English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 09/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you. They were startled and terrified. He said to them: Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 24/36-45: “While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 08-09/2021

Elias Bejjani/Visit My LCCC Web site/All That you need to know on Lebanese unfolding news and events in Arabic and English/http://eliasbejjaninews.com/

Ministry of Health: 3510 new infections, 37 deaths
Aoun Tells Zaki Taef Accord Not 'Threatened'
President Aoun chairs meeting devoted to discuss work of IMPACT electronic platform
Hariri meets Arab League’s Zaki over latest developments
Zaki Tells Lebanon Arab League Ready to Help, Lauds Berri's Initiative
Berri's Initiative Reportedly Still on the Table
Jumblatt, Arab League’s Zaki tackle political developments
ABL Hits Back at Aoun, Says Banks Not behind Wrong Policies
Army Vaccination Campaign Begins across Lebanon
Attorney General Approves Release of 11 Held in Port Case
Rahi meets Norwegian Ambassador
Diab chairs meeting devoted to discussing maritime borders’ issue
Ministers of Information, Health discuss journalists' vaccination mechanism
Diab meets delegation of Families of Lebanese Students Abroad Association
Wazni informed by British Embassy Head of Mission of Kingdom's support for forensic audit
'Loyalty to Resistance' calls for government formation
Diab meets German delegation from “Hamburg Port” consulting company
Lebanese Civic Coalition issues new statement: “A Choice and a Path”
Former Lebanese Minister Of Justice Ashraf Rifi: Hizbullah Is A Collaborator Of 'Mini-Nazi' Iran, Enemy Of Lebanon; It Is Leading Lebanon To Suicide/MEMRI/April 08/2021
Choosing the wrong person at the wrong time/Farouk Yousef/The Arab News/April 08/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 08-09/2021
Syrian Missile Hits Lebanon during Israeli Raid on Damascus
Documents show massive network of Iranian spies infiltrated Europe/Dan Rouhani Says Vienna Talks Open 'New Chapter'
Iranians hope for ‘new chapter’ as nuclear talks to continue
Iran may attack Israel - from its own territory
Iran talks on unexplained uranium traces delayed -diplomats
Iran’s Esmail Qaani in Baghdad to unify loyal militias before elections, target US presence
4 Syrian soldiers injured in alleged Israeli airstrikes on Damascus
Inside Secret Syria Talks Aimed at Freeing American Hostages
Israel Says Will Not Cooperate with ICC War Crimes Probe
Netanyahu: Israel won't be bound by deal which allows Iran a nuclear bomb
Israel slams Biden's resumption of UNRWA funding for Palestinians
Biden announces limited gun restrictions
Biden Resumes Palestinian Aid, Urges Two-State Solution
At least 1 person killed and 4 wounded after a shooting at a Texas office park, police say
UAE pledges support for Libya’s new unity government
Merkel Urges Russia to Reduce Troops on Ukraine Border
 

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 08-09/2021

Muslim Man Butchers Coptic Christian Mother and Child/Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity/April 08/2021
Does Iran Even Need Spies in Academia?/A.J. Caschetta/The Hill/April 8, 2021
Capitol Building Attack: The Jihadi Connection/Raymond Ibrahim/April 08/2021
Iran nuclear talks: How do goals of Rouhani, Biden and Netanyahu compare?/Yonah Jeremy Bob/Jerusalem Post/April 08/2021
Regional, international developments further isolate Iran/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/April 08/2021
Who has the lead role in the latest talks between the US and Iran?/Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/April 08/2021
Biden’s new Iran Deal must rein in Tehran’s proxies/Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Arab News/April 08/2021
China Boycotts Western Companies Over Uyghurs/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/April 8, 2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 08-09/2021

Ministry of Health: 3510 new infections, 37 deaths
NNA/April 08/2021 
The Ministry of Public Health announced 3510 new coronavirus infection cases, which raises the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 489428.37 deaths have been recorded over the past 24 hours.

Aoun Tells Zaki Taef Accord Not 'Threatened'
Naharnet/April 08/2021 
President Michel Aoun on Thursday stressed that Lebanon is committed to the Taef Accord, during a meeting with Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki in Baabda. At the beginning of the meeting, Aoun said he welcomes any Arab League initiative aimed at resolving the current Lebanese crisis, telling Zaki that Lebanon appreciates the care that the League is showing towards Lebanon. The president also explained to Zaki “the reasons that have so far prevented the government’s formation and the obstacles that have been put in its way,” emphasizing that “Lebanon is committed to the implementation of the Taef Accord from which the constitution emerged.”Aoun, however, stressed that “the constitution must be respected by everyone and its articles must be implemented, especially as to everything related to the formation, work and dissolution.”“Everything that is being said contrary to that and anything hinting that the Taef Accord is threatened is unrealistic and being circulated by known sides concerned with the formation process,” the president said. He added that “the head of the state is the only official who takes an oath to preserve the constitution.”

President Aoun chairs meeting devoted to discuss work of IMPACT electronic platform
NNA / Presidency Press Office
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, today chaired a meeting devoted to discuss the work of IMPACT electronic platform, which was launched by the Central Inspection on March 5, 2020.
IMPACT is the first electronic platform owned by the state and shared between ministries and municipalities for evaluation, coordination and follow-up.
The President listened to a briefing presentation, made by Head of the Central Inspection, Judge George Attiyeh, and Technical Support Team member Dr. Carole Sharabati, on the overall applications and programs of the IMPACT platform, which recently supported the government during the lockdown period, in terms of allowing citizens to obtain transport permits. IMPACT also supported the Health Ministry in adopting the platform as a basic base through which to register to receive Corona vaccines, following-up on citizen health status and obtaining a form which indicates the reception of the COVID vaccine, with the related data.The meeting also addressed the website which is used to view all numbers and charts related to travel permits and registration processes for receiving the vaccine from the platform, along with the related number of individuals who received the vaccine and their distribution among regions. The discussion also dealt with the rural and local development form through which data on regions are collected in cooperation with Municipalities so that this data can be used in any future developmental plan, in addition to the form of the poorest families whose data was collected through cooperation with municipalities, mayor and Social Affairs Ministry, in the early stages of Corona spread. Moreover, the forms of damage to government buildings, institutions and public administrations whose data were collected after the Beirut Port explosion were also deliberated in cooperation and coordination with the Public Works and Displaced Ministries. It is noteworthy that all this data, graphs and figures are published on the website which is accessible by citizens, where the Central Inspection aims to reinforce the principle and the right to access information to benefit from in any future plan. The meeting was attended by former Minister, Salim Jreisatti, and Presidency Director General, Dr. Antoine Choucair. --

Hariri meets Arab League’s Zaki over latest developments
NNA/April 08/2021
PM-designate Saad Hariri, on Thursday received at the “Center House” the Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ambassador Hussam Zaki, accompanied by Ambassador Abdel-Rahman Al-Solh.
Discussions reportedly touched on the latest developments on the Lebanese and Arab arenas. Following the meeting, Ambassador Zaki said he informed Hariri of the Arab League’s desire to help Lebanon overcome the current crisis it is facing due to the government formation deadlock. Ambassador Zaki said, "The Arab League is ready to play any role requested of it, whether through shuttle diplomacy among the main parties concerned, or by ensuring an Arab framework where all the Lebanese political sides could meet under its auspices," he said. Zaki hoped that this crisis would be over soon for the sake of the Lebanese people and the Lebanese state. He also highlighted the necessity to put national interest above any other narrow considerations.

Zaki Tells Lebanon Arab League Ready to Help, Lauds Berri's Initiative
Naharnet/April 08/2021
Arab League Assistant Secretary-General on Thursday held separate meetings in Lebanon with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker PM Hassan Diab and PM-designate Saad Hariri. Speaking after talks in Baabda, Zaki said he expressed to Aoun the readiness of Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit to mediate “between the main parties of the crisis if there is a need for the Arab League to intervene.” Zaki said he also inquired about “the talk that recently increased about the Taef Accord, its fate and whether it is threatened in any form.” Following talks with Hariri, Zaki said he informed the PM-designate of the Arab League’s “desire to help resolve this crisis and pull Lebanon out of this dilemma it is facing due to the failure to form a government.”He added that he believes that Hariri “has an idea that the proposal that came from Speaker Nabih Berri is a largely acceptable suggestion.”Asked about the obstacles delaying the government’s formation and the indications he sensed in Baabda, Zaki said: “We are not carrying an initiative and we are not pressing the parties, but we are annoyed and concerned over the political and economic situation in Lebanon.” He added: “The currently raised ideas, especially those proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri, are ideas that can be capitalized on and can represent a good exit from the current crisis.”“Communication between Speaker Berri and the Arab League will continue and the ideas suggested by Speaker Nabih Berri are good ideas that deserve all support from us,” Zaki went on to say.

Berri's Initiative Reportedly Still on the Table
Naharnet/April 08/2021 
Speaker Nabih Berri’s initiative for resolving the cabinet formation crisis is still on the table and has not been shelved, political sources said. The initiative has however been suspended to “give a chance to those who objected to it to review their calculations and become convinced of it,” the
sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Thursday. The sources added that the initiative was discussed between PM-designate Saad Hariri and Berri’s aide Ali Hassan Khalil during the latter’s latest visit to the Center House. “Berri’s move towards Hariri coincided with Kalil’s communication with Hizbullah’s leadership, which has restarted its engines in a bid to convince (President Michel) Aoun and (Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran) Bassil of the need to endorse the initiative and withdraw their reservations,” the sources added.

Berri welcomes Arab League's Zaki, MP Bustani
NNA/April 08/2021
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, welcomed Thursday at his Ain-el-Tineh residence, Arab League's Assistant Secretary General, Hossam Zaki, with whom he discussed the current general situation, mainly the governmental dossier. Speaking to reporters following the one-hour meeting, Zaki indicated that he had relayed to his host the Arab League's wish to see a government formed in Lebanon. He also highlighted the necessity to put national responsibility above narrow considerations. He added that the Arab League would carry on contacts with the Lebanese political sides to help the country exit its crisis in the nearest time possible. Separately, Berri met with MP Farid Bustani, in presence of MP Ali Bazzi.

Jumblatt, Arab League’s Zaki tackle political developments
NNA/April 08/2021
Progressive Socialist Party leader, Walid Jumblatt, on Thursday welcomed at his Clemenceau residence the Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ambassador Hussam Zaki, in the presence of PSP Commissioner for External Affairs Zaher Raad. Talks reportedly touched on most recent political developments.

ABL Hits Back at Aoun, Says Banks Not behind Wrong Policies
Naharnet /April 08/2021
The Association of Banks in Lebanon on Thursday denounced what it called a “campaign against the banking sector” by “most politicians,” a day after President Michel Aoun criticized the country’s banks. “Most politicians resort to this campaign when the crisis toughens” in a bid to conceal “the reasons behind what happened and is still happening to the country,” ABL said in a statement. Reminding that “it was not banks which used to stress the pegging of the national currency rate in every ministerial policy statement over the past 30 years,” ABL said banks also did not encourage the state to increasingly borrow from the funds deposited at the central bank. ABL also reminded that it was the state and not banks which issued treasury loans, approved subsidization policies and impeded the issuance of capital control laws. The Association also slammed the “policies of the waste of funds and the irresponsible taxing and customs laws.”“Banks were not behind the decisions of arbitrary employment in state institutions and they did not accumulate the deficit in the balance of payments,” the statement added. “The political crisis, and the obstruction and vacuum it created, remains the main reason behind the financial and banking crisis in Lebanon,” the statement added. Aoun had on Wednesday said that banks’ responsibility is “evident” and that they “cannot evade the truth.”“The people put their money with you and you used it irresponsibly to achieve fast gains, without a ‘distribution of risks’ as required by the profession’s rules,” the president added.

Army Vaccination Campaign Begins across Lebanon
Naharnet /April 08/2021
A Covid-19 vaccination campaign for army personnel kicked off Thursday morning at 21 centers belonging to the Military Healthcare across Lebanon. The vaccination process will take place according to “the schedule of priorities that has been devised by the committee overseeing the anti-virus vaccination campaign,” an army statement said. After receiving the vaccine along with the members of the Military Council and a number of officers and soldiers, Army Commander General Joseph Aoun urged the personnel of the military institution to follow suit, describing the vaccine as a “necessary means for protecting them and their families and curbing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.”He also called for continued respect for the precautionary measures.The development comes after Lebanon received Tuesday a Chinese donation of 50,000 Sinopharm vaccines of which 10,000 will go to the military institution. Twenty thousand vaccines will meanwhile go to journalists and the media sector and the rest will go to high-contact sectors such as the association of public employees, National Social Security Fund workers and veterinarian physicians.

Attorney General Approves Release of 11 Held in Port Case
NNA/April 08/2021
Attorney General Judge Ghassan al-Khoury on Thursday approved requests for the release of 11 low-rank employees and servicemen held in the case of the Beirut port blast. Khoury meanwhile dismissed requests for the release of the directors general, officers and senior employees who are in custody.
The lead investigative judge into the case, Judge Tarek al-Bitar, will meanwhile look into the release requests on Monday, the National News Agency said, noting that Khoury’s decisions are not binding for Bitar.

Rahi meets Norwegian Ambassador
NNA/April 08/2021
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi, on Thursday received in Bkerki, the Norwegian Ambassador to Lebanon, Martin Yttervik, who came on a protocol visit upon his assumption of his new diplomatic duties in the country.

Diab chairs meeting devoted to discussing maritime borders’ issue
NNA/April 08/2021
Caretaker Prime Minister, Dr. Hassan Diab, on Thursday chaired a meeting devoted to discussing the issue of maritime borders. The meeting was attended by Ministers Zeina Akar, Michel Najjar and Charbel Wehbe, in addition to former Minister Lawyer Naji Al-Boustani, PCM Secretary-General, Judge Mahmoud Makie, PM Advisor, Khodor Taleb, Brigadier General Bassam Yassine and Colonel Mazen Basbous. The meeting deliberated on the proposal to amend Decree No. 6433 related to the exclusive economic zone on the southern borders with occupied Palestine. During the meeting, Premier Diab stressed the need to expedite the resolution of this file. After the army delegation provided a detailed account of the file, the Minister of National Defense confirmed the endorsement of the draft decree she submitted to the PCM. The Minister of Public Works and Transport asked to be given some time to examine the project at maximum speed, in coordination with the Army Command, in preparation for the completion and signing of the file by the Ministers of Defense and Works, before it is submitted to Premier Diab for signature and referral to the Presidency of the Republic to issue the required exceptional approval.-- PM Press Office

Ministers of Information, Health discuss journalists' vaccination mechanism
NNA/April 08/2021
Caretaker Ministers Manal Abdel Samad of Information and Hamad Hassan of Public Health held a meeting on Thursday during which they agreed to allocate 8,000 coronavirus vaccine shots to the press and media body. The pair also discussed the mechanism of vaccinations of journalists and agreed to hold a press conference on Monday to announce the process date.

Diab meets delegation of Families of Lebanese Students Abroad Association
NNA/April 08/2021
Caretaker Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, today met with a delegation from the Lebanese Association for Parents of Students in Foreign Universities, which included Sheikh Jihad Al-Abdullah, Mahmoud Obeid, RiadKhoury, Nayef Ghaith, Assaad Al-Taher and Dr. RabihKanj, in the presence of PM Advisor, Hussein Kaafarani. After the meeting, Dr. Kanj said, “We visited H.E. and briefed him about the steps we are undertaking, especially in light of the failure of banks to implement the Student Dollar Law as the only solution to savethousands of students abroad. Six months have passed since the publication of the Law in the Official Gazette, and having reached a dead end, we resorted, in our capacity as Lebanese Association for Parents of Students in Foreign Universities, to the Public Prosecutor's Office and we provided information about Law 193 and its non-implementation by the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL) represented by its Chairman, Salim Sfeir, knowing that on January 13, 2021 we sent a warning to the ABL, but the bailiff replied that the ABL’s address was unknown; thus, notification could not be made. " Then Mr. Assaad Daher said: “We have informed H.E. of the legal path that we are taking, and we tell the Lebanese people that misinformation being circulatedby the banks and the governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon is untrue, and we will continue our escalatorysteps in the streets. We also hold the banks responsiblefor the repercussions of our moves, for the pain isgetting too great and the academic year is nearing its end.”For his part, Sheikh Jihad Al-Abdullah affirmed that Premier Diab has expressed his full readiness to support students abroad within his powers and prerogatives”.-- PM Press office

Wazni informed by British Embassy Head of Mission of Kingdom's support for forensic audit
NNA/April 08/2021
Caretaker Finance Minister, Ghazi Wazni, welcomed this Thursday the Head of Mission and Chargé d'Affaires at the British Embassy, Martin Longden, and discussed the financial situation in Lebanon, namely the issue of forensic audit, as well as Lebanese-British relations. After the meeting, Longden said: “I discussed with Minister Wazni an array of critical economic issues and challenges that Lebanon is currently facing and the urgent need for a political solution to these problems, including the formation of a new government. We also touched upon the issue of support and options available to the government, and the developments related to forensic scrutiny, which is considered necessary. " "I reiterate the United Kingdom's position in support of forensic audit, which constitutes one of the basic components for reaching a solution with the International Monetary Fund and thus making a difference in Lebanon," he said.

'Loyalty to Resistance' calls for government formation
NNA/April 08/2021
The Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc on Thursday highlighted the necessity to reach an agreement to form a new government, warning of chaos if it remains unformed. "The Lebanese no longer have the luxury of time," the bloc said in a statement issued following its weekly meeting in Haret hreik.
"Reaching an agreement is a necessary and safe path to form the government," the bloc added. Also, conferees welcomed efforts exerted by "friends" of Lebanon who support national agreements.

Diab meets German delegation from “Hamburg Port” consulting company
NNA/April 08/2021
Caretaker Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, today received a German delegation from the "Hamburg Port" consulting company, headed by its Managing Director, Suheil Mahini, Associate Partner responsible for Middle East and Africa Division, Lars Grainer, Chief Architect, Herman Schnell, German Ambassador to Lebanon, Andreas Kindl, and the Economic Affairs Adviser at the Embassy and Executive Director of Operations at the Lebanese-German Business Council, Marie Jakh, in the presence of Minister of Public Works and Transport, Michel Najjar, Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, Judge Mahmoud Makie, and PM Diab's Office Head, Judge Khaled Akkari. The delegation presented a preliminary study on how to reactivate the port of Beirut for trade and tourism.-- PM Press Office

Lebanese Civic Coalition issues new statement: “A Choice and a Path”
NNA/April 08/2021
The Civic National Front Bureau and the Steering Committee of Pyramid held a joint meeting to approve the political document, the national rescue policy program, the action plan, and the organizational papers of the Lebanese Civic Coalition. The participants approved the documents that will launch the Lebanese Civic Coalition, a platform for an organized and structured political opposition, born from the womb and spirit of the October 17 Revolution, sharing a unified program, vision and leadership towards the New Lebanon. The participants issued a statement titled "A Choice and a Path", in which they stated: "Since the outset of the October 17 revolution, the search for a civic and national opposition coalition has begun. Led by a clear vision, a comprehensive program, and an organized leadership, the Lebanese Civic Coalition would provide a rescue- policy oriented alternative to the ruling Regime. The Lebanese Civic Coalition, thanks to the scientific and systematic efforts put by the Civic National Front and the Pyramid group, including revolutionary figures, experts, and opinion leaders will be launched in the coming two weeks. Built around an organized structure, it wishes to expand its scope of representation and trigger coordination between the dynamic change-oriented societal figures. On The Lebanese Civic Coalition agenda, the implementation of the Constitution, the establishment of a Civic State, the exercise of full sovereignty, a diversity-oriented citizenship, impartiality towards regional and international conflicts, and a financial-economic-social reform based on good governance, accountability, and transparency. This agenda stems from a purely political position that is keen on building a nation and establishing the rule of law on the grounds of sustainable public policies. The Lebanese Civic Coalition believes in producing a public opinion that embraces change and relies on an Establishment that thrives to restore the State and reconfigure authority via a peaceful democratic path; public good being interrelated with common good. The Lebanese Civic Coalition will bring together the dynamics of ideas and the dynamics of the grassroots. It will appeal to the Diaspora to make sure that it gains considerable weight and a status comparable to that of any decision-making entity that is substitute to the ruling regime. It will be guided by a vision, a program, and a leadership for building a New Lebanon."—LCC

Former Lebanese Minister Of Justice Ashraf Rifi: Hizbullah Is A Collaborator Of 'Mini-Nazi' Iran, Enemy Of Lebanon; It Is Leading Lebanon To Suicide
MEMRI/April 08/2021
Source: Al-Arabiya Network (Dubai/Saudi Arabia)
General (Ret.) Ashraf Rifi, Lebanon's former Minister of Justice and the former Director-General of the Internal Security Forces said that Hizbullah poses a threat to Lebanon and that it is an enemy of Lebanon. He made these remarks in an interview with Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia) that aired on April 5, 2021. Rifi elaborated that Hizbullah is a collaborator of Iran, which he referred to as "mini-Nazi." He said that the only difference between Nazism and Iran is the scope, and predicted that its end will be similar, destruction and suicide. Rifi added that Hizbullah wants to drag Lebanon to suicide along with it, but the "Lebanese people do not want to commit suicide." He recalled that Lebanon used to be referred to as the "Switzerland of the Middle East," and said that it will return to be so, once it removes the Iranian weapons and hegemony from the country. For more about Ashraf Rifi, see MEMRI TV clips nos. 8204, 5363, and 4893. Ashraf Rifi: "[Hizbullah] wants to be a part of the Iranian enterprise, to be an Iranian tool - an Iranian collaborator in the full sense of the word. Anyone who kills our dignitaries is a criminal terrorist. [Hizbullah] distorts the image of Lebanon and ruins its ties with the Arab and western countries, and therefore, it poses a threat to Lebanon. It is an enemy of Lebanon. "History books tell us about the totalitarian mentality, of security centered people who cared only about their weapons. The have ended up in the garbage bin of history. It is as if Hitler... As if mini-Nazi Iran... Yes, Iran constitutes modern Nazism, only on a smaller scale. They only differ in scope. Therefore, I believe it will end in destruction and suicide. The Lebanese people do not want to commit suicide. We are people who were created to be alive. We are thus instructed by our religion and our patriotism. But [Hizbullah] wants to take us, against our conviction, to suicide. Go commit suicide yourself. If you want to go to Iran, we want to stay here. We used to be the Switzerland of the Middle East, and we will return to be like that, when we remove the Iranian weapons and hegemony from Lebanon.
"Hizbullah presented itself as the defender of Lebanon from the Israeli enemy, as well as from the takfiri terrorism. It presented itself as the defender of the minorities. But ultimately, it turned that Hizbullah is the flip side of takfiri terrorism."
 

Choosing the wrong person at the wrong time
Farouk Yousef/The Arab News/April 08/2021
Other than being the eldest son of the late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, what does Saad Hariri possess of the qualities that qualify him to be a permanent fixture in Lebanon as prime minister-designate or nominee?
The man is not new to this position. Twice, he held the role of prime minister. There was never added value nor special distinction while he was at the helm.
The Lebanese do not remember that he took any positive positions. He was there only as the heir of his father from whom he did not inherit knowledge, competence, skill nor ability to distinguish between what could harm him and what would be good for him. Hariri, the father did not pass on any of the characteristics of political leadership to his son. It is obviously easy to pass judgment on Saad Hariri, a man who suddenly emerged in politics without the benefit of political culture or exceptional qualities deserving of attention. He rose to the leadership of the Future Movement for reasons that had nothing to with his personality. But the man could have been just unlucky because he emerged in difficult circumstances that would have overwhelmed any politician, whatever his calibre. But that may not be entirely true.
Saad Hariri has proven throughout all his years of leadership that he does not belong to the category of traditional politicians who conduct public affairs in a predominantly cautious, slow and minute manner, at times even in annoying proportions. Also he was not a rebellious, independent nor angry politician who uttered sweeping words in the face of forces that were intent on seizing Lebanon, its state, wealth, location and position. Also, Hariri cannot be described as a middle-of-the-way kind of person. Therefore, it is difficult to list him among heads of government who have left their mark in public life.
He is a man who would be forgotten had it not been for the great damage he has left behind him because of his failed economics and politics. He was not redeemed by any type of connecton with the public. People felt they had to accept him since he was the sole representative of the Sunni community in a sectarian system under which the Sunnis obtained the post of prime minister.
He has been a failed businessman who led all his economic ventures into bankruptcy. A failed politician who had every opportunity for success after his father was treacherously assassinated, except that he did not stand in the way of his father’s killers. On the contrary, his dull and fluid presence allowed these killers to achieve what they could not during the time of Hariri, the father. They expanded their role from their sectarian confines to those of the government, whose role has actually receded, and through it to the state, which has become an additional playground of the Iranian ayatollahs. In practical terms, the presence of Saad Hariri at the head of the Sunni community, being its political representative in the sectarian system, has caused the community many disasters. This has led to the decline of the community’s role in Lebanese political life. The hard-line, impulsive and reckless reactions of some Sunni groups have been nothing but futile attempts to recover that role. Hariri was virtually disconnected from the constituency he represented. He dealt with that constituency through advisers and transactional aides who had no goal but to increase their wealth behind the cover of politics. But the man was not a victim of his advisers. After the kingdom of Saudi Arabia lavished a lot of money him in the days of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz in order to strengthen his political position, shore up his political role at the head of the Sunni community and preserve Lebanon’s sectarian makeup, it became clear that this money went to his personal accounts and was spent for his own benefit, with the Lebanese themselves reaping no economic or political gain.
The Saudis have squandered their money on a man who did not deserve it.
In the final analysis, it can be said that the man who was placed by his lineage in an inappropriate role, has not learned much in fifteen years. In particular, he did not learn anything that would have made him worthy of that role. It may be laughable for this man to call for a technocratic government that he will lead. How is that right when he himself is no technocrat? Hariri does not have any talent or aptitude and is not proficient in any occupation. Not to mention that he is a man without political imagination. Unfortunately for Lebanon, it chose a personally-failed man who can only lead it to its demise. Whoever presents Hariri as a saviour is mocking the Lebanese people in their most difficult days.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 08-09/2021

Syrian Missile Hits Lebanon during Israeli Raid on Damascus
Associated Press/Agence France Presse
Israel carried out a missile attack near the Syrian capital of Damascus and its southern suburbs early Thursday that wounded four soldiers, Syria's state media said. State news agency, SANA, quoted an unidentified military official as saying that Syrian air defenses were able to shoot down most of the missiles before they hit their targets. SANA said some of the missiles were fired by Israeli warplanes flying over neighboring Lebanon. The strikes also caused "some material damage." The source did not provide details on the targets. The strikes near the capital "destroyed a weapons depot likely used by the Lebanese Hizbullah militia," among other Iran-backed groups, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "It also killed three ... Iran-backed militia fighters," said the monitor. The Observatory said it could not determine their nationalities but that they were all non-Syrians. Al-Manar TV of Lebanon's Hizbullah said one of the Syrian air defense missiles exploded near the Lebanon-Syria border and was heard in parts of southern Lebanon. It later said the missile crashed near the Lebanese border village of Houla. Israel has launched hundreds of strikes against Iran-linked military targets in Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. Israel views Iranian entrenchment on its northern frontier as a red line, and it has repeatedly struck Iran-linked facilities and weapons convoys destined for Hizbullah.

Documents show massive network of Iranian spies infiltrated Europe
Dan Verbin /Arutz Sheva/April 08/2021
Spy network in 22 European cities planned terrorist attacks using explosives, acid and toxic chemicals, newly obtained documents reveal. A massive network of Iranian spies is operating inside Europe, stretching through 22 cities across the continent. The network’s plans for terrorist attacks using explosives, acid and toxic chemicals were detailed in documents discovered by German police and obtained by the Jewish Chronicle. The documents were found in a rental car being used for intelligence purposes by Iranian spy chief Assadollah Assadi, who was sentenced by an Antwerp, Belgium court in February to 20 years in prison for his role in a failed 2018 bomb attack in Paris, the Jewish Chronicle reported. The papers found inside Assadi’s red Ford S-Max detailed a “sophisticated network of regime agents” who have infiltrated across European cities. There were also hand-written bomb-making instructions and a 200-page green notebook with entries on trips made over four years to 289 European locations to meet spies. Six cellphones, a laptop, external hard drives and USB sticks with intelligence training manuals on them were also recovered. There was also 30,000 Euros in cash. The instructions for explosive making dealt with arming a bomb codenamed PlayStation, which had a specially positioned antenna that would avoid extraneous Wi-Fi signals. The explosive device eventually made its way to a 2018 anti-regime rally full of thousands of Iranian dissidents and politicians such as former New York City mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The terror plot was foiled the day of the attack when Belgian police arrested the would be bombers, two agents being run by Assadi. When the PlayStation bomb was later detonated by Belgium’s bomb disposal unit, the explosion was so strong that it destroyed the robot and injured a nearby officer. Assadi was arrested a day later in the Ford rental car in Germany. The disclosure comes at a sensitive time as Western powers begin meeting with Tehran in Vienna to look for ways to restore the 2015 nuclear deal that former President Donald Trump withdrew from. At the time, Trump called the Obama-era pact a “horrible, one-sided deal

Rouhani Says Vienna Talks Open 'New Chapter'
Agence France Presse/April 08/2021
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that talks in Vienna on rescuing a troubled 2015 nuclear deal had opened a "new chapter." An Iranian delegation met Tuesday with representatives of the remaining parties to the agreement to discuss how to bring Washington back into it and end crippling US sanctions and Iranian countermeasures. U.S. President Joe Biden has said he is ready to reverse the decision of his predecessor Donald Trump to withdraw from the agreement and reimpose unilateral sanctions. But differences remain over the mechanics of the move as Tehran has since responded by suspending compliance with some of its own obligations under the deal. The United States was not present at Tuesday's discussions because Iran has refused to meet the US delegation so long as its sanctions remain in place. Instead, the European Union acted as an intermediary, but all sides gave a positive assessment of the opening talks. "A new chapter has just been opened yesterday," Rouhani told a cabinet meeting Wednesday. "If (Washington) shows it is honest and sincere, that's all we ask... I think we'll be able to negotiate in a short time, if necessary, with the (other parties to the deal)."In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the United States still believed "this is a constructive forum.""The talks so far have been business-like and they are doing what we envisioned they would," Price told reporters. "They are affording us a better understanding of Iran's thinking and we hope that in turn Tehran will leave this round of talks with a better understanding of what we might be prepared to do." The U.S. delegation has set up at a different hotel in Vienna, with EU negotiators acting as go-betweens. At the same time, two groups of experts -- on lifting sanctions and nuclear issues -- are working "to identify concrete measures to be taken by Washington and Tehran" to restore the deal, Russian envoy Mikhail Ulyanov said.

Iranians hope for ‘new chapter’ as nuclear talks to continue
The Arab News/April 08/2021
TEHRAN - VIENNA - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that the first talks in Vienna on rescuing a troubled 2015 nuclear deal had opened a “new chapter”.He told a cabinet meeting in Tehran, “If (Washington) shows it is honest and sincere, that’s all we ask… I think we’ll be able to negotiate in a short time, if necessary, with the (other parties to the deal).”An Iranian delegation had sat down in Vienna on Tuesday with representatives from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, behind closed doors in the ballroom of a Vienna luxury hotel, as part of the so-called joint commission mandated by the pact. US President Joe Biden has said he is ready to reverse the decision of his predecessor Donald Trump to withdraw from the agreement and reimpose unilateral sanctions. But differences remain over the mechanics of the move as Tehran has since responded by suspending compliance with some of its own obligations under the deal. The United States was not present at Tuesday’s discussions because Iran has refused to meet the US delegation so long as its sanctions remain in place. A group of US delegates, led by special envoy Rob Malley, was in an adjacent hotel to take indirect part in the talks, with European coordinator Enrique Mora shuttling between the venues. Russian envoy Mikhail Ulyanov said that two expert groups have been set up to look into the lifting of sanctions and nuclear issues. These experts are to report back to the delegates, at the next joint commission meeting when it resumes talks on Friday. An Iranian opposition group protests outside the venue of the meeting of the Bilateral discussions are also taking place, with some of those participating posting photos and comments on Twitter.
“You have all the consultation formats you can imagine,” a European diplomat familiar with the talks said, while another described them as “marathon” negotiations. All sides gave a positive assessment of the opening talks with both Washington and Tehran hailing them as “constructive”.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the United States still believed “this is a constructive forum”. “The talks so far have been business-like and they are doing what we envisioned they would,” Price told reporters, adding “They are affording us a better understanding of Iran’s thinking and we hope that in turn Tehran will leave this round of talks with a better understanding of what we might be prepared to do.” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday “we’ll be able to negotiate in a short time”, but several diplomats have said the talks could take weeks. “It’s off to a good start but it can seize up at any time,” one of the European diplomats told AFP, adding it was hard to say whether the talks could conclude before June 18, when Iran will vote for a successor to Rouhani, who is considered a moderate. “If we have not managed by the first half of May to really give a decisive impetus, with clear progress, I will be worried about the will or the Iranian capacity to conclude this negotiation before the election,” another diplomat said, though he added it was not impossible to conclude talks even after the presidential vote

Iran may attack Israel - from its own territory
Arutz Sheva/April 08/2021
Iran may attack Israel - from its own territory
Tehran may seek revenge for naval attacks - and they may use drones to do it. Following recent clashes between Israel and Iran, including a recent attack on an Iranian vessel in the Red Sea, Israel fears that Iran will try to attack Israel - from its own territory, Israel Hayom reported. Though Israel did not take official responsibility for the attack, foreign news outlets claimed that Israel's elite Shayetet 13 naval unit carried out the attack, as part of a series of operations against Iranian targets over the past two years. Unlike in previous instances, in which Israel foiled weapons and crude oil smuggling, in this instance Israel seemingly told Iran that its recent attack on an Israeli ship in the Arabian Sea was unacceptable. The Iranian ship which was attacked was one which is normally anchored near Eritrea and gathered intelligence on vessels in the Red Sea, and it is expected that Iran will not overlook the attack. According to Israel Hayom, one of the options for attacking Israel is sending weapons from Iranian territory to Israeli territory. The Iranians can attack Israel with missiles, and more likely is that Iran will use armed drones capable of flying over 2,000 kilometers. These drones, which fly slowly and near the ground, are especially difficult to shoot down.Shayetet 13 has carried out dozens of operations against vessels illegally carrying crude oil from Iran to Syria, the site added. Part of the money paid for this oil goes towards funding the Hezbollah terror group and other terror groups, and it is estimated that the Iranians lost two billion dollars in oil sales.

Iran talks on unexplained uranium traces delayed -diplomats
Reuters/April 08/2021
"It's been pushed back several weeks regarding the April start. Could be as little as two," a European diplomatic source said, adding that the reason was technical. Talks between the UN atomic watchdog and Iran aimed at prising answers from Tehran on unexplained uranium traces have been delayed, narrowing a window to make progress or risk undoing a wider push for detente with the West, three diplomats said. Iran's 2015 deal with world powers effectively drew a line under what the International Atomic Energy Agency and US intelligence agencies believe was a secret, coordinated nuclear weapons program that the Islamic Republic halted in 2003. In the past two years, however, IAEA inspectors have found traces of processed uranium at three sites Iran never declared to it, suggesting that Tehran had nuclear material connected to old activities that remains unaccounted for. The IAEA needs to track that material down to be sure Iran is not diverting any to make nuclear weapons. In a bid to break the impasse, and avert an escalation between Tehran and the West, the IAEA has said it would hold talks with Iran as of the start of April with the aim of making progress by early June. Those talks are taking place in parallel with negotiations in Vienna aimed at rescuing the nuclear deal and without substantial progress could stoke distrust and harm the prospects of bringing the United States and Iran back into compliance."It's been pushed back several weeks regarding the April start. Could be as little as two," a European diplomatic source said, adding that the reason was technical.

Iran’s Esmail Qaani in Baghdad to unify loyal militias before elections, target US presence
The Arab News/April 08/2021
BAGHDAD – Iran is redoubling its efforts to ensure its continued control over Iraq. This explains the unannounced visit to Baghdad by the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Esmail Qaani, at the same time that the strategic dialogue started between Baghdad and Washington.
Qaani held meetings with militia leaders in Iraq about unifying their ranks before the elections and coordinating their plans to target the US presence as they try to push Washington to withdraw its forces from Iraq.
Another objective is to pressure Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi to end his rapprochement with Washington and reverse his policy of openness toward Iraq’s Arab neighbours. Informed Iraqi sources said that the visit of Qassem Soleimani’s heir, which was announced only when it had ended on Tuesday, shows that Tehran no longer trusts its allied militias in Iraq because of the mounting popular resentment at their activities. Iran’s influence in Iraq has declined since the killing of Soleimani. Qaani cannot not make up for the demise of Soleimani as he does not wield the level of influence that Soleimani had over the militias.
An Iraqi parliamentary source told The Arab Weekly that “Qaani is no Soleimani, and he does not have the power or influence that his predecessor had.”He also does not have “the personal background” that qualifies him to impose his decisions, even if the militias only obey his orders, at least formally. The source added that the leader of the Quds Force had tasked loyal militias, even those that do not have a political presence in state institutions, with exerting continued pressure on the US and Iraqi governments by provoking incidents aimed at softening American stances during the Vienna negotiations with world powers on the nuclear agreement. Analysts say that Iran may not be about to change its policies in Iraq, but it has become convinced that it does not hold that many cards in its showdown with Americans in the Iraqi arena. They point out that the upcoming elections will not be like the previous votes, because internal tensions among Shia factions have intensified as a result of the protests that engulfed predominantly Shia cities.
Iraqi blogger Saleh Hamdani told The Arab Weekly that Iranians want the dialogue with Washington to be limited to expediting the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, while everyone, including Iran’s friends in Iraq, knows that the US presence is still helpful to Iraqi forces in their fight against ISIS and in their general security duties in the country. Observers rule out the ability of the pro-Iranian political parties and militias to influence the outcome of the strategic dialogue between Baghdad and Washington, which began Wednesday. The Kurds for instance tend to advocate maintaining American troops as an insurance policy against the encroachment of the Popular Mobilisation Forces. The Iraqi government delegation taking part in the strategic dialogue with the US includes a team representing the Kurdistan government headed by Fawzi Hariri, the chief of staff of the Kurdistan province. The po-Iran militias are pressing Kadhimi through organised political and media campaigns to stop any progress in talks with the Americans and seek to offer the militias’ protection instead. They also oppose his recent rapprochement with the Arab Gulf countries after his visits to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.
Kadhimi stressed, prior to the strategic dialogue, that the government seeks to protect the state and shield it from threats, by strengthening and rebuilding constitutional institutions, especially the Iraqi army and the rest of the security apparatus. He added, “Iraq’s outstanding regional and international relations buttress state protection efforts.” Iraq witnesses, on a daily basis, attacks against US soldiers, diplomats and contractors, smear campaigns against Kadhimi as well as military parades by pro-Iran factions that accuse the prime minister of loyalty to Washington. The pro-Iranian militias and their affiliated politicians clamour for the expulsion of the 2,500 American soldiers stationed in Iraq. They base their demands on a parliamentary resolution that was voted on in 2020 and has not yet been implemented. That resolution calls for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq.
The state militias have undertaken a campaign against the prime minister, calling on him to open the Shalamjah border crossing between Iraq and Iran which was closed due to its use in the smuggling of drugs and weapons.
Hamdani stressed the importance of Iran’s border crossings with Iraq, as they offer a breathing space for the Iranian economy, which is severely constrained by US sanctions. He expressed his belief that this issue was on the agenda of Qaani during talks with Iraqi officials. The US-Iraq strategic dialogue constitutes a new test for Kadhimi’s balancing act. Before this new session with the US, Kadhimi received the Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers and visited the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the main traditional allies of Washington in the Middle East. Political analyst Ihssan Shammari said those moves contained “a message to Iran according to which Iraq has the right to pursue another course in its foreign relations, where it can rely on its Arab environment, and not maintain a one-sided relationship as Iran and its allies would like it to do.”
Western and Iraqi officials believe that Kadhimi wants the talks with the US to lead to agreement on a timetable for American military withdrawal. That way he can ensure, for now, Western support against ISIS and Iran’s influence. Meanwhile and even before the start of the talks, Jaafar Husseini, a spokesman for Kata’ib Hezbollah, one of the most hardline pro-Iranian militias, expressed his rejection of the US-Iraqi dialogue.
“The negotiations have no value, because the Iraqi people have decided to end the US occupation,” Husseini said, adding, “The Iraqi resistance continues to pressure America.”American and Iraqi military personnel believe that with the decline of the jihadist threat in Iraq to mere secret cells in the mountains and the desert, the pro-Iranian factions have become the main threat facing Iraq. They point to repeated attacks with missiles and explosive devices against logistical support convoys belonging to the international coalition. These factions at times even claim responsibility for attacks outside Iraqi territory . Last week, during his visit to Riyadh, Kadhimi tried to reassure the Saudis their territory will not be attacked from Iraqi soil, pledging, “We will not allow any attack on the kingdom”. In January, bomb-laden drones struck the main royal palace in Riyadh. US media quoting American officials said the drones were launched from neighbouring Iraq. In Baghdad, an unknown group, which is believed to be a front for well-known factions loyal to Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack, but Kadhimi said in Riyadh “there were no attacks” on Saudi territory from Iraq.”

4 Syrian soldiers injured in alleged Israeli airstrikes on Damascus
Jerusalem Post/April 08/2021
A large explosion was heard near the border between Israel and Lebanon during the strikes after a Syrian air defense missile was fired at an Israeli aircraft. Four Syrian soldiers were injured and material damage was reported after an alleged Israeli airstrike targeted Damascus on Wednesday night, according to Syrian state news agency SANA. The strikes reportedly came from the direction of the Golan Heights and Lebanon, with Lebanese media reporting Israeli aircraft flying over large portions of Lebanon. The airstrikes targeted sites belonging to the Syrian military and Iranian-backed militias near the Damascus International Airport and in the south and west of the Syrian capital, according to the opposition-affiliated Halab Today TV, which claimed that at least 12 people were killed in the strikes, including at least two dead from the Syrian military. On Thursday morning after the airstrikes, the airspace above the Golan Heights east of the Jordan River was closed to all flights above 5,000 ft. A large explosion was heard near the border between Israel and Lebanon during the strikes after a Syrian air defense missile was fired towards an Israeli aircraft in the area, according to Hezbollah-affiliated reporter Ali Shoeib. The missile reportedly fell near the Lebanese town of Houla, located west of Kiryat Shmona.

Inside Secret Syria Talks Aimed at Freeing American Hostages
Associated Press/April 08/2021
Last summer, two U.S. officials ventured into hostile territory for a secret high-stakes meeting with American adversaries. The Syrian government officials they were scheduled to meet in Damascus seemed ready to discuss the fate of U.S. hostages believed held in their country, including Austin Tice, a journalist captured eight years earlier. The release of the Americans would be a boon to President Donald Trump months ahead of the election. And a breakthrough seemed possible. Yet the trip was ultimately fruitless, with the Syrians raising a series of demands that would have fundamentally reshaped Washington's policy toward Damascus, including the removal of sanctions, the withdrawal of troops from the country and the restoration of normal diplomatic ties. Equally as problematic for the American negotiators: Syrian officials offered no meaningful information on the fate and whereabouts of Tice and others.
"Success would have been bringing the Americans home and we never got there," Kash Patel, who attended the meeting as a senior White House aide, said in his first public comments about the effort.
The White House acknowledged the meeting in October, but said little about it. New details have emerged in interviews The Associated Press conducted in recent weeks with people familiar with the talks, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The AP has also learned about U.S. attempts to build goodwill with Syria well before the talks took place, with Patel describing how an unidentified U.S. ally in the region offered assistance with cancer treatment for the wife of President Bashar Assad. The details shed light on the sensitive and often secretive efforts to free hostages held by U.S. adversaries, a process that yielded high-profile successes for Trump but also dead ends. It's unclear how aggressively the new Biden administration will advance the efforts to free Tice and other Americans held around the world, particularly when demands at a negotiating table clash with the White House's broader foreign policy goals.
The August meeting in Damascus represented the highest-level talks in years between the U.S. and the Assad government. It was extraordinary given the two countries' adversarial relationship and because the Syrian government has never acknowledged holding Tice or knowing anything about his whereabouts. Yet the moment offered some promise. Trump had already shown a willingness to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. And he had made hostage recovery a top foreign policy priority, celebrating releases by inviting freed detainees to the White House.
Months after the Damascus talks, as Tice's name resurfaced in the news, Trump sent a note to Tice's parents, who live in Houston, saying he "would never stop" working for their son's release, his mother, Debra, told the AP. But Tice's fate was unknown when Trump left office on Jan. 20 and remains so to this day. The former Marine had reported for The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers, CBS and other outlets. The Biden administration, too, has pledged to make hostage recovery a priority. But it has also called out the Syrian government for human rights abuses and seems unlikely to be more receptive to the conditions Damascus raised last summer in order to even continue the dialogue.
Tice has occupied a prominent spot in the public and political consciousness since disappearing in August 2012 at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus. He had ventured deep into the country at a time when other reporters had decided it was too dangerous, disappearing soon before he was to leave. A video released weeks later showed him blindfolded and held by armed men and saying, "Oh, Jesus." He has not been heard from since. U.S. authorities operate under the assumption he's alive. Syria has never acknowledged holding him. Efforts to secure his release have been complicated by a lack of diplomatic relations and the conflict in Syria, where the U.S. maintains about 900 troops in the eastern part of the country in an effort to prevent the Islamic State group's resurgence.
"My assumption is he's alive and he's waiting for me to come and get him," said Roger Carstens, a former Army Special Forces officer who attended the meeting with Patel in his capacity as U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs under Trump. He was kept in the position by Biden.
At the time of the meeting, Patel was senior counterterrorism adviser at the White House after serving as House Intelligence Committee aide, where he gained some notoriety for advancing Republican efforts to challenge the investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election. He was previously a Justice Department prosecutor under President Barack Obama.
The meeting was more than a year in the making, Patel said, requiring him to seek help in Lebanon, which still has ties with Assad. At one point, a U.S. "ally in the region" also helped build goodwill with the Syrian government by providing assistance with cancer treatment for Assad's wife, he said, declining to provide further details. The Syrian government announced a year before the meeting that she had recovered from breast cancer. The men arrived as part of an intentionally small delegation, driving through Damascus and seeing no obvious signs of the conflict that has killed around a half million people and displaced half of Syria's pre-war population of 23 million over 10 years. Inside an office of Ali Mamlouk, the head of the Syrian intelligence agency, they asked for information about Tice as well as Majd Kamalmaz, a psychologist from Virginia who vanished in 2017, and several others. Hostage talks are innately challenging, with negotiators facing demands that may seem unreasonable or at odds with U.S. foreign policy or that may produce nothing even if satisfied. In this instance, the conditions floated by the Syrians, described by multiple people, would have required the U.S. to overhaul virtually its entire Syria policy. The U.S. shuttered its embassy in Damascus in 2012 and withdrew its ambassador as Syria's civil war worsened. Though Trump in 2019 announced the withdrawal of troops from northern Syria, a military presence remains to help protect an opposition enclave in the northeast, an area that includes oil and natural gas.
With their demands unmet, the Syrians offered no meaningful information on Tice, including a proof of life, that could have generated significant momentum, Patel said. Though he said he was optimistic after a "legitimate diplomatic engagement," he looks back with regret.
"I would say it's probably one of my biggest failures under the Trump administration, not getting Austin back," Patel said. The outcome of the diplomacy was deflating for Tice's parents, though they said it showed engagement with Damascus was possible.
"And it's possible to have that dialogue without the United States national security being threatened, without our Middle East policy being impacted, without all the horrible things we were told over the years might happen if the United States actually recognized that there was a government in Damascus," Tice's father, Marc, said in an interview.
In a statement, the State Department said bringing home hostages is one of the Biden administration's highest priorities and called on Syria to free them. But prospects for talks are uncertain, especially without a more substantial commitment from Damascus. It's unlikely that the administration sees the Syrians, called out in December by the global chemical watchdog for failing to declare a chemical weapons facility, as credible negotiating partners. Biden has said little about Syria, though he included it among international problems that the U.N. Security Council should address. In February, he authorized airstrikes against Iran-backed militias in Syria. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week the situation in Syria is as grave as ever. Last November, after a journalist erroneously tweeted that Tice had been released, his mother wrote a note to be delivered to Trump saying she hoped he could one day make that news a reality.
Trump responded, photocopying her note and adding his own Sharpie-written message. "Debra," he wrote, she recalled. "Working so hard on this. Looking for the answer. We want Austin back. I will never stop." But she said the family does not need letters from the president. "The thing that is wanted here, the thing we are asking here, is to see Austin on the tarmac, and to have the president of the United States shake his hand," she said.

Israel Says Will Not Cooperate with ICC War Crimes Probe
Agence France Presse/April 08/2021
Israel on Thursday said it had formally decided not to cooperate with an International Criminal Court war crimes investigation into the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. The ICC's chief prosecutor announced on March 3 that she had opened a full investigation into the situation in the Israeli-occupied territories, infuriating Israel, which is not a member of The Hague-based court. The ICC sent a deferral notice on March 9, which gave Israel and the Palestinian Authority a month to tell judges whether they are investigating crimes similar to those being probed by the ICC. Had Israel informed the court that it was in fact carrying out its own probe into alleged war crimes perpetrators, it could have asked for a deferral.  A day before the deadline, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement saying the government had agreed "to not cooperate with the (ICC)."The statement said Israel would send a letter to the court "completely rejecting the claim that Israel commits war crimes." The letter will also "reiterate Israel's unequivocal position that The Hague tribunal has no authority to open an investigation against it." The Palestinians, who have been a state party to the ICC since 2015, have welcomed the investigation and said they will not seek any deferral. The world's only permanent war crimes tribunal, the ICC was set up in 2002 to try the humanity's worst crimes where local courts are unwilling or unable to step in. ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has said her investigation will cover the situation in the blockaded Gaza Strip along with the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem since 2014.  It will mainly focus on the 2014 Gaza War but also look at the deaths of Palestinian demonstrators from 2018 onwards. Netanyahu, a vocal critic of the ICC, has said the decision to open the probe was the "essence of anti-Semitism" and declared Israel was "under attack." However, Thursday's statement marked the first time Netanyahu had made it clear Israel would not directly engage with the ICC. The United States has also criticized the ICC investigation and voiced support for its ally Israel.

Netanyahu: Israel won't be bound by deal which allows Iran a nuclear bomb

Jerusalem Post/April 08/2021
“To our best friends I saw - an agreement with Iran which paves its way to nuclear weapons that threaten us with destruction - an agreement like this will not bind us,” vowed the prime minister. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a sharp warning Wednesday night to the international community and implicitly to the United States that any agreement with Iran that allows it a path to develop nuclear weapons will not be binding on the Jewish state. He made his comments during the opening ceremony of Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem’s Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem, in which he also noted the severe difficulties and loneliness experienced by the country’s Holocaust survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic, 900 of whom have died due to the disease. He noted that an international agreement between world powers and Iran was once again under discussion, in reference to the indirect talks that commenced on Tuesday in Vienna between the US and Iran mediated by officials from the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China. “A nuclear agreement with Iran is again on the table, but history has taught us that agreements like this with extremist regimes are worth as much as garlic peel,” intoned Netanyahu. “To our best friends I say – an agreement with Iran which paves its way to nuclear weapons that threaten us with destruction – an agreement like this will not bind us,” vowed the prime minister. “Only one thing binds us, to prevent those who seek to destroy us from carrying out their plans. During the Holocaust we did not have the power to protect ourselves and we did not have the privilege of sovereignty. We had no rights, no state, and no defense. “Today we have a state, we have the power to defend ourselves and we have the natural and full right as the sovereign state of the Jewish people to protect ourselves from our enemies,” Netanyahu continued.

Israel slams Biden's resumption of UNRWA funding for Palestinians

Jerusalem Post/April 08/2021
US President Joe Biden had promised during his campaign for the presidency that he would resume such funding, but has yet to make good on his pledge.
Israel warned the Biden administration that its decision Wednesday to restore funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) would only help perpetuate the conflict.
"Israel's position is that the organization in its current form perpetuates the conflict and does not contribute to its resolution,” the Foreign Ministry stated.
The move was part of a larger American policy decision to begin restoration of humanitarian and security funding for Palestinians, which was cut out in its entirety by former US President Donald Trump. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s announcement of a $235 million package, including $150 million for UNRWA, was seen as the first step in the restoration of bilateral ties with the Palestinian Authority that had been severed during the Trump era. Another $75 million of that package was earmarked for economic and development assistance and $10 million was granted for peace-building programs. In addition to Wednesday’s announcement, some $40 million is expected to be allocated for Palestinian security forces and $15 million for COVID-19 assistance was set aside last month. “We plan to restart US economic, development, and humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people,” Blinken said.
"The US is committed to advancing prosperity, security, and freedom for both Israelis and Palestinians in tangible ways in the immediate term, which is important in its own right, but also as a means to advance towards a negotiated two-state solution," he added.
The $290 million pledged by the Biden administration to date, is still not a full restoration of the $600 million allocated to the Palestinians during the last year of the Obama administration.
The Office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh welcomed the move and called on US President Joe Biden to take additional steps to advance Palestinian rights and to promote a two-state resolution to the conflict with Israel.
“We call upon the American administration to create a new political path that meets the rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people based on international law and UN resolutions,” Shtayyeh tweeted. US restoration of funding does not included direct financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority. The US Taylor Force Act of 2018 prohibits such direct funding until such time as the PA halts it monthly payments to terrorists and their families. Funding for Palestinian security forces was excluded from that legislation. The Anti-Terror Clarification Act passed that same year had also created stumbling blocks to the provision of humanitarian assistance, but amendments to the legislation remove such impediments.  US State Department spokesman Ned Price clarified for reporters that all funding was legal under American law. “I just want to underscore that all of this aid is absolutely consistent with relevant US law, including those two statutes,” Price said. Israel, however, took issue with US funding to UNRWA, which Trump had halted because he believes that the organized was flawed and a stumbling bloc to peace. “The renewal of UNRWA assistance,” the Foreign Ministry said, “must be accompanied by substantial and necessary changes in the nature, goals and conduct of the organization.”  It added that the issue of UNRAW funding had come up in conversation between Israeli and American officials.
Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said he had also warned the State Department of the danger of such activity, particularly without ensuring that “incitement” and “anti-Semitic content” are removed from its educational curriculum.
“Israel is strongly opposed to the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity happening in UNRWA’s facilities,” Erdan said. "We believe that this UN agency for so-called “refugees” should not exist in its current format. UNRWA schools regularly use materials that incite against Israel and the twisted definition used by the agency to determine who is a “refugee” only perpetuates the conflict. Blinken, however, specifically mentioned support for UNRWA's education program.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York he hoped the US restoration of funding would sway other countries to do likewise.
“There were a number of countries that had greatly reduced or halted contributions to UNRWA. We hope that the American decision will lead others to rejoin... as UNRWA donors,” Dujarric said. Among Israel’s objections to UNRWA, is its classification of descendants of some 750,000 Palestinians who fled their homes as a result of the 1948 War of Independence, and who now live in east Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, as refugees. UNRWA, which provides food assistance as well as health and education services, has sought a $1.5 billion budget to serve 5.7 million refugees. UNRWA opponents are concerned that an ever-expanding refugee definition creates a stumbling block to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The right of return for refugees to sovereign Israel is one of the core topics that would be part of negotiations for a two-state resolution to the conflict. UNRWA has also come under fire for using textbooks that allegedly incite against Israel and for inefficient use of resources.
Supporters of UNRWA have argued that the agency provides essential services that prevent a humanitarian crisis among Palestinians and its education system provides an alternative to extremist ideologies. At the UN on Wednesday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini took issue with these allegations, stating that it was important to defend the organization’s mandate as well as the rights of Palestinian refugees. There are, he said, “growing defamatory campaigns” against UNRWA. “These nasty and incessant campaigns aim at harming UNRWA’s reputation, weakening its mandate and erasing the Palestinian refugee issue” and trying to strip “UNRWA from its funding base,” Lazzarini added. “UNRWA strongly rejects these allegations. The agency has a zero tolerance policy for incitement to violence and discrimination.
Unemployment and poverty was already high prior to the pandemic, but now he said, he was “extremely alarmed” by the level of challenges facing Palestinian refugees. “People are struggling daily to ensure one meal to their families, no one should feel so desperate,” he said.
“2021 will continue to be a challenging year,” Lazzarini said, but added he was hopeful that US funding would help alleviate some of that strain.
Reuters contributed to this report.

Biden announces limited gun restrictions
CNN/April 08/2021
Facing pressure to act after a recent spate of high-profile mass shootings, President Joe Biden unveiled a package of moves Thursday that seek to address the scourge of gun violence. "Gun violence in this country is an epidemic," Biden said in the Rose Garden to an audience of lawmakers and Americans touched by gun violence. "And it's an international embarrassment." The executive actions included efforts to restrict so-called "ghost guns" that can be built using parts and instructions purchased online, but are limited in scope and fall short of the steps Biden has vowed to pressure Congress to take.

Biden Resumes Palestinian Aid, Urges Two-State Solution
Agence France Presse/April 08/2021
U.S. President Joe Biden has restored aid to the Palestinians to a tune of $235 million, drawing a rebuke by ally Israel, as he promised to press for a two-state solution. In his sharpest break on the conflict yet from the staunchly pro-Israel Donald Trump, Biden said the United States would resume funding for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees that his predecessor had severed. The State Department said the United States would contribute $150 million to the U.N. agency and offer $75 million in economic and development assistance for the West Bank and Gaza as well as $10 million for peacebuilding efforts. In a call with Jordan's King Abdullah II, a longstanding US ally who recently faced down dissent within the royal family, Biden "affirmed that the United States supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," a White House statement said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US assistance to the Palestinians "serves important US interests and values" as "a means to advance towards a negotiated two-state solution." "It provides critical relief to those in great need, fosters economic development and supports Israeli-Palestinian understanding, security coordination and stability," Blinken said in a statement. Israel, which had held off on criticism of Biden in his first months, denounced the assistance to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, which provides housing, schools and other care to more than six million Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
"We believe that this UN agency for so-called 'refugees' should not exist in its current format," said Gilad Erdan, the Israeli ambassador to the United States. Israel argues that the education provided by the UN-backed schools includes incitement against the Jewish state. "I have expressed my disappointment and objection to the decision to renew UNRWA's funding without first ensuring that certain reforms, including stopping the incitement and removing anti-Semitic content from its educational curriculum, are carried out," Erdan said. Asked about the Israeli criticism, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the United States took oversight of UNRWA "extraordinarily seriously" and that it would now have "a seat at the table." The Israeli anger comes as the United States takes part in indirect, European-led talks in Vienna with Iran on returning to a denuclearization deal which was bitterly opposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
No political push yet -
The Palestinian leadership hoped that the aid would mark the start of a concerted effort by Biden to pressure Israel, including on stopping settlements in the occupied West Bank. "We are eagerly awaiting the resumption not only of financial assistance but of political relations with the United States to allow the Palestinian people to achieve their legitimate rights for an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital," said Mohammed Shtayyeh, the Palestinian prime minister. Shortly after Biden's inauguration in January, the United States said it would restore the Palestine Liberation Organization's liaison office that was shut down by Trump. But Biden has held off on any major peace initiative, with even supporters of a two-state solution expecting near-term chances for a breakthrough to be slim, especially amid turbulence in Israel following its latest election. Blinken has indicated no change to one of Trump's signature decisions -- recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the US embassy to the hotly disputed holy city. Trump had ended UNRWA assistance by arguing that the refugees, some of whom have lived in camps for generations, needed to be permanently resettled.
'Right signal'
The latest announcement is still well below the $355 million contributed to UNRWA in 2016 by the United States, then its largest contributor. Price, the State Department spokesman, did not rule out further U.S. contributions but said the United States was encouraging other donors to do more.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric welcomed the restored U.S. assistance, which German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said "sends the right signal" amid growing needs due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The new funding is in addition to $15 million earlier announced by the United States in Covid assistance to the Palestinians amid criticism that Israel, a leader in vaccinating its own people, has not taken similar initiatives in territories under its occupation. Israel argues that vaccination is the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority. UNRWA said its needs have been rising due to Covid and the hardships faced by Palestinians living in war-battered Syria, troubled Lebanon and Jordan.

At least 1 person killed and 4 wounded after a shooting at a Texas office park, police say

CNN/April 08/2021
At least one person was killed and four others injured in a shooting at an industrial park in Bryan, Texas, on Thursday afternoon, police said. One person was later taken into custody in nearby Grimes County after a trooper was shot, Sheriff Donald Sowell told CNN, adding the incident may be connected to the industrial park shooting.

UAE pledges support for Libya’s new unity government
The Arab News/April 08/2021
ABU DHABI – The United Arab Emirates pledged on Wednesday support for the new unity government in Tripoli formed after UN-sponsored peace talks. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan received Libya’s interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah in the UAE capital late Wednesday. He “renewed his support for the new executive authority in Libya and their endeavours to establish peace and stability,” the official WAM news agency reported on Thursday. Sheikh Mohammed tweeted early Thursday that it had been “an honour” to meet Dbeibah. “Libya will overcome its challenges and we stand at the side of the Libyan people at this critical moment,” he said. “The new road map will hopefully lead to stability and unity.” Sheikh Mohamed also stressed “the long-standing relations between the two nations” and said the UAE “is looking forward to further growing these relations over the coming period.”The crown prince was briefed by the Libyan premier on the latest developments in Libya and the efforts being made during the current transitional period to restore security and stability and help state departments forge ahead to drive the development and reconstruction process and prepare for the elections, WAM reported. The two sides explored the prospects of cooperation in the political, security, development and investment fields in addition to exchanging views over an array of issues of common interest, the news agency added. The UAE said in January it was ready to work closely with US President Joe Biden’s administration for a peaceful solution to the Libyan conflict. The statement followed a virtual Security Council meeting on Libya, during which the United States called on “all external parties, to include Russia, Turkey and the UAE, to respect Libyan sovereignty and immediately cease all military intervention in Libya.”Previously, the UAE supported, along with Egypt and Russia, the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. In March, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a declaration demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops and mercenaries from Libya. The world body estimated that there were 20,000 in the country as of December. Libya has been ravaged by bloodshed since the overthrow and killing of longtime ruler Muammar Gadhafi in a NATO-backed revolt in 2011. An array of armed groups arose to fill the vacuum and many coalesced around Haftar or the GNA. The two camps, each supported by foreign powers, fought for more than a year before the eastern-based LNA retreated from an attempt to seize the capital Tripoli in the west. In October they signed a truce, setting in motion a UN-led process that saw Dbeibah’s transitional unity government installed in February.

Merkel Urges Russia to Reduce Troops on Ukraine Border
Agence France Presse/April 08/2021
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Thursday to reduce Russia's troop buildup near Ukraine, her office said in a statement. "One subject of their conversation was, among others, the increased Russian military presence near eastern Ukraine," the statement said. "The chancellor called for a reduction of these troop reinforcements to de-escalate tensions."

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 08-09/2021

Muslim Man Butchers Coptic Christian Mother and Child
Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity/April 08/2021
Christian girl, aged 4, after witnessing the slaughter of her mother and brother
A Muslim man butchered a Coptic Christian woman and her toddler son with a machete—“as if he were slaughtering chickens,” said eyewitnesses. He also unsuccessfully tried to slaughter the Christian woman’s young daughter.
The facts are currently sparse. The incident occurred on April 3, 2021, in the streets of Minya Governate, Egypt. The name of the murderer, a tuk-tuk driver, is Abu Muhammad al-Harami; his victims are Mary Sa‘d and her six-year-old son Karas.
When their paths crossed in the streets, he made threatening and derogatory comments to the mother; she responded by saying that she would report him to police—at which point Abu Muhammad leapt on Mary with his machete, butchering her and her son. Her four-year old daughter fled and hid, as did the murderer, who was reportedly arrested four days later. Egyptian media and authorities are currently warning people not to jump to conclusions concerning the motive of the murderer. The latest explanation is that the crime had nothing to do with the woman’s Christian identity, but rather was the unfortunate outcome of the man’s attempt to steal her golden necklace. The reality, however, is that there have been many seemingly random attacks on Copts in the streets of Egypt.
In late December 2020, for example, two Muslim brothers went on a stabbing spree against Copts, killing one Christian and critically injuring two others. Authorities said the brothers were in mourning and upset, because their mother had died earlier that day. But as a local Coptic priest said, “what does the death [of the murderous Muslims’ mother] and the Copts have to do with each other??” He added that the two brothers had for years been in the habit of verbally harassing and insulting Christians. That same year, on January 12, 2020, a Muslim man crept up behind a Coptic woman walking home with groceries, pulled her head back with a hand full of hair, and slit her throat with a knife in his other hand. Catherine Ramzi was rushed to a nearby medical center, where her throat was sewn with 63 stitches; doctors told her she came within an inch of dying. It is believed that he may have identified her as a Christian for not wearing a hijab around her hair or for having a cross tattoo on her wrist. Two days before that attack, on January 14, 2020, another Muslim man tried to slaughter a Christian man with a sharp box-cutter in a public space; he managed only to slice off a portion of his victim’s ear. Although this attack was like the others also dismissed as a generic “crime,” the culprit, Muhammad ‘Awad, was actually arrested and, when questioned as to why he tried to murder the Copt, confessed that he did not know him, but that he simply “hates Christians, for they are from among the People of Lot, and the [death] penalty must be applied to them, for they commit indecencies.” Whatever the true motive behind Abu Muhammad’s slaughter of Mary Sa‘d and her small child, here, at any rate, is the latest account of a Muslim butchering Christians in Egypt.
 

Does Iran Even Need Spies in Academia?
A.J. Caschetta/The Hill/April 8, 2021
Kaveh Afrasiabi had a perfect cover profession for an agent of a hostile power eager to avoid raising eyebrows - academic.
The Justice Department recently indicted professor Kaveh Afrasiabi, charging that for decades his persona as a neutral, mild-mannered scholar was a cover and that, in reality, he was an agent of the Islamic Republic of Iran. If the allegations are true and this seasoned academic (Boston University, Harvard and UC Berkeley) was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote Iranian interests in the New York Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe and to appear on television, it was wasted money.
Perhaps Iran got lucky and a man with a good cover offered his services, or perhaps he is one covert operative in a much larger operation to infiltrate American academia. But the sad truth is that Iran really doesn't need agents to pose as neutral experts because American academics long have done Iran's public messaging free of charge. After his arrest, Afrasiabi's alleged handlers at Iran's United Nations Mission defended him by invoking his credentials, insisting that "Dr. Afrasiabi has not been working as an agent of the Mission, and only as a university professor and an expert on international relations." The two aren't mutually exclusive.
Even before the Shah of Iran was overthrown, Michel Foucault, France's most famous academic, helped to usher in the Revolution by downplaying the ruthlessness of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's followers and exaggerating their popularity. In September 1978, traveling to Iran as a journalist for the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Foucault wrote enthusiastically that "the reactivation of Islam" would be peaceful and women would be free under the new system. Claiming that he "met, in Tehran and throughout Iran, the collective will of a people," he insisted that Khomeini "is not a politician" but rather "the focal point of a collective will." Hamid Algar, professor emeritus of Persian and Islamic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, spent much of his nearly half-century-long academic career celebrating the "genius" of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
After Khomeini became the Supreme Leader, his purges, restrictions on women's rights and seizure of the U.S. embassy proved Foucault wrong. It would be difficult to convince Americans that Khomeini's new regime was anything but hostile after it held Americans hostage for 444 days. Nevertheless, academics tried. Principal among them was Hamid Algar, professor of Persian studies in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Algar did more to boost Iran in his 45 years at Berkeley than Khomeini could have possibly hoped for. He wrote biographies of Khomeini, translated his writings, and publicized the Iranian Revolution as "the greatest event of contemporary Islamic history."
Barack Obama's presidency brought Iran unprecedented opportunities to expand its influence on the American public. From the moment that Obama began his rapprochement, working on a grand deal that would remake the Middle East, academia had his back, promoting the idea that there were moderates in Iran's government who could change the system. Seventy-three professors drafted a letter to Congress urging support for Obama's nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which only delayed and then legitimized Iran's nuclear program.
Seventy-three professors drafted a letter to Congress urging support for the Iran nuclear deal.
Columbia University appears to have many professors devoted to promoting Iran. Seven of the 73 academic signatures on the letter urging Congress to pass the JCPOA belong to Columbia professors. One of them, Robert Jervis, is the Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Politics in the Department of Political Science. Last year, when Iran used the coronavirus pandemic to get sanctions removed, Jervis endorsed the idea in an interview with the Iranian Labor News Agency that later became a headline in the Tehran Times: "Columbia university professor urges removal of Iran sanctions."
At Rutgers University, Hooshang Amirahmadi makes claims that would make Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei proud. A founder of the American Iranian Council, former director of the Rutgers's Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and currently a professor at Rutgers's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Amirahmadi has said in public: "Iran has not been involved with any terrorist organization. Neither Hezbollah nor Hamas are terrorist organizations."
At George Washington University, Hossein Askari, emeritus professor of international business and international affairs at the Elliot School of International Affairs, does regime public relations. In a recent interview with the Tehran Times, he said Iran should never negotiate its right to ballistic missiles, should answer U.S. criticisms of Iran's human rights abuses with charges of American racism, and should only stop enriching uranium if the U.S. ends sanctions and meets Iran's demands for compensation stemming from economic pains inflicted by former President Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign.
Princeton University is home to Seyed Hossein Mousavian, an Iran expert at its Program on Science and Global Security. Mousavian consistently has urged American conciliation with Iran, arguing against sanctions. Writing in Al-Jazeera, he advised Tehran to wait out the Trump administration and work with the Europeans on "a way to circumvent U.S. sanctions." In late November 2020, he advised President-elect Biden to rejoin the JCPOA and, most outrageously, to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the State Department's terrorist list. What else could the mullahs possibly ask for in a well-positioned propagandist?
Iran's goal is to build nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of launching them. This January, William O. Beeman, emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Minnesota, told a Tehran Times interviewer that Iran's ballistic missile program is "completely legal." Iranian President Hassan Rouhani agrees. In 2012, Columbia's Jervis wrote that the U.S. should "resign itself to Iran's development of nuclear weapons." He was one-upped by Kenneth Waltz, a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley, who wrote in that same year that Iran's development of nuclear weapons shouldn't be merely tolerated but actually encouraged because it would stabilize the Middle East and force Iran to become a more responsible power. Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, called it "the single most preposterous analysis by an allegedly serious strategist of the Iranian quest for a nuclear weapon."
Ultimately, Iran doesn't need to pay professors to do its messaging. Ultimately, Iran doesn't need to pay professors such as Kaveh Afrasiabi to do its messaging under the guise of neutral credentialed historians and researchers. When it comes to propagating myths about Iran's moderation and preaching about the evils of America's Iran policy, there are many credentialed historians and researchers apparently willing to do the work for modest academic wages.
**A.J. Caschetta is a principal lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a fellow at Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum, where he is also a Ginsburg-Milstein fellow.

Capitol Building Attack: The Jihadi Connection
Raymond Ibrahim/April 08/2021
Was the Capitol building attack—where one police officer was killed and another injured—last Good Friday, by Noah Green, a Nation of Islam member, a jihad attack?
Most would say no: the Nation of Islam, they would argue, is a heterodox group that has little to do with mainstream Islam but rather focuses on placing a wedge between “superior” blacks (Allah’s people) and “inferior” whites (Satan’s people).
While this is largely true, it also overlooks two important facts: the Nation of Islam, as well as countless other groups regularly dismissed as out of the Muslim mainstream, traces its origins to Islam; more importantly, the fundamental aspect of almost all of these “fringe” groups—namely, the “us vs. them” element—is entirely Islamic.
This is significant and requires some explanation.
For starters, countless have been the groups throughout Islamic history that not only see themselves as Islamic, but often as the only “true” Muslims—even as others, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, accuse them of being pseudo-Muslims. In fact, the first of these groups—the Khawarij, they who “exit [the mainstream]”—came into being nearly 1,400 years ago, just two decades after the death of Muhammad.
This group, which is today dismissed as un-Islamic—and which modern day terrorists of the ISIS variety are regularly likened to—believed that any Muslim not upholding the totality of Islamic law, shari‘a, should be eliminated as an apostate; and they acted on this impulse, including by slaughtering Muslim women and children (particularly the Azariqa Khawarij).
This is just one example; the Hashashin—who gave us the word “Assassin”—are another. Although they too are regularly dismissed as being un-Islamic, the reality is that they emphasized some aspects of Islam—assassinating opponents and looking forward to a houri-filled paradise—over others.
The point here is that, just because an unsavory group does not follow mainstream Islam, does not mean that the most unsavory aspects of that group are not Islamic. Both the Khawarij and their modern day counterparts—ISIS, et al.—find backing in Islamic teachings which call for the slaughter of infidels. The difference between the “radicals” and the average Muslim is that the former are so wedded to this principle that even fellow Muslims who are insufficiently Islamic become fair game. While that might be a “radical” interpretation, it would not exist—nor would the radicals themselves, past (Khawarij) or present (ISIS)—if the Koran, Allah, and Muhammad did not call for violence against and the slaughter of infidels in the first place.
The same can be said of the Hashashin: the three things they are most notorious for—assassinating their opponents, getting killed for it, and then being welcomed by supernatural sex slaves in paradise—are entirely Islamic: Muhammad himself called for the assassination of his opponents, including women, and he/Allah regularly entice their followers to do violence in order to gain entry to a hedonistic paradise.
In short, whatever liberties all these heterodox Muslim groups take, their worst aspects tend to be orthodox—especially their dichotomized worldview of “us vs. them.” This is entirely Islamic, tracing back to the doctrine of al-wala’ w’al bara’ (“loyalty and enmity”), which teaches Muslims to hate and fight all non-Muslims, while showing loyalty and cooperation to fellow Muslims.
It is this teaching that inspired the first Muslim sectarian group, the fanatical Khawarij, to break away from and slaughter mainstream Muslims on the accusation that they were not “true” Muslims. And it is this impetus that inspires one of the most recent sectarian groups, the Nation of Islam, to be loyal to and help fellow blacks while hating and seeking to undermine whites.
In both cases, the dichotomy of hate for and violence against the “other” is based on mainstream Islamic teachings. These heterodox Muslim groups diverge only in that they rearticulate the Islamic meaning of “other” from its original definition—non-Muslim, kafir, infidel—to something else (being not Islamic enough, being white, etc.). But the hate for the other—which is the root problem—is reliably Islamic.
In this context, Noah Green’s murderous assault on the Capitol building takes on the guise of a jihad, if only because the hate for the other behind it—including the belief that “The U.S. Government is the #1 enemy of Black people!”—is wholly informed by Islam’s dichotomized worldview, even if modified to suit Green’s purposes.

Iran nuclear talks: How do goals of Rouhani, Biden and Netanyahu compare?

Yonah Jeremy Bob/Jerusalem Post/April 08/2021
The current indirect negotiations between the US and Iran – with England, France, Germany, China and Russia shuttling between the two sides – is a tale of three leaders on different paths.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday called the nuclear talks in Vienna a “new chapter,” signaling the most positive response from his government since US President Joe Biden was elected.
He needs at least some kind of interim deal with America to try to save his legacy within Iran. This is given that he led the push there for the 2015 nuclear deal – formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – only to have sanctions reimposed in 2018.
Rouhani’s eight years in power are over in June when elections will be held.
The Biden administration has sent multiple positive signals about the talks, including US State Department spokesman Ned Price explicitly saying Wednesday that Washington was ready to repeal any sanctions which were inconsistent with the 2015 deal.
Biden wants to rejoin the nuclear deal to remove a source of instability and instead focus his energies on fighting the coronavirus and bigger foreign policy challenges like China and Russia.
At the same time, he does not want to rush in and risk being attacked for being too weak.
Also, he hopes to get the ayatollahs to sign on to an add-on to the 2015 deal, extending and strengthening some of its provisions.
Unlike Rouhani and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden also knows he will be around for at least another three-plus years – and maybe much longer if he seeks a second term.
Netanyahu on Wednesday said that Israel would not be bound by any nuclear deal.
Strikingly, he said this even before any deal has been signed and before the US and the Islamic Republic are even sitting in the same negotiating room.
In some ways, the table seems to be set for a rerun of Washington and Tehran cutting a deal that Israel loudly opposes, instead of working quietly behind the scenes to influence the agreement.
IF MANY former Mossad and IDF intelligence officials favor Jerusalem keeping its head down in public and focusing more on private talks with the US to make any potential future deal better reflect Israeli interests, their objections have not registered with Netanyahu.
Israeli officials objecting to his strong public attacks on Biden administration policy, even before a deal is done, view his 2015 opposition as a failure and harmful to Israel remaining a bipartisan issue in the US.
Netanyahu and his supporters, who also include top officials like Mossad Director Yossi Cohen and possibly IDF Chief-of-Staff Aviv Kohavi, either view the 2015 Israeli opposition to the deal as a success in that it helped set a tough Trump administration policy on Iran, or think that this round is different.
The prime minister and his supporters say that this time, Iran has gotten too far ahead with advanced centrifuge development as compared to 2015.
They worry that with advanced centrifuges, it could be easier for Tehran to later “sneak out” or “walk out” to a nuclear bomb in weeks without anyone noticing or having time to prepare.
This would be worse than the 2015 worst-case scenario where Iran would have needed at least a few months to “break out” to a nuclear weapon – months which would be enough time to mobilize the global community and carefully plan a preemptive strike if necessary.
The prime minister also seems to be betting that regarding any additional concessions the Biden administration might get from the Islamic Republic, it will try to get them anyway, and that reduced public criticism would not get anything beyond that.
Kohavi himself is a key issue for Netanyahu.
A MAJOR SPEECH Kohavi gave in January signaled that he was 100% behind Netanyahu’s tougher tone with Iran, even at the price of clashing publicly with the US.
In contrast, the last three IDF chiefs have criticized Netanyahu about his aggressiveness regarding Tehran, especially about banging heads with Washington in public.
But other recent interviews by outgoing IDF intelligence analysis chief Brig.-Gen. Dror Shalom, with Yediot Aharonot, as well as a March 28 interview by Maj. Gen. Tal Kelman, who runs a relatively new Iran-focused command, indicated an approach much more in line with the previous IDF chiefs.
If there is still dissent within the military about Netanyahu’s approach to Iran, would he be able to order a preemptive strike as early as he might prefer? Or might he be blocked by security establishment opposition, as reportedly occurred in the past?
What if the US cuts an interim deal and then a full deal later in 2021 or in 2022, and the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies then say that the Islamic Republic has returned to compliance?
If there is internal Israeli opposition to attacking any time before Tehran is extremely close to the nuclear threshold, what options will Netanyahu have left?
And Netanyahu may not even be prime minister in the coming months.
Would a rotating-prime-minister unity government headed by Yamina’s Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid be ready to shake things up with the US or risk a major preemptive strike where Netanyahu himself might have run out of pressure points?
Lapid is surely on record slamming fighting with the US in public – and New Hope Party leader Gideon Sa’ar, who would have a major role in such a unity coalition, has made similar statements.
At such a point, Israel’s main pressure points would likely be cyber and covert action.
But until at least June, the tone will be determined by Rouhani, Biden and Netanyahu. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – his country’s final decision maker – is always in the background, but he has given Rouhani a chance to negotiate despite the US ignoring his many preconditions and deadlines.
Rouhani and Biden will do what they can to move toward a deal, even an interim one: Rouhani to save his legacy and Biden to clear off his table to deal with other issues. In the meantime, Netanyahu will do all he can to undermine such a deal.

Two diplomats also said there was a delay, one of whom said the IAEA delegation would be headed by inspections chief Massimo Aparo.
When asked about the delay, an IAEA spokesman said only: "A date in April has been confirmed." Iranian officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The IAEA has said it is "deeply concerned" at the prospect of undeclared nuclear material in Iran. It says Iran has not credibly explained the first particles it found, at a site in Tehran that Iran said was a carpet-cleaning facility, and is seeking answers on those found last year at two other sites.
CRISIS
The United States and its allies have been pressuring Iran to come clean, and the issue could complicate efforts by Washington and Tehran to revive the nuclear deal.
Iran has bristled at "attempts to open an endless process of verifying and cleaning-up of ever-continuing fabricated allegations." It also denied the IAEA access to the two sites for seven months last year. It denies ever pursuing nuclear weapons and says its nuclear aims are entirely peaceful.
At a meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors last month, France, Britain and Germany prepared a draft resolution with US support expressing concern at the "lack of progress" in obtaining explanations from Iran.
They backed away from submitting that resolution for a vote when IAEA chief Rafael Grossi announced talks with Iran to "see if we can resolve this once and for all," and he hoped to report progress by the next board meeting in June.
Shortly before then, on May 21, a recent deal between the IAEA and Iran cushioning the blow of Tehran slashing its cooperation with the IAEA is due to expire. After that, the agency's oversight of Iran's activities will be reduced further.
"It is very clear that if we haven't concluded or made sufficient progress before May 21 to justify an extension of this accord we will enter a crisis period," the European diplomatic source said.

Regional, international developments further isolate Iran
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/April 08/2021
Iran is becoming increasingly isolated and the pressure on the regime is mounting. This is due, first of all, to the shifting geopolitical situation in the Middle East, starring Turkey, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to the Gulf last month sent a strong message to Iran. Russian officials have indicated they are looking for new partners in the region, as evidenced by developments in Syria. These events will put more pressure on Iran and block international political avenues for the regime.
Secondly, Iran is losing some of the areas that previously provided it with security or political influence and advantage. Last month’s conference on Syria attended by Turkey, Qatar and Russia in Tehran’s absence likely demonstrates that the regime is no longer an active recruiter in this field. In Syria, where Iran has invested heavily both financially and in terms of human resources, it has gained almost nothing. The same is happening in Iraq.
Baghdad is increasing its political distance from Iran and gravitating toward the West. Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq was a clear message in this regard. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi cannot be considered a faithful ally of Iran. Tehran’s investment in Iraq has reached a record low. The whole relationship is entirely different from six years ago. Iran is banking on the return of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal so that it can continue to benefit from it, but this belief is misplaced. Every international agreement is the result of the balance of power at that time. Today’s balance of power is not a continuation of that of 2015. It is becoming more and more apparent that the Biden administration does not support the original terms of the JCPOA, acknowledging the changing international and regional situation for both Iran and the US. Even those who negotiated and defended the JCPOA at the time recognize that the agreement needs to change to better reflect the new regional and international standings. Wendy Sherman, America’s chief negotiator for the JCPOA and President Joe Biden’s nominee for deputy secretary of state, did not defend it at her Senate approval hearing last month.
Tehran is banking on the return of the 2015 nuclear deal so that it can continue to benefit from it, but this belief is misplaced.
Thirdly, Iran has gone through two uprisings since the JCPOA was signed. President Hassan Rouhani has said it was only after the 2017 uprising that Donald Trump dared to abandon the nuclear deal. With the recent uprising in Sistan and Balochistan province, the Iranian Foreign Ministry rejected nonaligned talks with the US because it was not a good opportunity. For this reason, the role of Iran in the new balance of power is so minimal that the regime is currently attacking American bases in Iraq in an attempt to force the US to negotiate on its terms.
At the regional level, Israel and the Arab states have become closer. During her hearing, Sherman referred to the Abraham Accords, which have altered relationships and power within the region. These new partnership makes it harder to deal with Iran, as the regime feels backed into a corner. We also face a new wave in Congress, which only compounds Iran’s challenges as it seeks to achieve its vision of successful negotiations.
Fourthly, Republican lawmakers in the US Congress have introduced eight pieces of legislation in an effort to prevent the White House from returning to the JCPOA. These cover issues such as the tightening of sanctions against Iran, opposing the easing of sanctions, and declaring non-support for the JCPOA. One of the bills, introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty and which seeks congressional oversight on any government plan to lift sanctions, has garnered the support of 27 senators. Another plan is a resolution introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton, which opposes any form of sanctions relief unless all disputes with Iran, including its nuclear, ballistic missile and regional programs, are addressed. This bill has attracted 31 cosponsors. Two parallel schemes have also been introduced in the House of Representatives and have attracted 24 and 30 supporters, respectively.
The main criticism of conservative Republicans and prominent Democrats in Congress in 2015 was that the JCPOA only temporarily blocked Iran’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and that a series of deadlines were written into the terms. These would allow all restrictions on Iran’s nuclear and missile programs to be lifted. For example, in 2030, Iran was to be allowed to enrich uranium indefinitely and increase its number of centrifuges and their quality indefinitely. This level of capability to enrich uranium would put Europe at risk.
At Sherman’s Senate hearing, Sen. Mitt Romney criticized the JCPOA because of these deadlines. He then asked her about the long term and Sherman, who was expected to push back against this criticism because she was one of the architects of the JCPOA, did not respond to Romney and merely said: “Yes, the situation has changed.”As a result of these developments, the increasingly isolated regime of Iran appears to be at its weakest point since its establishment in 1979.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Who has the lead role in the latest talks between the US and Iran?
Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/April 08/2021
The Latin phrase “bis repetitas placent,” which means “that which pleases is twice repeated,” certainly seems to apply for many of the stakeholders in the new round of discussions between the US and Iran — and especially the Europeans.
Prior to considering the possible outcomes of the talks, which are taking place in Vienna, one can observe and enjoy the fine detail and the theatrics of these negotiations. The fact that the US and Iran are “not in the same room,” for example, with the Europeans, Chinese and Russians acting as go-betweens, is quite revealing in terms of expected outcomes. For the Iranians, the exercise is first and foremost about being able to project to their audience the message that they will not yield to any new US conditions. As proof of this, they can say that they did not even sit in the same room as the Americans and so this was not a negotiation but a process toward a full reinstatement of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). No concessions are being made and this is simply a mechanism to restore the nuclear deal.
This level of attention to detail by the Iranians is, once again, brilliant. The fact that the international community accepts it so readily, is not.
I would much prefer that all regional parties meet and openly discuss all the issues that the region is facing — and, more specifically, confront the Iranians about their behavior. Indeed, such a meeting should include nations from the Greater Middle East, including Arab countries, Turkey and Israel.
The fact that Tehran has the capacity to frame the dialogue and compartmentalize it puts the regime at a clear advantage. One might say, therefore, that on this point the Iranians are correct: The current process is not a negotiation and both parties are already in agreement. Only the process needs to be mapped out and all the rest is simply theatrics.
It is highly doubtful that anything involving Tehran’s missile program or its activities in the region will be a focused negotiation point, beyond being raised by the Americans and denied by the Iranians.
Whether a US return to JCPOA happens in this round of talks or the next, the most important fact is that it is happening. The Iranian regime, the US and the international community, including nations in the Middle East, are all aware of this.
Can we therefore expect changes in the behavior of Iran, including a more constructive approach? Can we expect Tehran to withdraw its illegal and military support to the Houthis? Can we expect it to stop smuggling weapons and cash to Lebanon and Syria? Can we expect it to stop supporting Iraqi militias?
The answer to all these questions is no. Each of these issues comes with its own price and the Iranian regime will want to bargain for them, as part of its successful attempt to compartmentalize the negotiation process.
The view generally put forward in favor of “bis repetitas placent” as it applies to the JCPOA is that a policy of applying maximum pressure on Tehran did not work under the Trump administration and so the international community should return to the existing deal to halt Iran’s nuclear activities.
Yet this is not the correct way to frame the discussion because it ignores Iranian interference in the region. In my view, the day will come when Tehran will want more concessions and so will rebuff and challenge the US and the Europeans once again until they yield to its demands. This day will come sooner rather than later. Because, in essence, the 2015 JCPOA did not work. The view of the Obama administration at the time was that the nuclear deal would encourage the Iranian regime to transform its behavior in the Middle East. Yet, the opposite happened. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) expanded its activities in Yemen, Lebanon and Syria. Therefore, the decision by the Trump administration to withdraw from the deal and reinstate sanctions was the correct one because while the Iranians did not break any specific clause, they did something worse: They violated the very spirit of an agreement that was designed to encourage positive steps toward stability in the Middle East.
The Obama administration was right to try something new; unfortunately, the Iranian regime did not respond to it and broke the essence of the agreement before the US did.
One thing we can be sure of is that, despite Western declarations and expectations, this issue will not affect the upcoming Iranian presidential election or domestic politics in the country in general, simply because they are irrelevant and not where real decision-making power in the country lies.
The real power is in the hands of the supreme leader and the IRGC. Everything else, including declarations made during the current meetings in Vienna, is once again simply theatrics for the benefit of domestic and international audiences.
Yet the US administration does have an opportunity to take advantage of the current situation. The regime in Tehran is indeed weaker than it was in 2015 and so Washington could put pressure on the Iranians to halt their disruptive regional activities.
This could be done by reinforcing a regional alliance, and by setting up a positive and solid framework for Iran to integrate with the region. Regardless of the regime that is in power, Iran should be assured of an important role in the future of the region — alongside Arab countries, Turkey and Israel — in return for giving up its terrorist activities. In the absence of a strong stance from Washington and initiatives designed to benefit its allies, a big change that might be expected in the region is that Iran will start to get a taste of its own medicine through asymmetrical tactics. The recent maritime incidents involving Israel and the strikes on IRGC positions in Syria are a clear indication of this.
In the past two months there have been four attacks on Iranian and Israeli-owned ships. The date of the latest, an attack on an Iranian cargo ship in the Red Sea, was certainly not a coincidence as it took place as the Vienna talks between Iran and the US began. It sent a clear message about how Israel intends to confront Iranian activities from now on, which will lead to greater destabilization. It is highly doubtful that anything involving Tehran’s missile program or its activities in the region will be a focused negotiation point, beyond being raised by the Americans and denied by the Iranians.
As a result, and as such incidents increase, countries that have been left out of the JCPOA discussions for a second time might be tempted to take matters into their own hands by confronting, or negotiating with, Iran.
Indeed, with the declared intention of the US to disengage from the Middle East, countries in the region might be able to find common ground to reach an understanding with Tehran. China and Russia, with the support of the Europeans, might even suggest solutions to current regional hot spots.
This may not be the preferred option but it might be good enough for all to live with, Israel and Iran included.
*Khaled Abou Zahr is CEO of Eurabia, a media and tech company. He is also the editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.

Biden’s new Iran Deal must rein in Tehran’s proxies
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Arab News/April 08/2021
President Joe Biden has announced that he is preparing to lift sanctions on Iran inconsistent with the Iran deal.
There is no doubt the Obama administration’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), colloquially called the “Iran Deal,” was a great achievement of diplomacy; decades after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, Washington, London, Tehran and others managed to come together and agree to an international treaty. Nevertheless, the JCPOA was critically flawed, in a way that made it unsustainable from the outset: It may have successfully contained Iran’s nuclear capacity, but left Tehran free rein to attack other US interests and allies in the Middle East through its long-established, extensive network of proxies dedicated to that goal.Iran funds, arms, trains, and helps direct many factions, such as the Assad government in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Palestinian occupied territories, the Houthis in Yemen, and in recent years even the Afghan Taliban. On top of that, Iran has sustained a number of smaller terrorist groups and cells that have carried out attacks against US diplomatic and military assets for decades. A Democrat-led Washington could wear those excesses and fight that fight in isolation of the JCPOA. But any Iran hawk could later come in and use the activities of those proxies against American interests in the region as a pretext to sink the JCPOA and set the US on the path of direct military confrontation with Tehran. And Washington certainly has no shortage of figures keen to do just that. So yes, it is imperative that Biden resurrects the “Iran Deal” to make sure Tehran does not acquire nuclear weapons. The only other way to potentially stop it from achieving that goal is war, which, in the aftermath of Iraq, should obviously be avoided. Iran is a much bigger and more powerful country than Iraq was, and among the people of Iran, even those who loathe the government would hate Western intervention even more, and would rally against invading forces. That is to say nothing of the fact that Iran has close economic and strategic ties to both Russia and China, who would aid Tehran’s efforts to defend itself. Conflict is not only a morally wrong course of action: It would be ruinous for America’s interests. Washington may not lose the war, but they would likely lose the peace.
But if war is to be avoided during this and subsequent administrations, treaties between the US and Iran to guarantee peace need to be politically sustainable. Future US presidents must not have easy pretexts to rescind the agreements and re-initiate hostilities.
That primarily means Tehran must be constrained from continuing its proxy war against the US in the Middle East. Iran funds, arms, trains, and helps direct many factions, such as the Assad government in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Palestinian occupied territories, the Houthis in Yemen, and in recent years even the Afghan Taliban. Of course, this works both ways. Tehran is also replete with anti-American hawks, and their own nationalist conservatives have strong political incentives to undermine any détente with the US and instigate direct confrontation. For this reason, Washington must also make concessions. Above all, it must publicly acknowledge that it was former President Donald Trump who reneged on the JCPOA first, that Tehran complied with the agreement itself despite its malign activities in the region, and that the people of Iran perhaps deserve some compensation for the economic hardship following the reimposition of sanctions by Trump. All those things are true, and recognising them as such must be the foundation of any good faith effort to rebuild the nuclear agreement. But in exchange for that good faith, it should be demanded of Iran that it respond with equal good faith and stop funding every proxy and terrorist group opposed to the US in the region. An agreement must be reached, because failure is almost certain to lead to a war with no winners: Both sides will lose status, money, power and the lives of their soldiers, and millions of innocent people caught in the middle will suffer and die needlessly. That is a scenario no one can afford.
*Dr. Azeem Ibrahim is a director at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy in Washington DC. Twitter: @AzeemIbrahim
 

China Boycotts Western Companies Over Uyghurs
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/April 8, 2021
Companies are being pressured to scrub from their websites language about corporate policies on human rights, reverse decisions to stop buying cotton produced in Xinjian, and remove maps that depict Taiwan as an independent country. In October 2020, the Geneva-based Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), an influential non-profit group that promotes sustainable cotton production, suspended licensing of Xinjiang cotton, citing allegations and "increasing risks" of forced labor. The statement has since been scrubbed from the BCI website, and, disturbingly, also is not accessible on the Internet Archive.
In March 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, in a report, "Uyghurs for Sale," revealed that Uyghurs were working in factories — under conditions of forced labor — that are in the supply chains of more than 80 well-known global brands in the clothing, automotive and technology sectors.
"China's government, increasingly keen to punish critics of their Xinjiang policies, is forcing foreign companies to make a choice they have been studiously trying to avoid: support China or get out of the Chinese market.... The Communist Party views itself as increasingly able to exert economic pressure on others, using the 'powerful gravitational field' of the world's second-largest economy.... The choice between the lucrative Chinese market and the values firms profess in the rest of the world is becoming unavoidable...." — The Economist, March 27, 2021.
"German companies account for a good one-half of the EU's exports to China. The German export industry has little interest in tarnishing this balance sheet with moral zeal.... The economic dependence on China, however, further weakens the already low impact of moral arguments. As long as Europe, and in this case Germany in particular, is not prepared to reduce this dependency, complaints about human rights violations in China will, at best, continue to trigger sloppy defensive reactions from Beijing." — Die Welt, March 24, 2021.
The Chinese government is boycotting Western clothing retailers for expressing concerns about forced labor in China's Xinjiang region. The dispute revolves around allegations that China's government is forcing more than 500,000 Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic and religious minorities to pick cotton in Xinjiang, which produces 85% of China's cotton and one-fifth of the world's supply. Roughly 70% of the region's cotton fields are picked by hand. Pictured: Women harvest cotton by hand in Hami, Xinjiang on September 20, 2015.
The Chinese government is boycotting Western clothing retailers for expressing concerns about forced labor in Xinjiang, China's biggest region. The companies are being pressured to scrub from their websites language about corporate policies on human rights, reverse decisions to stop buying cotton produced in Xinjian, and remove maps that depict Taiwan as an independent country.
The escalating fight comes after the European Union and the United Kingdom on March 22 joined the United States and Canada to impose sanctions on Chinese officials for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, a remote autonomous region in northwestern China.
Human rights experts say at least one million Muslims are being detained in up to 380 internment camps, where they are subject to torture, mass rapes, forced labor and sterilizations.
Western companies doing business in China increasingly face an unpalatable dilemma: how to uphold Western values and distance themselves from human rights abuses without provoking retaliation from the Chinese government and losing access to one of the world's biggest and fastest-growing markets.
The current dispute revolves around allegations that the Chinese government is forcing more than 500,000 Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic and religious minorities to pick cotton in Xinjiang, which produces 85% of China's cotton and one-fifth of the world's supply. Roughly 70% of the region's cotton fields are picked by hand. The allegations of forced labor affect all Western supply chains that involve Xinjiang cotton as a raw material. Both the European Union and the United States import more than 30% of their apparel and textile supplies from China.
In October 2020, the Geneva-based Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), an influential non-profit group that promotes sustainable cotton production, suspended licensing of Xinjiang cotton, citing allegations and "increasing risks" of forced labor. The statement has since been scrubbed from the BCI website, and, disturbingly, also is not accessible on the Internet Archive.
After the BCI, which has more than 1,800 members, spanning the entire global cotton supply chain, stopped licensing Xinjiang cotton production, its members — including Germany-based Adidas, U.K.-based Burberry, Swedish retailers H&M and IKEA, and U.S.-based Nike — all said that they would stop using cotton from Xinjiang, in line with the group's guidelines.
At the time, H&M, the world's second-biggest fashion retailer, posted a statement on its website:
"H&M Group is deeply concerned by reports from civil society organizations and media that include accusations of forced labor and discrimination of ethno-religious minorities in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). We strictly prohibit any type of forced labor in our supply chain, regardless of the country or region....
"We do not work with any garment manufacturing factories located in XUAR, and we do not source products from this region. We transparently disclose names and locations of manufacturing factories, mills and yarn producers in our public supplier list and will continue to do so and further accelerate this transparency for our global supply chain.
"In addition, we have conducted an inquiry at all the garment manufacturing factories we work with in China aiming to ensure that workers are employed in accordance with our Sustainability Commitment, and that they comply with our migrant worker guideline."
The statement, largely unnoticed at the time, was unearthed after the EU's announcement of sanctions. The Communist Youth League, the youth movement of the Chinese Communist Party, in a post on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, stated: "Spreading rumors to boycott Xinjiang cotton, while also wanting to make money in China? Wishful thinking!"
The furor over H&M's ban on Xinjiang cotton quickly rose to a fever pitch on Chinese social media, with many calling for a nationwide boycott of the company. Chinese map and ride-hailing applications blocked H&M. Major Chinese e-commerce platforms dropped the brand from their platforms. Angry landlords terminated lease agreements and forced H&M to shutter some of its 500 stores in China, the company's fourth-largest market behind Germany, the United States and Britain.
The Chinese nationalist backlash soon spread to other Western apparel and footwear companies — including Adidas, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Lacoste, New Balance, Nike, Puma, Tommy Hilfiger, Uniqlo and Zara — after state media criticized the brands for expressing concern about Xinjiang. More than 30 Chinese celebrities announced that they were ending endorsement deals with Western brands. Some said they opposed attempts to "discredit China."
The Associated Press reported that China was "erasing" Western brands from the internet:
"In a high-tech version of the airbrushing used by China and other authoritarian regimes to delete political enemies from historic photos, H&M's approximately 500 stores in China didn't show up on ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing or map services operated by Alibaba and Baidu. Its smartphone app disappeared from app stores.
"It wasn't clear whether companies received orders to erase H&M's online presence, but Chinese enterprises are expected to fall in line without being told. Regulators have broad powers to punish companies that fail to support official policy....
"The Communist Party often pressures foreign clothing, travel and other brands over actions by their governments or in an effort to compel them to adopt its positions on Taiwan, Tibet and other sensitive issues.
"Most comply because China is one of the biggest, fastest-growing markets for global fashion, electronics and other consumer brands."
Xu Guixiang, a Xinjiang government spokesman, said:
"I don't think a company should politicize its economic behavior. Can H&M continue to make money in the Chinese market? Not anymore. To rush into this decision and get involved in the sanctions is not reasonable. It's like lifting a stone to drop it on one's own feet."
H&M, in a statement dated March 31, said that it was "dedicated to regaining the trust and confidence of our customers, colleagues, and business partners in China." The statement, which did not mention Xinjiang, appeared to be a failed attempt to strike a balance between placating the Chinese government while assuaging Western human rights groups.
"Why doesn't H&M apologize openly to consumers?" asked the state-owned China Central Television. It called H&M's statement a "second-rate public relations article full of empty words lacking sincerity."
Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said that forced labor in Xinjiang was "non-existent and entirely imaginary" and that such allegations amounted to slander:
"We oppose any external forces interfering in Xinjiang-related matters and China's internal affairs. We also oppose sanctions imposed on Chinese individuals and entities based on lies and false information, and on the pretext of so-called human rights issues in Xinjiang."
Chinese authorities subsequently pressured H&M and other brands to change "problematic maps of China" on their websites. The Shanghai branch of the Cyberspace Administration of China objected to how Taiwan, the independent island country that Beijing claims as part of its territory, is depicted on the Taiwanese versions of their websites.
After H&M caved to Chinese pressure and changed the map, the government ordered H&M to "immediately remedy" its depiction of disputed waters in the South China Sea, 90% of which is claimed by Beijing. H&M complied, only to anger Vietnam, which holds rival claims to some of the waters.
Meanwhile, in a bid to counter accusations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, the Chinese government has produced a new musical — apparently mimicking the American classic "Sound of Music" — which portrays Xinjiang as a rural idyll of ethnic cohesion devoid of repression, mass surveillance and even the Islam of its majority Uyghur population.
The musical, "Wings of Songs," is attempting to reframe the cultural reality of the region, according to the Agence France-Presse, which added:
"The musical omits the surveillance cameras and security checks that blanket Xinjiang. Also noticeably absent are references to Islam — despite more than half of the population of Xinjiang being Muslim — and there are no mosques or women in veils."
Western Brands and Xinjiang Supply Chains
In March 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, in a report, "Uyghurs for Sale," revealed that Uyghurs were working in factories — under conditions of forced labor — that are in the supply chains of more than 80 well-known global brands in the clothing, automotive and technology sectors. The companies include:
Abercrombie & Fitch, Acer, Adidas, Alstom, Amazon, Apple, ASUS, BMW, Bombardier, Bosch, Calvin Klein, Candy, Carter's, Cerruti 1881, Cisco, Dell, Electrolux, Fila, Founder Gap, General Motors, Google, H&M, Hitachi, HP, Jaguar, L.L. Bean, Lacoste, Land Rover, Lenovo, LG, Mercedes-Benz, MG, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Nike, Nintendo, Nokia, Panasonic, Polo Ralph Lauren, Puma, Samsung, Sharp, Siemens, Skechers, Sony, Tommy Hilfiger, Toshiba, Uniqlo, Victoria's Secret, Volkswagen and Zara.
In July 2020, the Financial Times reported that Western brands including Brooks Brothers, Hugo Boss, Lacoste and Ralph Lauren had received apparel shipments from a Chinese company whose subsidiary is facing U.S. sanctions over alleged forced labor in Xinjiang.
In May 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported that many multinational brands — including Adidas, C&A, Calvin Klein, Campbell's Soup Company, Coca-Cola, Disney, Esprit, Gap, H&M and Kraft Heinz and Patagonia — were directly or indirectly benefiting from factories allegedly using forced labor in Xinjiang.
Some companies have denied the allegations, others have promised to investigate and still others have pledged to stop sourcing supplies from Xinjiang. Following are select responses and statements from fashion-related brands, the current focus of Chinese ire:
Adidas. A statement said: "In 2019, on learning of allegations against several companies sourcing from Xinjiang, China, where ethnic minorities were reportedly subject to forced labor in spinning mills, we explicitly required our fabric suppliers not to source any yarn from the Xinjiang region. Adidas has never manufactured goods in Xinjiang and has no contractual relationship with any Xinjiang supplier."
Burberry. The U.K.-based retailer, a member of the Better Cotton Initiative, was the first luxury brand to suffer Chinese backlash over Xinjiang. Burberry lost a Chinese brand ambassador, and its logo was scrubbed from a popular video game.
Gap. A statement said: "We can confirm that we do not source any garments from Xinjiang.... We have implemented a new policy that explicitly prohibits Gap Inc. vendors from directly or indirectly sourcing any products, components, or materials from Xinjiang in the process of manufacturing any orders for Gap Inc.
Marks & Spencer. The British retailer was one of the first major brands to back a campaign to stop forced labor in Xinjiang. In January 2020, the company signed a call to action by 'The Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region' — which consists of more than 300 civil society groups — to cut ties with suppliers in China that profit from forced labor in Xinjiang.
Nike. A statement said: "We are concerned about reports of forced labor in, and connected to, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Nike does not source products from the XUAR and we have confirmed with our contract suppliers that they are not using textiles or spun yarn from the region."
New Balance. A statement said: "We recognize that the risk of forced labor increases as we go further upstream in the supply chain where we also have less visibility and leverage. We are expanding the mapping of the cotton yarn supply chain as well as exploring technologies and other methods to better assure raw material origins."
Zara. Zara's parent company, Spain-based Inditex, removed from its website a statement on the company's zero-tolerance policy for forced labor. The statement, which can be found on the Internet Archive, said:
"We take reports of improper social and labor practices in any part of the garment and textile supply chain extremely seriously. We are aware of a number of such reports alleging social and labor malpractice in various supply chains among Uyghurs in Xinjiang (China) as well as in other regions, which are highly concerning. Following an internal investigation, we can confirm that Inditex does not have commercial relations with any factory in Xinjiang."
Hong Kong human rights campaigner Johnson Yeung tweeted:
"Faced pressures from Chinese state media and Chinese consumers. @InditexSpain @ZARA secretly remove their statement on #Xinjiang Cotton from their website. I genuinely worry that companies will participate in atrocity against Uyghurs again to pledge their loyalty. Hold the line."
Select Commentary
China scholar Richard Ebeling, writing for the American Institute for Economic Research, explained why the Chinese government is persecuting the Uyghurs:
"The Uyghurs, like the Tibetans, and other minority groups in China, have been the victims of Chinese political and ethnic imperialism. The Chinese government has attempted to assure the political unification and integration of, especially, Tibet and Xinjiang by a policy of ethnic and cultural 'sterilization.' For decades, the Chinese authorities in Beijing have instigated Han Chinese population migrations to these two areas to 'dilute' and reduce to a demographic minority the Uyghur and Tibetan peoples within their own lands.
"The Chinese government has attempted to persecute and eradicate the practice of Islam and Buddhism, respectively, among these peoples. The Chinese military has desecrated religious temples and places of worship, murdered and imprisoned religious leaders, forced women of both groups to marry Han Chinese to genetically 'cleanse' Xinjiang and Tibet of their indigenous populations, and have restricted or prohibited the learning and speaking of the distinct local languages and practicing of cultural customs.
"Though, of course, never said officially or publicly, the Chinese government's policy, to guarantee political solidarity and unity throughout each and every corner of the territory of China is to make the country one racially single group, the Han Chinese."
The Economist magazine, in an editorial, wrote that Western retailers increasingly are caught between nationalistic Chinese consumers and conscientious ones at home:
"For more than a year some big foreign apparel and technology companies have been walking a fine line on the human-rights abuses committed by China against Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority in the north-western region of Xinjiang. These firms have been working to clear their supply chains of the forced labor of Uyghurs, hundreds of thousands of whom pick cotton under apparently coercive conditions. What they have not done is boast about these efforts, fearful of angering the Communist Party and 1.4bn Chinese consumers....
"An online furor stoked by Chinese authorities this week suggests that Beijing may be tiring of this double game. China's government, increasingly keen to punish critics of their Xinjiang policies, is forcing foreign companies to make a choice they have been studiously trying to avoid: support China or get out of the Chinese market.
"Chinese authorities have stirred nationalist protests against foreign companies in the past, then tamped them down having made their point. This time the campaign looks like part of a broader, more enduring counterattack against critics of the government's policies in Xinjiang, where it incarcerated more than 1m Uyghurs in a gulag for their religious and cultural beliefs....
"The Communist Party views itself as increasingly able to exert economic pressure on others, using the 'powerful gravitational field' of the world's second-largest economy....
"Western brands that have held their ground on Xinjiang may worry that being seen as kowtowing to the Communist Party could provoke a backlash among shoppers in the West, who increasingly expect companies to behave responsibly on everything from the treatment of workers to climate change.... The firms may also be calculating that the nationalist fervor in China will cool. And they are hedging their bets....
"That could all change as both China's official anger at criticisms of its Xinjiang policies and pressure from Western human-rights campaigners and consumers continue to intensify. Human-rights campaigners are already calling for a corporate boycott of next year's winter Olympics in Beijing.... They know that responding to Chinese pressure by renouncing their own human-rights commitments looks indefensible in their home markets. At the same time, they are understandably worried about the consequences in China. The choice between the lucrative Chinese market and the values firms profess in the rest of the world is becoming unavoidable...."
The Swiss public broadcaster SWF wrote that the conflict worked in favor of the Chinese government:
"The public outrage and the boycott benefit the Chinese government in several ways: Domestically, the boycott distracts from the allegations of human rights violations and presents the issue as an attack by the West on China.
"The H&M case also serves as a chilling example in relation to other countries. The message to international companies: Do not mess with China."
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung highlighted the moral conflict faced by Western countries:
"Western companies are in a conflict: In the West, many of their customers refuse to wear a T-shirt that was produced by forced laborers. In China, which is a production location and an important market for them, companies come under pressure when they openly criticize forced labor. They can hardly please both sides.
"Consider Hugo Boss. The brand from the Swabian town of Metzingen, known for its men's suits, is currently demonstrating how a company is looking for a way out of a moral and economic dilemma — and in the end loses twice.
"The Chinese internet platform Weibo — a kind of national Twitter — recently called for a boycott of Hugo Boss. Two prominent actors terminated their collaboration with the German company, and users on China's social media scoffed at the suit manufacturer's puffing around.
"What happened?
"A few days ago, Hugo Boss said on Weibo that they respect the national sovereignty of China, that the cotton from Xinjiang is among the best in the world — and that it will continue to be bought. This statement would probably have hardly been noticed in the West had the English-language media portal Hong Kong Free Press not reported on it.
"The company told an American broadcaster last September that all their suppliers had to prove that their products did not come from Xinjiang. Suddenly the impression arose that Hugo Boss was saying something different in China than in the West.
"After the Hong Kong publication reported the conflicting statements, Boss deleted the one on Weibo. Instead, the company is now referring to an English-language statement on its Weibo account, in which it says with reference to Xinjiang: 'Hugo Boss does not tolerate forced labor.' ....
"When asked by Die Zeit, a spokeswoman for Hugo Boss said the first Weibo message was 'unauthorized.' He added: 'Our position with regard to the situation is of course unchanged from that of some time ago.'
"But with little effort, an older version of the group's statement can be found on the internet, which was deleted from its website a few days ago — and which is much harsher than the message that is now being spread.... It promised: 'We guarantee that from October 2021 our new collections will not contain any cotton or other materials from the Xinjiang region.'"
The German newspaper Die Welt wrote that as long as Germany is dependent upon China, moral criticism is of little use:
"An example of the [transatlantic] disagreement over the right approach to China is the China Investment Agreement, which the EU, under the leadership of Angela Merkel, waved through ... ignoring all requests from the Biden administration.
"The agreement may superficially improve the situation for European investors in China a little. Above all, however, it represents a prestigious achievement for Xi Jinping and makes it easier for him to point out, if necessary, that the West is unable to find a common position on China.
"Not even its defenders would claim that the agreement would help to positively influence the human rights situation in China. In these days in particular, Europeans are experiencing anew that China is not prepared to even enter into a dialogue with the West on human rights issues. On the contrary, Beijing reacts increasingly aggressively to any kind of criticism....
"The 5,200 German companies that are active in China will have given the German Chancellery a very clear picture of the sensitivities of their Chinese business partners in recent years. That's why Daimler quickly cleans up a social media post about Tibet if Beijing unpleasantly notices it. And that's why you hear nothing from Volkswagen about the situation of the Uyghurs, although, or rather because, the company has a plant in the province of Xinjiang. German companies account for a good one-half of the EU's exports to China. The German export industry has little interest in tarnishing this balance sheet with moral zeal.
"The economic dependence on China, however, further weakens the already low impact of moral arguments. As long as Europe, and in this case Germany in particular, is not prepared to reduce this dependency, complaints about human rights violations in China will, at best, continue to trigger sloppy defensive reactions from Beijing."
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
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