian Gulf to protect shipping from attacks by Iran is yet another example of Berlin's diplomatic and economic sabotage of the Western alliance.
Following the recent upsurge in Iranian aggression in the all-important Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf shipping artery through which flows one-fifth of the world's energy needs, Washington has sought international backing for Operation Sentinel, its naval operation to protect shipping in the region.
This search follows a series of Iranian attacks, including the shooting down of a US Navy drone operating in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as a number of attacks against merchant shipping, such as last month's seizure of the British-registered oil tanker Stena Impero.
But while Washington has responded to Iran's deliberate escalation of tensions in the region by deploying an aircraft carrier battle group, as well as troops, missiles, and fighter aircraft, its appeal to other nations to support its effort have received a muted response.
In particular, Washington would like to see Britain, France and Germany -- the three European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran -- provide tangible support for the mission.
From Washington's perspective, the fact that Europe is far more reliant on the Gulf for its energy supplies than is the US, whose energy imports from the region today are negligible, it seems only fair that Europe, as well as other beneficiaries such as Japan, pay their fair share towards ensuring no further Iranian disruption of Gulf shipping takes place.
To date, though, only Britain has deployed warships to the Gulf -- a frigate and a destroyer -- while France is considering its options.
Germany, however, the country that enjoys Europe's largest economy and is therefore more than capable of contributing to the American initiative, has bluntly rejected a State Department request to support the mission.
In an attempt to shame the Germans into joining the operation, Washington's request was made public through the US Embassy in Berlin earlier this week. "We've formally asked Germany to join France and the UK to help secure the Straits of Hormuz and combat Iranian aggression," an embassy spokeswoman announced. "Members of the German government have been clear that freedom of navigation should be protected... Our question is, protected by whom?"
The US ploy, though, has fallen on deaf ears in Berlin, where there is considerable opposition within German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition to becoming involved for fear that it might exacerbate tensions with Iran. Germany, like the rest of Europe, is still wedded to the naive notion that the Iranian nuclear deal can be saved, irrespective of the Trump administration's decision last year to withdraw from the agreement.
Olaf Scholz, the German vice-chancellor, who is deputising for Mrs Merkel while she is on vacation, responded by confirming that his country would not take part in a US-led naval taskforce; he warned about the danger of the world "sleepwalking into a much larger conflict".
Germany's outright rejection of Washington's request is likely to inflame tensions further between Washington and Berlin. U.S. President Donald J. Trump is already at odds with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a range of issues, from Germany's obstinate refusal to meet its Nato funding commitments to its pursuit of closer energy ties with Russia through the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Mr Trump is highly critical of the project. He argues that it will make Europe, and especially Germany, too dependent on Moscow for its energy needs, which could undermine the resolve of the Nato alliance to take a robust stand against Moscow in any future confrontation.
Moreover, Germany's refusal to support the Western alliance in combating Iranian aggression in the Gulf comes at a time when Nato is facing another major dilemma over the future participation of Turkey as a member.
This follows the decision by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to press ahead with the purchase of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems in the face of strong opposition from Washington, which has responded by cancelling Ankara's continued involvement in the F-35 stealth fighter programme.
So, at a time when the Western alliance is already struggling with how to respond to Turkey's deepening military ties with Russia, Germany's refusal to fulfil its obligations to protect shipping in the Gulf will be interpreted by adversaries of the West such as Moscow and Tehran as yet further evidence of what would doubtless please them very much: deepening divisions within the Western alliance.
Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute. He is the author of "Khomeini's Ghost".
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Canada should look into its own backyard before preaching to others
William Neal/Arab News/August 05, 2019
Twenty years have passed since Al-Qaeda murdered its way onto the global stage. In the West, except for a reasonably tight circle of policy and security specialists, the group’s emergence caught everyone completely by surprise.
How complacent we were. And indeed, still are today. As damning evidence unearthed by Arab News’s Preachers of Hate series demonstrates, the West can still be a depressingly weak link in the global campaign against extremism.
Despite everything that has happened, and the hundreds of thousands killed and maimed, Canada allows Tariq Abdelhaleem — someone the respected writer and researcher on Al-Qaeda, Thomas Jocelyn, calls “an Al-Qaeda-linked religious figure” — to operate openly within its borders.
After 9/11 there were supposed to be no safe spaces for terrorists. During the 1990s parts of the UK, mainly in London, were havens for Islamists and jihadis to fundraise, network and build their organisations in. Groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir said they wanted to build a caliphate and overthrow leaders throughout the Middle East.
The Al-Qaeda ideologue Abu Qatada operated openly, just like Abdelhaleem does today. London policymakers mostly shrugged or ignored the hate preachers and their associates.
But 9/11, and then the 7/7 bombings in London, changed the rules of the game. However, the damage was already done. A network was up and running. People like Anjem Choudary continued to preach radical ideology. The caliphate of Hizb ut-Tahrir’s dreams became a reality. And hundreds of British men and women made the journey east to join it. By allowing Tariq Abelhaleem to freely contribute to jihadi ideology, Canada is being deeply irresponsible
Western countries generally deal with terrorist cells and networks reasonably effectively through intelligence and security responses.
Our weak spot is countering the ideologues and disrupting the thinking that helps inspire the violence. We have little concept or understanding of the ideology that underpins the violence of Al-Qaeda and Daesh. And we have few ideas about how to stop it.
To a mostly secular West, we struggle to think that a twisted interpretation of Islam could provide the religious justification for the most inhumane acts. In fact, it is perfectly logical. Daesh recruits may have been found with “Islam for Dummies” in their luggage as they journeyed to the killing fields of Syria and Iraq, but the ideologues who drew them there were experts in using their extreme religious creed to justify slaughter, including the slaughter of other Muslims.
Of course, some jihadists are deranged psychopaths. But for most, hate has to be learnt. And Al-Qaeda and Daesh rely on religious justification to teach it.
Security efforts are not a solution in isolation. More drone strikes on terrorists remove those pulling the trigger. But no missile or bullet can kill an idea. And radicalised recruits simply take their place.
Others wallow in a sense of shame believing that all of this has come about due to Western interference in Muslim lands. Of course there have been Western foreign policy mistakes — although the West is as much condemned for not interfering in Syria as it was condemned for its intervention in Afghanistan. But Spain is a target for ISIS because of the overthrow of Islamic rule over 500 years ago.
How can Spain respond to that? Perhaps we should realise that extremists will use cases of Western foreign policy misadventure for propaganda purposes — to recruit, and create the conflict zones to wage war. But even if no Western wars exist, they find other narratives to recruit. How else do they get people to attack German and Belgian citizens?
As the Abdelhaleem case demonstrates, despite occasional jihadist attacks, Canada clearly has not reconciled itself to dealing with those preachers of hate who use the freedom of the West to inspire terrorism.
This is not straightforward for Western societies, but it does require us to understand the ideologue’s misuse of religion and subtle call to violence, and bring in laws that make it illegal to act in this way.
This inevitably and rightly comes up against freedom of speech and human rights concerns. But most Western countries would have no problem stopping political movements that inspire violent acts. So why not religious ones?
Policy developers should be able to come up with a legal framework that prevents hate preachers inspiring violence through religious justification on and offline. Citing human rights concerns is not an adequate response. And lecturing on human rights is easy when it is not your citizens being murdered by the ideology you shelter. By allowing Abelhaleem to freely contribute to jihadi ideology, Canada is being deeply irresponsible.
• William Neal is an international communications consultant and political advisor based in London.