English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For October 03/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’For it is not those who commend themselves that are approved, but those whom the Lord commends
Second Letter to the Corinthians 10/12-18/:”We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another, and compare themselves with one another, they do not show good sense. We, however, will not boast beyond limits, but will keep within the field that God has assigned to us, to reach out even as far as you. For we were not overstepping our limits when we reached you; we were the first to come all the way to you with the good news of Christ. We do not boast beyond limits, that is, in the labours of others; but our hope is that, as your faith increases, our sphere of action among you may be greatly enlarged, so that we may proclaim the good news in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in someone else’s sphere of action. ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’For it is not those who commend themselves that are approved, but those whom the Lord commends.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 02-03/2020
Occupied Lebanon Need the Implementation of UN Resolution 1559/Elias Bejjani/October 01/2020
MoPH: 1291 new coronavirus cases, 12 deaths
Lebanon to Put More than 100 Districts on Coronavirus Lockdown
Pompeo Hails ‘Historic’ Lebanese-Israeli Decision to Kick off Maritime Talks
Schenker Says Hizbullah May Sabotage Talks with Israel, Sanctions Won't Stop
Aoun Says in Charge of Overseeing Border Talks with Israel
Lebanese-Israeli Framework Deal Revives Conflicts over Jurisdiction
Israel Welcomes Washington’s Role in Deal on ‘Direct Negotiations’ with Lebanon
Lebanon Asks Interpol to Arrest Russian Ship Captain, Owner over Port Explosion
Report: Popular Movements in Preparation to Mark Uprising
Lebanese Artists in Overdrive to Restore Beirut's Beauty
Druze Sheikh Akl visits Qabalan, underscores national constants
Lebanon will benefit from fixing its maritime border with Israel/Rami Rayess/Al Arabiya/October 02/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 02-03/2020

Coronavirus: US President Trump has ‘mild’ COVID-19 symptoms after testing positive
Trump Tests Positive for Covid, Upending Campaign Schedule
Armenia-Azerbaijan Clashes Rage as Macron Denounces 'Jihadist' Deployment
Canada probes alleged use of its tech in Armenia-Azerbaijan clash
Turkish Official Sees Ankara Unswayed over EU Sanctions on Eastern Mediterranean
Armenia-Azerbaijan Fighting Rages as Macron Says Turkey Crossed 'Red Line'
Pompeo visit shows strong US commitment to allies in Asia, says envoy Stilwell
US, Algeria Discuss Libyan Crisis and Situation in Sahel
An Iraqi Father Confronts Militia in Search for Missing Son
Inflation Slump in Europe Could Presage More Stimulus
Swiss Arrest 4 Suspected of Ties to ISIS Al-Qaida
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy (AMCD) Supports the State Department’s Efforts to Counter Iranian Disinformation

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 02-03/2020

Why Colorful View of American Politics Is Wrong/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/October, 02/2020
Many Rivers, Too Many Dams/Philip Fearnside/The New York Times/October, 02/2020
Biden’s “Allah Willing” in Context/Raymond Ibrahim/October, 02/2020
Erdogan's Plan to Take Over the Palestinian Authority/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./October 2, 2020
What do Turkey and Russia want in Nagorno-Karabakh?/Con Coughlin/The National/October 02/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 02-03/2020
Occupied Lebanon Need the Implementation of UN Resolution 1559

Elias Bejjani/October 01/2020
*There is no salvation for our beloved and blesses country from the Ammonite Nitrate Party's occupation (The Terrorist Hezbollah) without the full implementing of all the UN Resolutions, The Lebanese Armistice Accord with Israel, the 1680, 1559 and  1701, and specifically the 1559. At the same time declaring Lebanon a rogue state and placing it under the UN Chapter Seven. All other means are futile and a waste of time.

*The Iranian Occupied Lebanon accepted to negotiate with the state of Israel and not with the so called "occupied Palestine" serious issues related to Lebanese-Israeli border demarcation. This negotiation is a bold prove that the liberation and resistance Iranian tags are a big lie and a mere bogus of dhimmitude

MoPH: 1291 new coronavirus cases, 12 deaths
NNA/Friday, 2 October, 2020
The Ministry of Public Health announced Friday that 1291 new coronavirus cases and 12 more deaths had been recorded over the past 24 hours.

Lebanon to Put More than 100 Districts on Coronavirus Lockdown
Agence France Presse/October 02/2020
Lebanon is to put 111 villages and towns nationwide on lockdown for a week after a series of record novel coronavirus daily infection rates, the interior ministry said Friday. The move came after widespread objections to a nationwide lockdown in August, as the country faces its worst economic crisis in decades. From early Sunday and for eight days in the villages listed, residents were to "remain at home", and "wear a mask covering their mouth and nose if forced to go out", the ministry said in a statement.
State institutions and places of worship would close, but health centres and delivery services would be exempted, it added. The head of a major Beirut public hospital battling Covid-19, Firass Abiad, welcomed the new district-by-district approach. "This will help identify hotspots and (implement) a more focused approach to restrictive measures. This can be a good alternative to the unpopular total lockdown," he said on Twitter. Cases have spiked in the aftermath of a massive explosion at the Beirut port on August 4 that killed more than 190 people and overwhelmed the capital's health services, with thousands of wounded. The country has recorded 40,868 Covid-19 cases since February, including 374 deaths. Authorities fear that a major spike would overwhelm the country's fragile health sector.

Pompeo Hails ‘Historic’ Lebanese-Israeli Decision to Kick off Maritime Talks
Washington - Muath al-Amri/ Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 October, 2020
The United States welcomed Thursday the decision by the governments of Lebanon and Israel to begin discussions on the maritime boundary, saying the “historic agreement” between the two parties was brokered by the United States and is the result of nearly three years of intense diplomatic engagement by Ambassador David Satterfield and Assistant Secretary David Schenker. In a press statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the agreement will allow both countries to begin discussions, which have the potential to yield greater stability, security and prosperity for Lebanese and Israeli citizens alike.
“Today’s announcement is a vital step forward that serves the interests of Lebanon and Israel, of the region, and of the United States,” he said, adding that both countries requested that the United States participate as mediator and facilitator in the maritime discussions. Pompeo said the US looks forward to commencement of the maritime boundary discussions soon, to be held in Naqoura, Lebanon under the UN flag and hosted by the staff from the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL).
Recognizing the positive experience of the Tripartite mechanism, he noted that his country also looks forward to separate expert-level talks to define unresolved issues related to the Blue Line, which offer the promise of another positive step for regional stability. For his part, Schenker said the agreement between both sides was brokered by the US and is a result of nearly three years of intense diplomatic engagement. In a conference call on Thursday, the US official said Hezbollah was not involved in the talks. “We don’t talk to Hezbollah. So I know now the office of the president of Lebanon has the lead on this issue, and that’s all I’ve got to say.” Schenker said the negotiations are expected to kick off next Oct. 14. “I can confirm that for you later, but I think that’s when it’s going to be in Naqoura,” he noted. The official said these talks have nothing to do with the establishment of diplomatic relations or normalization, but are solely focused on establishing a mutually agreed maritime boundary so that both sides can take advantage of potential national natural resources. Schenker said Lebanon has a bit of a financial crisis and would benefit greatly from exploiting its natural resources, which could help ameliorate some of the financial problems that it’s having right now. “I think that the Lebanese people want very much to tap these resources and to move ahead on what likely will be the most profitable of Lebanon’s Blocks 8, 9 and 10 that are in the vicinity of the border, wherever the border may be, and – but this is all speculation,” he added. Schenker added that despite the agreement, the US will continue to designate individuals in Lebanon who are the allies of Hezbollah for corruption under Global Magnitsky Act.

Schenker Says Hizbullah May Sabotage Talks with Israel, Sanctions Won't Stop
Naharnet/October 02/2020
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker announced Thursday that Washington will continue to slap sanctions on Lebanese individuals despite the U.S.-mediated framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel to launch talks over their disputed borders.
“We will continue to designate individuals in Lebanon who are the allies of Hizbullah. We will continue to designate people for corruption under Global Magnitsky Act,” Schenker told reporters. Noting that the U.S. will not “talk to Hizbullah” in its border demarcation mediation, the U.S. diplomat warned that the Iran-backed party might seek to sabotage the Lebanese-Israeli talks. And pointing out that maritime border demarcation might help Lebanon economically, Schenker said the indirect negotiations will not normalize ties between Lebanon and Israel. He however added that “both sides seem eager to be able to get a deal” on border demarcation.

Aoun Says in Charge of Overseeing Border Talks with Israel
Naharnet/October 02/2020
President Michel Aoun will be in charge of the border negotiations with Israel in line with Article 52 of the Constitution, the Presidency said on Thursday. It added that Aoun will oversee “the formation of the negotiating Lebanese delegation” and will “follow up on the negotiation stages.”
The President “welcomes U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement that a framework agreement has been reached for negotiations over border demarcation under the sponsorship and flag of the United Nations and with a facilitating mediation from the United States,” the Presidency said.
The President “calls on the U.S. side to carry on with its impartial mediation,” it added. Earlier in the day, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the negotiations will be carried out by the Lebanese Army under the supervision of the President and the government, adding that his role in the file had ended with the announcement with the framework agreement.

Lebanese-Israeli Framework Deal Revives Conflicts over Jurisdiction
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 October, 2020
A statement issued by Lebanese President Michel Aoun on the formation of a delegation to negotiate the demarcation of the maritime borders with Israel through US mediation has revived a conflict over jurisdiction between the country’s institutions. On Thursday, the Presidency Information Office said that Aoun welcomed the announcement by US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, that a framework agreement had been reached to negotiate the demarcation of borders under the auspices of the United Nations and through facilitated mediation by the United States. It added that Aoun “will undertake negotiations in accordance with the provisions of Article 52 of the Constitution, starting with the formation of the Lebanese negotiating delegation… hoping that the American side will maintain an honest mediation.”Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has worked on this file since 2010, after he was chosen by successive presidents and prime ministers to assume this role, with the agreement of Lebanon’s various political forces. The Presidency’s statement came after Berri announced that the Lebanese army would take over the negotiations at the UN headquarters in southern Lebanon and that his role in this file had consequently ended.
Referring to accusations that he was taking over presidential powers, Berri said on Thursday: “I am the last to consider violating the constitution. The framework agreement that has been reached is only a framework that paves the way forward.”Article 52 stipulates that the President of the Republic undertakes the negotiation and conclusion of international treaties, with the agreement of the prime minister. Treaties become valid and enforceable only after the approval of the Council of Ministers. “The US is aware that the governments of Lebanon and Israel are ready to demarcate their maritime borders based on the tripartite agreements of April 1996 and currently under Resolution 1701,” Berri explained. He also said that the US had been asked to play the role of a “mediator” in the maritime demarcation process and was ready to do so. Head of the Free Patriotic Movement and Aoun’s son-in-law, MP Gebran Bassil, had implicitly criticized Berri’s dealing with the demarcation file. “This time, we have to negotiate, not with the Persian way or the Arab way; rather, in our Lebanese way, with both rigidity and flexibility...” Bassil said in a tweet.

Israel Welcomes Washington’s Role in Deal on ‘Direct Negotiations’ with Lebanon
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 October, 2020
Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz welcomed on Thursday the remarks of Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on starting negotiations with Israel on the disputed maritime and land borders under the auspices of the UN. In a statement, Steinitz said the talks are expected to take place after the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which ends on Oct. 9. “The two sides would hold US-brokered talks on the maritime border, a major point of contention,” he said. On Thursday, Lebanon and Israel said they have agreed to a framework for US-mediated talks aimed at ending a long-running dispute along the border between the two nations that have fought several conflicts. This would be the first time officials from both countries meet for direct talks. Steinitz said Israel looks forward to the opening of direct negotiations in the near future. “Our objective is to end the dispute over the economic maritime demarcation of the water between Israel and Lebanon in order to help develop natural resources for the benefit of all peoples in the region,” he noted. Political sources in Tel Aviv said there is a 50 percent chance that the two sides will start direct talks this month, adding that a similar agreement was reached in May 2019 before the Lebanon announced its withdrawal at the last minute when Hezbollah interfered and foiled the efforts. “It is possible that Hezbollah has offered its consent on the direct talks not to be accused of preventing Lebanon from economically benefiting from the agreement, particularly at a time when Lebanon is facing its worst economic crisis,” the sources said. The talks will start on Oct. 14 and will be mediated by the United States at the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, in the Lebanese southern border town of Naqoura under the banner of the UN. An Israeli official said his government would be “flexible” during the negotiations if it senses a real desire by Lebanon to reach an agreement. Currently, the two countries have been at odds over an 850-square-kilometer maritime territory since the discovery of possible marine gas fields off the coast. During indirect talks held between the two sides in 2012, Israel agreed to a suggested compromise that provided a greater portion of 58 percent of the area in dispute to Lebanon. However, Lebanon did not respond to this concession. Analysts said Israel “does not have any profit from seeing Lebanon suffer and collapse, but would be happy if gas is explored and became a source of revenue to the Lebanese.”They also believe that establishing gas wells in Lebanese economic waters will reduce the danger of military operations being carried out against Israeli wells in the region.

Lebanon Asks Interpol to Arrest Russian Ship Captain, Owner over Port Explosion
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 October, 2020
Lebanon has asked Interpol to issue arrest warrants for the Russian captain and owner of the ship that brought the explosive material that detonated at Beirut port in August, killing nearly 200 people, state media reported on Thursday. About two months after the explosion that injured thousands and ravaged the Lebanese capital, questions remain about why and how the cargo was abandoned in Beirut. Authorities have blamed it on the huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate, used for fertilizer but also for explosives, going up in flames after being stored in poor conditions at the port for years. There have also been accusations of negligence against Lebanese authorities. Nearly 20 people have been detained in Lebanon after the blast including port and customs officials. Lebanon’s public prosecution asked Interpol to issue warrants to detain the owner and captain, state news agency NNA said on Thursday, without naming them. Boris Prokoshev was captain of the Rhosus ship when it arrived in Beirut in 2013, and he had identified Igor Grechushkin, a Russian businessman in Cyprus, as the owner. A security source and a judicial source said they were the two for whom Lebanon asked for arrest warrants on Thursday. Russia’s national Interpol bureau declined to comment. Grechushkin, 43, was questioned in Cyprus in August. Attempts by Reuters to reach Grechushkin were unsuccessful. Cyprus police spokesman Christos Andreou said, regarding an Interpol request on Thursday: “We have not received such a request.” Prokoshev, who is in Russia, said he had not heard anything about it and that he has not been contacted by investigators before. He has told Reuters that 2,750 tons of the chemicals ended up in Beirut after the ship’s owner told him to divert to Beirut to pick up extra cargo in 2013. He has also said Lebanese authorities paid little attention to the ammonium nitrate, which had been stacked in the hull in large sacks. The Rhosus had loaded ammonium nitrate in Georgia, shipping records show, before making the unscheduled stop in Lebanon. But it never left, becoming tangled in a legal dispute over unpaid port fees and ship defects. Beirut port authorities impounded the vessel after it arrived in late 2013 due to outstanding debts, according to a state security report which Reuters revealed in August. In 2014, the ship was deemed unseaworthy and its cargo was unloaded in October and warehoused in what was known as Hangar 12, the epicenter of the explosion. The ship sank near the port’s breakwater in February 2018, the report said.

Report: Popular Movements in Preparation to Mark Uprising
Naharnet/October 02/2020
Lebanese activists of the October 17 uprising plan to kick start popular moves in the upcoming stage mainly marking its one-year anniversary, MTV television station reported on Friday. The station said groups of activists held a series of meetings in the last few days to that end. Discussions focused on what kind of rhetoric should be presented during the popular movements, with emphasis on introducing constitutional amendments, “in light of the political authority's violations,” said MTV. They will also demand early parliamentary elections.

Lebanese Artists in Overdrive to Restore Beirut's Beauty
Agence France Presse/October 02/2020
Lebanese stained glass artist Maya Husseini had hoped to retire after decades spent designing colourful windows, but she has been flooded with work since the blast that ripped through Beirut. "I can't possibly not try to restore what is gone," said the 60-year-old woman, her bright red curly hair in a short bob.
The massive explosion at the capital's port on August 4 killed more than 190 people and wounded thousands more as it sent lethal shockwaves pummelling through the city. But it also ravaged dozens of Beirut's most cherished heritage buildings. Husseini is one of several artists slowly starting to restore artworks devastated in the disaster. In her basement workshop on the outskirts of Beirut, she gestured at what remained of windows of a 19th-century church she had restored after the 1975-1990 civil war. A gaping mess of mangled metal, dotted by a few surviving pieces of orange and blue glass, lay in a cardboard box.
"At least seven projects I had worked on were blown away," Husseini said. They included one of her first projects designing biblical scenes on glass for a church, and the dazzling yellow and orange windows she had crafted for the famed Sursock Museum. Before the blast, she had planned to retire after completing glass windows for a last cathedral in Jordan. "But now I won't allow myself to stop," she said.
Glass dust
On her work table, she picked a green piece of glass and lodged it between curving lengths of soft lead to rebuild a window of flowers and leaves for a private home. Even if she has now taken on apprentices, she said there is still a lot of work ahead. "For some people who have asked me, I won't be able to start anything for at least two years," she said. In neighbourhoods near the port, the race is on to cover up 100 heritage buildings before the autumn rain. The United Nations culture and education fund, UNESCO, has said it will hold a conference to try to drum up hundreds of millions of dollars for restorations.
But until that aid arrives, Lebanese are doing what they can on their own. Among them, artwork conservation specialist Gaby Maamary has decided to offer to restore damaged paintings for free. He says he was inspired after seeing Lebanese youths sweeping away seas of rubble and glass after the blast, and decided to channels his skills towards preserving Beirut's heritage. "It's something that you can lose easily if you don't pay attention," the 58-year-old artist and university lecturer said. In his Beirut studio, he carefully held up a 17th-century nature morte by Italian artist Elena Recco, depicting a cat greedily eyeing up some dead fish. In several places, the canvas had been slashed by flying shards of glass. Wearing white gloves, he turned over the back of another canvas he had started cleaning, the untreated part a shade darker and shimmering with fine glass dust. Nearby, he pointed to a work by late Lebanese artist Sophie Yeramian whose dried paint had been cracked by the blast.
Saved from the trash
"We did not expect that amount of calls," he said. The initiative has taken him to assess damage in art galleries, but also private homes. In one, he pulled a painting worth tens of thousands of dollars out of the trash. To his horror, he found another bound up in sticky tape. The owner had rushed to hospital with her severely injured son after the explosion, and someone helping to clean up the mess had not realised their worth. But even without sticky tape to complicate matters, Maamary said conservation is a complex process that involves hours of planning before even touching the artwork. "Sometimes the same step has to be done several times, simply because we don't have the museum equipment," he said. Bringing in specialised materials from abroad is also tricky, with bank transfers blocked from Lebanon's crisis-hit banks. But drawing on the help of friends and using what is locally available, Maamary is determined to carry on.
"We're going to continue doing that on a daily basis until we run out of materials or means," he said.

Druze Sheikh Akl visits Qabalan, underscores national constants
NNA/October 02/2020
Sheikh Akl of the Druze community, Naim Hassan, visited this Friday the head of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council, Sheikh Abdel Amir Qabalan, in the presence of Jaafarite Mufti, Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan. Conferees discussed the present national crises and the efforts "to bring spiritual points of view closer, and urging political components to communicate and concede in the interest of saving the homeland."They also highlighted the importance of national constants advocated by spiritual summits.

Lebanon will benefit from fixing its maritime border with Israel
Rami Rayess/Al Arabiya/October 02/2020
Lebanon’s contested maritime border with Israel is one of the most important of its seemingly endless problems. Solving the issue would benefit both parties and provide a potentially essential source of income.
On Thursday Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced that an agreement has been reached on a framework of negotiations under the United Nations to finally demarcate the maritime border with Israel.
Lebanon and Israel contest an estimated 856 square kilometers of the eastern Mediterranean that is thought to hold enormous reserves of both oil and gas.
Both countries have made moves to begin developing these resources in the disputed area. Israel announced its will to commence navigation in block 72, which is adjacent to Lebanon’s block 9 that falls in the Lebanese territorial waters. Official Lebanese data estimated Lebanon’s marine reserves to reach 96 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 865 million barrels of oil. Lebanon is in dire need for these resources, which offer some hope of reverting its current catastrophic economic and financial situation.
Although Washington lacks a coherent “Lebanon policy,” as outlined by former US undersecretary Jeffrey Feltman in a recent online webinar, the US nevertheless seems highly interested in solving this issue. Washington generally restricts its efforts to following sanctions on Hezbollah officials or affiliates and barely coordinates with the French who are pushing to broker a political deal that would help Lebanon confront its unprecedented social and economic crises.
This makes Washington’s commitment to leading tripartite negotiations to complete the maritime demarcation significant. The Trump administration’s objectives may be different from other stakeholders, in the sense that it wants to add a new Middle Eastern foreign policy accomplishment to its record. It is true that any such deal on border demarcation stands short in comparison to the other normalization deals taking place between Gulf countries and Israel, but it might add to US President Donald Trump’s achievements on the verge of presidential elections scheduled for November 3.
Lebanon and Israel are only bound in a truce agreement that was signed in 1949 after the first Arab-Israeli war and the proclamation of Israel in 1948. The two countries are therefore still in a state of war. Any peace treaty between Lebanon and Israel is not at the negotiating desk now. The former has suffered for years from Israeli occupation that lasted from 1978 until 200 and was liberated without a peace treaty.
Yet demarcating maritime borders would be of benefit for both parties to proclaim natural resources from the deep sea. Fortunately, talks on the issue are taking place on a separate and independent path from any talk of a peace treaty. US Undersecretary David Schenker announced on September 10 that Lebanon and Israel “are getting closer” towards a framework deal on maritime borders. Lebanon currently lacks a cabinet after it resigned in August following the deadly Beirut port explosion. Government formation talks have stalled, with Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Adib withdrawing his candidacy. The absence of an active government hinders the progress of the maritime demarcation process as well as all the other accumulated problems that Lebanon currently suffers from.
Progress on demarcating the maritime border with Israel might also give momentum to solving Lebanon’s other border issues.
Lebanon’s borders with Syria are not demarcated as well. The Syrian regime has refused to cooperate on this matter for decades. The borders of the two countries are intertwined and barely controlled by the official apparatuses from the Lebanese side. Smuggling of goods and fuel are complicating the economic situation in Lebanon further. The consequent cabinets have failed to impose their control on those borders and the problems persists.
Another border issue that still hangs between Lebanon, Syria and Israel is the Shebaa farms, which is currently under Israeli occupation and its identity is disputed between Lebanon and Syria. The latter has refused continued unofficial Lebanese calls to provide the United Nations with the necessary documentation that prove its Lebanese property. The Shebaa farms issue has sparked political tension within the local Lebanese context as well since some parties consider it a pretext for Hezbollah to maintain its weaponry.
Whether Syria or Israel, borders or otherwise, Lebanon has paid the price of being the neighbor of two entities that do not recognize its sovereignty or independence, each for their own interests and aims. The Lebanese suffering continues.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 02-03/2020

Coronavirus: US President Trump has ‘mild’ COVID-19 symptoms after testing positive
The Associated Press, Washington/Friday 02 October 2020
President Donald Trump is experiencing “mild symptoms” of COVID-19 after revealing Friday that he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus. The White House physician said the president is expected to continue carrying out his duties “without disruption” while recovering. A White House official said Friday morning that the president was experiencing mild symptoms but was working from the White House residence. Hours before Trump announced he had contracted the virus, the White House said a top aide who had traveled with him during the week had tested positive.
“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately," Trump tweeted just before 1 a.m. "We will get through this TOGETHER!” Vice President Mike Pence tested negative for the virus on Friday morning and “remains in good health," his spokesman said.

Trump Tests Positive for Covid, Upending Campaign Schedule
Agence France Presse/October 02/2020
US President Donald Trump said Friday he had tested positive for Covid-19 and would quarantine inside the White House during his recovery, cancelling upcoming appearances on the campaign trail ahead of a bitterly fought election.
The White House doctor said both Trump and First Lady Melania -- who also tested positive -- were well and that Trump would continue his presidential "duties without disruption". The two were tested after a close White House aide Hope Hicks had tested positive earlier in the day, with the bombshell news breaking as more restrictions loomed in Europe in an attempt to contain the deadly pandemic. Hicks was on board Air Force One with the president as he traveled to Cleveland, Ohio for the first presidential debate with his rival, Democrat Joe Biden, on Tuesday. The president routinely receives tests for Covid-19, though the exact frequency is not clear. US futures trading saw the Dow slump 1.7 percent on the news and the broader S&P 500 shed 1.6 percent, while the safe-haven yen rose against the dollar.
Restrictions in Europe
Meanwhile, French authorities warned that Paris could be put on maximum alert to halt the spread of the virus, and Spain extended drastic restrictions across its capital Madrid. By 2000 GMT Thursday the pandemic had killed at least 1,019,267 people around the world and infected over 34 million, according to an AFP tally based on official sources. French authorities said they may place Paris on maximum virus alert as soon as Monday, potentially requiring all bars to close as the number of cases surges. "We're in a phase where the situation is worsening," Health Minister Olivier Veran said. Spain, fighting a second wave of the virus, also extended drastic restrictions across its capital, despite fierce opposition from Madrid's regional authorities, and most other regions have agreed to tighten curbs in areas of rapid contagion. In Britain, chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance told reporters "things are definitely heading in the wrong direction" as the government extended lockdowns to several towns in northern England, effectively putting more than a quarter of the country under tighter restrictions. And the Slovak and Czech governments both decided to impose states of emergency to allow them to take quick decisions in the face of considerable upticks in infections and deaths.
China 'unwinding'
On the other side of the globe in China, where the outbreak began late last year, the Golden Week holiday marking the 1949 founding of the People's Republic has taken on added significance this year. "People are travelling with a vengeance!" said Huo Binxing, a banker from Beijing who was heading to Lhasa in Tibet. "It's our first chance to unwind after such a stressful period." Also spreading their wings were travelers to South Africa, where a first batch of regional and international flights landed Thursday after a more than six-month shutdown. While it reopened its borders to all African countries, South Africa is barring tourists from around 50 nations with high infection rates, including Britain, France, India, Russia and the US. The skies were far less bright in the United States, where American and United airlines announced they would begin furloughing 19,000 and 13,000 workers respectively as US officials have failed to reach a deal on fresh aid.
Trump's misinformation
A study from Cornell University in the United States, meanwhile, said that Trump has been the world's biggest driver of misinformation during the pandemic. Evaluating 38 million articles published by English-language, traditional media worldwide between January 1 and May 26 of this year, a team identified 522,472 news articles that reproduced or amplified misinformation related to the pandemic. The most popular topic was "miracle cures" that appeared in 295,351 articles. The authors found comments by Trump drove major spikes in that theme. In India, meanwhile, new research suggested that a small group of super-spreaders was responsible for almost two-thirds of coronavirus cases in the world's second-most populous nation. The study, published in the journal Science, found that eight percent of all people carrying the virus were responsible for 60 percent of new infections.

Armenia-Azerbaijan Clashes Rage as Macron Denounces 'Jihadist' Deployment
Agence France Presse/October 02/2020
Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have intensified their shelling as French President Emmanuel Macron said jihadist militants had been deployed to Nagorny Karabakh in a "serious" new development.
The West and Moscow renewed calls to halt several days of fighting over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region that has left more than 130 dead and threatened to draw in regional powers Turkey and Russia.
In a joint appeal on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Macron urged the two sides to return to negotiations aimed at resolving their longstanding territorial dispute.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev have both rejected the idea of holding talks, with the Armenian leader stating: "Nagorno-Karabakh cannot disarm, because it would lead to genocide."
"The people who live there face an existential threat," Pashinyan told French newspaper Le Figaro.
But Russia suggested it was making progress in diplomatic efforts with Turkey, a firm supporter of Azerbaijan in the conflict.
It said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu had confirmed they were ready for "close coordination" to stabilise the situation.
In Martuni, a small town in Karabakh around 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the front line, residents took refuge in cellars as heavy shelling by Azerbaijan killed four civilians and wounded 11.
Artak Aloyan, a 54-year-old construction worker sheltering in his basement with an elderly neighbour, vowed to stay despite the worst clashes the contested region has seen for years.
"I built this house with my own hands. I will not go anywhere, that's that," he told AFP after a rocket attack. "I will die here in the last battle."
- 'Crushing strikes' -
The rival Caucasus nations have been locked in a bitter stalemate over Karabakh since the collapse of the Soviet Union when the ethnic Armenian region broke away from Azerbaijan.
In the fiercest clashes in years, 136 people have been confirmed dead in fighting that has raged for five days.
The Armenian defence ministry said fighting had intensified and its troops had repelled Azerbaijani attacks, downing helicopters and destroying drones and armoured vehicles.
It said Azerbaijani forces had fired on two villages inside Armenia, close to Karabakh, killing one civilian.
Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan said that 1,280 Azerbaijani troops had been killed and 2,700 wounded since Sunday, with both sides making claims of inflicting heavy casualties.
Azerbaijan's defence ministry said its forces had carried out "crushing artillery strikes" on Armenian troops. It denied claims that one of its helicopters was shot down and had crashed in Iran.
The two sides have accused each other of shelling civilian areas and ignored repeated calls from international leaders to halt the fighting.
Putin, Macron and Trump called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities" and urged the warring sides to commit to talks.
Yerevan is in a military alliance of ex-Soviet countries led by Moscow and has accused Turkey of dispatching mercenaries from northern Syria to bolster Azerbaijan's forces in the Karabakh conflict. It also claimed earlier this week that a Turkish F-16 fighter jet flying in support of Baku's forces had downed an Armenian SU-25 warplane, but Ankara and Baku denied the claim.
Pashinyan reiterated claims that mercenaries had joined the conflict, saying Azerbaijan and Turkey were fighting "with the help and involvement of foreign terrorist fighters". "This terrorism equally threatens the United States, Iran, Russia, and France," he added. His calls were echoed by Macron, who earlier said intelligence reports had established that 300 Syrian fighters drawn from "jihadist groups" from the Syrian city of Aleppo had passed through Turkey en route for Azerbaijan. The French president said that a "red line has been crossed, which is unacceptable" and demanded an explanation from Ankara.
Azerbaijan's ally, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, has signalled his country's full backing for Baku's military and on Thursday called for Armenian troops to leave Karabakh.
Civilian casualties
Armenia has recorded the deaths of 104 soldiers and 13 civilians. Azerbaijan has not reported any military casualties but said 19 civilians were killed after Armenian shelling. Karabakh's declaration of independence from Azerbaijan sparked a war in the early 1990s that claimed 30,000 lives, but it is still not recognised as independent by any country, including Armenia.
Armenia and Karabakh declared martial law and military mobilisation Sunday, while Azerbaijan imposed military rule and a curfew in large cities.
Talks to resolve the conflict have largely stalled since a 1994 ceasefire agreement.
 

Canada probes alleged use of its tech in Armenia-Azerbaijan clash
AFP/Friday 02 October 2020
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday an investigation has been launched into the alleged use of Canadian military technologies in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Local media reported that Canadian imaging and targeting systems on unmanned drones are being used by Azerbaijan in clashes with Armenia. Arms-control advocates have documented the sale of the Wescam gear to Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan. "In regards to the Canadian military equipment that may have been used in this situation, the minister of foreign affairs (Francois-Philippe Champagne) has launched an investigation into what exactly happened," Trudeau told a news conference. "It is extremely important that the terms of Canada's expectations of non-violation of human rights is always respected and we will have more to say as more becomes clear." Ottawa announced in October 2019 a freeze on the issuing of export permits for military shipments to Turkey, after its incursions against Kurds in northern Syria. But it was lifted in May. A government official said if it is now determined that the military technologies have been misused, Ottawa will cancel export permits for related shipments. Ankara is backing its longtime ally Baku in the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian province that broke away from Azerbaijan in a bitterly fought war in the 1990s. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a simmering conflict for decades over the region and new fighting that erupted on Sunday has been the heaviest in decades, with nearly 200 people confirmed killed. Trudeau said his government is "extremely concerned about the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh," calling for a "de-escalation of hostilities.""There is no question, there is not a military solution to this conflict," he said. "It can only be resolved through proper dialogue and engagement."
 

Turkish Official Sees Ankara Unswayed over EU Sanctions on Eastern Mediterranean
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 October, 2020
Turkey would be even more determined to protect its territorial rights in the Eastern Mediterranean if the European Union ultimately decides to impose sanctions on it over offshore oil and gas exploration, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said. The senior official, who requested anonymity, said sanctions would not deter Turkey and suggested they could imperil dialogue planned between Ankara and Athens over disputed maritime boundaries and oil and gas rights. The warning came as EU leaders broke a diplomatic deadlock early on Friday and assured bloc member Cyprus it would punish Turkey if it continued operations in disputed waters. Sanctions could come as soon as December if “provocations” have not stopped, it said. Before the post-midnight deal, Cyprus had demanded sanctions on Turkey over what it calls Ankara’s “gunboat diplomacy” and violations of the island nation’s maritime shelf. Tensions have simmered since Turkish and Greek frigates collided at sea in August near one of Turkey’s exploration vessels, though things have cooled a bit since Turkey and Greece, both members of NATO, said they would resume “exploratory talks” that ended in 2016.
The talks are an effort “to bring Greece into dialogue and finally Greece agreed to that, and we hope to resume those soon”, likely this month, the Turkish official said, according to Reuters. But “if the EU applies sanctions this will not deter us. On the contrary this would increase our resolve and would be a negative stance on the part of the European Union”, he said. “We will continue our offshore program as we have been doing. Sanctions are not the right way (and) will not deter us to protect our rights to our continental shelf and also the rights of the Turkish Cypriots,” the official added.
Speaking to parliament on Thursday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey preferred to resolve disagreements in the Eastern Mediterranean through dialogue and was not seeking tensions and clashes in the region.

Armenia-Azerbaijan Fighting Rages as Macron Says Turkey Crossed 'Red Line'
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 October, 2020
Clashes raged between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces on Friday despite calls for a ceasefire, as French President Emmanuel Macron warned Turkey against the alleged deployment of extremists to the war zone. Macron said intelligence reports had established that 300 fighters from "extremist groups" in Syria had passed through Turkey en route to Azerbaijan, saying that "a red line has been crossed" and demanding an explanation. Ankara is backing its longtime ally Baku in the fighting over Nagorny Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian province that broke away from Azerbaijan in a bitterly fought war in the 1990s.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a simmering conflict for decades over the region and new fighting that erupted on Sunday has been the heaviest in decades. Nearly 200 people have been confirmed killed, including more than 30 civilians, and there are fears of the fighting expanding into an all-out, multi-front war that could suck in regional powers Turkey and Russia. As the clashes entered a sixth day on Friday, the defense ministry of Karabakh's separatist government reported the deaths of 54 more of its troops.
It said there was fighting all along the frontline after "a relatively calmer night". Azerbaijan's defense ministry also said the fighting was ongoing, and both sides claimed to have inflicted heavy losses. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev have rejected calls for talks.
Russia, US, France appeal for talks
Russia and Western countries have pressed for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations, while Turkey has been fierce in its support for Baku, accusing Armenia of occupying Azerbaijani lands. Macron issued his warning to Ankara at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, urging "all NATO partners to face up to the behavior of a NATO member". In a joint appeal on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Macron urged the two sides to return to negotiations aimed at resolving their longstanding territorial dispute. Russia also suggested it was making progress in diplomatic efforts with Turkey. It said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu had confirmed they were ready for "close coordination" to stabilize the situation. Yerevan is in a military alliance of ex-Soviet countries led by Moscow and has accused Turkey of directly supporting Azerbaijan in the fighting, by deploying aircraft in support of Baku and sending mercenaries from northern Syria to join the fighting. Armenia has recorded the deaths of 158 soldiers and 13 civilians since Sunday. Azerbaijan has not reported any military casualties but said 19 civilians were killed after Armenian shelling.
Karabakh's declaration of independence from Azerbaijan sparked a war in the early 1990s that claimed 30,000 lives, but it is still not recognized as independent by any country, including Armenia. Armenia and Karabakh declared martial law and military mobilization Sunday, while Azerbaijan imposed military rule and a curfew in large cities. Talks to resolve the conflict have largely stalled since a 1994 ceasefire agreement.

Pompeo visit shows strong US commitment to allies in Asia, says envoy Stilwell
Reuters, Washington/Friday 02 October 2020
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Asia next week demonstrates Washington’s strong commitment to allies and partners in the region, the top American diplomat for East Asia, David Stilwell, said on Friday. Pompeo said earlier on Friday he would go ahead with the trip to Japan, South Korea and Mongolia, even after President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. Pompeo is currently in Europe, and is due to leave for Tokyo on Sunday. He told reporters traveling with him on a visit to Croatia that both he and his wife tested negative for COVID-19 20 minutes before landing in Dubrovnik on Friday. Vietnam says China military drills harm maritime code talks over disputed waters. China objects to Ladakh status, Indian border moves as the two forces face each other.US, Australia, India ministers to meet in Japan next week on Indo-Pacific issues. Pompeo, who is fourth in line to succeed the president if necessary, said he had last seen Trump on September 15. In a briefing call on the trip for reporters, Stilwell said the United States saw the decision by new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to host Pompeo as a reaffirmation of an ever-strengthening partnership.
Stilwell said a ministerial meeting of the Quad grouping of the United States, Japan, Australia and India next Tuesday would probably not produce a joint statement, adding that the group has shared values, but different perspectives. Stilwell called the US-Japan relationship “the cornerstone of peace, security and prosperity for the Indo-Pacific” region. He said the Quad, which China has denounced as an attempt to contain its development, was focused on furthering “a shared vision of a free open and inclusive Indo-Pacific ... “especially as (China’s) tactics of aggression and coercion, increase in the region.” Recent discussions among the Quad had focused on building cooperation on issues including maritime security and on critical technology, infrastructure and counterterrorism, Stilwell said. However, when asked whether the four-way grouping would issue a joint statement, Stilwell said: “I think you’ll see public availability related to this, as far as a joint statement, probably not.”He said there were a lot of areas for discussion, but these could be “free-form as well.”“This is the wonderful thing about the Quad. ... We have shared values, but different perspectives, and from those come great ideas and elegant solutions.”China-US relations have sunk to the lowest point in decades in the run-up to the Nov. 3 US presidential election. The world’s two biggest economies have clashed over issues ranging from trade and technological and security rivalry to human rights and the response to the coronavirus, which first surfaced in China late last year. Washington’s allies and partners in Asia share US concerns about China’s increasingly assertive behavior and extensive territorial claims, but analysts say they have been concerned about the tone of some of Pompeo and Trump’s rhetoric against Beijing.

US, Algeria Discuss Libyan Crisis and Situation in Sahel
Algiers- Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 October, 2020
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune held talks on Thursday with United States Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who is on a tour in the region.
Talks touched on a handful of topics including the settlement in Libya, the situation in Sahel countries, and the combat against terrorism and organized crime. The meeting was attended by Lt. Gen. Said Chengriha, the military's chief of defense, the US delegation, and the Chargé d'Affaires at the Embassy of the United States in Algeria, the Tunisian presidential statement added. This is the first visit of a Pentagon chief to the North African country since 2006. Observers see in this visit an opportunity to boost cooperation between two countries who share strategic interests in the fight against extremists in the Sahel and in discussing the ongoing conflict in Libya. Esper stated to AFP that the US and Algeria have always been partners and he hoped that this visit would promote this partnership and joint history. Concerned over the instability at its border, Algeria attempts to activate its role in regional diplomacy and to play a mediation role in the financial crises of Libya. "We would like to strengthen our ties with Algeria, and we look forward to both increasing engagements and furthering our cooperation," Gen. Stephen Townsend, the commander of US Africa Command, said in a statement following his meeting with Tebboune. “Algeria is a committed counterterrorism partner,” he added. Commenting on the goals of this visit, political analyst Mansour Qadidir said that the Americans seek to reposition in the region where new active players surfaced such as Turkey. In the past years, the US built strong bilateral ties with Algeria especially with the beginning of the war on terrorism following the attacks of Sep. 11. Former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika had stated that Algeria pioneered in informing the White House that it backs an international campaign against terrorism.

An Iraqi Father Confronts Militia in Search for Missing Son
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 October, 2020
In the span of 30 seconds, Ali Jasb, a young rights lawyer, vanished into the night in southern Iraq. On an evening a year ago, a woman emerged from a dimly lit street in the city of Amara and greeted Jasb. Almost immediately a black SUV pulled up, two men forced him in, and the vehicle sped away. The woman climbed into a waiting pickup truck and left. The fateful moment, captured by a surveillance camera at 6:22 p.m. on Oct. 8, 2019, was the last sighting of the 21-year-old Jasb. Since that day, Jasb´s father has been on a search for justice that has run repeatedly against one major obstacle: the increasing helplessness of Iraq´s government in the face of powerful, Iranian-backed Shiite militias. According to The Associated Press, judicial investigations show a clear connection between Jasb´s abduction and the most powerful militia group in his home city.
Still, his father, Jasb Aboud is determined to bring the head of that militia to court. "I am afraid," he told the AP. "But I lost what was most valuable to me, so I´ve got nothing else to lose." Jasb was abducted a week into historic protests that had erupted on Oct. 1 and saw tens of thousands of youth rallying against corruption and the ruling class. Hope for change inspired many, including Jasb, to speak out against the influence of militias. He is among 53 protesters still missing since the movement began on Oct. 1, according to the semi-official Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights.
When the nationwide protests erupted, Jasb participated and used his legal expertise to form a committee to help those detained. He also openly criticized militias. In his home city of Amara, capital of Missan province, that meant Ansar Allah Al-Awfia, one of the more extreme pro-Iranian militias, led by a local commander, Haidar al-Gharawi. It was incorporated under the state-sponsored umbrella group, the Popular Mobilization Forces, created to fight the ISIS group in 2014. Over the years, it came to control important offices in the provincial government and many businesses in Missan, while being notorious for illicit dealings along the border with Iran.
There was no response to repeated emails by the AP to the PMF seeking comment for this story, and calls and messages to al-Awfia were not answered.
Curtailing the power of militias was a key promise of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi when he took office in May, following months of political deadlock when former premier Adel Abdul-Mahdi resigned under pressure from protests.
But he was soon faced with the limits of his administration. Abdul-Mahdi had allowed militias´ power to grow so much that "now, we almost don´t have a state," said a high-level official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Frequent rocket attacks targeted al-Kadhimi´s seat of power in Baghdad, straining relations with the US. A raid on the Iranian-backed Kataeb Hezbollah, suspected of firing the rockets, backfired when most of those detained were set free - lack of evidence, the court said.
Activists continue to be targeted. The July shooting death of a high-profile commentator and critic of Iran, Hisham al-Hashimi, stunned Baghdad. Two leading activists in Basra were assassinated.
In the case of Jasb´s disappearance, investigators in Missan quickly came across evidence of a link to al-Gharawi, the al-Awfia militia commander, according to court documents seen by the AP.
Hours before his abduction, Jasb received a phone call from a woman seeking legal help who asked to meet him later that evening, his father said. It was when he went to meet her that he was snatched.
Key to the case was the mobile number that had called Jasb.
Investigators found it belonged to an illegally acquired SIM not registered with the authorities. There is a thriving black market for such unregistered SIMs, which cannot be traced to a user. Police identified other numbers that had called the unknown SIM. Among them was a man named Sadam Hamed. He told investigators that he knew nothing about the unknown number, but said his wife, Fatima Saeed, sometimes used his phone to call a relative. That relative is married to al-Awfia´s commander, al-Gharawi, according to his testimony.
The judge summoned Saeed for questioning but she never showed up. Both she and Hamed had fled. There the investigation ground to a halt. For nine long months, Jasb´s father waited for developments. Nothing happened. So Aboud went to Baghdad and met a new lawyer, Wala al-Ameri.
They decided to attempt a bold gambit: To seek an arrest warrant against al-Gharawi from a court in the capital, which would hopefully be far from the militia´s sway in Missan. "The accused is a militia that has power in Missan, so it could be that it has influence over witnesses, even the law," al-Ameri said.
But again they hit a dead end.
The Baghdad judge deemed there was insufficient evidence for a warrant against al-Gharawi. He dismissed Hamed´s testimony and said only a statement from someone who had seen the kidnapping could advance the case.
"Now it´s a case against the unknown," Aboud said.
In September, Prime Minister al-Kadhimi visited Missan and gave Jasb´s father an audience. During their 15-minute meeting, Aboud laid out the court documents, explained the details of the case, and named the militia he believes took his son. Al-Kadhimi "put his hand to his chest and promised he would deliver him to me," Aboud said. The premier might be Aboud´s last hope. There are witnesses to his son´s abduction, but none dare speak out.
One man told the AP he was near a shop that night and saw everything. He belongs to a powerful local tribe but spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear.
He recounted seeing the woman emerge and the men push Jasb into the vehicle. He also saw police arrive afterward and search Jasb´s car. The AP confirmed that the shop he named had a view of the site.
But would he testify?
"It would be my funeral the next day."

Inflation Slump in Europe Could Presage More Stimulus
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 October, 2020
Annual inflation in the 19-country eurozone sagged further below zero in September, bolstering expectations that the European Central Bank will add to its emergency stimulus efforts aimed at cushioning the impact of the pandemic on the economy.
The consumer price index was down 0.3% in September, even lower than the minus 0.2% figure in August, according to new figures released Friday by the European Union statistics agency.
Excluding volatile food and fuel prices, the inflation rate was 0.2% in September, down from 0.4% in August. The so-called core inflation figure is often considered the better measure of price movements in the economy as a whole.
Low inflation is a major reason why analysts predict the ECB will add to its 1.35 trillion-euro ($1.6 trillion) program of regular bond purchases, which push newly printed money into the financial system. The pandemic emergency purchases are credited with keeping borrowing costs down and preventing turmoil on financial markets that would have worsened the recession caused by the virus. The ECB's goal is to have annual inflation of just under 2%. Economists say the pandemic is contributing to low inflation as merchants keep prices down in hopes of attracting customers amid restrictions on travel and activity.
While low inflation can benefit consumers up to a point, weak prices over a period of time can be a sign of too much slack in the economy. Weak inflation can also make it harder for indebted countries in the eurozone to improve their competitiveness compared with the other members of the currency bloc.
The recent string of low inflation figures has been attributed to one-time factors such as the late start of summer sales in France and Italy affecting the prices of clothes and shoes. But it is also being attributed to businesses like hotels and airlines, which have been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak, slashing their prices to entice buyers. At the ECB's Sept. 10 meeting President Christine Lagarde gave little indication that more stimulus was coming but said the bank stood ready to adjust its programs if needed. The bank's 25-member governing council next meets on Oct. 29 and Dec. 10, although it can enact new measures at any time.

Swiss Arrest 4 Suspected of Ties to ISIS Al-Qaida
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 October, 2020
Authorities in Switzerland say they have arrested four people on suspicion of having ties to the ISIS group and al-Qaida. The federal prosecutor's office said police searched three houses in the western canton (state) of Fribourg early Friday as part of two criminal investigations into alleged extremist activity. The suspects are alleged to have violated Swiss law banning involvement with al-Qaida, ISIS, and related organizations. Prosecutors said the four people detained are also suspected of having "supported or participated in a criminal organization."They identified the four suspects only as a 28-year-old Kosovar woman, a 29-year-old Macedonian, a 26-year-old Kosovar man, and a 34-year-old Swiss-Kosovar dual national. "As they had been in contact with each other, the house searches and arrests were all carried out at the same time," prosecutors said.

The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy (AMCD) Supports the State Department’s Efforts to Counter Iranian Disinformation
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy
WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, September 29, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/

During the Cold War, the United States carried on a robust counter-propaganda campaign against the Soviet Union involving Radio Free Europe, Encounter magazine and numerous efforts set out in speeches by every President since Eisenhower. Senators and Congressmen from both parties and numberless op-ed writers published strong attacks on the Soviets in newspapers and magazines across the country and abroad. At that time our country was unafraid to engage in the war of ideas with the communist bloc. Today, the American Mideast Coalition for Democracy supports the State Department in its efforts to counter Islamist propaganda emanating from Iran through the Iran Disinformation Project. “Because President Obama turned US foreign policy on its head and sought to partner with Islamists from the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to the Shi’a mullahs of Iran, he split American policymakers and confused the public,” said AMCD co-chair Tom Harb. “There are several media outlets that still cleave to the pro-Islamist line, notably Mother Jones.”“The amount of money going from Iran to pro-Iranian regime journalists and organizations is staggering, especially after the Iran deal which netted Iran $150 billion from the US,” added AMCD vice-chair, Hossein Khorram. “It’s only logical that a big chunk of that money would be used to further Iran’s interests among policymakers in the US.”“Another big issue is that under the Obama-Biden administration, Voice of America for Iran was taken over by pro-Iran regime personnel,” continued AMCD co-chair John Hajjar. “In reversing the Obama-Biden policies, the Trump administration has been resisted both inside and outside the Administration. Pro-Iran regime people still occupy key roles in the State Department and they partner with pro-Iran regime organizations such as the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). This is still going on today.”AMCD fully supports the State Department’s efforts to counter Iranian propaganda. AMCD receives no grants or funds of any kind from the State Department or any government agency; we are entirely funded by our members. We support the Trump Administration because it has set forth the right policies in order to realize peace in the long-suffering Middle East.
Rebecca Bynum
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy
+ 16157756801

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 02-03/2020

Why Colorful View of American Politics Is Wrong
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/October, 02/2020
The way world media cover the current US election campaigns may foster the impression that the nation is gripped by a crisis due to institutional racism with black Americans as victims. Professional anti-Americans even claim that the US perpetuates a version of apartheid.
How accurate are such claims?
There is no doubt that race, or skin color, remains a cause of friction with small radical groups, both white and black, seeking to legitimize their agendas by fomenting fear and loathing with racial themes.
On the right White supremacists try to portray black fellow citizens as genetic criminals whose presence is a cause of anxiety. They cite figures showing that a disproportionate number of blacks are in prison for breaking the law.
On the left, some radical anti-capitalists try to cast blacks as victims of institutional racism and use the concept of victimhood to justify violence.
White supremacists forget that in most cases what they present as lawbreaking by blacks is primarily caused by socio-economic factors, not skin color. Even then, lawbreakers form a small minority of black Americans who account for 12 percent of the population.
Promoters of victimhood, on the other side, ignore the fact that the overwhelming majority of black Americans are proud of what two centuries of struggle for equal rights within the democratic system has achieved.
The claim of institutional racism is hard to back by evidence. All institutions of the US have been open, if not always welcoming, to blacks since the 1960s. The current Congress is the most racially diverse in US history. It includes 56 blacks from 26 states, slightly less than the share of blacks in the total population. Even then, this is higher than other democracies, for example France and Great Britain, with large numbers of black citizens. Another important part of US institutions, the US Senate, includes 10 non-white members out of 100.
Blacks are also well represented in another important part of the institutional US: the judiciary. Of the nine members of the Supreme Court, two are blacks. Below that level, 40 black judges sit on the crucial US courts of appeal. More than 12 percent of judges on US district courts are black. Moves to speed up representation started under President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s but accelerated under his successors.
Bill Clinton named 58 black judges, more than any other president. Barack Obama, himself half black, comes second with 52 appointments of black judges. Jimmy Carter with 28 and George W. Bush with 20 appointments come third and fourth. Blacks also have a significant presence as public attorneys at district, state and federal levels.
The first black governor of a state was PBS Pinchback of Louisiana who launched a project in 1871 that became a model of black-white cooperation for reform. Since then four other states have had black governors from both parties, not counting “colored” ones from Asia and South America.
Even the diplomatic service, traditionally a niche for rich whites from New England, has not been closed to blacks. Over the past 70 years, blacks have accounted for seven percent of ambassadorial posts. But the black diplomatic elite includes stars such as Ralph Bunche and Edith Sampson not to mention the five black diplomats, out of 30, who served as permanent representative to the United Nations. The US has also had two black secretaries of state, both under George W. Bush.
On a broader level, since Johnson’s reforms, some 13 percent of all cabinet posts have been filled by blacks. Blacks have also increased representation in the US armed forces up to the highest grades including chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That however, is still not satisfactory. Although promotion of blacks speeded up under Obama and President Donald Trump, blacks account for over 43 percent of all military but only six percent of higher ranks. A similar picture can be drawn for the police, which controlled by local government is not a federal institution.
Blacks have increased their representation in non-governmental domains. Hollywood blacks are no longer limited to actors given bit parts but include major stars. The phenomenal success of the film “Black Panther” marked the integration of the blacks in the America’s cinema on equal terms.
In the literary world such authors as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison and Toni Morrison have entered the canon of American literature. More recently, Colson Whitehead became only the fourth novelist to win a Pulitzer Prize twice, joining such iconic writers as William Faulkner, John Updike and Ruth Tarkington.
What is significant is that black progress toward equality in the US is no longer dependent on tokenism and positive discrimination that blacks, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X, regarded as counter-productive.
Today, black Americans are rising in the world, so to speak, thanks to their own struggle and self-improvement efforts rather than charity from bleeding-heart liberals.
Fighting for equality by blacks also benefited poor whites, dismissed by some supremacists as “trash”. Speaking in 2013, Angela Davis reminded the world that the black fight for free education also benefited whites who had no money for schooling their children. In some southern states, poor whites were mobilized to register as voters when blacks won franchise.
The broader quest for equal rights for blacks may be tangentially linked to the recent violence in some American cities. But, although most polls in the past half century show that a majority of Americas endorse the quest for equal rights, it is clear that they also oppose violence and the use of color as a weapon against the democratic system.
The death of George Floyd on May 25 pushed support for Black Lives Matter (BLM) to 53 percent with 28 percent opposed, among registered voters. However, when violence, accompanied by looting, was pushed centerstage, support for BLM fell to 48 percent with 38 percent opposed. One reason may have been the promotion by media of firebrands like Shawn King as BLM leaders, downgrading the movement’s less radical but real leaders such as Alicia Graza, Opal Tomei and Patrisse Cullros.
While racists, both white and black, do exist in the United States it is wrong to talk of across the board institutional racism. A majority of Americans of all colors understand that slavery was an evil and harmed every American regardless of color. They have also seen in real life that advancing equality benefits all, not only those of any particular color.

Many Rivers, Too Many Dams
Philip Fearnside/The New York Times/October, 02/2020
Where rivers run free, dams are intruders.
Perhaps nowhere these days are they more threatening than in the Amazon basin. Its namesake river is fed by more than 1,100 tributaries, many of them major rivers themselves, and forms the largest drainage system in the world. About one-fifth of all of the water that runs off the surface of the Earth ends up in it.
The flows of these rivers can generate a lot of electricity, so it’s not surprising that the Amazon River basin is seen by governments, speculators and industries as a vast, untapped frontier for hydroelectric power and the development that dams attract. At least 158 dams are either operating or under construction now in the river basin, according to a study last year in the journal Nature Communications, and an additional 351 have been proposed.
The study’s authors called the Amazon a “hot spot for future hydropower expansion.”
But it is hard to know, really, what lies ahead. Plans for these big, disruptive projects are often shrouded in secrecy, especially in Brazil, which includes about two-thirds of the basin, because of the controversy they generate over the environmental destruction and injustices they cause. New projects can appear out of nowhere and dormant plans are sometimes resurrected as sudden priorities — so-called vampire projects rising from the dead.
What is clear, as I argued in a 2017 article for the online magazine Yale Environment 360 — even before Brazilians elected as their president Jair Bolsonaro, who has been predictably disastrous for the Amazon — is that the dam building is “driven by the country’s agricultural and heavy industrial interests, is being carried out with little regard to the impacts on Indigenous people and the environment, is proceeding with little effort to capitalize on the nation’s vast renewable energy potential, and is often fueled by corruption.”
One dam that appeared out of nowhere last year is the centerpiece of the Barão do Rio Branco infrastructure project proposed soon after Mr. Bolsonaro took office in January 2019. This project calls for a 2,000- to 3,000-megawatt dam on the Trombetas River, an Amazon tributary that flows through an isolated and mineral-rich region of northern Brazil.
The proposed dam would flood Quilombola lands upstream from the dam. These lands were established by runaway slaves. The inundation would conflict with Brazil’s often-violated and easily amended Constitution, which prohibits the removal of Quilombola and Indigenous peoples from their lands. (The government says it will consult with potentially affected communities, a promise that has proved mostly hollow in other dam projects.) This dam would also threaten one of Amazonia’s largest beaches for turtle reproduction, which lies downstream.
Not coincidentally, Mr. Bolsonaro is dismantling the country’s environmental agencies and licensing system for infrastructure projects, and is reducing protections for Indigenous peoples.
This has set the stage for a spree of dam building that could be enormously destructive to a region of incredible biological diversity. At the same time, Amazonia’s rain forests are being cleared for cattle ranges and soy farms, often illegally.
Every year Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy publishes an energy plan that includes large dams of at least 30 megawatts of installed capacity to be completed within 10 years. The most recent plan, which runs through 2029, lists three dams: the Tabajara in Rondônia, the Castanheira in Mato Grosso and the Bem Querer in Roraima.
This last dam would block the Rio Branco, known as the White River for its color, which is caused by the high load of sediments it carries. These sediments created and maintain the Anavilhanas Archipelago, a national park whose 400 islands in the Rio Negro just downstream from the confluence with the Rio Branco make up one of the world’s largest riverine archipelagos. Its wetland ecosystems depend on the sediments from the Rio Branco and are considered of international importance for their biological diversity.
In addition to that plan, Brazil’s most recent “National Energy Plan,” which goes through 2050, includes the Chacorão Dam on the Tapajós River, which would flood part of the Munduruku Indigenous Land, as well as dams on the Tapajós and its tributary Jamanxim River, which would inundate part of Sawré Muybu, another Munduruku area that so far has been denied designation as an Indigenous land precisely to make way for these dams.
Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador also have big plans for Amazonian dams. In 2010, Peru and Brazil agreed to six large dams in Peru, to be built by Brazilian contractors and financed by Brazil’s national bank. Most electricity from them would be exported to Brazil. When this will happen is unclear: The main contractor has since been swept up in an unrelated corruption scandal, along with some political figures in Brazil. But the dams remained listed on Brazil’s 2050 energy expansion plan.
In Brazil, there is a constant testing of the legal limits, to see which laws will be enforced and which will be ignored. The Belo Monte Dam, the biggest hydroelectric project in the Amazon, stands as a concrete monument to this reality. It became operational in 2016 after storms of protest from Indigenous peoples, environmentalists and much of the public. The dam flooded roughly 200 square miles of lowlands and forest, uprooted more than 20,000 people and has caused extensive damage to the river ecosystem.
A federal judge originally ruled that the license for the dam was illegal because the people in the Indigenous lands affected were not consulted as required by law. But construction was allowed to proceed and the dam stands today. The project, which consists of two dams, removes 80 percent of the water from a 45-mile stretch between them along which two Indigenous lands are. Despite an estimated $18 billion price tag, the dam’s economic viability was always in question. The natural seasonal cycle of the Xingu River includes a long low-flow period that prevents Belo Monte from using many of its expensive turbines during much of the year.
The study in Nature Communications found that some lowland dams in the Amazon actually may exceed the carbon emissions rates of fossil fuel plants. Beyond that, these tropical dams cause environmental damage that is much more serious than their proponents admit, for benefits that are far less than claimed.
River ecosystems are turned into reservoirs, for instance, damaging aquatic diversity. Dams can block annual fish migrations, like that of the giant catfish of the Madeira River. According to one analysis, after Brazil built one dam on the Madeira, in 2011, and another in 2013, fish catches in what had been the world’s second greatest riverine fishery plummeted in Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. Thousands of people lost their fishing-based livelihoods, and the steep decline in fishing also led to social tensions in the region that persist today.
Another problem results when nutrient-rich sediments carried by these rivers are trapped behind dams rather than carried downstream and deposited on flood plains, where they are essential for agriculture. The nutrients also support the food chain that fish downstream depend on, compromising catches along thousands of miles of Amazonian rivers.
These huge impoundments also destroy forests, which drown in the sprawling reservoirs behind them and are cut down to make way for the accompanying development and to clear paths for transmission lines strung across vast distances to deliver electricity to faraway consumers and industries. The rising waters behind these dams can also displace thousands of people from their homes, as they have done time and again in the Amazon.
Some proposed dams are important components of planned waterways that will allow for the transportation of soybeans and other products by barge. This would accelerate the clearing of forest and the transformation of cattle pasture for soy cultivation. This switch from pasture to soy fields is already a key driver of deforestation as cattle ranchers sell their lands to soy farmers and buy cheap land deeper into forest areas to clear for new ranches.
There are more subtle consequences, too.
Mercury that occurs naturally in the soil as well as in runoff from gold mining operations that can often be found upriver of dams can be transformed into highly poisonous methylmercury through a chemical reaction at the bottom of reservoirs, where there is almost no oxygen in the water. High levels of mercury have been found in the hair of people living around the Tucuruí Dam in Pará and the Balbina Dam in Amazonas.
And the lack of oxygen at the bottom of these reservoirs also causes another chemical reaction that produces methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas. It bubbles up to the surface, where it is released into the atmosphere. The gas also enters the atmosphere when reservoir water passes through the turbines and down the spillways of dams.
What all this adds up to is clear: The countries of the Amazon should be extremely wary of damming more rivers in pursuit of electricity they mistakenly see as clean and cheap. These projects are enormously expensive, wreak havoc on the environment and are an injustice to the people who live near them. Moreover, they often don’t add up financially. A 2014 study in the journal Energy Policy warned that “in most countries large hydropower dams will be too costly in absolute terms and take too long to build” to make sense.
Brazil has other ways to generate electricity — offshore turbines and solar power, for instance — with the existing hydropower plants available to provide backup. There are also ample opportunities to cut electricity use through conservation and to redirect the economy from industries that are electricity-intensive, like aluminum production, for export.
Amazonia’s free-flowing rivers are the lifeblood of its biologically rich forests and the Indigenous peoples who have depended on them for centuries. Treating Amazonia as a sacrifice zone for resource extraction is unjust and unnecessary. The human and environmental costs are too high.
*Philip Fearnside is an ecologist at the National Institute for Research in Amazonia in Brazil.
 

Biden’s “Allah Willing” in Context
Raymond Ibrahim/October, 02/2020
During the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, while the president was saying that he would release his tax returns once an ongoing IRS audit ends, Biden interrupted him by saying, “When—insha’allah?”
The utterance of this Arabic phrase, which simply means “Allah willing,” by the Democratic candidate is strange, and a bit revealing. For starters, why, in a purely American setting, would Biden suddenly resort to Arabic? It would have been one thing if he used this formulation before a Muslim audience—it would then be chalked up to diplomacy, pandering, etc.—but why use it when around Americans and during a distinctly American event such as a U.S. presidential debate?
Secondly, while insha’allah does literally mean “Allah willing,” and is regularly used to express modesty before the Supreme Being whenever Arabic speakers are discussing future events—as in, “Next year I plan on visiting the Arctic, insha’allah”—what very few non-native speakers of Arabic appreciate is that it is also used with great frequency by those who utter it to signal that they really have no intention of doing what they say they plan on doing, and by their listeners to express doubt or cynicism.
For example, if Abdul tells Mustafa, “I promise to do X, Y, and Z,” and Mustafa responds, “insha’allah,” say, with a knowing smile, he is essentially saying—and Abdul knows he’s saying—“Sure you will.”
And it is precisely in this latter and subtle sense that Biden was using it: while Trump was insisting that he would eventually release his tax returns, Biden was saying, “Yea, right,” though—and again, this is the bizarre part—through a distinctly Arabic idiom.
This would seem to suggest that Biden has been around many Arabic speakers—the majority of whom were obviously Muslim, not least based on the Obama administration’s well documented preference—to the point of being able to instinctively think and utter jokes like them.
Such an interpretation sheds some light on a controversial thing Biden said in a video directed at Muslims in late July: “Hadith from the Prophet Muhammad instructs, ‘Whomever among you sees a wrong, let him change it with his hand. If he is not able, then with his tongue. If he is not able, then with his heart.’”

Erdogan's Plan to Take Over the Palestinian Authority
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./October 2, 2020
What we are witnessing is an Arab autocrat (Abbas) seeking the help of a Muslim autocrat (Erdogan) in holding "free and fair" elections. Abbas, it seems, is confident that Erdogan's observers would rubber-stamp the results of any Palestinian election to ensure that the PA president emerges victorious
Now he [Erdogan] has a chance to use the Palestinian elections to try to bring his Hamas friends to power after getting rid of Abbas.
"It is terrifying that Abbas speaks as if he lives in another world. Is there a Palestinian interest in attacking the US administration, even if this administration takes unfair positions against the Palestinians? Is there a Palestinian interest in referring negatively to the peace accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain? There is a Palestinian need to return to reality. There is a Palestinian need to come to terms with the truth." — Khairallah Khairallah, Lebanese journalist and political commentator, al-Arabiya, September 29, 2020.
What we are witnessing is an Arab autocrat (Mahmoud Abbas) seeking the help of a Muslim autocrat (Recep Tayyip Erdogan) in holding "free and fair" elections. Abbas, it seems, is confident that Erdogan's observers would rubber-stamp the results of any Palestinian election to ensure that the Palestinian Authority president emerges victorious.
On September 21, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas phoned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and requested that Turkey send Turkish observers to monitor Palestinian elections, if and when they are held.
The phone call came as Turkey hosted a meeting between Abbas's ruling Fatah faction and the Iran-backed Hamas movement. At the meeting, the Fatah and Hamas reportedly agreed to hold long overdue elections for the PA presidency and parliament, the Palestine Legislative Council (PLC).
Abbas's request surprised many Palestinians and Arabs, especially in the wake of charges that Erdogan had forged the 2018 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey. Shortly after the voting ended, thousands of Twitter users launched a hashtag called #Erdogan_forged_election, accusing him of rigging the elections. This was not the first time that Erdogan has been accused of election fraud. In 2014, Turkey's opposition accused Erdogan's party of rigging the country's local elections.
What we are witnessing is an Arab autocrat (Abbas) seeking the help of a Muslim autocrat (Erdogan) in holding "free and fair" elections. Abbas, it seems, is confident that Erdogan's observers would rubber-stamp the results of any Palestinian election to ensure that the PA president emerges victorious.
The 85-year-old Abbas, currently in the 15th year of his four-year-term in office, appears to be an admirer of Erdogan's authoritarian rule. While Erdogan is seeking to resurrect the Ottoman Empire and assume the role of Sultan (ruler of a Muslim realm), Abbas is searching for ways to hold onto power until his last day. Erdogan apparently wants to expand his influence in the Middle East by meddling in the affairs of the Palestinians after already involving himself in conflicts in Libya and Syria. Now he has a chance to use the Palestinian elections to try to bring his Hamas friends to power after getting rid of Abbas.
Abbas, who has no intention of competing with Erdogan for the title of Sultan, wants to maintain his status as president-for-life of the Palestinians. Abbas is hoping that Erdogan will assist him in achieving his goal.
In January 2005, Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority. The next presidential election was supposed to take place in January 2009, but a dispute that erupted between Fatah and Hamas has so far prevented the Palestinians from holding presidential and parliamentary elections. The last Palestinian parliamentary election was held in January 2006, when Hamas won most of the Palestine Legislative Council seats.
A year later, Hamas staged a violent coup in the Gaza Strip, overthrowing Abbas's PA and seizing full control of the coastal enclave, home to nearly two million Palestinians. Since then, the Palestinians have been left without a parliament due to the split between the PA-controlled West Bank and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Several attempts by Egypt and other Arab countries to resolve the Fatah-Hamas rift over the past 12 years have failed, leaving the Palestinians with two separate mini-states: one in the West Bank, the other in the Gaza Strip.
Abbas, in the past 11 years, has more than once expressed his desire to end the conflict with Hamas and pave the way for holding the long overdue elections. Such statements have often been ridiculed by his critics.
"Palestinian elections are merely a lie we've been hearing for years and never see happening on the ground," noted several social media users on Twitter. One posted a video that included various statements by Abbas in which he talks about holding new elections.
In 2009, Abbas announced: "I have issued a decree for holding presidential and parliamentary elections on January 24, 2010."
In 2016, Abbas stated:
"We are continuing our sincere efforts to achieve Palestinian reconciliation [with Hamas] by forming a national unity government on the basis of the PLO program and holding presidential and parliamentary elections."
In 2017, Abbas, in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, called on Hamas to allow the Palestinian Authority to assume its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip and hold general elections.
Last year, in another speech at the UN General Assembly, Abbas again announced his intention to hold presidential and parliamentary elections. "Upon my return to the homeland," he said, "I will call general elections in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem."
In September 2020, during a videoconference meeting of leaders of Palestinian factions, Abbas said:
"Despite all the obstacles you are aware of, we are preparing to hold the parliamentary election, and then the presidential election, with the participation of all the Palestinian factions."
Abbas has long managed to avoid fulfilling his election promise, once by blaming Hamas and another time by blaming Israel. As far as Abbas is concerned, everyone is to blame for the absence of free and fair elections except himself.
Now Palestinians and some Arabs are saying that they no longer believe Abbas. A hashtag trending on Twitter under the name "The Election Play" shows that many Palestinians and Arabs are skeptical of Abbas's real intentions.
"We have become used to the talk about elections," remarked Hesham Abo Al-Hosom, a Palestinian political activist from the Gaza Strip. "The elections Abbas is talking about are a play steeped in lies and delusions."
Palestinian social media user Rawan Armana commented: "We are fed up with speeches, lies and deceit. We have lost confidence [in our leaders]."
Tareq Al-Farra, a member of Fatah, derided Abbas's repeated promise to hold elections: "When will this play end? We are tired of statements about holding general elections and achieving national unity. Stop your lies."
Yara Lolo, who describes herself as a supporter of Abbas's arch-rival, Mohammed Dahlan, wrote: "The people who elect corrupt opportunists and swindlers are not considered victims, but rather partners in crime."
Commenting on Abbas's request that Turkey monitor the Palestinian elections, Egyptian social media user Ahmed Maka wrote:
"Did you know that the Palestinian Authority president called on Turkey to monitor the Palestinian elections, despite the fact that Turkey itself rigged the local elections [in Turkey], according to the testimony of international observers?"
Lebanese political analyst Nidal Al-Sabeh also expressed concern over Abbas's demand that Turkey monitor the Palestinian elections. The PA president's request to Erdogan, Al-Sabeh said, "exposes to Abbas's stance against Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Syria, and his involvement with the Qatari-Turkish project."
Khairallah Khairallah, a Lebanese journalist and political commentator, wondered whether the proposed elections would lead to real change on the ground and put an end to Hamas's "Taliban-style Islamic emirate" in the Gaza Strip:
"With the exception of Turkey, which hosted the Fatah-Hamas meeting to assert its regional role, it is not known how the elections will lead to a profound change that the Palestinians need more than ever... The elections can be the gateway to a major change. Most of all, the elections can be a bridge to a transformation that leads to the birth of a different Palestinian leadership. It is terrifying that Abbas speaks as if he lives in another world. Is there a Palestinian interest in attacking the US administration, even if this administration takes unfair positions against the Palestinians? Is there a Palestinian interest in referring negatively to the peace accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain? There is a Palestinian need to return to reality. There is a Palestinian need to come to terms with the truth."
Khairallah called on the Palestinian factions to explain what they mean when they talk about achieving national unity and holding new elections. "There is a need to stop selling illusions," he added.
"There is a need to adapt to international and regional developments. There is a need to acknowledge that national unity cannot be restored by appeasing Turkey or Iran, or by acknowledging the legitimacy of what Hamas is doing in Gaza. Palestinian elections cannot be held without a clear vision that is based above all on preserving an independent Palestinian decision, away from the interference of Turkey and Iran."
Palestinian political analyst Hani al-Masri said it was "useless" to talk about holding elections while the Palestinians are divided.
"Without a unity government that provides an atmosphere of confidence and respect for human rights and freedoms, combats corruption, and unifies institutions, especially the judiciary, there can be no elections... What is required is a new and strategic vision, a single leadership, and a true partnership."
Erdogan's renewed interest in the Palestinian issue might be seen in the context of his embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates, including Hamas. If Erdogan is going to send Turkish observers to monitor the Palestinian elections, it is because he would like to help his friends in Hamas win the vote.
A report by the Century Foundation on the Turkish government's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood estimated that 20,000 Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members live on Turkish soil. Recently, another report revealed that Turkey has given passports to a dozen members of Hamas in Istanbul.
Erdogan evidently cares about Hamas more than Abbas does. The Turkish leader would certainly like to see Palestinians hold new elections -- and he is prepared to provide all the help needed. By inviting Turkey to monitor the elections, Abbas is playing into the hands of Erdogan and Hamas. Abbas is advancing Turkey's mission of replacing his regime with a Muslim Brotherhood-led government.
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

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What do Turkey and Russia want in Nagorno-Karabakh?
Con Coughlin/The National/October 02/2020
كون كوغلن: ذا انترناشيونال: ما ذا تريد كل من تركيا وروسيا في  ناغورنو كاراباخ
Armed conflict has flared between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and much larger powers may be drawn into the fray
A frame grab from handout video provided by the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Azerbaijan allegedly shows an Armenian tank being destroyed by Azerbaijan's military at Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan. EPA
The prospect of a dramatic escalation in tensions between Turkey and Russia has become a distinct possibility following the eruption of fresh violence between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The conflict between the two states in the South Caucasus region, which dates back to the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, primarily centres on the decision by Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian region, to break away from its former masters in Azerbaijan and ally itself with Yerevan.
The move prompted a full-scale war in 1992 after both countries gained independence from the Soviet Union, claiming the lives of an estimated 30,000 people.
Since a Russian-brokered ceasefire in 1994, an uneasy truce has held. Talks between France, Russia and the US have failed to bring about a full resolution, with the result that flare-ups are frequent between the two countries.
The current outbreak of hostilities, though, is the most serious since the early 1990s, raising concerns that it could draw in regional powers such as Turkey and Russia, and destabilise an area that serves as an important corridor for global energy markets.
In the latest round of fighting, which began on Sunday, Azerbaijan has been accused of launching a full-scale assault against Armenian positions, prompting the declaration of martial law in Armenia and a mobilisation of Armenian forces. In Azerbaijan, the authorities claim that 11 civilians have been killed and 34 wounded in shelling by Armenian forces. So far, the latest round of hostilities is said to have claimed more than 100 lives.
The prospect of the conflict spreading beyond the narrow confines of territorial questions between Armenia and Azerbaijan stems from the fact that both countries enjoy the support of powerful regional neighbours.
Azerbaijan, a predominantly Muslim, Turkic country, is backed by Turkey, while Armenia is closely allied with Moscow. Though they also enjoy good relations with Azerbaijan, the Russians maintain an important military base in Armenia – said to be the first country in the world to have adopted Christianity.
Relations between the Kremlin and Yerevan in recent years might best be described as being lukewarm. Russian President Vladimir Putin does not regard the current Armenian government as being sufficiently friendly to Moscow in comparison with its predecessors. But the Armenians have made it clear they would expect Russian backing if the conflict were to escalate further. “If necessary, Armenia will turn to its allies,” Vardan Toghanyan, the Armenian ambassador to Moscow, recently commented.
Azerbaijan's relationship with Turkey, by contrast, has only grown warmer. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quick to demonstrate his support for Baku, tweeting, “The Turkish people will support our Azerbaijani brothers with all-out means as always.” He also denounced Armenia as “the biggest threat to regional peace.”
Turkey has a long and troubled relationship with the Armenian people, with the Turks accused of committing the Armenian genocide during the First World War. That event was characterised, Armenia claims, by the systematic mass murder and expulsion of around 1.5 million Armenians during the final days of the Ottoman Empire.
The Armenians have made it clear they would expect Russian backing if the conflict were to escalate further
The historical relationship with Azerbaijan lacks such dark chapters; much of the Azerbaijani population speaks a dialect of Turkish, and Turkey was the first country to recognise a newly independent Azerbaijan in 1991. The two countries regularly hold joint military drills, including last month when Turkey was accused of sending rocket launchers to the area. Since then, Armenian officials have accused Ankara of supplying Azerbaijan with heavy weapons and mercenaries to support its offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh.
On Tuesday, the Armenians even claimed that one of its warplanes had been shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter, a claim the Turks denounced as being “absolutely untrue”.
Public support has been growing in Azerbaijan in recent months for a campaign to recapture Nagorno-Karabakh, with thousands of protesters taking to the streets in Baku in July, chanting “Karabakh or death”. Some Western diplomats believe that Azerbaijan has been prompted to make its recent military moves in the belief that the US, traditionally an impartial arbiter in the Caucasus, no longer has any interest in resolving the conflict.
The bigger concern, though, is that the latest hostilities could lead to a broader conflict between Turkey and Russia.
Although relations between Moscow and Ankara have improved in recent years, with Mr Erdogan negotiating a multi-billion dollar arms deal with the Kremlin, tensions are never far from the surface.
Mr Erdogan and Mr Putin are both committed to expanding their global influence, and their rivalry often finds them supporting opposing factions, the most infamous example occurring during the Syrian conflict in 2015 when the Turks shot down a Russian warplane they claimed had strayed into Turkish airspace.
There have also been tensions between the two countries in Libya, where Moscow’s support for Khalifa Haftar, Commander of the Libyan National Army, has brought it into conflict with Ankara, which is providing military support for the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord.
Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia therefore has the potential to open up another area of rivalry with Moscow, one that could seriously exacerbate tensions in the South Caucasus.
Whether that happens will depend to a large extent on Russia’s response. Previously, the Kremlin has preferred diplomacy to military might to ease tensions in the region, and a negotiated solution to the latest flare-up between Armenia and Azerbaijan is still likely to remain Russia’s preferred outcome.
*Con Coughlin is a defence and foreign affairs columnist for The National