English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 19/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
John 11/17-27: “When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 18-19/2020
Hariri Hospital: 11 new positive cases out of 342 laboratory tests
Ministry of Health announces 20 new COVID-19 cases
18 Bangladeshis among 20 New Virus Cases in Lebanon
Reports: Building Isolated after 17 Foreign Workers Get Virus
Berri calls Parliament Bureau to convene upcoming Friday
Hitti meets Ambassadors of France, Egypt
Diab meets Archbishop Matar, Association of Former Deputies’ delegation
Prime Minister’s address during ambassadors’ meeting for CEDRE
Diab Says Lebanon Committed to CEDRE Reforms, Duquesne Says Plan Still Valid
Protesters rally outside Beirut's Justice Palace, Ministries of Social Affairs, Economy
Abra detainees' families stage sit in at Sidon's Elia Square
Hariri wishes Karma Ekmekji success after her resignation
AUF, Berytech launch 9th edition of “Femme Francophone Entrepreneure” competition
Salameh to Attend 2nd Round of IMF Talks amid Lebanese Rift
Central Bank Official Hamdan Charged in Currency Probe
Geagea Takes Swipe at Bassil, Addresses Govt. on Illegal Border Crossings
UK police hunt killers after British-Lebanese Muslim woman is murdered in drive-by shooting
Why the American University of Beirut?/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/May 18/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 18-19/2020
Jihadists Kill 20 In Northeast Nigeria Attack: Local Sources
Statement by Minister of Foreign Affairs on anniversary of deportation of Crimean Tatars
US Congress members call for release of political prisoners in Turkey
Iran Supreme Leader says Americans will be expelled from Iraq and Syria
New Israeli government: How far will unity counterbalance dissonance?
Israel FM Says Trump Plan 'Historic', Peace Deals Crucial
China to Send Team to Israel to Collect Envoy's Remains
U.N. Says Coronavirus is 'Wake-Up Call' for the World
WHO Pledges Pandemic Response Probe at 'Earliest Appropriate Moment'
Putin Sounds Alarm over Virus Crisis in Dagestan
Afghan President Ghani and Rival Abdullah Sign Power-Sharing Deal
Xi Says China Supports Inquiry 'after Pandemic Brought under Control'


Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
 on May 18-19/2020
Withdrawing US troops from the Sinai could break a fragile peace/Dr. Eric R. Mandel/The Hill/May 18/2020
How Iran Uses Cultural Centers To Expand Its Influence In Latin America/Tereza Dvorakova/Radio Farda/May 18/2020
Don’t Bail Out Tehran’s Precision Guided Munitions Project/Jonathan Schanzer and Bradley Bowman/FDD/May 18/2020
Are Iran’s Afghan ‘cannon fodder’ in Syrian corridor to confront US?/Seth J. Frantman/Jerusalem Post/May 18/2020
ISIS tried to destroy this church, now Muslims and Christians join hands to rebuild/Emily Judd, Al Arabiya English/Sunday 17 May 2020
The dangers of Iran’s military mistakes/Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/May 18/2020
Trump, Xi, and The Pandemic Symptoms/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/May 18/2020
A NATO Flotilla Sails Back Into the Cold War/James Stavridis/Bloomberg/May 18/2020
The Covid-19 Vaccine Fight Is Getting Ugly/Lionel Laurent/Bloomberg/May 18/2020
Why Open Offices Will Survive/Sarah Green Carmichael/Bloomberg/May 18/2020
A Beacon of Light Threatened by Politics of Darkness, Corruption and COVID-19/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/May 18/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 18-19/2020
Hariri Hospital: 11 new positive cases out of 342 laboratory tests
NNA/May 18/2020
In its daily report on the latest developments of the novel Coronavirus, Rafic Hariri University Hospital announced on Monday that out of 342 laboratory tests conducted today, 11 new Covid-19 cases have been detected.
It also indicated that the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases infected with the virus that are currently present in the Hospital's isolation area has reached 37 cases, noting that it has admitted 15 cases suspected to be infected with the virus who were transferred from other hospitals. Meanwhile, the hospital report stated that none of the infected cases have recovered today thus keeping the total number of full recoveries to 177 cases.“All those infected with the virus are receiving the necessary care in the isolation unit, and their condition is stable," the hospital report added. It also indicated that more information on the number of infected cases on all Lebanese territories can be found in the daily report issued by the Ministry of Public Health. In conclusion, the Hospital reminded that "the Corona Virus Contact Center for emergency response and knowledge of test results, operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including public holidays, and can be reached through the number 01-820830 or through the WhatsApp contact service 76-979610."

Ministry of Health announces 20 new COVID-19 cases
NNA/May 18/2020
The Ministry of Public Health announced this Monday 20 new coronavirus infections, 2 of them locally detected and 18 others of the Bangladeshi community in Lebanon, thus taking the toll to 931 cases.

18 Bangladeshis among 20 New Virus Cases in Lebanon
Naharnet/May 18/2020
Lebanon on Monday confirmed twenty more COVID-19 coronavirus cases, among them 18 Bangladeshis, the Health Ministry said. The cases raise the country's tally to 931 including 26 deaths and 251 recoveries. Media reports said the Bangladeshis are workers who live in the same building in Beirut's Ras al-Nabaa area. The building has been isolated by security forces since Sunday. The National News Agency said the two cases among Lebanese citizens were recorded in the Akkar town of Jdeidet al-Qaytaa. Lebanon on Monday ended a four-day general lockdown despite a recent uptick in coronavirus cases, with Prime Minister Hassan Diab citing economic and financial hardships and urging stricter respect for social distancing and health instructions. Only educational institutions, nightclubs, beaches, cinemas, theaters, concert venues, gyms and sport clubs remain fully closed. Commercial swimming pools have meanwhile been allowed to operate with 50% capacity.

Reports: Building Isolated after 17 Foreign Workers Get Virus
Naharnet/May 18/2020
Seventeen foreign laborers living in the same building have tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, media reports said. LBCI television said security forces have taken measures to isolate the building, located on the Mohammed al-Hout Street in Beirut's Ras al-Nabaa area. Media reports said the workers are of Bangladeshi and Syrian nationalities. Lebanon on Monday ended a four-day general lockdown despite a recent uptick in coronavirus cases, with Prime Minister Hassan Diab citing economic and financial hardships and urging stricter respect for social distancing and health instructions.The country has so far officially confirmed 911 coronavirus cases among them 26 deaths.

Berri calls Parliament Bureau to convene upcoming Friday
NNA/May 18/2020
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, has called the Parliament Bureau to convene in a meeting upcoming Friday, May 22, 2020.

Hitti meets Ambassadors of France, Egypt
NNA/May 18/2020
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Nassif Hitti, held talks Monday with French Ambassador to Lebanon, Bruno Foucher, over the latest developments regarding CEDRE conference, in addition to the renewal of the UNIFIL's mandate. Hitti later met with Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon, Yasser Alawi, with whom he discussed the bilateral relations.

Diab meets Archbishop Matar, Association of Former Deputies’ delegation

NNA/May 18/2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab met this morning at the Grand Serail with Archbishop Boulos Matar, with whom he discussed the general situation. Afterwards, PM Diab received a delegation from the Association of Former Deputies, headed by Talal Merehbi, with Nasser Nasrallah, and Jacques Joe Khadarian, in the presence of Diab’s Advisor Khodr Taleb.After the meeting, Merehbi said: “Discussions with the Prime Minister featured high on the difficult living conditions, and we hoped that he would continue to bear his responsibility at this stage to save Lebanon, and take all necessary measures to reduce high prices and ease the sufferings of citizens.” ----Grand Serail Press Office

Prime Minister’s address during ambassadors’ meeting for CEDRE
NNA/May 18/2020
The following is Prime Minister Dr. Hassan Diab’s full address during today’s Ambassadors meeting for CEDRE:
“Thank you for joining us today. This is not our first meeting, and it will certainly not be our last. Together, we have so far discussed the Government’s Reform Plan, the International Monetary Fund’s assistance, and the Cabinet’s three-year Development Priorities. Today, we gather again, after establishing the follow-up mechanism and reaching an agreement between our government and the donors, thus reflecting our government’s commitment towards CEDRE.
In our Ministerial Statement, and on every occasion, we have stressed on the importance of fighting corruption, and on our determination to implement necessary reforms to restore both local and international trust in our country.
We have put together a plan for financial rescue, which integrates CEDRE financing streams and reform in its fiscal projections and macro-economic assumptions. We have accordingly set up our vision for a healed economy, and our strategy for sustainable development.
In every step of the way, we remain aware of the significance of the reforms in pushing forward the CEDRE portfolio, and of the continuous and generous support of the international community, notably during our fight against COVID-19.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In his opening address at the CEDRE Conference, Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, said: “First, Lebanon needs significant investments to update its basic infrastructures, which are no longer able to provide all its citizens basic public services in the proper conditions. Second, Lebanon’s economy urgently needs far-reaching structural and sectorial reforms. Lebanon’s stability from an economic point of view is therefore based on the combined action of Lebanese reform and international support.”
More than two years later, Lebanon is more than ever keen on redefining its economy and reinforcing its commitment towards the international community.
Your Excellencies, CEDRE is also Cedar in French, Cedrus libani, the emblem in our flag and the symbol of our unity. It represents our strength over the years, and our ability to stay rooted in our country, come what may.
Just like the Cedar, we have faced strong winds and times of distress. And just like the Cedar, with your support being a key pillar in our economic recovery, we are determined to overcome all challenges in order to prevail and prosper.
Thank you.”— PM Press Office

Diab Says Lebanon Committed to CEDRE Reforms, Duquesne Says Plan Still Valid
Naharnet/May 18/2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Monday stressed that Lebanon is still committed to the reforms pledged at the 2018 CEDRE conference in Paris.
"We underscore commitment to the implementation of all reforms and to combating corruption, and the government is determined to restore international and local confidence in Lebanon," said Diab at a Grand Serail meeting with foreign ambassadors on the CEDRE recommendations. "We have a vision to reach a correct economy, we want to put CEDRE's recommendations into action and we will manage to do so," Diab added. "Two years after CEDRE, Lebanon is trying to enhance its situation towards the international community, and we will exert our utmost effort to implement this commitment and revive the economy," he went on to say. The French envoy in charge of following up on the CEDRE reforms, Pierre Duquesne, meanwhile noted that the CEDRE plan is "still valid." "It is a contract based on projects, reforms and funding," he said.
"We must implement CEDRE and we will do this together. Coordination is key inside Lebanon, especially with non-governmental organizations, representatives of the civil society, the private sector and parliament," he added. Duquesne also said that "Lebanon needs investments, especially in infrastructure, and this will allow a sustainable revival of the Lebanese economy." "Investments require electricity and it should provided in an uniterrupted manner, and reforming electricity is an essential reform that requires governance and transparency," he went on to say.

Protesters rally outside Beirut's Justice Palace, Ministries of Social Affairs, Economy
NNA/May 18/2020
A number of protesters and activists on Monday rallied outside the Palace of Justice in Beirut to protest against the stifling economic situation and to call on the judiciary to hold the Corrupt accountable. Protesters also rallied outside the Social Affairs Ministry in Badaro against the simmering daily living conditions and pressing for their livelihood rights. Demonstrators also staged a sit in outside the Economy Ministry against the hike in the prices of commodities and food products as well as the rising living costs. They reiterated their rejection of the policy adopted by the government and the Ministry of Economy and Trade to address the stifling economic and daily living situation which afflicts the low-income people.

Abra detainees' families stage sit in at Sidon's Elia Square
NNA/May 18/2020
Abra detainees' families staged a sit-in at the Elia Square in the city of Sidon, demanding a general amnesty law for all their sons, NNA reporter said on Monday. Detainees’ families raised banners calling for general amnesty, and rejecting any draft law that would exclude any of their sons.

Hariri wishes Karma Ekmekji success after her resignation

NNA/May 18/2020
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri wished all the success to his diplomatic advisor Karma Ekmekji, who has resigned, stressing that she has been during 11 years “a valuable asset with her deep knowledge of international affairs & public policy”. Hariri said in a series of tweets today:
“I wish all the success to Karma Ekmekji who has decided to pursue other projects after 11 years as Head of my International Affairs Unit and diplomatic advisor to me. During that time, she has proved to be a valuable asset with her deep knowledge of international affairs & public policy, & recently she played a crucial role in advocating for more women in peace & security.  Karma has always been a free mind & she will remain a dear friend. I ask everyone to continue following her updates, and I am sure she will continue to inspire us with her achievements”.--Hariri Press Office

AUF, Berytech launch 9th edition of “Femme Francophone Entrepreneure” competition

NNA/May 18/2020
Despite the current difficult situation and the measures taken in order to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 edition of the «Femme Francophone Entrepreneure » (FFE) competition was launched today and efforts were made in order to adapt to the new health context. This competition is organized by AUF Middle East and Berytech, in partnership with L'Orient-Le Jour and le Commerce du Levant, and it has been promoting women’s entrepreneurship in Lebanon for the past 9 years. Partners continue to believe in the potential of startups which are conducting their investments despite the difficulties inherent to the Lebanese ecosystem which is plagued by two simultaneous crises: an economic and a health one. “Femme Francophone Entrepreneure” is there to help them and contribute to their resilience. This edition inaugurates a new competition concept which includes 3 categories this year, i.e. research, technological innovation and social entrepreneurship, and will, therefore, reward three projects on enterprise creation. The call for applications is now available on the partners’ institutional websites and social media pages. A €20,000 grant will be given by AUF and split among the winning projects. This year’s three winners will thus benefit from the necessary accompaniment to create an enterprise, as well as from the needed support to a start-up in Berytech incubator. The research part is a novelty. It was added in order to enable women to give value to their research project and turn it into a flourishing enterprise. Indeed, one of the main challenges that research laboratories are currently facing consists in moving from discovery to implementation or marketing. It is worth recalling that sixty applications were received last year. This shows the attractiveness of the competition which pays tribute to francophone women’s commitment to the innovation and enterprise creation challenge. Rosabelle Chedid and Rayanne Beayno were crowned « Femmes francophones entrepreneures 2020 » during the final of the competition in September last year.
Timetable
The competition will take place as follows:
• Deadline for the submission of applications: June 10, 2020
• Announcement of the chosen applicant for the 3 categories: June 17, 2020
• Online training: June 22 -29
• Submission of the Business Plan/Pitch: July 15, 2020
• Selection of the 9 finalists (3 per category): July 22
• Training and preparation for the pitch: last week of July
• Final in August
The application file should be written in French. Project presentations to the jury shall be made in French as well.
To submit your application, kindly go to: https://competitions.berytech.org/ffe/
For any additional information, kindly contact : support@berytech.org

Salameh to Attend 2nd Round of IMF Talks amid Lebanese Rift
Naharnet/May 18/2020
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh will personally participate in the second round of remote negotiations with the International Monetary Fund on Monday, after he opted not to take part in the first round and to delegate representatives instead.“Salameh's participation will not signal the end of the divergence in the viewpoints of the government and the central bank, but rather the opposite,” al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Monday. According to information obtained by the daily, Salameh will be keen to declare his viewpoint, which contradicts with the content of the government's financial rescue plan as to the estimation of the central bank's losses. “He will propose the solutions that he believes are more appropriate for addressing what the plan calls a 'financial gap,'” al-Joumhouria said. “He will tell the IMF negotiators what he considers to be a more befitting rescue approach as to the issue of restructuring the central bank,” it added. The newspaper also reported that a meeting will be held between Finance Ministry and central bank officials prior to the talks with the IMF. “That does not mean that there will be attempts to reconcile points of view and the meeting will rather be dedicated to exchanging ideas and clarifying some issues,” it added. The first round of negotiations between Lebanon and the IMF was held on Wednesday. Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni expressed his relief over the talks and expected the next rounds to be “equally constructive.”he global body for its part said the negotiations aim to reach "a comprehensive framework that can help Lebanon address the current challenging economic and social conditions and restore sustainability and growth."Under the rescue plan, the government will seek more than $10 billion in financial support on top of $11 billion in grants and loans already pledged by international donors in 2018. The rescue plan aims to reduce the deficit, restructure a colossal debt, and reorganize an oversized banking sector. Lebanon is one of the most indebted countries worldwide with a debt equivalent to 170 percent of its gross domestic product. It defaulted on a repayment for the first time ever in March.The country is also in the grips of a severe liquidity crunch, with depositors unable to make transfers abroad or withdraw dollars.

Central Bank Official Hamdan Charged in Currency Probe
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 18/2020
Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim on Monday charged a top central bank official with manipulating the exchange rate, a judicial source said, as the country struggles with a major currency crisis. The director of monetary operations at the central bank, Mazen Hamdan, was arrested on Thursday, as part of a currency crisis probe that has seen dozens of money changers detained in recent weeks. The Lebanese pound had been pegged to the dollar at 1,507 since 1997 but the country's worst economic crisis in decades has seen its value plunge by more than half on the black market.
The central bank has sought to stem the fall by ordering exchange offices to cap the rate at 3,200 to the dollar, but the pound has continued to tumble. Financial Prosecutor Ibrahim "charged Hamdan with manipulating the national currency and breaching the pound's stability through directly buying dollars from money changers," a judicial source told AFP. The prosecutor has referred his case to an investigative judge, the source said. These are "the first charges against a central bank official," it said. On Friday, the central bank issued a statement denying it was behind "any manipulation in the money changing market." Lebanon is in the midst of its worst economic crunch since the 1975-1990 civil war. As part of a severe liquidity crisis, banks have since last fall imposed crippling capital controls, limiting then stopping dollar withdrawals and halting transfers abroad. Security forces have detained around 50 money changers accused of selling dollars at too high a rate in recent days, though some have been released. The head of the money changer syndicate has also been arrested. In late April, the government approved a rescue plan aimed at redressing the country's crumbling economy. The deeply indebted country last week started negotiations with the International Monetary Fund towards obtaining billions of dollars in financial aid.

Geagea Takes Swipe at Bassil, Addresses Govt. on Illegal Border Crossings

Naharnet/May 18/2020
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday hurled a jab at the Free Patriotic Movement and its chief Jebran Bassil in connection with the latter's remarks on the controversial issues of power plants.“As to the issue of electricity: since the books of terms for the construction of production plants have been ready since 2019, why has the government tasked the energy minister (the real energy minister is Jebran Bassil) to directly negotiate with the firms instead of organizing an immediate call for tenders through the Public Procurement Management Administration?” Geagea tweeted. Bassil had on Sunday stressed that the FPM ministers are not to blame for the chronic electricity crisis, accusing rivals of impeding their plans for political reasons. Separately, Geagea lamented that “every day that passes carries a loss of tens of millions of dollars to the Lebanese treasury and people in connection with the issue of illegal border crossings.”“What is the government waiting for to take a clear, final, decisive and firm decision to task the army and the competent security forces to shutter these crossings once and for all?” the LF leader asked.

UK police hunt killers after British-Lebanese Muslim woman is murdered in drive-by shooting
The New Arab/May 18/2020
A murder investigation was launched by British police on Monday after a 19-year-old British-Lebanese Muslim woman was shot dead by an unknown assailant, reports confirmed. The shocking murder, which was believed to be a drive-by shooting, took place at 3pm in the UK’s Blackburn city, when the hijab-wearing Aya Hachem was reportedly en route a local store for her mother. She was found "unresponsive" when armed police arrived on the scene and later died in hospital. Police have confirmed the location of a light coloured or metallic green Toyota Avensis that was seen leaving the area. It was later found, empty of its occupants. "An investigation has been launched and we are determined to find those responsible - and we are asking for the public's help identifying the offender or offenders," Lancashire Police said. "We believe a light-colored Toyota Avensis - possibly metallic green - may have been involved in the incident. A car matching the same description has since been recovered from nearby Wellington Road and we are now asking anybody who saw a car matching this description in either location to get in touch as soon as possible.”Detective Superintendent Jonathan Holmes of the Force Major Investigation Team, said: "This is a truly shocking and senseless killing which has robbed a young woman of her life."The shooting took place during the holy month of Ramadan with friends saying Aya was involved in charity and volunteer work. Within 24 hours of her death, mourners raised £27,000 to build a mosque in her memory in Niger. Police have not revealed a motive for her murder but are not yet treating it as terrorist related. Incidents of Islamophobia in the UK have risen sharply since the 2017 terror attacks in London and Manchester, according to the Muslim News. Last December, a 40-year-old woman was let off with a caution after strangling a Muslim schoolgirl with her headscarf while on a bus in Sheffield.

Why the American University of Beirut?
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/May 18/2020
When news broke that the American University of Beirut is struggling financially, the consciousness of many Lebanese took a shocking blow after their hopes had been dealt one. This is because that university, for many reasons, some grounded in reality and others imagined, seemed immune to crises.
Last Wednesday, AUB President Fadlo Khuri held a meeting to which several Lebanese journalists were invited. The purpose was to explain the financial situation the university is currently struggling with and reassure public opinion, through the journalists, that it will go on for "another 153 years." For rumors had been circulating here and there, some innocent and others tendentious, that the university would shut its doors.
Khuri did indeed succeed in his mission to reassure. However, this does not negate the persistence of some of the most extreme apprehensions regarding AUB's future. Four of these apprehensions stand out strongly:
First, it is an American university at a time when, for a multitude of reasons, the tide of anti-Americanism is rising. True, a replication of the 1980s is not likely, but remembering them may be useful for understanding the nature of this phase. At the time, the emergence of the armed and triumphalist faction that boasted about its expulsion of the multinational forces from Lebanon was accompanied by the attacks on the American university and the killing or kidnapping of some of its professors (who recalls the assassination of Malcolm Kerr in early 1984?). Last Wednesday, as Khuri and the journalists were gathered together, the Hezbollah Secretary General was giving a speech from a place likely no more than two kilometers away.
Second, it is a private university that generally draws well-off students, while we are experiencing a period of economic collapse and the impoverishment of a growing number of victims, and the effects of which the university itself is not insulated from. Thus, the populism that is thriving and is likely to thrive further is eying it. And thirdly, it is a source for the spread of values (free thinking, individualism...) that, unfortunately, are no longer welcome in the region. All kinds of fanaticism are taking over today. To remind ourselves of the size of the gap let us read an excerpt from the speech of the former President of the University Daniel Bliss, at the inauguration of College Hall in 1871: “This College is for all conditions and classes of men without regard to color, nationality, race or religion. A man white, black, or yellow; Christian, Jew, Mohammedan or heathen, may enter and enjoy all the advantages of this institution for three, four, or eight years; and go out believing in one God, in many gods, or no God.”
Finally, AUB was the second bridge, alongside the Suez Canal, linking the region to the world early on: The Canal whose construction began in 1859 and was inaugurated in 1869, while the university opened its doors (when its name had been the Syrian Protestant College) in 1866. On the other hand, the region is making a strong turn inward and away from the outside world today (to say nothing of the possible reinforcement of these isolationist trends by the coronavirus epidemic)
It could be said the university had never separated from its surroundings nor were its surroundings separated from it, as it is today. We could perhaps go further and say that the current financial crisis facing the university is in a sense an acute manifestation of the problem referred to above. How long will this green island persevere amid the potentially worsening turbulence in Lebanon and the Arab world?
My colleague Youssef Bazzi framed the challenge as follows: “The concession demanded of the university is to almost abandon its identity, for example to stop being a melting-pot of multinational students, and to lose its appeal as a space that promotes individual and public freedoms, becoming isolated from the city, an exclusive club. This contrasts with the university's apparent inclination to interact with the conditions of Lebanon and the region, especially with the reinvigoration of its student body and the revival of public discussion in its halls and even outside its walls. This inclination was emphasized with the October 2019 uprising, which confirmed the efficacy of the renowned American and Jesuit universities in shaping a general mood and an alternative political rhetoric and in arousing this legitimate ambition for a better Lebanon or a better Arab Levant.”
Inquisitors could ask: Why is the future of AUB important? The answer is simple: Because it transferred a series of new values to the region and produced an array of capable cadres spread across the globe, especially the Arab world. However, beyond that, and first and foremost, because it contributed, more than anything else, to transforming Beirut into a cosmopolitan city, and to making the neighborhood of Ras Beirut the first in the Middle East not to be formed by ties of kinship: The buildings of this neighborhood, where the university is located, is where Indians, British, Bahrainis, Palestinians, Sudanese, Americans and Iraqis took up residence alongside one another, Beirutis and those who had come down to Beirut from the countryside as individuals, rather than clans and tribes. Indeed, Lebanon’s recovery and that of the university are one and the same. So, being apprehensive is legitimate, if not a duty. Treating it is treating the ills of Lebanon, if not the region as a whole.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 18-19/2020
Jihadists Kill 20 In Northeast Nigeria Attack: Local Sources
AFP/NNAMay 18, 2020
Boko Haram jihadists killed 20 civilians in an attack on a village in restive northeastern Nigeria as inhabitants prepared to break their Ramadan fast, residents and local security personnel said Monday. Insurgents in several pickup trucks fired barrages of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) in the attack Sunday on homes in Gajiganna village as people gathered inside for the evening meal, the sources told AFP. “Boko Haram hit Gajiganna yesterday with RPGs and killed 20 people,” Babakura Kolo, a member of a government-backed anti-jihadist militia, told AFP. “Fourteen people were seriously injured and several buildings were destroyed in the attack.”Injured resident Bukar Gaji said from hospital that his wife was killed and three children were seriously wounded when a grenade hit their house. He said the fighters stationed themselves outside the village around 1715 GMT and launched RPGs at homes while residents were mostly indoors preparing to break their fast. Another resident, Adam Bura, said he had taken part in the burial of 20 people killed in the attack.Boko Haram fighters have waged a decade-long insurgency in the northeast of Nigeria that has killed more than 36,000 and displaced around 1.8 million. Gajiganna, which lies 50 kilometres (30 miles) outside the regional capital Maiduguri, has been repeatedly targeted by the jihadists.But the village had seen a lull in attacks since February when the militants killed a soldier and seized a gun truck in a raid on a military post.

Statement by Minister of Foreign Affairs on anniversary of deportation of Crimean Tatars
May 18, 2020 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement:
“This year marks the 76th anniversary of the forced deportation of Crimean Tatars by Soviet authorities in 1944.
“Canada does not forget this tragedy and the suffering endured by the hundreds of thousands of children, women and men forcibly deported from their ancestral homeland.
“Canada stands with the Crimean Tatar people in honouring the memory of those killed and all who suffered.
“Canada continues to be concerned by the ongoing human rights violations committed against Crimean Tatars in the Crimean Peninsula under Russian occupation, including the banning of the Mejlis – the self-governing body of the Crimean Tatars. We call on Russia to reverse this decision.
“Canada will always stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

US Congress members call for release of political prisoners in Turkey
Agencies/Arab News/May 18/2020
ISTANBUL: Several members of the US Congress have sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging the Turkish government to release political prisoners. In the letter, the members of Congress, including Ilhan Omar, also requested that Washington put conditions on US financial and material assistance to Turkey to ensure that the release of prisoners was carried out fairly. “We urge you to engage directly with the Turkish government on its COVID-19 prison policy to insist that release policies are offered equitably and consistently, and that certain groups in detention — particularly journalists, activists and other political prisoners — are not excluded for political purposes,” the Congress members said.The letter referred to Turkey’s recently passed amnesty law that released tens of thousands of prisoners as a measure against overcrowding in jails. However, the law was criticized for excluding those jailed on broadly applied terror charges that criminalized all dissidents, including journalists, politicians and right activists. “As we know from news media reports and human rights groups, many of those arrested on such charges include journalists, students, civil society leaders, human rights advocates and political opposition leaders who do not appear to either have demonstrable links to acts of terror or treason, or close and continuing associations with those engaged in such acts,” the Congress members said.
The latest 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices from the US State Department has criticized broad anti-terror legislation for restricting fundamental freedoms and the rule of law in Turkey, and documented several arbitrary arrest and detentions. However, Simon Waldman, an associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and a visiting research fellow at King’s College London, thinks that the letter to the US Secretary of State is unlikely to have any tangible effect. “It is late. Ankara’s decision to exclude political prisoners was already made one month ago and the members of Congress who signed the letter have little chance of influencing Mike Pompeo let alone the Oval Office,” he told Arab News. According to Waldman, Washington currently has little sway over Turkey’s policies toward political prisoners, and has no appetite for taking up the matter unless they are US nationals.
Andrew Brunson, a 50-year-old US pastor who was detained in Turkey for almost two years on terrorism charges and released in 2018, strained ties with the two NATO allies and drew the anger of US President Donald Trump who turned the case into a foreign policy priority of Washington toward Ankara.
The release of Brunson was considered to be linked to pressure from Trump as well as members of Congress, and their behind-door deals with Turkish officials to lift the crippling US sanctions that pushed the Turkish lira into freefall against the dollar. “Washington will view its relations with Ankara based on strategic calculations rather than human rights. The debate in Washington is not the extent to which fundamental freedoms have deteriorated in Turkey but rather the extent to which Turkey fits into US strategic interests,” Waldman said.Of the 300,000 prisoners in the country, around 50,000 are charged with terrorism — a charge that has been used to oppress the opposition. Among those imprisoned on terrorism charges are the former leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish political party Selahattin Demirtas, Osman Kavala, a prominent philanthropist and businessperson, and four journalists who were arrested for covering a Turkish intelligence officer’s death in Libya. A recent study by the Turkish Journalists’ Union revealed that about 79 percent of journalists working in Turkey are self-censoring over fear of being arrested under broadly defined terrorism charges.

Iran Supreme Leader says Americans will be expelled from Iraq and Syria
Reuters/May 18/2020
Americans will be expelled from Iraq and Syria, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday, renewing Iran’s demand for U.S. troops to be withdrawn from the Middle East. Iran almost got into a full-blown conflict with the United States when a U.S. drone strike killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3, prompting Tehran to retaliate with a missile barrage against a U.S. base in Iraq days later. Khamenei said Americans’ actions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria had led to them being hated, according to a transcript of a speech to students published on his website. “The Americans won’t stay in Iraq and Syria and will be expelled,” Khamenei said. Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had instructed the U.S. Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that harass it at sea, but said later he was not changing the military’s rules of engagement.
After Trump’s statement, the head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, Major General Hossein Salami, said that the Islamic Republic would destroy U.S. warships if its security is threatened in the Gulf. Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Gareth Jones and Andrew Heavens

New Israeli government: How far will unity counterbalance dissonance?
DebkaFile/May 18/2020
The coronavirus crisis has wedded two fundamentally dissonant political blocs, crowding them into an oversized “unity government.”The traditional long table around which the ministers held cabinet meetings in the past is not long enough to seat 36 ministers and, anyway, crowding is barred by coronavirus guidelines. In the first cabinet meeting on Sunday night, May 17, after their swearing in by a Knesset vote of 73 to 46, the ministers sat in rows on well-spaced chairs facing the two leaders, PM Binyamin Netanyahu and alternate PM Benny Gantz.
Looking around them, most of the new ministers encountered unfamiliar faces belonging to the opposite camp. They also found it hard to grasp the strange structures of the new departments. The Higher Education Minister, Zeev Elkin, was, for instance, also awarded Water Resources, Finance Minister Yisrael Katz was stripped of Government Corporations, and Community Advancement Minister Orly Levi Abakasis ended up with units that once belonged to the Community Development and Welfare Ministries. New Housing Minister, the UJA’s Yacov Litzman, had gained control of the Israel Land Authority.
The two prime ministers may decide that getting this odd ministerial choir to sing from the same page can’t be done overnight. Under their unity accord, each has veto power over the other’s legislation. Since both these features have the potential to deep-freeze the government’s ability to perform, Netanyahu and Gantz may well resort to a kitchen cabinet to get things done for the time being.The second priority listed by Netanyahu at Sunday’s first cabinet meeting was passing the state budget and reviving the economy, which would need time for restoring to its pre-pandemic level. The new government has a meager 90 days for presenting the budget to the Knesset.
Netanyahu’s first priority was the health crisis, which he warned could return at any moment. The third was continuing to combat Iran – its presence in Syria and acquisition of a nuclear bomb; the fourth was the “strategic threat” posed by the International Criminal Court’s probe of alleged Israel war crimes; and the fifth was the “diplomatic issue” of extending sovereignty to the Jewish areas of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley. He announced he intended to bring this step before the entire cabinet quickly.
On this item, the prime minister faces equivocation from his largely centrist and partially left-of-center partner who will find support from most of the the Knesset support – particularly if the international and regional fallout is severe. Jordan’s King Abdullah has already threatened a “massive confrontation” if this plan goes ahead. Europe is lining up for a major battle and Israel is bracing for a new surge of Palestinian terror. To keep a firm grip on his 18 months as prime minister, Netanyahu took care to consolidate a firm grip on the national purse strings: Katz as finance minister and Moshe Gafni (UJA), who stays put as chairman of the powerful Knesset Finance Committee. Through them, the prime minister can control the allocation of operating budgets to the assorted ministers and their departments.
With an unprecedented 26pc unemployment, more than 76,000 ruined businesses, including the entire tourist industry. all clamoring for aid, and a deepening deficit, broad budget cuts are unavoidable. Operating funds for the new ministers will be slashed to the minimum.The battle for allocations promises to be even more cutthroat than the fight for ministerial seats in the Likud party. Gantz, alternate prime minister who takes the wheel on Nov. 17, 2021, is meanwhile acting to shore up his ranks. He is pushing forward fast legislation requiring five of his Kahol Lavan party’s 18 ministers to relinquish their Knesset seats to make room for five new party lawmakers further down the list. Netanyahu’s most pressing priority is bound to be the opening next Sunday of his long-awaited trial before the Jerusalem District Court on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of faith. Questioned after he was sworn in on Sunday night, he said he would present himself for trial. “I don’t think that there will be a single stone left of the fake charges against me. This is a joke, but I will be there and do what is demanded by the law.”

Israel FM Says Trump Plan 'Historic', Peace Deals Crucial
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 18/2020
Israel's new foreign minister said Monday that U.S, President Donald Trump's Middle East peace proposal offered an "historic opportunity" but that regional peace deals must be maintained during its implementation.
Gabi Ashkenazi, who became Israel's top diplomat when a new unity government was sworn in on Sunday, made the comments at a transition ceremony in Jerusalem. "The plan will be promoted responsibly and in coordination with the United States, while maintaining peace agreements and the strategic interests of Israel," Ashkenazi said according to a copy of his remarks seen by AFP.  Right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, in comments shortly before his new government was sworn in, that it was time for Israel to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Such settlements, home to some 400,000 Jews in the West Bank, are considered illegal under international law. Annexing those communities is a key provision of the Trump plan, which has been rejected by the Palestinians and criticized by much of the international community. Ashkenazi is a political ally of former Netanyahu rival Benny Gantz, the alternate prime minister and defense minister in the new unity government.  The foreign minister did not specifically mention annexation in praising Trump's plan, which also calls for the creation of a Palestinian state with a capital outside of Jerusalem.The Trump plan also gives a green light from Washington for Israel to annex the strategically crucial Jordan Valley, an area on the border with Jordan that accounts for roughly 30 percent of the West Bank.  Jordan's King Abdullah II, speaking to German magazine Der Spiegel days ago, said: "If Israel really annexes the West Bank in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan."Jordan and Egypt are the two countries in the Arab world that have signed peace treaties with Israel. Referencing those deals, Ashkenazi said "peace with our neighbors is also a strategic asset and we must safeguard it."
Under the terms of the coalition deal agreed by Netanyahu and the centrist Gantz, the unity government can begin action to implement Trump's plan from July 1. The European Union has said it was considering various diplomatic actions to stop unilateral Israeli annexations in the West Bank.

China to Send Team to Israel to Collect Envoy's Remains
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 18/2020
China is sending a team to Israel to repatriate the body of its ambassador who died at his home in Tel Aviv, reportedly from natural causes, an Israeli diplomatic source said Monday. The Chinese officials were due in Israel "in the coming days" said the source, requesting anonymity. It was not clear whether they would have to enter mandatory 14-day coronavirus quarantine before being cleared for movement within Israel. Late ambassador Du Wei was 57 when he was found dead at his home in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, on Sunday.
Israel sent forensic experts and police to the scene as part of normal diplomatic procedure, police said. China's foreign ministry said Sunday that "health reasons" were the presumed cause of Du's death but that a definitive finding had not yet been reached. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters Monday that Beijing was "doing its best regarding the funeral arrangements."

U.N. Says Coronavirus is 'Wake-Up Call' for the World

Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 18/2020
The coronavirus pandemic should serve as a "wake-up call" to the world which must be more united in responding to the crisis, UN chief Antonio Guterres said Monday. The secretary-general said COVID-19 was the "greatest challenge of our age" and had demonstrated the world's fragility, as nations went their own way in tackling the pandemic. Guterres said the crisis was an opportunity to rebuild a better world -- but he questioned whether countries were up to it. Despite great scientific and technological advances in recent decades, a virus had "brought us to our knees", the United Nations chief said at the start of a virtual meeting of the World Health Organization's (WHO) World Health Assembly. He said the pandemic had exposed the frailties not just in health systems but in international institutions, tackling the climate crisis, cyber-security and nuclear disarmament. "COVID-19 must be a wake-up call. It is time for an end to the hubris," Guterres said, slamming countries for their disjointed approach. "We have seen some solidarity, but very little unity in our response to COVID-19. "Different countries have followed different, sometimes contradictory strategies and we are all paying a heavy price. "Many countries have ignored the recommendations of the World Health Organization."As a result, the virus has spread across the world." He said COVID-19 was now spreading in the southern hemisphere, where its impact might be "even more devastating."
'Rebuild differently and better'
Guterres reiterated his call for a WHO-led international response, expanded mental health services and policies to address the social and economic problems caused by the crisis. "Unless we control the spread of the virus, the economy will never recover," the secretary-general said. The former Portuguese prime minister and former head of the U.N. refugee agency said the recovery from the crisis must lead to more equal and sustainable economies. It is "an opportunity to rebuild differently and better," he said, referring to the climate crisis and flawed social protection systems."Instead of going back to systems that were unsustainable, we need to make a leap into a future of clean energy, inclusivity and equality, and stronger safety nets, including universal health coverage." But he asked: "We can do it, but will we? m"Either we get through this pandemic together, or we fail."

WHO Pledges Pandemic Response Probe at 'Earliest Appropriate Moment'

Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 18/2020
World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pledged Monday to launch an independent probe to review the coronavirus pandemic response as soon as possible.
"I will initiate an independent evaluation at the earliest appropriate moment to review experience gained and lessons learned and to make recommendations to improve national and global pandemic preparedness and response," he said at the start of the WHO's annual World Health Assembly.

Putin Sounds Alarm over Virus Crisis in Dagestan
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 18/2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday the coronavirus situation in Dagestan required urgent attention after a top official said hundreds of people in the region might have died from the virus. "The situation in the Republic of Dagestan is complicated and of course calls for additional -- and urgent measures," Putin told a meeting in Moscow. He said the poor North Caucasus region -- which has the fifth-highest number of coronavirus cases in Russia -- should receive additional equipment, medicines and tests. "I want you to know and be assured -- all of Russia will be with Dagestan now," he said, addressing residents of the region. According to the most recent official tally released on Monday, Dagestan has reported 3,460 coronavirus cases and just 29 deaths. However, the local health minister said Saturday that more than 12,600 people were suffering from the coronavirus and pneumonia. Speaking in an interview with a local blogger, Dzhamaludin Gadzhiibragimov added that 657 people had died of pneumonia in the region.Over 40 medics have died from coronavirus or pneumonia in Dagestan, Gadzhiibragimov added. Critics accuse the Russian authorities of under-reporting the number of deaths to downplay the scale of the crisis. In particular, opponents have accused the government of manipulating the figures by passing coronavirus deaths off as community-acquired pneumonia and other conditions. Patients with more severe cases of COVID-19 may develop pneumonia, according to the World Health Organization.
The regional health ministry was not available for comment on Monday.The Russian authorities have denied falsifying the numbers, saying they are only counting deaths caused directly by the coronavirus. Many medical workers in Dagestan and elsewhere have complained of shortages of protective gear and say medics are dying at a higher rate in Russia than elsewhere.

Afghan President Ghani and Rival Abdullah Sign Power-Sharing Deal
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 18/2020
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah signed a power-sharing deal on Sunday, ending a bitter months-long feud that plunged the country into political crisis. The breakthrough, which sees Abdullah heading peace talks with the Taliban, comes as Afghanistan battles a rapid spread of the deadly coronavirus and surging militant violence that saw dozens killed in brutal attacks last week. The United States and NATO welcomed the agreement, with both calling for a renewed peace push in the war-wracked country.
"Doctor Abdullah will lead the National Reconciliation High Commission and members of his team will be included in the cabinet," Ghani spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter. Abdullah's spokesman, Fraidoon Khawzoon, told AFP the agreement ensures that Abdullah's group will get 50 percent of cabinet positions and other provincial governors' posts.Ghani hailed a "historic day" for Afghanistan, noting that the agreement was reached without any international mediation. "We will share the burden and our shoulders, God willing, will be lighter," he said, addressing Abdullah at the signing ceremony broadcast on a state-run television channel. "In the days ahead, we hope that with unity and cooperation, we would be able to first pave the ground for a ceasefire and then lasting peace." Abdullah said the deal commits to forming a "more inclusive, accountable and competent administration". "It's meant to ensure a path to peace, improve governance, protect rights, respect laws and values," he said on Twitter after signing the deal. The agreement says that Ghani will make Abdul Rashid Dostum, his former vice president turned ally of Abdullah, a marshal of the armed forces.
Dostum, a notorious former warlord, is accused of ordering the torture and rape of a political rival in 2016.
Political settlement a U.S. 'priority' -
The United States, which wants to salvage the peace process and end its involvement in what has become its longest war, expressed hope that talks could now move forward. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Ghani and Abdullah "that the priority for the United States remains a political settlement to end the conflict," his spokeswoman said in a statement. NATO, which maintains a training mission in Afghanistan, issued a similar message. "We call on the Taliban to live up to their commitments, reduce violence now, take part in intra-Afghan negotiations, and make real compromise for lasting peace," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.
U.S. pressure on rivals
Pictures released by the presidential palace showed Abdullah and Ghani sitting side-by-side for the signing ceremony, while leading Afghan figures including former president Hamid Karzai looked on. Abdullah had previously served as Afghanistan's "chief executive" under an earlier power-sharing arrangement, but lost that post after he was defeated in a presidential election that incumbent Ghani -- a former World Bank economist -- won in September amid claims of fraud. Abdullah, an ophthalmologist, declared himself president and held his own swearing-in ceremony on March 9, the day Ghani was re-installed as president. Experts feel Sunday's deal could help pull Afghanistan out of political crisis. In February, the Taliban signed a landmark accord with Washington to clear the way for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan, but intra-Afghan talks have stalled. "It is now expected that these leaders resolve the problems that Afghanistan faces such as the coronavirus and peace talks with the Taliban," Kabul-based political analyst Sayed Nasir Musawi told AFP. He said "immense pressure" from the United States pushed the rivals to agree to the deal. Abdullah and Ghani also contested the 2014 presidential election, with both claiming victory. To avert a full-blown conflict, then-U.S. secretary of state John Kerry brokered a deal between the two that left Abdullah as the country's chief executive. But after a similar impasse in March, an exasperated Pompeo lashed out at their failure to reach an agreement, and announced a $1 billion cut in aid to Afghanistan. With the impoverished country's GDP just $20 billion, the cut was a devastating blow to its donor-dependent economy.
- 'Genuine peace' -
Several residents in the capital Kabul expressed skepticism at the deal.
"If they really want to work for the country ... they have to bring genuine peace to the country -- that is the only thing the majority of Afghans want," said Rashed Hashemi, an employee at a private company. U.S. President Donald Trump has made leaving Afghanistan a priority. The February deal stipulates that the U.S. and its foreign allies will withdraw all forces by early 2021. In return, the Taliban agreed not to attack foreign troops. But fighting between the Taliban and Afghan forces rages on, with both sides threatening to go on the offensive after two attacks last week that left dozens dead, including mothers and infants slain at a hospital in Kabul. The Taliban have denied responsibility for the maternity ward attack, which the U.S. blamed on the Islamic State group.

Xi Says China Supports Inquiry 'after Pandemic Brought under Control'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 18/2020
China supports a "comprehensive evaluation" of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic after it "has been brought under control," President Xi Jinping told the World Health Assembly on Monday. Xi told the virtual meeting via video that China has "always had an open, transparent and responsible attitude," and had shared information on the virus in a timely manner.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 18-19/2020
Withdrawing US troops from the Sinai could break a fragile peace
Dr. Eric R. Mandel/The Hill/May 18/2020
د. اريك منديال: سحب القوات الأميركية من سيناء سيقوض سلام هش في المنطقة
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/86339/dr-eric-r-mandel-withdrawing-us-troops-from-the-sinai-could-break-a-fragile-peace-%d8%af-%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%83-%d9%85%d9%86%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%a7%d9%84-%d8%b3%d8%ad%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%88/
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper reportedly is considering ending America’s 40-year peacekeeping presence in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. His impulse isn’t new; the Obama administration also contemplated removing U.S. troops from harm’s way in the Sinai because of escalating threats posed by ISIS and other Salafist militias. The idea was to replace soldiers with drone surveillance and other high-technology warning systems.
American troops have been stationed in the Sinai since the U.S.-mediated 1979 peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, which returned the peninsula to Egypt in exchange for diplomatic relations with Israel. A cold peace has endured since, benefiting both countries.
The treaty called for a multinational force that has monitored the area since 1982, with the largest contingent from the United States. For many years this was an easy assignment, but after the Arab Winter of 2011 things began to change. First, the Egyptian people elected Mohamed Morsi as president, elevating the Muslim Brotherhood to power and destabilizing the relationship with Israel. The Brotherhood is an Islamist organization and the parent of Hamas, and the Israeli fear was that an open border between the Sinai and Gaza under Morsi’s government would allow weapons and money to freely flow to terrorists.
Fortunately, the Egyptian people rose up against the Morsi government and returned the presidency to another authoritarian military leader who viewed the Brotherhood as a threat and saw Hamas as an enemy. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi values his nation’s relationship with Israel and the United States, despite American criticism of his reported human rights abuses and U.S. financial punishment for his instigating the 2013 coup that ousted Morsi. Israel lobbied the Obama administration not to decrease aid to Egypt, because that would undermine the peace treaty.
In the wake of the failed Arab Winter, neighboring Arab regimes became vulnerable and into the vacuum stepped ISIS with its goal of worldwide jihad and hegemony. ISIS’s brutal killings, misogyny and kidnappings stunned the world into action. As its caliphate grew, it propagated branches throughout the Muslim world, including the Sinai, where jihadists killed scores of Egyptian civilians and soldiers, making the territory a no-man’s land. This destabilized Egypt and threatened Israel from its south.
In response, the United States withdrew into its two main bases, one in the northern Sinai and one in the south near Sharm el-Sheikh. This is similar to what the U.S. did last year in Iraq when it withdrew troops from more vulnerable outlying outposts to reposition them into more defensive positions at large bases. However, unlike in Iraq, American soldiers in the Sinai are not often targeted, especially in the south. And the U.S. presence plays an important intelligence and monitoring role for both Israeli and Egyptian security.
With the coronavirus pandemic, all branches of the U.S. government are under pressure to decrease spending, which may be why the Department of Defense would consider ending the U.S. presence in Sinai, despite a commitment to remain there indefinitely.
Does it still benefit the U.S. to keep peacekeeping forces in the Sinai? Unlike in Iraq, where the parliament voted for a complete American troop withdrawal after the U.S. assassinated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards leader Qassem Soleimani in January, both Israel and Egypt want the U.S. to remain in the Sinai as a force for stability. In the U.S., there has been bipartisan support for continuing the multinational force.
From an Israeli security perspective, withdrawal is disconcerting. This month, Israel Defense Forces chief Aviv Kochavi communicated this position to his American counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Israel counts on America’s presence and is concerned about Egypt’s military, despite the peace treaty. Egyptian military strategists still consider Israel the leading military threat, although Israel has allowed Egypt to move more military assets into the Sinai to fight ISIS and the continued Salafist insurgency. There is no assurance that a future Egyptian military leader will respect the treaty, or would ever consider demilitarizing the Sinai.
Middle East security can change in an instant. Egypt attacked Israel in three wars, and today’s Egyptian people are still fed anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic rhetoric. This can create fertile ground for future conflicts, as can the poverty in which many of Egypt’s 90 million people live.
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If the U.S. leaves the Sinai, it could empower Islamists to step up attacks not only there but in the Egyptian heartland. A collapsing Egypt would threaten not only Israel but also its neighbors and the world at large, because it could become a staging ground for terrorist operations, threaten international shipping through the Suez Canal, and make possible the Brotherhood’s return to power. It was a mistake for President Obama to withdraw troops from Iraq in 2011 and for President Trump to try to leave Syria’s Kurds in 2019. It would similarly be a mistake to remove American forces from the Sinai because it would show the world that the U.S. is an unreliable ally.
*Dr. Eric R. Mandel is the director of MEPIN, the Middle East Political Information Network. He briefs members of Congress and their foreign policy aides on the geo-politics of the Middle East. Follow him on Twitter @MepinOrg.

How Iran Uses Cultural Centers To Expand Its Influence In Latin America
Tereza Dvorakova/Radio Farda/May 18/2020
راديو فردا: ايران تستغل وتستعمل المركز الثقافية لبسط وتوسيع نفوذها في أميركا اللاتينية
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/86336/radio-farda-how-iran-uses-cultural-centers-to-expand-its-influence-in-latin-america-%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%88-%d9%81%d8%b1%d8%af%d8%a7-%d8%a7%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%aa%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%ba/
Buenaventura is one of the most violent and poorest cities in Colombia. In one of the most dangerous neighborhoods, a music sang by children voices is wafting from a house with a big sign saying Mezquita in front of it. It is a mosque and a headquarters of the local Shia Muslim community led by Sheikh Munir Valencia, a Colombian cleric who got educated in Iran.
Munir Valencia was born in Buenaventura. His mother raised him to be a proper Christian. When he was preparing to go to service of God and work in a church, he met a girl from a Muslim family which made him question his religion and eventually he converted. As a new ardent Muslim, he was offered a scholarship to study in a famous mosque in Buenos Aires under a prominent Iranian cleric Mohsen Rabbani.
As he later proved his talent and devotion to Islam, he and his wife were given an opportunity to study in Qom. As he describes, he got everything for free, starting from education and accommodation to transportation and other benefits. Once he came back, he started to run an educational and cultural center as well as a local mosque to practice his religion and share it with the community.
Munir Valencia is not the only one in Latin America who converted to Shia Islam and traveled to Qom to get an Islamic education to spread in local communities. In fact, Iranians have built a well-structured and systematic network of cultural centers and local mosques usually led by converts trained in Iran with an aim to recruit local people and increase Tehran’s influence in the region.
As Emanuele Ottolenghi, an expert on activities of Iran in Latin America from Foundation for Defense of Democracies, explains “When people convert, they travel to Iran and the trip is fully funded by the regime. It is usually a two-month trip during which they take classes, see the Iranian [religious] culture, holy sites, or battlefields of the Iraq- Iran war. Part of this process is designed to identify the most talented students because most of them come back or stay in Qom even for years to train to become clerics.”
When they come back, their role is clear –promote their religion and the Iranian regime. The cultural centers seem to be the most convenient way to do so as it allows them to organize events, publish texts in Spanish or spread their message on social media.
The cultural centers are integrated in a systematic network spearheaded by an organization called Islam Oriente. “They have a whole range of publications for the Hispanic community, they overwhelmingly produce in Spanish but they also started to publish in Portuguese and the range of publications is impressive – they have a quarterly journal that is history, philosophy, theology or they also have publications for children called Los Angelitos,” summarizes Ottolenghi.
The organization is based in Qom and is led by Mohsen Rabbani, one of the leading persons in Iranian operations in Latin America who came to Argentina at the beginning of 1980’s to spread the message of the Islamic revolution. According to Argentinian judicial authorities, Mohsen Rabbani was implicated in the bombing of a Jewish Community Center (AMIA) in Buenos Aires in 1994. Based on the information of an investigation report by Alberto Niesman, Argentinian government issued a still-standing international arrest warrant and an INTERPOL red notice which forced him to leave Argentina and move back to Iran.
Prior to his departure, Rabbani proved to be very successful in his missionary work guiding numerous converts and helping them to strengthen their faith. He has developed especially strong relationship with the Argentinian-born Lebanese descendant Suhail Assad who has become one of the most prominent figures in Iranian propaganda campaign in Latin America.
“Suhail Assad was born in Buenos Aires; he went to university where he studied theater and acting. However, he found out he had some sort of spiritual epiphany, so he decided to journey back to Lebanon to the village of his ancestors. He was probably recruited because he started to study there to become a cleric and eventually moved over to Iran where he was ordained as a cleric in Qom in a seminary for foreign students. From there he eventually became in charge of spreading the word in Latin America,” says Ottolenghi.
Assad is also the face of Iranian propaganda as he has hosted several religious programs broadcast on HispanTV, he has been a subject of a documentary movie about his life and hosted a documentary series about Muslim converts in several countries on the continent.
Although he is generally located in Qom, he often travels across Latin America to carry out missionary work, giving lectures at universities and helping locals to establish their cultural centers. According to open sources, he has laid the foundations of more than 20 Islamic centers in Latin America and has visited more than 80 universities, lecturing about the Islamic Revolution in Iran or about Shia Islam.
This way, Assad has become an important link between local cultural centers and the Qom-based sponsoring organization, Islam Oriente. This connection is further enhanced by an Islam Oriente operation called Center for Iranian-Latin American Cultural Exchange which is based in Caracas and where Suhail Assad is usually operating from while travelling in Latin America.
Having extensive ties in Latin American Shia Islamic community and close relationship with Mohsen Rabbani, he has been associated with several international watch terrorism lists or connected to the 1994 AMIA attack due to which he was banned from entering to Mexico.
Assad is also a brother-in-law of Argentinian cleric, who succeeded Rabbani at the Buenos Aires at-Tauhid mosque and Rabbani’s first convert and right-hand man, Abdul Karim Paz. Due to the close relation with Suhail Assad, Abdul Karim Paz very often appears in his shows on Hispan TV explaining Shia principles of Islam. According to Emanuele Ottolenghi “he is reportedly in charge of accompanying coverts from Latin America to Iran.” He has also helped to establish several cultural centers in Chile and Bolivia. In a book called Iran’s Strategic Penetration of Latin America he is described as an influential person “managing Mohsen Rabbani missionary operations targeting Argentinians and also in developing the younger generation of Islamists in Argentina such as Suhail Assad.”
Iranian operation in Latin America, however, extends beyond the Spanish speaking world. In Brazilian capital Sao Paulo, it is possible to find several Iranian cultural centers. Two of them, Islamic Benevolent Religious Organization and center Arresala, are operated by Sheikh Taleb Hussein al-Khazraji, an Iraqi born cleric who was sent to Brazil not long after Mohsen Rabbani. “Al-Khazraji has been involved in Iran’s network since the early 80’s. Before he came to Sao Paolo in 1989, he was in Tanzania,” explains Ottolenghi.
His name is also mentioned in the investigation documents of 1994 attack in Buenos Aires as an “employee of Iranian government who recruits believers to get them closer to Tehran.”
Bilal Mohsen Wehbe is another character who has been operating alongside Khazraji and who was sanctioned ten years ago by the United States as a “chief representative of Hezbollah in Latin America” as he, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury “had relayed information and directives between Hizballah leaders in Lebanon and Hizballah elements in South America.” He has been active in the mosque until recently.
Iran has a very detailed and structured strategy to expand its influence. The cultural system is based on three pillars which are linked in a certain hierarchy. Islam Oriente from Qom spearheads the network in Latin America by its operational Center for Iranian-Latin American Cultural Exchange based in Caracas. The local cultural centers are connected by these two organizations and are usually led by locals who were recruited by one of the missionaries or clerics such as Mohsen Rabbani, Suhail Assad or Taleb Khazraji.
ccording to Emanuele Ottolenghi, they are successful in their operations. “They don’t take everybody – the recruitment process is very slow, they vet people very carefully before they bring them onboard. So, they do not recruit tens of thousands of people, but they are more likely in hundreds. However, the people they bring onboard tend to be true believers through and through - the part of that is that they indoctrinate them for years because they need them for a lifetime to slowly win over civil society.”

Don’t Bail Out Tehran’s Precision Guided Munitions Project
Jonathan Schanzer and Bradley Bowman/FDD/May 18/2020
Iran, amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, is demanding sanctions relief. Lebanon, too, is looking for a financial bailout after defaulting on a Eurobond. Neither should get the financial aid they are requesting.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon are undertaking a dangerous and determined campaign to field a precision-guided munitions (PGMs) arsenal across the Middle East. These weapons are as deadly as they are accurate. They can strike within a few meters of an intended target. They represent a grave threat to U.S. and allied forces stationed across the Middle East. They also pose a threat to Israel and Gulf Arab allies in the region.
It’s a safe bet that Tehran’s PGM project was a topic of conversation during Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Israel this week.
The Middle East is already grappling with the threat of precision attack from Tehran. Iran launched cruise missiles and drones at the Abqaiq oil facility in September of last year. This is the Saudi Aramco facility that also happens to be the largest crude oil stabilization plant in the world. The aim of the Iranian regime was to blow the price of oil sky high. Thankfully, the facility was only taken offline for a few weeks.
In early January of this year, after the U.S. targeted IRGC leader Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian regime used ballistic missiles to precisely strike two bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops. That missile attack was a harbinger of a conflict that could be on the horizon.
Tehran, along with its violent proxies in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, are now working assiduously, even during the Coronavirus pandemic, to convert an arsenal of unguided rockets and missiles into smart ones. Unguided rockets often miss their targets. Missile defense systems can easily knock them out of the sky. But Iran’s new PGMs can potentially maneuver in flight, evading air defenses. If enough are fired, they can also overwhelm current defenses.
The Israelis, in particular, are getting nervous. And rightfully so. Official sources suggest that Hezbollah may be producing a PGM or more each day, accruing an arsenal measured in the dozens or hundreds. That may not seem like many to readers, not in the line of fire. But to Israel and its citizens, it could be a matter of life and death.
Combining a barrage of thousands of unguided missiles and rockets with hundreds of PGMs could enable Hezbollah to penetrate Israeli defenses. The result could be a catastrophic attack on Israel’s chemical plant in Haifa or Ben Gurion International Airport with the relative impact of a tactical nuclear or chemical weapons strike.
While accepting assistance from the U.S. and other and Western countries, the Lebanese Armed Forces have sat on their hands as Hezbollah has pursued this deadly project. This inaction has put the country on the precipice of yet another war in which the Lebanese people will be the primary victims.
Similarly, the internationally funded United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has done little to nothing to stop Hezbollah from acquiring its arsenal of PGMs. Remarkably, international donors are now debating a bailout for Lebanon, even as the PGM crisis mounts.
Similarly, there is a debate about sanctions relief for Tehran. Advocates for assistance cite the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the global pandemic. But this ignores the fact that U.S. sanctions, which are singularly designed to inhibit the regime’s malign activities, do not target or prevent the supply of medical devices, food, or medicine to Iran. Sanctions relief would simply provide the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism more money to fund its PGM project.
It’s also important to note that the PGM project costs money — tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars. Tehran’s efforts to train engineers, purchase parts, and funnel PGM parts by way of Syria and Iraq into Lebanon all cost money. This is money the regime could have spent on its own people. This was money that the regime now cynically says it doesn’t have in order to fight the virus.
Neither the regime in Tehran nor in Beirut deserves financial assistance. Tehran is guilty of bringing the Middle East closer to war, even amidst a public health crisis. Beirut is guilty of standing by idly as the danger grows.
It is not too late for concerted multilateral action to stop the PGM project, but time is running short. And unconditional financial bailouts are not the answer.
*Jonathan Schanzer is senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Bradley Bowman serves as senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power. Follow Jon on Twitter @JSchanzer and follow Brad @Brad_L_Bowman.

Are Iran’s Afghan ‘cannon fodder’ in Syrian corridor to confront US?
Seth J. Frantman/Jerusalem Post/May 18/2020
Iran’s role in Syria was mentioned by the US State Department as part of discussions between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent visit to Israel.
A parade of fighters from the Zaynabiyoun brigade of Pakistani Shi’ites was seen in Albukamal Syria, near the Iraqi border recently. Other members of an Afghan unit, called Fatemiyoun, were also present. Hundreds of the men took part in a parade. They may be increasing activities to help protect a key road that helps transport Iranian weapons to Hezbollah via Syria. They may also be present as part of Iran’s plan to create a network of units along the road.
Albukamal and Deir Ezzor in Syria, along the Euphrates river across from where US-led Coalition forces and their Syrian Democratic Forces partners are located. Hezbollah members have been photographed in the same area. Ostensibly some of the public activity of these groups is linked to religious events for Ramadan.
Iran’s role in Syria was mentioned by the US State Department as part of discussions between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent visit to Israel. Reports in Israeli media in early May indicated that Iran might be withdrawing some of the 1,000 personnel it has in Syria in response to airstrikes that had hit Iranian sites in recent months. However other reports, by US Syria Envoy James Jeffrey, said Iran still sought a strategic corridor in Syria to use Syria as a base of attacks against Israel and to arm Hezbollah with precision guided munitions. Iranian backed militias have not left their posts near Albukamal. There appears to be concerted social media campaign to expose the role of the Zaynabiyioun units between Albukamal and Deir Ezzor. ‘Sada Al-Sharqieh’ has been posting about their role.
Meanwhile a separate set of rumors indicate Russia may be taking efforts against Iran’s role in Deir Ezzor. Omar Abu Layla, who covers and tweets about issues in the region with Deir Ezzor 24, wrote on May 14 that Russia “continues to take bolder steps against Iran in Deir Ezzor.” It may be recruiting its own units in the area to compensate for Iran’s attempt to recruit militias and station them along the corridor.
A third piece of the puzzle includes new images published by ImageSat International that show a new tunnel at Iran’s Imam Ali base near Albukamal. Initial reports of another tunnel had also been published by ImageSat on December 10. In December the Fatemiyun had threatened Israel in new videos. This area was struck by the US in December and again by an unknown air force in March. The Imam Ali base appears to have been constructed in the wake of the June 2018 airstrikes that eviscerated an Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah base near Albukamal. It was first revealed in September 2019.
A US State Department official, commenting on the Iranian threat in Syria on May 13, said that “you see things oftentimes blowing up in Syria,” a cryptic comment meant to indicate that Iran’s shipments across Syria are in danger. Is it a coincidence that the next day the images of the parade of IRGC-recruited Afghans and Pakistanis appeared? It could be a message. A new camp was reportedly opened for these units in the Imam Ali base area.
Asharq al-Awsat, the London-based publication, put out a report on May 14 asserting that “the US, Russia and Israel are pushing to block a strategic road corridor between Tehran and Beirut.” According to this narrative the attempt to interdict the Iranians and their militias also involves the US-backed SDF who are located in eastern Syria and also the Maghawir al-Thawra, or MaT unit of US-backed Syrian rebels located in Tanf base near Jordan. The Iranian corridor runs between these two US-backed jaws, with Tanf on one side and the SDF in Baghouz on the other. But the Russians, who back the Assad regime, want the US to leave. Iran also wants the US removed from Iraq and Syria. Stories of Russia confronting Iran in Syria are in contrast to stories arguing Iran is now flying into Russia’s Khmeimim airbase in Syria. Another report last night reported a Russian air force plane flying via Iran to Syria. There appears to be more activity at Khmeimim as Cham Wings flights keep flying from there to Libya where Russia backs one side in the civil war. Any idea that the US and Russia might cooperate would also seem to be in contrast to Jeffrey’s comments about making Syria a “quagmire” for Russia. Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah also recently rejected theories that Iran and Russia are competing in Syria. He blamed Israel for strikes on missile production facilities in Syria.
The overall picture in Syria is one of confusion. On the one hand it is clear that Iran’s Afghan and Pakistan mercenaries are increasingly visible in the Albukamal-Deir Ezzor corridor. Previously Iranian-backed Iraqi militias had been using this area as well. They continue to control the Iraqi side of the border under the banner of the Hashd al-Sha’abi or Popular Mobilization Units. Satellite photos show construction at the Imam Ali base and it seems the Afghan and Pakistani units play a role there.
The idea that the US and Russia would somehow confront Iran’s presence seems unlikely. Iran and Russia continue to work together in Syria. The fact that the US wants to make Syria a “quagmire” for Russia and the fact the US is confronting Russia and Iran in Venezuela runs counter to a strategy to talk with Russia about Iran’s role in Syria. The idea that the SDF and units in Tanf could be activated against Iran’s role also seems unlikely. They may serve as a way to conceal intelligence collection, but active attacks on Iranian mercenaries seems impossible, considering the SDF must also deal with the regime and Russia in northern Syria and must deal with ISIS sleeper cells and apparently is helping the US guard oil wells. They are more a blocking force to Iran’s goal, than a way to remove Iran. What is clear, is that many people have an interest in revealing Iran’s role in the corridor to put a spotlight on the role of Iranian-backed groups.

ISIS tried to destroy this church, now Muslims and Christians join hands to rebuild
Emily Judd, Al Arabiya English/Sunday 17 May 2020
As many churches around the world face dire financial straits and struggle to survive due to the coronavirus pandemic, one church is rising from the ashes in the most unlikely of places: former ISIS territory.
ISIS, which ruled the Iraqi city of Mosul from 2014 to 2016, damaged or destroyed every church in the city including the “Our Lady of the Hour” Church, also known as Al Saa’a Church.
Established in the 19th century, the Our Lady of the Hour church was the base for the Roman Catholic parish in Northern Iraq and Kurdistan - until ISIS damaged its structure, looted and ransacked its convent, and drove its worshippers out of the area.
Now the historical monument is being rebuilt through a partnership between UNESCO, the United Arab Emirates, and the Roman Catholic Dominican order. Christians and Muslims have joined forces for the initiative, part of UNESCO’s “Revive the Spirit of Mosul” project.
The remnants of the church are evidence of the solid Christian presence the city once had, before ISIS drove out religious minorities under the threat of death.
About 50 Christian families remain in Mosul, according to Father Olivier Poquillon, a Dominican Catholic priest who is overseeing the reconstruction of the church.
Christians have hesitated to return to the city because of the post-war environment.
Many Christians in Iraq are now internally displaced peoples (IDPs) and are “carefully watching what is developing in Mosul and whether it will be possible for them to return home,” said Father Poquillon in an interview with Al Arabiya English, adding that the renovation of a Christian place of worship will be a welcoming sign.
Reviving Mosul
Several key landmarks in Mosul that capture the historic diversity of the city are under reconstruction after being targeted by ISIS. The restoration is bringing citizens from different communities together again, said Poquillon.
The UAE has committed over $50 million to rebuilding the cultural heritage of Mosul, including the Our Lady of the Hour church and the Al Tahera Church of Syriac Catholics. The UAE is the first country in the world to spearhead the reconstruction of Christian churches in Iraq.
Poquillon said reconstruction of the churches would not have been possible without the generous contribution of the UAE, which serves as “a model of engagement for the mutual benefit and full commitment of all in building peace.”
UAE Minister for Culture and Knowledge Development Noura Al Kaabi has expressed hope Christians will return to Mosul and that the city’s repaired sites will be a symbol for the future of the country.
“By rebuilding a fraction of the past, Iraq can shape its future as an inclusive, tolerant and open society, which has always found a tangible manifestation in Mosul’s rich historical sites,” said Al Kaabi during remarks at a UNESCO meeting on October 10.
The UAE is also rebuilding Mosul’s 12th century Al Nuri mosque, which ISIS blew up in 2017.
In rebuilding two churches and one mosque, the project is an example of being united in diversity for mutual benefit in the community, said Poquillon.
Christian homecoming
ISIS didn’t just damage Mosul’s ancient buildings, but also the city’s social fabric and unity.
The return of Mosul’s Christian population depends on many factors other than having a building of worship, including safety, basic facilities, quality education, and economic opportunities.
“Some Christians are already working in Mosul, but the main challenge will be to rebuild trust among peoples and communities. ‘Reviving the Spirit of Mosul’ may play a positive role in that direction,” said Poquillon.
The UNESCO project has so far contracted four Iraqi companies and employed 27 locals to carry out the restoration of the holy sites. It also aims to create training and job opportunities for over 1,000 young people in the city of Mosul and contribute to the local economy by building up cultural tourism.
Especially following COVID-19’s impact on the Iraqi economy, the project will now play a role “in supporting the population in rebuilding the landscape of the city,” according to Poquillon.
This is not the first time Mosul is overcoming destruction, as the city’s position at an ancient crossroads made it subject to violence from many directions, said Poquillon.
“But since antiquity it has always been able to rebuild itself. Let’s hope that this spirit of resilience will prevail and allow peoples of good will to rebuild Mosul together,” he said.

The dangers of Iran’s military mistakes
Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/May 18/2020
The Iranian navy last week announced that 19 sailors had been killed and 15 wounded in a “friendly fire” incident, when its support vessel Konarak was hit by a new anti-ship missile being tested by the Jamaran frigate during drills in the Gulf of Oman. Iranian state TV said the incident took place off Bandar-e-Jask in southern Iran after the Konarak had towed a practice target to its destination but failed to move far enough away.
It is noteworthy that the Iranian leadership has remained silent about the number of fatalities and the reasons for the incident. It has not released video footage to indicate how the fatal mistake happened, even though Iran usually documents its naval drills exhaustively, raising further suspicions about the reality of the incident.
A few months before this, in January of this year, Iranian forces shot down a Ukrainian jetliner shortly after it took off from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board. In the three days following this incident, regime officials repeatedly denied any involvement, claiming that human error by the pilots or aviation personnel might have caused the plane to crash. As evidence of the regime’s culpability mounted, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that a missile had been fired mistakenly and hit the plane.
Video footage of the incident recorded by Iranian citizens and subsequently uploaded to social media demonstrated, however, that the plane had been hit by two missiles, rather than one, prompting the regime to admit that it had shot down the airliner. Regime officials refused to hand over the black boxes from the destroyed plane.After the Ukrainian jetliner was downed, the media in Iran blamed a lack of coordination between Iran’s air defense forces and the airport’s command center. However, the media was not brave enough to put the regime in the dock and hold it accountable for the incident.
It is also clear from last week’s naval incident that, while the IRGC is the primary subject of attention in analyzing the regime’s military capabilities, the army, which supersedes the IRGC in importance when it comes to the navy’s management, suffers from the same shortcomings.
While it was believed that the army, whose long record extends back to the Pahlavi era, would have the expertise and proficiency to avoid disastrous and lethal mistakes of this nature, the latest incident shows that such faith in its capabilities was over-optimistic. It is possible that this is because the “revolutionary” regime does not trust the regular army, fearing that it may harbor covert loyalties to the former Pahlavi leadership, so it withholds funding and training. This has led to a situation where the IRGC’s budget is three times that of the army, even though the army is three times larger than the IRGC, meaning the latter is effectively receiving money that should be going to the army. There are also rumors within the Iranian regime that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in his capacity as supreme commander of the Iranian armed forces, has transferred commanders from the IRGC to the regular army to ensure it remains loyal to the theocratic regime.
But where does the danger lie?
These Iranian military fiascos indicate several important matters, the main one being that they could be repeated in the future. This poses a grave danger to international navigation and the civilian areas close to where military exercises are conducted. Also, the weaknesses in the technical aspects of Iran’s military hardware cannot be used to allow the regime to shirk its responsibility for its hostile acts at home and overseas.
The danger does not only lie in the regime’s shoddy, low-standard technology and its dependence on numbers over quality hardware when it comes to warfare, but also in the mindset that controls the handling of these weapons. This mindset is dominated by ideological and sectarian tendencies.
The fact that the regime delivers missiles and drones to affiliated militias in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon also helps us understand the aims of the regime when it comes to military development and drills, most of which are offensive. This contradicts the regime’s claim that its missile program is defensive.
It is possible that the ‘revolutionary’ regime does not trust the regular army, so it withholds funding and training.
In light of the troubling current realities in the region and considering the nature of the ruling government in Tehran, how is it possible that the international community can allow Iran’s regime to continue to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs? What are the guarantees ensuring there will be no more disastrous “mistakes” committed by Iran?
These concerns should be addressed by the international community and, in particular, the P5+1 group ,which legitimized Iran’s nuclear program by granting it the right to enrich uranium. This has increased to 20 percent enrichment and, even with the nuclear deal’s restrictions, Tehran will still be able to develop ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads within 10 to 15 years.
*Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami is Head of the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah). Twitter: @mohalsulami

Trump, Xi, and The Pandemic Symptoms
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/May 18/2020
This is a season of great fear across maps and continents. We have never seen the world awash with terror in this way.
There were moments of worry, but soon the world regained confidence in itself, in science, and in the future.
The world has not had a comprehensive and global panic. Neither in the Cuban missile crisis nor in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Neither in the Vietnam War, nor in the regional explosions, nor in the September 11 attacks and their aftermath. In all previous crises, one could bet on forces from a side or another. In the current horror season, you do not have a support center to call. If you’re overly anxious, and you call an official, doctor, or scientist in a laboratory, he’ll just answer your question with a question that deepens your confusion and augment your worries.
A person has the right to be concerned when he sees a superpower with massive arsenals, unable to prevent the pandemic from attacking its capitals and cities. It is not easy to see the coronavirus killing tens of thousands of Americans, while the president and the scientists are unable to predict when the attack would end… An attack that was considered more dangerous than the Pearl Harbor offensive.
The same can be said about the Russian president. Neither the Red Army, nor the pirates who attacked the German chancellor, nor the units that are stationed in Hmeimim, could stop the outbreak.
There is no doubt that the Chinese president managed to avert a colossal catastrophe that would beset his country, had he not used the regime’s strict measures to contain the epidemic, but that was not enough to answer all questions. All excitement and risk factors happened to be present in the outbreak of this epidemic. The coronavirus emerged from the most populous country that advanced so well to occupy the second-largest economy in the world. Also perhaps by coincidence, the epidemic committed its greatest slaughter on American soil, that is, on the land of the most powerful country in the world with the first economy.
We never want to underestimate the massive human and economic losses that have engulfed European countries. But the outbreak of the epidemic from China and its assault on New York and other US goals, have awakened all kinds of fears.
The new development revealed the degree of tension in relations between Washington and Beijing, despite Donald Trump and Xi-Jinping trying to cover hatred with smiles.
In fact, those who observe the path of relations between the US and China notice that Trump was dealing with this file like someone who was playing with a bomb and trying to postpone the date of its explosion.
Trump believes that his predecessors exaggerated in calming the land of the Red Dragon and surrounding it with gifts out of their fear of a Soviet Union scenario.He also believes that China had deceived the United States in the past decades, and suggested that it was heading towards international responsibility and transparency, while it was pursuing a major hegemony project under the name of “the Road and the Belt”, reminiscent of the “Silk Road”.
Trump, surprised by the coronavirus’s misfortune while he was confidently heading to the presidential elections, did not hesitate to remove the make-up off the US-China relationship. That’s why he deliberately talked about the “Chinese virus”, the gaps in the Wuhan laboratory, and the Chinese responsibility towards thousands of casualties in America and other parts of the world. At first glance, the issue seemed logical or expected. Trump was reminding his citizens of the economic achievements under his term, and asking them to renew his residence in the White House.
He had something to say and numbers in some files served his cause. Suddenly, the epidemic emerged so as talks about unprecedented losses, deflation, recession, and a record increase in unemployment.
But it’s not about Trump alone, but rather about calculations within the US institution, especially since the talk about “the Chinese rise” and “the Asian roar” are not new.
Trump hinted at severing ties with China after he asked the country several times to uncover the truth, going even further to call for the establishment of an investigation committee.
On the other hand, China has been distributing aid around the world, as if it was looking for a certificate of good behavior, because it “suppressed” the epidemic and prevented it from staying long on its lands.
This file is difficult, thorny, and dangerous. It involves secret and misleading information that an ordinary citizen is unable to verify.
The Daily Mail and Le Figaro quoted names and photos of European athletes, who said they believe they caught the coronavirus during the October Olympic games in Wuhan in October. Those testified that the local authorities there were asking them to wash their hands frequently and were carrying out strict cleaning operations of the streets.
If these reports proved to be true, then China would have long waited before announcing the virus to the world.
The pandemic revealed the extent of mutual fear that is hidden under the cloak of economic competition or trade war between America and China.
Remarks by Trump and his Secretary of State on the CPC and its gravity confirm that we are witnessing the beginning of a new Cold War.
The emerging file of China’s intimidation of the riparian states of the South China Sea also reveals the scale of fears in this region of the Chinese growth.
America is clearly worried about the rise of the Red Dragon, while China fears the US ability to present it as the “great danger” to the world.
It is a wrist fight between the old general of the cosmic village, and the new policeman. It is a terrifying duel as it will have exorbitant costs on the global economy, especially as it begins while the fearful world is dreaming of a vaccine against the coronavirus.
America and China have undoubtedly caught the symptoms of the Cold War epidemic, and countries must prepare for the new winds.
Many questions arise about Europe’s stance and the response of other powers. What about Russia, which is busy with the Syrian file? Is this an opportunity for India to engage in a project to contain the attack by Mao’s heirs?

A NATO Flotilla Sails Back Into the Cold War
James Stavridis/Bloomberg/May 18/2020
Some of the roughest waters in the world are in what sailors call the High North, especially the Barents Sea on the northwest Arctic coast of Russia. In a tightly confined bay, the base of Severomorsk is home to Russia’s most capable naval force, the Northern Fleet. This week a flotilla including three American destroyers, a massive supply ship and a British frigate entered the Barents, the first such venture for US surface ships since the end of the Cold War. Seeking to avoid any surprises, the US Navy informed the Russians of the deployment, although there isn’t any requirement to do so under international law. The area where the flotilla will operate is clearly high seas, through which any nation is free to transit. The Navy reports it will be conducting a variety of training events, including for anti-submarine warfare.
This is a difficult place to operate, even in relatively mild late spring. It is also famous to naval personnel from the days of the Murmansk convoys in World War II, when allied ships were bringing war materials to Russian partners in the fight against Hitler. I sailed those northern waters (not quite to the Barents, but inside the Arctic Circle) years ago in both an aircraft carrier (relatively smooth sailing) and in a destroyer about a tenth the size of the carrier. The destroyer struggled in heavy seas, and over a third of my crew lay flat on their backs with seasickness. Both deployments were post-Cold War and in relatively benign times in terms of interacting with the Russian fleet. That is not the case today.
Indeed, relations between Russia and the US are deteriorating badly. Over the past few weeks, Russian bombers and submarines have conducted close-in patrols around the coasts of both the US and its NATO allies. The US has protested Russian testing of anti-satellite weapons, and the two nations are in a diplomatic disagreement over a possible extension of the New Start nonproliferation treaty, which expires early next year. There have also been new outbreaks of combat in Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists are clashing with the government forces. Why is the US picking this moment to send a powerful group of ships north?
There are three key reasons. First is simply responding to Russia’s provocations. In particular, Russian surface ships have been undertaking forceful and dangerous maneuvers in the eastern Mediterranean on the fringes of the Syrian conflict. Russian bombers have been probing the northern borders of the alliance from Alaska to the Baltics. And, above all, we have seen increased Russian submarine activity throughout the north Atlantic. The allied surface flotilla, which unlike submarine deployments is highly visible, sends a clear signal to Moscow.
Second, deployments like this are a rare but important training opportunity. US ships typically operate in the far more benign waters of the western Pacific, Mediterranean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and central Atlantic. As I learned over the course of that rough week at sea up north, our crews need to practice operating in very demanding seamanship environments. Operating the weapons and sensors, and particularly the difficult replenishment at sea (taking on fuel, ammunition, and stores while “hooked up” to the supply ship and crashing through difficult waters), is not something in which you can have full confidence until you execute it repeatedly.
Finally, this type of alliance operation is crucial — and in that sense, this flotilla is a disappointment. The US wanted a large group participating, yet only the British chose to come along. The Norwegians, who normally have been very willing to cooperate in their backyard, are missing in action. This is especially surprising considering that Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a former Norwegian prime minister who has been particularly forthright in pushing back on Russian bad behavior. It would have been reasonable to expect the Germans, Italians, and French — all of whom operate surface ships capable of handling the northern waters — to come along. And Canada, with the largest NATO border on the Arctic, was conspicuously absent as well.
An interesting tie-in to the deployment is the selection days ago of an Italian-designed frigate, the Fremm class, as the newest US Navy warship. While the ships will be built by American workers in a Wisconsin shipyard (owned by the Italian shipmaker Fincantieri SpA), the selection is a powerful signal of engagement and cooperation between US and European defense firms. It should also improve future interoperability between the US Navy and the NATO allies who already operate the Fremm class. Over time, one hopes, such cooperation will encourage broader participation in group deployments like this one to the Arctic.Still, even this modest flotilla is a sensible and clear demonstration to Russia that the US and the UK are willing to operate in challenging waters in a corner of the world’s oceans that the Russians wrongly see as their own property.

The Covid-19 Vaccine Fight Is Getting Ugly
Lionel Laurent/Bloomberg/May 18/2020
An effective Covid-19 vaccine, if it ever arrives, should be treated as a public good for the whole of society. Every continent has been struck by the virus bar Antarctica.
But the combination of national self-interest and pressure for the pharmaceutical industry to turn a profit is already triggering a geopolitical bust up over who actually gets access to the vaccine first. It’s a reminder that the spoils of drug research aren’t equally divided. The system is ripe for a rethink.
Already, the French government is hauling its national drug-making champion Sanofi over hot coals after the company suggested that the US — and not Europe — would be first in line to get access to its proposed vaccine if it works out. The reason, according to Chief Executive Officer Paul Hudson, is that the US was first to contribute funding to the project. “Unacceptable,” came the reply from French Junior Economy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher. The head of Sanofi’s French business quickly sought to defuse the tension by promising that an effective vaccine would be “available to all.” But this debate isn’t going away. French President Emmanuel Macron plans to meet with Sanofi officials next week to discuss the issue. Elsewhere, AstraZeneca Plc is prioritizing the UK in its own vaccine project.
On the surface, Sanofi’s stance seems logical enough. The cost of researching a vaccine is between $500 million and $1 billion, according to a 2015 paper by physician and consultant Stanley Plotkin. If the US taxpayer is willing to foot the bill, shouldn’t they reap some of the reward? Drugmakers know this is a vaccine that will have to be sold in bulk, and not at an eye-wateringly expensive price — Johnson & Johnson, for example, says its own plan is to produce the one it’s working on at cost, or about 10 euros ($10.81). Given some kind of prioritization is going to be necessary as production ramps up to millions of doses, it may as well start with those that funded the project, according to Sam Fazeli, senior pharmaceutical analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
But Paris has a point, too. Sanofi’s vaccine is not produced in a vacuum. The company benefits from European shareholders, employees, factories — and tax credits. It’s worth noting that research and development funding in France is the second-most generous as a share of GDP among countries tracked by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, at 0.4%. (The US comes in tenth.) That’s largely thanks to tax-incentive schemes awarded to companies like Sanofi to the tune of 150 million euros every year. French taxpayers might wonder why that shouldn’t be taken into account.
Simply rapping Sanofi on the knuckles isn’t going to be a durable solution, though. The risk is that, if countries take turns in shoving their way to the front of the line, the result will be a kind of vaccine trade war along national lines. That would make a mockery of the World Health Organization’s plea to view vaccines as a common public good, and would also echo the damaging scramble for masks and medical equipment that set European countries against each other. If France were to get hold of a vaccine first, would Italy or Greece get the same access?
It would be more productive if European countries backed up their indignation by working together more to take on the financial risk of vaccines. Then they could divide the spoils more equally. There is no reason why the European Union’s 27 countries couldn’t come up with their own version of the US’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and match the Trump administration’s deep pockets. The EU’s recent $8 billion vaccine fundraising is one good example, and its joint procurement vehicle for medical equipment and vaccines is another.
The broader the cooperation, the more chance countries have to level the playing field with big pharmaceutical companies. Drugmakers have for decades focused on lucrative new treatments protected by patents, often putting them out of reach of people in developing countries. New organizations are fighting this: The United Nations-backed Medicine Patent Pool, for example, has licensed patented HIV drugs for manufacture by generics companies at lower cost. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations has also brought together countries to fund vaccine research.
The pandemic has revealed a lot of problems in the pharmaceutical supply chain, from a dependence on emerging markets for vital drug supplies to a lack of interest in potentially unprofitable vaccine research. If the opportunity here is to ensure life-saving drugs get the funding they need, taxpayers around the world — not just in France or the US — should also get better access to them.

Why Open Offices Will Survive
Sarah Green Carmichael/Bloomberg/May 18/2020
When I think back to pre-coronavirus office life, it almost seems designed to spread germs. There’s the hour-long commute on the crowded train; the steady flow of fingers poking at elevator buttons and coffee machines; and our open rows of desks with nary a cube wall to prevent a surprise sneeze from traveling across the room. It’s perhaps not surprising that a 2013 study found that germs can spread from one person’s hand to half of office surfaces in just four hours.
We clearly need to do better in the post-lockdown future. But how?
The essential organizations that remained open during the coronavirus shutdowns offer some clues. They reduced crowding by staggering shifts, asking some employees to work from home and designating corridors for one-way travel. They installed clear plastic barriers at cash registers and reception desks. Some implemented temperature checks, though those aren’t foolproof, since asymptomatic people can spread the virus and even many hospitalized Covid-19 patients never develop a fever.
You might be wondering if we’ll see major architectural changes too — some have even predicted the end of open offices. But this isn’t likely. Such redesigns are expensive and intrusive, says Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler, an assistant professor at Purdue University and author of the forthcoming “Open Plan: A Design History of the American Office.” In the midst of a severe recession, most firms can’t afford to splash out for new spaces. Even if we’ll be social distancing for two more years, a big office remodel probably doesn’t make much financial sense.
Human behavior is easier to change than architecture. And open offices, with their flexible spaces, allow for very different behaviors. This adaptability is why the open office has resisted all attempts to kill it, and also why it is surprisingly well-suited to this moment of change.
Germophobes worried about open offices long before the coronavirus pandemic. Studies conducted in Europe linked open-plan offices with reduced well-being and higher use of sick days, though it’s not clear whether this is because germs spread more easily, or because being always on display reduces productivity and increases stress.
Critics also like to point out that open offices are even bad at the one thing they’re supposed to do well: foster collaboration. Harvard’s Ethan Bernstein and Ben Waber of Humanyze studied companies that switched to open floor plans and found that face-to-face conversations fell by 70% after the change.
Nevertheless, these wide open spaces have persisted.
“[The open office] has really been with us since the 1960s, and some would say even earlier than that,” says Kaufmann-Buhler. The earliest iterations go back to the late 19th century and look much like they do today: rows of desks in large, open spaces.
Open plans “are never going away,” says Kaufmann-Buhler, though they’ve been “declared dead so many times.” Every time she sees a headline announcing as much, she thinks to herself, “Ah, the open plan is dead, long live the open plan.”
That’s because it’s a design that’s extremely cost effective. It’s not just the lack of walls, or the number of people you can pack in. It’s that private offices require more of everything — doors, ventilation ducts, energy consumption. Plus, open workspaces let in more light, and allow you to easily make eye contact with colleagues — something I find I miss about the Bloomberg offices these days.
And open plans are adaptable, whether it’s a Mad Men-era secretarial pool or a modern-day coworking space. You can easily add (or subtract) workers, and rearrange desks and other equipment as needed. In fact, that flexibility is what companies are going to be relying on now, as they push desks further apart, add panels or partitions and commandeer large communal spaces, like conference rooms, for other purposes.
That’s not to say there are no physical upgrades that are worthwhile. Those lucky companies with deep pockets could invest in touchless technology, like motion-sensor doors, light switches and bathroom faucets, to limit the common surfaces employees interact with.
If your HVAC system is getting a bit long in the tooth, this would be a great time to invest in a newer system that offers air filtration. “Older [systems] are woefully out of date and inadequate in terms of protective elements,” says Kaufmann-Buhler. Some of them recirculate air too much and run the risk of spreading germs.
Because major upgrades are likely to be out of reach for most companies, many firms will rely on behavior change — which can be quite powerful. In that 2013 study that showed germs spreading to half the office by lunchtime, simple interventions like washing hands, using hand sanitizer and providing employees with free cleaning wipes slashed people’s risk of getting sick from 40-90% to less than 10%. And companies will certainly be beefing up their cleaning schedules, particularly in common areas like bathrooms, break rooms and elevators. This alone would be a major change. As it is, “Offices are kind of gross places,” says Kaufmann-Buhler. They don’t seem that dirty in the first place, so they tend to get only lightly cleaned by the overworked and underpaid contractors most firms hire.
Firms in skyscrapers will also have to figure out ways to minimize contact around doors and elevators. The easiest solution may be to employ doormen and elevator attendants, and stagger working hours to avoid long queues.
Organizations that have served food, free or otherwise, will likely reconsider how they do so — if they keep serving it at all. For one thing, in the middle of a recession (or even a depression) with perhaps 20% unemployment, companies may no longer feel they need to offer costly perks like free meals. (Note to my employer: This is not a recommendation! I dearly miss the Bloomberg food.) At the very least, company cafeterias will likely ask employees to stagger their lunch breaks to avoid crowding. Instead of eating off an open deli tray with friends, you’ll probably be taking a boxed lunch back to your desk to eat six feet away from anyone else.
And yet it is inescapable that prolonged, indoor proximity is the primary way this virus is spreading — and such contact is inescapable if people return to work, regardless of the precautions organizations take. That’s why many firms will rightly encourage employees to keep working from home and visit the office only when absolutely necessary.
Even then, instead of dropping in whenever you like, your visits will be scheduled. Some organizations are dividing their staffs into two teams, which take turns coming into the office on alternate weeks or fortnights. (Given how long the virus can survive on surfaces, it’s probably not a good idea to ask employees to come in on alternate days. Give the germs at least a weekend to degrade.) Swabs of everyday items routinely find that it’s the things we’re always touching with our hands that are the dirtiest — that means keyboards, phones, mice and trackpads. This may portend the end of hotdesking (in which employees have no permanent workstation, but simply sit wherever they like) and a major revamp of hoteling (in which employees share a specific workstation on a rotating, scheduled basis).
And forget holding large face-to-face meetings. Those will still have to take place via videoconference.
“All of this is going to have a huge impact on the ways people interact with each other and the way people think about work,” Kaufmann-Buhler says.
In other words, if you’ve been missing your office these past eight weeks, that feeling of dislocation may not dissipate even if you return to HQ. No matter what your office looks like, it will feel very different.

A Beacon of Light Threatened by Politics of Darkness, Corruption and COVID-19
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/May 18/2020
We are familiar with the famous maxim “it is better to light a candle than curse darkness”; but what about a beacon of science, thought and culture that is currently being threatened by dark politics, corruption and a pandemic that has infected millions, claimed the jobs tens of millions and forced hundreds of millions to stay at home throughout the world.
What about a 154-year-old minaret of enlightenment that has led an unprecedented cultural revival in the Arab East, and withstood wars, famines and changing maps? However, it is now being besieged in a lost Middle East, where culture has become barren, minds calcified, hearts emotionless, bellies empty, diversity problematic and accepting political partition a desired option compared to endless disintegration.
What about a western window to the East, and an eastern window to the West, where the great eastern and western cultures merge in its libraries, classrooms and scientific labs, and Islam and Christianity meet, and where openness and tolerance have brought together minorities of all kinds from all over the world?
What about a university, founded by Daniel Bliss, before many of the world’s top universities; and graduated brilliant talents that have occupied top positions all over the world?
The American University of Beirut, which is currently encountering real difficulties, most of which are beyond its control, is not like any other university. Indeed, it is neither just another university, nor an ordinary institute of higher education that follows the American educational system. With AUB, we are talking about is a heritage that is far greater than the identities associated with it; a unique case, unprecedented and unrepeated, whether in the Arab world or in the West.
Since it was founded as the Syrian Protestant College in 1866, AUB has been an ambitious renaissance project. From the beginning, its founders were aware of the importance of applied science and research, which explains why its medical school is one of the most pioneering faculties.
After WWI, the name was changed in the early 1920s to the American University of Beirut. With this, it shed off its early church-related identity and adapted to the changing geopolitical post-war and Sykes-Picot realities. By choosing this practical and realistic name, the university avoided being sucked into the “nationalist” discourse and rhetoric which would dominate the Levant in the following decades.
Indeed, during the following decades, AUB’s beautiful green campus overlooking the Mediterranean, in a Ras Beirut neighborhood, became a confluence of thought and an arena for debate and intellectual exchange. Throughout campus clamored the “Syrian nationalists” and “Lebanonists”, and under its shady trees, “Arab nationalists” preached and Islamists, secularists, Marxists, liberals, clerical conservatives made their voices heard, when logical argument did the talking not submachine guns.
In that “oasis”, as described by the British journalist Michael Adams, great intellectuals lectured and gifted talents learned. There was Constantine Zurayk facing off with Charles Malek. There was Saeed Hamadeh, as well as Hanna Batatu, Walid al-Khalidi and Youssef Ibish. Among its graduates were celebrated poets Omar Abu Risheh and Hafez Jameel and social historian/anthropologist Ali Al-Wardi; there were also the inventor Hassan Kamel al-Sabbah and future world-famous architect Zaha Hadid.
In politics, among AUB’s greats were Fares al-Khoury, Nazim al-Qudsi, Omar al-Saqqaf and Fadhil al-Jamali, as well as Ahmed al-Khatib, Wasfi al-Tall, Haidar Abdul-Shafi, Salim al-Hoss and Saadun Hammadi.
At AUB, women pioneers, like Farida al-Suleiman, Leila Sharaf, Diana Taqieddin, Hanan Ashrawi, Thuraya Arrayed and Sahar al-Sallab studied and graduated.
From outside the Arab world, Afghanistan’s current President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, Iran’s ex-foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi and US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad, studied and interacted with our society, loving us with temptation or disliking us without pressures.
Such an environment, which is unique in its spiritual and intellectual heritage, is the living opposite of what we are going through right now, whether in Lebanon or in the wider Middle East.
However, this rich heritage is now being threatened by political earthquakes, economic tremors and the COVID-19 pandemic. The latter has compounded concerns and preoccupied those who otherwise could have compensated the losses caused by the Lebanese collapse and the regional failures.
During past difficulties, there were available alternatives and AUB’s large “family” of alumni in the diaspora managed to generously help their alma mater. They did so even during the long Lebanese civil war (1975-1990). The situation is now different because the pandemic and its repercussions have left no place in the world unaffected by health worries, economic downturn, unemployment and bankruptcies.
This is why, last week, AUB took the unusual step of talking openly about its difficulties, to its alumni, the Lebanese, the Middle East and - indeed – everyone who values the university and appreciates keeping it alive as a unique bastion of culture, coexistence and tolerance. In his call, AUB’s president underlined the need to have enough support that would minimize the sacrifice and losses, in terms of staff, students, academic services and standard or medical role, until the world overcomes the current crisis.
Of course, Lebanon is in such a bad situation that it can no longer support an AUB that the country that is indebted to it. The Arab world also has enough problems of its own, more so countries like Syria and Iraq. Even the US, where around 15 percent of the workforce have lost their jobs because of COVID-19 and its economic repercussions, local and national priorities come first, especially since within a few months American will go to polls to vote in presidential and legislative elections.
Thus, the challenge is serious, although I believe that the only way forward is thinking positively, and succeeding in saving AUB and insuring its future…at any price. I say this because any alternative of saving AUB will be frightening. It will also be catastrophic to the intellectual and cultural climate in the Arab East already threatened by the mullah’s aggression, ISIS phantoms of death and “Likudist” expansionism. Finally, it will be more than tragic for the future of enlightenment, tolerance and diversity, as the region turns into a battleground for competing international powers.