English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For July 22/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11/09-13:”‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
 

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 21-22/2020
Hasan: Lebanon is Nearing Critical Stage in Virus Cases
Bkirki Preparing Document on al-Rahi's Call for Neutrality
Aoun Asks Govt. to Consider Covid Victim Doctor a Lebanese 'Martyr'
Presidency Sources Say al-Rahi Proposal 'Not a Priority'
Cabinet convenes in Baabda, agrees to assign Alvarez & Marsal firm to conduct forensic investigation
Berri receives Court of Audit's report on 1997 public spending figures, meets 'Loyalty to Resistance' bloc delegation
Lebanese Forces delegation visits National Liberal Party headquarters in Sodeco
Strong Lebanon bloc welcomes forensic audit
Hezbollah terrorist killed in alleged Israeli airstrikes in Syria
Raad Visits Ain el-Tineh, Says Berri is 'Not Pessimistic'
Lebanon Govt. Agrees on Alvarez & Marsal to Audit Central Bank
Maronite Patriarchate Preparing National Dialogue on Lebanon’s Neutrality
Lebanon: Medicine Going Out of Stock, Smuggling Fears Mounting
Lebanon’s Security Chief: My Arab Tour Was Aimed at Finding Common Economic Space
Lebanon's Turmoil Fuels Brain Drain
Lebanon Central Bank to undergo audit, Salame faces assets freeze
How Lebanon’s fate is linked to US-Iran showdown
Qatar's Hezbollah funding exposed by whistle-blower contractor/Damien McElroy/The National/July 20/2020
Without neutrality, Lebanon has no future/Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/July 21/2020
With hunger swelling, Lebanon turns to community farming/Abby Sewell/Al Arabiya English/Tuesday 21 July 2020
Abandoned Lebanon: Artist shines light on bizarre plan for aquarium with dolphins/Maghie Ghali/Al Arabiya/21 July 2020
 

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 21-22/2020
Israeli missile strike kills five Iran-backed fighters in Syria: Monitor
After a lull in alleged Israel strikes in Syria, the heat has returned
Iran will never forget the US killing of slain general Qassem Soleimani: Khamenei
Iran looks to buy Russian weapons to 'enhance defense capacities'
South Korea summons Iranian ambassador after 'inappropriate' comments
Turkey’s Short-term Debt Jumps to USD169.5 Billion
Germany Calls on Turkey to Stop Mediterranean Drilling
Turkey Accused of Turning Blind Eye to ISIS Suicide Attack
Iraq Accuses Turkey of Seeking to Form ‘Security Belt’ on Northern Border
Syrians Fear Turkey Might Hand Over Control of Bab al-Hawa to Russia
Washington Denounces 'Rigged' Syrian Elections
Israeli Defense Minister Freezes Sanctions against Palestinian Banks
Shoukry in Ramallah to Advance Political Path
Xi Affirms to Abbas China's Support of Quartet’s Efforts
Sudan's Bashir on Trial for Leading 1989 Coup
Algeria Criticizes Encouragement of Tribes to Carry Arms in Libya
Washington Revives 'Renaissance Dam' Mediation
 

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 21-22/2020

The Upside of a New Cold War With China/Hal Brands//Bloomberg/July 21/2020
Don't Hype the Hope for Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid Vaccine/Max Nisen/Noah Smith/Bloomberg/July 21/2020
Trump Did Nothing to Help the Economic Boom/Noah Smith/Bloomberg/July 21/2020
Nike, Other Global Brands, Complicit in China Slave Labor/Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone Institute/July 21, 2020
Iran: The Real Bounty Payer for Killing US Troops/Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/July 21, 2020
Freedom for Kurds essential to Turkey’s prosperity/Enes Kanter/Al Arabiya/July 21/2020
The ‘law of the sword’ of Turkey’s neo-sultan Erdogan/Costas Mavrides/Al Arabiya/July 21/2020
Unpublished work by slain Iraqi activist al-Hashemi shows PMU’s corruption in Nineveh/Ismaeel Naar/Al Arabiya/21 July 2020
Iran’s doublespeak dims engagement prospects/Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/July 21/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 21-22/2020

Hasan: Lebanon is Nearing Critical Stage in Virus Cases
Associated Press/Naharnet/July 21/2020
Health Minister Hamad Hasan says financially troubled Lebanon, which has so far managed to contain the coronavirus, is sliding toward a critical stage with a new surge in infections after lockdown restrictions were lifted and the airport reopened.
The recently recorded double and triple digits of new infections were coupled with an increase in untraceable cases, raising concerns that a dangerous spread in the community could follow, Hasan told The Associated Press.
Lebanon's early lockdown and strict measures to contain the virus were praised for slowing down the initial spread of the pandemic. Authorities have also aggressively tested, carried out random tests, and swiftly isolated infected areas.
But Lebanon's crippling economic and financial crisis has proven more difficult to manage. In late April, the authorities began gradually easing weeks-long restrictions that threw tens of thousands out of work; Lebanon's only airport reopened on July 1.
Today, the government doesn't appear ready to again tighten restrictions or impose another full lockdown. So far, Lebanon has recorded more than 2,900 infections and 41 deaths, including one front-line doctor who died Monday at a hospital in the south, two weeks after contracting COVID-19. Hasan said the late diagnosis is to blame for the death of the 32-year-old physician. Some 150 medical staff have been infected, only a few of them becoming sick. The reopening of the Beirut airport and the subsequent failure of Lebanese returning from abroad and their relatives to adhere to strict isolation measures caused a spike in infections, Hasan said. Many returning expats visited relatives and attended social gatherings, which helped spread the virus. New cases peaked last week with as high as 170 in one day, from an average of less than 20 a day in previous months.
"The danger of community spread is still possible because the country has opened up," Hasan said in the interview with the AP late Monday. Despite a low death rate and low level of hospital bed occupancy, the minister warned that more than 20% of the new infections are untraceable.
"When they are untraceable and I can't trace the clusters that I need to reach, then I start to worry that we are sliding into stage four," he said. "We are still in the critical period between stage three to stage four."Stage four would necessitate return to more lockdown measures, though it's "still too early" to consider that option, he added. In the beginning, people stayed home for months, helping contain the spread of virus, Hasan said. Now their needs to live must be considered -- a dilemma facing all countries grappling with the slowdown of economic activities amid the virus.
Lebanon's crisis predates the virus, which has only accelerated poverty and unemployment rates, now at 45% and over 30%, respectively.
Before the coronavirus, Lebanon was already going through its worst economic and financial crisis. A highly indebted government bailed on paying its sovereign debt in March; banks imposed informal capital controls to prevent further drying up of liquidity and foreign currency. Nationwide protests demanded major reforms from a government that has failed to gain wide domestic or international support while talks for assistance from the International Monetary Fund stalled.
The crisis put a strain on resources and threatened fuel supplies, which raised alarm among the country's hospitals that rely on generators and fuel bought at black market rates. Private and public hospitals warned they may not be able to keep up with the surge in infections; private hospitals threatened to shut down, saying accumulated government debt, banking restrictions and a currency crash are making their operations unsustainable. The American University of Beirut Medical Center, one of the oldest and most prestigious university hospitals in Lebanon, laid off hundreds of its staff last week, causing uproar and concern. Hasan said he is counting on the government to continue to provide for hospitals, adding that a "safety belt" of financing until the end of the year is available to ensure that both private and public hospitals continue to operate.
But he also appealed on the health facilities to put up with the economic crunch Lebanon is facing. He said parliament has approved repaying a chunk of outstanding debts, but the currency crash is deepening the pressure.
"Today all these fears are legitimate. We are living from one day to another," he said. "We should not scare the citizen, who is already under a lot of psychological and moral stress worrying about his food, social and economic security. Let's not also add to it by undermining his health safety."
Members of Lebanon's cash-strapped government have accused political rivals of trying to make it fail by seeking to block international aid. Hizbullah, which backs the current government, has accused the United States of allegedly stopping foreign currency from reaching Lebanon as a way to pressure the Iran-backed group, along with sanctions. Hasan said his strategy is to strengthen the public health sector, which had been devastated during the country's civil war that ended in 1990. Lebanon heavily relies on private hospitals, but public facilities have been at the forefront of efforts to combat the coronavirus.
Hasan said he will use a World Bank loan to equip and prepare public hospitals. "We must cooperate ... to be able to cross this difficult phase that our nation is going through," he said.

Bkirki Preparing Document on al-Rahi's Call for Neutrality
Naharnet/July 21/2020
The Maronite patriarchate is preparing a “document” on Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s call for Lebanon’s neutrality and it will become “the basis of broad national dialogue aimed at discussing it,” patriarchate sources said. “This mission is not only al-Rahi’s mission, seeing as the first responsibility falls on the shoulders of the officials and the government, who should heed the call and work on it each from their position,” the sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Tuesday. Asked about Hizbullah’s stance and whether there is “communication” with it, the sources said there is “indirect communication,” noting that “until the moment, Bkirki has not received anything regarding its stance on al-Rahi’s call.”As for al-Rahi’s visit to the Vatican in the coming days, the sources said “the issue of neutrality will be present in his meetings as well as in his contacts with several countries, specifically those which have positively responded to his call, topped by France.”

Aoun Asks Govt. to Consider Covid Victim Doctor a Lebanese 'Martyr'
Naharnet/July 21/2020
President Michel Aoun on Tuesday asked the government to label 32-year-old doctor Louay Ismail, who died of COVID-19, as “one of Lebanon’s martyrs.”“He fell while performing his humanitarian duty,” Aoun told Cabinet during a session at the Baabda Palace. Cabinet convened at 11:00 am to discuss an agenda of 26 items, most notably the Finance Ministry’s request to sign contracts with financial audit firms, the government’s social aid plan, laws aimed at putting the government’s reform plan into action, and a request from the Tourism Ministry to allow touristic institutions to adopt the dollar exchange rate set by the central bank’s electronic platform ‘Sayrafa’. The session was preceded by a closed-door meeting between Aoun and Prime Minister Hassan Diab.

Presidency Sources Say al-Rahi Proposal 'Not a Priority'
Naharnet/July 21/2020
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi's proposal on Lebanon’s neutrality is not a “priority” at the moment, Lebanese Presidency sources said. “People’s social concerns and the economic and financial crisis that Lebanon is going through remain more important,” the sources added in remarks published Tuesday by Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, denying knowledge of the presence of any such plan. “We don’t know what the patriarch possesses, but according to information, there is no roadmap but rather descriptions of the issue of neutrality without any mechanism,” the sources went on to say, noting that al-Rahi “has said that he wants to consult about it with the parties.”“The issue is not on the table at the moment and the priority now is for addressing the economic, financial and social issues that the people are concerned about in the current period with the increase of daily woes,” the sources added. Al-Rahi had on Monday urged all Lebanese to show a “unified stance” in order to “reach a resolution from the Security Council and the U.N. stipulating that Lebanon has an active neutral system that should be respected by all countries.” Asked about the mechanism to achieve “Lebanon’s neutrality” in an interview published Sunday, the patriarch said “one or two permanent U.N. Security Council member states can present a suggestion to the U.N. Secretary General to create a system of positive and effective neutrality” in Lebanon. “The Secretary-General would then put the issue to a vote… and we are counting on the effective role of the Holy See regarding this issue,” al-Rahi went on to say.

Cabinet convenes in Baabda, agrees to assign Alvarez & Marsal firm to conduct forensic investigation
NNA /July 21/2020
The Council of ministers convened this afternoon, under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun in Baabda Palace. It was decided to consider the staff of doctors, nurses, paramedics, volunteers and all workers in the health sector, hospitals and all health centers, who are infected during their work with the Coronavirus, and die as a result, as martyrs of duty. They shall be granted the appropriate medal according to the applicable laws and regulations. He agreed to the Finance Minister’s suggestion to assign Alvarez & Marsal firm, to carry out the forensic investigation mission, provided that the Minister submits the draft contract to the Council of Ministers for final approval within a maximum period one week from the date. At the beginning of the session, President Aoun stressed on the need to intensify the procedures to prevent the spread of coronavirus and adhere to the measures adopted. He also decided to consider Dr. Loay Ismail, who died during his duties in treating coronavirus patients, to be a martyr of duty, and apply this accreditation to all medical and emergency teams working in the medical field . Prime Minister, Dr. Hassan Diab, stressed that the primary concern of the government is to contain the repercussions of the current social, living and economic crisis in preparation for addressing the structural imbalance that caused the problem. He said, "We are focusing on how the purchasing power of salaries is compatible with the food basket prices in the first degree and the consumer basket in the second degree." He appealed to all the Lebanese to abide by the measures to prevent coronavirus spread considering that "no one is protected from the danger. PM Diab described the accreditation of a forensic audit firm as the cornerstone on which reform is based. He said that “this will be a historic decision in Lebanon, and it will constitute a fundamental shift in the course of exposing what happened on the financial level of waste and thefts." He pointed out that it would be one of the government's most important achievements and must be preserved and expedite the procedures to put it into rapid implementation.
The cabinet session was preceded by a meeting between President Aoun and Prime minister Diab, during which they discussed the items on the agenda.
Statement
The Council of Ministers held its weekly session headed by the President of the Republic and the presence of the Prime Minister and the ministers.
At the beginning of the session, His Excellency the President talked about the increasing number of people infected with Coronavirus and the need to step up prevention measures, in addition to the commitment of citizens to the measures taken to limit the spread of the epidemic. His Excellency the President requested that Dr. Loay Ismail, who died during his service in fighting coronavirus in Tyre, be considered a martyr of duty, provided that the same measure be adopted for the medical and emergency teams treating the pandemic
The Prime Ministe said:
This government has always worked silently because its goal is to serve the people and alleviate the impact of the acute crisis that is ravaging the country as a result of massive accumulations. Today our primary concern is to contain the repercussions of the social, living and economic crisis, in preparation for addressing the structural imbalance that caused the problem.
What matters to people is the livelihood concerns and how to secure their life and social requirements with their salaries that have severely lost the purchasing power. Therefore, our focus is on how the purchasing power of salaries is compatible with food basket prices in the first degree and the consumer basket in the second degree. This stage is necessary, because what is required is to improve the purchasing power and reduce the actual cost of consumption, and this matter needs some time pending negotiations with the IMF, as well as the contacts that the government is making with a number of brotherly and friendly countries to support Lebanon in various ways. God willing, we will soon see the results of these contacts.
As for the Corona pandemic, I had expected about two months ago that the second wave would be in July, and I warned the Lebanese at the time that if they did not adhere to the necessary precautions, the second wave would be greater than the first, and there would be a danger to our society. Today we are going through the second wave. It is clear that the cases increased more than the first stage, and we have not yet reached the peak of this wave. The fear that the lack of commitment by the Lebanese people will significantly increase the number of casualties, and will lead to the loss of our loved ones, as we lost yesterday, Dr. Loay Ismail, who we consider to be a martyr of duty. The pandemic is spreading rapidly, and appears to be stronger than the first wave.
Therefore, I want to appeal to all Lebanese to abide by the prevention measures, to protect themselves, their families, and their love ones. No one is protected from the threat of this pandemic. Let us cross the second wave with minimal losses.
On the reform file, we have before us today the approval of a forensic audit company of the Bank of Lebanon. This is the cornerstone on which reform is built on. This will be a historic decision in Lebanon, and it will constitute a fundamental shift in the path of revealing what happened in Lebanon on the financial level, such as waste and thefts. Therefore, this decision will be one of the most important achievements of the government, and we must maintain it and expedite the procedures to put it into practice quickly.
Then, the Council of Ministers began studying the items on its agenda, and took the appropriate decisions including:
First - based on the proposal of the Prime Minister, to consider the team of doctors, nurses, paramedics, volunteers and all workers in the health sector, hospitals and all health centers, who are infected by their work with the Coronavirus and die as a result, be martyrs of duty and they will be granted the appropriate medal according to the applicable laws and regulations.
Second - Approving the proposal of the Minister of Finance to use Alvarez & Marsal to carry out the task of forensic investigation to implement Cabinet Resolution No. 3 of 3/26/2020, provided that the minister submits the draft contract to the Council of Ministers for final approval of its clauses within a maximum period of a week from this date.
Third - Postponing the decision on the following, until contacting the Central Bank of Lebanon, regarding:
* First: Issuing a circular that allows hotels and furnished apartments to approve the price of the online platform when collecting the allowance for tourism goods and services from non-Lebanese.
* Second: Finding a mechanism that allows tourism institutions (restaurants, cafes, swimming pools ...) to finance their purchases and some of their operating expenses from their accounts held in the Lebanese currency according to the exchange rate of the electronic platform.
Fourth - Approving the request of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to pay the dues of works to rehabilitate and maintain a road network.
Fifth - Approving the draft of the mandatory system decree for inspecting and controlling containers, goods and vehicles in the Lebanese border facilities.
Sixth: Approved a draft decree specifying the details of the application of the provisions of the law / 50 / 9/7/2017 related to the establishment of the Governorate of Kesrouan Al Ftouh - Jbeil.
Finally - approval of the Supreme Defense Council’s request to facilitate the entry of medical shipments belonging to “Doctors Without Borders” organization in Lebanon to respond promptly to Covid-19 and exempt them from customs duties.
Q&A
Minister Abdel Samad answered the journalists’s questions.
Q- What did the security services file include regarding the financial auditing companies, and the issue of the link with Israel?
A- The decision of the security services in this regard was essential for the approval of the ministers, in terms of the absence of the offices for these companies in Israel on the one hand, and in Lebanon also to prevent conflicts of interest. Also, the experiences of these companies have been adopted in relation to their conduct of Forensic Audit in a number of Arab countries and their efficiency. On these basis, the most suitable company was chosen among the companies.
Q- When will these companies start operating and when will we see a positive response ?
A- A week was been given to prepare the contract, to be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval, after which the period of time that the companies work will cover may take between three to six months.
Q- With regard to accounting control companies, two companies that dealt with the Central Bank of Lebanon were previously chosen, so what addition was provide today?
A- KPMG and Oliver Wyman will perform the audit, and they have no relationship with the Central Bank of Lebanon, which deals with Deloitte and E&Y. KPMG will receive the financial component, while Wyman will take over the Management activity, and will audit some financial matters and verify the points in the contract.
Q- Forensic scrutiny is essential. what period will it included?
A- This matter requires clarification of the contract, but there was a wish that the period would include financial engineering from 2016 and earlier, and therefore it is assumed that it will include the least years in which the Central Bank of Lebanon maintains its accounts and books.
Q- Would there be a company to deal with Scanners?
A- Yes, and the consensus in the government is based on the non-approval of agreements by mutual consent, so this will be done through a public tender while respecting the terms of the tenders.
Q- It was said that the white paper on which the Shiite duo voted for financial auditing and companies is related to the background of their possible dealings with Israel. Were there alternatives on the table or not?
A- With regard to government work, the white paper is abstention or support for voting. As for the offers, the Minister of Finance has offered about six companies, which are set in the form of a table that includes several data, including the presence of an office in Israel or in Lebanon. On these basis, all companies that do not meet the criteria were excluded, and those that were important in the field of forensic audit were selected and had high experience. Prices were also negotiated to be appropriate, and after a second presentation was made in this context, and in light of the previous data, it was chosen by the ministers who voted for these companies.
Q- Will the audit include other institutions such as the EDL?
A- Yes, it is necessary that forensic scrutiny includes not only the Central Bank of Lebanon, but all public and governmental institutions that constitute a large financial waste, but today this issue has been brought up only, but the audit will be presented on other institutions and will be brought to the discussion table.--Presidency Press Office

Berri receives Court of Audit's report on 1997 public spending figures, meets 'Loyalty to Resistance' bloc delegation
NNA/July 21/2020
Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, on Tuesday received at his Ain El Tineh residence the Head of the Court of Audit, Judge Mohammed Badran, accompanied by Head of the Court's Chamber Judge Nelly Abi Younes, who presented him with a report drafted by the Court of Audit tackle public spending budget figures for the year 1997. Accordingly, Berri requested the Parliament's General Secretariat to print and distribute the report to lawmakers. On the other hand, Berri met with a delegation of the "Loyalty to Resistance" bloc, chaired by its Head MP Mohammed Raad.  The delegation comprised MPs Hassan Fadlallah, Amine Sherry, Ali Ammar, Ibrahim Moussawi, and Hussein Hajj Hassan.  On emerging, MP Raad said that they discussed with the Speaker an array of parliamentary affairs and project laws prepared by the bloc to address the repercussions and burdens inflicted on citizens as a result of the country's simmering economic crisis, especially that we are approaching the new academic season. MP Raad added that they held a tour d'horizon with the Speaker over the current political situation, saying he has sensed that the Speaker did not seem pessimistic, hoping that solutions would reached to alleviate the burdens on citizens, preserve depositors' money, and restore the economic cycle's activity. On the other hand, MP Raad emphasized that unity in Lebanon provides the basis for confronting the Israeli expansionist projects in Lebanon and the region, stressing "we rely on establishing a general national unity through which we can surpass the economic difficulties and preserve our national soverieignty." On the Patriarch's proposal pertaining to Lebanon's neutrality, Raad said they had a look at this proposal and are following up on the reactions. This afternoon, Berri met with the European Union Ambassador to Lebanon, Ralph Tarraf, with talks reportedly touching on the general situation in Lebanon and the broad region. Berri also contacted the family of the late martyre Dr. Loai Ismail, who has met his fate after contracting the coronavirus during his performance of his humanitarian duty.

Lebanese Forces delegation visits National Liberal Party headquarters in Sodeco
NNA/July 21/2020
A delegation of the "Lebanese Forces", dispatched by "Lebanese Forces" party leader, Dr. Samir Geagea, visited on Tuesday the National Liberal Party headquarters in Sodeco, where they met with Party Head, former MP Dori Chamoun, and senior party officials. The delegation comprised MPs Imad Wakim and Majed Eddy Abi Lamaa, as well as former Minister Melhem Riachy. On emerging, Riachy said they touched on the bilateral relations between the two parties, stressing the importance of strengthening the friendship ties and political and national relationship between the two sides. Riachy added that they also dwelt on the hour issue namely Lebanon's neutrality, stressing that neutrality is not a project directed against anyone but rather a project to ensure Lebanon's rise. Riachy expressed the LF's support for efficient, active and strong neutrality. Chamoun, in turn, said that talks touched on daily livelihood conditions, stressing the need for joining hands for the sake of rescuing the country from the current difficult situation. Chamoun also voiced support to the call by Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi regarding Lebanon's neutrality "since we all want a sovereign, free and independent country."

Strong Lebanon bloc welcomes forensic audit
NNA/July 21/2020
The "Strong Lebanon" parliamentary bloc held its periodic meeting this Tuesday, under the chairmanship of MP Gebran Bassil, whereby conferees welcomed the decision of the Council of Ministers "to contract with a company to carry out forensic financial audit of the accounts of the Central Bank of Lebanon."In a statement after the meeting, the bloc considered this forensic audit "a step in the right direction, to define losses and responsibilities, which is a prerequisite for achieving reform and building upon it the relationship with the International Monetary Fund, international institutions and the concerned countries."The bloc was informed by Bassil of his visit to Al-Diman and his talks with Patriarch Rahi on the neutrality proposal that the latter had made, calling for an "approach of neutrality in accordance with the formula of internal consensus around it and external approval of it, in a way that secures to neutrality the elements of success and the conditions for its proper adoption and application."Conferees cautioned against "the delay in negotiating with the IMF, because this may lead to Lebanon losing this option, and thus to significant losses," pointing at the ill intentions of some who might have "an interest in aborting this option and reducing the value of their own losses through inflation and the deterioration of the value of the lira."The bloc stressed the need to approve the law of "disclosing accounts and properties for all those performing a public service, because of its importance in combating corruption and achieving transparency," wishing MPs would speed up such an approval, "as this law would determine who dares uphold it for the sake of reform, and who will try to evade it."

Hezbollah terrorist killed in alleged Israeli airstrikes in Syria
Jerusalem Post/July 21/2020
Five Iranian and pro-Iranian militants were killed in the strikes as well, according to initial reports.
The Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist movement announced on Tuesday that Ali Kamel Mohsen Jawad, a member of Hezbollah, was killed in alleged Israeli airstrikes in Damascus on Monday night. Israel is concerned about a possible response from Hezbollah, according to KAN news. Five pro-Iranian militants were killed and four others were wounded in the strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). While the identities of most of the dead are unknown, it is known that they were not of Syrian nationality, according to SOHR. A military source told Syria’s state news agency SANA on Monday night that seven Syrian soldiers were injured in the strikes. According to SOHR, the soldiers are from the Syrian Air Force’s Air Defense Force and two of the soldiers are in serious condition. Syrian air defense systems were activated on Monday evening after Israeli aircraft launched missiles towards sites south of Damascus from over the Majdal Shams area of the Golan Heights, according to SANA. Syrian air defenses responded to Israeli missiles in As-Suwayda, Izraa and Quneitra in southern Syria as well, according to SOHR. According to Al-Arabiya, Israeli helicopters took part in some of the strikes on Monday evening, and Syrian air defense systems were targeted. Syrian military defectors said the strike targeted a major Iranian-run ammunition depot in Jabal al Mane near the town of Kiswa, where Iranian Revolutionary Guards have long been entrenched in a rugged area almost 15 km. south of the center of Damascus. Other strikes hit Muqaylabiya and Zakiya towns near Kiswa where Lebanese pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia are deployed with other pro-Tehran militias in strength, according to two senior army defectors. “The Israelis have targeted a major ammunition depot. There were several strikes and the blasts were huge. There are reports that Iranian personnel have been killed,” said Zaid al Reys, a Syrian analyst in touch with sources on the ground. Shortly after the strikes on Monday evening, Israel closed the airspace above the Golan Heights east of the Jordan River until the end of July. The strikes come after a relative lull in alleged Israeli strikes in Syria in the past month. The last airstrike blamed on Israel in Syria was reported in the Deir Ezzor area of eastern Syrian on Saturday, June 27, when nine pro-Iranian militia members were killed in al-Bukamal. Over the past several months, Israel has been accused of dozens of strikes. In June, a series of airstrikes were reported on almost a weekly basis.

*Reuters contributed to this report.

Raad Visits Ain el-Tineh, Says Berri is 'Not Pessimistic'
Naharnet/July 21/2020
The head of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, held talks Tuesday in Ain el-Tineh with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Raad said Berri “is not pessimistic” about the situations. “The reasons behind the crisis are known on the domestic level, and there are reasons related to a siege that is imposed on Lebanon by known foreign sides that support the Israeli schemes,” the Hizbullah lawmaker added.
“Our unity is the basis for confronting these schemes,” he went on to say.

Lebanon Govt. Agrees on Alvarez & Marsal to Audit Central Bank
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
Lebanon’s government agreed Tuesday to hire a New York-based company to conduct a forensic audit of the country´s central bank accounts to determine how massive amounts of money were spent in the nation plagued by corruption. President Michel Aoun’s office said the government chose Alvarez & Marsal for the forensic audit. Two other companies, KPMG and Oliver Wyman, will be contracted to do traditional accounting audits of central bank accounts. Lebanon’s economic crisis, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement, deepened after nationwide protests against the political class erupted in October. Banks have imposed informal capital controls, limiting the withdrawal of dollars, and the cash-strapped government defaulted on its sovereign debt in March for the first time. The coronavirus lockdown that lasted three months threw tens of thousands of people into poverty and unemployment. The move to name Alvarez & Marsal came after weeks of delays after other companies were not accepted because of alleged links to Israel, with whom Lebanon is at war. The government had asked Lebanon’s General Security Directorate to look into several companies, and Alvarez & Marsal was among those cleared.
The government had been calling for a forensic audit into the central bank's accounts since March following the country’s first ever default on paying back its massive debt.
"This is a cornerstone on which reform can be built on," Prime Minister Hassan Diab was quoted as saying during a cabinet meeting. "This will be a historic decision for Lebanon and will mark a radical change to reveal overspending and theft."The announcement comes as talks between the government and the International Monetary Fund have failed to make progress since they started in mid-May. Two leading members of the Lebanese government team in talks with the IMF resigned in recent weeks over politicians' attempts to downplay losses at the central bank. Aoun has been a strong supporter of a forensic audit but Lebanese media have reported that other politicians were opposed to such a move that could reveal parties that have been benefiting from corruption. The IMF said in April that Lebanon’s economy is expected to shrink 12% in 2020. On Monday, a Lebanese judge ordered some of the assets of central bank Governor Riad Salameh be frozen. The decision, which is symbolic, came after a lawsuit filed by five lawyers who belong to an activist group known as "the people want to fix the regime." The lawyers accused Salameh, who has held the post since 1993, of negligence and inciting people to withdraw their money from bank accounts and selling state bonds. Since October, Lebanon’s currency has lost more than 80% of its value, leading many to blame Salameh for the crash. Protests outside the central bank are not uncommon in Beirut’s commercial district of Hamra.

Maronite Patriarchate Preparing National Dialogue on Lebanon’s Neutrality
Beirut – Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
A call by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai to declare Lebanon’s neutrality and distance the country from regional and international conflicts remains at the center of political talks, despite many differences over it.
While the Patriarchate is preparing a document to be the basis for a national dialogue on neutrality, sources close to President Michel Aoun said that Rai’s proposal was “not a priority,” noting that the current efforts should be focused on addressing the economic and financial crisis. Following a meeting with a delegation from Kataeb party on Monday, Rai said: “Our entry into alliances has caused us total isolation and neutrality alone is the source of stability.”He continued: “The system of neutrality is the translation of the words mentioned in the preamble of the Constitution, which says: Lebanon is a final homeland for all its people.”“This is our history and this is our culture and civilization. This is how we have lived for 40 years. Lebanon adopts neutrality and commits to public causes, peace, human rights and the culture of dialogue and civilizations,” the patriarch emphasized.
With Rai’s repeated stances on the issue of neutrality since early July, the Patriarchate sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that it was working on a document to serve as a basis for an expanded national dialogue. Asked about Hezbollah’s position, the sources noted the presence of indirect communication with the party, adding that the latter did not express its position to the patriarch over the matter. Rai is expected to conduct a visit to the Vatican in the coming days. The sources said that Lebanon’s neutrality would be raised during his talks with Holy See officials, as well as with other countries, which have long supported the country’s dissociation from regional conflicts, including France. On the other hand, sources close to the Lebanese presidency stressed that working on this proposal was “not a priority” at the present time. “The people’s social concerns and the economic and financial crisis that Lebanon is going through remain the most important,” the sources underlined. “We do not know what the patriarch has, but according to the information, there is no roadmap, but descriptions of the issue of neutrality in the absence of any mechanism,” they remarked.
Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora saw that Rai “has put his finger on a fundamental problem that is almost the main problem in Lebanon.”He stressed that Hezbollah was tightening its grip on the Lebanese state, which is causing repercussions on the political, economic, living and security levels.
 

Lebanon: Medicine Going Out of Stock, Smuggling Fears Mounting
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
A number of Lebanese have complained of the exhaustion of certain medicines, including medications for chronic diseases. This caused panic and fear, especially in a country where the interruption or loss of any basic commodity or service such as bread, diesel, and electricity has become natural and possible at any moment. The head of the Pharmacists Syndicate, Ghassan al-Amin said that Lebanon was not heading towards a drug crisis. “The availability of medicines is linked to continuous subsidies,” he affirmed. Amin explained that some drugs were sometimes unavailable for 10-15 days, because of the mechanism adopted by the Lebanese Central Bank in opening credit lines for importers. Another reason that contributed to the recent exhaustion of drugs is because “some citizens are stocking medicine in their homes. This has “significantly increased drug consumption and contributed to its depletion from pharmacies,” according to Amin. Smuggling is another contributor, the head of the Syndicate said, expressing his fears that this phenomenon would worsen with the deterioration of the value of the local currency against the USD in the parallel market. Responding to fears over the rise of prices, Amin stressed that all medicines were subsidized, noting that prices would not rise but they might decrease. The increase in prices was only seen in nutritional supplements and some products that are sold in pharmacies and are not classified as medicines, he noted. Amin revealed that there are around 200 pharmacies that have recently closed and expected the number to reach 1,000 out of 3,000 within a year, because most pharmacy owners were unable to sustain further losses.

Lebanon’s Security Chief: My Arab Tour Was Aimed at Finding Common Economic Space
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
The head of the Lebanese General Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, said that his tour to a number of Arab countries last week “was not aimed at seeking aid, but to find a common economic space in a way that secures commercial exchange or a common economic interest.”Speaking following a visit to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Ibrahim said: “Hariri, whether in the government or the opposition, is keen on Lebanon and its stability and prosperity.”His remarks came in response to Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s claims that some Lebanese parties were persuading Arab States not to send aid to Lebanon. Many saw the premier’s statement as a hint to Hariri. “The relations between Prime Minister Diab and Arab countries are not broken. There are certainly contacts taking place between them; the prime minister expressed surprise at this matter and said that he hinted at no one in his speech and certainly not at Hariri,” Abbas emphasized. On the outcome of his Arab tour, Abbas said: “I have previously noted that I did not ask for aid, but rather requested to find a common economic space between us and the countries that I visited, in a way that secures commercial exchange or interests... and, God willing, we will reach a result.”

Lebanon's Turmoil Fuels Brain Drain
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
A pioneering academic at Lebanon’s most distinguished university, Charlotte Karam has enjoyed professional success that has made her decision to leave the country all the more heart-wrenching. An associate professor at the American University of Beirut (AUB), she has founded a center to facilitate career success for women across the Arab world and with her team helped draft legislation against sexual harassment in Lebanon, the first of its kind. But like many of Lebanon’s brightest people, Karam is on her way out of the country as it sinks ever deeper into crisis, part of a brain drain that points to crushed hopes and fear for the future. “Leaving Lebanon is leaving a part of me. It’s a huge conflict,” said Karam, 45, a mother of two with a PhD in Applied Social Psychology. “Every fiber in my body is telling me I have to stay to continue my work from Lebanon, but my fear is for the kids and their future,” said Karam, who was born in Canada to Lebanese parents. In August, she will move back to Canada with her family, a decision shaped by the turmoil that has swept Lebanon since its financial system collapsed last year, shattering lives nationwide. The crisis is widely seen as the biggest threat to Lebanon’s stability since the 1975-90 civil war. Professionals including doctors, academics, entrepreneurs, and designers are planning to leave. Some have already gone. In many cases, they are drawing on second nationalities acquired by parents or grandparents who left Lebanon in emigration waves of the past. The brain drain is stripping Lebanon of the kind of talent needed to bring about recovery. It is a testament to the failure of Lebanese politicians to chart a path out of a crisis of their own making, and signals widely shared concern for the stability of a country that never fully recovered from its last war. “Every time I sit with Lebanese colleagues, children of the civil war, they tell me to leave. ‘No-one should have to live the way we lived’. They are encouraging me to leave while they are stuck here. It’s heart-breaking,” Karam said. She is moving to Ottawa, joining her brother who left Lebanon in 2015 as its slowing economy forced the sale of a once successful construction equipment business he ran with her husband. She will continue her work for AUB from Canada.
Bubble of hope
Karam’s family have moved between Canada and Lebanon since the beginning of the last century. Her grandfather moved there from Lebanon in the 1950s, helped by an aunt who was the first to emigrate to Canada decades earlier. Her parents brought the family to Lebanon in 1993. “Lebanon was entering into high spirits and hope of rebuilding,” she said. “There were people who were returning, from North America, Australia, England, the Gulf, it was beautiful.”“It was really a wonderful time.”Lebanon has since endured numerous crises, including war with Israel, assassinations and political conflicts. Yet the current crisis is seen as the most dangerous of all. The Lebanese pound has sunk by around 80%. Poverty, unemployment and prices are soaring, and depositors have lost access to their life savings. The crisis, rooted in decades of corruption and bad governance, came to a head last October as the country was swept by protests demanding the reform of the sectarian system. Karam took part and with colleagues drew up plans for the kind of competence-based governance many in Lebanon dream of. “There was a big bubble of hope then the economic collapse, coupled with COVID-19 burst it,” she said. “I blame the government and every single politician. We are done with the entrenched political class ... It is shameful that they could allow the country to spiral so badly out of control.”

Lebanon Central Bank to undergo audit, Salame faces assets freeze
The Arab Weekly/July 21/2020
Once regarded a pillar of banking stability, Riad Salame has become a focus of anger for street protesters.
BEIRUT – A Lebanese judge on Monday ordered a protective freeze on some assets held by Central Bank Governor Riad Salame after ruling in favour of a complaint that he allegedly undermined the financial standing of the state, the national news agency reported. Salame, who has headed Lebanon’s central bank since 1993, said he had no comment on the case. One day after the judge’s ruling, government sources said Lebanon’s cabinet agreed to hire turnaround specialist Alvarez & Marsal for a forensic audit of the central bank. The audit “will represent a drastic transformation on the path to uncovering what happened at the financial level in terms of waste and theft,” Prime Minister Hassan Diab told the cabinet earlier. The complaint against Salame was brought by a group of lawyers including Hassan Bazzi, who said in front of the court of justice to reporters on Monday that the ruling by judge Faisal Makki was for “all the oppressed, the poor, and (bank) depositors.”It was not immediately clear if the ruling, which covers assets including property, would be implemented. Rights campaigners have questioned the independence of the judiciary in the country, which is plagued by deep sectarian and political divisions.
An acute financial and banking crisis is widely viewed as the biggest threat to Lebanon’s stability since the 1975-90 civil war. The Lebanese pound has lost around 80% of its value since October and some savers have been shut out of their bank accounts.
Once regarded as a pillar of banking stability, Salame has become a focus of anger for street protesters since the financial system collapsed under the weight of one of the world’s biggest public debt burdens.
Critics say his policies led the banking system into crisis while Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who took office in January with support from Iran-backed Shia group Hezbollah and its allies, has blamed Salame for the collapse of the pound.
Lebanese anti-government protesters hold a mask of Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor Riad Salame during a protest in front of the central bank headquarters in Salame has said that while the central bank had financed the government, it was not responsible for spending the funds or failing to enact agreed reforms.He said in April he was being targeted in a “systematic campaign.”Last week a memo by the Central Bank showed a committee was set up to restructure financially stricken commercial banks and study their performance.
The panel, according to the memo, will also propose measures to preserve the soundness of the banking sector, the memo said. Lebanese banks are poised for a major shake-out after the country plunged into a financial crisis last October that has ballooned prices, slashed jobs and brought on capital controls that have frozen people out of their dollar savings. A government rescue plan that has served as the cornerstone of talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help Lebanon out of its financial crisis maps out massive losses in the financial system.
The talks with the IMF have been bogged down by a dispute between the government and the Central Bank over the scale of the losses and how they should be shared. Debt-saddled Lebanon has around 40 banks serving a population of around 6 million.
The sector has swelled to four times the size of the economy thanks to decades of taking in billions of dollars every year from Lebanon’s widely scattered diaspora to help fund the government.

How Lebanon’s fate is linked to US-Iran showdown
Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/July 21/2020
Lebanon’s economy is in freefall and the chances of the government of Hassan Diab being able to strike a last-minute deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure billions of dollars in a rescue package are slim at best. Last week, Minister of Economy and Trade Raoul Nehme admitted that the economic crisis had turned Lebanon into a failed state. The lira has lost almost 80 percent of its value against the dollar since nationwide protests first erupted last October.
But at the core of the economic crisis — which has led to hyperinflation, a spike in unemployment and poverty rates, the collapse of basic public services and an acute shortage of foreign currency — is a political impasse that has been decades in the making. Lebanon’s once-vibrant ethnic and sectarian diversity is now its curse. A political power-sharing deal, primarily between Maronites, Sunnis and Shiites, which goes back as far as the 1940s, has polarized the country, allowing one group, the Hezbollah militia, to dominate the political arena.
Lebanon’s weakening institutions have allowed for the spread of corruption and abuse of power by its political elite. This has been going on for decades. At the heart of the financial debacle is Lebanon’s central bank, which has been involved in what can only be described as a Ponzi scheme to lure billions of dollars in local and foreign deposits with ludicrously high interest rates. That money was then lent to the government at low rates. The fate of billions of dollars handed to successive governments remains unknown. Last year, that proverbial house of cards suddenly collapsed.
But regional and foreign governments are not dashing to help Lebanon. The dominance of Hezbollah over Lebanese politics has isolated the country. Hezbollah’s leaders admit that they are an organic ideological extension of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Their financial and military dependence on Tehran has come at an exorbitant cost. An unholy alliance between President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), headed by his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, and Hezbollah has forced the country to abandon its previous policy of self-distancing from regional conflicts.
Under the rising political and military influence of Hezbollah, Lebanon has found itself immersed in the bloody Syrian civil war. Hezbollah’s foreign activities now also include Iraq and Yemen. By doing so, Hezbollah has polarized the Lebanese, who in the past had backed the group’s efforts to confront and repulse Israeli aggression. Now, Hezbollah’s agenda, as spelled out by its leader Hassan Nasrallah, is one and the same as that of Tehran’s extremists.
With the imminent economic collapse and the reality of the political hegemony of Hezbollah over the Cabinet and the presidency, the prospects of the IMF handing the government a lifeline seem remote. While the IMF, the US and France demand genuine economic reforms, the reality is that Hezbollah is Lebanon’s biggest problem. The country’s very survival is at stake as the showdown between the US and Iran intensifies. While calls for genuine dialogue among the ruling elite are sounded every now and then, the reality is that Lebanon’s oligarchs have little concern in reaching a compromise that would damage their own personal interests. The recent protests have brought members of all sects together because inflation, poverty and unemployment have spared no one and have crossed sectarian divides.
In the midst of this uncertainty comes the call by Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi for Lebanon to be neutral, except in its conflict with the “Israeli enemy.” This call is important and should resonate across the country. It is directed at the Hezbollah-FPM alliance, whose relationship can only be described as symbiotic. It was not surprising that Hezbollah rebuffed the call, while Bassil did not embrace it completely. Hezbollah’s agenda, as spelled out by its leader Hassan Nasrallah, is one and the same as that of Tehran’s extremists.
The sad reality is that Hezbollah, which has emerged as the key player on the Lebanese stage, has its own priorities that are anchored to a foreign ideological base. It is in no mood to amend the election law, which allows it to control the legislature, nor is it willing to respond to calls to put its arsenal under the army’s control, the latter being the only remaining neutral institution.
Moreover, it continues to defy the state by overseeing the smuggling of oil products to war-torn Syria while Lebanon is witnessing an endemic energy crisis. In short, Hezbollah has taken Lebanon hostage.
Lebanon’s future looks grim and its economic woes are turning into a grave humanitarian crisis affecting the majority of its citizens. The failure to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease only adds to the country’s plight. This state of paralysis will continue, as the political elite pins its hopes on an external bailout that could save the day; but this wait could be in vain. The price for a bailout is hefty and Hezbollah knows that very well. Its fate, as well as that of Lebanon, is firmly linked to the outcome of the US-Iran faceoff.
*Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman. Twitter: @plato010

Qatar's Hezbollah funding exposed by whistle-blower contractor
Damien McElroy/The National/July 20/2020
Consultant claims he was involved in months of negotiations with Qatar over hundreds of thousands of euros to suppress devastating dossier
A whistle-blower has claimed that he earned tens of thousands of euros from Qatar for hiding a dossier that documented the country's support for Hezbollah. German press have reported that the security consultant was offered a total payment of €750,000 (Dh3.1 million) to suppress the information he had gathered about Qatar's illicit support for terrorism. The man, identified only as Jason, said he spent several months in negotiations in 2019 with a Qatari emissary in Europe.A German business executive who was reported to have witnessed some of the meetings said information had been passed to the Qataris that provided "transparency" in the "fight against certain critical, anti-Israeli networks". Six meetings took place between the consultant and the Qataris before the talks broke down. Jason reportedly believed that he could receive a payment of €10m from Qatar to buy the evidence he had compiled. He said the information offered Qatar an opportunity to purge "shady people in their own ranks", including a top-ranked general in Doha. In a familiar pattern tracked to Qatar's funding for the Muslim Brotherhood, the money to Hezbollah was funnelled through the country's charity sector. Outfits like Qatar Charity have bankrolled a variety of groups politically active throughout Europe.
As a political and military entity, Hezbollah has been proscribed around Europe with Germany and Britain becoming the latest countries to add the group to their banned list. Under an outline deal considered by both the consultant and the Qatari representative, the man would have taken monthly payments to maintain a line of communication with the Qatari general, by whom he was also being paid, to build up more information on his activities.
Jason also reportedly had first-hand information on arms deals by Qatar with Eastern European armament factories that would have caused the country further embarrassment. "[Jason] came across some embarrassing information while based in Doha," he said. "There was an alleged arms deal with war material from Eastern Europe that was supposed to be handled by a company in Qatar. And there were alleged money flows from several rich Qataris to exiled Lebanese people that involved money flows from Doha to Hezbollah." In the first half of 2019 the leak of the dossier in the German press would have been highly embarrassing for Qatar as it pressed forward with its construction programme for hosting the 2022 World Cup. With Hezbollah on official terror lists in the US and Europe, the country's diplomatic standing would have been compromised, according to Jason's account of his conversations with the Qatari envoys.
Qatar spends tens of millions of euros in Europe to support institutes and organisations that have drawn concerns over the risk of radicalisation. Doha maintains friendly ties with Hezbollah's patron Iran, which in turn has suffered a blow after European security agencies exposed Tehran's intelligence network run by its embassies in Germany, Belgium and France.

Without neutrality, Lebanon has no future
Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/July 21/2020
Hassan Diab should resign, because tendering his resignation would be the only service he could offer Lebanon.
With a Hezbollah government headed by Hassan Diab, and a president who owes his presence in Baabda Palace to Hezbollah, it is only natural that Lebanon finds itself neck-deep in its current crisis.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s problem is quite simple, really. He thinks he’s smart and that he can fool the Lebanese people by saying things like his government is “not a Hezbollah government.” If this weren’t the case, would he have called for a national dialogue about Lebanon’s “neutrality” immediately after meeting with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai?
Anyone calling for a national dialogue on neutrality in Lebanon must really be ignorant of the obvious fact that Lebanon was founded on the idea of “​neutrality” and joined the League of Arab States insisting on its “neutrality”; in other words it refused to take sides with any axes vying for supremacy at that time. Certainly, Lebanon is not neutral when it comes to Israel and is in this matter simply committed to the Arab consensus. That is why it boycotted Egypt when the latter had signed a peace treaty with Israel, because most Arab states had done so. As soon as Arab states accepted Egypt back into the Arab League, Lebanon did the same.
This happened when people willing to gamble with Lebanon and the Lebanese came along and effectively confined the military conflict with Israel in the post-1967-war era to a front called southern Lebanon. For a long time, Palestinians exploited this front, then it was soon exploited in 1982 and onwards by the Syrian regime, with understandings with Iran. And here we are now, having reached the stage where all of Lebanon is under Iranian tutelage.
It has happened in stages, starting in 2005 when the Syrian army was forced to withdraw from Lebanon. Iran’s control of Lebanon culminated in reaching a specific balance of forces inside Lebanon. Under this new balance of powers, and thanks to the constant threat of its weapons, Hezbollah is the one and only party that decides who the Christian president should be and who the Sunni prime minister should be.
This view goes a long way in explaining Diab’s statements after meeting with the Maronite patriarch in the latter’s summer residence at Diman. Diab said that will not resign because there is no alternative to him. Yes, no one can replace him because Hezbollah does not want him to resign. So, talking about any other side issue is really a waste of time. Everyone in Lebanon and outside Lebanon knows this simple reality, including Hezbollah itself. But only Diab seems oblivious to it even though he is the one closest to it.
If Diab were independent and had the freedom to decide, he would have asked why Hezbollah's intervention in Syria does not require a national dialogue. Can any sane official in Lebanon not see the cost of Hezbollah's participation in a war waged by a minority regime against its own people for over nine years now? Are we to believe that any official with the least level of logical thinking cannot see that Hezbollah has become an extremely divisive issue in Lebanon and that there is complete consensus about the illegitimacy of the group's weapons? These weapons are in the end but an expression of the desire of certain regional parties to keep Lebanon governed by the mini-state established by Iran in Lebanon.
Some humility is required on the part of Diab and President Michel Aoun. In their case, it means that they have to seriously consider the recommendations made by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in his message to Aoun, which was conveyed by Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Yasser Alawi. Sisi was responding to Aoun’s letter of May 2020. According to some sources, President Sisi made three recommendations: Lebanon must first undertake reforms, then it must resort to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and finally it must steer clear of tensions in the region.
In other words, Lebanon must defend its interests instead of sinking deeper and deeper in the tensions in the region and the world. These are tensions and conflicts that Lebanon can never impact, except of course through the military role that Hezbollah can play as an Iranian tool in Syria and elsewhere, for example.
In short, Lebanon should stay away from anything that might close all of its possible exits from its current difficult economic crisis.
It is unfortunate that Diab, whose government did not take any step of any kind, neither in the context of making the needed reforms nor in the context of pulling the country out of its economic crisis, prefers to cover up his political impotence by commenting the words of the Maronite patriarch about “neutrality." If there should be any criticism directed at al-Rai, it would be for coming out late with raising the issue of “neutrality." Al-Rai also raised another extremely important issues: “dismantling the siege” of “legitimacy” in Lebanon, i.e. Hezbollah's siege of the state institutions. What is certain now is that al-Rai is not like Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, who decided early not to engage in any controversy about Lebanon’s constants.
Without neutrality, Lebanon, which currently finds itself lost at sea, has no future. Without neutrality, no one will come to Lebanon’s aid. In its current political conditions, Lebanon can forget about Arab countries and about America. It can forget about Europe, which is going through its own economic tough times. It can also forget about China for obvious reasons. Even though China has significant economic ties with Iran, there are no incentives for Chinese companies to invest in Lebanon. Why should they invest in a broke country shunned by Arab and international visitors? Perhaps one day Chinese investments may start flowing but it would be at a premium price. This is quite known about the Chinese.
Diab should resign, because tendering his resignation would be the only service he could offer Lebanon. It is coming anyways if he really believes that his government is not Hezbollah’s and that all this talk about it being “Hezbollah’s government” sounds like a “broken record,” to use his own terms. Only his resignation can provide decisive proof that he is really independent as he claims to be and that his government is not Hezbollah’s. But above all, his resignation would mean that the Lebanese must actually shoulder their responsibilities and find ways of ensuring their “neutrality” before anything else.

With hunger swelling, Lebanon turns to community farming
Abby Sewell/Al Arabiya English/Tuesday 21 July 2020
With Lebanon’s food security increasingly in jeopardy, community farming initiatives have proliferated in recent months.
Proponents are hopeful that the push to support small-scale and community agriculture projects – from rooftop gardens in Beirut to planting abandoned rural land – can help to secure much of the food supply that has been lost due to the dire state of Lebanon’s agriculture sector and the increasing expense of importing goods as Lebanon’s currency has rapidly devaluated.
Others remain skeptical of the effectiveness of the community farming boom, saying that a coordinated government response to support the existing farmers is needed to avert disaster and that the small-scale farming initiatives will not be enough to offset the contraction in the existing agriculture sector and to fill country’s food security needs.
From an official exchange rate of about 1,500 Lebanese lira to the dollar, the street rate has risen to about 8,000, and prices of many goods have doubled or tripled while wages have stagnated, leading to rising poverty and hunger in the country.
Faced by a shortage of dollars and a lack of access to credit that resulted in difficulties importing the needed supplies and equipment to plant, many farmers substantially reduced their crops during last fall’s planting season, compared to previous years. By some estimates, the value of this year’s yield could be upwards of 60 percent less than the year before.
Meanwhile, in recent months, calls to sow seeds have grown, coming from parties across the political spectrum, as well as from civil society and cultural figures, like director Nadine Labaki, who produced a catchy music video shared widely on social media encouraging Lebanese people to plant food crops, whether on their land or at home.
One of the new projects the Ardi Ardak (“My Land is Your Land”) initiative by the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit (ESDU) at the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences (FAFS) at American University of Beirut, in partnership with the Lebanese League for Women in Business, the Food Heritage Foundation and the community center Zico House, offers technical support and help in accessing markets to those who want to farm small plot of land, with a focus on pesticide-free farming practices and permaculture methods.
Ardi Ardak coordinator Nicolas Gholam said the project has received 126 requests to date from people with abandoned lands that they want to plant, totaling more than 600 dunams (600,000 square meters).
“A lot of people have abandoned their lands in order to come to Beirut and work in Beirut, and since now there is a lot of unemployment in Beirut, everyone is looking into coming back to their lands,” he said. “And we are helping them do so on the technical level and on the market access level in order for them to sustain themselves and create a proper livelihood.”
Farming initiatives not enough to meet demand
As to whether the swell of small farming initiatives will be enough to fill the country’s food security needs, Gholam acknowledged, “I guess that it will not be enough, but it will be good enough to ease the load on the balance of payments that we have.”
While the government is in process of assembling a committee for rural development, Gholam said to date there has been no state support for the project.
“The government is not doing anything, so we don’t rely on it,” he said. “We try as much as we can to do things without having the government involved, because it will slow us down instead of helping us.”
Other projects are smaller in scale, launched by groups of volunteers without any funding. Earlier this month, about a dozen volunteers from one such initiative, with scythes in hand, gathered on a tranquil plateau in the mountains of the Metn to cut down handfuls of tawny wheat while trying to avoid the thorny shrubs that had sprouted between the stalks.
It was the first time most of the volunteers, who are part of a community agriculture initiative called Kon, had taken part in such a harvest.
Kon founder Souad Abdallah described the initiative – which has also planted rooftop gardens in Beirut based on permaculture techniques aimed at creating sustainable and self-sufficient agriculture systems – as a “social solidarity movement around agriculture.”The project sprang out of last October’s mass protest movement, and its original purpose was to find paths to societal change apart from “the reactive way we were working in the streets,” Abdallah said.
“It’s the sustainable way of work and the collaboration together, it’s the social resilience and social support by working together in difficult times,” she said.
When the group planted the wheat field in late December, they did not expect that Lebanon would face such a severe food supply crisis in the near future, she said.
But Moustapha Yammout, the owner of Zico House, who is part of the Ardi Ardak initiative and also volunteered in both the Kon planting and the harvest, told Al Arabiya English, said that even in December “there were signs that there might be a crisis coming, and we knew that we need to start depending on ourselves and we need to get experience in this matter.” Around the same time, importers had begun to sound the alarm that unless they could secure the dollars needed to pay for imports, shortages would occur.
In January, the Center for Research and Lebanese Agricultural Studies (Centre de Recherche et d'Etudes Agricole Libanais, or CREAL), a research center tracking the agriculture industry in Lebanon, predicted that the total value of Lebanese agriculture production will fall by 38 percent this year compared to 2018. Now, with the economic and currency crisis having accelerated over the past six months, the center’s president, Riad Fouad Saade, predicted that the decrease could be 60 to 70 percent.
Famine by 2021 Saade told Al Arabiya English that unless the government acts quickly to assess the country’s food needs and support farmers in securing the required supplies for the next planting season, the country is facing “famine in 2021.”
“We will not have enough food for the population,” he said. The trend toward small home farming efforts might make a “rapprochement between man and nature” and “secure minor quantities for self-consumption” for the people planting, Saade said, but “I don’t believe that it will be of any noticeable help to the food security.”“I’m sorry to tell you that we are in a dire situation at all levels of the agro food value chain,” he said. “…At that stage of disintegration, only the state can intervene and impose solutions to the crisis, because only the state has the power to manage and control the whole value chain.”
Yammout acknowledged that the community farming efforts may or may not produce the desired results. “We’ll see what quantities come out of all Lebanon to see how much this thing is productive or not,” and where the problems lie, he said. “For instance, (someone might find that) I’m planting on my roof and there’s basically not enough water to shower with.” At the same time, Yammout said there are few alternatives. “We don’t have a solution as a nation,” he said. “We have this nature and this land and if we want to stay on it, we need to know how to use it, as the poor people do, as our grandparents did.”

Abandoned Lebanon: Artist shines light on bizarre plan for aquarium with dolphins
Maghie Ghali/Al Arabiya English/Tuesday 21 July 2020
About 40 kilometers north of Beirut lies the coastal city of Batroun, a derelict concrete structure has stood abandoned for 50 years.
A forgotten fragment of Lebanon’s golden age from before the civil war, the bizarre, brutalist-style building is a familiar sight to beach-goers, though few know it was once to be an aquarium and the main attraction of the Maritime Culture Center.
Designed by architect Nicolas Yazigi, who passed away in 2004, little is left on record about the complex due to his studio burning down, along with most of the blueprints and plans. The only surviving record proving Yazigi’s hand in the design was found by his son Serge Yazigi in his father’s papers at Al Arabiya English’s request.
The sectional drawing of the Aquarium shows that the open air top floor was intended to be a dolphinarium and not, as many had assumed, a restaurant.
In an attempt to revive the structure, Lebanese artist Jad El Khoury’s latest installation “Manchafet el Baher” (Beach Towels) has taken over the aquarium by hanging up 124 vibrant beach towels, left to flutter in the sea breeze. As the country faces what is considered the worst economic crisis in its history, the installation is one of many local cultural initiatives that hope to offer a little joy to the desperate and downtrodden populace.
“I always saw the building when I visited Batroun, and it’s such a strange-looking structure that it’s hard to miss, with super interesting architecture,” Khoury told Al Arabiya English. “I didn’t give it much thought but after working on abandoned buildings for the last four years, which represent Lebanon’s golden age in the 1960s and how we used to have vision and innovation, the aquarium seemed like the perfect candidate for the series.”
The aquarium intervention follows on from similar projects by Khoury, including the iconic Holiday Inn hotel, Downtown Beirut’s ‘Egg’ cinema and the also unfinished Burj el-Murr tower, which was intended to be the Beirut Trader Center and act as business hub. His project on the skyscraper won him two residencies and Venice’s 2019 Arte Laguna Prize for Urban and Land Art.
The beach towels are made of the very same fabric used in his previous installations, repurposed to fit the narrative of each site and transform the buildings from bitter memories of war to pleasant nostalgia.
“The wind reanimated the buildings and gave them new life. With every new place I changed the look of the fabric to depending on the collective memory of the place,” Khoury said. “This time, in Batroun, they’re mimicking beach towels, so they’re relevant to their surroundings.
“One architectural treasure [inside the aquarium] is that there is a ramp that you can’t see from the outside,” he added. “Inside the hidden ramp goes all the way to the top, like a seashell. Even though people are not technically allowed to enter the structure because it’s not safe and crumbling, I wanted to draw attention to the ramp feature, by hanging the towels along it, spiraling upwards, showing the progression.”
The Maritime Cultural Center began construction in 1968 but was left unfinished due to political disagreements, followed by the onset of the 1975 to 1990 civil war. Alongside the aquarium, the compound was also supposed to include labs, an educational center, a fish farming center, housing and administrative blocks and a domed planetarium.
“The concept was created during a time when modernist architecture was evolving and being experimented this, as a language for sending a message and promoting architecture as something that would enhance the lives of people,” Yazigi told Al Arabiya English.
Modernist architecture refers to the stylistic movement that began in the early 1900s and gained real traction between the 1950s and 1980s. Defined by the use of glass, steel and reinforced concrete with a design that favored minimalism, this became a common form of architecture in Lebanon during that period and can be seen in hotels and government buildings across the country.
The most renowned example is Oscar Niemeyer’s Rashid Karami International Fair in Tripoli, which similarly lies incomplete since the civil war.
The maritime complex’s purpose was to aid the fishermen of the Lebanese coast, Yazigi said, and to create a place that provided scientific tools that would enhance the quality of fishing industry.
“The aquarium was to feature fish tanks that showed the marine life that lived in the Mediterranean at varying depths, changing and getting shallower as you went up the structure,” he added. “At the beginning of the ‘90s the Agriculture Ministry commissioned the renovation of the project but all they did was add two floors to the educational center and left it alone after that.”
In the early 1990s, post-war reconstruction was in full-swing, with a slew of initiatives in the capital that Beirut hastily undertook, as the country tried to get back on its feet. Unfortunately, this often came at the cost of losing the stunning Ottoman or French-mandate era heritage houses which, abandoned by their owners during the war and often damaged, were easier and cheaper to demolish.
Since the reconstruction period, many projects have been started, only to be left unfinished due to funds going missing or being repurposed for another project – including the demolition of heritage buildings or public spaces to be turned into something flashier, only to be left as an unusable eyesore. The Hassan Khaled public garden of in Beirut’s Tallet el-Khayat district, which was dug up in 2019 to become a parking lot and now sits as a dirt field, is a recent example.
Lebanon’s heritage disappearing
An initial census conducted in the ‘90s counted 1,600 traditional homes and buildings in greater Beirut. By 2015, NGO Save Beirut Heritage estimated only around 300 remained, with 250 slated for demolition. The NGO reviewed the permits alongside the Culture Ministry and stopped the destruction of 150 buildings. Since then, many more heritage buildings have been demolished and without an up-to-date census, the true numbers are a mystery.
“The government is hiding behind the law, which is very old and hasn’t been updated since 1933, when the French occupied Lebanon,” Save Beirut Heritage acting president Joana Hammour told Al Arabiya English. “What was considered heritage in the 1930s was the building up until the 18th century and everything after that time period, the government doesn’t have to consider heritage or protected.
“The early 20th century [modernist] architecture is such a part of the identity and history of the city, people and country, but the spirit of the law is not taken into account,” she added. “Sometimes they would try to protect the building by not giving a demolition permit, but the owner goes and appeals and then the law has to be applied to the letter so anything past 18th century is open game.”
Though there have been a few attempts in the past decade to amend the law or approve new legislation to protect newer heritage, looking for ways to make it more attractive for private owners to renovate rather than demolish, nothing has gone further than draft law status.
In 2017, the Lebanese government discussed demolishing the aquarium, believing it unsalvageable, yet it still stands.
“If people want to keep the aquarium then the public needs to voice that. Using the space is very important in the salvation of it,”
Hammour said. “I don’t like to use the word ‘saving’ when we’ve only stopped the demolition because we haven’t saved it, just stalled it. Turning a space into something useable, hopefully publically accessible, is when you really save a structure.”
Nearly past saving
Despite being sealed off, many adventurers have snuck into the aquarium to explore, braving the crumbling ceilings as the structure continues to deteriorate. It’s possible that if left much longer the aquarium will truly be unsalvageable.
“The problem is, because it’s on the seafront with the salty air with no protection or maintenance, the metal in the concrete has corroded,” Yazigi said, “so maybe it can’t be restored easily and will need a structural assessment to see if it can be preserved and saved.”
Yazigi believes the complex could have united the whole fishing industry of the Mediterranean and encouraged Lebanese fishermen, which is now an ever-dwindling profession in Lebanon.
As the economic crisis continues, compounded by the pandemic lockdown that has only just begun to lift, Lebanon has pinned its hope on tourism bringing in fresh dollars to the country. Although cultural attractions are a major draw for visitors, many golden age gems stand forgotten, with little attention from the government due to a lack of funds.
Any that have been fixed up are usually due to foreign governments or NGOs supplying funds and expertise, such as last year’s conservation of six columns of the Roman ruins found in Baalbek, overseen by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, which represent some of the world’s largest Roman ruins. Khoury has little confidence in a government-planned preservation project for the aquarium starting up, but hopes his intervention will still give put the decrepit structure back in the limelight and spark enough curiosity that passersby might wish to learn about the mysterious structure.
“It could be salvaged but I don’t think it’s a priority for the government to fix right now,” Khoury said. “It’s entirely possible, with the corruption in the country, that if ever there was any money put aside to fix it, it’s now missing and long gone.
“A lot of people have been asking where it is or have seen it and don’t know what it is,” he added. “I’m pleased I’ve managed to draw attention to this place and for people to want to visit it and to discover that we had this vision in the ‘60s to have a Maritime Cultural Center, which even till today doesn’t exist, not in such a vast project.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 21-22/2020
Israeli missile strike kills five Iran-backed fighters in Syria: Monitor
AFP/Wednesday 22 July 2020
Five Iran-backed fighters were killed in an Israeli missile strike south of the Syrian capital, a Britain-based war monitor said on Tuesday. The missile attack on Monday night hit weapons depots and military positions belonging to Syrian regime forces and Iran-backed militia fighters south of Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The attack wounded at least seven Syrian troops, according to the official SANA news agency, which said the missiles were launched by warplanes over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The pro-regime Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah said one of its fighters was among the dead. The five killed were all non-Syrian paramilitary fighters, according to the Observatory. It added that 11 combatants were wounded in total – four non-Syrian fighters and seven Syrian troops, of which two were in critical condition. A military spokesman in Israel told AFP that its army “does not comment on foreign reports.”Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the country’s civil war in 2011. It has targeted government troops, allied Iranian forces and fighters from Hezbollah, saying its goal is to end Tehran’s military presence in Syria. It rarely confirms details of its operations in Syria but says Iran’s presence in support of the regime is a threat and that Israel will keep up strikes. The nine-year-old conflict in Syria has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced more than half of the country’s pre-war population.

After a lull in alleged Israel strikes in Syria, the heat has returned
Jerusalem Post/July 21/2020
Widespread strikes on Monday come a week after Damascus and Iran sign air defense deal and two weeks after the explosion at Natanz
A month after Israel was last said to have struck Iranian targets in Syria, a fresh wave of airstrikes attributed to the Jewish state hit numerous targets within the war-torn country.
The strikes came in two waves and struck targets around the capital, Damascus, including a major Iranian ammunition depot and more, reportedly killing both Syrian regime forces and Iranian personnel as well as one Hezbollah operative.
It came a week and a half after Tehran and Damascus signed an agreement that would see the Islamic Republic upgrade Syria’s air defenses and two weeks after a large blast at the Natanz enrichment site caused significant damage that is estimated to have set Iran’s nuclear program back by at least a year.
The blast at Natanz was just one of over a dozen mysterious explosions and fires targeting Iran’s missile and nuclear program which have rocked Iran in recent weeks.
While Iran has not pinned the blame on Israel, it has apparently attempted a number of cyberattacks against Israel – similar to an attack on the country’s water infrastructure facilities in April. They were all thwarted.
Though cyberattacks against water facilities may be just as deadly, could Iran have been planning something in Syria that led the IAF to allegedly carry out those strikes on Monday night?
Last weekend Lt.-Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of the US Central Command, told The Washington Post that Iran might act against Israel following the recent explosions and fires.
“Iran blames Israel, and at some point, my experience with Iran tells me they will respond,” he said.
In a recent phone call with journalists, he explained that following the killing of IRGC Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, “we are in a period of what I would call contested deterrence,” where Iran is “calculating how they can achieve that goal [of regional hegemony] without crossing a red line of ours.”
In the call, McKenzie warned that following the death of Soleimani, “it’s been harder for them to come to decisions and harder for them to decide on a clear path forward.”
But Syria sits right in the middle of that plan for regional hegemony that Iran is trying to cement across the Middle East, and Israel is just as intent on preventing that plan, if not more, than the US.
Israel has warned repeatedly about Iran’s nuclear ambitions as well as aspirations of regional hegemony, and has admitted to hundreds of airstrikes as part of its “war-between-wars” (known in Hebrew as MABAM) campaign to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and the entrenchment of its forces in Syria where they could easily act against Israel.
According to foreign reports, those strikes have intensified in recent months. But it’s been a month of relative quiet in the war-torn country to Israel’s north. Instead, the heat went east.
But following Monday night, it seems that the focus will once again turn to Syria. And with a new deal signed between Iran and Syria to upgrade the country’s air defenses, which are mostly Russian, it is likely that we will see another increase in strikes attributed to Israel.
While McKenzie said that the new deal would likely cause no change to the game, Israel will not allow for such weapons to be transferred to Syria, as they could potentially be used against Israeli jets.
“Iran is using Syria for its own reasons and its own purposes, and the Assad regime should be smart enough to see that,” he said. “But I don’t know that anything qualitative will change as a result of the agreement... So we’ll watch for actual actions rather than just comments and discussions.”
But Israel won’t wait until Iran transfers those weapons. It won’t allow for the Islamic Republic to make any moves that threaten the Jewish state.

Iran will never forget the US killing of slain general Qassem Soleimani: Khamenei
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday 21 July 2020
Iran will never forget the US killing of its top general Qassem Soleimani, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday, vowing to retaliate against the US. Khamenei met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi who arrived in Tehran on Tuesday and met with President Hassan Rouhani earlier in the day. Iran will never forget the US killing of Soleimani and “will definitely strike a retaliatory blow to the Americans,” Khamenei said during the meeting with al-Kadhimi. This was Khamenei’s first meeting with a foreign official in five months. The 81-year-old supreme leader has been in strict self-isolation following the coronavirus outbreak in Iran. Iran is heavily involved in Iraq through dozens of Shia militias that it arms and funds in the country. These militias are seen as a source of destabilization and instability in Iraq. Soleimani, who headed the Quds Force, the overseas arms of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was killed in a US airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport on January 3. Iran retaliated days later by launching a ballistic missile strike against military bases in Iraq hosting US troops. Hours later, the IRGC shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane over Tehran that it said it mistook for a cruise missile after days of denying responsibility. The US does not want an independent and strong  Iran has never had and will never interfere in Iraq’s internal affairs, Khamenei said, adding that Iran opposes anything that weakens the Iraqi government.
“Of course, the expansion of Iran-Iraq relations has opponents led by America, but in no way should we be afraid of America because it cannot do anything,” Khamenei said.

Iran looks to buy Russian weapons to 'enhance defense capacities'
Yaghoub Fazeli & Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday 21 July 2020
Tehran is looking to buy Russian weapons to “enhance its defense capacities,” Iran’s ambassador to Moscow has been quoted as saying, amid US efforts to extend an arms embargo on Iran expiring later this year.Iran will hold talks with Russia to determine its military needs, Iranian Ambassador Kasem Jalali was quoted as saying by Russia’s TASS news agency, Monday. “The Russian government and the Russian people have always been by our side in times of trouble. Russia is our priority partner in this sense,” Jalali said. Jalali’s remarks come as the US increases its diplomatic efforts to extend the UN Security Council arms embargo on Iran, which expires on October 18. Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was in Russia Tuesday where he met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Zarif said he delivered an “important message” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, without elaborating.
The US argues that a failure to extend the arms embargo on Tehran would further destabilize the Middle East. Senior Iranian officials have warned against the extension of the embargo on numerous occasions in recent weeks, saying it would have severe consequences for Washington and its allies. Iran is counting on China and Russia to block the extension of the arms embargo at the UN Security Council. Moscow and Beijing have signaled that they oppose the extension.

South Korea summons Iranian ambassador after 'inappropriate' comments
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday 21 July 2020
South Korea summoned the Iranian ambassador Tuesday after Tehran threatened to sue Seoul over the freezing of Iranian assets in the country due to US sanctions. Seoul’s Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador, Saeed Badamchi Shabestari, and voiced its regrets over “inappropriate” remarks by an Iranian official, The Korea Times reported. Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said over the weekend that Iran might file a complaint against South Korea to the International Court of Justice if Seoul does not release Iran’s frozen assets. Mousavi accused South Korea of having a “master-servant” relationship with the US. South Korean Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kim In-chul was quoted in The Korea Times as saying that the Iranian ambassador “called for understanding” and stressed that Mousavi’s remarks were “not the official position of the Iranian government.” According to The Korea Times, Iran has funds worth up to $7 billion that have been frozen in South Korea since September 2019 when Washington’s sanctions waiver for South Korea’s imports of Iranian oil expired. In June, Hossein Tanhayi, head of the Iran-South Korea chamber of commerce, reportedly said that between $6.5 billion and $9 billion belonging to Iran was blocked in South Korean banks. Iran’s economy has been hit hard since 2018 when US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on the country. Prior to the reimposition of US sanctions on Tehran by Trump, South Korea’s annual imports from Iran were worth $8 billion. That figure went down to $5 million only in the first half of 2020.

Turkey’s Short-term Debt Jumps to USD169.5 Billion
Ankara- Saeed Abdulrazek/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has revealed that short-term debt hiked around USD5 billion within a year in May compared to April, and reached a total of USD169.5 billion. The public sector represented 23.2 percent of debts while the private sector represented 65.4 percent. Further, the CBRT debts represented 11.4 percent. According to the Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance, foreign debt totaled USD431 billion in March, representing 56.9 percent of the GDP in March compared to the same period last year. Moreover, foreign debt reached USD256.5 billion i.e. 33.8 percent of the GDP.The CBRT data showed an increase in the deficit during the first quarter of the current year to USD12.9 billion. It is expected to reach USD30 billion by the end of this year. According to experts, Turkey will need USD195 billion of foreign funding. At the end of Feb., Turkish foreign debt totaled TRY1.4 trillion (USD225.8 billion), and the government relied on borrowing through issuing public bonds to back the Turkish lira against hard currencies. Notably, the Turkish lira has been devaluating since August of 2018. Further, official reserves of the CBRT dropped in May by 1.3 percent on an annual basis, declining from USD95.6 billion at the end of May 2019. Also, the bank announced that its official reserves of the foreign currency reached USD90.9 billion at the end of May. Reserves reached their peak at USD136 billion, including USD21 billion of gold reserves in December of 2013. Concerns about the absence of an economic decision in Turkey and the lack of independence at the central bank led to increased losses in Turkey and distanced foreign investors from the country.

Germany Calls on Turkey to Stop Mediterranean Drilling
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
Turkey must stop drilling for natural resources in waters in the eastern Mediterranean if there is to be progress in EU-Turkey ties, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Tuesday. Last week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey would start seismic research and drilling operations in contested waters that are covered by an agreement between Ankara and Libya’s internationally recognized government. Maas said Turkey's provocations in the Mediterranean influence its ties with the EU. “Regarding Turkey’s drilling in the eastern Mediterranean, we have a very clear position - international law must be respected so progress in EU-Turkey relations is only possible if Ankara stops provocations in the eastern Mediterranean,” Maas said during a visit to Athens.

Iraqi PM arrives in Tehran in first trip abroad

AFP/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
TEHRAN: Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhemi arrived in Tehran on Tuesday in his first visit abroad since taking power, Iranian state television reported.
Kadhemi, who was greeted by officials at Mehrabad airport, is expected to meet President Hassan Rouhani and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, among other senior officials. His delegation includes Iraq’s ministers of foreign affairs, finance, health and planning, as well as his national security adviser, the broadcaster said. The Iraqi premier had been scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia as his first trip abroad, then quickly follow it up with a trip to Tehran in a carefully calibrated balancing act between the two regional rivals. However the Saudi leg of his trip was postponed after King Salman was hospitalized on Monday. Baghdad has often found itself caught in the tug-of-war between Riyadh, Tehran and even Washington, which Kadhemi is also set to visit within the next few weeks. Kadhemi rose to the premiership in May after serving as the head of Iraq’s National Intelligence Service for nearly four years.
He formed close ties to Tehran, Washington and Riyadh during that time, prompting speculation he could serve as a rare mediator among the capitals. The prime minister’s trip to Tehran comes after receiving Iran’s top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif in Baghdad on Sunday.

Turkey Accused of Turning Blind Eye to ISIS Suicide Attack
Ankara - Saeed Abdul Razzak/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
As Turkey marked the fifth anniversary of the Suruc suicide bombing that left 33 people dead and 100 wounded, the Justice for Suruc Platform, a group of lawyers and legal institutions involved in the case, accused government officials of having prior knowledge of the plot but turning a blind eye. ISIS bombed a group of youth activists, the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF), in the southern Turkish province of Sanlıurfa, bordering Syria. The suicide bomber, Abdurrahman Alagoz, was later discovered to be a wanted terror suspect, along with his brother Yunus Emre, the perpetrator of the deadly Ankara bombing that killed 109 people a few months later in October 2015, the report said. Despite authorities’ efforts to search people in the vicinity, Alagoz managed to roam freely in Suruc on the day of the attack, according to the report, which cited footage as evidence. Moreover, after the attack, police forces prevented ambulances from arriving on the scene of the incident. Requests by Justice for Suruc Platform to expand the scope of the investigation, open it to public control, and include victims in the process have all been denied, and an application submitted to Turkey’s Constitutional Court regarding alleged violations in the case was rejected. Five hours had been cut from the video footage of the day of the Suruc attack – footage that was only brought in as evidence for the investigation three-and-a-half years later, the report said. “It is evident that footage following the massacre was intentionally not included in the case file,” the report states, as it shows “how the transfer of the wounded to hospitals was prevented by law-enforcement authorities, pepper spray was used on the crowds and perhaps more." “It is very evident that the state overlooked a massacre by not taking precautions in Suruc,’’ the report added. “There is not just an oversight, but ill intent and this is not a claim, as it is a truth that has been substantiated by documents."

Iraq Accuses Turkey of Seeking to Form ‘Security Belt’ on Northern Border
Baghdad / Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
The Fatah coalition, the second largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament, warned on Monday against Turkey’s plans to establish a security belt within Iraqi territories in the Kurdistan region. Head of the alliance, Hadi al-Ameri said in a statement: “We are following with deep concern the largescale Turkish invasion of northern Iraq.”He expressed his rejection of the attack, saying it is not justified and has no legal basis. He warned that the invasion differs that previous ones, noting that Turkish forces have gone as deep as 25 kilometers into Iraqi territories. “This is dangerous as it appears that the Turks are seeking to impose a new status quo and to form a security belt similar to the one in northern Syria,” Ameri added. “We warn against such a plan and urge the Turkish government to immediately withdraw from Iraqi territory,” he continued. “Such hostile acts go against the interests of both countries, which share historic, religious and fraternal ties, as well as developed economic relations.” Moreover, Ameri called on the Iraqi government to speak out against the violations and take all the necessary diplomatic and political measures to put a stop to such repeated attacks. He urged it to address the issue at the Arab League, Organization of Islamic Cooperation and international arenas. “All national Iraqi forces must take a united stand to preserve Iraqi sovereignty,” he declared. Fatah MP Dr. Naim al-Abboudi slammed Turkey’s “flagrant violation of Iraq’s territories.” In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said: “We must not stand idly by against Turkey’s actions.” “All Iraqi politicians and national forces must unite their ranks in order to confront the Turkish infiltration,” he demanded. “The Iraqi government must assume its responsibilities given the massive popular opposition to Turkey’s infiltration.” Ankara had last month launch military operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, in response to what it said was an increase in militant attacks on Turkish army bases along the border between the countries. Turkey regularly attacks PKK militants, both in its mainly Kurdish southeast and in northern Iraq, where the group is based. It has also warned in recent years of a potential ground offensive against PKK bases in Iraq’s Qandil mountains. north Iraq
Turkey’s recent incursions in Iraq have drawn widespread condemnation in the Arab world.
 

Syrians Fear Turkey Might Hand Over Control of Bab al-Hawa to Russia
Ankara - Saeed Abdul Razzak/ Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
Syrian residents in Idlib fear Ankara will yield to Moscow's pressure and hand over the control of Bab al-Hawa border crossing to Russians after it has become the only crossing for humanitarian aid through Turkey. It was reported that Russia is planning to control the crossing which is 20 kilometers far from the Syrian regime forces at the Damascus-Lattakia international road (M5). Observers believe that Russia did not use its veto right in the UN Security Council during the vote on choosing Bab al-Hawa for aid passage because it plans to impose control over the crossing.
There are fears that Turkey will comply with the Russian plan to get rid of Moscow's pressure, given Ankara's lack of control over militants in Idlib under the agreements signed with Moscow. Also, it might accept putting the crossing under the control of Russia and the regime to prevent the threat of military escalation. Observers warn that Turkey's acceptance of Russia's control of the crossing will soon lead to the regime's full control over Idlib by forcing its residents to surrender. For his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that it was important to maintain the mechanism of delivering aid to the Syrians, even if it is reduced to one border crossing. Meanwhile, the administration of Bab al-Hawa crossing announced the resumption of transit movement to and from Turkey, after a week of suspension. It requested travelers to strictly adhere to the precautionary measures to limit the spread of the new coronavirus. Earlier, the administration announced that it would close the crossing on July 14 for travelers and patients, after a COVID-19 case was recorded in northwestern Syria. Turkish security sources announced that 599 Syrian citizens have returned from Turkey to the safe areas in their country during the past two weeks. Anadolu reported that the Syrians returned through the Gilo Gozo crossing in Turkey’s southern province of Hatay. They entered Syria through Bab al-Hawa crossing, noting that they went to the safe areas in Idlib, and villages of the Afrin region in Aleppo governorate. Earlier in July, Turkish security sources announced that the number of Syrians returning to their country through the Gilo Gozo crossing reached 4,300 people during the first half of the year.

Washington Denounces 'Rigged' Syrian Elections
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
The US State Department on Monday condemned legislative elections held in Syria the night before as "rigged" and accused the government of seeking to falsely legitimize itself. The elections were Syria's third since the start in 2011 of a conflict that has since killed 380,000 people and displaced millions of others, while the government president Bashar Assad and its supporters are subject to Western sanctions. "Bashar Assad is seeking to present this dubious election as a success against alleged Western plotting, but in reality it is simply another in a long line of Assad's stage-managed, unfree votes in which the Syrian people have no real choice," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. In the statement, Ortagus said that Syria has had no "free and fair" elections since Assad's Baath party came to power 50 years ago. She also noted that the millions of Syrians living abroad, most of whom are refugees, were not allowed to vote. According to a UN Security Council resolution, Ortagus said, Syria's elections are required to be "'free and fair,' 'under the supervision of the United Nations,' and 'with all Syrians,' including those in the diaspora, eligible to participate.”
"Until the Assad regime and its government allow and adhere to these conditions the international community will view these rigged elections for what they are: another attempt by the regime to confer false legitimacy on itself and to avoid implementing the political process that UN Security Council Resolution 2254 requires," she concluded.

Israeli Defense Minister Freezes Sanctions against Palestinian Banks
Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz delayed the implementation of a military decree that would sanction banks in the West Bank for dispensing stipends to Palestinian prisoners and households. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Gantz signed earlier this week an extension of freezing the implementation of the order.The newspaper reported that the families of those killed in Palestinian operations are exerting pressure on the Israeli army to implement the law against terrorism, which was passed in the West Bank in 2016. The families of the killed Israelis said: “It’s illogical and immoral that Israel is helping the Palestinian Authority (PA) pay blood money as salaries to terrorists.”Former Israeli military prosecutor in the occupied West Bank, attorney Maurice Hirsch commented on Gantz's decision, saying that it is a "flagrant mistake" and that it "encouraged the PA to back terrorism".
He stated that instead of freezing fees, Gantz should have ordered the Defense Ministry to carry out effective steps and seize the “terrorism funds”. Former Defense Minister Naftali Bennett signed in February a decree that allows the confiscation of Palestinian prisoners’ properties and funds, which are paid through Palestinian banks. The banks yielded to Israeli threats and implemented the order, sparking a deep Palestinian dispute. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh later announced that an agreement had been reached with the banks to halt any operations regarding the accounts of Palestinian prisoners. He also rejected the Israeli threats to banks.

Shoukry in Ramallah to Advance Political Path
Ramallah - Kifah Zaboun/- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry conveyed a message of support to the Palestinians against the Israeli annexation plan during a rare visit he payed to Ramallah where he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas received the Egyptian minister, who was coming from Amman, at the presidential headquarters and briefed him on the latest developments in the Palestinian issue and the ongoing political and diplomatic efforts to mobilize international support and to prevent Israel from implementing the annexation plans.
Well-informed Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the “revival of the political process under the auspices of the Quartet, and according to the Arab Peace Initiative reference, was at the table of talks between the president and his guest.”
The sources added that the President has informed Shoukry of his readiness to return to the talks, in accordance with international legitimacy, “and asked Egypt to use all its possible influence in order to deter Israel from the annexation plan, and to help launch a new negotiation process.”
Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Maliki highly valued the Egyptian efforts, saying that Shoukry has confirmed his country’s willingness to do everything possible in the face of the annexation plan.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister, for his part, stressed that Cairo was seeking to “find the appropriate framework, in accordance with international legitimacy decisions, the Arab peace initiative and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, to resume the political track and to revive negotiations that will lead to the establishment of a two-state solution.”Shoukry added that he visited Ramallah to convey a message of support to Abbas, emphasizing the permanent Egyptian commitment to defend the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Xi Affirms to Abbas China's Support of Quartet’s Efforts
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
Chinese President Xi Jinping told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday that his country deems it important to revive the stalled peace process based on the UN resolutions and the two-state solution. This came in a phone call during which the Chinese president also affirmed willingness to play a constructive role in this regard, including in supporting the Quartet’s efforts. Xi emphasized that the Palestine question, which has always been at the core issue of the Middle East issue, concerns regional peace and stability, international fairness and justice, as well as human conscience and credibility, saying that China's position on the Palestine question is consistent and clear. He said that his country supports the two-state solution and sticks to dialogue and negotiations on an equal footing. “The international community should take an objective and fair position and build up efforts for promoting peace on the creation of the Palestinian state,” the Chinese President reaffirmed. He expressed China’s support to the establishment of the independent and sovereign State of Palestine based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and stressed his country’s rejection of Israel’s endeavors to annex large swaths of the occupied West Bank and of any unilateral measures that undermine the prospects of peace and stability. Xi also discussed Abbas’ initiative to convene an international peace conference based on relevant UN resolutions to end the Israeli occupation and establish the independent Palestinian state, and reiterated his country’s support for this initiative. Meanwhile, Abbas thanked China for helping Palestine fight the novel coronavirus pandemic and offering economic and political support to the Palestinian people. He underscored Palestine’s eagerness to reinforce bilateral historic relations with China, and praised its positions in support of peace making based on the UN resolutions and rejection of unilateral moves in violation of UN resolutions, particularly Israel’s annexation move.

Sudan's Bashir on Trial for Leading 1989 Coup
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir went on trial Tuesday over the military coup that brought him to power more in 1989. Bashir, 76, could face the death penalty if convicted. 16 other defendants will stand trial including Bashir's former vice presidents Ali Osman Taha and Bakri Hassan Saleh and several of his former ministers and governors. They are accused of having plotted the June 30, 1989 coup in which the army arrested Sudan's political leaders, suspended parliament, closed the airport and announced the putsch on the radio, AFP reported. Bashir stayed in power for 30 years before being overthrown on April 11 last year after several months of unprecedented, youth-led street demonstrations. Khartoum hopes to soon be taken off the US State Department's list of countries that sponsor terrorism, a significant hurdle to receiving foreign aid and investment.

Algeria Criticizes Encouragement of Tribes to Carry Arms in Libya
Algiers/ Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune criticized on Sunday “dangerous attempts” to encourage Libyan tribes to carry arms. Such efforts may transform “a fraternal country into a new Somalia”, he said in an implicit reference to Egypt’s moves on the ground in Libya. In televised remarks, he revealed that Algiers and Tunis were drafting an initiative on the Libyan crisis. He did not elaborate, but stressed that Algeria was “in constant contact with all parties of the crisis, whether inside Libya or abroad.” Dialogue remains the only way to resolve the conflict, Tebboune added. Moreover, he criticized how several countries were undermining the recommendations of January’s Berlin conference on Libya, citing how weapons were still being delivered to the country. He did not specify which parties were sending arms. He said Algeria cannot be involved in any initiative to resolve the crisis without first referring to its neighbors. It must also take into consideration the interests of the Libyan people, who supported Algeria during the 1954-62 revolution. “We must stand by the Libyan people,” he declared, stressing that Algeria “was the only country that did not have material interests in Libya. Our only concern is its unity.”
“All Libyan parties, even the tribes, want Algeria to play a role in resolving the crisis and we are up to the task,” he stated. Meanwhile, an Algerian government source revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that authorities turned down “at the very last minute” a visit by Libya’s east-based parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh to Algiers that was due on July 18. It said that developments on the ground “prompted us to postpone the visit”. It did not elaborate.

Washington Revives 'Renaissance Dam' Mediation
Cairo, Khartoum - Mohammed Abdo Hassanein, Ahmad Youness/ Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 21 July, 2020
On the eve of an African Union virtual meeting to deliberate on the progress made in the resolution of a dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi informed US President Donald Trump on the latest developments in this regard, a statement by the Egyptian spokesperson said. According to the US State Department, Trump reiterated the US commitment to facilitate a "fair and equitable" deal among Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan on the GERD. Meanwhile, the African Union initiated its final attempt to resolve the dispute between Cairo and Addis Ababa concerning the dam. Tuesday’s virtual meeting of the AU Bureau of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government will be chaired by AU Chairperson Cyril Ramaphosa, also serving as the President of South Africa.
“The meeting will take place within the context of the AU’s efforts to strengthen the negotiations and to infuse new momentum towards the resolution of all the outstanding legal and technical matters, including (but not limited to) the issue of the future development on the Blue Nile upstream as well as the future dispute resolution mechanism,” the South African president said. Sudanese sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Ethiopia already began filling the dam unilaterally. “This is a move that Egypt and Sudan reject,” the sources said. Experts told Asharq Al-Awsat that Addis Ababa might have already retained about 4.9 billion cubic meters of water, an amount that equals the share of water that the three countries agreed to hold back during the first year. Ethiopia’s move came although a timetable for filling the dam is yet to be agreed at deadlocked negotiations. African affairs expert Dr. Hamdi Abdulrahman told Asharq Al-Awsat that he expects Tuesday’s AU meeting to come up with a joint mediatory committee, including observers from the EU and the US.Meanwhile, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said that the European Union was also playing a role to help resolve the dispute. "We are engaged to help solve the tensions between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt on water management of the Nile river," he said in a tweet on his official account. Beyond this case, water will probably become one of the main geopolitical challenges of our century.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 20-21/2020
The Upside of a New Cold War With China
Hal Brands//Bloomberg/July 21/2020
The American founders believed that prolonged rivalry and conflict abroad would eventually degrade the country’s democracy at home. Today, many of the strongest warnings against a “new Cold War” with China have a similar ring.
The New York Times, the Economist and pundits such as Fareed Zakaria have all warned of a “new Red Scare.” The implication is that geopolitical dangers could again cause a narrowing of political expression, a feverish search for internal enemies and a corrosion of the liberties US foreign policy is supposed to defend. That fear is reasonable: The Cold War showed that great democracies are not immune to committing self-harm in the name of security. But the history of that struggle also teaches a more hopeful lesson — that competition can create virtuous pressures for a nation to become a better version of itself.
The thesis that strategic rivalry undermines democracy is deeply rooted in history. During the Peloponnesian War, the strains of a long struggle against Sparta debased the politics of a relatively liberal Athens. At the founding of the American republic, Alexander Hamilton warned that a “state of continual danger” might convince citizens to “run the risk of being less free.” As the Cold War showed, this danger is not imaginary. Red-baiting became a favored electoral strategy. Political opportunists cynically used anti-communism as a weapon in domestic debates over labor rights and other issues. Tying all this together was McCarthyism, which revealed Cold War politics at their worst.
That phenomenon centered on a reckless politician who rocketed to prominence by making outrageous claims about disloyalty and subversion. But it caught fire because it capitalized on a larger popular movement. That movement responded to genuine concerns about communist spies and influence by prosecuting a punitive campaign that ruined lives, trampled on civil liberties and caused many of America’s allies to wonder whether it really believed in the values it claimed to defend.
Fortunately, this is only a very partial history of Cold War America. The fever of McCarthyism broke by the mid-1950s; the country’s institutions proved stronger than the challenge that movement posed to them. On the whole, the superpower rivalry was a force for constructive change.
Precisely because the Cold War was a fierce ideological contest over what type of system could best meet the aspirations of humanity, it created an imperative for America to live up to the image it portrayed to the world. And precisely because the contest required the US to mobilize for a long, drawn-out rivalry, it led the country to invest massively in itself.
Consider the civil rights movement. Major breakthroughs against state-sponsored segregation, political exclusion and racial violence constituted some of America’s most important domestic achievements in the postwar era, and they were intimately related to the Cold War. Yes, segregationists and J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI used anti-communism to assail Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders. But on balance, the Cold War was a force for equality because the reality of race relations in the US was incompatible with America’s efforts to win hearts and minds in the Third World. “The support of desperate populations of battle-ravaged countries must be won for the free way of life,” President Harry Truman declared in 1947. “We can no longer afford the luxury of a leisurely attack upon prejudice and discrimination.”
Radical discrimination, agreed Dwight Eisenhower’s Justice Department in 1954, “furnishes grist for Communist propaganda mills.” Secretary of State John Foster Dulles put it starkly in 1957: Institutionalized discrimination was “ruining our foreign policy.”
And from Truman’s decision to desegregate the armed forces, to federal intervention to bring down school segregation in the 1950s to the passage of landmark civil rights and voting rights legislation in the 1960s, the imperative of defending the American system overseas was a driving force for action to improve that system at home.
Or ask yourself why the US has the world’s premier system of higher education. The Cold War led to unprecedented peacetime support for America’s universities. Especially after the Soviet Union's shocking launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957, the federal government poured money into what we now call the STEM disciplines, which were essential to competing in the missile age. Lesser known yet also vital, the federal government sponsored language training, area-studies programs, social science and other disciplines deemed necessary to exercise influence on a global stage. By 1961, 77 out of 90 academic departments at the University of Wisconsin were involved in programs paid for by federal money. Harvard University, Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other private institutions were becoming some of the world’s best. The Cold War was a golden age for the American university, because it convinced the country’s leaders that the US must be an intellectual superpower to remain a military and economic superpower.
Many other aspects of America’s postwar prosperity owed a great deal to the Cold War. Major infrastructure projects, such as the St. Lawrence Seaway and the interstate highway system, had geopolitical rationales. Federal expenditures on research and development underwrote the advent of semiconductors, the internet and other technologies that would carry the US into the information age. No Cold War, no Silicon Valley. More broadly, Cold War military spending provided semi-permanent stimulus and millions of good jobs for those in the armed forces and the defense industry. The US ultimately won the Cold War because its system proved more attractive than the Soviet system. And one reason the American system proved so attractive is that the Cold War continually pushed the US to invest in its own dynamism.
The negative lesson is to guard against the sort of overreactions that have occurred periodically in American history. Congress notoriously curtailed civil liberties with the Alien and Sedition Acts as war with France loomed in 1798; warrantless federal raids marked the years after the Russian Revolution; and McCarthyism dishonored America during the early Cold War. The US government should, for example, enact prudent protections to prevent China’s People’s Liberation Army from infiltrating spies into US universities. But the idea of barring all Chinese students from graduate study in the scientific and technical disciplines — even though most Chinese doctoral students in sensitive areas such as artificial intelligence subsequently remain in the US, contributing to the American economy — reeks of counterproductive, Cold War-style paranoia.
The positive lesson is not to let a good competition go to waste. The US should use the Chinese challenge as a spur to revamp immigration policies to attract more high-skilled workers, reinvest in basic research and sagging infrastructure, rebuild key components of the country’s industrial and innovation base and confront the pathologies that are pushing its politics toward deepening dysfunction. These are reforms America ought to undertake in any event, and they will be crucial to winning a new contest of systems with China.
These measures should be seen as a simple matter of self-defense. America’s authoritarian adversaries will cynically use disinformation, political meddling and other tools to exploit divisions within democratic societies. They will exploit the shortcomings of the American system to discredit it in the eyes of the world.
The key takeaway from the Cold War is that the best shield against such attacks is to build a stronger, more cohesive society — to confront the challenges that high-stakes competition makes too damaging to ignore.

Don't Hype the Hope for Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid Vaccine
Max Nisen/Noah Smith/Bloomberg/July 21/2020
After months of hype, the world finally has human trial data from a front-running vaccine collaboration between the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc. Spoiler alert, it’s good news.
The data, published in The Lancet Monday, showed that the vaccine produced an encouraging immune response. Just as crucially, perhaps, no significant safety issues emerged. Investors took these developments as a cue to bid up AstraZeneca shares as they did with Moderna Inc.’s stock last week on its positive vaccine news. And there are indeed elements of the Oxford-Astra shot’s profile that may make it especially promising. But it's important to remember that this early stage in the process, every piece of vaccine data is still just part of a thesis that needs confirmation.
The piece of data garnering the most attention is the vaccine's "dual immune responses" — its ability to produce both an antibody and T-cell response in volunteers. There is some evidence that antibodies may decline over time in recovered Covid patients and that T-cells — a type of immune cell that can remember and hunt viruses — may be key to durable protection. This theory is one possible explanation for the lack, so far at least, of many reports of reinfection even as antibodies have declined.
While evidence of a T-cell response is undoubtedly better than the alternative — new data from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE's vaccine collaboration and CanSino Biologics Inc. Monday also produced such data — there are still tremendous gaps in knowledge. It's unclear, for example, what exactly declining antibody levels might mean. Individuals may still be primed to generate new antibodies even after measurable levels fall. On the T-cell side, scientists know little about the longevity and protective abilities of natural responses and even less about what vaccine developers should be measuring. Immune responses measured in the lab don't always correlate to real-world protection, a risk that's especially acute for rapidly developed vaccines against a novel virus.
There isn't enough data to declare one vaccine effort firmly ahead of others. We know too little, and cross-trial comparisons are fraught; different research groups measure different things in different ways. The only answer to these questions will come from big real-world confirmatory trials, something I've said many times and will keep repeating until the data arrives. The same uncertainty holds for safety data. This vaccine and others have been tested in mostly young, healthy, and undiverse groups so far. Safety and efficacy in a broader population, including older adults and people with health issues, will be crucial in determining how useful they are.
With that cautionary note, there is some good news. The shot is already in large-scale trials in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil that could generate more evidence in the next few months even as some rivals are still designing studies. It's not clear exactly when this data will arrive; the trial in the UK is the largest and started in May, late in the country's lockdown as infections were on the decline. Data may be slow to accrue. The trials in Brazil and South Africa don't have that problem, though both smaller efforts started later. It's unclear whether those three groups add up to a data package that will meet approval standards in the US or Europe, which is likely why AstraZeneca plans a further large study in the US starting in August. However, the need is such that the vaccine could see limited early use if the results are very compelling. At the very least, it would provide more secure grounds for optimism and scaling up manufacturing capacity while waiting for more information. It's tempting to leap on every piece of vaccine news as a firm step forward or the clincher for a preferred candidate. At this stage, excesses of both optimism and odds-making can get both investors and policymakers in trouble.

Trump Did Nothing to Help the Economic Boom
Noah Smith/Bloomberg/July 21/2020
The public gives President Donald Trump very low marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and race relations. But as recently as the end of June, the public was still giving him slightly positive marks for his handling of the economy. That edge may now be eroding, but Trump’s numbers on economic policy are still much better than on other important issues. It’s obvious why Trump gets decent ratings on the economy -- before the coronavirus outbreak in March, he had presided over the late stages of the longest economic expansion in postwar US history. But the key phrase here is “presided over,” because Trump didn’t really do much more than that. If anything, those economic policies that he did manage to enact probably did more harm than good.
The expansion that began in 2009 was one for the history books, narrowly outlasting the booms of the 1990s and 1960s. But duration isn’t everything. Much of the reason that recovery lasted so long is that there was such a big shock to recover from. In terms of growth in real gross domestic product per capita, that expansion was actually slower than most. The one place where Trump’s recovery shone was in terms of delivering economic gains to lower wage earners. Wages for the median full-time worker began rising strongly during President Barack Obama’s second term, and the rise continued under Trump. But this likely wasn't a function of anything Trump did; instead, it probably reflected the length of the expansion. Lower-wage workers with less education tend to be the first to get fired in a recession and the last to get hired when the economy recovers, meaning that their income gains tend to come only at the end of long periods of growth. Trump simply came into office at an opportune time. But to what extent should Trump get credit for keeping the expansion going? His diehard supporters will point to Trump’s trade war, which was supposed to result in the reshoring of manufacturing jobs from China and elsewhere. The truth is that it did nothing of the sort. This recovery was unusually weak for factory jobs.
Trump’s tariffs almost certainly made things harder for US manufacturers by raising the price of imported components; steel tariffs, for example, increased costs for US automakers. On top of that, the tariffs hurt consumption; multiple economic studies found that US consumers were forced to pay almost all of the cost of Trump’s import taxes. What about Trump’s tax cuts? The impact of these is harder to gauge. Corporate tax cuts are supposed to fuel growth by stimulating business investment; if there’s no rise in investment, the policy probably isn’t having much of an effect. A 2019 analysis by the International Monetary Fund and a 2019 study by the Congressional Research Service found that investment growth barely accelerated in response to Trump’s 2017 reforms. The longer-term impacts will be harder to gauge amid all the other factors affecting businesses’ investment decisions since then. But the length of the economic expansion probably wasn’t because of the tax cuts. So if Trump’s trade war hurt the economy slightly and his tax cuts had little immediate effect, how could Trump get credit for keeping the expansion going? The only possible way is through human psychology -- what economists call animal spirits. If business people -- who tend to lean Republican -- felt greater confidence from having a Republican in the White House, that might have made them more willing to invest. And indeed, measures of business confidence rose during the first two years of Trump’s presidency, though they began trending down in late 2018.
But even if Trump did give rise to a brief surge of economic optimism in 2017 and 2018, that’s not a trick that can be repeated. Trump’s trade war was already sending business confidence lower, and now his disastrous coronavirus response promises to chill the economy for years to come.
Even this probably is giving Trump too much credit. The likeliest scenario is simply that he inherited a recovery from his predecessor, that this recovery lasted a long time because the economy was digging itself out of an unusually deep hole, and that Trump mildly hurt that recovery through bad trade policy. The private sector continued healing itself, assisted by low interest rates from the Federal Reserve. That many Americans still give him good marks on the economy is an unfortunate result of our tendency to give presidents too much credit for the actions of the others.

Nike, Other Global Brands, Complicit in China Slave Labor
Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone Institute/July 21, 2020
In March, the non-partisan Australian Strategic Policy Institute, in a report titled "Uyghurs for Sale," accused Beijing of forcing more than 80,000 Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities to produce products for Nike and 82 other brands.
The report's accusations against Nike are damning. "A factory in eastern China that manufacturers shoes for U.S. company Nike is equipped with watchtowers, barbed-wire fences, and police guard boxes," it noted.... There, people have been kept against their will in inhumane conditions. This facility, a Nike supplier for more than three decades, produces approximately eight million pairs of shoes each year.
U.S. law provides that products made with forced labor can be seized, but those made in horrific conditions in China and elsewhere routinely are cleared through Customs and end up on the shelves of American retailers.
How can Nike shoes made in a factory surrounded by walls, barbed-wire and watch towers, and where the workers, many from a racial minority, are not allowed to leave, not be made with "forced labor"? Pictured: Nike's flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
"Slave labor."
That is the term U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used on July 16 when speaking about China to television anchor Bill Hemmer on his Fox News show.
The polite phrase is "forced labor." America's top diplomat, however, was dropping the diplomacy and employing America's most powerful weapon: Unvarnished truth.
The unvarnished — and horrific — truth is that the Chinese party-state has institutionalized slavery, ramped it up to industrial scale, and offered slaves to foreign companies. Moreover, compounding its crime, China picks its slaves from racial minority groups inside its borders.
The secretary of state's words came at the same time as the administration criticized the American business community. Attorney General William Barr excoriated U.S. companies in both his late-June interview with Fox Business's Maria Bartiromo and his blistering speech of July 16 at the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum. The administration's fundamental contention is that companies enjoying the protection of the U.S. should uphold U.S. values.
Unfortunately, some U.S. companies do not, instead accepting any Chinese labor practice so long as it results in low wages. Pompeo, in comments on July 10 to Ben Domenech of The Federalist, had two other terms for what was going on in China: "trafficking in persons" and "modern human slavery."
"We hope," the secretary of state said to Domenech, "that businesses that are often talking about the social good that they want to do—whether these are sneaker manufacturers or other companies who are out on the frontlines fighting for social justice—we think they have to take a serious look at the true risk of human rights, and where that's growing from and make sure their supply chains are compliant."
Secretary Pompeo did not in The Federalist interview name malefactors, but there is one sneaker manufacturer that invariably comes to mind when foul labor practices in China are the topic. In March, the non-partisan Australian Strategic Policy Institute, in a report titled "Uyghurs for Sale," accused Beijing of forcing more than 80,000 Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities to produce products for Nike and 82 other brands. Many of the laborers had been transported in "dedicated trains" to locations outside the Uyghur homeland, which Beijing calls the "Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region" or XUAR.
The report's accusations against Nike are damning. "A factory in eastern China that manufacturers shoes for U.S. company Nike is equipped with watchtowers, barbed-wire fences, and police guard boxes," it noted.
That factory, in Laixi in Shandong province, is operated by the South Korean-owned Qingdao Taekwang Shoes Co., which employs about 700 Uyghur workers, many of them women. There, people have been kept against their will in inhumane conditions. This facility, a Nike supplier for more than three decades, produces approximately eight million pairs of shoes each year. It is one of the brand's largest sources of shoes and devotes most of its output to the iconic U.S. company.
The company, in an undated website posting titled "Nike Statement on Xinjiang," has issued across-the-board denials. Nike maintains the Taekwang factory "stopped hiring employees from XUAR to its Qingdao facility and it has confirmed that it no longer has employees from XUAR." Moreover, Nike tells us that Taekwang maintains that all "employees," as it euphemistically called its forced laborers, "had the ability to end or extend their contracts at any time."
A Washington Post investigation in March, however, shows Uyghur and other women were still at that factory and, according to local residents, did not arrive freely. A report from February shows they are not permitted to return home. Nike states that its suppliers are "strictly prohibited from using any type of prison, forced, bonded, or indentured labor," but those suppliers were clearly doing so then.
Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 prohibits the importation into the United States of products made by "forced or indentured labor."
President Obama to his credit in February 2016 signed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 and thereby removed the "consumptive demand" exemption from Section 307. The exemption, which allowed importation of goods produced with forced labor if they were not made "in such quantities in the United States as to meet the consumptive demands of the United States," was almost as large as the rule itself and effectively gutted the forced-labor prohibition. Unfortunately, his administration did not then vigorously enforce the law against, among others, Nike.
American and other brands, before and after the amendment of Section 307, have been adept at avoiding enforcement. In addition to other tactics, they obtain certifications from inspection companies, which conduct "audits" of working conditions at suppliers. The audits of Chinese suppliers are almost always phony. Buyers of goods, when asking for prices of China-made products, can be quoted two prices: one for goods with inspections and the other for goods without. The spread between the two prices, a long-time buyer of Chinese-made products told Gatestone, roughly approximates the cost of bribes for "inspectors."U.S. law provides that products made with forced labor can be seized, but those made in horrific conditions in China and elsewhere routinely are cleared through Customs and end up on the shelves of American retailers.
That official laxity is coming to an end. "There have also been credible reports that the PRC government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghurs and others from Xinjiang to factories across China, including under conditions of forced or involuntary labor," states the "Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory" issued July 1 by the State, Treasury, Commerce, and Homeland Security departments. The statement puts companies on notice that the abuse of Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakh and Kyrgyz people, and other Muslim minorities will no longer be tolerated.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection asks the public for tips about "merchandise produced by forced labor." Those with information can get in contact with any port director or CBP itself. There is a link here where anyone can provide such a lead.
So here is a question for CBP and all those who might want to file a tip: How can Nike shoes made in a factory surrounded by walls, barbed-wire and watch towers, and where the workers, many from a racial minority, are not allowed to leave, not be made with "forced labor"?
"We all need to decide our moral responsibilities as Americans and what we stand for," Jonathan Bass, CEO of Los Angeles-based PTM Images and an onshoring advocate, told Gatestone. "We do not stand for slave labor. We in fact fought a war on our own soil to end it."
*Gordon G. Chang is the author of The Coming Collapse of China, a Gatestone Institute Distinguished Senior Fellow, and member of its Advisory Board.
© 2020 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.

Iran: The Real Bounty Payer for Killing US Troops
Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/July 21, 2020
Some U.S. media and politicians have been expressing their indignation of late over Russia's alleged offers of bounty money to the Taliban for every American soldier it kills in Afghanistan.... These same journalists and political figures, however, never raise a similar accusation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has been offering the Taliban bounty money to kill American servicemen for years.
One of Iran's motivations in extending help to its erstwhile enemy, the Taliban, is probably to foil any U.S. effort to exercise influence in Afghanistan.
Iran also may be hoping to frustrate progress in armistice talks between U.S. and Taliban representatives currently being conducted in Qatar. Iran might wish to maintain its own historical influence in the Afghan provinces adjacent to Iran. Iran seems to have allied itself with those Taliban cells opposed to the talks and has hosted these radical Taliban groups in its eastern provinces bordering Afghanistan.
The real issue here is why the U.S. media, journalists, and politicians remain silent about it.
Iran's bounty program for killing U.S. troops began as early as 2010. In one instance, a report indicated that a Taliban messenger was dispatched from Kabul to Iran to pick up $18,000 to be distributed to Taliban cells in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. Pictured: US soldiers arrives at the site of a car bomb attack that targeted a NATO coalition convoy in Kabul, Afghanistan on September 24, 2017.
Some U.S. media and politicians have been expressing their indignation of late over Russia's alleged offers of bounty money to the Taliban for every American soldier it kills in Afghanistan. This unsubstantiated story is then expanded to include an insinuation that the Trump Administration has failed to take action against Russia.
These same journalists and political figures, however, never raise a similar accusation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has been offering the Taliban bounty money to kill American servicemen for years.
Iran's bounty program for killing U.S. troops began as early as 2010. In one instance, a report indicated that a Taliban messenger was dispatched from Kabul to Iran to pick up $18,000 to be distributed to Taliban cells in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. The U.S. Treasury Department's Terrorist Finance Targeting Center (TFTC) confirmed the relationship between the Taliban and its Iranian sponsors by sanctioning both parties. Money is passed from Iranian companies in Kabul to Taliban agents; Taliban offices in the Iranian cities of Mashhad, Yazd, and Kerman also help facilitate military and intelligence cooperation between Iran and the Taliban.
During the time when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, Shia Iran opposed Kabul's radical Sunni regime. But after Al-Qaeda's Afghanistan-based 9/11 attack on the United States, Iranian intelligence agencies began to open links both to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), for instance, issued Iranian passports to Al-Qaeda and presumably the Taliban.
After the U.S. overthrow of the Taliban government, Iran quickly moved to assist the Taliban with weapons, explosives, training, and sanctuary on Iranian territory. One extremely lethal Iranian weapon given to Taliban units is an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) called "The Dragon," which is engineered to concentrate all of its explosive power after it penetrates U.S. armored vehicles in Afghanistan.
Iran's Quds Force, which acts as the foreign expeditionary army of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), maintains a close training relationship with various Taliban elements. For instance, Quds Force operatives have improved Taliban combat skills in small unit tactics and indirect fire weapons such as artillery and mortars. British military detachments in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, also attest to the Taliban's ties to Iranian military assistance. Iranian weapons have surfaced as well in Afghanistan's Kandahar and Farah Provinces, both of which abut Iran's more than 900-kilometer border with Afghanistan.
Perhaps one of Iran's motivations in extending help to its erstwhile enemy, the Taliban, is to foil any U.S. effort to exercise influence in Afghanistan, which lies immediately to Iran's east.
Iran also may be hoping to frustrate progress in armistice talks between U.S. and Taliban representatives currently being conducted in Qatar. Iran may well wish to maintain its own historical influence in the Afghan provinces adjacent to Iran. Iran seems to have allied itself with those Taliban cells opposed to the talks, and Iran's Quds Force has hosted these radical Taliban groups in its eastern provinces bordering Afghanistan.
One Taliban splinter group so hosted by Iran is the Hezb-e Walayat-e Islami, made up of former Taliban commanders who reject the peace talks in Qatar. However, probably one of the most important Taliban allies of Iran is Abdul Zakir, the confidant of deceased Taliban founder Mullah Omar . Zakir's close ties to Yakoub Omar, the son of the founder, also contributes to Iran's influence inside the Taliban.
Iran sometimes maintains operational links to hard-line Taliban elements for reasons other than opposition to U.S. presence in Afghanistan. Tehran's regime, for instance, is troubled by ethnic Baluchi separatist sentiment along its eastern border with Afghanistan. The Iranians would evidently like the Taliban to target Baluchi militia and the black market gangs who cross the border. Shia Iran probably hopes to persuade the Taliban to convince its ally, the radical Sunni Khorasan group, not to attack Shiite neighborhoods in Afghanistan.
Additionally, the Iranian regime most likely wants to maintain its historical hegemony in Afghanistan's Herat Province.
Some Taliban cells, perhaps even among those favoring armistice talks in Qatar, may be supportive of the Taliban hard-liners' friendly links with Iran. Hard-liner Taliban ties to Iran serve to reduce the risk of relying too heavily upon Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), whose primary loyalty is to Pakistan, not the Taliban.In short, Iran's animus against the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, along with its bounty rewards to Taliban militants who have killed American soldiers, is more long-lasting and extensive than the alleged Russian bounty program. The real issue here is why the U.S. media, journalists, and politicians remain silent about it.
*Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
 

Freedom for Kurds essential to Turkey’s prosperity
Enes Kanter/Al Arabiya/July 21/2020
For decades, Turkish bureaucrats and state employees viewed assignments in Southeastern Turkey, a large area predominantly populated by ethnic Kurds, as a “punishment” because it meant moving to impoverished and restive areas... like the Kurdish province of Van, where I grew up.
A group of people who share the passion of changing the world for better, however, did the exact opposite. They volunteered to go to towns and cities that others perceived as a significant demotion. Teachers, doctors, and businesspeople moved to Kurdish towns in the hope of transforming these underdeveloped areas into places of attraction, end the vicious cycle of poverty and conflict, and minimize the mounting violence. I am referring to the Gulen movement, people inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen.
In a country where speaking Kurdish was illegal for most of the last century, it was a bold move to embrace Turkey’s sizeable Kurdish population at the expense of attracting the state establishment’s wrath.
Kurdish discrimination in Turkey
When the Turkish Republic was taking shape in the 1920s, the concept of self-determination and nation-states prompted Turkey to create a nation that emphasizes the Turkish identity, Sunni Islam, and secularism. In the decades that followed, Kurdish presence in Southeastern Turkey, in Northern Syria, and Iraq has been viewed as a threat to Turkey’s territorial integrity.
The Kurdish identity has been denied, its language was branded as an “antique language” at universities and the state refused to invest in infrastructure projects in areas populated by Kurds. For over 40 years, the Turkish state deemed Southeastern Turkey as a war zone and crafted policies through a security perspective.
No matter how hard the Turkish military cracked down on Kurdish rebels - with unimaginable and gross human rights violations and extrajudicial killings - nothing worked. Because this approach wasn’t the solution.
The right approach
People who volunteered to establish schools, universities, hospitals, and businesses in Southeastern Turkey were inspired by Kurdish scholar Said Nursi, who hailed from my home province, the Kurdish province of Van and had become an iconic figure until he died in 1960.
His main argument was that the Kurdish areas, and the entire Islamic world to a broader extent, are suffering from three things: Ignorance, poverty, and discord. He believed that eliminating ignorance would mitigate poverty and conflict. His unrealized dream was to open a university called Medresetuz Zahra, where the teaching languages would be Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish.
Volunteers in the Gulen movement seized the opportunity in the 1990s and the 2000s to go to Kurdish provinces – with no schools, no hospitals, no paved roads, no jobs. Southeastern Turkey in the 1990s was essentially an open-air prison where people had no money or freedom.
The Gulen Movement opened hundreds of prep schools, private schools, and a couple of universities to increase access to education. Prep schools were especially crucial because they prepared Kurdish youth to be admitted to prestigious universities in big cities like Ankara and the capital city of Istanbul.
It allowed the Kurdish population to break the vicious cycle, acquire higher education, attain good jobs, and give back and serve their communities. It was a perfect plan.
Unfortunately, almost all these educational institutions, as well as Gulen-affiliated businesses and hospitals, have been shut down over the past five years in Turkish President Erdogan’s post-coup crackdown.
The journey to eliminate racism, discrimination, and bigotry is a long, and painful one. It will never be successful unless victims stand up and raise their voices and demand justice.
If history is any guide, no one will grant your rights unless you demand them. The Gulen movement’s goal was to empower Kurdish kids, breathe life into these impoverished towns, and embrace them to reassert their rights.
In a recent interview with Iraqi Kurdistan-based Rudaw, Gulen said “education in the mother tongue is a right that any state must acknowledge in principle because a state has to be fair to all of its citizens.” Even having to discuss such an obvious fundamental right as being able to be educated in your mother tongue illustrates the long path ahead for Turkey.
In the immortal words of Martin Luther King Jr., “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” It is not possible to build a modern, prosperous nation when one part of your society has their rights denied and their freedoms curbed - with their access to education and opportunities unequal and their chance of succeeding through hard work slim.
Improving minority rights is an essential ingredient for a healthy society. It’s time the Turkish government accepts all its citizens and grants its Kurdish population their rights. Kurdish lives matter.
*Enes Kanter is an NBA Player for the Boston Celtics, a human rights advocate, and a political activist. He is known for his critiques of the authoritarian government in his native country, Turkey. His newly launched "You Are My Hope" campaign advocates for freedom for thousands of political prisoners in his homeland.

The ‘law of the sword’ of Turkey’s neo-sultan Erdogan
Costas Mavrides/Al Arabiya/July 21/2020
In modern neo-Ottoman Turkey, government officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ministers, make statements with complete contempt for international and European Union law while dissenting voices are silenced or persecuted. In the country today, there is a hysteria for new conquests and a disrespect for international law and fundamental ethics. The spirit of conquest is dominant in the modern Turkish political scene and their regional interventions. Rooted in the Ottoman “law of the sword” – or the idea that the conqueror can rule a conquered country or territory according to his desires – Turkey has returned to its Ottoman ambitions.
One of these dissenting voices that has now been silenced is that of Burak Bekdil, who in his latest article for the Gatestone Institute focused on the hypocrisy and arrogance of modern Turkey following Erdogan’s comments during the celebrations of the fall of Constantinople where the leader lauded past conquests and referenced “many more happy conquests” in the future.
Bekdil, a well-known journalist, was fired from Turkey’s leading newspaper after 29 years for this article titled “Erdogan wishes Turkey ‘many more happy conquests.’”
The question posed by the now-persecuted journalist is straight forward: What are these non-Turkish countries and territories that Erdogan expects to conquer? As the journalist stressed, the prevailing distortion and arrogance in contemporary Turkish politics is based on the Ottoman law of the sword.
The spirit of conquest is dominant in the modern Turkish political scene and infects daily life within and outside of Turkey, and is visible in attacks on churches and cemeteries, forced disappearances, torture, murders, imprisonment and persecution. Such crimes are brushed over by the Turkish state as Erdogan controls the courts and criminals are easily acquitted, with some becoming national heroes. Under the same hypocrisy and arrogance, other ethnic groups and non-Muslims are purged, and churches turned into mosques. The depredation of property – a criminal act by all means – if committed in the name of conquest is hailed as a heroic achievement. In fact, in the Turkish educational system, there is a special celebration for the conquests.
Conquest and arrogance are at the core of Turkey’s current regional endeavors, including sending fighters and weapons to Libya, despite the UN Security Council arms embargo and condemnation from the EU and NATO.
Incidentally, the ethnic cleansing of Kurdish and other populations in the Turkish-occupied Afrin region of Syria, is being implemented forcibly by the law of the sword. Such crimes of conquest, ethnic cleansing and colonization continue unpunished in Cyprus, while new illegal actions are underway in the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone, the Aegean, and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Before this neo-Ottoman law of the sword, the prevailing political perception in the EU is that dialogue should prevail. But in Turkey, the neo-Sultan and his ideology advance. As history repeats itself, very few are learning from it.
*Costas Mavrides is a Member of European Parliament and Chair of the Political Committee of the Mediterranean.
 

Unpublished work by slain Iraqi activist al-Hashemi shows PMU’s corruption in Nineveh
Ismaeel Naar/Al Arabiya English/Tuesday 21 July 2020
Unpublished work by assassinated Iraqi researcher Hisham al-Hashemi proved the level of corruption by the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU) militias in Nineveh after they recaptured the city from ISIS, according to Al Hadath reporter Roula al-Khateeb who obtained the documents.
Al Hadath’s al-Khateeb, who received several documents from an unnamed source, has been reporting on how the documents and research papers she received pertaining to the PMU militias’ activities in Iraq may have been behind the late al-Hashemi’s assassination.
Al-Hashemi, who publicly supported the popular protests that broke out in Baghdad in October, was assassinated on July 6 when three gunmen fired dozens of bullets at him outside his home in east Baghdad.
The latest research papers PMU’s corruption in Nineveh, the second in a three-part series on the wider unpublished works of al-Hashemi, showed the number of militias stationed in Nineveh and concluded that the city was controlled by Faleh al-Fayyad, Hadi al-Amri, and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes before his death.“Al-Hashemi’s research found that thousands of PMU militants stationed in and controlling Nineveh today are not the sons and from the city itself. Many of these militant factions entered Nineveh under the pretext of fighting ISIS but they did not leave once the terrorist ISIS group was defeated,” al-Khateeb said during an appearance on Al Hadath channel regarding her reporting on the papers.
“These PMU militias then took advantage of the oil in Nineveh and smuggled it to Iran with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard being the primary benefactor of the PMU’s hold of Nineveh, using it as a significant part of its financing,” al-Khateeb said in a summary of al-Hashemi’s findings.
Al-Hashemi’s unpublished research also revealed that the PMU militia factions have been taking royalties from the residents of Nineveh, blackmailing them, and preventing them from returning to their own lands that were taken by ISIS.
Nineveh is the second-largest Iraqi province in the country after Baghdad in terms of population and economic growth. Its capital city is Mosul and the province as a whole is considered the most conservative and multi-sectarian province in the country as well.
The Sunnis make up the majority sect of the province and al-Hashemi’s research found that the Iran-backed PMU militias are controlling the province and attempting to change the demographics and makeup of the city by preventing Nineveh’s Sunnis son from returning to their own lands from abroad,” al-Khateeb reported.Al-Hashemi’s research into the PMU factions was detailed in his unpublished papers regarding Nineveh, finding the following militias and detailing their activities in the province:
The Shabak regiment: From the Shabak component, the Shiites are considered one of the most powerful factions of the PMU militias in Nineveh, headed by Waad al-Qaddo, a brother of Hanin al- Qaddo, the deputy of the Shabak faction in the Iraqi parliament for the province of Nineveh and who was nominated and elected under the al-Fateh alliance headed by Hadi al-Amiri.
Babylonian brigades: The Christian component regiment is considered one of the most important factions of the PMUs in the province of Nineveh, headed by Ryan Chaldani, who is directly supported by the Secretary-General of the Dawa Party, Nouri al-Maliki.
Imam Ali brigades: A regiment headed by Shibl al-Zaidi and the second deputy named Abu Azrael. This faction is known for opening the lands wide to Iranian militias after liberating them from the terrorist ISIS group.
Abbas regiment: This faction is made up of mostly Shia Turkmen fighters headed by Abu Zainab al-Ta’i. It belongs directly to the Badr Organization, which is headed by Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the al-Fateh Alliance.
Azidkhan regiment: A regiment made up of Yazidis, headed by Qasim Shushu – who had a direct contact with Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes – who militarily controls Mount Sinjar.
Lalesh regiment: A regiment for the Yezidis, considered to be one of the most ferocious crowds practicing violations against Muslims and Christians in the Sinjar and Kairouan region, creating many problems and seizing of the agricultural lands of other factions.
Sayed al-Shuhada brigades: A Shiite faction headed by Abu Alaa Al-Wala'I – a PMU deputy who succeeded Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes – who has a close relationship with the most prominent leaders of Nineveh operations. He is considered the most powerful person in coordinating the movements of the PMU in the districts and areas of the Nineveh governorate.
Al-Asaib regiment: A Shia faction headed by Abu Baqir al-Jubouri, the director of the al-Asaib Office led by Qais al-Khazali, accused of taking royalties from factory owners and workshops.
Saraya al-Khorasani: A Shia faction headed by Khusayr Aliwi al-Sabbar and who has direct ties to the PMU’s security intelligence
Al-Fateh faction: A Shia faction headed by Nayef al-Shammari, a deputy in the Iraqi parliament for the province of Nineveh and linked to Hadi al-Amiri.
Nineveh Lions regiment: A Sunni faction led by Ahmad Malool al-Jarba, an Iraqi Member of Parliament who has a direct relationship with Hadi al-Amiri and contributes to the distribution of agricultural lands to the PMU.
Al Tanaya 1: A Sunni faction led by Faisal and Taban al-Jarba, both of whom had direct relationships with Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes and own wheat and barley farms in Rabiah on the Iraq-Syria border.
Al-Luwaizi: A Sunni faction led by Munif al-Ali al-Luwaizi who is associated with the Parliamentary Representative for the Nineveh province, Abdulrahman al-Luwaizi. He deals with the PMU in a direct manner, especially with the Shabak brigade.
Karrar regiment: A Shia faction led by Mohammed al-Wakaa. They are primarily located in the Tal Afar and al-Ayadiyah districts, which include Turkmen fighters. Al-Wakaa has a close relationship with the Al-Fateh bloc led by Hadi al-Amiri.
Al-Khudhur regiment: A Sunni faction led by Hawas al-Ahmadi and who has a close relationship with the PMU militias through the former governor, Nawfal al-Akoub.
The Nimrod regiment: A Sunni faction led by Ahmed al-Jawary, who has a close relationship with Sheikh Khalid al-Sabah al-Jubouri who formed the regiment in the Nimrod region. They have a close relationship with Ryan Chaldani, the leader of the Babylonian Christian brigades.
Al-Akoub regiment: A Sunni faction led by Muzahim Ghazi, a relative of the former governor of Nineveh Nawfal al-Akoub. The faction is accused of blackmailing families and residents in order to force them to vote for Nawfal al-Akoub and to overlook investment deals related to the monuments in the urban area.
Al-Safouk regiment: A Sunni faction led by Fener Ahmad al-Safouk. They are primarily located in the Ayyadiya area of Tal Afar and are known for their close ties to Hadi al-Amiri.
 

Iran’s doublespeak dims engagement prospects
Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/July 21/2020
A lack of credibility has dimmed the prospects for constructive engagement between Iran and its neighbors and with the world at large. Tehran’s brand of Orwellian doublespeak has often made it difficult to take it seriously, with official statements from different branches of the regime frequently being at odds with each other. Speeches directed at domestic audiences vary greatly from discourse directed at the outside world. At times, statements emanating from Iran are based on fake news or unfounded conspiracy theories. In sum, there is a clear gap between what Iran counts as true and legitimate and what the rest of the world believes.
Especially insidious are the ways in which Iranian officials dismiss international institutions as illegitimate lackeys of the West and their decisions as invalid. They use that pretext to avoid referring disputes to the International Court of Justice, for example, when the UAE and the Gulf Cooperation Council called for submitting territorial disputes with Iran to the global court. Tehran systematically violates the UN Charter, which calls for respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, by attacking its neighbors. This is because the Iranian state is based on the principle of exporting its revolution, which is at odds with the UN Charter. Tehran uses the same excuse to disregard international law instruments, including human rights conventions and UN Security Council resolutions.
I will give two examples to illustrate these dilemmas. In June, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres issued his ninth report on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2231 of 2015. The report documented in detail Iran’s violations of the resolution, especially the restrictions imposed on the deliveries of missiles and conventional weapons to and from Iran.
The report determined that the sizable cache of weapons captured by the US off the coast of Yemen last November were “evidently of Iranian origin.” They included missiles, components of anti-ship cruise missiles, anti-tank guided missiles, and components for aerial, surface and boat drones.
The report made a similar examination of a larger cache of weapons seized in February this year, also off Yemen’s coast, and reached a similar finding that they were of Iranian origin or made in a third country but sold to Iran between 2016 and 2018, i.e., after the adoption of resolution 2231. They included a larger number of missiles and anti-tank guided missiles, among other military equipment.
The same conclusion was drawn about the missiles and drones used in the attacks against Saudi oil facilities in Afif in May 2019, Abha International Airport in June and August 2019, and Abqaiq and Khurais in September 2019. The report found that they were similar to Iranian drones recovered in Afghanistan in 2016 and displayed in Iran itself in 2016 and 2019. The engines were similar (in terms of dimensions, design characteristics and configuration) to an Iranian jet engine exhibited in Iran, and the digital air data computers were identical to parts previously identified as Iranian.
According to the secretary-general’s report, the UN is investigating several other cases of weapons seized in different locations in the region with suspected links to Iran. The findings will be included in future reports.
However, despite the meticulous UN documentation, Iran dismissed the report, which has become a habitual response by Tehran toward international institutions.
Another example that undermines Iran’s official statements relates to how it has recently reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). For months, it has fed the WHO numerous reports about coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the country. According to those figures, about 276,000 individuals had tested positive for the virus in the country, as of Monday. However, on Saturday, President Hassan Rouhani revealed that the extent to which COVID-19 has spread in Iran is actually much greater. He said: “Our estimate is that so far 25 million Iranians have been infected with this virus.” That is 90 times more than the official figure and represents about 30 percent of Iran’s population of 84 million.
In a speech broadcast on national television, Rouhani added: “There is the possibility that between 30 and 35 million more people will be at risk.” This news was reported incredulously by news agencies around the world, but health officials confirmed the estimates. Reuters cited a report in the semi-official ISNA news agency that stated that the 25 million people mentioned by Rouhani included “mildly affected patients,” according to a government health official.
Despite the meticulous UN documentation, Iran dismissed the report, which has become a habitual response.
These two cases encapsulate two essential dilemmas facing any prospective interlocutor with Iran. First, how to avoid doublespeak and speak truthfully and openly, in order to make Iran a credible party with whom neighbors could negotiate. Second, how to decide on a common basis for negotiations. For the rest of the world, including Iran’s neighbors, that is clear: The UN Charter and international law. Tehran has to make it unequivocal that it shares that belief.
Once these two issues are settled in a satisfactory fashion, other steps could follow, such as taking confidence-building measures to establish trust and pave the way toward future negotiations.
*Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the Gulf Cooperation Council’s assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation, and a columnist for Arab News. The views expressed in this piece are personal and do not necessarily represent those of the GCC. Twitter: @abuhamad1