LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 17/19

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
It is the Lord who judges me
First Letter to the Corinthians 04/01-13: “Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they should be found trustworthy. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgement before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God. I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, brothers and sisters, so that you may learn through us the meaning of the saying, ‘Nothing beyond what is written’, so that none of you will be puffed up in favour of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift? Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honour, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on January 16-17/19
A Set Of Reports Addressing The Maronite Consultative Meeting
Bkirki Consultative Meeting attendees pledge adherence to national unity, reject alteration of Lebanon's identity
Maronite Patriarch Hosts Consultative Gathering in Bkirki
Bkirki Summit Backs Presidency, Says No One Has Right to Change Lebanon Identity
Rahi at 'Maronite Summit': National Unity in Jeopardy, National Awareness is Required
Al-Khalil from Bkirki: We must all apply Constitution, Taif agreement
Berri Hails al-Rahi’s 'Comprehensive National Stance'
Berri Lashes Out at Hariri after Libya Remarks
Qassem Ridicules Hale Visit, Says Govt. Solution Domestic
Arab League representatives, Sultanate of Oman delegation arrive in Beirut ahead of Economic Summit
Australian Minister for Defence visits Lebanon, announces gift of cargo and ambulance vehicles
Hariri: We Must Remove All Economic Borders between Arab Countries
Report: 'Confidential' U.S. Cable ‘Bans’ Lebanon Role in Syria Reconstruction
Source: Lebanon Will Not Attend World Summit on Iran
Former President Amine Gemayel Gemayel: Lebanon Is at a Crossroads
MP, Samy Gemayel: Who's the Decision Maker in Lebanon?
Iranian embassy in Beirut slams US as ‘ISIS incubator’
Iran Blasts Hale’s Remarks… Bassil, Lavrov Discuss Return of Refugees
Nasrallah, Iran, and Israel's end game

Litles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 16-17/19
U.S. Troops among 16 Dead in IS-Claimed Syria Bombing
Report: Turkey to control buffer zone spanning 460 km in Syria’s north
Pompeo on failed Iranian satellite launch: A flagrant disregard of int’l norms
Iran Vows to Keep Forces in Syria After Netanyahu Warns of More Strikes
ISIS Blast Targets US-Led Coalition Patrol in Syria’s Manbij
Iraq PM: Foreign Troops Cut by a Quarter in 2018
Kurdistan Flag Row Goes to Federal Supreme Court
Lavrov Urges Regime Control Over North Syria
Houthi Involvement in Terrorist Operations in Liberated Provinces Proven
Houthis Regret Accepting Sweden Agreement
Protests Resurge in Khartoum, Moscow Denies Reports on Russian Mercenaries
Egyptian Parliament Approves Controversial Surveillance Bill
UK PM May Survives Confidence Vote after Brexit Humiliation
Russia Ready to 'Save' INF Arms Treaty, Urges Europe to Help
Italians Leave Gaza Strip after Hamas Standoff
Shabaab Claims Nairobi Attack Retaliation for Trump Jerusalem Move
UN Security Council approves up to 75 truce monitors to Yemen’s Hodeidah

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 16-17/19
A Set Of Reports Addressing The Maronite Consultative Meeting/Agencis/January 16/19
Bkirki Consultative Meeting attendees pledge adherence to national unity, reject alteration of Lebanon's identity/NNA /January 16/19
Maronite Patriarch Hosts Consultative Gathering in Bkirki/Kataeb.org/Wednesday 16th January 2019/
Bkirki Summit Backs Presidency, Says No One Has Right to Change Lebanon Identity/Naharnet/January 16/19
Rahi at 'Maronite Summit': National Unity in Jeopardy, National Awareness is Required/Naharnet/January 16/19
Iranian embassy in Beirut slams US as ‘ISIS incubator/Al Arabiya English/January 16/19
Nasrallah, Iran, and Israel's end game/Shimrit Meir/Ynetnews/January 16/19
U.S. Troops among 16 Dead in IS-Claimed Syria Bombing/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 16/19
UK PM May Survives Confidence Vote after Brexit Humiliation/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 16/19
Opinion The Most Dangerous Thing Trump Could Do Yet, and Its Nightmare Fallout for Israel/Daniel B. Shapiro/Haaretz/January 16/2019
The Peaceful Takeover of Europe/Jan Keller/Gatestone Institute/January 16/2019
The Ayatollah Empire Is Rotting Away/Edward N. Luttwak/Tablet/January 16/19
Denmark: "In One Generation, Our Country Has Changed"/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/January 16/2019
The UN, the "State of Palestine" and the Torture of Women/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/January 16/2019
Pompeo takes US anti-Iran message to Gulf Arab states/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/January 16/19
 

Latest LCCC English Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on January 16-17/19
A Set Of Reports Addressing The Maronite Consultative Meeting
Agencis/January 16/19
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/71152/a-set-of-reports-addressing-the-maronite-consultative-meeting/

Bkirki Consultative Meeting attendees pledge adherence to national unity, reject alteration of Lebanon's identity
Wed 16 Jan 2019/NNA
The Bkirki Patriarchate released the final statement issued in the wake consultative meeting hosted by Rahi this Wednesday and which brought together Maronite politicians and lawmakers.
The statement reads as follows:
"Upon the invitation of His Eminence, Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Rahi, and at this critical national moment, and based on the firm conviction of Maronites that Lebanon is not theirs, rather they are for Lebanon, the Bkirki patriarchate hosted on Wednesday January 16, 2019, a meeting for Maronite Heads of parliamentary blocs and MPs to discuss the political, economic and social conditions prevailing over Lebanon, and what must be done to ward off risks and reassure the Lebanese.
This meeting has a national dimension. The patriarchal edifice was the first factor in the establishment of Lebanon, and is the one keen on it.
After in-depth discussions, conferees emphasized the following points:
First: Adopting the content of the opening speech of His Eminence.
Second: Lebanon, the society and the State, emanated from the civilizational and humane encounter between its Christian and Muslim sons, since these two religions converged on its land. Lebanon's historical identity, which reflects its deep spiritual being, is what impacted its constitution. No one can create a new identity for Lebanon.
Third: Clinging to national unity, the national charter and conviviality with their partners in the homeland and adhering to good management of pluralism on the basis of a fair and balanced national partnership, as well as to respecting the constitution and the sovereignty of the State while rejecting anything that would harm the balance of constitutional institutions and their respective powers, on top of which the Presidency of the Republic. Respecting the powers entrusted to State officials and equal cooperation between the three authorities protects the Constitution and serves the interests of the homeland and the people and strengthens the immunity and prestige of the State.
Fourth: Upholding the independence of the national decision and Lebanon's supreme interest in shaping its foreign relations and the commitment of its affiliation to Arab and international systems so as not to distort the identity of Lebanon and bring to isolation from its Arab and international environment.
Fifth: Applying the constitution in both letter and spirit, and (...) regarding the Constitutional institutions as the only framework for discussing and resolving political crises and rejecting all methods that threaten to overthrow the State or rob it of its decision.
Sixth: Promoting the presence of Christians in Lebanon and their active role in it, and preserving the land and freedom as stipulations for the continuation of "Lebanon's message" as a model of pluralism, diversity, freedom and democracy.
Seventh: Calling for a speedy formation of a government according to the constitution (...); a government to give incentive for the international community to support Lebanon. Cooperating with the President of the Republic and the PM-designate to immunize Lebanon against political, economic and social crises.
Eighth: Condemning Israel's repeated violations of Lebanon's sovereignty and confronting its threat with greater national solidarity under the state's roof. Demanding the implementation of international resolutions and rejecting any attempt to settle Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and asserting their right to return.
Ninth: Supporting the Lebanese Army and the security forces to carry out their duty to defend Lebanon and preserve its security and sovereignty.
Tenth: Doing everything possible to ensure the return of displaced Syrians to their homeland as soon as possible and asserting their right to safe return to their land, as displacement has become a serious existential challenge which puts the identity of Lebanon and its entity at great risk.
Eleventh: Dealing responsibly with the economic and financial affairs to confront threats to the social security of citizens. Actively working to control the management of public finances and stop the waste, and fighting corruption so as to reduce the budget deficit...
Twelfth: Encouraging Christian youth and helping them engage in state institutions and civil, military and security public administrations.
Thirteen: Participants affirmed their commitment to the Maronite conscience and its historical national principles, especially in terms of the relations that unite them on the rules of peace, forgiveness and cooperation despite the multiplicity of political options. They pledged to face the above-mentioned challenges and to organize and coordinate frameworks and mechanisms to confront them through the formation of a follow-up committee comprising representatives of the parliamentary blocs participating in the meeting.
The ad-hoc committee shall commence its work immediately and further discuss the raised points by holding extensive meetings. The committee is composed of MPs Ibrahim Kanaan, George Adwan, Sami Gemayel, Estfan Douaihi, Michel Mouawad, Farid Heikal Al-Khazen and Hadi Hobeish.
Finally, the participants renewed their commitment to the "charter of political action in Light of the Church's teachings and the specificity of Lebanon" issued by the Maronite Patriarchate.”

Maronite Patriarch Hosts Consultative Gathering in Bkirki
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 16th January 2019/
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi on Wednesday hosted a meeting that gathered Maronite politicians to discuss the community's role in facing the current conditions as well as the general situation in the country. The closing statement issued following the meeting stressed that Lebanon has long been established on coexistence between Muslims and Christians, affirming that this constitutes Lebanon’s identity which no one has the right to alter or replace.“Participants stressed their attachment to coexistence in the nation, outlined the importance of managing well pluralism based on fair partnership, affirmed their adherence to the Constitution, state sovereignty and voiced their rejection of everything that harms the state institutions and undermines prerogatives, notably those help by the presidency post,” the statement noted. “Respecting the powers entrusted to state officials and ensuring equal cooperation between the top three authorities would protect the Constitution, serve the country and the people’s best interest, and strengthen the state’s immunity and prestige,” it added. Participants also stressed the need to preserve the country's independence in order to serve Lebanon’s best interest when it comes to shaping its foreign ties and abiding by the requirements of its membership of both Arab and international communities, adding that it's crucial to safeguard free decision-making so that Lebanon’s identity does not get tarnished and does not get it isolated from its Arab and global environments.
Participants also called for resorting to the Constitution whenever divergences emerge, rejecting all threatening methods aimed at overthrowing the state and seizing its decision-making power.
Moreover, Maronite politicians called for speeding up the formation of a productive government in collaboration between President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Saad Hariri who are the only two in charge of this process, as stipulated by the Constitution. The closing statement also stressed the need to deal responsibly with the economic and financial challenges facing the country, saying that it is time to launch effective joint endeavors to manage public finances, stop squandering, eradicate corruption and reduce the budget deficit. Participants expressed unwavering support to the Lebanese army and security forces in defending Lebanon and safeguarding its security, stressing the need to encourage Christian youth to join the state institutions. Participants condemned the continuous Israeli violations, demanded full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions implementations and expressed utter rejection of any attempts to naturalize Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. “The participants also expressed the need to do whatever is needed to secure Syrian refugees’ return to their homeland as soon as possible, and to protect their right for a safe return because their influx has turned into a serious existential challenge to Lebanon’s identity and entity and, therefore, a solution has become an urgency,” the statement added.
The committee tasked with drafting the closing statement of the Bkirki meeting consisted of the following MPs: Samy Gemayel, Ibrahim Kanaan, George Adwan, Estephan Doueihy, Farid Al-Khazen, Michel Mouawad and Hadi Hobeish. At the beginning of the meeting, Al-Rahi said that the gathering was being held for the sake of Lebanon and all the Lebanese, stressing that it is not aimed at excluding anyone. "All we want is that you involve your colleagues in the government and the Parliament in all that we discuss today and that you would all work for the same aim, that is to protect Lebanon from looming dangers that necessitated this meeting,” Al-Rahi stated. “I saw that it is my duty to call you for a consultative meeting to discuss the unification of viewpoints on how to get out of this dangerous situation,” he added.
“Lebanon’s unity is at stake, so it is our duty together to come up with a solution."
None of you is out of the loop when it comes to the dangerous economic and financial situation that the country is experiencing, the presence of 1.5 million refugees and the critical social conditions,” Al-Rahi noted. “The people has started to express its suffering through protests as it is losing trust in the government and its leaders, especially the youth who are not finding jobs and are forced to leave their country and that is a grave and irreparable loss." The patriarch blamed the current political crisis on the failure to implement the Taef agreement and the Constitution, as well as on attempts to introduce new norms and practices that go against the essence of those two texts. "This has raised concerns over potential changes in the political system and the country's identity, as well as over bids to force a constituent assembly and to establish a new tripartite power-sharing model between Sunnis, Shiites and Christians .
“We want a unified national awakening through which we would work, along with all the other social components, on protecting the republic," he stressed. Maronite lawmakers and ministers were convoked to the "consultative" meeting to confer over the deteriorating situation on the political, economic and social levels, and to deliberate over the initiatives that must be put forth to preserve the State of Lebanon which the Maronites contributed to its establishment and made tremendous sacrifices for its survival.
Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel, Marada leader Sleiman Frangieh and Free Patriotic Movement chief Gebran Bassil were among those who attended the meeting. Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, as well as MPs Sethrida Geagea and Jean Obeid failed to show up.

Bkirki Summit Backs Presidency, Says No One Has Right to Change Lebanon Identity
Naharnet/January 16/19
Maronite leaders and lawmakers gathered in Bkirki stressed Wednesday that “no one has the right to create a new identity for Lebanon,” as they threw their support behind the presidency. The summit was held following an invitation from Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi. In the closing statement, the conferees rejected “anything that harms the balance of constitutional institutions and the powers of each of them, topped by the Presidency.”“The meeting has a national aspect,” the statement said. “Lebanon should not be isolated from its Arab region and international partners,” it added. Turning to the stalled cabinet formation process, the conferees called for “speeding up the formation of the government according to the Constitution” and for “cooperation with the President and the PM-designate.”“We condemn the Israeli violations and reject any attempt to naturalize Palestinian refugees in Lebanon,” they added, while emphasizing that Syrian refugees should “safely return” to their country. The conferees also pledged to confront the “alarming challenges” through forming a follow-up committee. The meeting had kicked off with an opening speech by al-Rahi. Media reports said Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil called during the meeting for “strengthening the presidential post and the president's camp.”
Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh hit back, saying he backs strengthening the presidency but rejects that the president and the Free Patriotic Movement be granted a one-third veto power in Cabinet. “You want 11 ministers to defend your own interests and not those of Christians,” Franjieh was quoted as saying. MP Ziad Aswad of the FPM lashed out at Franjieh at this point. “Why don't we have the right to create new norms, like others are doing, which would give influence for the president, seeing as the others are not giving us our rights,” Aswad said. According to media reports, most of the interventions tackled the importance of the presidential post and the participants emphasized that “preserving the state requires adherence to the constitution and the Taef Accord.” Before the meeting began, caretaker Social Affairs Minister Pierre Bou Assi told an MTV reporter that the meeting was an opportunity to discuss the “unsound” situation in the country in light of a “serious political crisis.”“We came to Bkirki today with the aim of reviving the constitutional and political institutions. Adhering to the constitution and the state’s institutions in practice are the only means to achieve that,” added Bou Assi. The meeting brought 33 officials, out of 36 invited, together. It was held in the absence of Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and MP Sethrida Geagea, who are outside the country, and MP Jean Obeid who cited “personal” reasons.

Rahi at 'Maronite Summit': National Unity in Jeopardy, National Awareness is Required
Naharnet/January 16/19
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi sounded the alarm on Wednesday during a “consultative” gathering in Bkirki, that brought the main Christian party leaders and deputies together, on the Lebanese unity and highlighted the need for a “national unified awakening” in order to protect the republic. In opening remarks he made at the beginning of the meeting he said it aims to take into consideration the interests of Lebanon and the Lebanese. “This edifice is home to all the Lebanese. Our meeting today is for Lebanon and all the Lebanese, and we have no intention to dwell on affairs that only concern us,” Rahi said. “Nobody ignores the criticality of the financial, economic, social and livelihood conditions and the seriousness of the presence of more than one million displaced Syrians in Lebanon,” he continued. “One of the reasons behind the current political crisis is the failure to implement Taef Agreement and the Constitution,” he explained, stressing that non compliant practices and norms have been as well introduced. “People are expressing their pain in demonstrations and they have started to lose trust in the state and its rulers,” he indicated. “I have reckoned that it is my duty to invite you to this meeting to discuss the unification of opinion on how to exit the danger,” he said. “The Lebanese unity is in jeopardy today and we seek a national unified awakening to build upon and to protect the republic,” he underlined. Maronite lawmakers and leaders of the main Christian parties met in Bkirki to participate in the consultative meeting called by Rahi. Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Pierre Bou Assi told MTV reporter that the meeting is an opportunity to discuss the “unsound” situation in the country in light of a “serious political crisis.” “We came to Bkirki today with the aim of reviving the constitutional and political institutions. Adhering to the constitution and the state’s institutions in practice are the only means to achieve that,” added Bou Assi. The meeting brought 33 officials, out of 36 invited, together. It was held in the absence of Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, MP Sethrida Geagea, for travel reasons, and MP Jean Obaid who cited “personal” reasons.

Al-Khalil from Bkirki: We must all apply Constitution, Taif agreement
Wed 16 Jan 2019/NNA - Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Rahi received this evening member of the Development and Liberation bloc, MP Anwar Al-Khalil, who said after the meeting: "The Speaker of the House of Representatives Nabih Berri has relayed his appreciation to his Eminence the Patriarch for this comprehensive national position that takes into consideration what Lebanon is going through and the positive words he heard at the opening of the Bkirki consultative meeting today.""The Lebanese are meeting on the basis of these words, agreeing on joint ideas and on the need to fulfill our national duties and respect national constants that are of primary concern to us all so that the nation can persist. As his Eminence said, we must all read in our Constitution and in the Taif Agreement, and not in different books and constitutions," Al-Khalil said.

Berri Hails al-Rahi’s 'Comprehensive National Stance'
Naharnet/January 16/19/Dispatched by Speaker Nabih Berri, MP Anwar al-Khalil of the Development and Liberation bloc held talks Wednesday with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, a few hours after a landmark Maronite summit in Bkirki. “Speaker Nabih Berri asked me to relay his appreciation to His Eminence Patriarch al-Rah for this comprehensive and complete national stance that pays attention to the critical situation that Lebanon is going through, and for those good words that he heard during the opening of Bkirki’s meeting today,” al-Khalil said after meeting al-Rahi in Bkirki. “I expressed to His Eminence our appreciation of what he is doing… And as His Eminence said, we should all read in our constitution and in the Taef Accord and not in other books and constitutions,” the envoy added.

Berri Lashes Out at Hariri after Libya Remarks
Naharnet/January 16/19/Speaker Nabih Berri replied to Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri’s remarks about Libya’s absence from the Beirut summit, saying the “major harm was done to Lebanon forty years ago,” in reference to the disappearance of Shiite cleric Imam Moussa al-Sadr which is blamed on Libya. “The absence of the Libyan delegation is not regretful, but the absence of the Lebanese delegation and the major harm done to Lebanon for over forty years is,” Berri was quoted as saying. In remarks he made at the Arab Private Sector Forum, Hariri expressed regret for the absence of the Libyan delegation from the summit expected in the weekend, affirming that good ties with “Arab brothers” must prevail. Berri's press office later issued a statement commenting on Hariri's remarks that the “rapprochement” between his al-Mustaqbal Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement “has driven a lot of people mad.” “This claim is totally baseless, and quite to the contrary, it is in the interest of Lebanon and all Lebanese to witness rapprochement between all Lebanese political forces and movements,” the statement added. “But when we sense that this rapprochement is at our expense and at the expense of our rights and sacred causes, such as Imam al-Sadr's cause, ... our young men will perform their duty and they will not await an alliance or an understanding with anyone, no matter how superior or inferior their position might be,” Berri's statement said. Berri also accused Hariri and the FPM of a “blatant attack on our sentiments and on the sentiments of all those who cherish Imam al-Sadr through insistence on inviting the Libyan regime which is totally not cooperating in this case.”Libya had on Monday officially decided to boycott the summit, a day after AMAL Movement supporters removed Libyan flags and addressed insults to Libya near the summit's venue.The summit that Lebanon is hosting this weekend has been marred by controversy days before delegates arrive. Last week a debate erupted over whether Libya should be invited in a dispute that stems from the 1978 disappearance of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, the founder of the AMAL Movement now headed by Berri. The cleric vanished on an official visit to the country when it was ruled by Moammar Gadhafi. The issue remains a longstanding sore point between the two countries, even though Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011.

Qassem Ridicules Hale Visit, Says Govt. Solution Domestic
Naharnet/January 16/19/Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Wednesday ridiculed the tour that U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale carried out in Lebanon a few days ago, as he stressed that the solution to the government formation deadlock is “domestic.”“David Hale knows very well that he is not in a position that allows him to dictate things on Lebanon and its officials, and he who does not see the daily Israeli violations against Lebanon as an aggression… is not eligible to give advices about citizenship and Lebanon’s future,” Qassem said. “Hence, let him know that the future of Lebanon and its choices is in the hands of its sons and that Lebanon’s immunity is in the hand of the army-people-resistance trio and that Lebanon’s interest is not to be part of the failed U.S.-Israeli plan that has ruined the region,” Hizbullah number two added. “Hale’s tour belongs to the press archive and the museums of history… and it has no practical impact,” Qassem went on to say. Turning to the issue of the government, the Hizbullah leader said “the solution is domestic par excellence.” “This solution and the path towards it are totally known by all Lebanese, and carelessness about reaching a solution would lead to further crises that would be added to the economic and social crises,” Qassem warned. “We call for speeding up the formation of this government,” he added.

Arab League representatives, Sultanate of Oman delegation arrive in Beirut ahead of Economic Summit
Wed 16 Jan 2019 /NNA - Arab delegations and figures participating in the Arab Social and Economic Development Summit, scheduled for Sunday, continued to arrive in Beirut this evening. In this framework, Jordan and Yemen's delegates to the Arab League have arrived in Beirut, at the head of delegations. Also arriving in Beirut this evening had been a delegation of the Sultanate of Oman.

Australian Minister for Defence visits Lebanon, announces gift of cargo and ambulance vehicles
Wed 16 Jan 2019/NNA - In a press release by the Australian Embassy in Beirut, it said: "Australian Minister for Defence, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, visited Lebanon and met with senior members of the Lebanese Government and the Lebanese Armed Forces. 'This visit reflects the warm relationship Australia shares with Lebanon, and builds on the strong and established bilateral ties between our two countries, which include close cooperation in counter-terrorism and law enforcement,' Minister Pyne said. 'Promoting security, stability and prosperity in the Middle East continues to be an important national security interest for Australia.' Australian Defence Force personnel deployed on Operation PALADIN serve in Lebanon as part of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation. During the visit Minister Pyne met with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri; Speaker Nabih Berri, Minister of Defence Yacoub Sarraf; and General Joseph Aoun, Commander in Chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces. Minister Pyne also said that Australia will be gifting ten refurbished Australian Land Rover 4x4 Cargo vehicles and four refurbished Australian Land Rover 6x6 Ambulance vehicles to the Lebanese Armed Forces. 'The gifting of these vehicles is symbolic of the close cooperation between our two countries. "Australia has a deep and enduring interest in Lebanon's security and stability, underpinned by our strong bilateral and community links, and I am honoured to be able to support the Lebanese Armed Forces', Minister Pyne said. 'This gift will assist the Lebanese Armed Forces and make a direct and positive contribution to Lebanon's continued stability.' These vehicles have served Australia and the Australian Defence Force well. They have been recently refurbished by defence industry in Australia, and will be transported to Lebanon in 2019."

Hariri: We Must Remove All Economic Borders between Arab Countries
Naharnet/January 16/19/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Wednesday expressed regret for the absence of the Libyan delegation from the Beirut economic summit expected in the weekend, affirming that good ties with “ Arab brothers” must prevail. Hariri’s remarks came in a speech during his patronage of the opening of the Arab Private Sector Forum at the headquarters of the Union of Arab Chambers - Adnan Kassar Edifice for Arab Economy. In his speech Hariri said: "I am very pleased to see among the audience many brothers dear to my heart and to the heart of Lebanon, Lebanon that will continue to thrive through the ones who love it, and they are many among us today. This is an occasion to express my deep regret for the absence of the Libyan delegation from this meeting and to emphasize that the relationship between brothers must remain above any offenses. This forum is important because it will discuss the main points of the summit that will be held on Sunday and the recommendations that will result from it will be submitted directly to the Summit. We hope that it will be a successful summit that meets the aspirations of our people in the next stage, especially as it is the first Arab development summit to be held after the launch of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in 2015.
In this context, we hope that practical recommendations that activate cooperation and raise the living standard of the Arab citizen in all our countries will result from the Summit. We often repeat our words, we must work together to translate the words into deeds and to be able to accomplish, and this is what our citizens want. In Lebanon, we have laws dating back to fifty or sixty years ago, and this is also the case in many Arab countries. It is time to develop them and work together for the benefit of the Arab citizen and provide him with all the facilities to work. We must remove all borders that are not concrete borders between our Arab countries, so that the Arab citizen can work in various industrial and commercial fields in all the Arab countries. We spoke a lot about this, and we should implement this. Enough theories, we should start the real work. Many countries have begun to realize that the Arab world is a treasure, and we must invest in it, and demonstrate to all what the Arab world can do commercially and economically. I would also like to touch upon the role of women in the Arab world. They are half of this world, but how do they represent that in politics and economy? Our economy cannot be complete if Arab women do not participate in all sectors of the state, whether in politics, economy or any other sector. Women can also ease political conflicts. Today, we see how many women assumed important positions, as presidents of the republic or prime ministers. I would like to thank everyone for being with us today. This is support for Lebanon and hopefully the economic summit will be successful in your presence. The speech I delivered is very similar to what Minister Raed Khoury just said. This may be due to the rapprochement between the Future and the Free Patriotic Movement, which apparently upset many”.

Report: 'Confidential' U.S. Cable ‘Bans’ Lebanon Role in Syria Reconstruction
Naharnet/January 16/19/The Lebanese embassy in Washington has reportedly sent a “confidential” cable to Beirut containing the United States' positions, which “rejects” Syria’s invitation to Beirut’s economic summit, and “threatens of imposing sanctions against Lebanon” shall it participates in the reconstruction of Syria, al-Akhbar daily reported on Wednesday. The newspaper said it was able to obtain a copy of the cable without saying how. The letter reportedly urges “Lebanon and all members states of the Arab League to refrain from inviting Syria to the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit, or AESD.”It also “urged Lebanon to refrain from taking any steps that contribute to securing financial resources for the Syrian regime, for example, making investments or sending funds for reconstruction. Any financial or material support for the Assad regime or its supporters may be subject to American sanctions.”On the other hand, a Lebanese Foreign Ministry official told al-Akhbar on condition of anonymity, that not inviting Syria to the summit is not an American decision, “this is an Arab issue and the United States has no interest in it.”An Arab economic development summit that Lebanon is hosting this weekend has been marred by controversy days before delegates arrive. The question of whether to invite Syria, whose membership in the Arab League was suspended in 2011, quickly became an issue. Pro-Syrian groups led by Hizbullah have insisted that the Syrian government should be invited.

Source: Lebanon Will Not Attend World Summit on Iran
The Daily Star/Wednesday 16th January 2019/Lebanon will not participate in an upcoming Iran-focused summit, refusing to align itself with any global axis, a senior political source told The Daily Star. “The conference will look to [pit] one axis against another, and we don’t want to be part of any axis whatsoever,” the source from Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry told The Daily Star. Late last week, the United States announced that a summit would be held in Warsaw on Feb. 13-14. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the meeting would focus on stability and security in the Middle East, including the “important element of making sure that Iran is not a destabilizing influence.”Caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil informed David Hale, the U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs, of Lebanon’s decision during a meeting Monday. “The Lebanese state is committed to a policy of dissociation, so participating in the conference would violate that,” the source said.

Former President Amine Gemayel Gemayel: Lebanon Is at a Crossroads
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 16th January 2019/Former President Amine Gemayel called on politicians who are taking part in the consultative gathering in Bkirki to realize that they are responsible of the country’s destiny, adding that they must not repudiate this responsibility. “Officials must rise above their differences, try to reach a common ground that would unite viewpoints, and devise solutions that bring the Lebanese together," Gemayel said in an interview with the Kuwaiti Al-Rai newspaper. "Humbleness and the relinquishment of transient personal interests are required to achieve the country’s best interest."“Lebanon's entity is at stake. The political system is at stake. Unity is at stake. The National Pact is at stake. The Taef agreement is at stake. The Constitution is at stake," Gemayel warned. "Lebanon is at a crossroads. It is either to be or not to be."The ex-president sounded the alarm over the dangerous economic, political and strategic situation in the country, deeming it as a "deadly sin" to cover up this precarious reality and to abstain from rescuing the country. "Therefore, leaders must devise exit routes to save Lebanon's entity, unity and political system,” he stressed. Gemayel explained that the government formation stalemate is caused by two main factors: one that is related to personal interests and partitioning, and another that is influenced by the regional equation of who will take control over the government to make national-strategic decisions, such as the future of ties with Syria. Gemayel admitted that the Lebanese-Syrian ties must be settled eventually given the geographic and historic background that bind the two countries together, noting, however, that Lebanon must re-establish ties based on mutual respect for each country’s rights, sovereignty and political system. Gemayel deemed the recent events that overshadowed the participation of Libya in the Arab economic summit, and led to the country's boycott of the event hosted in Beirut, as "shameful", adding that what happened sheds the light on the deep truth of whether we are still one people and whether the state’s sovereignty still exists.

MP, Samy Gemayel: Who's the Decision Maker in Lebanon?
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 16th January 2019/Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel on Wednesday criticized the way in which the issue of Libya's participation in the Arab economic summit was dealt with, slamming the State's silence regarding the actions that recently targeted the foreign country. “The Lebanese state has decided to host the Arab Economic Summit and the President addressed the invitations to the participating Arab delegations,” Gemayel wrote on Twitter. “Preventing an Arab delegation from entering Lebanon upon its arrival at the Beirut airport means that the President is not allowed to receive his guests." "Who is the decision maker in Lebanon? Why is there a complete silence about this?” Gemayel asked.

Iranian embassy in Beirut slams US as ‘ISIS incubator’
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 16 January 2019
Following an official visit to Lebanon by the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale, the Iranian embassy in Beirut released an aggressive statement calling the US an “ISIS incubator which burned the green and the rotten through American financial, logistical and regional support.”In the bizarrely worded rant, the Iranian embassy accused the US of seeking to “annihilate the resistance axis in the region and achieve the White House and its Zionist stepdaughter’s goals.”The statement came as a response to comments made by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a regional tour and those by Hale. Both vowed to step up efforts to counter Iran’s activities around the region and expel from Syria “every last Iranian boot.”In simpler terms, the Iranian embassy also described the visit as “provocative”. “Thanks to its wise leadership, its government, people, military and responsible resistance, Lebanon has become a force to be reckoned with in regional balances where it has become a bulwark against the dictations of others and its enemies, not allowing anyone any party to dictate wrong decisions to it.”The Iranian statement went on to boast Iranian-Lebanese cooperation.
“The Islamic republic will not spare any effort to cooperate with the valiant Lebanese government and military, and the prideful resistance,” the statement read. On his official visit, Hale said after a meeting with the Lebanese Prime Minister-designate, Saad Hariri, that the United States was pursuing “efforts to counter Iran’s dangerous activities around the region, including the financing and activities of proxy terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah.”“It’s unacceptable to have a militia outside the control of the state and unanswerable to all the people of Lebanon, digging attack tunnels across the Blue Line into Israel, or assembling an arsenal of over 100,000 missiles with which to threaten regional stability,” Hale said. He pledged continued support for the Lebanese military and security forces and said that while Lebanon has the right to defend itself, “that is the right of the Lebanese state alone.”

Iran Blasts Hale’s Remarks… Bassil, Lavrov Discuss Return of Refugees
Beirut- Nazeer Rida/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 16 January, 2019/The Iranian Embassy in Lebanon on Tuesday strongly criticized what it described as the US intervention in the affairs of Lebanon and the region. “Within the context of the provocative visits conducted lately by several US officials (...), the US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, David Hale, issued a series of stances that can only be within the context of blatant interference in the affairs of others and dictating decisions.” After his meeting with Lebanese officials, Hale said that his country was going on with its efforts to counter Iran’s dangerous activities in the region, including the financing of Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Iranian embassy’s statement against the US was preceded by a visit by the Iranian ambassador in Beirut to Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri. The meeting discussed the latest developments in Lebanon and the region and means to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries. Sources with knowledge of the matter told Asharq Al-Awsat that it was a “protocol visit by the new ambassador”, who was appointed in August. During the meeting, Hariri handed the Iranian ambassador a memorandum addressed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, demanding the release of Lebanese prisoner Nizar Zakka. Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the caretaker government, Gebran Bassil, received on Tuesday a phone call from his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. Talks focused on the importance of preserving stability and security, by dissociating the country from regional conflicts. The two officials also touched on the Syrian crisis and the return of refugees to their homeland. Lavrov emphasized Russia’s constant support to facilitate the return process.

Nasrallah, Iran, and Israel's end game
تحليل بقلم شمتريت مئير/يديعوت أحرونوت: نصرالله، إيران، ونهاية لعبة إسرائيل
Shimrit Meir/Ynetnews/January 16/19
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/71150/shimrit-meir-ynetnews-nasrallah-iran-and-israels-end-game-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A8%D9%82%D9%84%D9%85-%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A/
Opinion: Perhaps Hezbollah's secretary-general is not 100% well, or perhaps he's simply employing a new media strategy following IDF operation to destroy his organization's attack tunnels - one of enigmatic silence.
At its inception, Operation Northern Shield has made a lot of noise in the media, but it all ended rather quietly. Nevertheless, over the past six weeks the Israel Defense Forces has located and neutralized six terror tunnels dug from Lebanon into Israeli territory by the Hezbollah terror group, making the terror organization's dream of raising its flag on Israeli soil less and less likely.
And while the millions of dollars and years of Sisyphean work invested in building the tunnels goes down the drain, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah remains silent. Why?
Nasrallah's lack of comment and indeed his disappearance from the public eye over the past few weeks—aside from a courtesy visit he paid to the newly elected leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ziad Nakhala (of which there was no footage)—are so peculiar that they sparked a wave of rumors and speculation about his medical condition.
Perhaps Hezbollah's secretary-general really is not hundred percent well, or perhaps he is adopting a new media strategy of enigmatic silence.
Nasrallah loves to talk, and he loves to make threats even more. His decision to belittle and ridicule Operation Northern Shield is akin to his decision to dismiss Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in Syria. In both cases, Nasrallah avoids climbing tall trees. Instead of threatening retaliation, he prefers to sit and wait. In the meantime, he has other domestic issues that demand his attention.
Eight months have passed since elections were held in Lebanon, and a new government has yet to be formed, something that also influences Nasrallah's conduct.
The Shiite terror organization understands that without the help of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who is favored by the West, the funds Lebanon so desperately needs will not be infused into the country. Any intransigence in coalition talks could raise questions about the Iranian-backed organization's loyalty to the state. On the other hand, Hezbollah refuses to give up what it has accomplished in the elections, which creates a challenging and maybe even unsolvable equation. The result is a country at a standstill.
Some in Israel expected that the discovery of the tunnels would politically harm Hezbollah, portraying them as destabilizing warmongers. But the IDF's decision to stay on the Israeli side of the border throughout the operation stirred sympathy for the terror organization among the Lebanese public.
Nasrallah's personal silence over the tunnels was perceived as an indication of responsibility, while the Lebanese army—in Hezbollah's service—observed the frontier to prevent IDF troops from crossing the border even by an inch. This inspired the respect of the Lebanese people, and maintained a balance of deterrence between both sides.
Hezbollah is monitoring the wall Israel is building along its northern border. This new barrier reflects the profound and ongoing change in the Jewish state's outlook, which went from waging a war beyond enemy lines to standing its ground behind concrete or iron walls.
Instead of being dragged into a new operation every other day and investing useless and expensive efforts to harm Iran's proxies—Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah—Israel's new strategy is to directly target the Islamic Republic and its entrenchment attempts in Syria, while avoiding military adventure at all costs. But Qassem Suleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ strongman, has also adopted a different approach. Suleimani believes in an ongoing revolution—from Syria to Iraq to Yemen and even Israel or Palestine. He is preparing the ground for the day he takes command in the Galilee and the Golan Heights.
A chess cliché is useful when talking about Iran: Israel is moving its pieces into multiple, interlinked places to do battle against Suleimani. Gaza is connected to Lebanon, which is connected to Syria, and everything is connected to Iran.
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5447935,00.html

Latest LCCC English Miscellaneous Reports & News published on January 16-17/19
U.S. Troops among 16 Dead in IS-Claimed Syria Bombing
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 16/19
A suicide attack killed U.S. servicemen in northern Syria Wednesday, causing the United States to suffer its worst combat losses in the war-torn country since 2014 as it prepares to withdraw.
The bombing claimed by the Islamic State group comes after U.S. President Donald Trump's shock announcement last month that he was ordering a full troop withdrawal from Syria because the jihadists had been "largely defeated." The U.S.-led coalition fighting IS said "U.S. service members were killed during an explosion while conducting a routine patrol in Syria" Wednesday, without giving a death toll. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two Americans soldiers, nine Syrian civilians, and five U.S.-backed fighters were killed in the attack on a restaurant in the northern city of Manbij near the Turkish border. Rubble littered the outside of the eatery in the city centre and its facade was blackened by the blast, footage from a Kurdish news agency showed. According to Pentagon statistics, Wednesday's blast was the deadliest attack for U.S. coalition forces in Syria since they deployed in 2014. The U.S. Department of Defense only reported two previous U.S. nationals being killed in combat in Syria, in two separate incidents. The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources in Syria, said it was the first such suicide attack in the city in 10 months.
- 'Security zone' -
Speaking at a gathering in Washington of U.S. ambassadors, Vice President Mike Pence did not comment on the attack and just said that the United States would ensure the defeat of IS, also known as ISIS. "We'll stay in the region and we'll stay in the fight to ensure that ISIS does not rear its ugly head again," he said. The bombing comes as Syrian Kurds present in areas around Manbij reject any Turkish presence in a planned "safe zone" to include Kurdish-held areas along the frontier. Turkey has repeatedly threatened to attack Washington's Syrian Kurdish allies who Ankara views as "terrorists" on its southern flank. Washington, which has relied heavily on the Kurds in its campaign against IS in Syria, has sought guarantees for their safety after Trump's pullout announcement. On Tuesday, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would set up a "security zone" in northern Syria following a suggestion by Trump. But senior Kurdish political leader Aldar Khalil said any Turkish deployment in Kurdish-held areas was "unacceptable."He said the Kurds would accept the deployment of U.N. forces along a separation line between Kurdish fighters and Turkish troops. But "other choices are unacceptable as they infringe on the sovereignty of Syria and the sovereignty of our autonomous region," Khalil told AFP. The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have been a key U.S. ally in the fight against IS. They have taken heavy losses in a campaign now nearing its conclusion, with the jihadists confined to an ever-shrinking enclave of just 15 square kilometers (under six square miles). But the jihadists have continued to claim attacks nationwide and abroad. Ankara has welcomed Washington's planned withdrawal of some 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, but the future of Kurdish fighters has poisoned relations between the NATO allies.
On Monday, Erdogan and Trump had a telephone conversation to ease tensions after the U.S. leader threatened to "devastate" Turkey's economy if Ankara attacked Kurdish forces in Syria, and called for a "safe zone."
- No 'outside interference' -
Erdogan said he and Trump had a "quite positive" conversation in which they spoke of "a 20-mile (30 kilometer) security zone along the Syrian border... set up by us."The YPG-led forces fighting IS in a statement said they would provide "necessary support to set up the safe zone" -- if it came with international guarantees to "prevent any outside interference", in an apparent reference to Turkey. The Turkish army has launched two major operations in Syria in recent years, with the latest seeing Turkish troops and their Syrian rebel allies seizing the northwestern enclave of Afrin from the Kurds last year. Critics have accused Turkish troops and their proxies of military occupation of Syrian sovereign territory. But while Ankara has spoken of a YPG-free "security zone" under its control, analyst Mutlu Civiroglu said it was not immediately clear what the U.S. president meant by a "safe zone," or who he thought would patrol it.
Analysts were "waiting for a clarification from Washington to see what the president really meant," he told AFP. The U.S. planned withdrawal has sent the Kurds scrambling to seek a new ally in Damascus, which has long rejected Kurdish self-rule. With military backing from Russia since 2015, Syria's regime has advanced against the jihadists and rebels, and now controls almost two-thirds of the country. A northwestern enclave held by jihadists and pockets held by Turkish troops and their allies remain beyond its reach, along with the much larger Kurdish region. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Syrian government must take control of the north.

Report: Turkey to control buffer zone spanning 460 km in Syria’s north
Ammar Aziz, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 16 January 2019 /Turkey has announced a 460-km wide and 32-km deep buffer zone along the border with Syria after reports of rising tension in the region, state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın said that Turkey would have control over the proposed safe zone along Syria’s northern border. Earlier, Turkish media outlets quoted Turkish president Recep Erdogan as saying that an agreement with the United States to set up a security zone along the country’s Syrian borders. A spokesperson for Kurdish umbrella organization Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) said on Tuesday that Kurdish militia would not accept a Turkish-controlled security zone in northern Syria, according to Kurdish news agency ANHA. Reiterating that Erdogan had been voicing the same safe zone proposal for four years, Kalın said this time the same idea was floated at the top levels of the current US administration, according to Daily Sabah. Turkey has positively responded to US President Donald Trump’s offer to establish a 32-km buffer zone, Kalın said but added that the details of the zone needed to be worked out. However, Anadolu said that the safe zone will include Syria’s locations to the north of Raqqa and others to the north of a-Hasakah, passing through Sarrin, the north Ayn Issa, Suluk, Ras al-Ayn , the north of Tell Tamer, Darbasiya, Amuda, Qamishli , Wardiyah, Tell Hamis, Al-Qahtaniyah , Al-Yarubiyah and Al-Malikiyah. The northern towns of Shuyukh Tahtani, Ayn al-`Arab (Kobani), Tell Abyad, al-Darbasiyah, Amuda, al-Qahtaniyah, al-Jawadiyyah and al-Malikiyah will fall entirely inside the safe zone, it added. The line, on the West, begins from the edge of banks of Sajur River, located in the east of Manbij, while central Manbij remains outside of the 32-km zone, according to Ahvalnews. On Sunday, US Trump said Turkey would face economic devastation, if it attacked Syria’s Kurds. After that, Erdogan and Trump have spoken over the phone and appear to have reached an agreement, according to Turkish government.

Pompeo on failed Iranian satellite launch: A flagrant disregard of int’l norms
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 16 January 2019/The US will not stand for Iran’s flagrant disregard of international norms, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said regarding the failed satellite launched by the Islamic republic on Tuesday. After the launch, Pompeo repeated his allegation that Iran’s space program could help it develop a missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon to the mainland US. “The United States is working with our allies and partners to counter the entire range of the Islamic Republic’s threats, including its missile program, which threatens Europe and the Middle East,” a statement released by the Department of State read. The statement added that these satellites incorporate technologies that are “virtually identical and interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles.”The Iranian rocket carrying the Payam satellite had failed to reach the “necessary speed” in the third stage of its launch, Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi told Iranian state television.Jahromi said the rocket had successfully passed its first and second stages before developing problems in the third. He did not elaborate on what caused the rocket failure, but promised that Iranian scientists would continue their work. Iran has said it plans to send two satellites, Payam and Doosti, into the orbit. Payam means “message” in Farsi, while Doosti means “friendship.”

Iran Vows to Keep Forces in Syria After Netanyahu Warns of More Strikes
Reuters/January 16/19/Revolutionary Guards chief says Israel should 'be afraid of the day that our precision-guided missiles roar and fall on your head' The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that Iran will retain its military presence in Syria, defying Israeli threats that they might be targeted if they do not leave the country.  "The Islamic Republic of Iran will keep its military advisors, revolutionary forces and its weapons in Syria," the top commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Tehran to withdraw forces from the war-torn country, warning Iran of Israeli actions against forces there. "I advise them to leave [Syria] quickly, because we will continue with our assertive policy, as promised, without fear and without a break."
Jafari called Netanyahu's threats "a joke", and warned that the Israeli government "was playing with (a) lion's tail." "You should be afraid of the day that our precision-guided missiles roar and fall on your head," he said. Last week, former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot gave a round of press interviews, claiming that the IDF has assessed that Iran has given up on its plan to establish permanent bases in Syria. Since January 2017, Israel has been secretly striking Iranian targets in Syria, mainly against "infrastructure." But following an Iranian decision to send an armed drone into Israeli airspace in February 2018, Israel's campaign against Iran not only escalated but also became public, including what Eisenkot last described as "thousands of attacks," not only from air, but also special-operations commando raids.

ISIS Blast Targets US-Led Coalition Patrol in Syria’s Manbij
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 16 January, 2019/A bomb went off in Manbij town in northern Syria near a patrol of the US-led coalition, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Kurdish-led Manbij Military Council. They said the blast went off near a restaurant Wednesday. The ISIS terrorist group later claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was targeting the coalition patrol. The group’s news site, Amaq, said the attacker used an explosive vest to cause the blast. The attack comes as the US has begun the process of withdrawing from Syria, raising concerns over the fate of Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) that it has supported and who have been vital in the fight against ISIS. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a 34-year insurgency in Turkey. Ankara has has repeatedly threatened to wage an offensive against the fighters in Syria.
The threats have strained already frail relations with the US, which has been a main backer of Kurdish forces.

Iraq PM: Foreign Troops Cut by a Quarter in 2018
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 16 January, 2019/Foreign troop numbers in Iraq fell by a quarter during 2018, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said, as the fallout fizzled from Washington's announcement it was withdrawing from neighboring Syria. "In January 2018 there had been almost 11,000 foreign fighters, about 70 percent of them are American, the others are from other countries," Abdul Mahdi told a weekly press briefing on Tuesday evening. "In December, the numbers have been reduced to almost 8,000, and the American troops are around 6,000... maybe I am wrong by some hundreds."Abdul Mahdi said that more than 12 months after the government declared victory over ISIS in Iraq, the drawdown was accelerating. "In recent months, the decrease has sped up and in the last two months there was a drop of 1,000 forces," he said, according to Agence France Presse. US President Donald Trump has said that American soldiers will remain in Iraq after the pullout of all troops from Syria and will be available to take action against ISIS on the other side of the border if necessary. US troop numbers in Iraq peaked at some 170,000 during the battle against al-Qaeda and other insurgents that followed the US-led invasion of 2003. Trump's predecessor Barack Obama ordered a withdrawal that was completed in 2011, but in 2014 ordered a new deployment as part of a US-led coalition battling ISIS. The extremist group is now confined to a shrinking enclave of just 15 square kilometers in eastern Syria not far from the border where Kurdish-led forces have been engaged in a major offensive with coalition support since May last year.In Iraq, the militants maintain sleeper cells in the cities and hideouts in sparsely populated desert and mountain areas from which they carry out periodic hit-and-run attacks, some of them deadly.

Kurdistan Flag Row Goes to Federal Supreme Court
Kirkuk - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 16 January, 2019/A number of Kurdish members of Iraqi parliament representing Kirkuk province filed a complaint with the Federal Supreme Court in Baghdad, against governor of Kirkuk and MP Rakan Saeed al-Jabouri, following his objection to hoist Kurdistan region’s flag over the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). A PUK MP Rebwar Taha explained that the complaint contains two parts: the first against Jabouri, as he instructed the security forces to use force to take Kurdistan flag down from the party’s headquarters, and the second is related to the interpretation of the constitutional and legal provisions of areas constitutionally named “disputed areas”. Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution calls for the normalization of areas it refers to as disputed, to be followed by a referendum on whether or not those regions want to be part of the Kurdistan Region. “The responsibility placed upon the executive branch of the Iraqi Transitional Government stipulated in Article 58 of the Transitional Administrative Law shall extend and continue to the executive authority elected in accordance with this Constitution, provided that it accomplishes completely (normalization and census and concludes with a referendum in Kirkuk and other disputed territories to determine the will of their citizens)," Article 140 reads. Taha told Asharq Al-Awsat that the flags of Kurdistan will remain hoisted over PUK’s offices and headquarters until the Federal Court gives its verdict. He asserted that the party believes and respects the judicial authority which “we hope will be legal and constitutional, especially that Kirkuk is one of the most important disputed areas.” PUK MP Bestoon Adil, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Kurdish flags were raised in Kirkuk before ISIS entered the region, and the Federal authorities in Kirkuk did not object at the time, confirming that the matter is legal and constitutional, but “some officials are politicizing the issue to achieve certain goals.” “We discussed the matter in details with the Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who preferred to refer the case to the Federal Court,” he indicated.
He pointed out that all Kurdish parliamentary blocs support this demand, but the complaint was only submitted by PUK. The MP reported that several complaints, backed by Kurdish MPs, had been filed by Kurdish residents in Kurdish areas against decisions taken by the governor.
Asharq Al-Awsat tried to reach Kirkuk governor for a response, but he did not take our repeated calls.

Lavrov Urges Regime Control Over North Syria
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 16 January, 2019/Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Syria's regime must take control of the country's north, after calls from the US to set up a Turkish-controlled "security zone" in the area. "We are convinced that the best and only solution is the transfer of these territories under the control of the Syrian government, and of Syrian security forces and administrative structures," Lavrov told reporters. Turkey said on Tuesday it would set up the "security zone" in northern Syria following a suggestion from President Donald Trump, who announced last month he was pulling American troops from the country. The US-allied Kurds, who control much of northern Syria, have rejected the idea, fearing a Turkish offensive against territory under their control. Senior political leader Aldar Khalil said the Kurds would accept the deployment of UN forces along the separation line between Kurdish fighters and Turkish troops to ward off a threatened offensive. "Other choices are unacceptable as they infringe on the sovereignty of Syria and the sovereignty of our autonomous region," AFP quoted Khalil as saying. The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have been the key US ally in the fight against ISIS, taking heavy losses in a campaign now nearing its conclusion, with the radicals confined to an ever-shrinking enclave of just 15 square kilometers. Ankara regards the YPG as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has waged a deadly insurgency for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984. Russia is a long-time supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lavrov said the future of the Kurds could be secured under regime control. "We welcome and support contacts that have now begun between Kurdish representatives and Syrian authorities so they can return to their lives under a single government without outside interference," Lavrov said during an annual press conference. He said there was progress in resolving Syria's seven-year conflict and that the focus should remain on Idlib, the northwestern province that earlier this month fell under the full control of a militant group dominated by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate. "The Syrian settlement is progressing, though of course more slowly than we would like," he said. "The fight against terrorism must be completed. Now the main hotbed of terrorism is Idlib."

Houthi Involvement in Terrorist Operations in Liberated Provinces Proven
Aden- Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 16 January, 2019/Houthi militias are involved in many terrorist operations that targeted military and security commanders in the transitional capital Aden and some liberated provinces, announced Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior Ahmad al-Maysari. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Maysari pointed out that the ministry has arrested a terrorist cell for carrying out assassinations and terrorist attacks in Aden, confirming that the cell has been financed by Iran-backed Houthi militia. The terrorist cell admitted that they received training in Dhamar and Sanaa provinces by Houthi commanders. They were trained on carrying out assassinations and bombings in Aden and liberated provinces for destabilizing the cities. "We will not rush to reveal the facts and evidence we have until finishing necessary investigations and measures and then reporting to prosecution and court," the minister told reporters. Maysari indicated that the ministry has all evidence proving Houthi support to terrorist networks such as ISIS and al-Qaeda, in addition to financing several terrorist operations. The ministry will provide evidence on such involvement to all embassies, especially embassies of countries fighting terrorism for establishing a clear stance on Houthi militias as “terrorist group.”He reviewed a number of accomplishments achieved by the ministry of interior and all its apparatus during 2018 in all liberated provinces, clarifying that the total crimes referred the prosecution have reached 2630, varying in nature. The ministry is keen on making Aden a secure city in 2019 and all efforts will be exerted for unifying security apparatus under the ministry of interior and the sponsorship of President Hadi, confirmed Maysari. Also at the conference, Lahj Police Commander General Saleh al-Sayyid said the security forces in the province will never retreat in fighting terrorism and cracking down on terrorist cells in their hideouts to maintain security and stability. At the end of the conference, the Minister played a video showing terrorist elements confess their involvements in terrorist operations with photos for them with Houthi commanders. It also showed other evidence that prove Houthis involvement in planning and supporting the cell.

Houthis Regret Accepting Sweden Agreement
Aden - Ali Rabih/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 16 January, 2019/The Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen expressed on Tuesday their regret at accepting the conditions of the Sweden ceasefire deal on Hodeidah that was reached in December. A minister in the Houthis’ illegitimate government, Hassan Zeid, said that the militias committed a “strategic error” in agreeing to the deal because they lost several humanitarian cards that they were exploiting for their interests before the international community and United Nations. With these cards gone, attention was shifted to the Houthis’ intransigence and refusal to implement the Sweden deal. Zeid, who is wanted by the Saudi-led Arab coalition, acknowledged that the Sweden consultations cost the militias the media campaign that they had promoted before international organizations. Instead, he continued, attention was now focused on the obstacles that are hindering the implementation of the Sweden agreement. “The devil,” he remarked, led the Houthis down a “dark tunnel” after they accepted the deal. Zeid was among other Houthi leaders who had called for expelling the UN Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) and its head, retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert, after he had rejected the militias’ ploy in Hodeidah. The Sweden deal calls for the Houthis to withdraw from Hodeidah city and its three ports. Control of these areas should be restored to the authorities that were present there before the 2014 Houthi coup. The militias alleged to have withdrawn, but later returned under the guise of security forces. The UN was alerted to the ploy and accused the Houthis of failing to honor the Sweden deal. The Houthi representatives in the RCC have, meanwhile, been refusing to attend its meetings. Legitimate government representatives are also part of the team. Instead, the militias have been continuing their violations of the ceasefire by carrying more attacks and amassing their forces in Hodeidah. UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday that Cammaert has held two joint meetings involving both sides, but “in the last week, due to the inability of the parties to have a joint meeting” he had meet them separately twice, “seeking to find a mutually acceptable way forward for the redeployment of forces from the three ports and critical parts of the city associated with humanitarian facilities, as provided for in phase one in the Stockholm Agreement.”“The chair continues to encourage the parties to resume the joint meetings in order to finalize a mutually agreed redeployment plan. Currently, plans are being discussed on how to facilitate humanitarian operations.”

Protests Resurge in Khartoum, Moscow Denies Reports on Russian Mercenaries
Khartoum, London - Mustafa Seri/ Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 16 January, 2019/The Sudanese capital witnessed an unusually calm day on Tuesday before evening demonstrations broke out in two densely populated areas of the capital, in response to a call by the Gathering of Sudanese Professionals. Witnesses said that hundreds of protesters went out in the suburb of Kalakala south of Khartoum, chanting slogans and demanding the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir and his government. Police dispersed the protesters by firing tear gas, rubber bullets and live bullets into the air. Witnesses reported that large numbers of demonstrators had been detained, but there was no information on injuries. Videos of the demonstration were widely circulated on social media. In parallel, another demonstration was organized in the suburb of Sabirin, north of Omdurman, around 50 km away from Kalakala. The Gathering of Sudanese Professionals has set up a schedule of protests that will continue throughout the week, describing the moves as a prelude to an all-out civil disobedience that will paralyze the government and speed up its withdrawal. On a different note, the Russian embassy in Khartoum denied information published by The Times newspaper about the involvement of Russian mercenaries in suppressing protests. “We declare with all responsibility that Russian experts from non-government structures do not participate in suppressing protests in Sudan, as some unscrupulous Western media claim,” the embassy's spokesman, Vladimir Tomsky, told Sputnik news agency. “The media reports in the UK’s Times and similar outlets on Russian mercenaries are outright fakes seeking to demonize our country and its foreign policies,” he added. A report published in the British The Times newspaper last week said that Russian-speaking mercenaries were spotted in the Sudanese capital Khartoum which has raised questions about the Kremlin’s intention to move to support the regime of al-Bashir, in the wake of angry public protests that erupted last month. The report added that sources in the Sudanese opposition reported that mercenaries from Russia’s PMC Wagner were conducting strategic and practical training for local security and intelligence services. Meanwhile, al-Bashir decried the decision of rebel movements in Darfur to negotiate with his government because of the popular protests. “The recent crisis in the country has prompted some movements to declare a boycott of negotiations with the government,” al-Bashir said, addressing representatives of the political forces in South Darfur. “They said that there is no need to agree on peace with the government because it will fall... We will not wait for them and we will seek to achieve peace,” he added.

Egyptian Parliament Approves Controversial Surveillance Bill
Cairo – Mohammad Nabil Helmi/ Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 16 January, 2019/
The Egyptian parliament passed a bill requiring shop owners to install surveillance cameras as part of the conditions needed to be met to earn a work permit, in a move hoping it acts as a deterrent to terrorist attacks and crime. Even though it gained approval, the bill is still up for controversy given that it may encroach on some privacy protection laws. Surveillance cameras in the streets are an essential element in the work of the security services to mount operations, especially those anti-terrorist in nature. In the latest operation targeting a church in the Nasr City area of Cairo, about a week ago, surveillance cameras revealed the face of a suspect which planted improvised explosive devices that killed at least one officer. Egyptian lawmaker Afifi Kamel pointed out that the law should take into account the guarantee of the freedoms provided by the constitution. Kamel told Asharq Al-Awsat that protecting the privacy of individuals in some shops that require, for example, changing clothes, is an obligation. “Whilst accounting for security requirements behind monitoring public streets and shops is a vital preventive measure, it is also necessary not to disregard the right to privacy given by the constitution,” Kamel explained. Over the last two years, Egypt has experienced a series of terror bombings that targeted two churches in the governorates of Alexandria and Tanta, killing more than 40 people, most of them Copts.

UK PM May Survives Confidence Vote after Brexit Humiliation
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 16/19
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday survived a no-confidence vote sparked by the crushing defeat of her Brexit deal just weeks before the UK leaves the European Union. A stunning 24-hour span saw May on Tuesday dealt the heaviest drubbing by parliament in modern British political history -- 432 votes to 202 -- over the divorce terms she reached with Brussels. She emerged victorious in parliament's first no-confidence vote in a British government in 26 years on Wednesday by a 325-306 margin, a majority of 19. But it may have only been a pyrrhic victory for the hobbled but determined premier as she tries to steer the world's fifth-biggest economy through its biggest crisis in a generation. The opposition Labor Party could try to oust her government again in the hope of triggering snap elections before Britain's scheduled March 29 Brexit date. And May herself is working on the tightest-possible deadline as Britain prepares to leave the bloc that for half a century defined its economic and political relations with the rest of the world. She has promised to return to parliament on Monday with an alternative Brexit strategy devised through cross-party talks with the opposition. There is now an assumption among many European diplomats that Brexit will have to be delayed to avoid a potentially catastrophic "no-deal" breakup. May notably refused to rule out the idea when quizzed about it in parliament earlier on Wednesday.
- Divorce delay? -
May survived Wednesday thanks to the support of members of her Conservative Party and ruling coalition Northern Irish allies in the Democratic Union Party. But more than a third of the Conservatives and all 10 DUP members of parliament voted against her Brexit arrangements on Tuesday -- each for their own reason. May will thus tread carefully as she tries to win over opposition lawmakers -- many of whom want to remain in the EU -- while also attempting to appease more hardened Brexit-backing coalition partners. During a grilling in parliament earlier on Wednesday, May repeated two key principles -- limiting migration and pursuing an independent trade policy -- which would rule out Labour hopes of membership of an EU customs union or its single market. But she also hinted at the possibility of delaying Brexit. May said the EU would allow this "if it was clear that there was a plan towards moving towards an agreed deal."All 27 EU leaders would have to sign off a Brexit date postponement in case May requests one -- something she has until now refused to do. EU officials have said extending the negotiating period could be possible until the newly-elected European Parliament meets in June.
- Blurred lines -
EU leaders have repeatedly said they will not reopen the draft withdrawal agreement sealed at a special Brussels summit in December. French President Emmanuel Macron suggested after May's fiasco on Tuesday that the EU might be willing to tweak a few minor points -- but only if they did not alter the bloc's existing position on trade and borders. "Maybe we’ll make improvements on one or two things, but I don’t really think so because we’ve reached the maximum of what we could do with the deal," the French leader said. "We won't, just to solve Britain's domestic political issues, stop defending European interests." German Chancellor Angela Merkel added: "We still have time to negotiate but we're now waiting on what the prime minister proposes." And Irish Prime Leo Varadkar added "that if the United Kingdom were to evolve from its red lines on the customs union and on the single market, that the European Union could evolve also."
- Zombie government -
Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn opened Wednesday's debate by telling May she was leading a "zombie government" whose Brexit agreement was "officially dead."May must "do the right thing and resign," said Corbyn. But there is still no consensus in parliament on how to proceed and May called an election "the worst thing we could do." "It would deepen division when we need unity, it would bring chaos when we need certainty and it would bring delay when we need to move forward," May argued.

Russia Ready to 'Save' INF Arms Treaty, Urges Europe to Help
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 16/19/Russia said on Wednesday it was ready to work with Washington to save a crucial arms control treaty and called on Europe to help in faltering talks. Tensions have raged for months over the fate of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF) signed in 1987 by then U.S. president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to walk away from the agreement and President Vladimir Putin threatened a new arms race, saying Europe would be its main victim.  Speaking after fresh talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva to salvage the INF led nowhere, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was ready to continue talks. "We are still ready to work to save the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty," Russia's top diplomat told reporters. He called on European nations to help influence Washington, saying they had a major stake in the issue and should not be "at the tail-end of the U.S. position." Last month Washington said it would withdraw from the INF treaty within 60 days if Russia did not dismantle missiles that the U.S. claims breach the deal. Moscow's top negotiator in Geneva, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, said the Geneva talks centered on Russia's 9M729 system but that U.S. demands regarding the missile were unacceptable. Lavrov said on Wednesday the Russian side in Geneva came up with "constructive proposals" aiming to give the U.S. an idea of what the 9M729 system was. "However, U.S. representatives arrived with a prepared position that was based on an ultimatum and centered on a demand for us to destroy this rocket, its launchers, and all related equipment under U.S. supervision," Lavrov said. The U.S. negotiators never explained why Washington did not want to consider Russia's proposals, he added.
- 'You are violating, we are not' -
Talks have essentially ground to a halt, Lavrov said, describing Washington's logic as: "You are violating the treaty and we are not."Russian negotiators on Tuesday proposed holding another round of talks on the agreement but received no reply from the U.S. side, Ryabkov has said.
Russia denies it is in violation of the treaty, which forbids ground-launched short- and intermediate-range missiles. In Geneva on Tuesday, U.S. and Russian diplomats blamed each other for pushing the agreement to the brink of collapse. Russia said Washington had confirmed its intention to exit the treaty from February 2. U.S. Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, Andrea Thompson, has said the Geneva meeting was "disappointing" and Russia continued "to be in material breach of the treaty."
- US trying to 'impose its will' -
Lavrov also expressed hope it would be possible to save another key arms control agreement, the New START. The agreement, which caps the number of nuclear warheads held by Washington and Moscow, expires in 2021. "We are doing a lot to remove possible irritants regarding it and are interested in having it extended," he said. He slammed Washington's overall position, saying the potential for conflict was increasing due to the West's unwillingness to accept "the reality of an emerging multi-polar world" and its desire to "impose its will" on the rest of the global community. Putin has threatened to develop nuclear missiles banned under the INF treaty if it is scrapped. He said in December he was open to the idea of other countries joining the INF treaty or to starting talks on a new agreement. Putin has also said that if Washington moved to place more missiles in Europe after ditching the deal, Russia would respond "in kind" and that any European countries agreeing to host U.S. missiles would be at risk of a Russian attack. The INF deal resolved a crisis over Soviet nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles targeting Western capitals, but put no restrictions on other major military actors such as China.

Italians Leave Gaza Strip after Hamas Standoff
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 16/19/Three Italian security officers left the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after an incident that saw them flee to a U.N. building as Hamas security pursued them, an official and a diplomatic source said. The three were in Gaza to prepare for an upcoming visit by the Italian consul general based in Jerusalem, the diplomatic source said, and were stuck in the U.N. building for around a day after the incident. They were allowed to leave after their identities were confirmed and it was determined they were not involved in any wrongdoing, a Gazan security source said.Hamas has been on high alert for infiltrations following a November botched Israeli special forces operation inside Gaza. The unusual incident began on Monday night, when the three were in a car in central Gaza as gunfire rang out, said Gaza interior ministry spokesman Iyad al-Bozum. "The car then headed to a United Nations headquarters in Gaza City," he said in a statement, adding that there were suspicions about their identities. Hamas security forces pursued them and surrounded the building, leading to a standoff. Hamas-affiliated media reported that the Italians had refused to be searched and then fled to the U.N. building, but al-Bozum did not comment on this. The Gaza security source said that through investigations they had identified the three, clarified their entrance to Gaza was legal and "that their car had no relation with the shooting incident." The diplomatic source said the discussions with Hamas occurred through intermediaries since Italy does not have contacts with the Islamist group, which the European Union labels a terrorist organization. The security agents left the Gaza Strip on Wednesday afternoon, the source said. In November, an Israeli undercover unit was discovered in a botched raid, leading to a gunfight in which seven Palestinians and one Israeli were killed. The agents were allegedly using fake ID documents of Gaza residents and were posing as charity workers.

Shabaab Claims Nairobi Attack Retaliation for Trump Jerusalem Move
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 16/19/The al-Shabaab jihadist group said Wednesday it carried out the deadly attack on a Nairobi hotel and office complex in retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the SITE monitoring group said. The group said in a statement picked up by SITE that its fighters stormed the DusitD2 complex on instructions by al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. "It is a response to the witless remarks of the U.S. president, Donald Trump, and his declaration of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of Israel."

UN Security Council approves up to 75 truce monitors to Yemen’s Hodeidah
Agencies/Wednesday, 16 January 2019/The United Nations Security Council has unanimously voted to authorize the deployment of up to 75 observers to Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah for six months to monitor the ceasefire. The unarmed monitors would be sent to Hodeida and its port along with the ports of Saleef and Ras Issa for an initial period of six months. The port of Hodeida is the entry point for the bulk of Yemen’s supplies of imported goods and humanitarian aid. Talks between the Yemeni government and Houthi militias last month in Sweden on ending the devastating war led to an agreement on the observer force. A first group of about 20 monitors was authorized by the council last month to begin work in Yemen, but their mandate expires on January 20. The British-drafted resolution calls on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to “expeditiously” deploy the United Nations Mission to support the Hodeida Agreement (UNMHA), led by retired Dutch General Patrick Cammaert. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday accused the militias of failing to comply with the Hodeidah truce agreement.

Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 16-17/19
Opinion The Most Dangerous Thing Trump Could Do Yet, and Its Nightmare Fallout for Israel
Daniel B. Shapiro/Haaretz/January 16/2019
Trump pulling the U.S. out of NATO increases Israel's vulnerability just when threats to its security are intensifying. Netanyahu must use all his influence to dissuade Trump from following through.
When Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, the new Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, settled into his office at the Kirya after being sworn in Tuesday, he had a long list of military challenges to plan for: Rockets and tunnels by Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran’s persistent threatening stance against Israel in Syria, Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
One thing he probably never thought he would have to add to that list was planning for the possibility of a U.S. withdrawal from NATO.
But as he learned from the New York Times, the possibility is very much on President Donald Trump’s mind.
It is no small matter for Israel.
In the first instance, Israel benefits from NATO because of the way it broadens U.S. influence. NATO is an alliance, but it also entails its European members willingly accepting the United States’ leadership position on the continent.
U.S. allies outside the alliance benefit from the association. It has helped earn Israel a seat at the table as a NATO partner, has opened doors to cooperation with non-U.S. militaries, and helps prevent escalatory scenarios in moments of tension between Israel and NATO members, notably Turkey. In a post-NATO world, Israel’s alignment would be with an isolated United States that lacks the multiplying effect of broader Western support.
But the operational effects could be far more challenging. Israel maintains impressive self-defense capabilities, which will be sustained in any scenario, but its security partnership with the United States, another critical pillar of its defense policy, will be forced to adapt in complicated ways.
The day-to-day relationships between the IDF and the U.S. military are conducted via U.S. European Command. U.S. forces based in Germany are the ones who travel to Israel by the thousands to conduct joint exercises, including those that drill bringing Patriot missile batteries to augment Israel’s domestic capabilities and help defend Israel in the case of a major conflict.
U.S. Navy destroyers, home-ported in Spain and equipped with Aegis missile defense capabilities, are among the Sixth Fleet’s ships that sail regularly in the Eastern Mediterranean (and make port calls in Haifa) to ensure adequate support for Israel’s defense. U.S. Air Force squadrons based in Italy come to Israel to conduct joint air exercises with the Israeli Air Force. Other U.S. troops sit even closer, at Incirlik Air Force Base in Eastern Turkey.
Remove the United States from NATO - and forward-deployed U.S. forces from Europe, which would certainly follow - and the United States’ ability to respond to a Middle East crisis would be diminished.
Could U.S. support for Israel be shifted and coordinated instead through U.S. Central Command, based in the Persian Gulf? It has been proposed before as an efficiency measure. But Israeli generals have always resisted the proposal. Their worry is that they would find it challenging to enjoy the same level of intimacy they currently have with Europe-based U.S. commanders, with commanders who maintain a similar closeness with Arab militaries.
True, Israel is closer strategically today with the Arab Gulf states than at any time in its history, because of a focus on the common threat of Iran and the lower priority of the Palestinian issue. But those relationships are a long way from being normalized - and could still backslide.
Israeli security planners are, therefore, still most likely to want to maintain separation between their relationships with the U.S. military and with their Arab neighbors. Having observed the intense friendships formed between Israeli military commanders and their U.S. counterparts based in Europe, I can say that these ties will not be easily replaced.
The broader Middle East would also experience the effects of NATO’s demise in the form of further empowerment of Russia. That is happening already, but losing NATO would turbocharge those trends.
Already, Russia’s brutally decisive intervention in Syria, combined with successive U.S. administrations’ preference to reduce active U.S. military engagements in the region, have led many regional states to explore expanded security ties with Russia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets more frequently with Putin than he does with Trump, and the IDF and Russian Air Force deconflict their operations in Syria. The leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, all close partners of the United States, have visited Moscow and explored acquiring advanced Russian weapons systems in addition to their American-supplied arsenals.
Should Russia decide to exert leverage, such as by constraining Israeli freedom of action against Iranian military targets in Syria, the United States would be ill-equipped to push back.
A U.S. withdrawal from NATO would unmistakably be understood as a major pullback from the United States’s leadership in global affairs. The effect of expanding Russian influence would be felt far beyond Europe and the Middle East.
Military planners are renowned for imagining, and developing options for, every possible scenario. So General Kochavi and his colleagues will find a way to prepare, and put themselves in a position to adapt. But there are certain anchors that any country hopes to maintain, particularly one facing as many threats, and so tied to its American ally, as Israel.
To avoid having to grapple with the nightmarish set of problems that would result from the U.S. leaving NATO, General Kochavi might consider recommending to his Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that he use his influence with President Trump to dissuade him from such a dangerous course.
*Daniel B. Shapiro is Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa in the Obama Administration. Twitter: @DanielBShapiro

The Peaceful Takeover of Europe
Jan Keller/Gatestone Institute/January 16/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13540/europe-peaceful-takeover
The concept of the clash of civilizations assumes that there is a conflict between religions. This view often appears to be true where Islam is concerned; the religious aspect of Islamism appears to be a powerful motivator. That desire illustrates how deeply flawed were the sociological and political theories of modernization, according to which the entire world eventually would undergo a process of enlightenment, similar to Europe's.
Whereas traditional Marxists believed that a dictatorship of the proletariat would result in a classless society, the neo-Marxists apparently believe that a dictatorship for the benefit of minorities will result in a society of absolute freedom for all.
To this end, they seem to think, it is necessary to build an anti-discrimination bureaucracy to break the domination of the majority over the minority and force the majority to demand an end to its own privileged position. It is not enough for the majority to tolerate otherness; it must embrace and love it.
The vast majority of Western politicians and members of the media today appear to be guided by the idea that it is better to be wrong about Francis Fukuyama's The End of History than to be right about Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations. Pictured: Huntington (left) and Fukayama. (Image sources: Huntington - World Economic Forum/Wikimedia Commons; Fukayama - Fronteiras do Pensamento/Wikimedia Commons)
The vast majority of Western politicians and members of the media today appear to be guided by the idea that it is better to be wrong about Francis Fukuyama's The End of History than to be right about Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations. This seems simply an abbreviated expression of a widespread unwillingness, or inability, to call things by their real names. Let us examine the reality that is so hard for many members of liberal societies to acknowledge, and which explains why Huntington's diagnosis of the current era is far more fitting than Fukuyama's.
Huntington's working hypothesis for analyzing current events basically follows German sociologist Max Weber's "sociology of civilizations." Yet the term "shock of civilizations" was coined in 1957 by the historian Bernard Lewis, in the aftermath of the Suez crisis.
The clash of civilizations should not be understood, however, in a purely military context. The clash of civilizations in which we find ourselves today is less direct in three main ways:
The two "civilizations" are not on distinct opposite sides. Not all Muslims are Islamists; not all Europeans want to defend European civilization.
Two religions do not stand against each other. Europe has religiously disarmed and in its place has put a totally irrational dogma in the form of multiculturalism.
The clash is not taking place with arms. Although terrorist attacks are severe, the attempt by one civilization to subjugate the other is occurring on a broader ideological and religious plane.
The first distinction
According to a report released by Institut Montaigne in September 2016, the Muslim population of France is divided as follows: Nearly half consider the laws of the state -- as opposed to Islamic law -- as binding. This sector does not wish to live separately from French society. Around a quarter of the Muslim sector is extremely devout, yet willing to tolerate other religions. The remainder puts the laws of Islam over the laws of the Republic, and creates a parallel society. This last group seems to be increasingly radicalized and dominated by the younger generation -- those born in France. In this sense, no two distinct civilizations are pitted against each other.
This blurred line can also be seen in the goals of Islamists, whether pragmatic or radical. Both seem to have the same objectives.
The first appears to be the re-Islamization of Muslim countries, by destroying the remains of secular regimes. The West has been helping them achieve this goal by dismantling secular dictatorships in Iraq, Libya, and Syria. Without such help, this goal would take much longer.
The second goal appears to be the unification of the Muslim world, including lost territories (such as Spain, Sicily, the Balkans, Israel and others).
The third and ultimate goal appears to be the worldwide submission to Islam of non-Muslim societies.
The second distinction
The concept of the clash of civilizations assumes that there is a conflict between religions. This view often appears to be true where Islam is concerned; the religious aspect of Islamism appears to be a powerful motivator. That desire illustrates how deeply flawed were the sociological and political theories of modernization, according to which the entire world eventually would undergo a process of enlightenment, similar to Europe's. One such theory, put forth at the end of the 1950s by the scholar Daniel Lerner, suggested that mass media penetration into the Middle East would lead to a mass shift towards Euro-American thinking. Little did anyone know that the opposite would turn out to be the case: jihadists and their apologists began using the media not only to reinforce the difference between the Middle East and the West, but to keep the Middle East in the fold of Islam.
At the same time, as the Islamic world increasingly connected its identity to religion, Europe underwent a shift in its thinking. On one hand, it suppressed its Christian roots; on the other, it began to develop a dogma of multiculturalism, which styles itself as a positive project of openness towards the outside. In fact, however, multiculturalism is a purely negative doctrine that constitutes an attack on European civilization from within.
Unlike traditional Marxism, for instance, which rejects "class struggle" and capitalism in favor of a utopian classless society, neo-Marxism rejects all of western civilization and its institutions. It appears to see everything European as a manifestation of alienation, every authority as a manifestation of power, every ethical or legal norm as a tool of control, every tradition or heritage as a manifestation of oppression and every form of societal identity as a betrayal of the revolution. Neo-Marxists seem naively to assume that when society is completely broken, there will be nothing left but pure freedom. Rarely in history have devastation and destruction been defended with such noble words.
According to many of these multiculturalists, recognizing the "other" is a manifestation of goodness, while disrespecting "otherness" is a sign of racism, fascism and evil. Their ideal society seems one in which various identities circulate freely without converging. In such a society, each group has its own special rights, which must be upheld by the legal system. Lately, many extremist Muslims have been using this multicultural mindset to their advantage.[1]
Whereas traditional Marxists believed that a dictatorship of the proletariat would result in a classless society, the neo-Marxists apparently believe that a dictatorship for the benefit of minorities will result in a society of absolute freedom for all. To this end, they seem to think, it is necessary to build an anti-discrimination bureaucracy to break the domination of the majority over the minority and force the majority to demand an end to its own privileged position. It is not enough for the majority to tolerate otherness; it must embrace and love it.
The third distinction
The main battle being fought by Islamists in the clash of civilizations seems to involve three strategic steps: that of the so-called weak fighting the strong (such as Islamists vs. Europeans); that of particular Muslim societal demands; and, ultimately, that of a peaceful takeover.
The first step:
Many pragmatic Islamists appear to have been planning to disarm Europe by quiet conquest with portraying themselves as victims. The more concessions they acquire, the more, it appears, they claim to be persecuted. They present their own obscure demands as progressive, anti-racist and anti-fascist.
They join the issues of faith, social exclusion, poverty and the fight against racism seemingly to hide their real priorities -- all the while keeping in check religiously lukewarm Muslims (who, in any case, are decreasing in countries such as France.)[2]
The second step:
Many pragmatic Islamists appear to want to Islamize Europe peacefully, using the available democratic mechanisms at their disposal. Some begin by introducing sectarian demands, such as the right to prayer rooms in universities, in the workplace and in public; the right to preach Islam in public schools; the right to impose gender segregation in schools, sporting events and swimming pools; and the right to engage in polygamy. At the same time, they try to introduce legal measures against criticizing Islam; to introduce quotas for Muslims in the government and the media; and to enforce the right to create Islamic political parties.
This gradual creation of a parallel Islamic society is a process that has been going on in France, for instance, for the past 15 years. It began with the activities of organizations that, under the pretext of integrating the descendants of migrants to combat juvenile delinquency, are run by religious indoctrinators. These organizations ensure order and peace in Muslim neighborhoods, while simultaneously suppressing individual thought on the part of Muslim youth, and cultivating total commitment to imams.[3]
The situation is such that groups of young believers stand against drug dealers, and their imams even offer their services to the police. Yet, these youths only seem to respect law-enforcement authorities if their imams condone it.[4]
Muslim organizations also are being established around mosques in different districts, and claim to be the spokespeople for all Muslims living in those districts.[5] They hold demonstrations to call for the meeting of their demands, which they present as part of a movement on behalf of tolerance and human rights. In addition, they demand state funding for their educational activities. Meanwhile in France, for example, native French residents of such districts, as well as Muslims who are not extremists, prefer to move out of these districts.[6]
Government officials urge the mayors of these districts to respect the demands of Muslims, on the grounds that otherwise they will be driven to engage in underground activities.[7] Social workers in these districts are sidelined, as their role is taken over by members of the Muslim community and imams. Muslim families often will not even let social workers past their doorstep, and social workers increasingly receive insults, when not death threats.[8] Meanwhile, many social workers themselves are trying to appease Muslim clients, by attempting to help them receive benefits to which they are not entitled.[9]
A parallel society is also being built in the field of education. Poor Muslim families have been taking their children out of public schools and enrolling them in private schools, the tuition for which is paid for by foreign donors.[10]
The third step:
Muslims start to build a parallel society in education, welfare and policing. For this, they are in need of co-financing from a state to which many may often not be loyal. The state meets their demands out of fear of illicit activity and rioting.[11] It tolerates polygamy;[12] is hesitant to inspect the driver's licenses of Islamic suspects; and refrains from monitoring the content of sermons in mosques.[13] Apparently conscious of this fear,[14] Islamists step up their demands.[15]
To a large extent, this is a generational issue. The problems above did not arise with the older generations; it is the young who have become radicalized, and the trend does not seem to be socioeconomic.
Most of the 2,000 jihadists from France who went to fight for the Islamic State were relatively affluent and educated. Therefore, improving their societal condition and integration probably would not be remedies for radicalization.
"At the moment," Fukuyama acknowledged in a recent essay marking the 25th anniversary of Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations, "it looks like Huntington is winning."
Prof. Jan Keller is a Czech Social Democrat Member of the European Parliament, sociologist, analyst, commentator and author of more than 30 books, including Sociology of the Organization and Bureaucracy (2007) or The Three Social Worlds (2011). He studied at the universities of Bordeaux (1985), Aix-en-Provence (1988) and Sorbonne (1992) in Paris. He has lectured sociology at the University of Lille, Poitiers, Trento, Lodz and Barcelona.
This article is based on a speech (1:02:44 – 1:32:49) delivered at the conference, "10 years since the death of Samuel Huntington - Do We Live in an Era of Clash of Civilizations?" on April 9, 2018 in Prague and is published here with the kind permission of the author. It was translated into English by Josef Zbořil.
[1] Mathieu Bock-Côté - Le multiculturalisme comme religion politique, Paris, Cerf, 2016, pages 122-123 and 255-256.
[2] Georges Bensoussan - Une France soumise – Les voix du refus, Paris, Albin Michel, 2017, page 27.
[3] Ibid, pages 140-141.
[4] Ibid, pages 140-141.
[5] Ibid, pages 140-141.
[6] Ibid, pages 140-141.
[7] Ibid, pages 140-141.
[8] Ibid, pages 79-80.
[9] Ibid, page 86.
[10] Ibid, pages 71-72.
[11] Ibid, page 38.
[12] Laurent Obertone - La France Interdite: La vérité sur l'imigration, Paris, Ring Publishing House, 2018, page 55.
[13] Georges Bensoussan - Une France soumise – Les voix du refus, Paris, Albin Michel, 2017, pages 75-76.
[14] Bertrand Soubelet - Tout ce qu'il ne faut pas dire, Paris, Plon, 2016.
[15] Bertrand Soubelet - Sans autorité, quelle liberté?, Paris, Éditions de l'Observatoire, 2017.
© 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.

The Ayatollah Empire Is Rotting Away
Edward N. Luttwak/Tablet/January 16/19
Regime clerics steal everything, including the pistachio nuts
Ronald Reagan, who outraged the Washington elite and frightened European leaders by flatly refusing coexistence with the Soviet Union, lived to see its sudden decline and fall. There is a fair chance that Donald Trump, who contradicts Barack Obama and Europe’s leaders by refusing coexistence with Iran’s ayatollah empire, will also have the satisfaction of seeing the dissolution of a regime that Obama among many others preferred to accommodate.
Whether or not this past weekend’s mass demonstrations in Iran will spread, whether a second revolution is imminent or not, the numbers for the ayatollah empire just don’t add up. A breakdown is materially inevitable.
With some 80 million people, and with oil accounting for 80 percent of its exports, Iran would need to export some 25 million barrels a day to make a go of it, but it can barely export 2.5 million. That would be luxuriously ample for the likes of Abu Dhabi with fewer than 800,000 citizens, but it is a miserable pittance for Iran, with a population more than 100 times as large.
Iran cannot even match the $6,000 income per capita of Botswana. That most fashionable of safari destinations is a fine and well-governed country to be sure, and far from poor by African standards—but then its citizens are not required to pay for extensive nuclear installations, which are very costly to maintain even in their current semi-frozen state, or for the manufacture of a very broad range of weapons—from small arms to ballistic missiles—for which much expensive tooling is imported daily from the likes of our own dear ally South Korea. Neither is Botswana mounting large-scale military expeditions in support of a foreign dictator at war with 80 percent of his own population or providing generous funding for the world’s largest terrorist organization, Hezbollah, whose cocaine-smuggling networks and local extortion rackets cannot possibly cover tens of thousands of salaries. The ayatollah empire is doing all those things, which means that average Iranians are actually much poorer than their Botswanian counterparts.
You would never know it looking at photographs of Tehran, one more bombastic capital city fattened on intercepted oil revenues and graft, but Iran is dirt poor. I recently saw Iran’s general poverty at first-hand driving through one of Iran’s supposedly more prosperous rural districts. In an improvised small market next to a truck stop, several grown men were selling livestock side by side, namely ducks. Each had a stock of three or four ducks, which looked like their total inventory for the day.
That is what happens in an economy whose gross domestic product computes at under $6,000 per capita: very low productivity, very low incomes. The 500,000 or so Iranians employed in the country’s supposedly modern automobile industry are not productive enough to make exportable cars: Pistachio nuts are the country’s leading export, after oil and petroleum products.
The pistachios bring us directly to Iran’s second problem after not-enough-oil, namely too much thieving by the powerful, including pistachio-orchard-grabbing Akbar Hashemi “Rafsanjani,” former president and a top regime figure for decades.
Akbar Hashemi was not being immodest when he claimed the name of his native Rafsanjan province for himself. He became the owner of much of it as huge tracts of pistachio-growing orchards came into his possession.
His son Mehdi Hashemi is very prominent among the aghazadeh (“noble born”), the sons and daughters of the rulers. He preferred industrial wealth to pistachios, and his name kept coming up in other people’s corruption trials (one in France), until he finally had his own trial, for a mere $100 million or so. But the Rafsanjani clan as a whole took a couple of billion dollars at least.
The Supreme Leader Khamenei himself is not known to have personally stolen anything—he has his official palaces, after all. But his second son, Mojtaba, may have taken as much as $2 billion from the till, while his third son, Massoud, is making do with a mere 400- or 500-hundred million. His youngest son, Maitham, is not living in poverty either, with a couple of hundred million. The ayatollah’s two daughters, Bushra and Huda, each received de-facto dowries in the $100 million range.
This shows that the regime is headed by devoted family men who lovingly look after their many children, for whom only the best will do. It also cuts into the theoretical $6,000 income per Iranian head, because some “heads” are taking a thousand times as much and more.
That is one motive for today’s riots—bitter anger provoked by the regime’s impoverishing and very visible corruption, which extends far, far beyond the children of the top rulers: thousands of clerics are very affluent, starting with their flapping Loro Piana “Tasmania” robes—that’s 3,000 euros of fancy cloth right there. Much of the economy is owned by bonyads, Islamic foundations that pay modest pensions to war widows and such, and very large amounts to those who run them, mostly clerics and their kin. The largest, the Mostazafan Bonyad, with more than 200,000 employees in some 350 separate companies in everything from farming to tourism, is a very generous employer for its crowds of clerical managers.
That is why the crowds have been shouting insults at the clerics—not all are corrupt, but high-living clerics are common enough to take a big bite out of that theoretical $6,000 per capita.
But the largest cause of popular anger is undoubtedly the pasdaran, a.k.a the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), an altogether more costly lot than the several hundred aghazadeh or tens of thousands of high-living clerics. The IRGC’s tab starts with the trillion dollars or more that the pasdaran-provoked nuclear sanctions cost before the Obama team agreed to lift them and continues with the billions that Iran still loses annually because of the ballistic-missile sanctions that Trump will never lift. Then there are the variable costs of the pasdaran’s imperial adventures, as well as the fixed cost of pasdaran military industries that spend plenty on common weapons as well as on “stealth” fighters and supposedly advanced submarines that exist only in the fantasies of regime propagandists. Pasdaran militarism and imperial adventures are unaffordable luxuries that the demonstrators very clearly want to do without—hence their shouts of “no-Gaza, no-Syria.”Whatever happens next—and at least this time the White House will not be complicit if it ends in brutal repression—the ayatollah empire cannot last. Even despite Obama’s generous courtship gifts, the Iranian regime cannot just keep going, any more than the USSR could keep going by living off its oil. So what can be done to accelerate the collapse? Broad economic sanctions are out of the question because they would allow the rulers to blame the Americans for the hardships inflicted by their own imperial adventures. But there is plenty of room for targeted measures against regime figures and their associates—the State Department list of sanctioned individuals is far from long enough, with many more names deserving of the honor. (Iran is not North Korea; it is not hard to find names and assets and to make them public.)
Above all, very much more could be done to impede the pasdaran and their military industries. Many European and Japanese big-name companies are staying away from Iran because the missile and terrorism sanctions persist—and to avoid displeasing the United States. They should. But the South Koreans whom we defend with our own troops totally ignore U.S. interests in regard to Iran and have therefore emerged as the lead suppliers of machinery and tooling for the pasdaran weapon factories. Nor do they hesitate to sell equipment that can be adapted to military use in a minute or less, as in the case of the airfield instrument landing system and portable ILS/VOR signal analyzer that the Korea Airports Corp. has just agreed to supply to Iran’s Tolid Malzomat Bargh.
There is no need to laboriously negotiate a new set of sanctions against Iran—strict, swift, and public enforcement of the restrictions that are already on the books is enough. Every time a South Korean regime-related deal is detected, the offenders need a quick reminder they will be excluded from the United States if they persist. In this, as in everything else, it is just a matter of getting serious in our focus on Iran.
Obama was serious in his courtship of the ayatollahs’ regime. Trump should do the same to bring the regime to an end, faster.
*Edward N. Luttwak, a military strategist and senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is the author of, most recently, The Rise of China vs. the Logic of Strategy.

Denmark: "In One Generation, Our Country Has Changed"
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/January 16/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13521/denmark-immigration-transformation
The decision to send the criminal inhabitants of the asylum center to the uninhabited island of Lindholm caused great relief in Bording -- an element the international press appears to have missed. Clearly, the right of law-abiding citizens to live in peace does not count for much on the scale of international moral outrage.
Significantly, the outraged international press did not offer any answers to the legitimate question of what governments are supposed to do with hardened criminal asylum seekers, who pose a genuine threat to their surroundings and have been sentenced to deportation, but cannot be deported from the country because of international human rights obligations.
The problem is far from a uniquely Danish one: virtually all European countries have signed international human rights conventions that leave them with the same dilemma.
The country did not just "change". Danish politicians, with their policies, changed it.
In his recent New Year's speech, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen mentioned that Muslim parallel societies constitute a problem and that immigrants must learn to put secular values over religious ones. He just did not say how he planned to address all that. Pictured: Rasmussen in October 2018. (Photo by Rune Hellestad/Getty Images)
Denmark made international headlines in late November 2018, when the Danish government announced a plan to send certain asylum seekers to the small, uninhabited island of Lindholm. The international outrage was intensified when it came to light that the island currently houses a research center for contagious animal diseases; that the ferry which the asylum seekers will be able to take to the mainland during the day (it does not operate in the evening) is named "Virus"; and that the asylum center will be accompanied by a constant police presence on the island.
The group of asylum seekers meant to live in Lindholm consists of criminals of various sorts, including those who have been sentenced to be deported from Denmark, those who are considered a security threat to Denmark, and so-called "foreign warriors".
The asylum seekers, however, cannot be deported to their country of origin, either because those countries do not adhere to human rights conventions, (which Denmark has signed and by which it is therefore obligated) that prohibit the use of torture, so-called inhumane treatment and the death sentence, or simply because the country of origin refuses to take them back.
The island will undergo a comprehensive renovation, estimated to take nearly three years and to cost Danish taxpayers approximately 759 million Danish kroner (approximately $116 million). Until the renovation is completed, this group of asylum seekers will remain at their current housing facility, an asylum center known as Kærshovedgård, 6 kilometers from the nearest town of Bording. Kærshovedgård, a former prison, was established as an asylum center in 2016.
In the two and a half years since, police have filed 85 charges of violence, threats of violence, vandalism, shoplifting, and drug-related crimes against the inhabitants of the asylum center. The manager of the local supermarket in Bording called the presence of the asylum center "a living hell on earth". The decision to send the criminal inhabitants of the asylum center to the uninhabited island of Lindholm caused great relief in Bording -- an element the international press appears to have missed. Clearly, the right of law-abiding citizens to live in peace does not count for much on the scale of international moral outrage. Now, however, neighbors of Lindholm in the tiny town of Kalvehave on the mainland have voiced their fears regarding the establishment of the asylum center on Lindholm, which they see as merely moving the problem from one area to another. Some inhabitants are talking about putting up cameras, fences, barbed wire and even acquiring gun permits.
Significantly, the outraged international press did not offer any answers to the legitimate question of what governments are supposed to do with hardened criminal asylum seekers, who pose a genuine threat to their surroundings and have been sentenced to deportation, but cannot be deported from the country because of international human rights obligations. The problem is far from a uniquely Danish one: virtually all European countries have signed international human rights conventions that leave them with the same dilemma.
The prospect of inadvertently attracting more foreigners who may prove to be either criminals or security threats, however, did not dissuade Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen from signing the UN's Global Migration Compact in December 2018, despite opposition to the initiative in his own government. It was even claimed that computer "bots" had generated the popular opposition against the Compact on the internet. The more likely reason for opposition to the UN Compact is that more Danes have come to acknowledge that migration has led to a number of grave problems in Denmark.
One such problem is the presence of Muslim parallel societies in major Danish cities, a situation that Danish documentary filmmakers already documented in 2016 in an undercover investigation, with hidden cameras, into claims that imams are working towards keeping parallel societies for Muslims within Denmark.
Since then, things have not improved. In February 2018, for example, Danish television station TV2 News visited Vollsmose, a neighborhood in Denmark's third largest city, Odense, where Muslim parallel societies are prevalent. The television crew spoke to young Somali women in a café, where men and women sit in separate areas. 31-year-old Hibo Abdulahi, who came to Denmark when she was ten years old, said the reason for the self-imposed gender-segregation is that "Those are our rules. Yes, our law... That is Islamic law, men and women do not sit together". The reporter asked her if that meant that he was not allowed to sit in the women's section of the café. "Yes, you can sit here, because you are a white person, so you probably don't know any better". Hibo Abdulahi apparently did not consider the café part of a Muslim parallel society:
"The café follows Danish law... This is our culture which we lack and miss a little. What is wrong with that? I simply do not understand why we have to become so integrated. Does that mean we should put away all our culture and be completely Danish? I've had enough now. I am very integrated, I have many Danish friends, take it easy, let us have something to ourselves".
Another way Denmark's landscape has changed is in the increased presence of mosques. "The minaret is first and foremost a symbol", according to the Turkish Cultural Association, which is behind the building of a Turkish mosque in Århus, Denmark's second largest city. The mosque's minaret, a 24-meter-high construction, is visible to visitors to the city when approaching it from the motorway.
Turkey has been extremely active in ramping up its activities in Denmark, apparently as part of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's plan of strengthening Islam in the West. Denmark already has around 30 Turkish mosques out of approximately 170 mosques in total as of end of 2017. In 2006, there were 115 mosques in all of Denmark -- an increase of nearly 50% in little more than a decade.
A recent government study, "Analysis of children of descendants with a non-Western background", shows that there continue to be huge problems with assimilating immigrants into Danish society.
According to the study, third-generation immigrants -- the second generation to be born in Denmark -- still do not get better grades in school than their parents did, nor do more of them finish higher education or find employment. As of January 2018, there were 24,200 third-generation immigrants in Denmark, of whom 92% had a non-Western background. Of those with a non-Western background, 41% were of Turkish descent, and 21% were of Pakistani descent.
Today, there are roughly 500,000 immigrants and descendants of immigrants in Denmark. The cost to the Danish state is 33 billion Danish kroner per year ($5 billion or 4.4 billion euros), according to the Danish Ministry of Finance. It is estimated that in 2060 there will be nearly 900,000 immigrants and descendants of immigrants in Denmark, according to Denmark's official statistical bureau, Danmark's Statistik. Denmark currently has a total population of 5.8 million people. If the lack of integration persists in the next generation of descendants of immigrants, Denmark is looking at a significant societal problem to which no one appears to have a solution.
Least of all, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen. In his New Year's speech, he said that things are "going well" in Denmark. He did not mention the study about the descendants of non-Western immigrants, or that the Danish government has no significant answers to the many questions that the existence of Muslim parallel societies poses -- although he did mention that Muslim parallel societies constitute a problem and that immigrants must learn to put secular values over religious ones. He just did not say how he planned to address all that. "When I was in high school, he also said, "there were around 50,000 people with a non-Western background in Denmark. Today, there are almost half a million. In one generation, our country has changed". The country did not just "change". Danish politicians, with their policies, changed it.
Rasmussen also mentioned the recent brutal rape and beheading by ISIS terrorists of two young Scandinavian women, one of whom was Danish, hiking in Morocco:
"We all react with disgust and sorrow. But we must also react by standing for what we believe. Freedom and equality of men. We must fight for our values.... It is not enough to have tough policies, police and border controls. It requires close European cooperation, development aid, diplomacy and increased investments in our defense. We must stand for our free societies".
Danes might be excused for thinking that their prime minister, who recently joined the UN Global Migration Compact, which encourages more migration, comes across as less than sincere.
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.

The UN, the "State of Palestine" and the Torture of Women
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/January 16/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13561/palestinians-women-torture
This is the kind of story that the "State of Palestine" does not intend to raise during its chairmanship of the largest bloc of developing countries at the UN. It seems that, from the point of view of the Palestinian Authority leadership, Jbara's ordeal does not fall within the category of human rights.
Jbara's story has barely attracted the attention of the international mainstream media. As far as many foreign journalists covering the Middle East are concerned, a Palestinian woman complaining about torture in a Palestinian prison is not newsworthy. Had she been detained by Israel, Jbara would have most likely made it to the front pages of the world's leading newspapers and magazines in a matter of minutes.
The PA regularly complains about human rights violations of Palestinians held in Israeli prison for security-related offenses. But when the PA's own security forces detain and torture a mother of three, Palestinian leaders are found elsewhere -- like at the helm of a UN bloc.
The Palestinian Authority's recent arrest and torture of a Palestinian mother of three is the kind of story that the "State of Palestine" does not intend to raise during its chairmanship of the largest bloc of developing countries at the UN. Pictured: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
A Palestinian mother of three has accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces of torturing her and threatening to rape her during the two months she was held in a PA prison in the West Bank.
The accusation by the woman, Suha Jbara, 31, came on the eve of PA President Mahmoud Abbas's visit to New York, where he is scheduled to assume the chairmanship of the largest bloc of developing countries in the United Nations, known as the "Group of 77 and China."
As chairman of the group, which represents 134 nations, Abbas and the "State of Palestine" will negotiate and co-sponsor proposals and amendments on various developmental, humanitarian and legal issues that are on the agenda of the UN.
On January 11, Jbara, who was released last week from detention, held a press conference in Ramallah in which she detailed the various methods of torture she experienced at the hands of her Palestinian interrogators. Her horrific experience, however, does not seem to be on the agenda of the UN or the Group of 77 and China, headed by Abbas. Apparently, the UN group's members, who voted in favor of naming the "State of Palestine" as chairman of the group, do not care much about the human rights record of the PA security forces in the West Bank.
Jbara, a dual citizen of the US and Panama, was arrested by the Palestinian Authority security forces in early November 2018 at her home near the West Bank city of Ramallah. According to Jbara, she was accused of "illegally collecting donations" for families of Palestinians killed or wounded during clashes with the Israeli army.
Bizarrely, the PA is accusing Jbara of something that the PA itself has done for years and is still doing: paying salaries to Palestinians in Israeli prison and the families of Palestinians killed while carrying out attacks on Israelis. According to Jbara, her interrogators also accused her of "collaborating" with Israel. During her detention, she went on hunger strike for 27 days. The torture, according to Jbara, included pouring cold water on her face, solitary confinement for several days, strip-search, sleep deprivation, lengthy hours of interrogation and verbal abuse.
"The first stages were the worst," Jbara told the Palestinian Wattan TV station."They interrogated me for several hours, without taking into consideration that I felt sick. They moved me from one office to another. I saw a number of detainees who were blindfolded and handcuffed. The interrogators were pouring cold water on their faces and some of the detainees were lying on the floor. It was a horrifying experience for me."
Jbara also said that the Palestinian interrogators threatened to take her three children away from her. "They used my children to blackmail me," she reported. The interrogators apparently also threatened her mother, her sisters and her with sexual assault. "I'm now in a very bad health condition," she said. "I even have difficulty walking."
Last month, a representative of Amnesty International met with Jbara, while she was still being held in Palestinian detention, and heard about her brutal treatment at the hands of her interrogators. "The Palestinian authorities must urgently investigate the torture and ill-treatment of Suha Jbara, an activist who has told Amnesty International that she was beaten, slammed against a wall and threatened with sexual violence by her interrogators," the organization wrote.
According to Amnesty's report, Jbara described how, upon her arrest, she had a seizure, lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital. Armed security officials later dragged her barefoot, out of the hospital, and transferred her to the Jericho Central Prison.
There, when she asked for a drink, a male interrogator threw water in her face, slapped her, punched her in the chest and back, and threatened her with further violence. She was blindfolded and handcuffed throughout her interrogation, and was not allowed to drink water or use the lavatory.
"He insulted me all the time," she said, "used very dirty and violent sexual language, threatened to bring a doctor to look into my virginity and say that I was a whore, and threatened to hurt my family and to take my kids away from me."
According to Saleh Higazi, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International:
"Suha Jbara has described her torture in harrowing detail. In her testimony she gives an account of ruthless interrogators who have shamelessly flouted Palestine's obligations to treat prisoners humanely and violated the absolute prohibition under international law of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."Yet, Jbara's story has barely attracted the attention of the international mainstream media. As far as many foreign journalists covering the Middle East are concerned, a Palestinian woman complaining about torture in a Palestinian prison is not newsworthy. Had she been detained by Israel, Jbara would have most likely made it to the front pages of the world's leading newspapers and magazines in a matter of minutes.
This is the kind of story that the "State of Palestine" does not intend to raise during its chairmanship of the largest bloc of developing countries at the UN. It seems that, from the point of view of the Palestinian Authority leadership, Jbara's ordeal does not fall within the category of human rights.
The PA regularly complains about human rights violations of Palestinians held in Israeli prison for security-related offenses. But when the PA's own security forces detain and torture a mother of three, Palestinian leaders are found elsewhere -- like at the helm of a UN bloc.
Actually, Palestinian leaders can rest easy concerning their torture of Palestinians. By being selected to head the bloc of developing countries, Abbas and the leaders of the "State of Palestine" will be in the company of countries rewarded for human rights violations -- including Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Venezuela and Yemen -- just elected as the vice-president of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, despite Yemen being ranked "as the worst country in the world on gender inequality (149th out of 149)" -- as well as several countries in Africa and Asia. That group exemplifies the old saying: birds of a feather flock together -- and these birds are definitely of the predator type.
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a Shillman Journalism 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.

Pompeo takes US anti-Iran message to Gulf Arab states
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/January 16/19
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Middle East tour brings to mind the sport of hurdling, as he tries to overcome obstacles while eyeing the last objective: Confronting Iran. The list of hurdles grows long: The Kurds, Turks, Syrians (both the government and fighting factions), Israelis, Iraqis, Saudis and Qataris. However, Pompeo left the region before completing the list.
How can Iran — America’s main political millstone in the Middle East — be beleaguered without forcing it out of Syria, wearing down its influence in Iraq, defying it in Lebanon, using Israeli air power to pressure it, preventing Turkey from opening up to it, thwarting Qatar from cooperating with it, and persuading Saudi Arabia to produce more oil to meet the world’s needs without resorting to Iran’s oil?
These are the tasks entrusted to Pompeo, and truth be told, he did very well despite the numerous contradictions, objections and even flip-flops from his president, Donald Trump. Pompeo managed to put forward a big project in difficult conditions that angered Tehran: He even announced that Poland will host an international conference on Iran in mid-February.
Pompeo’s unprecedented efforts have come a long way in putting forth measures and actions against Iran. Tehran is right to worry.
His purpose is clear: To build a huge international coalition against Iran of more than 70 countries. Tehran is confident that US efforts are doomed to fail, because almost all of Washington’s partners have rejected a policy submitted by the White House that aims to isolate Iran by re-imposing sanctions. This has made President Hassan Rouhani assume that the US is isolated when it comes to dealing with Iran.
Pompeo’s unprecedented efforts have come a long way in putting forth measures and actions against Iran. Tehran is absolutely right to worry, especially since European governments have found themselves in an awkward position in the past two months after receiving more data about Iranian operations that killed two opposition members, and a foiled bomb attack against an Iranian opposition rally near Paris last June.
Add to this the failure of Europe’s appeasement of Iran, and Brussels’ justifications in continuing to enforce the nuclear deal. The Iranian regime has not changed. It is still a wicked and dangerous regime that poses a great threat to the entire world, not only to Saudis, Bahrainis, Syrians and Yemenis.
The odds of the success of the conference in Poland are high, especially, in light of recent events in Europe, Syria, Iraq and Yemen that have changed the convictions of many countries, and reduced the number of those defending Tehran.
A big challenge, however, awaits Pompeo in trying to build a strong alliance against Iran — including the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states along with Egypt and Jordan — while also calming regional tensions. This is an almost impossible quest that requires him to adopt a different way of thinking and forge bilateral and multilateral brainstorming sessions.
• Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is a veteran columnist. He is the former general manager of Al Arabiya news channel, and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat.
Twitter: @aalrashed