LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
November 10/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved
Letter to the Romans 10/12-21/:’For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ But not all have obeyed the good news; for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’ Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, ‘I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.’ Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, ‘I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.’But of Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on November 09-10/2019
Sources: French Envoy to Arrive In Beirut Soon
Lebanese banks urge calm amid financial crisis and protests/Officials said there was no concern about solvency
Lebanon’s president meets bankers amid liquidity crisis
Aoun during the Baabda Meeting: For adopting necessary measures to meet citizens’ needs
Union of Bank Employees Syndicates: Extraordinary meeting upcoming Monday to discuss infringements against staff in many banks' branches
Report: Consumer Prices Up 8% amid Protests
Fuel Shortage, Price Hikes Squeeze Protest-Hit Lebanon
Lebanese banks face threats, Hariri said to want neutral government
Report: Hizbullah, Speaker ‘Fail’ to Persuade Adamant Hariri
Students in Tyre Join Pupils Demos for First Time
Lebanon’s grand mufti calls for protesters’ demands to be met
World Bank Regional Chief Urges Lebanon to Form Govt. 'within a Week'
Lebanon Protests a Boon for Street Vendors
Geagea confers with Kubic over latest local developments
Geagea Replies to Pompeo Remarks on Lebanon
Geagea Says Officials Seem to be Living 'on Another Planet'

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 09-10/2019
Iran Says Enriching Uranium to Five Percent
Iran says prepared to show footage of UN inspector incident
Iran able to enrich uranium up to 60 percent: Official
Iran says case open on ex-FBI agent missing there on CIA job
Rockets land near Iraqi base hosting US forces, no casualties: Iraqi military
Amid heightened violence during protests, Iraqi PM promises new electoral reform
Iraq forces retake key bridges from protesters
Fresh clashes erupt in Baghdad despite call for calm by top cleric
Fresh clashes erupt in Baghdad despite call for calm by top cleric
Iraqi forces push protesters back to main square, kill five
US condemns Syrian government air strikes on civilians in northwest region
Four Syrian soldiers killed in clashes with Turkish-led forces
Fierce clashes erupt between Syrian regime, Turkish forces on border: Report
Report: Heavy Fighting between Syrian and Turkish Troops
Kurds tell EU: Get tough with Turkey or face ISIS fighters
Two security forces killed in blast in Egypt’s Sinai, say officials

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 09-10/2019
Hopes of Young Lebanese to Escape Sectarianism Put to Test/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 09/2019
Lebanon: Political Disputes Among Aoun’s Three Daughters/Youssef Diab/Asharq Al Awsat/November 09/2019
From Iraq to Lebanon & Syria…the Threat is One and the Same/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/November 09/2019
Lebanese fear economic chaos/Najla Houssari/Arab News/November 10/2019
Lebanon's uprising: the era of impunity and blind obedience is over/Raghida Dergham/The National/November 09/2019
A New Arab Spring Is Unfolding in Iraq and Lebanon. But Things Could Get Bloody If Iran Gets Its Way/Bessma Momani/Time/November 09/2019
Erdogan Labors to Explain Baghdadi and Family/Aykan Erdemir/FDD/November 09/2019
Turkey: Erdogan's Campaign against the West/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/November 09/2019
The Court of Justice of the European Union Limits Free Speech/Judith Bergman/ Gatestone Institute/November 09/2019
Is Iran winning or losing?/Caroline B. Glick, Israel Hayon/Nover 10/2019
The High Risks of Soleimani’s Solution for Iraq/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/November 09/2019
Is It Even Possible to Change the Regime in Iraq?/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/November 09/2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on November 09-10/2019
Sources: French Envoy to Arrive In Beirut Soon
Paris - Michel Abou Najem/Asharq Al Awsat/November 09/2019
Paris avoids interfering in the Lebanese local affairs and refuses to engage in the bazaar of names suggested to head the next cabinet. However, France refuses to remain passive in the face of Lebanon’s current political and economic crisis. “Christophe Farnaud, head of North Africa and Middle East department at the French foreign ministry should arrive to Beirut soon with a mission to support Lebanon at the economic and financial level,” official French sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday. The sources stressed the need to “differentiate” between the French policy and the US policy in Lebanon. “Paris wants to support Beirut in filling the current void,” they said, adding that France hopes that Lebanese officials agree to form a government capable to meet the popular demands and to issue laws that are necessary for implementing economic reforms and the pledges taken at the CEDRE conference held last April in Paris.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned last October 29 in response to popular protests against the political class. The cabinet remains in place in a caretaker capacity amid stalled efforts to form a new one. Paris considers that the resignation of Hariri has pushed the crisis to further aggravation. In short, Paris wants to build a safety net for Lebanon with a focus on quickly filling the governmental void and on implementing the delayed economic reforms and meeting the legitimate demands of the street. Other sources said that the French envoy aims to “comfort Hezbollah” that no plot was planned against its existence in Lebanon. “There are no conspiracies to weaken or get rid of the party,” the source said. The sources said that all parties should coordinate to face the current crisis, which threatens to remove the entire monetary and financial system. “The envoy has a mission to bridge the gap and contradictory positions among Lebanese parties with hopes to exist the current crisis,” the source added.

Lebanese banks urge calm amid financial crisis and protests/Officials said there was no concern about solvency
AP/November 10/2019
Lebanese bankers and government officials tried to calm a worried public on Saturday amid the country's major financial crisis, telling them that all deposits are guaranteed and "there is no need for panic."The country's financial troubles have worsened since nationwide protests - initially against new taxes - snowballed into calls for the entire political elite to step down. Banks reopened November 1 after a two-week closure amid the protests. But depositors have rushed to withdraw their money in recent days, while the country's various lenders have imposed varying capital controls that differ from bank to bank. The announcement by Salim Sfeir, chairman of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, came after a two-hour meeting between President Michel Aoun, several Cabinet ministers and top banking officials in search of solutions for Lebanon's deepening financial and economic crisis. "Depositors' money is being preserved. What is happening is not an issue related to solvency, and therefore there is no need for panic," Mr Sfeir said. "People should calm down. People should withdraw enough to meet their needs, not everything they have." Mr Sfeir added that those who attended the meeting have asked the central bank's governor, Riad Salameh, to continue taking the necessary measures "to preserve the safety of cash and economic stability." He added that small depositors will be given priority when they come to withdraw money. Mr Aoun's office said the meeting was attended by the ministers of economy and finance, as well as the central bank governor, the head of the banks' association and top officials from the country's largest lenders. Lebanon, one of the most heavily indebted countries in the world, was already dealing with a severe fiscal crisis before the protests began, one rooted in years of heavy borrowing and expensive patronage networks run by entrenched political parties. The Lebanese pound is trading at up to 1,900 to the dollar on the black market, a devaluation of nearly to 30 per cent from the official rate.
Banks in Lebanon were closed Saturday for an extra day amid deepening turmoil and public anxiety over liquidity. Monday is a holiday to mark the Prophet Muhammad's birthday, and banks are scheduled to resume normal work on Tuesday.The financial crisis has worsened since Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned his government on October 29 meeting a key demand by the protesters. No date has been yet set by Mr Aoun for consultations with heads of parliamentary blocs to name a new premier. Protesters are demanding a government made up of technocrats that would immediately get to work on the necessary reforms to address the economy. Politicians are divided among other things over whether the new Cabinet should be made up of experts only or include politicians. The World Bank on Friday urged Lebanon to form a new Cabinet "within a week" to prevent further degradation and loss of confidence in its economy, warning of grave risks to the country's stability. Lebanon's top Sunni cleric, Sheikh Abul-Latif Daryan, repeated his call Saturday for forming a new government of "national salvation" that would work to enact reforms.

Lebanon’s president meets bankers amid liquidity crisis
The Associated Press/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Lebanon’s president is meeting with several Cabinet ministers and top banking officials in search for solutions for the deepening financial and economic crisis. The country’s financial troubles have worsened since nationwide protests - initially against new taxes - snowballed into calls for the entire political elite to step down. Banks reopened November 1 after a two-week closure amid the protests. But depositors have rushed to withdraw their money in recent days, while lenders imposed irregular capital controls. President Michel Aoun’s office says the meeting was attended by the ministers of economy and finance, as well as the central bank governor and the head of the banks’ association. Banks in Lebanon were closed Saturday for an extra day amid deepening turmoil and public anxiety over liquidity.

Aoun during the Baabda Meeting: For adopting necessary measures to meet citizens’ needs
NNA/Sat 09 Nov 2019
During the financial and economic meeting held this afternoon at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, chaired by President Michel Aoun, the President called for taking all the necessary measures to cater to the needs of citizens. Aoun began the meeting by stressing the importance of addressing the current financial and banking situation, and to keep citizens well-informed of all developments to prevent the spread of rumors and false news targeting the banking sector in particular, and monetary stability in general. In this context, a series of measures were adopted during the meeting to address the financial and monetary conditions in the country, with special focus on pursuing the ongoing coordination between the Central Bank and the Association of Banks in Lebanon, in order to maintain stability and to enable banks to meet the needs of their customers, especially small depositors. Additionally, conferees highlighted the need to ensure the sustainability of the productive sectors as well. It was also emphasized that depositors' money was well-kept, and that the recent events have no connection to the issue of solvency; therefore, there is no need for panic. The financial meeting was attended by Caretaker Ministers of Finance, Ali Hassan Khalil, and Economy and Trade Mansour Btaish, alongside Caretaker State Minister for Presidency Affairs Salim Jreissati, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, and the President and members of the Lebanese Banks Association. The Presidency Director-General Antoine Choucair, and Presidential Advisor Mireille Aoun Hashem were also present during the meeting. At the end of the meeting, Banks Association President Salim Sfeir read out the meeting’s statement, outlining the essential points tackled.

Union of Bank Employees Syndicates: Extraordinary meeting upcoming Monday to discuss infringements against staff in many banks' branches
NNA/Sat 09 Nov 2019
- In an issued statement Saturday by the Secretariat of the Union of Bank Employees Syndicates in Lebanon, it called for an extraordinary meeting by the Union's executive board on Monday to "deliberate over the subject of infringements on bank employees." In this framework, Union President George Antoine Hajj urged all members to attend the meeting, saying that "what happened at the end of last week in many banks branches, such as encroachment on colleagues with insults and physical assault in some cases, requires a decision by the Union Council in order to maintain the safety of bank employees." The Union Secretariat indicated that a statement will be issued at the end of the meeting on Monday to be circulated via the media, adding that the Banks Association President will also be informed of the Union Council's decision. It is to note that a statement was issued by the Syndicate of Bank Employees in the North, calling on Union President Hajj to "adopt a decision of complete and open closure in the banking sector."

Report: Consumer Prices Up 8% amid Protests
Naharnet/November 09/2019
The Director of the Consumer Protection at the Ministry of Economy, Tarek Younes said that according to patrols conducted by inspectors from the ministry, the prices of basket of consumer goods and services rose by 6 and 8 percent, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat reported on Saturday.
Moreover, Nabil Fahd, head of the supermarket owners' association, told the daily "the rise in prices of some consumer goods is linked to several issues that preceded the dollar crisis.”He said the “cost of interest on businesses has increased from 7.5 to 12 percent, and fees on credit card payments, which ranged from 0.85 to 1.25 rose to 2 percent, and then a 3 percent increase in tariffs on materials.”Another increase he said affected “imports of consumer goods, and the customs duty ranging between 10 and 20 percent on some other imported materials such as (Cornflakes).” Adding to the above, the shortage in dollar contributed to the rise in prices of some commodities, “but some commodities maintained the same price,” he said. On Wednesday, the World Bank urged protest-hit Lebanon to form a new government quickly, warning that an economic downturn would deepen poverty and worsen unemployment. Since October 17, an unprecedented protest movement has targeted a political class deemed incompetent and corrupt. Demonstrations have continued despite the government's resignation last week. Without quick steps to address the crisis, about half of Lebanon's population could fall into poverty and unemployment could "rise sharply", the lender said in a statement. Even before protests erupted last month, growth in Lebanon had stalled following repeated political deadlocks in recent years, compounded by the war in Syria. Public debt stood at more than $86 billion, or higher than 150 percent of Gross Domestic Product, according to the finance ministry. Petrol stations owners said they would meet Thursday over persistent difficulties in paying for hydrocarbon imports due to dollar shortages.

Fuel Shortage, Price Hikes Squeeze Protest-Hit Lebanon
Asharq Al Awsat/November 09/2019
A rationing of dollars by banks in protest-hit Lebanon sparked growing alarm on Saturday as some petrol pumps ran dry and grocery stores introduced fresh price hikes. For two decades, the Lebanese pound has been pegged to the greenback and both currencies used interchangeably in daily life.
But banks have gradually been reducing access to dollars since the end of the summer, following fears of a shortage in central bank reserves. Access was limited further this week after banks reopened for the first time since an unprecedented popular uprising hit the country on October 17.
On Saturday, several petrol stations stopped services as reserves ran out because of a shortage of dollars needed to pay for imports, a syndicate head said. "The petrol stations that opened today are the ones that still have reserves. They will close down as soon as supply runs out," said Sami Brax, the head of the Syndicate of Gas Station Owners. He said if officials do not facilitate access to dollars by Tuesday, "we will be forced to stop imports and close down all petrol stations." His warning came a day after hospitals threatened to stop receiving patients because of a lack of dollars to pay for medical imports. Current medical stocks in the country "will not last more than a month", hospital syndicate head Suleiman Haroun said.
Price hikes
Lebanon has seen an unprecedented popular uprising against everything from power cuts and poor social security to state corruption. The government yielded to popular pressure and stepped down last month, with the World Bank urging the quick formation of a new cabinet to prevent the economy from further deteriorating. But the country seemed to plunge deeper into economic crisis after banks reopened this week and further limited dollar supply. They halted all ATM withdrawals in dollars, introduced an additional charge on dollar withdrawals made at banks, and severely restricted conversions from Lebanese pounds. This has forced many people to resort to the black market where they are charged higher exchange rates, in what amounts to the de-facto devaluation of the local currency. The official exchange rate has remained fixed at 1,507 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, but the rate in the parallel market has surpassed 1,800. According to Zouhair Berro, the head of the Lebanese Consumers Association, the dollar shortage is leading to price hikes, especially for meat, vegetables and dairy.He said that suppliers are demanding payment in dollars. Economist Naseeb Gharbeel said that banks are being put "under pressure" due to a large demand for dollars from Lebanese inside the country and abroad.
'Guarantee a future'
President Michel Aoun met central bank governor Riad Salameh and representatives from the Lebanese Association of Banks on Saturday to discuss the situation, according to the state-run National News Agency. The meeting came as hundreds took part in student-led demonstrations across the country to pressure the government into meeting their demands. The rallies have gained new momentum after pupils and university students boycotted lessons in recent days to spearhead the street movement. “We want to guarantee a future for ourselves," said Mohammad, an 18-year-old high-school student.
"I shouldn't be forced to leave the country after I graduate to find a job," he said from a protest square in central Beirut. "The current political class is not capable of providing this."Even before protests erupted last month, growth in Lebanon had stalled following repeated political deadlocks in recent years, compounded by the war in Syria. Public debt stood at more than $86 billion, over 150 percent of gross domestic product, according to the finance ministry. Moody's ratings agency this week downgraded Lebanon's sovereign debt, saying the anti-government protests had hit investor confidence and threatened economic stability. The World Bank had forecast a contraction of 0.2 percent before the turmoil, but has said that it now expects Lebanon's recession "to be even more significant". Without quick steps to address the crisis, about half of Lebanon's population could fall into poverty and unemployment could "rise sharply", the lender said.

Lebanese banks face threats, Hariri said to want neutral government
Reuters, Beirut/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Lebanese bank staff are facing abuse from customers angered by restrictions on access to their cash, the employees’ union said on Friday, reflecting intensifying pressures in an economy gripped by its deepest crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. With Lebanon paralyzed by political and economic turmoil, its politicians have yet to make progress towards agreeing a new government to replace one that was toppled by an unprecedented wave of protests against the sectarian ruling elite. Saad al-Hariri, who quit as prime minister last week, is determined the next government should be devoid of political parties because such a cabinet will not be able to secure Western assistance, a source familiar with his view said. He is still seeking to convince the powerful, Iran-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah and its ally the Amal Movement of the need for such a technocratic government, the source said. Hariri’s office could not immediately be reached for comment.
Leading Christian politician Samir Geagea warned of great unrest if supplies of basic goods run short and said Lebanon’s financial situation was “very, very delicate”. One of the world’s most heavily indebted states, Lebanon was already in deep economic trouble before protests erupted on Oct. 17, ignited by a government plan to tax WhatsApp calls. Taking aim at rampant state corruption, the nationwide protests have targeted the entire elite. Since reopening a week ago, banks have been seeking to stave off capital flight by blocking most transfers abroad and imposing curbs on hard-currency withdrawals, though the central bank has announced no formal capital controls. The banks’ moves have led to threats against their staff. “Clients with guns have entered banks and security guards have been afraid to speak to them as when people are in a state like this you don’t know how people will act,” said George al Hajj, president of the Federation of Syndicates of Banks Employees.
Bank staff are considering going on strike, he said. “Clients are becoming very aggressive; the situation is very critical and our colleagues cannot continue under the current circumstances,” added Hajj, whose union has around 11,000 members, just under half of the total banking staff. A senior banker expressed concern that potential industrial action by staff could force the closure of banks from Tuesday onward. Banks will be closed on Saturday and Monday for a public holiday. A big part of Lebanon’s economic crisis stems from a slowdown of capital inflows which has led to a scarcity of US dollars and spawned a black market where the Lebanese pound has weakened below its official pegged rate. A dollar was costing 1,800 pounds or more on Friday compared to 1,740 on Thursday, two market sources said. The pegged rate is 1,507.5 pounds.
“On another planet”
Some banks have lowered the cap on maximum withdrawals from dollar accounts this week, according to customers and bank employees. At least one bank cut credit card limits from $10,000 to $1,000 this week, customers said. “Anything that touches the liquidity of the bank is being restricted,” said another banker. One bank told a customer that a weekly withdrawal cap of $2,500 had been slashed to $1,500. Friday also saw the longest queues yet at ATMs, the senior banker said, as customers prepared for the two-day closure. In central Beirut, several people tried and failed to withdraw dollars from an ATM belonging to one of the banks that is still dispensing dollars from its cash machines. “It’s frustrating as I need money to keep me going for the weekend,” said one customer, a 25-year-old marketing professional. Another customer was able to withdraw cash in Lebanese pounds from the same ATM.
Hariri, who resigned on October 29, has been holding closed-door meetings with other politicians. “Hariri has made up his mind. He does not want a government with any politicians because this government cannot secure support from the West,” the source familiar with his view said.
Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces Party, said the only way out of the crisis was the formation of a competent government independent of political parties. “Every hour we hear of a crisis at the gates, whether it’s (supply of) petrol, flour, or medicine,” Geagea said in a telephone interview. “Everything is collapsing and the officials are on another planet, taking their time.”

Report: Hizbullah, Speaker ‘Fail’ to Persuade Adamant Hariri
Naharnet/November 09/2019
The formation of a new government reportedly hinges on caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri who “refuses” to head another cabinet, amid failed Hizbullah, Speaker’s attempts to convince him otherwise, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday. The daily said that Speaker Nabih Berri has dispatched Minister Ali Hassan Khalil a “number of times to persuade Hariri, emphasizing the need that he shoulder responsibility.”It also said that Hizbullah has failed to dissuade Hariri from his decision. According to information, the recent meeting between Hariri and Hizbullah’s political aide, Hajj Hussein Khalil, was “frank and friendly.” Hariri allegedly made no mention that he rejects Hizbullah’s participation in an upcoming government. Moreover, Khalil reportedly passed Hizbullah’s position that Hariri should be a key partner in solving the current government crisis, and that he should shoulder responsibility ... “we are with you,” he reportedly told the caretaker Premier. But Hariri maintains an “unwavering” position, said the daily, which Hussein allegedly said “we don’t consider (the rejection) that a final answer, let us leave it to the ongoing contacts.” Hariri tendered his government's resignation on October 29 in response to pressure from the street. The cabinet has stayed on in a caretaker capacity but efforts to form a new line-up seem to be stalling, with each faction in the outgoing coalition seeking to salvage some influence. Hariri met President Michel Aoun on Thursday and said that consultations were ongoing with all political players but gave no details.

Students in Tyre Join Pupils Demos for First Time
Naharnet/November 09/2019
Hundreds of students in the southern city of Tyre joined for the first time on Saturday the masses of fellow students in different parts of Lebanon boosting the country’s anti-government protest movement. Tyre students chanted “revolution, revolution,” expressing anger of an increasing rate in “unemployment,” and demanding “new curricula and social rights.”Since Wednesday, university and high school students across the country have massively deserted their classrooms to join nationwide streets protests. Earlier in October, pro-AMAL gunmen suppressed by force the protesters chanting slogans opposed to AMAL Movement leader and Speaker Nabih Berri. Armed clashes were reported as videos of the clashes went viral on social media. Thousands of high school students across Lebanon skipped classes Saturday for a fourth day in a row to carry on the flame of the country's anti-graft movement. Lebanon has since October 17 been gripped by massive cross-sectarian protests demanding a complete revamping of a political system they say is corrupt and inept. With youth unemployment running at over 30 percent, school students have joined en masse since Wednesday demanding a better country so they don't have to emigrate.

Lebanon’s grand mufti calls for protesters’ demands to be met
Reuters, Beirut/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Lebanon’s grand mufti, the top cleric for Sunni Muslims, called on Saturday for those in power to meet protesters’ demands of ending corruption and sectarianism. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian also said the time had come for the prompt formation of a national emergency government of experts, in a televised address on the occasion of Prophet Mohammed’s birthday. The country is in political turmoil after a wave of protests that prompted the resignation of Saad Hariri as prime minister last week.

World Bank Regional Chief Urges Lebanon to Form Govt. 'within a Week'
Associated Press/Naharnet/November 09/2019
The World Bank's regional director on Friday urged Lebanon to form a new Cabinet "within a week" to prevent further degradation and loss of confidence in its economy. Saroj Kumar Jha told The Associated Press that the World Bank observed in recent weeks increasing risks to Lebanon's economic and financial stability. "We are very concerned that this will impact the Lebanese poor people, middle class" and businesses, he said. Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned his government on Oct. 29 in response to the unprecedented protests which have swept Lebanon starting in the middle of last month. The protests erupted over proposed new taxes and have snowballed into calls for the entire political elite that has ruled Lebanon since the end of its 1975-90 civil war to step aside. More than a week after Hariri resigned, President Michel Aoun has not yet set a date for consultations with heads of parliamentary blocs who would name a new premier. There appears to be sharp divisions over whether the new Cabinet should be made up of experts only or include politicians. "It is extremely important that there is a political solution to the ongoing crisis and (that) we have a credible government in the office, which can launch ambitious bold reforms for economic stability, for more growth in the economy, for more jobs to be created and to restore confidence," Jha added. Jha said the losses "are enormous" and some of them can be measured but there are many that cannot. He said the World Bank estimates that before the protests started on Oct. 17, Lebanese was already in recession and "we were projecting 0.2% negative growth in the Lebanese economy. More recent "estimates suggest that the contraction in the country's economy could be about 1% of the GDP, which is quiet substantial."He added this would almost mean 600 to 700 million dollars of economic losses every day. Lebanon, which suffers from widespread corruption, has one of the highest debts in the world, standing at $86 billion or 150 of the GDP.
Jha said the new government should work on restoring confidence in the Lebanese economy, creating business opportunities for all Lebanese, improving the job market and launching a comprehensive program for the state-owned electricity company, which is draining state coffers.
"We need a government immediately. A government which is credible, meets the expectations of the Lebanese people, can work with all (sides) in the country and international community" to take these reforms forward, he said. "Given the scale of social and economic impact in terms of economic losses, increasing poverty, increasing unemployment, I think it is extremely important that we have a government within a week to prevent further degradation of the Lebanese economy and the confidence in the Lebanese economy," he said, speaking to The AP at his office in central Beirut.
"If there is a government within a week, first of all it will send a very positive signal to everyone. To the markets, investors, to the international community," Jha said. Since banks in Lebanon opened again last Friday for the first time in two weeks, people have been rushing to banking institutions to withdraw money fearing that the country's crisis would further deepen amid shortage in liquidity. The banks subsequently have been imposing irregular capital controls to protect deposits and prevent a run on the banks. The banking sector -- a backbone of the economy -- suffered a blow on Thursday when Moody's Investors Service downgraded the country's three largest banks into junk territory. The international agency downgraded to Caa2 from Caa1, the local-currency deposit ratings respectively of Bank Audi, BLOM Bank and Byblos Bank.
Two days earlier Moody's said it lowered Lebanon's issuer rating to caa2 citing the possibility of rescheduling the country's massive debt. Jha said the "downgrading of several Lebanese banks ... shows that the confidence in the Lebanese economy is very sharply declining.""It presents itself as a challenge to the Lebanese political leaders to really form the government as soon as possible," he also said. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported Friday that the country's banks will be closed for two extra days over the weekend amid deepening turmoil and public anxiety over liquidity and sustained anti-government protests. It said the banks will be closed both on Saturday and Monday, along with the regular Sunday closure for the weekend. The report says this will allow for the observation of the holiday celebrating Prophet Mohammed's birthday, which is set for Monday in Lebanon.
Lebanon is one of the world's most heavily indebted countries.

Lebanon Protests a Boon for Street Vendors
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 09/2019
The smells of grilled cheese and cooked corn waft over the protesters in the Lebanese capital -- with daily crowds filling the the capital's main squares, the movement has been a boon for street vendors.Ibrahim is a plasterer by trade, but when he saw crowds flocking by the tens of thousands to Beirut's Martyrs' Square to protest against government corruption and incompetence, he knew it was not an opportunity to be missed. One day, he's selling "kaak", a round, savoury Lebanese bread covered in sesame seeds. The next, it's corn on the cob or small trays of lupin beans dressed with cumin and lemon juice.
"It's better than being out of work," the stocky 27-year-old said. Times have been tough for many months, he said, with the country hit by an economic crisis that has not spared the construction sector.
- 'New livelihood' -
"For us, the revolution represents a new livelihood, and at the same time we are protesting with the people," Ibrahim said. On good days, he earns between $35 and $40 with his food cart. Forced to abandon his education before age 18, he has been taking care of his sick mother since his father passed away.
"She has no social security or pension, I spend my life paying for doctors and medicines," he said. A short distance away, the square resounds to the rallying cries of the protest movement which has rocked Lebanon since October 17: "Revolution! Revolution!" and "the people want the fall of the regime".
A new group of protesters march past and Ibrahim quickly gets back to business, grabbing his cart from the car park where he had hidden it. When the demonstrations swell, police do not bother with street vendors, Ibrahim said.
But when rallying points empty out, security forces confiscate vendors' goods and remind them that their activities are illegal. A little further on, several protesters have gathered around a cart serving punnets of corn and beans that its owner has dubbed the "revolution wagon". Normally, Emad Hassan Saad plies his business on the corniche, Beirut's seaside promenade. "We sell more here because there are more people," the 29-year-old said. He has brought on three friends to help him out. The first peels lemons, the second chops them and the third pulls ears of corn from a pot of boiling water. "The rallies are a job opportunity for these young people, even if it's only temporary," Dana Zayyat, 21, said, munching on lupin beans. Her friend Jana Kharzal agrees. "This revolution has allowed young people who are poor to work, those who don't have the chance to study or to rent a shop." Youth unemployment is chronic in Lebanon, with more than 30 percent out of work, while almost a third of of Lebanon's population lives in poverty.
- Fines -
Some vendors complain of the treatment they receive at the hands of security forces, even at their usual selling spots like the corniche, popular with Sunday strollers. One of their number, who did not want to give his name, said he had had to pay dozens of fines the equivalent of $300, or 20 day's take.
Despite the risks, the manager of a hookah rental service took his chances and set up shop among the protesters. He gets to work in the evenings, when the demonstrations swell and police attention is elsewhere. Fifteen or so of his water pipes are lined up near a concrete wall in a car park in Martyrs' Square, where his employees are busy serving customers.  He'll leave "when the political class leaves", he says between draws on a hookah. Not far away, a frail elderly woman offers red roses for sale to passers-by from where she is seated on the ground, despite the late hour.
A brown scarf encircles her weathered face and when protesters ask why she is out so late, she answers that she has no choice. "This country pushes the poor into the grave," she says in a weak voice.

Geagea confers with Kubic over latest local developments
NNA/November 09/2019
Lebanese Forces Party Chief, Samir Geagea, met this afternoon with UN Secretary General’s Special Representative, Jan Kubis, in the presence of his foreign relations advisor Elie Khoury and the Party's external relations department head, Elie Hindi. According to Geagea’s Press Office, discussions during the meeting focused on "the latest local developments in terms of the prevailing economic situation and the issue of forming the new government."

Geagea Replies to Pompeo Remarks on Lebanon
Naharnet/November 09/2019
Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea on Saturday replied to statements made by US US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about Lebanon. “With great thanks Mr. Pompeo, the Lebanese people need no help to come out of their living, social and economic crisis," Geagea said in a tweet.
Popmeo had earlier said: “The Iraqi and Lebanese people want their countries back. They are discovering that the Iranian regime’s top export is corruption, badly disguised as revolution. Iraq and Lebanon deserve to set their own courses free from Khamenei’s meddling.”

Geagea Says Officials Seem to be Living 'on Another Planet'
Naharnet/November 09/2019
Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea on Friday said that the country’s political leaders seem to be living “on another planet,” lamenting that there are no indications that the new government will be formed anytime soon. Geagea also accused Hizbullah of seeking a government similar to the resigned one by insisting on having its ally Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil in it. The World Bank's regional director on Friday urged Lebanon to form a new Cabinet "within a week" to prevent further degradation and loss of confidence in its economy. Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned his government on Oct. 29 in response to the unprecedented protests which have swept Lebanon starting in the middle of last month. The protests erupted over proposed new taxes and have snowballed into calls for the entire political elite that has ruled Lebanon since the end of its 1975-90 civil war to step aside. More than a week after Hariri resigned, President Michel Aoun has not yet set a date for consultations with heads of parliamentary blocs who would name a new premier. There appears to be sharp divisions over whether the new Cabinet should be made up of experts only or include politicians.

Hopes of Young Lebanese to Escape Sectarianism Put to Test
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 09/2019
Lebanon's protests are bringing out people from across the country's spectrum of faiths and communities trying to throw out the entire ruling elite. They give a glimpse into a Lebanon transcending longtime divisions among sects. But the young protesters face an entrenched political leadership that depends on sectarianism and an older generation that fears disrupting it could bring back civil war. That threat resonates less with a generation that has little or no memory of a war that ended in 1990. The protests erupted over proposed new taxes but snowballed into calls for the entire political elite to go. For them, sectarian power-sharing is bound together with corruption and mismanagement that has impoverished them and left infrastructure so decrepit that power outages hit every day. Singer Tania Saleh grew up amid a civil war that robbed her of her childhood, of her friends and neighbors and of the Lebanon she so loved. For years, she has sung the pains of sectarian schisms. "You Lebanese have created 10 or 12 gods ... You divided me. You aggravated me. You parceled me out and you became divided," one of her songs says, imagining a conversation with God. "He who wants to pray ... must understand that God, the creator, has not made one sect better than the other."
Based on a poem written in 1975, the year the war broke out, the lyrics still felt searing and relevant enough for Saleh to add to an album in 2017. Now, the 50-year-old hopes younger Lebanese can make her country dance to a different tune, one that transcends sectarian divisions. She is inspired by the mosaic of protesters who have come together in the past weeks from across the religious, political and geographic spectrum, united in disdain for a political class they say has cheated them of a decent future. "The new generation is not like us," she said. "We have seen too many tragedies and so we are scared."
The demonstrators have provided those eager to see the country move past its sectarian legacy with a glimpse of what can be. But Saleh says she has no illusions about how long that path will be. Those aspirations are increasingly being put to the test by a system that delicately balances among 18 officially recognized sectarian groups. The system is locked into the country's politics. The posts of the president, prime minister and parliament speaker are given to the biggest communities — Maronite Christian, Sunni Muslim and Shiite Muslim. Most political parties are explicitly based on sect, and politicians pass out patronage and jobs to their communities.
It is also engrained in society, where many fear domination by other sects and one sect's gain can be seen as another's loss. Looming over everything is the fear new violence might erupt if anyone wrecks the balance. That threat resonates less with a generation that has little or no memory of a war that ended in 1990. The protests erupted over proposed new taxes but snowballed into calls for the entire political elite to go. For them, sectarian power-sharing is bound together with corruption and mismanagement that has impoverished them and left infrastructure so decrepit that power outages hit every day.
Hiba Farhat, a 31-year-old Shiite protester, said politicians pit sects against each other so "people would say, 'Ok, I accept corruption and I accept this leader; I just need him to protect me from the other sect.'"Slogans like "the era of sects has ended" and "a revolution against fear" are scrawled in graffiti and proclaimed on banners. At a recent protest, demonstrators poured into Beirut squares in response to calls to keep unified. Wearing a flowing black robe and a light-colored scarf framing her face, 25-year-old Huda Wissam smiled and swayed to the tunes of national songs as others rhythmically stomped their feet. With her was her 15-year-old brother and 20-year-old sister. "I am veiled and when I see a Christian smiling at me, I get reassured that we have shed off sectarianism," said Wissam, a Sunni Muslim. "The challenge is for us all to remain together, Christian, Muslim, Shiite or Sunni ... then we will succeed."Her father, she said, wanted her to stay out of protests, warning, "This will lead to a civil war."
"He doesn't want his children to become victims for something that won't happen. He has given up, but we won't," she said. "I don't want to wait until I am my parents' age and then there would be nothing I can do."On a recent night, a small group of protesters sat on a sidewalk by the bell tower of a church in the northern Beirut suburb of Jal el-Deeb and took stock of how far they have come. "The grudges that they have planted in us, our generation has put an end to them. I no longer feel sectarianism. Lebanon comes first," Charbel Elie, 32, told the group. He wanted to know what the protesters had gained.
"Today, we don't ask what sect you belong to and what area you're from," and fear of criticizing leaders has been broken, replied Nayla Geagea, an activist and lawyer. She walked them through constitutional steps to forming a new government.
A 75-year-old man in the circle spoke up to say he had no questions but wanted to apologize to the younger generation for the country they were inheriting.
"We will fix it, uncle," someone yelled.
But protesters have had to keep sectarianism from fragmenting their own ranks. Geagea pointed out that when the prime minister stepped down — one of the demands of protesters — some made it look like the demonstrators were targeting his Sunni community. "We have to defeat this rhetoric," she said. Amid grumbling over roadblocks and fears of economic collapse, men shouting Shiite religious slogans and chants in support of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah confronted protesters in one instance. Some Shiites who initially joined demonstrations have stayed away after Nasrallah — even as he expressed sympathy for protesters' demands — accused foreign powers of exploiting them to undermine Hezbollah and warned against dragging the country into civil war. Tensions between opposing Christian factions have also run high. Some supporters of President Michel Aoun accuse rivals from the rightwing Lebanese Forces movement of seeking to topple him. The two sides fought each other brutally in the final years of the civil war. Aoun backers held a demonstration to support him and the president has called for unity. "The sectarian system will not get toppled through protests," said one of them, 27-year-old Elias Khoury. "It will get toppled when the hearts, not the laws, change."
The two are tangled together — a social mentality clinging to sect and a political class whose power depends on sectarianism.
"When you ask for the dismantling of the political sectarian system ... you're basically asking the current political elite to commit group suicide. They're not going to do that," said Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center. The young "want basic, fundamental rights and for them they really have nothing to lose," she said. "They recognize that this system hasn't worked for their parents; it is not working for them."Saleh, the singer, said she takes hope from a generation she feels is not as sectarian. Her son, she said, doesn't care to know the faith of his schoolmates.
Just like her art, her life has been colored by Lebanon's intricacies. Her world changed at only six. The civil war broke out and school friends and neighbors started disappearing. The Christians fled to other areas. Born to a Sunni father and a Shiite mother, Saleh would go out sometimes with a cross dangling around her neck, a statement of defiance to the fighters who stole the normalcy of her life.
The war pitted Palestinians against Lebanese, Christians against Muslims, Christians against Christians and every other combination possible.
As battles raged, Saleh and her family left too, again and again and again. They bounced from home to home, escaped briefly to Kuwait. These memories are seared in her mind. Her mother begging armed men to let them drive through. Listening every day in Kuwait to iconic Lebanese singer Fairouz belt out "I love you, oh Lebanon.""There is no hope for me to enjoy a proper country," Saleh said. "But the hope is for our kids and grandkids. Let them start now better than waiting for when it's too late."

Lebanon: Political Disputes Among Aoun’s Three Daughters
Youssef Diab/Asharq Al Awsat/November 09/2019
With the beginning of popular protests on October 17, the family of President Michel Aoun was shaken with political disagreements, specifically between his three daughters, over the policies of Aoun’s son-in-law, the head of the FPM and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil. Indications of a dispute emerged few months ago, when MP Shamel Roukoz, the president’s son-in-law, announced his withdrawal from the FPM’s Strong Lebanon parliamentary bloc. However, recent reports noted that Aoun’s daughter and advisor, Mireille (the wife of Roy Hashem, OTV channel’s director-general) has left the presidential palace due to a clash with Bassil, to later return to Baabda to assume her role but with restricted authorities. On Thursday, the Kataeb Party website quoted sources close to Mireille as saying that Aoun has asked her to no longer deal with politics, and to leave such affairs to Bassil.
In a television interview, Claudine, the wife of MP Shamel Roukoz, acknowledged the emergence of a new opposition within the FPM.
“There are different approaches within the same house, and in the end, the people voted and gave their confidence to the deputies. There is a great responsibility to be assumed today,” she said.Political disputes seem to threaten the personal relations between the sisters. Sources close to the FPM noted that the “lines of communication are almost cut between Chantal (Bassil’s wife) on one hand, and her sisters, Claudine and Mireille, on the other, especially following Bassil’s speech last Sunday from Baabda, in which he accused “relatives and strangers” of betrayal.
Naim Aoun – Aoun’s nephew – did not conceal the presence of disputes within the FPM. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said that the consequences of these rifts would be more obvious following the formation of the new government. Despite his deep disagreement with the current FPM leaders, Naim tried to minimize the disputes between the three daughters. “There are no problems among the sisters at the family or personal level, but the political difference between them is clear,” he said. Both Mireille and Claudine did not attend the FPM demonstration held last Sunday in front of the Baabda Palace. In a television interview, Claudine lashed out at Bassil without naming him, and commented on popular demands on Bassil to stay away from the government, saying: “As the president’s daughter, I am ready to sit at home if it is in the country’s interest, because a total collapse would not exempt any party, but will affect all sides.”

From Iraq to Lebanon & Syria…the Threat is One and the Same
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/November 09/2019
As US President Donald Trump congratulates himself on the ‘achievement’ of withdrawing from Syria, with the exception of the oil producing area, Western capitals seem to be in a hurry to calm the situation in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.
Everybody wants to facilitate forming new governments and contain tension; while no one seems to care about anything other than replacing one government with another, regardless of what the region is going through. Yet, since the outbreak of the current Lebanese uprising against the ruling elite and corruption three weeks ago, which led to the resignation of Saad Hariri’s cabinet, the Secretary General of Hezbollah made three appearances in which he resorted to ‘advice’, directives, accusations and threats.
Iraq is also going through a similar popular uprising calling for the resignation of the government and parliament. This uprising is sweeping the Shiite areas of central and southern Iraq, and has witnessed tearing down pictures of Iran’s Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards Al-Quds Brigade commander General Qasim Soleimani. Incidentally, Soleimani had left Lebanon, a few days before, to Iraq, where he has been busy planning the containment and crushing of both uprisings.
In both cases, fingers have been pointing to the Iranian leadership, which is obvious; since it would be absurd to separate the terrible living conditions in countries like Iraq and Lebanon, from their virtual occupation and rule by Iranian-controlled militias. In Lebanon, Hezbollah’s occupation has been the direct cause of the country’s brain drain, lack of investment, concealment of widespread corruption, and destruction of its services sector. Likewise, in Iraq, the de facto occupation of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and its constituent militias have been sucking dry the oil-rich country’s great wealth, including causing the closure of no less than 52,000 factories as Iran imposes its stranglehold on the Iraqi economy.
Two valuable contributions to the subject were recently published in the US, covering Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. The first, was an article by Samir Sumaidaie, a former Iraqi Interior Minister and former Ambassador to the UN and Washington, published by ‘The Atlantic Council’; and the second, was a report on ‘The Growing Threat to the Druze’ published by ‘The Middle East Institute’ with collaboration of ETANA-Syria.
Sumaidaie wrote: “In Washington, some believe that despite the protests in Iraq that began in early October and continue apace, the current Iraqi government should be supported and given help as it responds to the just demands of the protesters. The reasons given range from: “What is the alternative? The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t” to “This is the constitutionally elected government, and challenging it risks chaos.”
“That analysis,” he added “might be convenient, but it is wrong. It does not take into account what has led to this explosion of public anger.
The May 2018 elections were all but boycotted by the electorate. The turnout was claimed to be around 44 percent, but many believe it was much lower. That contrasts with the 60 percent turnout in recent previous elections even without all provinces fully participating. Then, in June 2018, a suspicious fire destroyed half of the ballots from the 2018 election, and the results were “adjusted” by an Electoral Commission (EC), which should have been independent but was not.”
He then pointed out to the fact that “the constitutionality of the current political system is open to challenge in other important respects”, including:
1- “The constitution forbids discrimination on the basis of race, religion, and sect, but the current political order is predicated on the Prime Minister being Shiite, the President Kurdish, and the Speaker of Parliament Sunni…
2- The constitution explicitly bans militias. But there exist in Iraq heavily armed militias (and not just the Popular Mobilization Forces, also known as the PMF) with declared allegiance to Iran…
3- Most importantly, the ruling clique has diverted the country’s revenue from oil—the country’s primary source of income—into the pockets of the elite through an elaborate patronage scheme and corruption (….) Young people would not go into the streets unarmed and aware that they face live bullets from the militias if they were not desperate.”
In conclusion, he wrote that “the Iraqi government, as it is constituted now and despite all past and present promises and claims to the contrary, does not have the political will or the capacity to deliver good governance.”
As for ‘The Middle East Institute’s report, under the title ‘Divide and Conquer: The Growing Threat to the Druze’, it maintained that “Deep political, familial, and religious ties have allowed Druze communities across the Levant to remain largely unified against external threats, but eight years of violence in Syria and a coordinated campaign by the regime and its allies now threaten to destabilize regional Druze politics and erode the sect’s political and military power. An Iranian-backed campaign by Hezbollah to incite inter-Druze violence in Lebanon has curtailed this unity, laying the groundwork for Hezbollah to expand into Syria’s Suweida province with impunity.”
The report added that “Hezbollah’s push to create inter-sect strife has extended from Beirut to the occupied Golan Heights to Suweida”, and went on explaining that:
1- Approximately 60% of all armed groups in the Suweida province are affiliated with Hezbollah, and it continues to work to recruit or co-opt partners there.”
2- Within Iran’s strategy, Hezbollah is launching a two-pronged attack on the Druze: One inside Lebanon, where it is working to divide the community and weaken its biggest political bloc headed by Walid Jumblatt through supporting and encouraging aspiring rivals; and inciting inter-Druze confrontation and violence in their Mount Lebanon stronghold. The other in Syria, where Hezbollah and the Iranian militias blackmail the Druze of Suweida (southern Syria) through organized crime, like kidnappings, assassinations, smuggling. Also in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, tensions and divisions are being fomented between the area’s Druze and Jumblatt.
3- As for Israel, “Hezbollah and the regime have clashed with Israeli forces at the Lebanese-Israeli border in recent weeks, and the controversial passage of a Jewish nationality law in Israel has seen relations between the Druze and Tel Aviv sour since the beginning of the year.” Exploiting the tension between the 1948 Palestinian (Israeli) - Druze and the Israeli right-wing government; more so after the ‘Jewish nationality law’ is hoped to neutralize the Druze there, and allow the pro-Iran militia to extend its influence to the eastern slopes of Mount Hermon adjacent to occupied Golan Heights.
The two aforementioned published works are extremely valuable to the understanding of the events in Iraq and Lebanon, as well as the strategic land ‘corridor’ Iran is creating between Tehran and Beirut through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
General Soleimani, who is virtually the ‘military governor’ of the three countries is going ahead with this project against the deafening silence – is it the collusion – of the International Community!
One sincerely hopes that the suffering stops and strong will of the Iraqis and the Lebanese proves strong enough to defeat this collusion.

Lebanese fear economic chaos
Najla Houssari/Arab News/November 10/2019
Banks witness pressure from depositors to withdraw funds for commercial purposes both in dollars or Lebanese pounds
BEIRUT: Lebanese worries rose on Saturday as economic chaos began to seep into the country’s life cycle. The dollar crisis is resurfacing. Lebanese banks closed on Saturday and will be closed next Monday for the Prophet’s birthday. Over the past two days, the banks witnessed pressure from depositors to withdraw funds for commercial purposes both in dollars or Lebanese pounds, but the banks were reluctant to pay them on the pretext of lack of liquidity. Social media reported many arguments between bank employees and customers. The financial situation was the focus of a meeting between caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Lebanese Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh on Friday night. It was also the focus of a meeting between President Michel Aoun and Governor Salameh on Saturday, Chairman of the Association of Banks Salim Sfeir and members of the board of directors of the association.
According to information distributed after the Hariri-Salameh meeting, Governor Salameh refuted with figures and facts the temporary measures taken by the banks “to protect the depositors and their money and maintain the stability of the lira’s fixed exchange rate (1,507 against the dollar) with the support of the great potential possessed by the Banque du Liban.” He stressed the necessity of accelerating the formation of a government that “rebuilds confidence and contributes to the restoration of things to the right level to relieve monetary and banking pressures.” Salameh described what has been happening as “a state of confusion resulting from the loss of confidence and fears of the development of political matters to the extent of unrest.” Sfeir assured the Lebanese that “things are under control and there is no need for fear or concern for the citizens on their deposits and their money. Despite precautionary measures that protect their deposits and protect the Lebanese pound, banks continue to serve their clients.”
Fady Gemayel, president of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists, met with Governor Salameh and complained to him about “the suspension of facilities, stopping transfers and the scarcity in hard currency, which does not allow the provision of basic raw materials necessary for the industry.” After the meeting, Gemayel said: “This puts the industrialists on the brink of collapse for reasons unrelated to them, and this collapse will first affect the banks.”However, the reassurances did not alleviate the confusion and concern of the Lebanese. Protests were held in Tripoli in front of money exchange bureaus, which closed their doors. Money exchange bureaus in Lebanon are pricing the dollar differently from the official dollar pricing. The dollar reached 2,000 Lebanese pounds on the black market because of low volumes.
Many fuel stations in Beirut and the region were closed due to the lack of stock, while other stations rationed the distribution of fuel. Fadi Abu Shakra, the representative of the companies and distributors of fuel, said the reason for this was that “the owners of the stations are struggling to get the dollars to buy fuel and that the stations are currently closing one by one because of running out of stock.”
Things are under control and there is no need for fear or concern for the citizens on their deposits and their money.
Salim Sfeir, Chairman of the Association of Banks
Two laboratories that produce vaccines told hospitals on Saturday that any hospital that was late in paying the laboratories would not get vaccines until it paid in cash, Al Markazia news agency (CNA) said. The Order of Nurses in Lebanon warned that “some hospitals have begun procedures to affect the salaries of nurses, on the grounds that hospitals did not receive their dues from the state treasury and guarantors, and the Order will be forced to take ominous escalatory measures because the nursing sector can no longer tolerate more prejudice.”
The street protests remained unchanged on the 24th day of the civil movement. The protest groups targeted the Foreign Ministry because “the ministry is not a public facility to serve the minister and his group,” amid heavy security deployment.
The political discussions on the issue of scheduling binding parliamentary consultations to appoint a new prime minister did not make any progress due to the preconditions for forming a government.
Asked whether the street protests are in a dilemma because economic concerns have overridden the anger of young protesters, Dr. Kholoud Kassem, a political sociologist, told Arab News: “We must not forget that what moved people on the street was the economic situation and people were not thinking about politics. People just want to live. The street uprising may have taken a second facet that is related to politics. But people are not taking into consideration the specificity of the Lebanese structure.”
Dr. Kassem added: “After this time, the revolution must monitor the daily reality and how it should move accordingly. What is happening now in the country puts the revolution in a dilemma if it is not directed by people who are known for their competence and lack of political affiliation. People need to be realistic. The structure in Lebanon that people want to change is not just ministers, deputies and presidents. It is a complex system in the Lebanese structure.” Dr. Qassem stressed that “the revolution has attained an achievement represented by monitoring and accountability. This was not available before, but there is an urgent need now for competent figures who follow this monitoring and follow-up what people have achieved.”

Lebanon's uprising: the era of impunity and blind obedience is over
Raghida Dergham/The National/November 09/2019
The ruling class continue to bank on protesters running out of steam and returning to their previous modus operandi
Lebanon’s revolution shows no sign of abating but in the coming phase this will not matter, because the indifference of the ruling class and the coming economic collapse is leading to a dangerous new phase. The perseverance and multi-generational aspect of the Lebanese revolution have left the politicians in shock, after they assumed the protests were a fleeting emotional outburst that would inevitably fizzle out.
Despite their shock, they continue to bet on the uprising running out of steam, prompting protesters to go home, after which everything would return to normal – that is to say, corrupt politicians will return to their misdemeanours and their domination of the country’s resources and fate. However, the multi-generational revolution has created a new reality, despite the ruling class’s refusal to recognise it. The era of impunity and blind obedience is over. But the denial does not mean these men of power and sectarianism are not panicking. The coming social unrest will lead to mob hysteria against them and those close to them. If and when economic collapse happens, it will lead to shortages in fuel, food and other basic commodities in the next two months, precipitating a financial and social catastrophe. The young faces of the revolution must take all necessary measures to avoid descending into a mob mentality of wanton destruction.
The failure of the ruling class to understand the consequences of their deception, arrogance and greed, thinking that they can stall until the revolution has run its course, is dangerous and foolish, because it is not the youth who will tire first but the old men of the regime in Lebanon. President Michel Aoun’s delay in designating a prime minister to form a government to embark on serious, technocratic solutions to save Lebanon from total collapse could be a fateful gamble. Indeed, it could mean that he will be the person to blame if Lebanon descends into chaos.
Meanwhile, the Iranian leadership appears to be extremely panicked by the prospect of an internal eruption and an uprising against the regime, encouraged by the protests in Lebanon and Iraq. According to sources, Iran could be considering an escalation to divert attention away from what is happen domestically. Targeting tankers and other vital installations in the Gulf remains a possibility. In Lebanon, Iran is making frantic calculations, since Hezbollah is a precious card. The Iranians are keen to keep Lebanon under the yoke by ensuring Hezbollah dominates any government in Lebanon. Important decisions could be made in this regard, following a meeting of the Iranian leadership on Monday, decisions that could include extinguishing the Lebanese revolution at any cost.
It is not the youth who will tire first but the old men of the regime in Lebanon. Iran's leadership has so far decided to treat the Lebanese uprising as something that targets corruption primarily rather than Hezbollah. This line of thinking is convenient for Tehran for now. But the question remains in the mind of Iran’s leaders: what kind of stability can be restored in Lebanon and where would that leave Hezbollah? Iran’s clear priority is that Hezbollah must step up its domination over Lebanon. The regime could resort to major escalation abroad to mask its failure, which has led to an economic crisis, isolation and sanctions. Leaders are currently in the process of ramping up Iran’s nuclear capabilities to provoke counter actions and rally nationalist support for their regime.
However, the sphere of influence that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boasts of commanding is no longer working. Iraq has entered a cycle of chaos which no political force, internal or external, can rein in. This cannot be reassuring for the IRGC, which once thought Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces were its trump card in Iraq. What we are witnessing is a major blow to Iran’s regional expansionist project. Its leadership is studying frantically what its options are in Iraq and Lebanon to safeguard the PMF and Hezbollah from the Iraqi and Lebanese uprisings.
Hezbollah will continue to feel reassured as long as protesters do not demand that it disarms and hands over weapons supplied by Iran. The group is betting on the fidelity of the president and his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, and the alliance with their Free Patriotic Movement, to share power and control over Lebanon and its resources. So far, this alliance has resisted the formation of a technocratic government independent of political, ideological, partisan or sectarian dictats. It is still imagining the uprising will be quenched but this is delusional.
If Hezbollah comes to the conclusion that the revolution threatens its privileges, it has the arms to force a qualitative change in its trajectory and turn it from a protest movement into a civil war. For this reason, Hezbollah leads the camp rejecting the movement's main demands.
If the decision to prevent the formation of such a government continues, Lebanon is on its way to the abyss. The protest movement must therefore hold onto the priority of installing a government of technocrats, then gradually demand other issues in parallel with efforts to prosecute the corrupt and restore looted public funds. Without a clean, independent government, no funds will come to Lebanon to rescue its economy from collapse. There would be no prospects either for new electoral laws or radical reforms.
What is coming will be very difficult. Hospital staff are already voicing alarm. The coming phase will chime with the pain of the people, who will no doubt blame the political class but could also blame demonstrators if they fail to develop achievable goals.
The time has come for international governments and institutions to pressure Lebanon’s leaders to stop stalling immediately, or they will be blamed for letting the country spiral into chaos.
The revolution, for its part, must be conscious of the necessity of preserving the state and its institutions. If the country descends into mass riots, the army has a responsibility to distinguish between civil rights activists and rioters. This is a dangerous and delicate phase but it will decide the fate of Lebanon.
https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/lebanon-s-uprising-the-era-of-impunity-and-blind-obedience-is-over-1.935340

A New Arab Spring Is Unfolding in Iraq and Lebanon. But Things Could Get Bloody If Iran Gets Its Way
Bessma Momani/Time/November 09/2019
Since October, protests in Iraq and Lebanon have re-energized the Middle East region as hundreds of thousands of young people descend onto public squares, repeating 2011 Arab Spring slogans that call for regime downfall. But while Iraq and Lebanon could offer great promise if protesters learn from past failures in the region, they could also prove to be bloodier if Iran gets its way.
What the Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Says About the War That Killed Him
Middle East protests that have taken hold in the past decade have had their own unique characteristics, but similarities between Iraq and Lebanon are uncanny. Both are highly segmented societies that have undergone painful sectarian civil wars. Both have power-sharing constitutions or political pacts that attempt to keep the peace by dividing spoils of the state, government roles and administrative positions, and parliamentary seats along ethno-sectarian lines. But the more ominous similarity is the well-known interference of Iran into their domestic politics.
Iran’s financial, political and military support for Lebanon’s Hezbollah and for Iraq’s dominant political class in Baghdad from the Dawa party to the Hashd al-Shaabi militant group is clearly menacing. In the early days of Iraq’s protests in October, black clad snipers believed to be Iranian forces took to Baghdad rooftops to take pot shots at protesters using live ammunition; in Lebanon, unknown assailants believed to be with Hezbollah tore down protesters’ tent encampments and physically assaulted protesters in Beirut streets.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has already expressed his views on Lebanese and Iraqi protests, a reminder that Iran knows how to deploy armed forces to tamp down protests. The not-so-subtle warning was not just about how Iran cracked down on its own 2017-2018 protests against corruption and economic gloom— arresting almost 7,000 people and reacting to protests with force—but how Iran effectively propped up the Assad regime to annihilate protesters with brutal force.
Protesters have learned from previous Arab Spring masses to use their vast numbers to barricade themselves from security forces and not give up an inch of Baghdad’s Tahrir Square and Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square. They use social media to garner global attention and keep the cameras rolling; and in the case of Iraqis, they find alternate means of getting their messages and videos out to the world when the government shuts down the Internet. Iraqi and Lebanese activists have used non-sectarian and nationalistic messages to counter the existing narratives of political incumbents. In Iraq, hashtags include ‘I want a nation’; in Lebanon ‘all of them, meaning all of them’. They have both held up posters that point to sectarianism as the source of ills in their countries. Increasingly they are also fighting against messaging from the Iranian government and its local media, which says protesters are paid tools of Western intelligence services.
In Lebanon and Iraq, protesters want an overhaul of the entire political structure that uses sectarianism as an excuse for ineptness, depends on cronyism that leads to systemic corruption, and encourages political in-fighting that leads to indecisive policies. Unlike previous Arab Spring movements, they are no longer satisfied with the mere removal of a prime minister here and a president there.
Both countries suffer from enormous dilapidation and underfunding of public infrastructure and services. Young protesters have no memory of foreign invasions and civil wars; they just want a functioning government to deliver consistent electricity, responsibly manage state budgets, and find ways to encourage job growth. Too many Iraqis complain that the security sector is one of the few places to find employment; young Lebanese feel that with 40% youth unemployment they have to leave the country with the vast majority of other Lebanese to find decent work.
Iraq sits on a healthy current account surplus, and earned $65 billion in oil export revenue in 2018 — yetits government cannot seem to provide clean drinking water to the oil-rich region of Basra. The Lebanese parliament had the audacity to ask for a 20 cent tax on citizens’ WhatsApp calls, while its Prime Minister had given $16 million to a South African supermodel for no clear reason.
Like previous Arab Spring protests, Iraqis and Lebanese see corruption as the cause of their countries’ ills. But they have an advantage that neither Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Bahrain, or Syria had: they are imperfect and nascent democracies. Using the ballot box to usher in competent new leaders is a strategy and avenue for change that other Arab youth did not have.
This is also a challenge as the structure of the democratic process in both Lebanon and Iraq favors sectarian parties over brokerage ones. The incumbent political class will not want to dismantle the inefficient sectarian system that brought them to power. And will Iran crush the protesters before they have a chance to get their technocratic caretaker governments? For now, the at times festive and carnival nature of the Iraqi and Lebanese protests mask nervous fears on the streets that Iran would deploy its local militias to put an end to the protests. That would foreshadow an end to the demonstrations, much like previous Arab Spring protests.
*TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors.
**Momani is Professor at the University of Waterloo, Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
https://time.com/5721115/lebanon-iraq-protests-iran/

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 09-10/2019
Iran Says Enriching Uranium to Five Percent
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 09/2019
Iran said Saturday it is now enriching uranium to five percent, after a series of steps back from its commitments under a troubled 2015 accord with major powers. The deal set a 3.67 percent limit for uranium enrichment but Iran announced it would no longer respect it after Washington unilaterally abandoned the agreement last year and reimposed crippling sanctions. "Based on our needs and what we have been ordered, we are currently producing five percent," Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told a press conference.
He said Iran has the "capacity to produce five percent, twenty percent, sixty percent, or any percentage" of enriched uranium, a claim often repeated by Tehran. Uranium enrichment is the sensitive process that produces fuel for nuclear power plants but also, in highly extended form, the fissile core for a warhead. The current five percent level exceeds the limit set by the accord but is less than the 20 percent Iran had previously operated and far less than the 90 percent level required for a warhead. In its fourth step away from the agreement, Iran resumed enrichment at the Fordow plant south of Tehran on Thursday, with engineers feeding uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6) into the plant's mothballed enrichment centrifuges. Iran was already enriching uranium at another plant in Natanz. Tehran emphasises the measures it has taken are swiftly reversible if the remaining parties to the deal -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- find a way to get around US sanctions. On July 1, Iran said it had increased its stockpile of enriched uranium to beyond a 300-kilogramme maximum set by the deal, and a week later, it announced it had exceeded the enrichment cap. The third move had it firing up advanced centrifuges on September 7 to enrich uranium faster and to higher levels.

Iran says prepared to show footage of UN inspector incident
The Associated Press, Tehran/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Iran said Saturday it is prepared if necessary to release footage of an incident with a UN nuclear inspector last week that led to it cancelling her accreditation. Spokesman for Iran’s atomic agency Behrouz Kamalvandi said “if needed we will even present the footage of this.”He said during a press conference that the Iranian government “legally speaking” had done nothing wrong in blocking the female inspector from its Natanz nuclear facility on October 28. Iran alleges the inspector tested positive for suspected traces of explosive nitrates. The UN’s nuclear watchdog has disputed the claim. The incident marked the first known instance of Iran blocking an inspector amid tensions over its collapsing nuclear deal with world powers. The US unilaterally withdrew from the deal over a year ago. State TV carried Kamalvandi’s remarks from the Fordow nuclear site. He said Iran hasn’t imposed any restriction on inspections, but warned against using them for “sabotage and leaking information.”Kamalvandi noted that Iran’s "bitter experiences” of nuclear sabotage had led to the strict system of checks.

Iran able to enrich uranium up to 60 percent: Official
Reuters/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Iran has the capacity to enrich uranium up to 60 percent, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said on Saturday, far more than is required for most civilian uses but short of the 90 percent needed to make nuclear bomb fuel. “The organization has the possibility to produce 5 percent, 20 percent and 60 percent, and has this capacity,” AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said during a news conference at the underground Fordow nuclear plant, the official IRIB news agency reported. “At the moment, the need is for 5 percent,” he added. Iran’s highest political authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said last month that the Islamic Republic had never pursued the building or use of nuclear weapons, which its religion forbids. Iran said on Thursday it had resumed uranium enrichment at Fordow, stepping further away from its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after the United States pulled out of it. The pact bans production of nuclear material at Fordow, a highly sensitive site that Iran hid from UN non-proliferation inspectors until its exposure in 2009. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will visit Fordow on Sunday, Kamalvandi said. Since May, Iran has begun to exceed limits on its nuclear capacity set by the pact in retaliation for US pressure on Tehran to negotiate restrictions on its ballistic missile program and support for proxy forces around the Middle East. Iran says its measures are reversible if European signatories to the accord manage to restore its access to foreign trade promised under the nuclear deal but blocked by the re-imposition of US sanctions.

Iran says case open on ex-FBI agent missing there on CIA job
The Associated Press, Dubai/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Iran is acknowledging for the first time it has an open case before its Revolutionary Court over the 2007 disappearance of a former FBI agent on an unauthorized CIA mission to the country. In a filing to the United Nations, Iran said the case over Robert Levinson was “on going,” without elaborating.
The Associated Press obtained the text of the filing Saturday. Iran’s mission to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment and its state media has not acknowledged the case. Iran’s Revolutionary Court typically handles espionage cases and others involving smuggling, blasphemy and attempts to overthrow its government. It wasn’t clear how long the case had been open. On Monday the Trump administration offered a reward of up to $20 million for information about Levinson. Combined with a $5 million reward already in place from the FBI, this makes a total of $25 million available to the person or persons providing information about Levinson. The State Department claims Levinson was taken hostage in Iran with the involvement of the Iranian regime.

Rockets land near Iraqi base hosting US forces, no casualties: Iraqi military
Reuters, Baghdad/Friday, 8 November 2019
A barrage of 17 rockets landed near a military base hosting US forces in northern Iraq on Friday but caused no injuries or major material damage, an Iraqi military statement said.A security source said the rockets landed near the Qayyara military base. The statement and the source did not say who was believed to have launched the attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Amid heightened violence during protests, Iraqi PM promises new electoral reform
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi said on Saturday that the government and judiciary will continue to investigate deaths and that all detainees will be released, promising a new electoral reform "in the coming few days." This comes after ten people were killed in Iraq’s southern city of Basra during overnight protests where security forces used live gunfire to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who tried to force their way into the local government headquarters, medical sources told Al Arabiya on Saturday. The sources added that about 180 people suffered injuries as protesters continue to gather around the government building. Abdul Mahdi stated that all those who kidnap, arrest or assault outside of the legal framework will face trial. “The protests have helped and will help pressure political groups, the government ... to reform and accept change. However continuing protests must allow for a return to normal life, which will lead to legitimate demands being met,” he said. In a nod to protesters demands, he acknowledged that political parties had made “many mistakes” in the past 16 years. According to Iraqi state TV, masked gunmen had attacked protesters in Basra on Thursday night, killing five people and injuring another 120. In Baghdad, Al Arabiya sources said that clashes erupted between hundreds of demonstrators and riot police in al-Rashid Street, where security forces fired tear gas and sound bombs. The sources added that protesters tried to reach Shuhada Bridge again, but security forces continued to block them for the third day in a row. More than 250 people have been killed since the unrest erupted Oct. 1. Demonstrators complain of widespread corruption, lack of job opportunities and poor basic services, including regular power cuts despite Iraq's vast oil reserves.

Iraq forces retake key bridges from protesters
AFP, Baghdad/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Iraqi security forces wrested back control on Saturday of three bridges in the heart of Baghdad that had been partially occupied by anti-government protesters in recent days, AFP correspondents said. They retook the Al-Sinek, Al-Shuhada and Al-Ahrar bridges over the River Tigris that link the east bank, where the main protest camps are located, with neighborhoods on the west bank that are home to government offices and foreign embassies. Operations have also resumed at Iraq’s Umm Qasr commodities port near Basra, a port official said on Saturday. All the port’s terminals were operating on Saturday, and ships began to unload cargo at terminals, the source said. Umm Qasr receives imports of grain, vegetable oils and sugar shipments that feed a country largely dependent on imported food. Operations there had been halted for nearly 10 days as protesters blocked the port’s entrance.
Amid volleys of tear gas, security forces chased demonstrators back onto Al-Rasheed Street, one of Baghdad’s oldest and most celebrated thoroughfares. Protesters still occupy part of Al-Jumhuriyah Bridge, the southernmost of the capital’s bridges and the closest to the main protest camp in Tahrir Square. Over the past two weeks, demonstrators had spilt over from the square, first taking over part of Al-Jumhuriyah Bridge before creeping north onto the other three. But the government ordered the security forces to keep them back, as Al-Jumhuriyah Bridge leads into the Green Zone where parliament and the British and US embassies are located. Al-Sinek Bridge provides access to the embassy of Iran, a target for protesters who accuse Iraq’s eastern neighbour of propping a government they regard as irredeemably corrupt. Al-Ahrar and Al-Shuhada bridges lead to the prime minister’s office and state television headquarters.
Security forces have fired tear gas and both live and rubber bullets to keep the protesters back. They have even fired machine guns. The sound of tear gas canisters and stun grenades reverberated around central Baghdad nightly over the past week. Fired at point-blank range, the canisters have pierced protesters’ skulls and chests, killing at least 16 of them, according to the United Nations. Amnesty International said it has found the military-grade tear gas canisters were Serbian- or Iranian-made. Nearly 300 people have been killed in protest-related violence since demonstrations erupted on October 1 and swiftly spread from Baghdad to cities across the south, according to an AFP toll. The government has stopped issuing updated tolls.

Fresh clashes erupt in Baghdad despite call for calm by top cleric
Reuters, Baghdad/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Fresh clashes between Iraqi security forces and anti-government protesters broke out in Baghdad on Friday despite a call for calm by the country’s top Shi’ite Muslim cleric, as authorities grapple with the country’s biggest crisis in years. Security forces fired tear gas and threw stun grenades into crowds of protesters wearing helmets and makeshift body armor on a main road in the middle of the Iraqi capital, sending demonstrators scattering, some wounded, Reuters reporters said. More than 260 people have been killed since the protests over a lack of jobs and services began in Baghdad on October 1 and quickly spread to southern provinces, according to police and medics. Police, the military and paramilitary groups have used live gunfire against mostly unarmed protesters since the beginning of the unrest. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who only speaks on politics in times of crisis and wields enormous influence over public opinion in Shi’ite-majority Iraq, held security forces accountable for any violent escalation and urged the government to respond as quickly as possible to demonstrators’ demands. “The biggest responsibility is on the security forces,” a representative of Sistani said in a sermon after Friday prayers in the holy city of Karbala. “They must avoid using excessive force with peaceful protesters.” Protesters, some of whom view Sistani as part of the political and religious system they say is the cause of many Iraqis’ misery, took little solace from the cleric’s words. “He says he’s supporting protests and that we should keep going but he hasn’t helped. The speech won’t make a difference either way,” said one woman protesting in Baghdad whose son was killed in recent clashes. “I’m the mother of a student. They took his life,” she said, giving her name as Umm al-Shaheed, Arabic for mother of the martyr.
The demonstrators, mostly unemployed youths, demand an overhaul of the political system and a corrupt ruling class which has dominated state institutions since the US-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The violent response from authorities has fueled public anger. Snipers from Iran-backed militias that have participated in the crackdown were deployed last month, Reuters reported.
Deadly force
Live fire is still being used and even tear gas canisters, fired directly at protesters’ bodies instead of being lobbed into crowds, have killed at least 16 people, New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Friday. Doctors at hospitals have shown Reuters scans of tear gas canisters embedded in the skulls of dead protesters. Sistani warned against the exploitation of the unrest by “internal and external” forces which he said sought to destabilize Iraq for their own goals. He did not elaborate. He said those in power must come up with a meaningful response to the demonstrations. Handouts for the poor, promises to try corrupt officials and creation of more job opportunities for graduates have failed to placate protesters, whose demands include a new electoral system and the removal of all current political leaders. The protesters have also rejected foreign interference in Iraq, which has long been caught between its two main allies and bitter rivals the United States and Iran. Public anger has been directed particularly towards Iran, which supports the parties and paramilitary groups that dominate the Baghdad government and state institutions.

Iraqi forces push protesters back to main square, kill five
Reuters, AFP, Baghdad/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Iraqi security forces killed at least five people on Saturday as they pushed protesters back towards their main camp in central Baghdad using live ammunition, tear gas and sound bombs, police and medics said. The clashes wounded scores more people and put security forces back in control of all except one major bridge linking the Iraqi capital’s eastern residential and business districts to government headquarters across the Tigris river. Despite government pledges of reform, security forces have used lethal force since the start and killed more than 280 people across the country.
On Saturday, forces drove protesters back from some of the bridges they had tried to occupy during the week and towards Tahrir Square, the main gathering point for demonstrators. The protesters still hold a portion of the adjacent Jumhuriya Bridge where they have erected barricades in a stand-off with police.
But demonstrators fear the next target will be Tahrir Square and Jumhuriya Bridge. “Police have re-taken almost the entire area up ahead of us. They're advancing and my guess is tonight they'll try to take Tahrir,” said one protester, who gave his name only as Abdullah.
Reform promised, clashes flare
On Saturday, some demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails towards security forces at another bridge, and young men brought unlit homemade petrol bombs up a tower block nearby, preparing for further clashes. At a nearby makeshift clinic, volunteer medic Manar Hamad said she had helped treat dozens of wounded on Saturday alone. “Many get hit by shrapnel from sound bombs and others choke on tear gas or are hit directly by gas canisters. People have died that way,” she said as live gunfire rang out and ambulance sirens wailed. Police and medics said five people were shot to death and more than 140 wounded in Baghdad on Saturday. A Reuters cameraman saw one man carried away by medical volunteers after a tear gas canister struck him directly in the head. As the violence flared, Abdul Mahdi issued a statement which appeared to take a more conciliatory tone and urged a return to normal life after weeks of unrest that have cost the country tens of millions of dollars, although crucial oil exports have not been affected. Earlier on Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi said that the government and judiciary will continue to investigate deaths and that all detainees will be released, promising a new electoral reform “in the coming few days.” “Political forces and parties are important institutions in any democratic system, and have made great sacrifices, but they’ve also made many mistakes,” he said.
He said protests were a legitimate engine of political change but urged demonstrators not to interrupt “normal life”.
Abdul Mahdi promised electoral reform and said authorities would ban possession of weapons by non-state armed groups who have been accused of killing protesters, and that there would be investigations in demonstrator deaths. On Friday, Iraq’s powerful senior Shi’ite Muslim cleric said that it was up to the security forces to make sure protests do not descend into further violence, and urged the government to respond to demonstrators’ demands as soon as possible. “The biggest responsibility is on the security forces,” a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said in a sermon after Friday prayer in the Shia Muslim holy city of Kerbala. Al-Sistani urged politicians to seek a peaceful way out of the crisis and held security forces accountable for avoiding further violence. In another development, an Al Arabiya correspondent reported that internet access across Iraq has been cut. A wounded Iraqi demonstrator rushes towards an ambulance during clashes with Iraqi forces in al-Khalani square in central Baghdad on November 9, 2019. (AFP). In southern Iraq, operations resumed at Umm Qasr commodities port, a port official said, after it was closed for nearly 10 days while protesters blocked its entrances. Umm Qasr receives imports of grain, vegetable oils and sugar shipments that feed a country largely dependent on imported food. Ten people were killed in Iraq’s southern city of Basra during overnight protests where security forces used live gunfire to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who tried to force their way into the local government headquarters, medical sources told Al Arabiya on Saturday.

US condemns Syrian government air strikes on civilians in northwest region
Reuters, Washington/Friday, 8 November 2019
The United States strongly condemns air strikes by the Syrian government forces backed by Russia targeting hospitals and civilian infrastructure in northwestern Syria, Morgan Ortagus, State Department spokeswoman, said on Friday.“These attacks over the last 48 hours have hit a school, a maternity hospital, and homes, killing 12 and injuring nearly 40,” Ortagus said. “The latest reported incidents reflect a well-documented pattern of attacks against civilians and infrastructure by Russian and Syrian forces.”

Four Syrian soldiers killed in clashes with Turkish-led forces
The Associated Press, Damascus, Syria/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Intense clashes broke out on Saturday between Syrian government troops and Turkish-led forces in northeast Syria, killing at least four Syrian soldiers, the country’s state media and an opposition war monitor reported. Turkey invaded northeast Syria last month to push out Syrian Kurdish fighters near the border. The Kurdish groups called in Syrian government forces to halt Turkey’s advance. Syrian government forces have since clashed with Turkish troops and Turkey-backed opposition fighters, despite a shaky truce brokered by Russia. A cameraman for state-run Syrian TV was among those wounded in Saturday’s clashes, according to both SANA and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory reported the deaths of four Syrian soldiers, and said a general and a paramedic were wounded. The Kurdish news agency Hawar said five government troops were killed and 26 wounded. SANA said the clashes involved heavy machine gun fire and occurred in the village of Um Shaifa near the town of Ras al-Ayn, which was captured by Turkish-led forces last month. It later reported that government forces took the village from Turkey-backed opposition fighters. The Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian group active in northeast Syria, said four Syrian army soldiers were killed and seven were wounded, including a general. It said they were killed and wounded north of the town of Tal Tamr, adding that the rangers and the Kurdish Red Crescent had evacuated some of the Syrian troops. The Observatory said the attacks involved Turkish drones. Turkey’s Defense Ministry made no mention of fighting with Syrian government troops in a statement on Saturday. The ministry did say it recorded eight cease-fire violations or attacks carried out by Syrian Kurdish fighters in the last 24 hours, despite separate truce agreements that Turkey has reached with Russia and the United States. The ministry said on its Twitter account that the Syrian Kurdish fighters attacked with mortars, rockets and sniper fire, without saying where the attacks had occurred. Last week, Turkish forces captured 18 Syrian government soldiers in the area and set them free hours later following mediation by Russia. On Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticized a US decision to send American troops to protect oil fields in eastern Syria, saying only Syria has rights over the country’s reserves.
The US has said the move is aimed at preventing the oil fields from falling into the hands of ISIS militants. Turkey is concerned that US-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters will benefit from the oil revenues. Turkey considers the Kurdish fighters as terrorists because of their links to Kurdish militants fighting inside.
“To come from tens of thousands of miles away and to say we will put the country’s wealth, oil reserves to use is against international law. And we oppose it.“ Cavusoglu said at the end of a regional economic cooperation meeting. “These (reserves) belong to the Syrian people and should be used in a way that benefits the people of Syria.”

Fierce clashes erupt between Syrian regime, Turkish forces on border: Report
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Fierce clashes erupted between Syrian regime forces and Turkish forces in the border town of Ras al-Ain in northeast Syria, the SANA state news agency reported on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported a violent attack carried out by pro-Turkish forces on the village of Tell Shuir where fierce clashes with the Syrian Democratic Forces have been taking places since early Saturday morning. The observatory added that there is intense artillery support from Turkish forces, stating that Turkish forces also targeted regime positions in the area which lead to several injuries. It also stated that Turkish drones continue to target various positions in areas between Tell Tamr and Ras al-Ain. Turkey launched its third military incursion into northeast Syria last month to drive Kurdish YPG fighters from its border and establish a “safe zone” where it aims to settle up to two million Syrian refugees.
After seizing a 120-km (75-mile) swathe of land along the border, Turkey struck deals with the United States and Russia to keep the Kurdish militia out of that area. Speaking to reporters on his flight home from a trip to Hungary, Erdogan said Turkey would only leave Syria once other countries have left as well, adding that the Turkish offensive would continue until all militants leave the area.- With Reuters

Report: Heavy Fighting between Syrian and Turkish Troops
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 09/2019
Syria's state news agency is reporting intense clashes between government forces and Turkish troops in the country's north. SANA said Saturday's clashes included heavy machine gun fire and occurred in the village of Um Shaifa near the town of Ras al-Ayn.
Turkey invaded Syria's northeast last month to push out Syrian Kurdish fighters near the border. The Kurdish groups called in Syrian government forces to halt Turkey's advance. Syrian government forces have clashed since with Turkish troops and Turkey-backed opposition fighters. Moscow has brokered a shaky truce in northern Syria, but sporadic clashes have continued. Last week, Turkish forces captured 18 Syrian government soldiers in the area and set them free hours later following mediation by Russia.

Kurds tell EU: Get tough with Turkey or face ISIS fighters
Reuters, London/Saturday, 9 November 2019
The European Union could face a wave of returning battle-hardened ISIS fighters from Syria unless it gets much tougher with Turkey, including breaking off any accession or trade talks, a senior Kurdish leader told Reuters. President Donald Trump’s announcement in early October that he was pulling US forces from northeast Syria paved the way for a Turkish offensive against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia who had been at the forefront of fighting against ISIS. Trump’s move surprised both Britain and France and was cast as a betrayal by the Kurds, who lost thousands of fighters in the battle against ISIS extremists in the deadly crucible of Syria’s 8-1/2 year war. Ilham Ahmed, a Kurdish political leader and co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) executive, said in an interview that the EU should get tough with Turkey or it would soon face a wave of ISIS militants arriving in Europe.
“The threat is very big due to the arbitrary way in which the United States has withdrawn. This has allowed many (ISIS) members to escape and they will make their way back to their countries to continue their terrorist activities.”“This poses a big threat to Britain and to Europe in general,” Ahmed added.
ISIS once boasted a “caliphate” across swathes of Syria and Iraq and claimed deadly attacks across the world, though it is now in disarray, landless and leaderless after the killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a US special forces raid in northwestern Syria last month. But in the tumult created by the US withdrawal and the Turkish offensive, Ahmed said, Islamic State fighters could escape and travel over porous borders to Europe. She called on Europe to send 2,000 troops to secure the Syrian-Turkish border and prevent fighters crossing, and to cease all arms sales to Turkey. “Our people are being killed by European weapons,” she said. Turkey says it will ensure that any ISIS detainees in territory it has captured will remain in detention.
Chemical weapons accusation
Turkey views the Kurdish YPG militia as a terrorist organization because of its links to Kurdish militants in southeastern Turkey. The SDC is the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces, of which the YPG is the main component. The Kurds are mainly Sunni Muslims who speak a language related to Farsi and live in a mountainous region straddling the borders of Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. They have never obtained a permanent nation state. Ahmed also said the West should investigate Turkey’s alleged use of chemical weapons against the Kurds. She called on Europe to ensure Ankara was held responsible for what she said were Turkish war crimes during its offensive. “EU-candidate Turkey is not the same Turkey you think you know - it is now a radical ISIS and you, Europe, should understand that,” Ahmed said, adding that the EU should cut off accession talks with Turkey and scrap any trade deals.
“Turkey needs to be afraid and it is not right now,” Ahmed said, adding that top level ISIS militants had found refuge in Turkish-controlled areas of northern Syria. A senior US State Department official said last week that about 99 percent of some 10,000 suspected ISIS militants captured and jailed in YPG-controlled areas of northern Syria since the demise of their caliphate remain incarcerated, “and we’re quite confident that that’s going to remain that way”.Turkey has said it would never use chemical weapons and that it has done its utmost to minimize civilian casualties or damage to any religious or historic buildings during the offensive. When asked about Trump’s comment - in response to accusations of betrayal - that the Kurds had not fought alongside Allied forces on the beaches of Normandy in 1944 against Nazi Germany, Ahmed said Turkey had not been on the side of the Americans in World War Two. “At the time of Normandy there was no Kurdish state or Kurdish entity to fight on behalf of the Americans - and Kurds were the victims in that war while the Turks were not with the Americans at the time. So I don’t know why Trump would say what he said,” she said.

Two security forces killed in blast in Egypt’s Sinai, say officials
The Associated Press, El-Arish/Saturday, 9 November 2019
Egyptian officials said a roadside bomb has killed two members of the security forces on Saturday in the restive northern Sinai province. The explosion hit their armored vehicle in Rafah, a town on the border with the Gaza Strip. Two other security force members were wounded.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to reporters. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Egypt has for years been battling an insurgency in northern Sinai that’s now led by an ISIS affiliate. The fighting intensified in 2013 after the military overthrew the country’s elected but divisive Islamist president. Last week, Egypt’s military said at least 83 militants have been killed in the past five weeks in northern and central Sinai. Authorities heavily restrict access to the northern Sinai, making it difficult to verify claims related to the fighting. ISIS has carried out a number of large-scale attacks in recent years, mainly targeting security forces and Egypt’s Christian minority.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 09-10/2019
Erdogan Labors to Explain Baghdadi and Family
Aykan Erdemir/FDD/November 09/2019
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Thursday that the number of people Turkey has caught with family ties to slain Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is “close to reaching double digits.” This is the latest in a series of statements by Turkish officials designed to showcase Ankara’s vigilance amid growing criticism of its negligence and complicity with the Islamic State.
Baghdadi’s death on October 26, less than three miles from the Turkish border in northwest Syria, triggered allegations that the terrorist leader “enjoyed some tacit Turkish protection.” A senior U.S. official stated, “Turkey did not provide any assistance in this operation and [Baghdadi] was located right next to their border. That shows you how little they do on countering ISIS.” Brett McGurk, former U.S. envoy for the anti-ISIS Coalition, pointed out that the U.S. had chosen to “launch this operation [against Baghdadi] from hundreds of miles away in Iraq, as opposed to facilities in Turkey, a NATO ally, just across the border.”
Complicating matters further for Erdogan, a November 6 exposé in The National cited discussions with Iraqi intelligence officials to claim that one of Baghdadi’s brothers traveled to Istanbul several times since the end of 2018. As the U.S. Treasury Department’s April and September designations of Turkey-based Islamic State financiers also show, the country has become an increasingly permissive jurisdiction for jihadists.
Erdogan is fully aware that allegations of negligence and complicity are putting not only him but also Donald Trump – his host at the White House next week – in a difficult situation. The Turkish presidency’s director of communications tweeted Monday that “Much dark propaganda against Turkey has been circulating to raise doubts about our resolve against [the Islamic State].” To remedy Erdogan’s tarnished image, the Turkish government has since launched an effort to “publicize Turkey’s push to catch IS members who were close to al-Baghdadi.”
Turkish officials announced on November 4 that they captured Rasmiya Awad, Baghdadi’s 65-year-old sister, alongside her husband, daughter-in-law, and five children in a trailer near the northwestern Syrian town of Azaz, which has been under Turkish control since September 2016. The next day, Turkish security forces reported the arrest of five Islamic State militants, including the group’s intelligence chief, through multiple operations in both Turkish-administered towns in Syria and within Turkish borders. On November 6, Erdogan revealed that Turkey also has been detaining Asma Fawzi Muhammad Al-Qubaysi, the first of Baghdadi’s four wives, along with Baghdadi’s daughter Leila Jabeer, since their arrest on June 2, 2018, in the Turkish province of Hatay on the Syrian border.
While drip-feeding stories of his success against the Islamic State for three days in a row, Erdogan criticized the U.S. for leading a “communications campaign” about Baghdadi’s slaying. “We caught his wife, but we didn’t make a fuss about it,” Erdogan said. Trump appeared impressed by the Turkish president’s self-promotion campaign and tweeted about “a very good call” with Erdogan, adding that the Turks “have captured numerous ISIS fighters that were reported to have escaped during the conflict – including a wife and sister of terrorist killer al Baghdadi.”
Ahead of his November 13 meeting with Erdogan, Trump should not fall for the Turkish president’s public relations stunts. Instead, Trump should demand tougher action against the full range of jihadist networks active within and around Turkish borders, beyond just the Islamic State. Trump should also hold the Turkish government accountable for the war crimes committed by its Islamist proxies in northeast Syria. By aggravating instability in Syria, Erdogan threatens to reverse the gains that the U.S. and its allies have made against the Islamic State.
*Aykan Erdemir is a former member of the Turkish parliament and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he also contributes to FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP). For more of Aykan’s policy briefs, op-eds, and research, subscribe HERE. For more from CMPP, subscribe HERE. Follow him on Twitter @aykan_erdemir. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CMPP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Turkey: Erdogan's Campaign against the West
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/November 09/2019
"Europe is a cultural continent, not a geographical one... It is its culture that gives it a common identity. The roots that have formed it, that have permitted the formation of this continent, are those of Christianity. [...] In this sense, throughout history Turkey has always represented another continent, in permanent contrast with Europe. There were the wars against the Byzantine empire, the fall of Constantinople, the Balkan wars, and the threat against Vienna and Austria. That is why I think it would be an error to equate the two continents." — Pope Benedict XVI, Le Figaro Magazine, 2007.
In Germany, Turkey controls 900 mosques out of a total of 2,400. These Islamic centers not only serve members of the Turkish diaspora, but also stop them from assimilating into German society. Speaking with Turks in Germany, Erdogan urged them not to assimilate, and called the assimilation of migrants in Europe "a crime against humanity."
Erdogan has also been expanding Turkey beyond its borders – starting with Cyprus, the Greek Islands, Suakin Island (Sudan) and Syria.
Mosques, migrants and the military are now Erdogan's new weapons in his threats against the West.
Mosques, migrants and the military are now Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's new weapons in his threats against the West. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "has earned the title of Caliph" according to Turkish journalist Abdurrahman Dilipak.
Erdogan is the head of NATO's second-largest army; he has spies throughout Europe through a network of mosques, associations and cultural centers; he has brought his country to the top of the world rankings for the number of imprisoned journalists and has shut the mouth of German comedians with the threat of legal action. By keeping migrants in Turkish refugee camps, he controls immigration to Europe.
The worse Erdogan behaves, the greater his weight in Europe. In a 2015 meeting, Erdogan reportedly was "openly mocking" European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and other "senior European leaders", as Juncker asked Erdogan to consider how he was treated "like a prince" at a Brussels summit.
According to Stratfor's George Friedman:
"Turkey now is the 17th largest economy in the world, it is larger than Saudi Arabia, it has an army and military capability that is probably the best in Europe, besides the UK and they could beat the Germans in an afternoon and the French in an hour if they showed up."
Turkey's 2018 military budget increased to $19 billion, 24% higher than 2017, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Erdogan has placed Turkey's military -- once a bastion of Turkish nationalism and secularism -- under his political authority. While Europe is pacifist and refuses to invest in its own security or, like Germany, support NATO's budget, Turkey is belligerent.
Ever since his Justice and Development Party (AKP) became Turkey's dominant political force in 2002, for Erdogan, elevating the public role of Islam has been more than a slogan. At public gatherings, the Turkish president has made the "rabia", a hand gesture of four fingers raised and the thumb hidden, to protest the overthrow of Egypt's Islamist then President Mohamed Morsi by Egypt's military. Erdogan evidently sees himself as a global Islamic leader with national elections to win. Through four million Turkish Muslims in Germany and vast communities in the Netherlands, France, Austria and beyond, Erdogan does indeed have enormous influence in Europe.
As a leader of the Ummah [Islamic community], Erdogan challenged the leader of Christianity. In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a famous lecture at Germany's University of Regensburg, where he diagnosed Islam as inherently flawed. During his address, the Pope quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor:
"Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".
The Muslim world erupted in anger. In an apology tour of Erdogan's Turkey, Benedict XVI reversed his firm position of just two years before and supported Turkey's joining the European Union. The year before becoming Pope, then-Cardinal Ratzinger had said that Turkey should never join the European Union. "Europe is a cultural continent, not a geographical one," Ratzinger said to Le Figaro.
"It is its culture that gives it a common identity. The roots that have formed it, that have permitted the formation of this continent, are those of Christianity. [...] In this sense, throughout history Turkey has always represented another continent, in permanent contrast with Europe. There were the wars against the Byzantine empire, the fall of Constantinople, the Balkan wars, and the threat against Vienna and Austria. That is why I think it would be an error to equate the two continents."
Ratzinger said the something similar in another instance, that "Turkey in Europe is a mistake":
"The European continent has its own Christian soul and Turkey, which is not the Ottoman Empire in its extension but still constitutes its central core, has another soul, naturally to be respected".
Both Benedict and Erdogan understood that Islamic Turkey has been the nemesis of Christian Europe -- from October 7, 1571, when Europe inflicted a catastrophic defeat on the Ottomans at the Battle of Lepanto, until September 12, 1683, when Europe again defeated the Turks at the outskirts of Vienna, the city they had historically tried to capture as a base for the conquest of the rest of Europe.
It was in the half-century that followed the fall of Constantinople in 1453 -- the great Eastern Christian center, whose collapse marked the end of the Byzantine Empire -- that Christian Europe started to expel the Ottoman Turks from the continent. Now it seems as if Erdogan, by other means, is trying to pursue a historic Turkish revenge on Europe. Erdogan is seemingly using this ideology of conquest to cement his internal and external power.
Erdogan's most powerful tool in his relations with Europe has been migrants. "You cried out when 50,000 refugees were at the Kapikule border", Erdogan said in 2016, referring to the border with Bulgaria. "You started asking what you would do if Turkey would open the gates. Look at me — if you go further, those border gates will be open. You should know that".
Last month, during his military operation against the Kurds, Erdogan repeated the same threat:
"Hey EU, wake up. I say it again: if you try to frame our operation there as an invasion, our task is simple: we will open the doors and send 3.6 million migrants to you."
Europe, unable to control its own borders, is stalling.
Since he came to power, Erdogan, in a building spree, has reportedly built 17,000 mosques (one fifth of Turkey's total). The largest is located in Camlica, the Asian shore of Istanbul. From Mali to Moscow, by way of Cambridge and Amsterdam, Erdogan is ceaselessly active in "diplomatizing" his religion. The "biggest mosque in the Balkans" is Turkish and is located in Tirana, Albania. "The largest in West Africa" was built by Erdogan in Accra, Ghana. "The largest in Central Asia" he built in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The "largest mosque in Europe" will be his new Turkish mosque in Strasbourg. He is planning to open Turkish schools in France.
Erdogan has empowered Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), which now has 120,000 employees and a budget the size of twelve other ministries combined. In 2004, with 72,000 employees, the Diyanet was about half that size. This is the religious network with which Erdogan has a foot in European affairs.
In Germany, Turkey controls 900 mosques out of a total of 2,400. These Islamic centers not only serve members of the Turkish diaspora, but also stop them from assimilating into German society. Speaking with Turks in Germany, Erdogan urged them not to assimilate, and called the assimilation of migrants in Europe "a crime against humanity". He apparently wants them to remain part of Turkey and the Ummah, the global Muslim community.
Last year, Austrian authorities announced the closure of several Turkish-controlled mosques after "children in a Turkish-financed mosque re-enacting the first world war battle of Gallipoli." According to The Guardian:
As many as 60 Turkish imams and their families face expulsion from Austria and seven mosques are due to be closed under a clampdown on what the government has called "political Islam".
Austria's chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, said the country could no longer put up with "parallel societies, political Islam and radicalisation," which he said had "no place in our country".
Erdogan, however, knows that against Europe, numbers are on his side. "Make not three, but five children. Because you are the future of Europe," Erdogan told the Turkish diaspora. Eurostat, the official statistics agency of the European Union, shows that in terms of birthrates, Turkey is ahead of Europe. In one year in Turkey, more than 1.2 million children were born, while only 5.07 million children were born in all of the EU's 28 member states. What would Europe look like if 80 million Turks joined the EU?
Already in 1994, when Erdogan was campaigning to become the mayor of Istanbul, he talked about "the second conquest of Istanbul". (The first conquest was the defeat of Christian Constantinople in 1453.) According to the exiled Turkish novelist Nedim Gürsel, Erdogan, when he was mayor of Istanbul, took it upon himself to commemorate the Turkish conquest of Constantinople. "Celebrating a conquest that took place more than five centuries ago may seem anachronistic, I would even say absurd, to European leaders", Gürsel writes. "For Erdogan, the capture of Constantinople is another pretext for challenging the West and giving back to its people its repressed pride". Last January, Erdogan chose the tomb of an Ottoman forebear to pledge a victory over Syria.
"You will not turn Istanbul into Constantinople", Erdogan said after the Christchurch massacre. Erdogan is obsessed with history and takes it far more seriously than Europeans do. "We will change Hagia Sophia's name from a museum to a mosque", Erdogan said earlier this year. The Hagia Sophia, built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in AD 537, was for 900 years the greatest cathedral in Christendom – until 1453 when the Ottoman Empire defeated the Byzantines and took over Constantinople; then it became one of Islam's greatest mosques. In 1935, President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk turned it into a museum; Erdogan has pledged to turn it back into a mosque, and recited a Muslim prayer in the formerly Christian site.
Erdogan has also been expanding Turkey beyond its borders – starting with Cyprus, the Greek Islands, Suakin Island (Sudan) and Syria. "We are a big family of 300 million people from the Adriatic to the Great Wall of China", Erdogan said in a recent speech from Moldova. The borders of Turkey, he stated in Izmir, span "from Vienna to the shores of the Adriatic Sea, from East Turkistan (China's autonomous region of Xinjiang) to the Black Sea".
To expand his country's influence, Erdogan is also using Turkey's military. "Not since the days of the Ottoman Empire has the Turkish military had such an extensive global footprint", the journalist Selcan Hacaoglu reports. The Turkish-American political scientist Soner Cagaptay titled his new book, Erdogan's Empire.
Mosques, migrants and the military are now Erdogan's new weapons in his campaign against the West.
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

The Court of Justice of the European Union Limits Free Speech
Judith Bergman/ Gatestone Institute/November 09/2019
"This judgment has major implications for online freedom of expression around the world.... The ruling also means that a court in one EU member state will be able to order the removal of social media posts in other countries, even if they are not considered unlawful there. This would set a dangerous precedent where the courts of one country can control what internet users in another country can see. This could be open to abuse, particularly by regimes with weak human rights records." — Thomas Hughes, executive director of ARTICLE 19, a non-profit organization that works on "protecting the right to freedom of expression around the world," October 3, 2019.
The judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union... appears to give EU member states unprecedented power to determine public discourse online -- to determine what citizens can and cannot read.... [T]he prospects now look even bleaker for the future of free speech in Europe.
A recent judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union appears to give EU member states unprecedented power to determine public discourse online -- to determine what citizens can and cannot read. Pictured: The Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg.
On October 3, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in a judgment that Facebook can be ordered by national courts of EU member states to remove defamatory material worldwide:
"EU law does not preclude a host provider such as Facebook from being ordered to remove identical and, in certain circumstances, equivalent comments previously declared to be illegal. In addition, EU law does not preclude such an injunction from producing effects worldwide, within the framework of the relevant international law which it is for Member States to take into account."
The ruling came after the Austrian politician Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek, chairman of Die Grünen (The Greens) party, sued Facebook Ireland in the Austrian courts. According to the Court of Justice of the European Union:
"She [Glawischnig-Piesczek] is seeking an order that Facebook Ireland remove a comment published by a user on that social network harmful to her reputation, and allegations which were identical and/or of an equivalent content.
"The Facebook user in question had shared on that user's personal page an article from the Austrian online news magazine oe24.at entitled 'Greens: Minimum income for refugees should stay'. That had the effect of generating on that page a 'thumbnail' of the original site, containing the title and a brief summary of the article, and a photograph of Ms Glawischnig-Piesczek. That user also published, in connection with that article, a comment which the Austrian courts found to be harmful to the reputation of Ms Glawischnig-Piesczek, and which insulted and defamed her. This post could be accessed by any Facebook user."
The judgment has brought concern among free speech organizations. Thomas Hughes, the executive director of ARTICLE 19, a non-profit organization that works on "protecting the right to freedom of expression around the world," said:
"This judgment has major implications for online freedom of expression around the world.
"Compelling social media platforms like Facebook to automatically remove posts regardless of their context will infringe our right to free speech and restrict the information we see online...
"The ruling also means that a court in one EU member state will be able to order the removal of social media posts in other countries, even if they are not considered unlawful there. This would set a dangerous precedent where the courts of one country can control what internet users in another country can see. This could be open to abuse, particularly by regimes with weak human rights records."
According to ARTICLE 19:
"The judgment means that Facebook would have to use automated filters to identify social media posts that are considered to be 'identical content' or 'equivalent content'. Technology is used to identify and delete content that is considered illegal in most countries, for example, child abuse images. However, this ruling could see filters being used to search text posts for defamatory content, which is more problematic given that the meaning of text could change depending on the context. Although the ruling has said only content that is essentially the same as the original unlawful post should be removed, it is likely that automated filters will make errors".
The judgment "undermines the long-standing principle that one country does not have the right to impose its laws on speech on another country," Facebook commented in a statement.
"It also opens the door to obligations being imposed on internet companies to proactively monitor content and then interpret if it is 'equivalent' to content that has been found to be illegal."
The ruling "essentially allows one country or region to decide what internet users around the world can say and what information they can access," said Victoria de Posson, senior manager in Europe at the Computer & Communications Industry Association, an industry group that includes Google and Facebook as members.
The judgment does indeed appear to be opening up a Pandora's Box for the ever-shrinking space for free speech in Europe and potentially worldwide, although it is still unclear at this point, how the judgment might affect free speech worldwide.
Government efforts in Europe to censor free speech have long been ongoing: in Germany, the controversial censorship law, known as NetzDG, which came into effect on October 1, 2017, requires social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to censor their users on behalf of the German state. Social media companies are obliged to delete or block any online "criminal offenses" such as libel, slander, defamation or incitement, within 24 hours of receipt of a user complaint. Social media companies receive seven days for more complicated cases. If they fail to do so, the German government can fine them up to 50 million euros for failing to comply with the law.
The new judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union, presumably, could mean that a German court could order what it deems to be illegal content, or its equivalent, under NetzDG to be removed in other EU member states that do not have a similarly draconian censorship law.
France is looking to adopt a similar law to that in Germany: In early July, France's National Assembly adopted a draft bill designed to curtail online hate speech. The draft bill gives social media platforms 24 hours to remove "hateful content" or risk fines of up to 4% percent of their global revenue. The bill has gone to the French Senate. Again, if the bill becomes law, the judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union could mean that French courts would be able to demand that Facebook remove what the courts consider illegal content or its equivalent under French law.
The judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union, in other words, appears to give EU member states unprecedented power to determine public discourse online -- to determine what citizens can and cannot read. It naturally remains to be seen exactly how the judgment will be interpreted in practice by national courts of the EU member states, but the prospects now look even bleaker for the future of free speech in Europe.
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Is Iran winning or losing?
Caroline B. Glick, Israel Hayon/Nover 10/2019
The anti-regime protests in Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran are a dramatic development for Tehran. The less stable its neighbors, the more difficult it is for Iran to set the Revolutionary Guards against Israel.
There’s an old Jewish joke where a young man walks up to his grandfather and asks him how he’s doing.
The grandfather answers, “In a word, good.”
“And in two words?” the grandson presses.
“Not good,” his grandfather replies.
The events of the week call the joke to mind in relation to Iran and its war against Israel and the United States.
On Sunday, a crowd of thousands gathered outside the US embassy building in Tehran and chanted, “Death to America, Death to Israel.” The Iranians sounded their customary death chants to mark the 40th anniversary of the seizure of the US Embassy and the hostage crisis it precipitated.
Sunday’s demonstration was the opening shot in a week of hostile actions by Iran. On Monday and Tuesday, senior Iranian officials announced they are abandoning key limitations set on their nuclear activities as per the deal they concluded with the Obama administration, the EU, Russia and France in 2015. On Monday, Iran announced it expanded its uranium enrichment at the Natanz nuclear installation with advanced IR-6 centrifuges, and that it is doubling the number of IR-6 centrifuges presently being used.
Tuesday Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that Iran is renewing enrichment activities at its Fordo nuclear installation, built inside of a mountain outside Qom. According to Rouhani, beginning Wednesday, Iran would begin enriching uranium at Fordo to 5% by injecting its centrifuges with uranium gas.
Many commentators responded to Iran’s announcements by declaring that the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy for scaling back Iranian aggression and thwarting its nuclear program has failed.
President Donald Trump’s campaign, which is enthusiastically supported by Israel and the Sunni Arab states, is comprised of continuously escalating US economic sanctions against Iran. Those sanctions are reinforced by US-supported military operations by US allies – primarily Israel and Saudi Arabia – against Iranian forces and Iranian proxies in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.
There are three legs to the claim that the maximum pressure campaign has failed. First, its critics note, the US sanctions have failed to destroy Iran’s economy. This week Foreign Affairs proclaimed that Iran has survived its sanction-induced recession. Its economy, now at zero growth, is no longer shrinking. Iran’s economic survival, Henry Rome, an expert on Iranian foriegn policy, said is proof that economic pressure is insufficient to bring down the regime.
The second basis of the claim that the maximum pressure campaign has failed is that Trump ordered the removal of US forces from the Syrian border with Turkey. Trump’s action, his critics say, gave Iran and Russia control over the border with Syria, which has allowed them to consolidate their control over Syria. This, in turn, emboldened Iran to rachet up its nuclear operations.
Third, the critics say, the Iranian regime’s willingness to openly intervene in quelling the mass anti-government protests in Iraq and Lebanon, as exemplified by General Qassem Suleimani, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force direct involvement in attempts to repress the protests in Iraq, and by Hezbollah’s open efforts to stymie the protesters in Lebanon. These shameless moves by Iran and its foreign legion to dictate the outcome of political unrest in foreign countries, it is argued, means that Iran has consolidated its power and has no compunctions about flaunting it.
There are a few problems with these claims.
First, the fact that the Iranian economy hasn’t collapsed doesn’t mean that the Iranians aren’t constrained by the sanctions. According to the World Bank data, Iranian military expenditures increased from year to year between 2014 and 2017, but dropped in 2018. This week, US Ambassador in Germany Richard Grenell said that Iran’s military budget shrunk by 28% last year. Grenell said that outlays to the Revolutionary Guard Corps decreased by 17% last year.
So while it is true that the regime has survived, it is far from true that the sanctions have had no significant impact on Iran. Moreover, even Foreign Affairs acknowledged that it is likely that Iran’s ability to survive under the sanctions is limited.
Second, there is reason to doubt that Iran’s announcements regarding its stepped-up uranium enrichment describes a new activity.
In 2015, Barack Obama and his advisors insisted that the nuclear deal’s inspection regime was unprecedented in its invasiveness. But this not true.
Under the agreement, Iran had the right to bar UN nuclear inspectors from entering “military sites.” And under the agreement, Iran can label any facility a “military site.”
The “invasive” inspections that have taken place have also been far from exhaustive.
For instance, as the Los Angeles Times reported in late 2017, the nuclear reactor at Natanz is monitored around the clock through closed-circuit video cameras. The problem is that the feed does not go directly to the IAEA in Vienna. It goes to the Iranian regime which then sends it on to Vienna. Consequently, there is no way to determine whether the footage the UN receives reflects what is actually occurring at the nuclear site.
The same article pointed out that IAEA inspectors did not seek access to the most sinister nuclear installations, including the nuclear installation in Parchin where Iran was suspected of having carried out nuclear explosive testing.
“Nearly all of the inspections,” the paper reported “were of less sensitive facilities such as universities and manufacturing plants.”
Diplomatic sources told the LA Times that the IAEA was “careful not to provoke a confrontation by demanding access without evidence to sites that Iranian officials have said are off-limits to foreign inspectors.”
In other words, we don’t really know what Iran has been doing in its nuclear facilities. The IAEA defined its job as looking for keys under the lamppost and declaring, every six months that it found no keys under the lamppost.
Perhaps Iran was moved to announce its breaches of the nuclear deal at Natanz and Fordo because the US forces have Syria’s border with Turkey. But it is more likely that Iran’s action was a distress signal.
In his statement Monday, Rouhani made clear the move is an attempt to extort the Europeans into giving Iran money.
In his words, “When they, [Europe] fulfill their commitments, [i.e., give us money], we will stop the gas injection.”
The US withdrawal from Syria’s border with Turkey did lead to Iran and Russia asserting control over the border. But it also put Iran in open confrontation with Turkey. For a decade, Iran and Turkey have been working together in busting US sanctions and in undermining US operations in Syria and Iraq. Now that they stand opposite one another at the Syrian border with Turkey, the future of that cooperation is in doubt.
On Tuesday, Elizabeth Tsurkov from the Foreign Policy Research Institute posted footage of Syrian protesters in Sharjah, a town in Daraa province in southern Syria, an area under full control of the Assad regime, (which is controlled by Iran).
The protesters were chanting “Free, free Syria. Iran get out.”
The protesters in Sharjah were echoing the sentiments of millions of Lebanese and Iraqi protesters who have been out on the streets of their respective countries calling for the overthrow of their governments, which are controlled by Iran, and for a complete reordering of their political systems.
This then brings us to the third argument for the failure of the maximum pressure campaign.
Far from demonstrating that Iran is fully in charge of Iraq and Lebanon, the central role Soleimani is taking in quelling the protests in Iraq, and the central role Hezbollah is playing in Lebanon in undermining the protests is an indication of Iranian weakness.
According to media reports, Soleimani has traveled to Iraq twice over the past month to oversee the repression of the protests, and Iranian-controlled Shiite militias have so far reportedly killed 250 protesters and wounded thousands more.
In Iraq, the protests are concentrated not in Sunni areas, but in the Shiite south. And they are distinctly anti-Iranian.
At the same time the Iranian demonstrators in Tehran were shouting “Death to America,” and “Death to Israel,” thousands of Iraqi protesters in Karbala were throwing firebombs at the Iranian consulate in the city. They replaced the Iranian flag at the site with an Iraqi flag.
Throughout Iraq’s Shiite south, protesters are throwing shoes and burning pictures of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei and calling for Iran to get out of their country. The Shiite clerics in Najaf, the religious capital of Shiite Islam have green lighted the protests against Iran. In other words, the Iranians are losing their own backyard.
The sanctions are one of the causes of the protests in both Lebanon and Iraq. Due to the economic constraints Iran is facing, it has reportedly scaled back its payments to its proxies – particularly Hezbollah and the Shiite militias in Iraq. These proxies in turn, have had to expand their use of public funds and extortion to fund their operations.
The protesters in Lebanon are reacting to the economic failure of their country, a failure which owes primarily to government corruption and incompetence. Hezbollah controls the Lebanese government both through its own political representatives and through its proxies. Consequently, it is the protesters’ main target. In Iraq, the Iranian run Shiite militias have also been feeding off the public trough. They have commandeered public funds and institutions to pay for their operations. And, according to a recent report in Tablet online magazine, they supplement their income by making people travelling on roads under their control pay “tolls.”
If Iran had more money to pay its proxy governments, presumably they would be stealing less money from their respective publics.
In other words, far from having nothing to do with the protests, the sanctions against Iran have everything to do with the protests.
The Lebanese and Iraqis protesting their governments and the Iranian regime which controls them represent a profoundly negative development for Iran and its 40 year war against Israel and America. Together with Syria, Lebanon and Iraq play key roles in Iran’s strategy for fighting Israel. The more unstable they are, the less use Iran will be able to make of them in a future offensive against Israel.
Today, at least publicly, Israel is focusing its attention on Iran’s nuclear operations, and this makes sense. But actions to decrease Iran’s regional power and to destabilize the regime’s grip on power at home are essential components of any strategy for diminishing Iran’s capacity to attack Israel.
To date, the Trump administration’s maximum pressure strategy has not managed to bring the regime down. And it is unlikely that on their own, US economic sanctions will suffice to ever bring it down.
Yet as the mass demonstrations against Iran and its proxies in Lebanon and Iraq make clear, the American strategy can and is undermining Iranian domestic and regional power and stability. It is Israel’s responsibility to ensure that this process is expanded and exploited to the greatest degree possible to diminish the prospects of a direct Iranian assault on the Jewish state.

The High Risks of Soleimani’s Solution for Iraq
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/November 09/2019
For almost two decades, a former bricklayer from Kirman, southeast Iran, has been in charge of an empire-building scheme launched by the Islamic Republic in the early years of the new century.
The man in question is Qassem Soleimani, believed to be “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei’s favorite military commander. One of Iran’s only 13 major generals, the highest rank in the regime’s military, Soleimani has the added advantage of commanding his own military force, known as the Quds Corps that is answerable to no one but Khamenei. In addition, when it comes to his army’s budget, the general is given what comes close to a blank cheque. According to Iran’s Customs’ Office, his Quds Corps also runs 12 jetties in two of Iran’s major seaports for imports and exports that never feature in any official report or data. Obtaining Iranian citizenship is one of the toughest bureaucratic ordeals in the world. Millions of Iraqi, Afghan and Azerbaijani refugees, who lived in Iran for years, were denied Iranian citizenship even for their children born in Iran. And, yet, a nod from Soleimani or one of his aides could quickly secure an Iranian passport for his Lebanese, Iraqi, Pakistani, Bahraini, Afghan and other agents and mercenaries.
According to former President Muhammad Khatami, Soleimani ran his own foreign office, appointing Islamic Republic’s ambassadors to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen and Afghanistan. Until recently, Soleimani could justify the investment made in his empire-building enterprise as a success. This is how Ayatollah Ali Yunesi put it: “Today, thanks to General Soleimani, we control four Arab capitals: Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad and Sanaa.”
Official propaganda, ironically often echoed by Western media, portray Soleimani as a latter-day version of the men of humble origin who rose to become Marechals of an all-conquering France under Napoleon Bonaparte. Had he lived in Napoleon’s time, Soleimani might have become king of Lebanon just like Marechal Bernadotte who won the crown of Norway and Sweden. If the Tehran media are to be believed Soleimani defeated the Israeli army in 2006, crushed Bashar al-Assad’s opponents in Syria and dismantled ISIS’s so-called “Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria while installing stable governments in Beirut, Damascus and Baghdad.
It is against such a background that the current popular uprisings in Lebanon and Iraq, not to mention the Islamic Republic’s humiliating marginalization in Syria are raising doubts about the official Soleimani narrative.
To me at least, it is clear that Soleimani has achieved virtually nothing in Syria apart from helping prolong a tragedy that has already claimed almost a million lives and produced millions of refugees. Regardless of what denouement this tragedy might produce, future Syria will in no way reflect the fantasies of Soleimani and his master Khamenei. The general’s scheme may linger on in Lebanon because his cat’s-paw known as Hezbollah has a monopoly of arms while stealthily purging the national army of elements that might not subscribe to Khomeinist ideology. However, even then, Soleimani’s militias in Lebanon are likely to be in self-preservation mode rather than acting as the vanguard of further conquests. In other words, in medium-term, the Islamic Republic has already lost in both Lebanon and Syria.
Though they would certainly puncture the myth of Khomeinist invincibility, such losses could be absorbed because they would not directly threaten Iran’s interests as a nation-state.
The case of Iraq is different.
To start with, Iraq holds Iran’s longest border- 1,599 kilometers- a fact that poses major national security concerns. Iraq is also home to the third largest community of Shiite Muslims after Iran and India. Iranian-Arab tribes have kith and kin on the other side of the border with virtually all major tribes of southern Iraq. Kurds living on both sides of the border provide an additional human bond between Iran and Iraq. The two neighbors also share huge reserves of oil, rivers and the Shatt al-Arab, a major estuary for both.
Soleimani cannot treat Iraq the way he has treated Lebanon and Syria. In Lebanon, he could appeal to sectarian sentiments by claiming that it is thanks to Tehran that Hezbollah now controls virtually all aspects of government on behalf of the country’s largest religious sect.
In Syria, he could ally himself with a determined minority ready to fight the majority to the end, convinced that defeat could mean total elimination. In Iraq, however, the majority sees itself as Iran’s rival for regional leadership. Even for Iraqi Shiites, it is Najaf, not Qom or Tehran, that ought to be the beating heart of the faith.
To be sure, Soleimani still controls a number of militias in Iraq, notably Asaib ahl al-Haq, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and the remnants of the Badr brigade. It is also no secret that numerous Iraqi politicians, and mullahs, are in Tehran’s pocket. It was no accident that the other day Sheikh Qais al-Khazali simply recited an editorial from daily Kayhan, reflecting Khamenei’s views, as his own analysis of the bloody events in Karbala.
Judging by noises made by Soleimani’s entourage and his apologists in the official media, the general may be contemplating a Syrian solution for Iraq. If he does take that path, he would be doomed to failure. Worse still, he might create a major threat to Iran’s national security as setting a neighbor’s house on fire is never a risk-free enterprise.
The wisest course for Iran, even under this weird regime in Tehran, is to lower its profile in Iraq, contain its ambitions and use whatever influence it may still have to persuade the Iraqis to solve their problems within a constitutional system that has helped them come through one of the most violent phases in their nation’s history. An Iraq where gunmen in Soleimani’s pay paste portraits of Khomeini and Khamenei on every wall may look good to the octogenarian mullahs still in control in Tehran. However, an Iraq where peace and stability reign without the paraphernalia of Khomeinism is better for Iran’s own national security and interests.
Once again, what looks good for the mullahs may be deadly for Iran as a nation.

Is It Even Possible to Change the Regime in Iraq?
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/November 09/2019
The Middle East has indeed been shaken by revolutions of late, but no new regimes have risen to power in any of the affected states.
Leaders left and governments fell, but the regimes remained strong in Egypt, Tunisia, and Sudan. In Libya and Yemen, state institutions completely collapsed, and so far both countries are still without alternative systems and affective states. In the past few weeks, the world has watched the protests in Iraq with some surprise because they were not expected to be so robust and sustained in so many cities, and with such huge numbers of people involved. Even though telephone lines and the internet were blocked, and notwithstanding a media counter-campaign and premeditated murders, the protests have continued.
Despite the protesters’ efforts, they are unlikely to topple the regime. The protesting masses can force the government to resign and change some political decisions. Still, even if the demonstrators fail to overthrow the Iraqi regime, they have already brought down the “halo” of the religious leadership and the prestige of state institutions and humiliated the representative “symbols” of Iran’s influence. Also, the unrest has united the demands and the regions. Today, the protesters occupy squares and block roads, and troops close the bridges to prevent them from advancing on government buildings. So they gather, instead, at oil refineries and the country’s only port, Umm Qasr.
They want to access sensitive state facilities, but will not be allowed to do so as the regime has enough weapons to ensure its survival at all costs, with the Iranian regime in support. The latter has been present, through its leadership and militias, since the beginning of the popular uprising, participating in the repression and killings, and even directing the Iraqi security services.
That is why protesters went to the Iranian consulate and tried to burn it. They did so because they believe that those who participated in the shootings were Iranian functionaries.
Even though they have targeted oil facilities and the port of Umm Qasr, I do not think the demonstrators embrace the idea of toppling the entire state system of governance, because that idea is dangerous and almost impossible. However, if the government continues to ignore the demands of the protesters and the killings escalate, their demands could change to include the overthrow of the whole regime, which is not currently on the table.
In the eyes of the protesters, the government seems powerless and not in control of its security services or of the armed militias that receive their salaries from the Iraqi government but take their orders from Iran.
As Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has said, the resignation of the government is the easiest thing to promise protesters because it can do nothing else to satisfy them. The overthrow of the government is simple, but the alternative is no better. Parliament could be given more power, but it is worse than the government because the militias and corruption are also present within its ranks.
Well, what about handing power to regulatory bodies, such as the Commission of Integrity or the Supreme Anti-Corruption Council? These, too, have emerged from the same state institutions that are viewed with suspicion and distrust. The commission has accused the former head of the main branch of Rasheed Bank of involvement in the disappearance of 13 billion Iraqi dinars ($10 million), but he has not explained what happened to the money. Meanwhile, the start of the protests coincided with the announcement by the council of the dismissal of 1,000 government employees over their involvement in corruption. Even these measures were not convincing enough to appease or silence the protesters.