LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 29/2019
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 13/01-13/:”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. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 28-29/2019
Hezbollah party has already formed the government/Elias Bejjani/December 28/2019
Lebanese Protest at New PM's Home, Demand he Quits
Report: Arab Assistance for Lebanon ‘Blocked’ under New Govt.
Bassil Urges Action If Banking Bodies Fail to Probe Capital Flight
Activists Storm Banks Protesting Illegal Capital Controls
Lebanese Protesters Turn their Ire on Banks
As Crisis Hits, Lebanese Businesses Fight for Survival
Lebanon’s rogue banks called to account/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/December 28/2019
A Government of Masks and a Hunger Revolution/Rajeh Khoury/Asharq Al Awsat/December 28/2019
A Moroccan perspective on protest movements in the Arab world/The Arab Weekly/December 28/2019

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 28-29/2019
An American killed, 4 injured in heavy Iraqi Shiite rocket strike on US K-1 base near Kirkuk/DEBKAfile/December 28/2019
Iraq rocket attack kills US contractor, wounds military personnel/The Arab Weekly/AFP/December 28/2019
Pompeo Accuses Iran of Suppressing Protest Memorials
Iran says jailed Australian academic must serve time
Iran-Backed Groups Accuse Iraqi President of Caving to US
Iraq: Govt Crisis Back to Square One After President Threatened to Resign
Iraq: Human Rights Commission Says 490 Protesters Killed Since October
Iraqi Protesters Shut Down Southern Nassiriya Oilfield
Hundreds join final Gaza-Israel border protests for three months
Aguila Saleh Says Turkish Troops Unwanted, Unacceptable in Libya
Cyprus Holds Talks with Rival Libya Administration
Disabled Syrian Refugee Sues Greece over Pursuit Injuries
Mogadishu: At Least 90 Killed in Checkpoint Blast
Sudan, Rebels Agree Plan to End Conflict in Darfur
Algerian President Names Abdelaziz Djerad as New Prime Minister

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 28-29/2019
Germany: A "Latent Sense of Insecurity"/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/December 28/2019
An Interesting Year Comes to an End/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/December 28/2019
Final Goodbye: Recalling Influential People who Died in 2019/Associated Press/December 28/2019
How Erdogan’s maneuvers in the Med have roots a century old/Cornelia Meyer/Arab News/December 28/2019
How US Democrats can learn from Labour’s UK disaster/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/December 28/2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 28-29/2019
Hezbollah party has already formed the government
Elias Bejjani/December 28/2019
Hezbollah party has already formed the government and afterwards assigned Hassan Diab to head it. Accordingly the time of its official declaration and birth is in the party's leadership hands. Bassil and all the others are mere tools. Lebanon is an occupied country

Lebanese Protest at New PM's Home, Demand he Quits
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 28 December, 2019
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Beirut home of Lebanon's new prime minister on Saturday, calling for Hassan Diab's resignation less than 10 days after he was appointed. Lebanon is without a cabinet and in the grips of a deepening economic crisis after a two-month-old protest movement forced Saad Hariri to stand down as prime minister on October 29. Anti-government protests continued after Hariri's resignation, while political parties negotiated for weeks before nominating Diab, a professor and former education minister, to replace him on December 19.
Echoing protester demands, Diab promised to form a government of independent experts within six weeks -- in a country where appointing a cabinet can take months. But protesters on Saturday were unconvinced by his promise. "We're here to bring down Hassan Diab. He doesn't represent us. He's one of them," said one young demonstrator, referring to the country's ruling elite, who protesters despise collectively. Lina, another protester agreed, saying: "It's the revolution that must name the prime minister, not them."The 60-year-old Diab, who has a low public profile and styles himself as a technocrat, last week called protester demands legitimate but asked them to give him a chance to form "an exceptional government". "We are willing to give him a chance, but let us at least give him a roadmap," Lina told AFP. "The names don't matter to us, we want policy plans, what is his program?" she asked.
Protesters decry Diab's participation as a minister in a government deemed corrupt. The support given to him by the Shiite Hezbollah party also angers many protesters and pro-Hariri Sunnis. Protesters also gathered in the northern Sunni majority city of Tripoli on Saturday, an AFP photographer said. The protests and political deadlock have brought Lebanon to its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. The international community has urged a new cabinet to be formed swiftly to implement economic reforms and unlock international aid.

Report: Arab Assistance for Lebanon ‘Blocked’ under New Govt.
Naharnet/December 28/2019
Naming of Lebanon’s new PM-designate Hassan Diab did not receive Arab and Gulf consent who consider Diab “affiliated” to the March 8 camp, “endorsed” by Hizbullah and “close” to Syrian President Bashar Asaad, Nidaa al-Watan daily reported on Saturday. Arab diplomatic sources told the daily on condition of anonymity that there was “no Arab approval of Diab” and that his designation will reflect on the form of the new government “especially after reports that he visited Damascus and met with officials of the Syrian regime.”Arab states were “willing and ready” to provide economic assistance for Lebanon, said the sources, but the Gulf Cooperation Council’s assistance “was excluded after revelations that the formation process is completely politicized and one-sided.”The sources noted that Arab countries are watching the position of Dar al-Fatwa, the highest Sunni authority in Lebanon, which has not so far given its "blessing" for the designation of Diab. Diab was named earlier in December replacing outgoing premier Saad Hariri after nearly two months of intense political wrangling. But while his appointment was backed by Hizbullah-allied parliamentary blocs, he did not win the backing of parties from his own Sunni community.

Bassil Urges Action If Banking Bodies Fail to Probe Capital Flight
Naharnet/December 28/2019
Caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement on Saturday said “we must action” if the parties responsible to control “suspicious” capital flight failed to uncover the involved. In a tweet, Bassil said: “The amount of funds transferred or smuggled after October 17 (the beginning of the uprising) is the responsibility of the central bank governor, the Banking Control Commission and bank owners...if they fail to do something and reveal the numbers and their owners, we must take action at the start of the new year,” said Bassil in a tweet. On Thursday, cash-strapped Lebanon's central bank governor said he would investigate reports of large transfers of money abroad, which if confirmed, would mark a violation of banking restrictions curtailing such transactions. Salameh said that there has been a lot of talk about "politicians, senior civil servants and bank owners" involved in capital flight, adding however that a probe is necessary to identify those responsible.

Activists Storm Banks Protesting Illegal Capital Controls
Naharnet/December 28/2019
A group of protesters on Saturday stormed some banks in Beirut to protest against undeclared capital control measures, amid an unprecedented economic crisis and nationwide protests gripping the country. Dozens of angry activists stormed a bank saying one of their friends was not allowed to cash a cheque due to the control measures. The move comes as protesters mark the 73rd of protests against corruption and mismanagement. “This is so frustrating,” one activist said, “banks are banning us from using our own money,” he added. Faced with a grinding US dollar liquidity crisis, Lebanon's banks have since September imposed increasingly tight restrictions on dollar withdrawals and transfers abroad in an attempt to conserve dwindling foreign currency reserves. This has fuelled tensions in the debt-ridden country, where a two-month-old protest movement is demanding the removal of political leaders deemed incompetent and corrupt. Activists say ordinary depositors are footing the bill for a liquidity crisis worsened by politicians, senior civil servants and bank owners who used their influence to get their hefty savings out of the country. Many of the country's top leaders own, or have large shares in, several banks. As Lebanon's protest movement enters its third month, demonstrators are increasingly targeting banks for trapping their savings. As a result of informal capital controls, the unofficial value of the Lebanese pound against the dollar has dropped by around 30 percent. The Lebanese currency has been pegged to the greenback at around 1,500 for two decades and the currencies are used interchangeably in daily life.

Lebanese Protesters Turn their Ire on Banks
Associated Press/Naharnet/December 28/2019
Dozens of Lebanese protesters held a brief sit-in inside a bank in Beirut and another in the country's south on Saturday, part of their focus on banking policies they complain are inefficient and corrupt. Lebanon is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, while protests against corruption and mismanagement have gripped the country since October. The local currency has taken a nose dive, losing more than 40% of its value after over 20 years of being pegged to the dollar. Banks are imposing unprecedented capital controls to protect their deposits amid a deepening confidence crisis. Meanwhile, layoffs and salary cuts are becoming the norm while politicians bicker over forming a new government. Dozens of protesters entered a private bank in the commercial Hamra district in Beirut, protesting capital controls and insisting that no one would leave without the money they came for. Banks have put a withdrawal ceiling of $200 a week on most accounts, while totally blocking outside transfers. "Thieves! Thieves!" two dozen protesters chanted, some sitting on counters and others on the floor. Bank staff watched, and the security guards did not interfere. The protesters later helped a woman with a cane get to the second floor, again shouting that she wouldn't leave until she got the money she needs. The protesters posted videos of their actions on a Twitter account linked to the protest movement. At another bank in the southern town of Nabatiyeh, a dozen protesters entered the branch chanting "Down with bank rule." Inside the bank, a citizen complained about how he can't withdraw money to pay for his son living abroad as well as his employees, yet the bank continues to charge him for a loan he took. "Enough of that!" the man said, according to another video posted on Twitter.The protesters have also organized a campaign called "we are not paying" asking depositors not to pay their loans amid the tight capital controls. The anti-bank protests were fanned by recent comments from the Central Bank's governor saying he doesn't know how much further the local currency will lose its value. Riad Salameh's comments to reporters Thursday deepened panic in the highly dollarized economy. Lebanon imports most of its basic needs, and is one of the world's most indebted countries. Some protesters are calling for banks to finance imports instead of servicing debts.
Lebanese officials have asked foreign countries and financial institutions to help secure needed capital for imports. Donors have called for major reforms before extending help — a request that will likely be delayed amid infighting between political groups over the shape of a new government. Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned on Oct. 29 and continues in a caretaker capacity. The prime minister designate, Hassan Diab, was named on Dec. 19, and is backed by the Hizbullah and its allies. However, he has failed to win the backing of the main Sunni Muslim groups. Protesters have also rejected him, saying he is still part of the ruling elite they accuse of corruption.

As Crisis Hits, Lebanese Businesses Fight for Survival
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 28/2019
After decades of hard work, self-made Lebanese chocolatier Roger Zakhour thought he would finally be able to pass a successful business to his daughter. But then the economic crisis hit. Instead of reaping profits this Christmas, he and his 29-year-old daughter are marking down their handmade ice cream logs. "If it continues like this, in a few months I'll be bankrupt," the 61-year-old said sitting in his small shop, surrounded by colourful stacks of hand-crafted chocolates. In protest-hit Lebanon, a free-falling economy, price hikes and a severe dollar liquidity crunch have left local businesses struggling to stave off collapse. Zakhour started making chocolates and then ice cream in the 1990s, refining his recipes until he became a go-to for five-star hotels and well-off Lebanese. But as the economy worsened over the autumn, high-end hotels drastically reduced their orders and walk-in customers became rare. Banks have restricted access to dollars since the end of the summer, sending prices soaring as importers struggle to secure enough hard currency to buy supplies. "We're heading somewhere we never imagined we would," said Zakhour, who had just upgraded his kitchen when sales dropped off.
Support fellow citizens
In pursuit of high-quality products, Zakhour imports his ingredients, paying in euros or dollars. But with withdrawals restricted and no transfers abroad, that is no longer viable. "Now when something runs out, that's it," he said. Unprecedented protests have swept Lebanon since October 17, with people from all backgrounds demanding a complete overhaul of a political class they deem useless and corrupt.
The government stepped down on October 29, but endless political deadlock has delayed a new one being formed to tackle the urgent need for economic reforms. Zakhour's business is just one of thousands struggling to stay afloat.
Many Lebanese have been forced to close shop, and a large number have been fired or seen their salaries slashed by half, even as the cost of living increases. Watching all this unfold, 31-year-old nursery school teacher Lea Hedary Kreidi and her family racked their brains to see how they could help. Shortly after protests started, they launched a group on Facebook called "Made in Lebanon -- The Lebanese Products Group" to encourage Lebanese to buy locally produced goods.
In just two months, they amassed more than 32,000 members, who post ads for locally or homemade goods, or ask for local alternatives to imported products.
'Made in Lebanon'
"We're used to going shopping and buying what our mothers used to buy. We grab what's in front of us without checking if it's made in Lebanon or not," she said, seated at home by a sparkling Christmas tree.
But there are locally made options for numerous products, including detergent, shampoo, nappies, peanut butter, ketchup, and children's building blocks. "I was surprised by how many things there were that I didn't know about," said the mother of a baby boy.
In her drive to support her fellow citizens, Kreidi now skips her usual supermarket in favour of nearby small grocers. This Christmas, only the children in her family will be receiving presents, which will all be made in Lebanon. In Beirut, bar manager Rani al-Rajji says he is also having to adapt -- moving away from increasingly expensive imports while also remaining affordable. "As much as I can, I'm trying to lessen the blow so our guests don't feel they've lost their purchasing power and can no longer afford to go out," said the 43-year-old, who is also an architect.
To do this, he and his co-founders are trying to increase local brands from a fifth to around a half of all bar and kitchen supplies.
"We're trying to use local products for all those with an alternative made in Lebanon," he said, sitting at the bar. And they are also attempting to cut out unnecessary packaging and marketing costs, serving wine directly from the barrel and beer from the keg. "We can't replace everything, but we can try to give Lebanese products more life, encourage their consumption," he said.
But some cash-strapped consumers say buying local is not their chief concern. In a Beirut supermarket, 35-year-old Mariam Rabbah clutched a nearly empty basket wondering what to buy with her diminished salary.
"Everything is more expensive and we're now paid half," she said. "Now what we care about is if something is cheap and good quality -- not whether it's imported or Lebanese."

Lebanon’s rogue banks called to account
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/December 28/2019
Protesters who have occupied the streets for weeks demanding political change have characterized the self-professed “technocrat” as a frontman for a kleptocracy that has pillaged the country for three decades.Next to Japan and to Greece, Lebanon is the third most indebted country in the world. However, unlike Japan, where the shortfall is backed by a robust economy, Lebanon’s debt relies on a banking sector that has acted as an accomplice with the corrupt government.
For years the Lebanese banking sector has worked on financing the inefficient government and enriched a few, while killing the productive sector of the country. Today the sector is driving the country’s bankruptcy through its unlawful practices to save the day for the Lebanese government. People took to the streets demanding the recovery of funds embezzled by corrupt politicians. However, instead of blocking politicians’ accounts, the banks unlawfully blocked the people’s access to money. Lebanon’s growing debt comes from financing an inefficient and ineffective government that is based on a toxic sectarian division and clientelism. Sectarianism was institutionalized by the constitution drafted at the end of the civil war. It has created a set-up where different denominations share power and the state resources. Government assets have been used by the “zoama,” or denomination leaders, to further their influence and increase control over their own groups.
In this framework there is no rule of law to manage government revenues and expenses, hence there is no real fiscal policy. People are hired just to vote for a certain leader, while contracts are awarded to enrich another. There are no guidelines for government inflows and outflows. In the meantime, the central bank acts like the government cashier. While the bank is supposed to be controlling the monetary supply, it has taken on the additional role of creating money to finance the corrupt government’s inflated expenses. The central bank relies on the Lebanese banking system, which means that at the end the buck stops with the average Lebanese citizen who puts his savings in a Lebanese bank, in addition to some foreign depositors.
Lebanese prime minister designate, Hassan Diab, seems unable to convince the country’s hard-pressed population that he is the right man for the job.
The central bank for years has been issuing treasury bills at high interest rates on the Lebanese pound, increasing demand for the national currency. This has killed the productive sector since the cost of borrowing has become so high. Banks found it highly lucrative to take people’s money and put it in treasury bills and make the spread. They found it much more profitable and easier than doing what banks usually do: Take deposits and extend loans to the private sector. Additionally, when lending to the government, banks avoid facing the business risks associated with lending to the private sector.
After a while the government needed more dollars to finance its international transactions. The central bank began extending debt in dollars. People’s accounts in dollars financed the government debt.
Moreover, for the past three years the central bank has been engaged in financial engineering that allows banks to make outstanding profits at the expense of a growing national debt. The central bank conducts fictitious operations by lending banks amounts, then borrowing from them at a much higher interest rate, giving the banks the spread as profit.These excessive rates were intended to lure depositors into the Lebanese banking system.
For years these practices have led to a growing debt that the economy cannot afford. In recent months, experts have warned of a looming crisis. Regional events have affected remittances to the country, aggravating the situation.
However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the Assad regime’s liquidity shortage caused by US sanctions. This drove the Syrian regime to ask its allies to withdraw dollars from the Lebanese market and channel them to Syria. However, to mitigate the liquidity crash the Lebanese market is facing, banks are unlawfully holding people’s money. A dollar depositor can withdraw only $300 a week from his account, and the rest can be withdrawn only in Lebanese pounds at the official rate of 1,507.
Using this approach, the bank is unofficially giving people’s accounts a good haircut, forcing them to convert their dollar assets at a rate of 1,507 while the real rate on the exchange market is over 2,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar. Nevertheless the central bank and its governor claim that the deposits are safe and that there is no cap on withdrawals. At the same time, the central bank is still lending to the government at a 1 percent rate, trying to keep the ailing system together. However, these “time-buying” practices are very costly and will eventually lead to the collapse of the entire economy. The sad fact is that the price will be paid by the Lebanese people, average citizens who are struggling to make ends meet. Meanwhile, Lebanese politicians are enjoying a good night’s sleep knowing their money is safely hidden in accounts in Switzerland or elsewhere.
*Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She holds a PhD in politics from the University of Exeter and is an affiliated scholar with the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.

A Government of Masks and a Hunger Revolution
Rajeh Khoury/Asharq Al Awsat/December 28/2019
Finally, the end of the catastrophic race. Who gets there first in Lebanon? A technocratic government pulled out of the hats of political wizards and "Your orders, sir"? Or an economic and livelihoods crisis that could bring a storm that destroys the country and drag it to checkpoints again? Which is worse?
On Christmas, President Michel Aoun visited Bkerke and promised a new government within days. This does not necessarily mean a change in the direction of crisis, especially when, at the same time, the caretaker Minister of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil accused banks of holding employees' salaries and not paying them in full. This fueled popular rage in the country, especially with fears of the state being unable to pay its employees their wages in the next few months.
Before elaborating on the Hunger Revolution that is knocking on doors, that was warned against by General Joseph Aoun a few days earlier saying that the army will not face a hungry people, let us briefly discuss the comic government and politics.
First, in terms of the shape and form of the strong government and what is being said of it in a mix of fascinating contradictions. Second, in terms of the violent war of statements and angry accusations that broke out between Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri on the ruins of the agreement that brought Aoun to the presidency, and against a backdrop of what Lebanese Sunni leaderships consider to be the ruins of the Mithaqiyya [Charter] broken by the binding parliamentary consultations conducted by Aoun and which ended with Dr. Hassan Diab being appointed as premier despite not gaining Sunni parliamentarians' votes as required by the constitution.
In Bkerke, Aoun said that the new government will be New Year's gift, will be formed of technocrats, and will not be a Hezbollah government as western media is saying, but a government for all Lebanese, including Hezbollah. In an attempt to respond to the accusations by Sunni leaderships of him violating the Charter, Aoun said that the government's color is not determined by the appointment of the premier but by the formation of the government and who is included in it.
In a clear response to the accusations by Hariri that Aoun's son in law Minister Gebran Bassil is the one forming the government, or by the Secretary-General of the Marada Movement Suleiman Frangieh who claimed that the government is Bassil's though appearing to be independent, a government of independents whose history is associated with compromises with people of power and influence, known for being inconsistent, Aoun said word for word, "Let us assume that Gebran Bassil is the one forming the government, does he not have the right to? Does he not head the largest parliamentary bloc? Nevertheless, it is not him who is forming the government."
When asked about what is being said of the Charter in Lebanon being in danger because of the appointment of the premier without Sunni cover, Aoun responded that he waited for Hariri for 100 days. Still, he did not come up with a solution. Sunni leaderships responded to Aoun's claim that this is not Iraq where the largest parliamentary bloc appoints the premier and forms the government, and that our constitution is clear about parliamentary consultations, which does not necessarily imply that they are linked to facilitating the formation of the government as Aoun did, speaking of 100 days, without recalling the 2 and a half years of presidential vacuum that was imposed by Hezbollah before the agreement with Hariri being premier was reached.
Hariri had outlined the features of the open confrontation with Aoun and his son in law Bassil, asserting that he will no longer cooperate with "the racist and sectarian Bassil trying to take over the country," and that this presidential term is dealing with the constitution and
law as perspectives. He claimed that he was cautious about maintaining peace with the Shia duo, Hezbollah, and Haraket Amal, out of the refusal of sedition between Shias and Sunnis.
Hariri described the strong government as Bassil's government, asserting that he will not be willing to return to the premiership if Hassan Diab failed, saying, "With Bassil? No. These are people I can no longer work with after today; he wants to run the country on his own; he needs to concede. How can one work with people who speak of sectarianism and racism?"
Fouad Siniora had announced that the parliamentary consultations did not respect the constitutional Charter when it went over the Sunni vote and when the head of the Islamic Center for Studies Judge Khaldoun Oraymit that Sunnis were not slaves for a prime minister to be imposed on them. Member of Parliament Nohad Machnouk tweeted "We thank the Sayyed [Hassan Nasrallah] for adopting the appointed Prime Minister Hassan Diab; he saved us the time of accusing him of being Iran's candidate and the Supreme Leader's advisor's defense of Diab is a clear and honest declaration that he represents Iran and does not represent the Lebanese, the people of Beirut, or the Sunnis."
The contradictory positions, of course, continue in terms of the formation of the government when Aoun says in Bkerke that it will be technocratic. He is contradicting his former insistence on a techno-political government. It is clear that the government will be born from the womb of politicians and despite Hassan Diab claiming that it will represent Lebanon and not a political minority and that it will be a government of technocrats par excellence.
Despite him saying: "I am an independent technocrat. I do not know everything because I am an engineer, and it will not only be Hassan Diab who will address the problems", a moment later he turns into a politician, especially after visiting Selim Hoss, and when he says that we have reached this stage after 30 years of bad policies, in an implicit hit at Hariri politics that this presidential term and its allies are trying to hold responsible for what Lebanon is facing despite all of them being complicit.
Hezbollah's answer to the technocratic government story that Aoun is talking about after Diab elaborated on it being men of science, expertise, economics, and labor, by Minister Muhammad Fneish that the incoming government needs a political cover. This begs the question: What does a political cover mean? If not, the necessity of having the ministers refer to parties and politicians who are very clearly backing these ministers?
What warrants mourning is not the Lebanese state and political arena sinking in divisions that re-draw the features of March 8 and 14, but the international community and countries that had given aid, convening in the Cedar (CEDRE) Conference, alongside Arab countries, especially the Gulf, that were always subject to accusations by Hezbollah despite being neutral, being convinced that the situation in Lebanon is hopeless.
The catastrophe is that this comes with a wave of horrifying bankruptcy and unemployment, and in a time that the Minister of Finance accuses the banks of holding the salaries of employees as if the banks alone are responsible for the catastrophe produced by the state now forming a government of masked politicians, trying to mock the revolution's popular demands demanding the overthrow of all politicians, and while Washington announces that there is no Western country ready to save Lebanon if politicians did not understand the message sent by the revolutionary street!

A Moroccan perspective on protest movements in the Arab world
The Arab Weekly/December 28/2019
RABAT - Despite differences in circumstances and the nature of their protests, demonstrators in Lebanon and Iraq agree that sectarian and religious parties in their countries have become part of the political and economic crises and their social backlashes.
A popular awareness has emerged in both countries. People have gone beyond material demands and are calling for fundamental regime change that includes the departure of the political elite and the governance system based on sectarian and partisan quotas. Observers consider that the protests in Lebanon and Iraq evolved from a struggle against corrupt and failed governments to a revolution for structural reform of the substance of the political system.
Moroccan academic Salman Bonnaman, head of the Maarif Centre for Studies and Research, said the Arab world is witnessing a second revolutionary wave that constitutes “an extension of the first wave at the level of the horizon for freedoms and reform demands.” This wave is characterised by its cutting “across sectarianism and political alignments,” rejecting external interventions and awareness that it must negotiate with military institutions.
In early 2011, protests, later labelled the “Arab spring” revolutions, erupted, starting in Tunisia and spreading to other countries, including Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Those revolutions toppled the ruling regimes in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
Bonnaman said the new revolts benefited from lessons learnt from the first wave, despite unique specificities that characterise each uprising.
In the first quarter of 2019, Algeria and Sudan witnessed popular protests that forced the leadership of the Sudanese Army to remove Omar al-Bashir from a 30-year presidency (1989-2019) and forced Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign from the presidency in Algeria.
Bonnaman, author of "The Philosophy of the Arab Revolutions: An Interpretative Approach to a New Uprising Model and of Questions of the Arab Spring State," said despite their failures and disappointments, the first wave of revolutions “created a legacy of protests.” He suggested looking “at the new uprisings from the point of view of both a continuation of and a separation from the first wave, especially in light of their complexities, spontaneity and innocence.”
In addition to Sudan and Algeria, Iraq and Lebanon have been witnessing, since October, protests that raise similar demands, foremost of which is the removal of the ruling class accused of corruption and incompetence.
While the common feature in the Sudanese and Algerian cases was the demand for the military establishment to stay neutral and steer away from the general political sphere in favour of a civilian authority, the Lebanese and Iraqi cases have in common their “linking sectarianism to corruption and rejecting cultural divisions and sectarian quotas in managing the country's rule,” Bonnaman said.
"The common denominator in the second wave is the presence of a strong and renewed awareness among the youth that is different from what one finds in classic protest movements,” he said.
The Arab world is living at the rhythm of protest movements that cut across identities, ethnicities and religious sects and transcend narrow ideological dimensions to raise mainly questions related to citizenship, sovereignty and freedom.
A new generation of Arab youth is rejecting sectarian quotas, political alignments, and fragile political collusions by the political elites. They are protesting a socio-economic situation characterised by tension, lack of equitable distribution of wealth, and growth rates that do not reach all social groups.
“The first is a socio-economic dimension that reflects the crisis of the economic development model in the concerned countries and the second is a political revolutionary dimension linked to rejecting the continuity of a governance model that combines power and wealth, closes off the public sphere and fails to build comprehensive and fair development,” Bonnaman said of aspects of the second wave of protests.
He stressed that what is happening is a continuation of the first wave of revolutions. “Protest movements always have a memory and they always consciously and unconsciously benefit from previous revolutionary experiences, especially in the Egyptian case at the level of relations with the military institution,” he said. He explained that “the lack of trust in the existing institutions made the new uprising movements distinguished in their demands by two traits that were not raised in the first wave: They are protesting against external interference, as it was strongly observed in Algeria against French interference and in Iraq and Lebanon against Iranian interference.”
The second trait relates to an awareness to manage dialogue and negotiations with the military establishment, which has political ambitions and refuses to secure a real transition to civilian rule.
In Lebanon and Iraq, protesters from across the political spectrum and from all affiliations and regions raised slogans hostile to Iran and its proxies in Lebanon and Iraq.
Bonnaman said the protest movements adopted reform and change as their goal and not the comprehensive and fundamental overthrow of the system. Therefore, it is necessary for them to produce leaders who can negotiate and find common ground with existing parties, because the latter are organised institutions, and especially with the ones in the opposition. They need to negotiate with the regime or at least with the existing forces that are open to reform from within the system to create a consensus programme for democratic transition.
Bonnaman said such a transitional programme would not have immediate results but it is important for everyone to participate and to pay attention to the gravity of the transitional stage, with all its complications, and be mindful of external interference and internal attempts to counter the reform spirit in addition to economic and social obstacles. He said success of the transitional phase was linked to the maturity shown by the elites and their agreement to protect the demands of the masses and translate them into laws and reform options.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 28-29/2019
An American killed, 4 injured in heavy Iraqi Shiite rocket strike on US K-1 base near Kirkuk
DEBKAfile/December 28/2019
At least 30 rockets launched against the US K-1 base near the oil city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq on Friday, Dec. 27, killed an American civilian contractor and injured 4 US soldiers. Some 11 to 14 exploded inside the base; the rest outside. They were fired from rocket-launching trucks parked outside the facility. The crews then abandoned the launchpads and took off in waiting getaway vehicles. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that analysis of the shrapnel quickly identified the Iranian-made rockets that are supplied to their Iraqi proxy, the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), whose commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, is a deputy of Al Qods-chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani. According to our sources, the PMU rocket attack was Iran’s punishment for the month-long US aerial offensive for breaking up the Iraqi Shiite militia concentrations around Abu Kamal and Deir ez-Zour near the Syrian border with Iraq, According to a division of labor, the US Air Force has targeted the Der ez-Zour contingents and Israel, the units present around Abu Kamal and up to Palmyra. Urgent consultations began in Washington on Saturday for a decision on how and when the US should retaliate for the attack on the K-1 base. The US maintains some 5,000 troops in Iraq. On Dec. 13, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a strong warning that any attack by Iran or its proxies that “harm Americans, our allies or our interests will be answered with a decisive US response.” He was reacting to more than 10 rocket and mortar attacks against US military facilities in Iraq and the US embassy compound in Baghdad. Three days later, Defense Secretary Mark Esper repeated this warning in a conversation with Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. Not much can be expected from Baghdad since both the prime minister and this week the president have handed in their resignations over the turmoil generated by two months of protests that have paralyzed government. DEBKAfile’s military sources note that while Iran retaliates habitually for US air strikes on its military facilities and those of its proxies in Syria, Tehran has so far mostly avoided responding in kind to Israel’s air campaign.

Iraq rocket attack kills US contractor, wounds military personnel
The Arab Weekly/AFP/December 28/2019
A US source has said that pro-Iran factions in Iraq are now considered a more significant threat to American soldiers than the ISIS.
WASHINGTON – A rocket attack in northern Iraq killed an American contractor and wounded several military personnel Friday, the first US casualties from a string of recent strikes, the international coalition against the Islamic State group said. While the coalition did not attribute blame for the incident, it threatens to escalate already-high tensions between Washington and Tehran, which backs various paramilitary groups in Iraq that the United States has accused of being behind rocket attacks on its interests. “One US civilian contractor was killed and several US service members and Iraqi personnel were wounded in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk,” the US-led coalition said in a statement. Federal security forces and Shiite militia units — as well as Islamic State (ISIS) group sleeper cells — all have a presence in volatile Kirkuk province. “Iraqi Security Forces are leading the response and investigation” into the attack, which took place at 7:20 pm (2220 GMT), the coalition said. A US official with knowledge of the investigation told AFP on condition of anonymity that at least 30 rockets hit the base, including an ammunition depot, causing more explosions, while four more rockets were found in their tubes in a truck at the launch point. The official described the attack as the biggest in the series of rocket strikes launched against US interests in the country since late October, killing one Iraqi soldier and leaving others wounded, as well as causing material damage in the vicinity of the US embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone. A US source has said that pro-Iran factions in Iraq are now considered a more significant threat to American soldiers than the ISIS — the threat that saw Washington deploy thousands of troops to the country to assist Baghdad in countering the jihadists’ sweeping 2014 offensive. Five rockets hit Al-Asad air base on December 3, just four days after US Vice President Mike Pence visited troops there.
More than a dozen rockets hit the Qayyarah air base in northern Iraq in November, one of the largest attacks in recent months to hit an area where US troops are based. Multiple US diplomatic and military sources have told AFP of their growing frustration with such attacks. They say they are relying on their Iraqi partners to play a “de-conflicting” role between American forces and the Hashed al-Shaabi — an umbrella organization for paramilitary groups that is largely made up of Iran-backed Shiite militias — to prevent any clashes. That is a complicated task, as the Hashed has been ordered to integrate with the regular security forces, but many of its fighters continue to operate with some independence. US Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters earlier this month that he had expressed “concern about the optics in attacks on bases in Iraq where US troops and material might be,” in a call with outgoing prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi. The US has “a right of self-defense, that we would ask our Iraqi partners to take proactive actions… to get that under control, because it’s not good for anybody,” he said. Abdel Mahdi’s office called on everyone “to spare no effort to prevent an escalation that will threaten all parties,” warning that “unilateral decisions will trigger negative reactions that will make it more difficult to control the situation.” Tensions between Iran and the United States have soared since Washington pulled out of a landmark nuclear agreement with Tehran last year and enacted crippling sanctions.
Baghdad — which is close to both countries — is worried about being caught in the middle.(AFP)

Pompeo Accuses Iran of Suppressing Protest Memorials
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 28/2019
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday slammed Iran for using "violence" and censorship to prevent memorials for those killed during the suppression of recent protests. Protests broke out on November 15 across Iran, whose economy has suffered under sweeping sanctions from the United States, after the government abruptly hiked fuel prices. "The Iranian people have the right to mourn 1,500 victims slaughtered by @khamenei_ir during #IranProtests," Pompeo tweeted, directly accusing Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. According to the Ilna news agency, internet access was effectively cut off Wednesday in multiple Iranian provinces ahead of memorials planned on social media a month after the protests. "The regime fears its own citizens, and has once again resorted to violence and shutting down the internet," he added. The United States said earlier this month that Iranian authorities may have killed more than 1,000 people in a crackdown on demonstrations in mid-November. In his tweet, Pompeo cites to a much higher death toll that has already been listed by certain media outlets, as well as the exiled Mujahedin-e-Khalq, the formerly armed opposition that is fiercely critical of the regime and has cultivated close ties with the Trump administration. Tehran has yet to publish its official death toll. Human rights organization Amnesty International has confirmed that more than 300 people died during the protest crackdown.

Iran says jailed Australian academic must serve time
AFP, Tehran/Sunday, 29 December 2019
An Australian academic jailed in Iran for espionage must serve out her sentence, the foreign ministry in Tehran said Saturday, stressing it will not submit to “propaganda”.Kylie Moore-Gilbert reportedly began a hunger strike in Tehran’s Evin prison on Tuesday after losing an appeal against a 10-year jail sentence. Australia expressed “deep concern” over the matter, with Foreign Minister Marise Payne calling for her to be treated “fairly, humanely, and in accordance with international norms”.In Tehran on Saturday, foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said “Iran will not submit to political games and propaganda” in response to “certain reports” in Australian media. Moore-Gilbert, “like any other individual with a sentence, will serve her time while enjoying all legal rights,” he added. The academic’s arrest was confirmed in September. She was accused of “spying for another country”, but her family said at the time that she had been detained for months before that. Moore-Gilbert and detained Iranian-French academic Fariba Adelkhah began an indefinite hunger strike on Christmas Eve, France’s Sciences Po University said on Thursday. Adelkhah’s arrest over “espionage” was confirmed in July. She is a specialist in Shia Islam and a research director at Sciences Po. Mousavi said Moore-Gilbert was detained for “violating Iran’s national security” and her sentence had been issued in accordance with “all the related laws”. He added that Iran would not forget Australia’s “illegal” treatment of Negar Ghodskani, an Iranian woman arrested in 2017 over violating US sanctions on Iran. Ghodskani gave birth in Australian custody before being extradited to the United States.
She was sentenced in the United States for violating sanctions against Iran but was released in September and returned home.

Iran-Backed Groups Accuse Iraqi President of Caving to US
Associated Press/Naharnet/December 28/2019
Iran-supported groups on Friday blasted Iraq's president for not naming their preferred prime minister candidate, saying his decision was at the behest of the United States, and warned him not to designate anyone who could be "an agent of the Americans."In refusing to appoint Fatah-backed candidate Asaad al-Eidani on Thursday, President Barham Salih said he was responding to broad opposition by anti-government protesters who have flooded the streets for nearly three months to demand the overthrow of Iraq's entire political class. The protesters accuse the government of corruption and mismanagement and have demanded an independent prime minister candidate. O n Friday evening, thousands of them poured into Baghdad's Tahrir Square to express their support for Salih's decision. But in a statement Friday, the Hezbollah Brigades, or Kataeb Hezbollah, called the president's move "suspicious.""We know that he is carrying out an American will that aims to pull the country toward chaos," the statement said. Legislator Odai Awad, a member of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous, called Salih a coward in an interview with a local TV station and said "every Iraqi should spit in the face of the president for what he did."The Iran-affiliated groups said the president had violated the constitution "by refusing to carry out his duties" to name the candidate chosen by parliament's largest bloc. Since last year's elections, however, politicians have disagreed over which bloc is the largest, a dispute that has led them to twice miss the deadline for naming a new premier. There are two main blocs in the Iraqi Parliament: Sairoon, led by populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr; and Fatah, headed by Hadi al-Amiri. But the numbers in the blocs have continued to change since the elections, with an unknown number of lawmakers leaving some blocs and joining others. In a statement Friday, protesters called the Iran-backed groups "blocs of corruption" that are doing everything they can to ensure that sects and ethnic groups hold the country's top posts. Later Friday, two mortar shells hit an arms depot at a base hosting U.S. troops near the northern city of Kirkuk, wounding two Iraqi soldiers, an Iraqi official said. No Americans were hurt, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. Such attacks have taken place on several occasions over the past few months, with U.S. officials for the most part blaming Iran-backed fighters. Also Friday, in a sign of the country's deep divisions, a representative of Iraq's most powerful religious authority, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, did not deliver a political sermon Friday, instead restricting his comments to religion. Iraq has been roiled by protests since Oct. 1 that have left more than 450 people dead, the vast majority of them demonstrators killed by security forces firing tear gas and live ammunition. The mass uprisings prompted the resignation of former Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi late last month. Salih said Thursday that he would not name al-Eidani, the governor of southern Basra province, as the country's next prime minister "to avoid more bloodshed and in order to safeguard civil peace."

Iraq: Govt Crisis Back to Square One After President Threatened to Resign
Baghdad- Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 28 December, 2019
The Iraq crisis has aggravated as the country remains without a prime minister after President Barham Salih threatened to resign and rejected al-Binaa Coalition’s candidate, Basra governor Asaad al-Eidani, to form a government. Barham’s intention to resign divided Iraqi forces and people and brought the crisis back to square one. Al-Binaa coalition strongly criticized the announcement, demanding that legal measures be taken to vote on the president’s dismissal, whereas the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr announced his support for Saleh. In addition, al-Nasr Bloc, led by Haider al-Abadi, al-Hikma Bloc, led by Ammar al-Hakim, and al-Wataniya, led by Ayad Allawi, were in favor of Saleh's move. Kurdish blocs did not announce an explicit position on Saleh’s intention to resign, while Alliance of Iraqi Forces, representing major Sunni Arab members of parliament, announced their support to Binaa including proceeding with measures to impeach the president, which seem almost impossible amid political, ethnic, and sectarian division. Meanwhile, the Supreme Religious Authority in Najaf, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, announced that the Friday sermon in Karbala will not address the political issue. Sistani's representative in Karbala, Ahmed al-Safi, only gave a religious sermon and emphasized that the problem is with the people who do not listen to the sound of reason. Binaa, which still considers itself the largest parliamentary bloc, declared that the President isn't adhering to the constitutional deadlines and wants to waste time. Binaa issued a statement saying it provided Saleh with evidence proving it is the largest bloc, especially that he pledged to form the government chaired by the candidate named by the largest bloc. The coalition was surprised by Saleh's insistence on violating the constitution and failing to assign the candidate on the pretext that he is rejected by some political parties.
The statement renewed the coalition's full commitment to the constitutional contexts emphasized by the Religious Authority, and rejected any process to circumvent the constitution. It added that violating the constitution from the party that is supposed to be protecting it, could lead to chaos in the country, calling upon the parliament to take legal measures against the President for violating the constitution. Leader of the Sadrist movement responded to Binaa’s statement and asserted his support to the President. Sadr went further and nominated three persons to head the government: intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kazmi, former head of the Iraqi Integrity Commission Judge Rahim al-Aqili, and a controversial member of the Iraqi parliament, Faiq al-Sheikh Ali. nHowever, Sadr dropped his support to any of the candidates after none of them received popular acceptance. Meanwhile, some parties and armed factions began accusing the President of being subjected to US and European pressure in terms of imposing a certain candidate close to Washington. Other blocs hinted that there is some sort of implicit understanding between Sadr and Saleh in terms of favoring a candidate.Nominating three candidates and then dropping them in less than 24 hours means something being planned that will be revealed during the coming days, especially that Saleh did not announce a clear resignation. Speaking to Asharq al-Awsat, former member of the parliament Haider al-Molla called upon Binaa to concede for the sake of the people, because if that happens, it will be in their interest in such a decisive period in the country's history. Molla noted that “resorting to the street” as an option and adhering to the directives of the Religious Authority could solve the crisis, as reforming the system is a priority on electoral gains.

Iraq: Human Rights Commission Says 490 Protesters Killed Since October
Baghdad- Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 28 December, 2019
Iraq's semi-official human rights commission said Saturday at least 490 protesters have been killed in Baghdad and southern cities in nearly three months of anti-government rallies. Iraq has been roiled by protests since Oct. 1 in which demonstrators have taken to the streets to decry corruption, poor services and a lack of jobs. They have also called for an end to the political system imposed after the 2003 US-led invasion. The mass uprisings prompted the resignation of former Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi late last month. The protesters demand an independent candidate to hold the post.
The leaderless protests - the most serious challenge for the ruling class in over a decade - were met with a violent crackdown by security forces. They dispersed crowds with live fire, tear gas and sonic bombs, leading to fatalities. Faisal Abdullah, a member of the semi-official Human Rights Commission, said the 490 killed include 33 activists "assassinated" in targeted killings. More than 22,000 have been injured. Abdullah said 56 protesters remain missing after reports they were abducted. Another 12 have been released, he said, quoting data recorded by his group, the Iraqi government and a committee looking into abduction linked to the country's Interior Ministry. The Human Rights Commission doesn't assign blame for the violence. The United Nations has said it received credible allegations of deliberate killings, abductions and arbitrary detentions carried out by unknown armed men described as `militia,´ `unknown third parties´, and `armed entities.' Iraqi politicians have warned of infiltrators seeking to co-opt and sabotage the largely peaceful movement.

Iraqi Protesters Shut Down Southern Nassiriya Oilfield
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 28 December, 2019
Protesters broke into Iraq’s southern Nassiriya oilfield on Saturday and forced employees to cut off electricity from its control station, taking the field offline until further notice, a security source and two oil sources said. The oilfield produces 90,000 barrels a day (bpd) of crude. Protesters chanted “no homeland, no oil”, as they forced its closure, the sources said. Mass protests have gripped Iraq since Oct. 1 and protesters, most of them young, are demanding an overhaul of a political system they see as profoundly corrupt and keeping most Iraqis in poverty. More than 450 people have been killed. The incident marks the first time protesters have shut an entire oilfield, though they have blocked entrances to refineries and ports in the past. Iraq’s economy depends on oil exports which make up more than 90% of revenues for OPEC’s second larger producer. No foreign companies operate at the oilfield. Protesters are demanding the removal of the entire ruling elite seen as enriching itself off the state and serving foreign powers — above all Iran — as many Iraqis languish in poverty without jobs, healthcare or education - and the appointment of a premier with no party affiliation. Iraqi President Barham Salih refused on Thursday to designate the nominee of an Iran-backed parliamentary bloc for prime minister, saying he would rather resign than appoint someone to the position who would be rejected by protesters, further extending weeks of political deadlock.

Hundreds join final Gaza-Israel border protests for three months
AFP, Gaza/Saturday, 28 December 2019
Hundreds of Palestinians took part in protests along the Gaza-Israel border Friday, the last of the demonstrations until March. Amid heavy rain and wind, the rallies had the lowest turnout in months, with tensions far lower than in previous weeks and no live fire by the Israeli army, an AFP correspondent said. The army fired however some volleys of tear gas in the southern Gaza Strip after protesters in the border town of Rafah and in Khan Yunis approached the fence, hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers on the other side of the frontier. The weekly protests began in March 2018, calling for an end to Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and for Palestinians to be allowed to return to their ancestral homes inside the Jewish state. Israel contends that any return of Palestinian refugees or their descendants would mean an end to its status as a Jewish state and accuses Gaza’s rulers Hamas of orchestrating the protests as a cover for attacks. At least 348 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli fire since the marches began, the majority during the demonstrations, according to an AFP toll. A further 7,800 people have been wounded by gunfire, according to the World Health Organization.
Eight Israelis have been killed during the same period in Gaza-related violence. Organizers announced Thursday the protests would halt until March 2020 amid dwindling turnout. Hamas has over the last year shaped a precarious informal truce with Israel, which has slightly eased its blockade of the enclave in exchange for calm along the border, despite intermittent flare-ups. As part of the agreements, Israel has allowed Gulf state Qatar to bring millions of dollars worth of fuel and cash into Gaza every month, easing a humanitarian crisis. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.

Aguila Saleh Says Turkish Troops Unwanted, Unacceptable in Libya
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 28 December, 2019
Turkey's willingness to dispatch troops to Libya is “unacceptable" and such a move would constitute unwanted meddling in the affairs of a friendly country, the speaker of the north African country's parliament said Saturday. Aguila Saleh said in a joint statement with his Cypriot counterpart that Turkey's actions are ratcheting up tensions and destabilizing the wider region. Saleh and Cypriot parliamentary speaker Demetris Syllouris also reiterated their condemnation of a maritime border agreement that Turkey signed with Libya's Tripoli-based government — but which hasn't been ratified, as necessary, by the Libyan parliament — as a “flagrant violation of international law that's devoid of any legal basis.” According to the Cyprus News Agency, Saleh said that Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj isn't authorized to sign any agreements on his own because according to an agreement on how the Libyan government should function, any agreement needs to have the unanimous approval of the nine-member presidential council and also requires parliament's approval. Speaking through an interpreter, Saleh said Erdogan took advantage of the divisions within Libya, as well as Tripoli's control by "terrorist groups" to get the agreements approved in order to intervene in Libya's internal affairs. Erdogan “sent in the past unmanned areal vehicles and armored vehicles, different types of weapons and has recently announced that he would send troops to fight in Libya," Saleh said. According to Saleh, Erdogan's aim "is to provoke countries in the eastern Mediterranean and to interfere in their exclusive economic zones without taking account of these countries' sovereign rights at sea and in the air.” On a surprise visit to Tunisia earlier this week, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated that his county would evaluate sending soldiers to Libya if there is an invitation from Tripoli, where Sarraj's United Nations-supported but weak administration is based. Turkey has signed maritime and agreements with the Libyan government that controls the capital, Tripoli, and some of the country’s west. The military deal allows Ankara to dispatch military experts and personnel, along with weapons, despite a UN arms embargo that has been violated by other international actors. Turkey contends the maritime agreement gives it economic rights to a large swathe of the eastern Mediterranean sea. Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt have denounced the deal as legally invalid as it encroaches on their maritime borders. In Rome, asked about a possible Turkish military action in Libya in support of Serraj's forces, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said he had tried to discourage any attempt at a military solution for Libya. Conte, who discussed Libya with Erdogan in a phone call last week, told reporters on Saturday that a "proxy war in Libya" would, "instead of stabilizing" the North African country across the Mediterranean from Italy, only aggravate the "incredible fragmentation" there. "I implored Turkish President Erdogan" against military involvement, Conte said. Any such intervention, Conte ventured, "would give way to an incredible military escalation, that would have so many civilian victims and be without a victory for anyone."Conte called for stepped-up diplomatic pressure to push for a political solution, and said Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio might soon return to Libya to push Italy's determination to work for a "cessation of hostilities.""We can't accept any military escalation," the Italian premier said at a year-end news conference. Conte also said the European Union is determined to play an important role and so EU countries should be united in its stand on Libya for a political solution. Serraj is battling an offensive launched in April by the rival government based in eastern Libya and forces loyal to commander Gen. Khalifa Hifter, who is trying to take Tripoli. The fighting has threatened to plunge Libya into violence rivaling the 2011 conflict that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Cyprus Holds Talks with Rival Libya Administration
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 28/2019
Cyprus has stepped up its campaign against the UN-recognised Libyan government's increasingly close military ties with Turkey, hosting talks on Saturday with a leading figure in the rival Libyan administration. The speaker of Libya's eastern-based parliament, Aguila Saleh, met his Cypriot counterpart Demetris Syllouris, his adviser Hamid al-Safi told reporters in Libya's main eastern city Benghazi. Saleh urged Cyprus, an EU member state, to withdraw its recognition from the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), because it has "lost its legitimacy and wants to sell Libya to foreigners", Safi said.
The two men also discussed ways to counter two agreements which the GNA signed with Turkey in November that Greek Cypriots strongly oppose. One provides for direct military intervention by Turkish forces in support of the GNA, a move Ankara says may begin as early as next month. The other sets a maritime boundary between Libya and Turkey, which has angered Greece and Greek Cypriots as they step up plans to exploit offshore gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean. The Cyprus government has no diplomatic relations with Turkey, which dismisses it as an exclusively Greek Cypriot administration. Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey invaded its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup seeking to unite the whole island with Greece. Ankara is the only government to recognise a breakaway state in the north which Turkish Cypriot leaders declared in 1983. UN-backed talks on reunifying the island as a bizonal, bi-communal federation collapsed in July 2017 and have not resumed, in part because of deep divisions over offshore gas.

Disabled Syrian Refugee Sues Greece over Pursuit Injuries
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 28/2019
A Syrian refugee disabled after being shot in a Greek coastguard pursuit in 2014 is demanding 100,000 euros ($111,000) in damages from the Greek state, a report said Saturday. The 68-year-old man, who now lives in Sweden, submitted his case to a court on the island of Rhodes, local daily Dimokratiki said. The plaintiff was badly hurt in September 2014 when Greek coastguards fired on a smuggler's speedboat in a drawn-out chase near the island of Kalymnos. The smuggler had previously attempted to ram and sink the Greek patrol boat, injuring one of the coastguards, authorities had said at the time.The coastguards had also claimed that a dozen asylum-seekers were concealed on the speedboat and were not visible during the pursuit.

Mogadishu: At Least 90 Killed in Checkpoint Blast
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 28 December, 2019
At least 90 people were killed and dozens were wounded when a bomb-laden vehicle exploded at a bustling checkpoint in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Saturday, an international organization working in the country said, in one of the most deadly recent attacks. The dead included many students and two Turkish nationals, the Somali foreign minister said, Reuters reported. Rescuers carried bodies past the twisted wreckage of a vehicle and a minibus taxi smeared with blood. A report by the international organization, which did not want to be named, said the death toll was more than 90.A Somali MP also tweeted that he had been told the death toll stands at more than 90, including 17 police officers. No-one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. Al Qaeda-linked terror group al Shabaab regularly carries out such attacks in an attempt to undermine the government, which is backed by the United Nations and African Union troops. The most deadly attack blamed on the group was in October 2017 when a bomb-laden truck exploded next to a fuel tanker in Mogadishu, creating a storm of fire that killed nearly 600 people. While al Shabaab carries out frequent attacks, the death tolls are often lower than in Saturday’s blast. The group has sometimes not claimed responsibility for attacks that sparked a big public backlash, such as a 2009 suicide bombing of a graduation ceremony for medical students. Three witnesses told Reuters that a small team of Turkish engineers were present at the time of the blast at the Ex-Control checkpoint, constructing a road from the checkpoint into the city. A car belonging to the engineers was destroyed instantly in the blast, the witnesses said. Somali Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad later tweeted that two of the Turkish engineers died in the blast. Many of the dead were “students with ambition, and hardworking men and women”, he wrote. Turkey’s foreign ministry confirmed the death of two of its nationals. After the explosion, 55-year-old Sabdow Ali, who lives nearby, said he left his house and counted at least 13 people dead. “Dozens of injured people were screaming for help but the police immediately opened fire and I rushed back to my house,” he told Reuters. The injured were transported to Medina Hospital, where a Reuters witness saw dozens arriving by ambulance. A nurse at the hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the facility had received more than 100 wounded people.

Sudan, Rebels Agree Plan to End Conflict in Darfur
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 28 December, 2019
The Sudanese government and nine rebel groups on Saturday signed an agreement on a roadmap towards ending the bloody conflict in the Darfur region. The deal outlines different issues the parties will need to negotiate during the latest round of talks in Juba."We believe this is an important step," said Ahmed Mohamed, the chief negotiator on Darfur matters from the Sudan Revolutionary Front or SRF, a coalition of nine rebel groups involved in talks with the Sudanese government. "This step no doubt will help the process to achieve a lasting peace in Darfur and also it will enable the transitional process in Sudan to move smoothly without hindrances," Mohamed told AFP. Among the issues they agreed need to be tackled are the root causes of the conflict, the return of refugees and internally displaced people, power sharing and the integration of rebel forces into the national army. The deal also states that the Sudanese government will address land issues, such as the destruction of property during the conflict. Khartoum has been negotiating with different rebel groups in the capital of South Sudan for two weeks, in the latest round of efforts to end conflicts in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan. Rebels in these areas fought bloody campaigns against marginalization by Khartoum under ousted president Omar al-Bashir. The Darfur fighting broke out in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against Bashir's government. Human rights groups say Khartoum targeted suspected pro-rebel ethnic groups with a scorched earth policy, raping, killing, looting and burning villages. Bashir, who is behind bars for corruption and awaiting trial on other charges, is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his role in the conflict that left around 300,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced, according to the United Nations. However, there is fresh hope for peace after Sudan's transitional government, led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, made peace in these areas a priority. "We failed to achieve a lasting peace for Darfur simply because the previous government was not ready to take strategic decisions to resolve the conflict in Darfur," said Mohamed who has been involved in previous failed peace talks. General Samsedine Kabashi, the top Sudanese government representative at the talks said: "We are committed to ending all the problems in Darfur and ensuring that we restore peace and stability not only in Darfur but across all parts of the country."The peace process began in August and mediators aim to reach a final deal by February 2020.

Algerian President Names Abdelaziz Djerad as New Prime Minister
Algiers- Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 28 December, 2019
Algeria's new president on Saturday named as his prime minister an academic turned political insider who vowed to work to win back people's trust after months of street protests. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, elected this month to succeed ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, asked Abdelaziz Djerad to form a government, the presidency announced in a statement carried by state television. The 65-year-old premier, who has a Ph.D in political science, struck a conciliatory tone after meeting Tebboune, whose election victory was rejected by protesters as a ploy to keep establishment insiders in power.
Djerad pledged to work with all Algerians to surmount the economic and social challenges confronting the north African country. "We face a major challenge to win back the trust" of the people, he added. But the initial response on the street to Djerad's appointment suggested he has his work cut out. "This change of prime minister is illegitimate since the one who appointed him is illegitimate," said pharmacy student Maassoum. The people "asked for a new soup. They just changed the spoon," said one of his friends, Amine. Although from an academic background, Djerad already has experience of the inner workings of the Algerian state, having held posts including general secretary of the presidency from 1993-1995 and the same role at the foreign ministry from 2001-2003. He replaces Sabri Boukadoum, the foreign minister who was appointed interim prime minister after Tebboune's election win.
Algeria's 10-month-old protest movement has rejected Tebboune as part of the same corrupt system that has ruled since independence in 1962. Demonstrators have stayed on the streets since Bouteflika resigned in April after two decades in office. On Friday tens of thousands of Algerians rallied again insisting on a total revamp of the political establishment. But the demonstration seemed one of the smallest since the start of the unprecedented, peaceful uprising, with some protesters saying school and university holidays had kept people away. The crowd was outnumbered by the throngs of people who had turned out for the funeral on Wednesday of powerful army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah, who had become the de facto strongman in the country after Bouteflika quit. The December 12 election was boycotted by a large part of the electorate. Tebboune won with 58.1 percent of the vote on a turnout of less than 40 percent, according to official results, and was sworn in on December 19, days before Gaid Salah died of a heart attack at age 79.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 28-29/2019
Germany: A "Latent Sense of Insecurity"
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/December 28/2019
Fifty-seven percent of Germans say that "increasingly being told what to say and how to behave" is getting on their nerves. — Survey on self-censorship in Germany, (conducted by Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach for the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), May 2019.
"We have seen the consequences of this decision [unrestricted migration] in terms of German public opinion and internal security - we experience problems every day. We have criminals, terrorist suspects and people who use multiple identities... While things are tighter today, we still have 300,000 people in Germany of whose identities we cannot be sure. That's a massive security risk." — August Hanning, former president of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service.
"Evidently, many people nowadays view Islam more as a political ideology and less as a religion and therefore not deserving of religious tolerance." — Yasemin El-Menouar, Bertelsmann Stiftung's expert on religion, July 19, 2019.
According to August Hanning, former president of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, "We have seen the consequences of this decision [unrestricted migration] in terms of German public opinion and internal security... We have criminals, terrorist suspects and people who use multiple identities..." Pictured: Riot police observe as residents of Chemnitz, Germany protest the murder of a local German man the previous day. The victim was stabbed to death by migrants on August 27, 2018. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
"At least since the events at the Cologne cathedral square on New Year's Eve in 2015 people apparently feel more and more unsafe," said Oliver Malchow, the chairman of one of Germany's two largest police unions. He was referring to the mass sexual assaults committed mainly by Arab and North African men at the Cologne cathedral square on New Year's Eve more than four years ago. Malchow was also referring to new statistics, which show that approximately 640,000 Germans now have licenses for gas pistols -- a large increase since 2014, when around 260,000 people had such a license. A gas pistol fires loud blanks or tear gas cartridges and is only potentially lethal at extremely close range.
The new statistics, according to Malchow, showed a "latent sense of insecurity" in the population. The number of real firearms owned privately also reportedly increased in 2018 -- by 27,000 over the previous year. In Germany now, 5.4 million firearms are privately owned, most of them rifles.
A recent annual poll, conducted in September, confirms Malchow's estimate: Every year since 1992, R+V, Germany's largest insurance firm, has been asking Germans what they fear most. "This year, for the first time," according to a report in Deutsche Welle, "a majority said they were most afraid that the country would be unable to deal with the aftermath of the migrant influx of 2015". Fifty-six percent of those polled said they were scared that the country would not be able to deal with the number of migrants. This September marked exactly four years since Chancellor Angela Merkel opened Germany's borders and allowed in almost a million migrants. However, Ulrich Wagner, professor of social psychology at the University of Marburg told Deutsche Welle:
"It's really got more to do with the fact that politicians and media discuss this issue a great deal — which triggers fear... For example, in the latest study, fear of terrorism has clearly gone down. We simply don't discuss this issue as much as we used to, and that means that people feel safer."
What the professor appears to imply is that you can solve a crucial societal issue, not by debating its ramifications and publicly seeking to find solutions to it, but by not talking about it, thereby lulling the public into a false sense of security by pretending that the problem does not exist.
The terror threat in Germany has not, in fact, disappeared. Just this March, 11 men were arrested on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack in Germany. Police told the media that the goal of the attack had been "to kill as many infidels as possible" by using firearms and vehicles. According to police, the Islamist group had already organized the rental of a large vehicle: money had been raised and weapons dealers had been approached. "The terror threat in Germany remains high," the media reported in April. "According to security authorities, there is currently no concrete risk of an attack. But officials are prepared for any development".
German media also reported in April that German authorities have prevented 13 terrorist attacks in Germany since 2010 and that, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office, all of them were "linked to Islamic extremism". As recently as October, a Syrian man plowed a stolen truck into the back of a line of traffic, ramming eight cars together and injuring seven people.
Professor Wagner does have a point, however -- people do talk a lot less publicly about crucial societal issues: As previously reported by Gatestone Institute, a May 2019 survey, conducted by Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach for the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, showed that discussing certain issues in Germany has become taboo. While the survey did not specifically mention terrorism, it concluded that "The refugee issue is one of the most sensitive topics for the vast majority of respondents, followed by statements of opinion on Muslims and Islam". As an example, 71% of Germans say, according to the survey, that one can only comment on the refugee issue "with caution".
Also, according to the annual poll on what Germans fear most, mentioned above, the level of fear in the former East Germany is more than 10% higher than in the West. According to Deutsche Welle:
"The paradox is that fewer migrants and fewer refugees actually live in the east than in the west, and yet the levels of fear are higher," says psychologist Ulrich Wagner. He explains that people who have had personal interactions with foreigners are less likely to believe unfounded horror stories about criminal refugees. "And in the east of Germany, people simply have fewer opportunities to meet refugees and debunk those myths."
As for that hypothesis, it may be more likely, not that fear is higher, but that people in the former East Germany are less afraid of telling pollsters how they really feel. As the survey on German self-censorship has shown, 57 % of Germans say that "increasingly being told what to say and how to behave" is getting on their nerves. Germans from the formerly communist East complain more about this than the average German, as they have "fresh historical memories of regulation and constriction".
August Hanning, a former president of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, recently confirmed that the "latent sense of insecurity" is not due to public fear-mongering. During a visit to the UK, Hanning said that Chancellor Angela Merkel had endangered security in Germany with her historic decision to allow virtually unrestricted immigration into the country by creating a "security crisis" for Germany and the other member states of the European Union.
"We have seen the consequences of this decision in terms of German public opinion and internal security - we experience problems every day.
"We have criminals, terrorist suspects and people who use multiple identities...
"While things are tighter today, we still have 300,000 people in Germany of whose identities we cannot be sure. That's a massive security risk.
"Moreover, that decision led to the rise of the extremist right, and that's another security risk, too..."
While Germans are afraid to speak publicly about migrants, refugees and Islam, a recent study conducted by Bertelsmann Stiftung showed that roughly every second German considers Islam to be a threat. Professor Wagner's theory above, that not talking about certain issues makes fears go away, is, apparently, false. According to the study:
"Overall, about half of those surveyed perceive Islam as a threat. This proportion is higher in eastern Germany, at 57 percent, than in western Germany (50 percent). These findings, recorded in spring 2019, are largely similar to the results of previous Religion Monitor surveys taken in 2013, 2015, and 2017."
According to Yasemin El-Menouar, Bertelsmann Stiftung's expert on religion, according to the organization's website, "Evidently, many people nowadays view Islam more as a political ideology and less as a religion and therefore not deserving of religious tolerance."
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

An Interesting Year Comes to an End
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/December 28/2019
As 2019 ends, the phrase that comes to mind is "what an interesting year!" And, the word “interesting” in this context should be taken in its traditional Chinese meaning, which is full of risks and dangers.
The year now ending confirmed a trend that started earlier in the decade marking a slow, but undeniable, retreat from globalization which, at the start of the new century, was believed to be the panacea for all our ills. The new trend, taking shape in many countries, is that of nationalism highlighted by a return to the nation-state as the most effective model of political organization.
This new trend puts the international system, or “world order” as some like to call it, under immense pressure. International organizations, starting with the United Nations itself, appear less relevant than ever.
Institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, that were riding the crest of the wave under globalization, are now all but sidelined. A convalescent NATO is in search of a facelift to merit attention. The European Union, shaken by the British departure expected to be finalized next year, is forced to cast a hard look at its prospects. Other multinational groupings, from the Organization of American States (OAS) to the African Union and passing by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to Arab league and the Gulf Cooperation Council are also trying to readjust to a changing world situation. As for outfits such as the Shanghai Group and the Russian-led Eurasia “common market”, they resemble ghostly characters in search of an author.
However, is the nation-state, and nationalism that is its ideological trope, capable of responding to the new evolving world situation? That is not at all certain. The nation-state itself is under pressure from fissiparous and secessionist tendencies in several countries including several democracies notably Spain, Great Britain, Canada, and Italy. Worse still, we witness the multiplication of the number of failed states such as Syria, Venezuela, Somalia, Congo-Kinshasa, Zimbabwe, and Libya where the nation-state model is more of a chimera. In other countries, notably Afghanistan, Sudan, and Iraq, and to some extent even Lebanon, the situation is frozen and the threat of failed statehood looms on the horizon. In some other countries, notably Iran and North Korea the state has morphed into an instrument for keeping the nation under control and is thus preventing the emergence of the traditional model of a nation-state.
Even where the nation-state operates more or less normally, which is still the case in most countries, its power and authority are challenged by non-state or trans-state actors such as multinational giant corporations, global pressure groups, such as the environmentalists, and trans-national media. In some cases, even celebrities could exert greater influence than the average nation-state.
The virtual disappearance of traditional political parties has led to the emergence of countless niche groups that often transform themselves into ideological echo chambers. Classical media have also lost much of their power and relevance, and are challenged by countless “news” outlets marketing “alternative facts.”
Another challenge to the traditional model of the nation-state is the feminization of politics in more and more countries. A generation ago, having a woman minister, let alone a prime minister or president, was a rarity. Today, it is a banality. The leaders of most political parties in Britain, for example, are now women. And, in the United States, female presidential wannabes dominate the Democrat Party’s list of candidates. This feminization shifts the emphasis away from the traditional goals of the nation-state that highlighted prestige, glory, economic growth, and hard power to social goals such as welfare, education, health, and help for real or imagined “victims of society.”
To be sure, different parts of the world will cope with these new challenges in different ways. Western democracies have developed mechanisms for reform that could help them through what is an epochal transition with a minimum of damage to their socio-economic fabric. Authoritarian systems such as China and, in a different register even Russia, may also be able to negotiate many bumps on the road, at least as long as they maintain economic growth rates that could offer the average citizen the prospect of a better living standard. A number of Asian countries, notably Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Thailand are in a similar position with the difference that their economic performance is less secure than either China or Russia. India, often labeled “the world’s largest democracy” has the additional problem of managing an explosion of religious nationalism out of sync with the emerging international landscape.
In the coming year, the final phase of the politico-cultural; civil war triggered by Donald Trump’s election as president will be fought, with gloves off on both sides. Because the United States remains an important model for many throughout the world, the outcome of that fight could affect developments in several other nations across the globe.
In our own region, I have a sense, based on a hunch more than concrete information, that the war in Yemen may end. The Houthis, sponsored by the Islamic Republic in Iran, may realize that their benefactors in Tehran are no longer capable of ensuring the level of support needed for continuing a long low-intensity war.
On Iraq, I remain the last person on earth who is still optimistic. Iraq may well be able to negotiate a difficult transition from an old generation of politicians, mostly returning exiles, to a new one raised inside the country since its liberation in 2003.
Iran is also heading for a transition as a regime of geriatrics that has lost much of its legitimacy finds it more and more difficult to frustrate the ambitions of a mostly young, creative, and determined nation.
In Syria, a question mark remains hanging on future prospects. Because of Russia, Iranian and Turkish intervention the transition that could have taken place from the Assad regime to a new national consensus has been kicked in the long grass. It is difficult to see how, let alone when, Syria may re-emerge as a unified nation-state in any acceptable sense of the term. The good news is that an interesting year is ending. The bad news is that the coming year may prove even more interesting. Again, in the Chinese sense of the term.

Final Goodbye: Recalling Influential People who Died in 2019
Associated Press/December 28/2019
A lauded writer who brought to light stories overshadowed by prejudice. An actress and singer who helped embody the manufactured innocence of the 1950s. A self-made billionaire who rose from a childhood of Depression-era poverty and twice ran for president. This year saw the deaths of people who shifted culture through prose, pragmatism and persistence. It also witnessed tragedy, in talent struck down in its prime.
In 2019, the political world lost a giant in U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings. He was born the son of a sharecropper, became a lawyer, then an influential congressman and champion of civil rights.
Cummings, who died in October, was chairman of one of the U.S. House committees that led an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump and was a formidable advocate for the poor in his Maryland district.
Another influential political figure, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, died in July. Stevens was appointed to the high court as a Republican but became the leader of its liberal wing and a proponent of abortion rights and consumer protections.
Wealth, fame and a confident prescription for the nation's economic ills propelled H. Ross Perot 's 1992 campaign against President George H.W. Bush and Democratic challenger Bill Clinton. He recorded the highest percentage for an independent or third-party candidate since 1912. He died in July.
The death of Toni Morrison in August left a chasm in the publishing world, where she was a "literary mother" to countless writers. She helped elevate multiculturalism to the world stage and unearthed the lives of the unknown and unwanted. She became the first black woman to receive the Nobel literature prize for "Beloved" and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
Among those in the scientific world who died in 2019 was Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first person to walk in space. Leonov died in October. Others include scientist Wallace Smith Broecker, who died in February and popularized the term "global warming" as he raised early alarms about climate change.
In April, Hollywood lost director John Singleton, whose 1991 film "Boyz N the Hood" was praised as a realistic and compassionate take on race, class, peer pressure and family. He became the first black director to receive an Oscar nomination and the youngest at 24.
Doris Day, a top box-office draw and recording artist who died in May, stood for the 1950s ideal of innocence and G-rated love, a parallel world to her contemporary Marilyn Monroe. She received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004.
The year also saw the untimely deaths of two young rappers, leaving a feeling of accomplishments unfulfilled. Grammy-nominated Nipsey Hussle was killed in a shooting in Los Angeles in March. Juice WRLD, who launched his career on SoundCloud before becoming a streaming juggernaut, died in December after being treated for opioid use during a police search.
Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2019 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):
JANUARY
Eugene "Mean Gene" Okerlund, 76. His deadpan interviews of pro wrestling superstars like "Macho Man" Randy Savage, the Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan made him a ringside fixture in his own right. Jan. 2.
Bob Einstein, 76. The veteran comedy writer and performer known for "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and his spoof daredevil character Super Dave Osborne. Jan. 2.
Daryl Dragon, 76. The cap-wearing "Captain" of Captain & Tennille who teamed with then-wife Toni Tennille on such easy listening hits as "Love Will Keep Us Together" and "Muskrat Love." Jan. 2.
Harold Brown, 91. As defense secretary in the Carter administration, he championed cutting-edge fighting technology during a tenure that included the failed rescue of hostages in Iran. Jan 4.
Jakiw Palij, 95. A former Nazi concentration camp guard who spent decades leading an unassuming life in New York City until his past was revealed. Jan. 9.
Carol Channing, 97. The ebullient musical comedy star who delighted American audiences in almost 5,000 performances as the scheming Dolly Levi in "Hello, Dolly!" on Broadway and beyond. Jan. 15.
John C. Bogle, 89. He simplified investing for the masses by launching the first index mutual fund and founded Vanguard Group. Jan. 16.
Lamia al-Gailani, 80. An Iraqi archaeologist who lent her expertise to rebuilding the National Museum's collection after it was looted in 2003. Jan. 18.
Nathan Glazer, 95. A prominent sociologist and intellectual who assisted on a classic study of conformity, "The Lonely Crowd," and co-authored a groundbreaking document of non-conformity, "Beyond the Melting Pot." Jan. 19.
Antonio Mendez, 78. A former CIA technical operations officer who helped rescue six U.S. diplomats from Iran in 1980 and was portrayed by Ben Affleck in the film "Argo." Jan. 19.
Harris Wofford, 92. A former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and longtime civil rights activist who helped persuade John F. Kennedy to make a crucial phone call to the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1960 presidential campaign. Jan. 21.
Russell Baker, 93. The genial but sharp-witted writer who won Pulitzer Prizes for his humorous columns in The New York Times and a moving autobiography of his impoverished Baltimore childhood. He later hosted television's "Masterpiece Theatre" on PBS. Jan 21. Complications after a fall.
Michel Legrand, 86. An Oscar-winning composer and pianist whose hits included the score for the '60s romance "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" and the song "The Windmills of Your Mind" and who worked with some of biggest singers of the 20th century. Jan. 26.
Kim Bok-dong, 92. A South Korean woman who was forced as a girl into a brothel and sexually enslaved by the Japanese military during World War II, becoming a vocal leader at rallies that were held every Wednesday in Seoul for nearly 30 years. Jan. 28.
James Ingram, 66. The Grammy-winning singer who launched multiple hits on the R&B and pop charts and earned two Oscar nominations for his songwriting. Jan. 29.
Donald S. Smith, 94. He produced the controversial anti-abortion film "The Silent Scream" and, with help from Ronald Reagan's White House, distributed copies to every member of Congress and the Supreme Court. Jan. 30.
Harold Bradley, 93. A Country Music Hall of Fame guitarist who played on hundreds of hit country records and along with his brother, famed producer Owen Bradley, helped craft "The Nashville Sound." Jan. 31.
FEBRUARY
Kristoff St. John, 52. An actor best known for playing Neil Winters on the CBS soap opera "The Young and the Restless." Feb. 4. Heart disease.
Anne Firor Scott, 97. A prize-winning historian and esteemed professor who upended the male-dominated field of Southern scholarship by pioneering the study of Southern women. Feb. 5.
Frank Robinson, 83. The Hall of Famer was the first black manager in Major League Baseball and the only player to win the MVP award in both leagues. Feb. 7.
John Dingell, 92. The former congressman was the longest-serving member of Congress in American history at 59 years and a master of legislative deal-making who was fiercely protective of Detroit's auto industry. Feb. 7.
Albert Finney, 82. The British actor was the Academy Award-nominated star of films from "Tom Jones" to "Skyfall." Feb. 8.
Jan-Michael Vincent, 73. The "Airwolf" television star whose sleek good looks belied a troubled personal life. Feb. 10.
Gordon Banks, 81. The World Cup-winning England goalkeeper who was also known for blocking a header from Pele that many consider the greatest save in soccer history. Feb. 12.
Betty Ballantine, 99. She was half of a groundbreaking husband-and-wife publishing team that helped invent the modern paperback and vastly expand the market for science fiction and other genres through such blockbusters as "The Hobbit" and "Fahrenheit 451." Feb. 12.
Lyndon LaRouche Jr., 96. The political extremist who ran for president in every election from 1976 to 2004, including a campaign waged from federal prison. Feb. 12.
Andrea Levy, 62. A prize-winning novelist who chronicled the hopes and horrors experienced by the post-World War II generation of Jamaican immigrants in Britain. Feb. 14.
Lee Radziwill, 85. She was the stylish jet setter and socialite who found friends, lovers and other adventures worldwide while bonding and competing with her sister Jacqueline Kennedy. Feb. 15.
Armando M. Rodriguez, 97. A Mexican immigrant and World War II veteran who served in the administrations of four U.S. presidents while pressing for civil rights and education reforms. Feb. 17.
Wallace Smith Broecker, 87. A scientist who raised early alarms about climate change and popularized the term "global warming." Feb. 18.
Karl Lagerfeld, 85. Chanel's iconic couturier whose accomplished designs and trademark white ponytail, high starched collars and dark enigmatic glasses dominated high fashion for the past 50 years. Feb. 19.
David Horowitz, 81. His "Fight Back!" syndicated program made him perhaps the best-known consumer reporter in the U.S. Feb. 21.
Peter Tork, 77. A talented singer-songwriter and instrumentalist whose musical skills were often overshadowed by his role as the goofy, lovable bass guitarist in the made-for-television rock band The Monkees. Feb. 21.
Stanley Donen, 94. A giant of the Hollywood musical who, through such classics as "Singin' in the Rain" and "Funny Face," helped provide some of the most joyous sounds and images in movie history. Feb. 21.
Jackie Shane, 78. A black transgender soul singer who became a pioneering musician in Toronto where she packed nightclubs in the 1960s. Feb. 21.
Katherine Helmond, 89. An Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress who played two very different matriarchs on the ABC sitcoms "Who's the Boss?" and "Soap." Feb. 23.
Charles McCarry, 88. An admired and prescient spy novelist who foresaw passenger jets as terrorist weapons in "The Better Angels" and devised a compelling theory for JFK's assassination in "The Tears of Autumn." Feb. 26.
Jerry Merryman, 86. He was one of the inventors of the handheld electronic calculator. Feb. 27. Complications of heart and kidney failure.
Ed Nixon, 88. The youngest brother of President Richard Nixon who was a Navy aviator and geologist and spent years promoting his brother's legacy. Feb. 27.
Andre Previn, 89. The pianist, composer and conductor whose broad reach took in the worlds of Hollywood, jazz and classical music. Feb. 28.
MARCH
John Shafer, 94. The legendary Northern California vintner was part of a generation that helped elevate sleepy Napa Valley into the international wine powerhouse it is today. March 2.
Keith Flint, 49. The fiery frontman of British dance-electronic band The Prodigy. March 4. Found dead by hanging in his home.
Luke Perry, 52. He gained instant heartthrob status as wealthy rebel Dylan McKay on "Beverly Hills, 90210." March 4. Stroke.
Juan Corona, 85. He gained the nickname "The Machete Murderer" for hacking to death dozens of migrant farm laborers in California in the early 1970s. March 4.
Ralph Hall, 95. The former Texas congressman was the oldest-ever member of the U.S. House and a man who claimed to have once sold cigarettes and Coca-Cola to the bank-robbing duo of Bonnie and Clyde in Dallas. March 7.
Carmine "the Snake" Persico, 85. The longtime boss of the infamous Colombo crime family. March 7.
Vera Bila, 64. A Czech singer dubbed the Ella Fitzgerald of Gypsy music or the Queen of Romany. March 12. Heart attack.
Birch Bayh, 91. A former U.S. senator who championed the federal law banning discrimination against women in college admissions and sports. March 14.
Dick Dale, 83. His pounding, blaringly loud power-chord instrumentals on songs like "Miserlou" and "Let's Go Trippin'" earned him the title King of the Surf Guitar. March 16.
Jerrie Cobb, 88. America's first female astronaut candidate, the pilot pushed for equality in space but never reached its heights. March 18.
Scott Walker, 76. An influential singer, songwriter and producer whose hits with the Walker Brothers in the 1960s included "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore." March 22.
Rafi Eitan, 92. A legendary Israeli Mossad spy who led the capture of Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann. March 23.
Larry Cohen, 77. The maverick B-movie director of cult horror films "It's Alive" and "God Told Me To." March 23.
Michel Bacos, 95. A French pilot who's remembered as a hero for his actions in the 1976 hijacking of an Air France plane to Uganda's Entebbe airport. March 26.
Valery Bykovsky, 84. A pioneering Soviet-era cosmonaut who made the first of his three flights to space in 1963. March 27.
Agnes Varda, 90. The French New Wave pioneer who for decades beguiled, challenged and charmed moviegoers in films that inspired generations of filmmakers. March 29. Cancer.
Ken Gibson, 86. He became the first black mayor of a major Northeast city when he ascended to power in riot-torn Newark, New Jersey, about five decades ago. March 29.
Billy Adams, 79. A Rockabilly Hall of Famer who wrote and recorded the rockabilly staple "Rock, Pretty Mama." March 30.
Nipsey Hussle, 33. A Grammy-nominated rapper. March 31. Killed in a shooting.
APRIL
Sydney Brenner, 92. A Nobel Prize-winning biologist who helped decipher the genetic code and whose research on a roundworm sparked a new field of human disease research. April 5.
Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings, 97. The silver-haired Democrat who helped shepherd South Carolina through desegregation as governor and went on to serve six terms in the U.S. Senate. April 6.
Cho Yang-ho, 70. Korean Air's chairman, whose leadership included scandals such as his daughter's infamous incident of "nut rage." April 7.
Marilynn Smith, 89. One of the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour whose 21 victories, two majors and endless support of her tour led to her induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame. April 9.
Richard "Dick" Cole, 103. The last of the 80 Doolittle Tokyo Raiders who carried out the daring U.S. attack on Japan during World War II. April 9.
Charles Van Doren, 93. The dashing young academic whose meteoric rise and fall as a corrupt game show contestant in the 1950s inspired the movie "Quiz Show" and served as a cautionary tale about the staged competitions of early television. April 9.
Monkey Punch, 81. A cartoonist best known as the creator of the Japanese megahit comic series Lupin III. April 11.
Georgia Engel, 70. She played the charmingly innocent, small-voiced Georgette on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and amassed a string of other TV and stage credits. April 12.
Bibi Andersson, 83. The Swedish actress who starred in classic films by compatriot Ingmar Bergman, including "The Seventh Seal" and "Persona." April 14.
Owen Garriott, 88. A former astronaut who flew on America's first space station, Skylab, and whose son followed him into orbit. April 15.
Alan García, 69. A former Peruvian president whose first term in the 1980s was marred by financial chaos and rebel violence and who was recently targeted in Latin America's biggest corruption scandal. April 17. Apparent suicide.
Lorraine Warren, 92. A world-wide paranormal investigator and author whose decades of ghost-hunting cases with her late husband inspired such frightening films as "The Conjuring" series and "The Amityville Horror." April 18.
Mark Medoff, 79. A provocative playwright whose "Children of a Lesser God" won Tony and Olivier awards and whose screen adaptation of his play earned an Oscar nomination. April 23.
John Havlicek, 79. The Boston Celtics great whose steal of Hal Greer's inbounds pass in the final seconds of the 1965 Eastern Conference final against the Philadelphia 76ers remains one of the most famous plays in NBA history. April 25.
Damon J. Keith, 96. A grandson of slaves and figure in the civil rights movement who as a federal judge was sued by President Richard Nixon over a ruling against warrantless wiretaps. April 28.
Richard Lugar, 87. A former U.S. senator and foreign policy sage known for leading efforts to help the former Soviet states dismantle and secure much of their nuclear arsenal but whose reputation for working with Democrats cost him his final campaign. April 28.
John Singleton, 51. A director who made one of Hollywood's most memorable debuts with the Oscar-nominated "Boyz N the Hood" and continued over the following decades to probe the lives of black communities in his native Los Angeles and beyond. April 29. Taken off life support after a stroke.
Ellen Tauscher, 67. A trailblazer for women in the world of finance who served in Congress for more than a decade before joining the Obama administration. April 29. Complications from pneumonia.
Peter Mayhew, 74. The towering actor who donned a huge, furry costume to give life to the rugged-and-beloved character of Chewbacca in the original "Star Wars" trilogy and two other films. April 30.
MAY
John Lukacs, 95. The Hungarian-born historian and iconoclast who brooded over the future of Western civilization, wrote a best-selling tribute to Winston Churchill, and produced a substantial and often despairing body of writings on the politics and culture of Europe and the United States. May 6.
Peggy Lipton, 72. A star of the groundbreaking late 1960s TV show "The Mod Squad" and the 1990s show "Twin Peaks." May 11. Cancer.
Leonard Bailey, 76. The doctor who in 1984 transplanted a baboon heart into a tiny newborn dubbed "Baby Fae" in a pioneering operation that sparked both worldwide acclaim and condemnation. May 12.
Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, 98. The former patriarch of Lebanon's Maronite Christian church who served as spiritual leader of Lebanon's largest Christian community through some of the worst days of the country's 1975-1990 civil war. May 12.
Doris Day, 97. The sunny blond actress and singer whose frothy comedic roles opposite the likes of Rock Hudson and Cary Grant made her one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the 1950s and '60s and a symbol of wholesome American womanhood. May 13.
Tim Conway, 85. The impish second banana to Carol Burnett who won four Emmy Awards on her TV variety show, starred in "McHale's Navy" and later voiced the role of Barnacle Boy for "Spongebob Squarepants." May 14.
I.M. Pei, 102. The versatile, globe-trotting architect who revived the Louvre with a giant glass pyramid and captured the spirit of rebellion at the multi-shaped Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. May 16.
Niki Lauda, 70. A Formula One great who won two of his world titles after a horrific crash that left him with serious burns and went on to become a prominent figure in the aviation industry. May 20.
Binyavanga Wainaina, 48. One of Africa's best-known authors and gay rights activists. May 21. Illness.
Judith Kerr, 95. A refugee from Nazi Germany who wrote and illustrated the best-selling "The Tiger Who Came to Tea" and other beloved children's books. May 22.
Murray Gell-Mann, 89. The Nobel Prize-winning physicist who brought order to the universe by helping discover and classify subatomic particles. May 24.
Claus von Bulow, 92. A Danish-born socialite who was convicted but later acquitted of trying to kill his wealthy wife in two trials that drew intense international attention in the 1980s. May 25.
Prem Tinsulanonda, 98. As an army commander, prime minister and adviser to the royal palace, he was one of Thailand's most influential political figures over four decades. May 26.
Richard Matsch, 88. A federal judge who ruled his courtroom with a firm gavel and a short temper and gained national respect in the 1990s for his handling of the Oklahoma City bombing trials. May 26.
Bill Buckner, 69. A star hitter who made one of the biggest blunders in baseball history when he let Mookie Wilson's trickler roll through his legs in the 1986 World Series. May 27.
Thad Cochran, 81. A former U.S. senator who served 45 years in Washington and used seniority to steer billions of dollars to his home state of Mississippi. May 30.
Patricia Bath, 76. A pioneering ophthalmologist who became the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent after she invented a more precise treatment of cataracts. May 30. Complications of cancer.
Leon Redbone, 69. The blues and jazz artist whose growly voice, Panama hat and cultivated air of mystery made him seem like a character out of the ragtime era or the Depression-era Mississippi Delta. May 30.
Frank Lucas, 88. The former Harlem drug kingpin whose life and lore inspired the 2007 film "American Gangster." May 30.
JUNE
Leah Chase, 96. A New Orleans chef and civil rights icon who created the city's first white-tablecloth restaurant for black patrons, broke the city's segregation laws by seating white and black customers, and introduced countless tourists to Southern Louisiana Creole cooking. June 1.
Dr. John, 77. The New Orleans singer and piano player who blended black and white musical styles with a hoodoo-infused stage persona and gravelly bayou drawl. June 6.
John Gunther Dean, 93. A veteran American diplomat and five-time ambassador forever haunted by his role in the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia during the dying days of the Khmer Republic. June 6.
Sylvia Miles, 94. An actress and Manhattan socialite whose brief, scene-stealing appearances in the films "Midnight Cowboy" and "Farewell, My Lovely" earned her two Academy Award nominations. June 12.
Lew Klein, 91. A broadcast pioneer who helped create "American Bandstand" and launched the careers of Dick Clark and Bob Saget. June 12.
Pat Bowlen, 75. The Denver Broncos owner who transformed the team from also-rans into NFL champions and helped the league usher in billion-dollar television deals. June 13.
Charles Reich, 91. The author and Ivy League academic whose "The Greening of America" blessed the counterculture of the 1960s and became a million-selling manifesto for a new and euphoric way of life. June 15.
Gloria Vanderbilt, 95. The intrepid heiress, artist and romantic who began her extraordinary life as the "poor little rich girl" of the Great Depression, survived family tragedy and multiple marriages and reigned during the 1970s and '80s as a designer jeans pioneer. June 17.
Jim Taricani, 69. An award-winning TV reporter who exposed corruption and served a federal sentence for refusing to disclose a source. June 21. Kidney failure.
Judith Krantz, 91. A writer whose million-selling novels such as "Scruples" and "Princess Daisy" engrossed readers worldwide with their steamy tales of the rich and beautiful. June 22.
Dave Bartholomew, 100. A giant of New Orleans music and a rock n' roll pioneer who, with Fats Domino, co-wrote and produced such classics as "Ain't That a Shame," "I'm Walkin'" and "Let the Four Winds Blow." June 23.
Beth Chapman, 51. The wife and co-star of "Dog the Bounty Hunter" reality TV star Duane "Dog" Chapman. June 26.
JULY
Tyler Skaggs, 27. The left-handed pitcher who was a regular in the Los Angeles Angels' starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly in that time. July 1. Choked on his own vomit and had a toxic mix of alcohol and painkillers fentanyl and oxycodone in his system.
Lee Iacocca, 94. The auto executive and master pitchman who put the Mustang in Ford's lineup in the 1960s and became a corporate folk hero when he resurrected Chrysler 20 years later. July 2.
Eva Kor, 85. A Holocaust survivor who championed forgiveness even for those who carried out the Holocaust atrocities. July 4.
Joao Gilberto, 88. A Brazilian singer, guitarist and songwriter considered one of the fathers of the bossa nova genre that gained global popularity in the 1960s and became an iconic sound of the South American nation. July 6.
Cameron Boyce, 20. An actor best known for his role as the teenage son of Cruella de Vil in the Disney Channel franchise "Descendants." July 6. Seizure.
Martin Charnin, 84. He made his Broadway debut playing a Jet in the original "West Side Story" and went on to become a Broadway director and a lyricist who won a Tony Award for the score of the eternal hit "Annie." July 6.
Artur Brauner, 100. A Polish-born Holocaust survivor who became one of post-World War II Germany's most prominent film producers. July 7.
Rosie Ruiz, 66. The Boston Marathon course-cutter who was stripped of her victory in the 1980 race and went on to become an enduring symbol of cheating in sports. July 8. Cancer.
H. Ross Perot, 89. The colorful, self-made Texas billionaire who rose from delivering newspapers as a boy to building his own information technology company and twice mounted outsider campaigns for president. July 9. Leukemia.
Rip Torn, 88. The free-spirited Texan who overcame his quirky name to become a distinguished actor in television, theater and movies, such as "Men in Black," and win an Emmy in his 60s for "The Larry Sanders Show." July 9.
Fernando De la Rúa, 81. A former Argentine president who attracted voters with his image as an honest statesman and later left as the country plunged into its worst economic crisis. July 9.
Johnny Kitagawa, 87. Better known as Johnny-san, he was a kingpin of Japan's entertainment industry for more than half a century who produced famous boy bands including Arashi, Tokio and SMAP. July 9.
Jim Bouton, 80. The former New York Yankees pitcher who shocked and angered the conservative baseball world with the tell-all book "Ball Four." July 10.
Jerry Lawson, 75. For four decades, he was the lead singer of the eclectic cult favorite a cappella group the Persuasions. July 10.
Pernell Whitaker, 55. An Olympic gold medalist and four-division boxing champion who was regarded as one of the greatest defensive fighters ever. July 14. Hit by a car.
L. Bruce Laingen, 96. The top American diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran when it was overrun by Iranian protesters in 1979 and one of 52 Americans held hostage for more than a year. July 15.
Edith Irby Jones, 91. The first black student to enroll at an all-white medical school in the South and later the first female president of the National Medical Association. July 15.
John Paul Stevens, 99. The bow-tied, independent-thinking, Republican-nominated justice who unexpectedly emerged as the Supreme Court's leading liberal. July 16.
Johnny Clegg, 66. A South African musician who performed in defiance of racial barriers imposed under the country's apartheid system decades ago and celebrated its new democracy under Nelson Mandela. July 16.
Elijah "Pumpsie" Green, 85. The former Boston Red Sox infielder was the first black player on the last major league team to field one. July 17.
Rutger Hauer, 75. A Dutch film actor who specialized in menacing roles, including a memorable turn as a murderous android in "Blade Runner" opposite Harrison Ford. July 19.
Paul Krassner, 87. The publisher, author and radical political activist on the front lines of 1960s counterculture who helped tie together his loose-knit prankster group by naming them the Yippies. July 21.
Robert M. Morgenthau, 99. A former Manhattan district attorney who spent more than three decades jailing criminals from mob kingpins and drug-dealing killers to a tax-dodging Harvard dean. July 21.
Li Peng, 90. A former hard-line Chinese premier best known for announcing martial law during the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests that ended with a bloody crackdown by troops. July 22.
Art Neville, 81. A member of one of New Orleans' storied musical families, the Neville Brothers, and a founding member of the groundbreaking funk band The Meters. July 22.
Chris Kraft, 95. The founder of NASA's mission control. July 22.
Mike Moulin, 70. A former Los Angeles police lieutenant who came under fire for failing to quell the first outbreak of rioting after the Rodney King beating verdict. July 30.
Harold Prince, 91. A Broadway director and producer who pushed the boundaries of musical theater with such groundbreaking shows as "The Phantom of the Opera," "Cabaret," "Company" and "Sweeney Todd" and won a staggering 21 Tony Awards. July 31.
AUGUST
D.A. Pennebaker, 94. The Oscar-winning documentary maker whose historic contributions to American culture and politics included immortalizing a young Bob Dylan in "Don't Look Back" and capturing the spin behind Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign in "The War Room." Aug. 1.
Henri Belolo, 82. He co-founded the Village People and co-wrote their classic hits "YMCA," "Macho Man" and "In the Navy." Aug. 3.
Nuon Chea, 93. The chief ideologue of the communist Khmer Rouge regime that destroyed a generation of Cambodians. Aug. 4.
Toni Morrison, 88. A pioneer and reigning giant of modern literature whose imaginative power in "Beloved," "Song of Solomon" and other works transformed American letters by dramatizing the pursuit of freedom within the boundaries of race. Aug. 5.
Sushma Swaraj, 67. She was India's former external affairs minister and a leader of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Aug. 6.
Peter Fonda, 79. The actor was the son of a Hollywood legend who became a movie star in his own right after both writing and starring in the counterculture classic "Easy Rider." Aug. 16.
Richard Williams, 86. A Canadian-British animator whose work on the bouncing cartoon bunny in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" helped blur the boundaries between the animated world and our own. Aug. 16. Cancer.
Cedric Benson, 36. A former NFL running back who was one of the most prolific rushers in NCAA and University of Texas history. Aug. 17. Motorcycle crash.
Kathleen Blanco, 76. She became Louisiana's first female elected governor only to see her political career derailed by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Aug. 18.
David H. Koch, 79. A billionaire industrialist who, with his older brother Charles, was both celebrated and demonized for transforming American politics by pouring their riches into conservative causes. Aug. 23.
Ferdinand Piech, 82. The German auto industry power broker was the longtime patriarch of Volkswagen AG and the key engineer of its takeover of Porsche. Aug. 25.
Baxter Leach, 79. A prominent member of the Memphis, Tennessee, sanitation workers union whose historic strike drew the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to the city where he was assassinated. Aug. 27.
Jim Leavelle, 99. The longtime Dallas lawman who was captured in one of history's most iconic photographs escorting President John F. Kennedy's assassin as he was fatally shot. Aug. 29.
Valerie Harper, 80. She scored guffaws, stole hearts and busted TV taboos as the brash, self-deprecating Rhoda Morgenstern on back-to-back hit sitcoms in the 1970s. Aug. 30.
SEPTEMBER
Jimmy Johnson, 76. A founder of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios and guitarist with the famed studio musicians "The Swampers." Sept. 5.
Robert Mugabe, 95. The former Zimbabwean leader was an ex-guerrilla chief who took power when the African country shook off white minority rule and presided for decades while economic turmoil and human rights violations eroded its early promise. Sept. 6.
Robert Frank, 94. A giant of 20th-century photography whose seminal book "The Americans" captured singular, candid moments of the 1950s and helped free picture-taking from the boundaries of clean lighting and linear composition. Sept. 9.
T. Boone Pickens, 91. A brash and quotable oil tycoon who grew even wealthier through corporate takeover attempts. Sept. 11.
Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, 83. A former Indonesian president who allowed democratic reforms and an independence referendum for East Timor following the ouster of the dictator Suharto. Sept. 11.
Eddie Money, 70. The rock star known for such hits as "Two Tickets to Paradise" and "Take Me Home Tonight." Sept. 13. Esophageal cancer.
Phyllis Newman, 86. A Tony Award-winning Broadway veteran who became the first woman to host "The Tonight Show" before turning her attention to fight for women's health. Sept. 15.
Ric Ocasek, 75. The Cars frontman whose deadpan vocal delivery and lanky, sunglassed look defined a rock era with chart-topping hits like "Just What I Needed." Sept. 15.
Cokie Roberts, 75. The daughter of politicians and a pioneering journalist who chronicled Washington from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump for NPR and ABC News. Sept. 17. Complications from breast cancer.
David A. Jones Sr., 88. He invested $1,000 to start a nursing home company that eventually became the $37 billion health insurance giant Humana Inc. Sept. 18.
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, 83. The former Tunisian president was an autocrat who led his small North African country for 23 years before being toppled by nationwide protests that unleashed revolt across the Arab world. Sept. 19.
John Keenan, 99. He was the police official who led New York City's manhunt for the "Son of Sam" killer and eventually took a case-solving confession from David Berkowitz. Sept. 19.
Barron Hilton, 91. A hotel magnate who expanded his father's chain and became a founding owner in the American Football League. Sept. 19.
Howard "Hopalong" Cassady, 85. The 1955 Heisman Trophy winner at Ohio State and running back for the Detroit Lions. Sept. 20.
Karl Muenter, 96. A former SS soldier who was convicted in France of a wartime massacre but who never served any time for his crimes. Sept. 20.
Sigmund Jaehn, 82. He became the first German in space at the height of the Cold War during the 1970s and was promoted as a hero by communist authorities in East Germany. Sept. 21.
Jacques Chirac, 86. A two-term French president who was the first leader to acknowledge France's role in the Holocaust and defiantly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Sept. 26.
Joseph Wilson, 69. The former ambassador who set off a political firestorm by disputing U.S. intelligence used to justify the 2003 Iraq invasion. Sept. 27.
José José, 71. The Mexican crooner was an elegant dresser who moved audiences to tears with melancholic love ballads and was known as the "Prince of Song." Sept. 28.
Jessye Norman, 74. The renowned international opera star whose passionate soprano voice won her four Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honor. Sept. 30.
Samuel Mayerson, 97. The prosecutor who took newspaper heiress Patty Hearst to court for shooting up a Southern California sporting goods store in 1974 and then successfully argued for probation, not prison, for the kidnapping victim-turned terrorist. Sept. 30.
OCTOBER
Karel Gott, 80. A Czech pop singer who became a star behind the Iron Curtain. Oct. 1.
Diogo Freitas do Amaral, 78. A conservative Portuguese politician who played a leading role in cementing the country's democracy after its 1974 Carnation Revolution and later became president of the U.N. General Assembly. Oct. 3.
Diahann Carroll, 84. The Oscar-nominated actress and singer who won critical acclaim as the first black woman to star in a non-servant role in a TV series as "Julia." Oct. 4. Cancer.
Ginger Baker, 80. The volatile and propulsive drummer for Cream and other bands who wielded blues power and jazz finesse and helped shatter boundaries of time, tempo and style in popular music. Oct. 6.
Rip Taylor, 88. The madcap, mustached comedian with a fondness for confetti-throwing who became a television game show mainstay in the 1970s. Oct. 6.
Robert Forster, 78. The handsome and omnipresent character actor who got a career resurgence and Oscar nomination for playing bail bondsman Max Cherry in "Jackie Brown." Oct. 11. Brain cancer.
James Stern, 55. A black activist who took control of one of the nation's largest neo-Nazi groups — and vowed to dismantle it. Oct. 11. Cancer.
Alexei Leonov, 85. The legendary Soviet cosmonaut who became the first person to walk in space. Oct. 11.
Scotty Bowers, 96. A self-described Hollywood "fixer" whose memoir offered sensational accounts of the sex lives of such celebrities as Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Oct. 13.
Harold Bloom, 89. The eminent critic and Yale professor whose seminal "The Anxiety of Influence" and melancholy regard for literature's old masters made him a popular author and standard-bearer of Western civilization amid modern trends. Oct. 14.
Elijah E. Cummings, 68. A sharecropper's son who rose to become a civil rights champion and the chairman of one of the U.S. House committees leading an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Oct. 17. Complications from longstanding health problems.
Alicia Alonso, 98. The revered ballerina and choreographer whose nearly 75-year career made her an icon of artistic loyalty to Cuba's socialist system. Oct. 17.
Bill Macy, 97. The character actor whose hangdog expression was a perfect match for his role as the long-suffering foil to Bea Arthur's unyielding feminist on the daring 1970s sitcom "Maude." Oct. 17.
Marieke Vervoort, 40. A Paralympian who won gold and silver medals in 2012 at the London Paralympics in wheelchair racing and two more medals in Rio de Janeiro. Oct. 22. Took her own life after living with pain from a degenerative spinal disease.
Sadako Ogata, 92. She led the U.N. refugee agency for a decade and became one of the first Japanese to hold a top job at an international organization. Oct. 22.
Kathryn Johnson, 93. A trailblazing reporter for The Associated Press whose intrepid coverage of the civil rights movement and other major stories led to a string of legendary scoops. Oct. 23.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, believed to be 48. He sought to establish an Islamic "caliphate" across Syria and Iraq, but he might be remembered more as the ruthless leader of the Islamic State group who brought terror to the heart of Europe. Oct. 26. Detonated a suicide vest during a raid by U.S. forces.
John Conyers, 90. The former congressman was one of the longest-serving members of Congress whose resolutely liberal stance on civil rights made him a political institution in Washington and back home in Detroit despite several scandals. Oct. 27.
Ivan Milat, 74. His grisly serial killings of seven European and Australian backpackers horrified Australia in the early '90s. Oct. 27.
Vladimir Bukovsky, 76. A prominent Soviet-era dissident who became internationally known for exposing Soviet abuse of psychiatry. Oct. 27.
Kay Hagan, 66. A former bank executive who rose from a budget writer in the North Carolina Legislature to a seat in the U.S. Senate. Oct. 28. Illness.
John Walker, 82. An Arkansas lawmaker and civil rights attorney who represented black students in a long-running court fight over the desegregation of Little Rock-area schools. Oct. 28.
John Witherspoon, 77. An actor-comedian who memorably played Ice Cube's father in the "Friday" films. Oct. 29.
NOVEMBER
Walter Mercado, 88. A television astrologer whose glamorous persona made him a star in Latin media and a cherished icon for gay people in most of the Spanish-speaking world. Nov. 2. Kidney failure.
Gert Boyle, 95. The colorful chairwoman of Oregon-based Columbia Sportswear Co. who starred in ads proclaiming her "One Tough Mother." Nov. 3.
Ernest J. Gaines, 86. A novelist whose poor childhood on a small Louisiana plantation germinated stories of black struggles that grew into universal tales of grace and beauty. Nov. 5.
Werner Gustav Doehner, 90. He was the last remaining survivor of the Hindenburg disaster, who suffered severe burns to his face, arms and legs before his mother managed to toss him and his brother from the burning airship. Nov. 8.
Charles Rogers, 38. The former Michigan State star and Detroit Lions receiver was an All-American wide receiver who was the school's all-time leader in touchdown catches. Nov. 11.
Raymond Poulidor, 83. The "eternal runner-up" whose repeated failure to win the Tour de France helped him conquer French hearts and become the country's all-time favorite cyclist. Nov. 13.
Walter J. Minton, 96. A publishing scion and risk taker with a self-described "nasty streak" who as head of G.P. Putnam's Sons released works by Norman Mailer and Terry Southern, among others, and signed up Vladimir Nabokov's scandalous "Lolita." Nov. 19.
Jake Burton Carpenter, 65. The man who changed the game on the mountain by fulfilling a grand vision of what a snowboard could be. Nov. 20. Complications stemming from a relapse of testicular cancer.
Gahan Wilson, 89. His humorous and often macabre cartoons were a mainstay in magazines including Playboy, the New Yorker and National Lampoon. Nov. 21.
Cathy Long, 95. A Louisiana Democrat who won her husband's U.S. House seat after his sudden death in 1985 and served one term. Nov. 23.
John Simon, 94. A theater and film critic known for his lacerating reviews and often withering assessment of performers' physical appearance. Nov. 24.
William Doyle Ruckelshaus, 87. He famously quit his job in the Justice Department rather than carry out President Richard Nixon's order to fire the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal. Nov. 27.
Yasuhiro Nakasone, 101. The former Japanese prime minister was a giant of his country's post-World War II politics who pushed for a more assertive Japan while strengthening military ties with the United States. Nov. 29.
Irving Burgie, 95. A composer who helped popularize Caribbean music and co-wrote the enduring Harry Belafonte hit "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)." Nov. 29.
DECEMBER
Allan Gerson, 74. A lawyer who pursued Nazi war criminals and pioneered the practice of suing foreign governments in U.S. courts for complicity to terrorism. Dec. 1.
Juice WRLD, 21. A rapper who launched his career on SoundCloud before becoming a streaming juggernaut and rose to the top of the charts with the Sting-sampled hit "Lucid Dreams." Dec. 8. Died after being treated for opioid use during a police search.
René Auberjonois, 79. A prolific actor best known for his roles on the television shows "Benson" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and his part in the 1970 film "M.A.S.H." playing Father Mulcahy. Dec. 8.
Caroll Spinney, 85. He gave Big Bird his warmth and Oscar the Grouch his growl for nearly 50 years on "Sesame Street." Dec. 8.
Paul Volcker, 92. The former Federal Reserve chairman who in the early 1980s raised interest rates to historic highs and triggered a recession as the price of quashing double-digit inflation. Dec. 8.
Pete Frates, 34. A former college baseball player whose battle with Lou Gehrig's disease helped inspire the ALS ice bucket challenge that has raised more than $200 million worldwide. Dec. 9.
Marie Fredriksson, 61. The female half of the Swedish pop duo Roxette that achieve international success in the late 1980s and 1990s. Dec. 9.
Kim Woo-choong, 82. The disgraced founder of the now-collapsed Daewoo business group whose rise and fall symbolized South Korea's turbulent rapid economic growth in the 1970s. Dec. 9. Pneumonia.
Danny Aiello, 86. The blue-collar character actor whose long career playing tough guys included roles in "Fort Apache, the Bronx," "Moonstruck" and "Once Upon a Time in America" and his Oscar-nominated performance as a pizza man in Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing." Dec. 12.
Robert Glenn "Junior" Johnson, 88. The moonshine runner turned NASCAR driver who won 50 races as a driver and 132 as an owner and was part of the inaugural class inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010. Dec. 20.
Elizabeth Spencer, 98. A grande dame of Southern literature who bravely navigated between the Jim Crow past and open-ended present in her novels and stories, including the celebrated novella "Light In the Piazza." Dec. 22.
Jerry Herman, 88. The Tony Award-winning composer who wrote the cheerful, good-natured music and lyrics for such classic shows as "Mame," "Hello, Dolly!" and "La Cage aux Folles." Dec. 26.

How Erdogan’s maneuvers in the Med have roots a century old
Cornelia Meyer/Arab News/December 28/2019
A little over a century ago, the Sykes-Picot agreement defined the spheres of influence of European powers in the remnants of the Ottoman Empire. At the end of the First World War, further agreements drew new borders and asserted the geopolitical and geo-economic interests of Western countries in what we now know as the Middle East. It was the twilight of the Ottomans, the “high noon” of European influence and the dawn of a newly confident US. The decisions taken then still resonate today.
The region has not become safer. The so-called “Arab Spring” morphed into unrest and civil conflict. This century alone there has been war in Iraq, civil war in Syria, the disintegration of Libya into a failed state, and the rise and fall of Daesh (we still do not know how it will re-emerge). Meanwhile myriad Islamist terrorist groups exert influence from Mali to Iraq. This is the historical backdrop against which to understand the maneuvering of various powers in the eastern Mediterranean.
Turkey is at odds with the US and its other NATO allies over the purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense system and its military incursions into northern Syria. The EU criticizes Turkey’s human-rights record and lack of a free press, but Europe needs Turkey to contain the flood of refugees from Syria and elsewhere.
Turkey already houses 3.6 million Syrian refugees, an intolerable strain on its struggling economy. With more than 200,000 having fled the latest offensive in Idlib by Assad regime forces and Russian air power, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to reopen the border with Greece — spooking German Chancellor Angela Merkel into planning a trip to Ankara next month.
Now Erdogan has said he may send troops to support the internationally recognized Libyan government of Fayez Al-Sarraj in Tripoli. This will pitch Turkey directly against Russia, Egypt and several Gulf states, who support rival leader Khalifa Haftar in Tobruk. The US and Europe look with great unease at Libya, which still is under a UN arms embargo that nobody seems to observe.
Erdogan clearly has his hands full, so what prompted him to broaden his military activities into Libya? The answers are natural resources and refugees.
Turkey’s move into Libya has made the situation in the eastern Mediterranean neither clearer nor safer.
The discovery of natural gas has made the eastern Mediterranean seafloor valuable real estate. An emerging alliance between Cyprus, Greece, Israel and Egypt is trying to develop these reserves, and agreement on a pipeline is expected early next year. Ankara views all this as a provocation, and engagement in a Mediterranean country equally rich in oil and gas may be seen as a countermeasure.
Moreover, the southern Mediterranean is the first step to Europe for refugees from Africa, and Erdogan sees an opportunity to strengthen his position by influencing the flow, simultaneously exposing Europe’s weakness and disunity in its own Libya policy; a proposed peace conference in Berlin has failed to progress beyond the planning stages. While most European nations have avoided declaring clear alliances, Italy, Libya’s former colonial power, leans toward Al-Sarraj, while France’s President Emmanuel Macron prefers Haftar.
Russia and the US have their own interests, but whichever side anyone supports in Syria or Libya, the situation is dangerous. Norbert Roettgen, head of the German parliament’s select committee on foreign affairs, has compared Syria — the involvement of so many state and non-state participants along with great powers — to the Balkans just before the First World War; he fears that one wrong step could be the source of another global conflict. This may err on the side of pessimism, but we should not underestimate the potential for a single military mistake to escalate irretrievably. In that context, Turkey’s move into Libya has made the situation in the eastern Mediterranean neither clearer nor safer. What we need is diplomacy and efforts to rebuild war-torn areas, not more military involvement. While heads of state worry about their geopolitical position in relation to each other, civilians continue to be exposed to untold suffering.
Messrs. Sykes and Picot have a great deal to answer for. A century on, we should be more enlightened, and look for solutions rather than new opportunities for confrontation. At the dawn of a new decade, we should be allowed to hope, or even dream.
*Cornelia Meyer is a business consultant, macro-economist and energy expert.

How US Democrats can learn from Labour’s UK disaster
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/December 28/2019
There is a saying that generals always fight the last war — and those who do, lose. The current danger for the US Democratic Party is that they rerun their failure in the 2016 presidential election, partly through drawing the wrong conclusions from the UK general election this month.
It is not just that Labour lost and the Conservatives won, but also the scale of that defeat; especially considering the radical Left route that Labour took, the worrying similarities between Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, and the parallels between the two electoral systems in which it is not enough to win the popular vote, but to win where it matters.
It is for the Democrats to get it right where the Labour Party got it so disastrously wrong. If not, they will bear a responsibility for another four years under a president who their members in the House of Representatives have impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Labour’s resounding election defeat may well reverberate across the Atlantic, and especially affect the way voters in the primaries see the candidacies of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who represent the more left-leaning ranks of the Democratic Party. A number of leading commentators in the US saw the election battle in the UK as one between Left and Right populism in which the latter was bound to win, mainly because the Right is inherently better at manipulating populism to its advantage.
Before this explanation takes hold of the Democratic Party and those who participate in its primaries, it would be wise to accept that Leftist populism does exist, and like any other style of populism it plays on people’s fears and irrational expectations. Populism may win elections but never bears fruit in government. However, the answer to right-wing populism is not counter-populism, but anti-populism; in other words, not do to battle with the Right on their own pitch, where they excel at making baseless personal attacks on other candidates, on the establishment and on the justice system, and blaming the media for the ills of society. The answer is instead to present a modern and viable liberal-left agenda for the US that corresponds with American values.
It is for the Democrats to get it right where the Labour Party got it so disastrously wrong. If not, they will bear a responsibility for another four years under a president who their members in the House of Representatives have impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Labour’s strategy under Corbyn was to answer populism with populism, which, even when it addressed pressing issues in British society, came across as too radical, too threatening to even their core voters, and unimplementable. If Sanders and Warren would like to draw a lesson from Labour’s failed approach in presenting a more social-democrat, or even socialist, program for a more equal and just society, it has to be presented more in Churchillian style — one that invokes “blood, toil, tears and sweat” (minus the blood) — and less as a fanciful cost-free socialist paradise. A better regulated Wall Street that served a modern economy without satisfying only the very rich would resonate with many voters, as long as it were not perceived as liable to bring the stock market to collapse and compromise the jobs, savings and pensions of many millions of Americans. It should be presented not as an objective in itself, but as part of a comprehensive plan that has costs and risks, not only benefits.
Furthermore, those who represent the more left-leaning forces in the US do not have to deal with an all-consuming issue such as Brexit, which because of its scale and its impact on every aspect of the nation’s well being overshadowed all other issues that should have concerned the British electorate. There is no such single issue in next year’s US elections. For the Democrats the aim is to prevent a second Trump administration, especially as the president is becoming increasingly volatile. This represents a less unusual aim in elections and allows concentration on a wider range of issues.
Labour was not necessarily punished at the ballot box for its radical manifesto, but more for its weak leadership, its lack of a decisive and coherent approach to Brexit, the anti-Semitism in its ranks, and remaining aloof from its core voters. Whatever the Democrats choose to make the centerpiece of their election campaign they must learn from Labour’s failure by being straight talking in their campaigning and talking to people at eye level. Democrats who are liberal-left leaning candidates should acknowledge, respect and take at least some responsibility for the fact that that many hard-working, decent Americans feel left behind by globalization and by liberal-progressive trends that clash with their values; trends that come across as an elitist imposition on their way of life. This should not deter them from pursuing a campaign that advances far-reaching changes to the health system and taxation, the approach to climate change and immigration, and the role that the US plays in the world; but their plans must be presented in a manner that resonates with the voters, and does not patronize them.
In an age when leaders are under constant and intense scrutiny by all forms of media, rapport and trust between leaders and the electorate are becoming more crucial than ever. By the time Jeremy Corbyn came to be a contender for the top political job, he could not shake off his image as more an activist than a genuine prospective prime minister. He himself looked as bemused at becoming leader of a major party at this point in his life as were most of the British people. Sanders to a certain extent, and especially Warren, come across as much more comfortable as candidates to be the next residents of the White House, not afraid to challenge their country on a range of issues that are crucial for its future, but without alienating, as Corbyn did in the UK, those who votes are critical for victory. There is therefore no need for a kneejerk reaction to Labour’s failure, but for more thoughtful adjustments that may also lead to America’s first female president.
*Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations at Regent’s University London, where he is head of the International Relations and Social Sciences Program. He is also an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. He is a regular contributor to the international written and electronic media. Twitter: @YMekelberg