English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For August 23/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance
Luke/01/01-07: “All the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’So he told them this parable: ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 22-23/2021
Je suis en guerre…La révolution est morte, vive la résistance./Jean-Marie Kassab/August 22/2021
Health Ministry: 1173 new Corona cases, 3 deaths
Iranian fuel vessels setting off soon to Lebanon: Hezbollah’s Nasrallah
Lebanon raises fuel prices by 66%, partially cuts subsidies
Al-Rahi to officials: Stop manipulating people's feelings, end the obstructionist approach
Al-Rahi Accuses Officials of 'Coup against Legitimacy'
U.N. Warns Power Cuts Impeding Access to Water in Lebanon
Report: Aoun Insisting on 'Blocking Third' as Advisers Exchange Drafts
Baabda Meeting Reaches Short-Term Compromise on Fuel
Nasrallah: More fuel vessels to set sail from Iran soon
Nasrallah Says Another Ship to Sail from Iran, Welcomes Egypt, Jordan Help
Fuel Prices Hiked in Lebanon after Baabda Deal
Foreign Affairs Ministry thanks India for its efforts to evacuate a Lebanese citizen from Afghanistan

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 22-23/2021
Syrian air defense again shoots wildly at Israeli airstrikes - analysis
Afghans Face 'Impossible' Race against Time to Flee Kabul
‘Afghan lives matter’: Hundreds of people, including Afghanis, demonstrate in Paris
As turmoil engulfs Kabul, Taliban’s PR offensive falters
Taliban confirms ‘hundreds’ of its fighters heading for Panjshir Valley
OIC pledges to help achieve peace in Afghanistan
Videos of Taliban’s weapons seizure in Afghanistan embarrass Washington
US-led coalition fighter jet shoots down drone over Syria
At least 21 dead, 50 missing in Tennessee heavy flooding
Egypt closes Rafah border with Gaza over Hamas: Reports
Saudi Arabia intercepts explosive Houthi drone targeting Khamis Mushait
Libya Sufis strive to protect their heritage as they come to the open
Tunisian President Takeover Sparks Fears for Freedoms
Turkey Denies Targeting Clinic in Iraq Airstrike

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 22-23/2021
The Afghan Graveyard: Today, America’s Might and President. Tomorrow, China’s Haughtiness and Greed./Raghida Dergham/August 22/ 2021
Night Falls on Afghanistan: Again/Amir Taheri/Asharq al-Awsat/August 22/2021
Western Diplomacy: Imploring the Terrorists/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/August 22/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 22-23/2021
Je suis en guerre…La révolution est morte, vive la résistance.
Jean-Marie Kassab/August 22/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/101590/%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a-%d9%83%d8%b3%d8%a7%d8%a8-%d8%a3%d9%86%d8%a7-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%ad%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a9-%d8%ad%d8%b1%d8%a8-%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%aa%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ab%d9%88/
Avant toute chose contre moi-même. Cette incapacité de me faire entendre, de ranimer un minimum de combativité dans le coeur des gens me ronge l’esprit et le corps.
Je suis en guerre surtout contre ceux qui ont drogué les gens et les ont rendus esclaves de leur nécéssités quotidiennes .Ils sont devenus comme des noyés qui cherchent uniquement à garder la tête hors de l’eau et ne pensent à rien d’autre.
Je suis en guerre contre ces guignols qui peuvent faire mais ne font rien. Ils sont devenus comme ces clowns qui ne savent faire qu’ un acte , une seule acrobatie, un seul et unique gag qui ne fait plus rire personne.
Je suis en guerre contre ma communauté, truffée de aounistes soumis aux Iraniens, collaborateurs au service de l’occupant et qui méritent la potence et rien d ‘autre.
Les révolutions sont destinées à déloger un régime pourri comme le notre. Sauf que nous sommes en situation d’ occupation, et les occupations sont contrées par de la résistance et non par des calicots ou des manifestations qui se terminent à l’ heure du diner ou de l’heure de la série télévisée favorite.
Ce dilletentisme enfantin et inspiré par l’ école des fans oû tout le monde gagne sans que personne ne score un but , nous a mené en quelque sorte là oû nous sommes aujourd’hui.
La révolution est morte, vive la résistance.

Health Ministry: 1173 new Corona cases, 3 deaths
NNA/22 August ,2021
In its daily report on the COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health announced on Sunday the registration of 1,173 new infections with Coronavirus, which raised the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 592,156.
The report added that 3 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

Iranian fuel vessels setting off soon to Lebanon: Hezbollah’s Nasrallah
Reuters/22 August ,2021
The leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Sunday that vessels carrying Iranian fuel will be setting sail soon followed by others to ease fuel shortages in Lebanon. Nasrallah insisted that the group was not trying to step in and replace the state by purchasing the fuel. The first vessel which last Thursday the group announced was about to leave Iran, had already sailed, he said. “We are not taking the place of the state, nor are we an alternative to companies that import fuel,” he said in a speech to supporters without elaborating on how the shipments would enter the country. Hezbollah’s foes in Lebanon have warned of dire consequences from the move, saying it risked sanctions being imposed on a country whose economy has been in meltdown for nearly two years. The arrival of the Iranian fuel would mark a new phase in the financial crisis, which the Lebanese state and its ruling factions - including Hezbollah - have failed to tackle even as fuel has run dry and shortages have prompted deadly violence.

Lebanon raises fuel prices by 66%, partially cuts subsidies
The Arab Weekly/August 22/2021
BEIRUT--The Lebanese government said on Sunday that it was raising gasoline prices by 66% in a partial reduction of fuel subsidies as it seeks to ease crippling shortages that have brought the country to a standstill. The increase in 95-octane gasoline prices would take effect immediately, the government said in a statement. It follows the state’s decision on Saturday to change the exchange rate used to price petroleum products in a bid to ease the shortages. The fuel crisis worsened this month when the central bank said it could no longer finance fuel imports at heavily subsidised exchange rates and would switch to market rates. The government, concerned about the impact of price rises, in a compromise agreed with the central bank on Saturday to raise prices, but by less than the market rate, to allow subsidised imports to resume for now. The rise in prices will mean more hardship in a country where poverty levels have soared during a two-year-long financial meltdown that has wiped more than 90% off the value of the Lebanese pound. The decision was made at an emergency meeting on Saturday attended by the president, central bank governor and other officials over a fuel crisis that has left Lebanon in chaos, paralysing basic services and sparking daily melees as people scramble for fuel. The price increase does not fully lift the exchange rate for pricing fuel to the exchange rate at which the central bank will finance its import – a gap which the state will continue to finance, for now. The government said the central bank will open an account for that purpose up to a maximum of $225 million until the end of September – funds the government will have to pay back in the 2022 budget. Iranian-backed Lebanese party Hezbollah has arranged for a shipment of fuel from Iran to help ease the fuel shortage in Lebanon. The move was slammed by Lebanese political figures including former Prime Minister Saad Hariri as infringing on state sovereignty.

Al-Rahi to officials: Stop manipulating people's feelings, end the obstructionist approach
NNA/August 22/2021
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, urged officials to stop torturing and manipulating citizens’ feelings and put an end to the approach of obstruction and stalling in regards to the government formation. “Stop tampering with the fate of the homeland and the state, dropping one cabinet line-up after the other, and creating new conditions whenever old ones become dissolved…Put an end to the negativity and obstruction approach and the suicide path,” he said. “We condemn your commitment to liquidate the Lebanese state with its system, charter, historical role and humanitarian and civilized mission,” al-Rahi went on. He added: “It has become clear that you are part of the coup against legitimacy and the state, and that you do not want Lebanon, which was built by fathers and grandfathers, as a land of meeting and dialogue, and that you do not want a central government, but rather you mean to force the people against their will to manage their affairs by themselves, and to make choices that have been avoided for fifty years.”Al-Rahi renewed the demand for holding an international conference on Lebanon under the auspices of the United Nations in order to salvage the nation by executing the Security Council resolutions that have not yet been put into effect, and fully implementing the Taif Agreement in both spirit and content; declaring Lebanon's neutrality according to its basic identity, and organizing the return of the displaced Syrians to their country and solving the Palestinian refugee issue.
“The only thing that is required of you, political officials, in addition to listening to God’s words, is that you cherish Lebanon and its people, and keep allegiance to it, only to it, and sacrifice your own interests for its sake,” the Patriarch underlined.
His words came in his religious sermon this morning, as he presided over Sunday Mass at the summer patriarchal seat in Diman.

Al-Rahi Accuses Officials of 'Coup against Legitimacy'
Naharnet/21 August ,2021
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday lashed out at the bickering Lebanese officials, saying that “it seems that they don’t want a government.”Instead “they are exchanging accusations night and day,” al-Rahi added, in his Sunday Mass sermon. “Quit tampering with the sentiments of the people and stop messing with the state and fabricating new conditions whenever the old ones are resolved,” the patriarch said. He added: “It has become clear that you are part of the coup against legitimacy and the state and that you don’t want a central government.”“You are deliberately pushing the people to rule themselves by themselves,” al-Rahi went on to say.

U.N. Warns Power Cuts Impeding Access to Water in Lebanon
Agence France Presse/21 August ,2021
The U.N. children's agency earlier has warned that Lebanon's lengthy power cuts are impeding access to safe water. "More than four million people across Lebanon... face the prospect of critical water shortages or being completely cut off from safe water supply in the coming days," UNICEF said in a statement. "UNICEF is calling for the urgent restoration of the power supply -- the only solution to keep water services running," it said. Lebanon is mired in what the World Bank has described as one of the world's worst economic crises since the 1850s, and more than three-quarters of the population now live in poverty.

Report: Aoun Insisting on 'Blocking Third' as Advisers Exchange Drafts
Naharnet/21 August ,2021
President Michel Aoun’s insistence on obtaining a so-called blocking one-third in the new cabinet is what’s delaying its formation, a prominent parliamentary source said. Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati is meanwhile “showing utmost flexibility and positiveness to pull the formation process out of its crisis,” the source told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Sunday. “The disagreement is not over the distribution of ministerial portfolios to sects and the naming of ministers, but rather over the fact that Aoun is fabricating one problem after another to guarantee the continuity of his political heritage through his heir -- Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil,” the source charged. The source added that the President is seeking “to secure 10 ministerial seats for Bassil and even 11, which is facing opposition from Miqati, who refuses to give the blocking one-third to any camp even in a veiled way.”“The current weekend did not carry anything new, except for the continued exchange of drafts between the advisers” of Aoun and Miqati, the source went on to say, noting that Miqati might step down unless the coming week witnesses “tangible steps” by Aoun.

Baabda Meeting Reaches Short-Term Compromise on Fuel
Agence France Presse/21 August ,2021
Lebanese officials have agreed to a short-term compromise to maintain fuel subsidies, in a move set to trigger more price hikes. Earlier this month, the central bank said it could no longer support fuel imports at a preferential exchange rate, in what many saw as a de facto end to subsidies.
Widespread panic ensued, with distributors scaling back deliveries until new prices were announced and desperate motorists forming long queues outside petrol stations. At a time when state electricity supply is almost non-existent, diesel has also been in short supply to run back-up generators to power homes, businesses and even hospitals.On Saturday evening, the presidency announced approval of a "request for the Bank of Lebanon to open a temporary account to cover urgent and exceptional subsidies for fuel."A kitty of up to $225 million would be set aside to subsidize imports of gasoline, diesel and cooking gas until the end of September, it said. The decision was taken at a Baabda meeting attended by the president, the central bank chief and the caretaker prime minister, as well as the outgoing ministers of finance and energy. Lebanon's currency, the Lebanese pound, remains officially pegged at 1,507 to the dollar, but it has lost more than 90 percent of its value on the black market. The central bank previously provided fuel importers with dollars at an intermediate exchange rate of 3,900 pounds to the greenback, and fuel prices were fixed by the energy ministry based on this rate. The Bank of Lebanon would now ensure the ministry could set prices based on an exchange rate of 8,000 pounds to the dollar, the presidency and the prime minister's office said, signaling a new increase in the price of gasoline and diesel.
Threat of water shortages
Lebanese officials have blamed the fuel crisis on hoarding by distributors seeking to sell at higher prices, as well as smuggling to war-torn Syria. Lebanese economist Nassib Ghobril said the agreement was a "compromise" that sought to allow fuel importers to release more stock and reduce shortages. "But it will not solve the problem," the chief economist at the Byblos Bank Group said. "The solution is to lift subsidies completely. That would lead to the disappearance of these long lines at the gas stations, and discourage smuggling," he said. In recent days, the army has forced filling stations hoarding petrol to sell it, and security forces have cracked down on smuggling. Saturday's decision comes a week after a fuel tank blast killed more than 30 people clamoring for petrol in northern Lebanon. Lebanon is mired in what the World Bank has described as one of the world's worst economic crises since the 1850s, and more than three-quarters of the population now live in poverty. The prime minister's office said it was also decided Saturday "to pay a month's salary in two instalments to all public sector workers," but gave no timeline for disbursement. The government stepped down a year ago after a massive blast in Beirut port that killed more than 214 people, but has stayed on in a caretaker capacity amid deadlock over a replacement line-up.

Nasrallah: More fuel vessels to set sail from Iran soon
NNA/21 August ,2021
Hezbollah Secretary-General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, declared Sunday that "the second Iranian oil vessel will set sail in a few days, and will follow the first ship that is at sea," stressing that "this path will continue as long as the country is in need, with the aim of alleviating the suffering of the people," adding that the oil is intended for all the Lebanese, hospitals and bakeries. However, he asserted that his party “is not a substitute for the state nor for companies that import fuel,” assuring that they “are not in competition with anyone." "We want to break the black market for fuel, ease the people's suffering, and continue to call for their demands,” Nasrallah emphasized, explaining that he will soon announce the ship's mechanism of operation and ways to unload its content. He revealed that "tens of millions of liters of gasoline and diesel are monopolized by companies to sell them later at huge prices," calling for the arrest and imprisonment of those behind such actions, and not just raiding storage places, “and this includes monopolists and smugglers," he said. Nasrallah renewed herein his call on officials to "take steps to ease people's burdens."
The Hezbollah Secretary-General’s words came in a televised speech he delivered this evening marking a week’s memorial of one of the party's military leaders, the late Abbas al-Yatama, in which he outlined his many sacrifices in the battle fields and fronts and his distinguished role in the July 2006 war.
Nasrallah stressed that "the resistance is stronger after the July war,” adding that “all the battles fought against the resistance did not succeed," and promising of "more success to come.”However, he refused to divulge the number of Hezbollah’s youth fighters, saying: "If I revealed this, many would be terrified."
The Hezbollah Party Chief continued to recall the “Al-Jouroud Operation” in eastern Lebanon’s outskirts, and how the US embassy was pressing to prevent liberation from ISIS, pointing to the neglect that the Bekaa region had been subjected to since the founding of the state. “The most important element of success is knowing your enemy,” he said, adding, “Our enemy is America and the Zionists, yet they do not understand us, because they have not yet understood the meaning of our belonging to the Prophet Muhammad and Imam Hussein, and therefore we are the children of this school, which led to their failure.”
Sayyed Nasrallah denounced the US embassy's interference in Lebanon, whether with companies, municipalities and some civil society associations, and also insinuated that the Saudi Kingdom is playing a role in seeking to create sectarian strife in the country, "but they failed."He affirmed that the American effort to break-up the segments of society actually aims at shaping the country and the state according to their wish, including normalization with the enemy. He accused herein some sides of "ignorance and intimidation” in terms of waving of international sanctions, pointing out that such sanctions have recently been lifted against Iran.Referring once again to the oil shipment that has sailed from Iran, en-route to Lebanon, Nasrallah noted that "according to his information, the US embassy was surprised by the announcement that the oil ship was on its way, and did not consider this news to be serious." He also pointed to the US ambassador’s call to the President of the Republic on the day he announced the sailing of the oil ship, during which she indicated that they are seeking to extract gas from Egypt through Jordan and Syria, as well as electricity from Jordan through Syria, to help Lebanon, whereby he welcomed “every step that takes place to relieve the people of their suffering and pain." However, he wondered, "Why did the ambassador not announce this matter before today, and how long does it take to run and repair the pipelines across the mentioned countries?" He added, "It takes between six months to a year, according to experts in this matter.""Where is the negotiation with Syria on this issue?" he also questioned.
"We have won, and the words of the American ambassador condemn her, because America was blocking electricity to Lebanon, despite Egypt and Jordan's efforts to do so years ago," he underlined. Touching on the drilling of oil at sea, Nasrallah declared that “Iranian companies will be recruited to drill and explore for oil and gas in case the state fails to do so," while suggesting to the government that companies do exist here that have the courage to explore in the sea. "We entered this battle in the hope that we would win, and we will win. The Lord has opened up horizons for us that we had not even imagined, so we rely on God and trust ourselves and our friends," Hezbollah’s Secretary-General reassured. Pointing to the tragic incident that occurred in al-Tleil, claiming the lives of several persons and injuring many others, Nasrallah asked: "What has become of the investigation and who bears the responsibilities?" At the Palestinian level, Nasrallah commended "what the unarmed Palestinian youths are doing in Gaza, by coming-up with innovative ways in martial arts in their battle against the heavily armed Israeli soldiers."

Nasrallah Says Another Ship to Sail from Iran, Welcomes Egypt, Jordan Help
Naharnet/21 August ,2021
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday announced that a second ship carrying fuel will sail to Lebanon “within days.”“Our first ship has become at sea, our second ship will sail within days and more ships will follow,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech commemorating Abbas al-Yatama, a Hizbullah military commander who died a week ago. “We are seeking to alleviate the suffering and what we will bring will be for all Lebanese and all those living on Lebanese soil. It will not be for one Lebanese region without the other,” Nasrallah noted. “We are not an alternative to the state in this matter or in any other matter. We cannot be so and we are not an alternative to the companies that import oil,” Hizbullah’s leader pointed out. He added: “We are not supposed to bring Lebanon's full demand of gasoline and diesel but rather good quantities that alleviate pressure off the companies and the stations.”Commenting on the recent remarks of U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, Nasrallah said: “This is important if it happens and we welcome Egypt’s gas and the Jordanian electricity and any effort that secures electricity.”“If you want to help Lebanon, tell your administration to stop preventing other countries from helping Lebanon, and we wouldn't want neither your initiative nor your money,” Nasrallah added, noting that the Egyptian and Jordanian supply plans would take months to materialize. Moreover, Nasrallah commented on the issue of offshore oil and gas exploration. “If the (foreign) companies fear Israel and the sanctions, we are willing to bring an Iranian drilling company to extract offshore oil and gas, and let Israel bomb it,” Hizbullah’s leader added, noting that such a move would hinge on the Lebanese state’s approval.

Fuel Prices Hiked in Lebanon after Baabda Deal
Naharnet/21 August ,2021
Lebanon’s Directorate General of Oil on Sunday announced a hike in the prices of gasoline, diesel and cooking gas based on a deal that was reached at Saturday’s meeting in Baabda. In a statement, the Directorate said the new prices will become applicable after the current stocks run out, noting that oil companies, distributors and gas stations are obliged to sell their existing stocks at the prices stipulated by the schedule of August 11, 2021.
Below are the new prices according to the new schedule issued on Sunday:
- 20 liters of 98-octane gasoline: LBP 133,200
- 20 liters of 95-octane gasoline: LBP 129,000
- 20 liters of diesel oil: LBP 101,500
- One cylinder of cooking gas: LBP 90,400
Lebanese officials had on Saturday agreed to a short-term compromise to maintain fuel subsidies. Earlier this month, the central bank said it could no longer support fuel imports at a preferential exchange rate, in what many saw as a de facto end to subsidies. Widespread panic ensued, with distributors scaling back deliveries until new prices were announced and desperate motorists forming long queues outside petrol stations.
At a time when state electricity supply is almost non-existent, diesel has also been in short supply to run back-up generators to power homes, businesses and even hospitals. On Saturday evening, the presidency announced approval of a "request for the Bank of Lebanon to open a temporary account to cover urgent and exceptional subsidies for fuel." A kitty of up to $225 million would be set aside to subsidize imports of gasoline, diesel and cooking gas until the end of September, it said. The decision was taken at a Baabda meeting attended by the president, the central bank chief and the caretaker prime minister, as well as the outgoing ministers of finance and energy. The central bank previously provided fuel importers with dollars at an intermediate exchange rate of 3,900 pounds to the greenback, and fuel prices were fixed by the energy ministry based on this rate.
The Bank of Lebanon would now ensure the ministry could set prices based on an exchange rate of 8,000 pounds to the dollar, the presidency and the prime minister's office said. Lebanese officials have blamed the fuel crisis on hoarding by distributors seeking to sell at higher prices, as well as smuggling to war-torn Syria. Lebanese economist Nassib Ghobril said the agreement was a "compromise" that sought to allow fuel importers to release more stock and reduce shortages. "But it will not solve the problem," the chief economist at the Byblos Bank Group said. "The solution is to lift subsidies completely. That would lead to the disappearance of these long lines at the gas stations, and discourage smuggling," he said. In recent days, the army has forced filling stations hoarding petrol to sell it, and security forces have cracked down on smuggling. Saturday's decision comes a week after a fuel tank blast killed more than 30 people clamoring for petrol in northern Lebanon. Lebanon is mired in what the World Bank has described as one of the world's worst economic crises since the 1850s, and more than three-quarters of the population now live in poverty.

Foreign Affairs Ministry thanks India for its efforts to evacuate a Lebanese citizen from Afghanistan
NNA/21 August ,2021
In an issued statement this afternoon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants thanked “the friendly State of India for the relentless efforts it made under the difficult circumstances Afghanistan is going through, to evacuate the Lebanese citizen, Mohammad Khattab, who works for Trempplin, a subsidiary of the Indian company Oracle in Afghanistan, by safely transporting him with Indian nationals to New Delhi on board an Indian military aircraft.”The Ministry commended the "valuable efforts exerted by the Embassy of Lebanon in India and the Embassy of Lebanon in Pakistan, which resulted in saving a Lebanese citizen from imminent danger.” It also praised "the cooperation demonstrated by the Pakistani authorities with the Embassy of Lebanon in Islamabad in this regard."Finally, the Foreign Ministry statement appreciated the "historic and distinguished relations Lebanon shares with both friendly India and Pakistan, which always stand by its side."

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 22-23/2021
Syrian air defense again shoots wildly at Israeli airstrikes - analysis
Jerusalem Post/August 22/2021
Syrian air-defense systems fired wildly against what foreign reports said were Israeli airstrikes on Friday. “The Israeli enemy launched an aerial attack... targeting positions near Damascus and around the city of Homs,” a Syrian regime media outlet reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based group, said four pro-Iranian fighters allied to the Damascus regime were killed. Syrian air defenses supposedly downed “hostile targets,” with Russian military sources leaking that 22 Israeli missiles were shot down. But Syrian air defenses also fired wildly, with shrapnel and debris falling over Jordan and Israel, according to varying reports. This was apparently debris from a Syrian S-200. Two commercial airliners also had to divert during the Syrian air-defense operations. Russia has been more outspoken recently about these strikes. Another Israeli airstrike was interdicted by Syrian air defense, Moscow said on July 24. Russia has indicated that 22 of the 24 missiles fired at Syria on Friday were shot down. Moscow has also been increasingly vocal in its opposition to the strikes. In November 2019, Russia also opened up about alleged Israeli airstrikes in Syria, claiming that Israel had even overflown Jordan. “Our air defense responded to the missiles and shot most of them down,” a Syrian air-defense source said after Friday’s incident. Syrian air defenses, which consists of S-200s, Pantir 22 and other systems, have been known to fire wildly in the past.
Russia has said it might provide Syria better S-300s after a Syrian S-200 shot down a Russian IL-20 plane in September 2018. The Syrians claimed they were shooting at Israeli warplanes but missed and killed Russians, causing an international incident.
A Syrian S-200 missile flew over Jordan in March 2017, activating Israel’s Arrow air defense. In July 2020, a Syrian air-defense missile allegedly fell near Kafr Asad, Jordan. This January, a similar incident allegedly happened near Ajloun, Jordan. In July 2019, a Syrian air-defense missile flew all the way to Northern Cyprus. Another such missile flew deep into southern Israel this April, triggering sirens near Dimona. If we look at the background of these stray missiles, it appears clear that they are increasing as Syrian air defense apparently attempts to more robustly defend Syria. The first major incident was in March 2017. In 2018, Syria shot down the Russian airplane. Then there was the 2019 incident in Cyprus. In 2020, there may have been another incident in Jordan, and in 2021, there have been several incidents. Are Syrian missiles being used more regularly, and are they using new guidance, supplies or radar? Or are they purposely firing them at targets that are farther away? Modern air-to-surface missiles can be fired from the standoff, meaning that in many cases, airstrikes are not carried out by aircraft over a target, but rather missiles are launched from 100 km. or even farther away. That means air defenses may be triggered at longer ranges as well. But there are questions because Syria claims it is firing at missiles and downing them. If so, why are its air-defense missiles flying so far away? Are they just stray missiles that continue on their track because they don’t find a target?In the absence of knowledge about Syrian air-defense strategy and its precise capabilities, it may not be possible to know. What is known is that Syrian air defense apparently continues to fire wildly at what it thinks are incoming missiles and enemy planes.

Afghans Face 'Impossible' Race against Time to Flee Kabul
Agence France Presse/21 August ,2021
Tens of thousands of Afghans were racing Sunday to flee their country as the United States warned of security threats at Kabul's chaotic airport and the European Union said it was "impossible" to evacuate everyone at risk from the Taliban.
In the week since the hardline Islamist militants took back power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have vowed a softer version of their brutal rule from 1996-2001, and taken steps towards forming a government. But terrified Afghans continue to try to flee, deepening a tragedy at Kabul airport where the United States and its allies have been unable to cope with the huge numbers of people trying to get on evacuation flights. A journalist, who was among a group of other media workers and academics lucky enough to get to the airport on Sunday for an evacuation flight, described desperate scenes of people surrounding their bus on the way in. "They were showing us their passports and shouting 'take us with you... please take us with you'," the journalist told AFP. "The Taliban fighter in the truck ahead of us had to shoot in the air to make them go away." Britain's Sky News on Saturday aired footage of at least three bodies covered in white tarpaulin outside the airport. It was not clear how they had died. Sky reporter Stuart Ramsay, who was at the airport, called the deaths "inevitable" and said people were being "crushed", while others were "dehydrated and terrified."
The footage was the latest image of utter despair, after video of a baby being lifted over a wall at the airport and horror scenes of people hanging onto departing planes.
'Impossible' deadline
The United States, which has thousands of troops trying to secure the airport, has set a deadline to complete the evacuations by August 31. But there are up to 15,000 Americans and 50,000 to 60,000 Afghan allies who need to be evacuated, according to the Biden administration. There are countless others who fear repression under the Taliban and are also trying to flee. U.S. President Joe Biden has described the evacuation operations as "one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history." The situation was further complicated on Saturday when the U.S. government warned its citizens to stay away from the airport because of "security threats."No specific reason was given, but a White House official later said Biden had been briefed on "counter terrorism" threats, including the Islamic State group. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell gave a bleak assessment of whether the airlifts would succeed. "They want to evacuate 60,000 people between now and the end of this month. It's mathematically impossible," European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told AFP. Borrell added that "we have complained" to the Americans that their airport security was overly strict and hampering attempts by Afghans who worked for the Europeans to enter. On Saturday the Pentagon said 17,000 people had been taken out since the operation began on August 14, including 2,500 Americans.Thousands more have left on other foreign military flights.
- Taliban government -
The Taliban have been publicly content to allow the US military oversee the airlift, while focusing on how they will run the country once the foreign forces leave. Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar flew into Kabul and planned to meet jihadi leaders, elders and politicians in the coming days, an official told AFP. Among them are leaders of the Haqqani network, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization with million-dollar bounties on its leadership.
- Resistance -
The Taliban stunned the world when they swept into Kabul last week, ending two decades of war, facing virtually no opposition from government forces that had been trained and equipped by the U.S.-led alliance. However there have been since been flickers of resistance, with some ex-government troops gathering in the Panjshir Valley, a mountainous region north of Kabul long known as anti-Taliban bastion. One of the leaders of the National Resistance Front is the son of famed anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. The NRF is prepared for a "long-term conflict" but is also still seeking to negotiate with the Taliban about an inclusive government, its spokesman told AFP in an interview. "The conditions for a peace deal with the Taliban is decentralization, a system that ensures social justice, equality, rights, and freedom for all," Ali Maisam Nazary said.

‘Afghan lives matter’: Hundreds of people, including Afghanis, demonstrate in Paris
AFP/22 August ,2021
Hundreds of people including many Afghanis demonstrated in Paris on Sunday to demand the “immediate evacuation” of threatened families in Afghanistan, a week after the Taliban takeover there. “We demand the immediate repatriation of all families and persons in danger,” a 31-year-old social worker, himself a refugee who gave his name only as Ezat, told AFP. The protesters waved signs and banners reading “Afghan lives matter,” “Evacuation now” and “Afghans welcome.”“We are here for our families,” said 24-year-old Muhammad Younas. “They aren’t safe over there... if they stay they will die.”Reza Jafari, head of the association Children of Afghanistan and Elsewhere and organizer of Sunday’s event, told the protesters: “A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding. We must prevent it now, open humanitarian corridors so that people who want to leave can leave.”Organizers demanded a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian, who told the Journal du Dimanche that the cases of hundreds of Afghans who are seeking to leave will be reviewed. The French army has airlifted about 600 mainly Afghanis on five flights out of Kabul in the week since the collapse of the Afghan government. A sixth flight is expected late on Sunday.

As turmoil engulfs Kabul, Taliban’s PR offensive falters
Reuters/21 August ,2021
In the last few days, TV crews from Afghanistan’s Al-Emarah Studio, which produces pro-Taliban multimedia content, have been out on the streets of Kabul speaking to residents with reassuring messages about life returning to normal. “How confident are you?” asked an interviewer with a Al-Emarah microphone in the city center. “100%,” came the reply. “Security is good, there are no thieves, we are very happy.”The message is in sharp contrast to the chaos in parts of Kabul since the Afghan extremist organization swept in last Sunday after a lightning conquest of Afghanistan. Thousands of people have swarmed around the airport, desperate to escape amid fears of reprisals by the insurgents and harsh Islamic law now that they are back in power. It has presented one of the toughest tests yet for the movement’s communications strategy, which has grown into a sophisticated operation in recent years and yet is struggling to calm widespread panic. The Al-Emarah interviews were a tiny step towards trying to win back control of the message. For the moment, Al-Emarah websites in five different languages have been difficult to access or apparently offline from Friday, for reasons which remain unclear. The clips could be seen on social media accounts, however. On Saturday, several Taliban spokesmen took to television studios to reassure residents that the streets were safe. On the same day, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the top Taliban political leader in Afghanistan, arrived in Kabul to set up a police force.
Getting their message across has proved harder since the Taliban conquered Afghanistan than it was when they were fighting an insurgency against foreign and US-backed local armed forces.
Over the years, it has often been a step ahead of the government, getting its message out with a mix of multi-lingual social media accounts, videos, photos and responsive, well-prepared spokesmen equipped with ready answers to reporters’ questions. While Facebook and YouTube have banned the group, it has an active presence on Twitter and dozens of social media accounts either directly linked to the movement or which stick close to its message have sprung up. Many Afghans have treated those messages with disdain. The group has been blamed for thousands of civilian deaths in gun attacks and suicide bombings over the last 20 years, deaths it said were justified in its war against invaders. And with growing turmoil in Kabul and some other cities, the movement can no longer fall back on accusations of abuse and wrongdoing by the Kabul government and its international allies. The Taliban have tried to reassure both Afghans and the international community that they will respect people’s rights and their forces will not exact revenge on members of the government and security forces. The news conference held by the Taliban’s main spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Tuesday put a public face on the movement’s communications operation for the first time. But social media feeds of beatings or shaky video of people being dragged from cars and houses have challenged the Taliban’s narrative, sowing fear among a population still in shock from the sudden collapse of the government. Many of the accounts of abuse cannot be verified, but Taliban officials acknowledge the widespread fears. A senior official told Reuters he had heard of some abuses against civilians, but promised that any problems caused by people in the movement would be investigated. In a tweet on Saturday, Mujahid said the Taliban were setting up a three-member commission to handle problems encountered by the media.With smartphones as common in Kabul as anywhere else in the world and a youthful population that has grown up with the internet, the Taliban’s communications strategy will likely keep evolving. But unless they can restore order to the streets and get people back to work, messaging alone is unlikely to be enough. “I don’t believe what they say at all, it’s all lies. Nobody trusts what they say,” said one Kabul resident, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.

Taliban confirms ‘hundreds’ of its fighters heading for Panjshir Valley
AFP/22 August ,2021
The Taliban said on Sunday that “hundreds” of its fighters were heading to the Panjshir Valley, one of the few parts of Afghanistan not yet controlled by the group. “Hundreds of Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate are heading towards the state of Panjshir to control it, after local state officials refused to hand it over peacefully,” the group wrote on its Arabic Twitter account. The province is a stronghold of the Northern Alliance fighters who joined with the US to topple the Taliban in 2001, and Ahmad Massoud, the son of a famous Northern Alliance commander assassinated days before the 9/11 attacks, has appeared in videos from there. But it appears unlikely a few thousand guerrilla fighters will soon succeed where the Afghan national security forces failed despite 20 years of Western aid, assistance and training. “If Taliban warlords launch an assault, they will of course face staunch resistance from us,” Massoud told Al Arabiya. But he also expressed openness to dialogue with the Taliban.

Taliban will face resistance if they try to seize Panjshir valley: Ahmad Massoud
Tamara Abueish, Al Arabiya English/22 August ,2021
Panjshir valley will not be handed over to the Taliban and resistance fighters will be ready to fight back if the extremist group tries to seize it, the son of one of the main leaders of Afghanistan’s anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s tells Al Arabiya. “We confronted the Soviet Union, and we will be able to confront the Taliban,” Ahmad Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, told Al Arabiya. The Taliban told Massoud he had four hours to give up Panjshir valley, north of Kabul, where the 32-year-old and Vice President of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh are holed up. Massoud said he would not surrender areas under his control to the Taliban. However, he told Al Arabiya he was ready to forgive the Taliban for killing his father if the conditions for peace and security in Afghanistan are met. His father was killed just days before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the US by al-Qaeda militants who enjoyed Afghan sanctuary under Taliban rule. Ahmad Shah Massoud’s name continues to carry huge weight both in Afghanistan and around the world. Massoud called for the formation of a comprehensive government to rule the country, with the participation of the Taliban. Massoud warned that war would be “unavoidable” if the extremist group refuses dialogue. Last week, Massoud pledged to hold out against the Taliban from his stronghold in the Panjshir valley. In a Washington Post editorial, he said members of the Afghan military had rallied to his cause ahead of the Taliban’s seizure of the country “because we knew this day might come.”“We have stores of ammunition and arms that we have patiently collected since my father’s time,” he said in the editorial, adding that some of the forces who had joined him had brought their weapons. “If Taliban warlords launch an assault, they will of course face staunch resistance from us,” he said.

OIC pledges to help achieve peace in Afghanistan
Reuters/22 August ,2021
The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) pledged on Sunday to help achieve peace in Afghanistan and said its future leaders must guard against allowing the country to be used as a platform or safe haven for “terrorists.”
The organization urged “the future Afghan leadership” and the international community to work together to ensure that Afghanistan is never again used as a backyard for international militancy. “Terrorist organizations are not allowed to have a foothold (in Afghanistan),” said a final communique, issued after the Saudi Arabia-based organization held a special meeting called by Riyadh to discuss the situation in the war-torn country. The statement called on Afghan parties to resolve their differences “peacefully.”

Videos of Taliban’s weapons seizure in Afghanistan embarrass Washington
AFP, Washington/Published: 22 August ,2021
Videos of Taliban fighters parading in US-made armored vehicles, wielding US-supplied firearms and climbing on American Black Hawk helicopters after the defeat of Afghan government forces have embarrassed the White House. The extremist group, who easily captured control of the country after a months-long campaign, seized huge amounts of weaponry, equipment and munitions from the Afghan armed forces, most of it supplied over the past two decades by Washington. Social media showed Taliban fighters carrying M4 and M18 assault rifles and M24 sniper weapons, driving around in the iconic US Humvees and, in one video, apparently wearing US-style special forces tactical uniforms. Most of the equipment has been seized from the Afghan forces who, despite two decades of training and tens of billions of dollars from the US, conceded the capital Kabul at the weekend without a fight.
“We don’t have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone. But certainly, a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban,” said White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Tuesday.
‘Botched withdrawal’
“Obviously, we don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us,” he said. Republicans seized on the admission to pounce on Biden. “Thanks to Biden’s botched withdrawal, the Taliban is better equipped today than they ever have been,” said Republican national chair Ronna McDaniel.
According to official figures, the US military supplied the Afghan army with more than 7,000 machine guns, 4,700 Humvees and 20,000 grenades in recent years. The Afghans have also received artillery and reconnaissance drones from Washington, as well as more than 200 aircraft, both fixed-wing and helicopters. Their continued operation depended heavily on US technical support and parts, however. According to photographs published Wednesday by Janes, the defense specialists, some 40 Afghan military aircraft were flown into Uzbekistan over the past week to escape the Taliban advance, including five UH-60 Black Hawk and 16 Russia Mi-17 helicopters and 10 A-29 Super Tucano attack airplanes. In its 16-month drawdown, the Pentagon removed huge amounts of its own equipment from Afghanistan, and handed some of it to the Afghan army. But hardware supplied to the Afghan forces that is now in Taliban hands has raised concerns. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that the department is looking at the issue.
Limited threat
“We obviously don’t want to see our equipment in the hands of those who would act against our interests, or the interests of the Afghan people,” Kirby told reporters. “There are numerous policy choices that can be made, up to and including destruction,” he said, without giving specifics. The captured arms and vehicles only expand the Taliban’s powers in limited ways, experts say. “The most dangerous weapons the Taliban have captured are the D-30 howitzers and Afghan Air Force assets,” said Jonathan Schroden, director of the Countering Threats and Challenges Program at CNA, a Washington security consultancy. “It is not clear that they have the ability to use all of the air platforms that they have captured, but they have already demonstrated the ability to use those howitzers,” he said. Even then, it makes them at best a limited direct threat to better-armed neighbors. On the other hand, the massive amounts of small arms and munitions they inherited, said Schroden, could “conceivably find their way to many different parts of the globe and to a variety of other terrorist groups.” “Probably the best thing the US can do at this point is to work with Afghanistan’s neighbors to try and interdict the transport of any of this equipment across the country’s borders,” he said.

US-led coalition fighter jet shoots down drone over Syria
Reuters/23 August ,2021
A fighter jet with the US-led coalition shot down a drone in eastern Syria on Saturday after the unmanned aircraft was deemed a threat, the US military said. “Coalition aircraft successfully engaged and defeated a UAS through air to air engagement in the vicinity of Mission Support Site Green Village,” said coalition spokesperson US Army Colonel Wayne Marotto. The Pentagon last month said it was deeply concerned about attacks on US personnel in Syria and Iraq after US diplomats and troops were targeted in three rocket and drone attacks that wounded two American service members.

At least 21 dead, 50 missing in Tennessee heavy flooding
Reuters/ 23 August ,202
At least 21 people have died and 50 others are reported missing after heavy flooding hit parts of Tennessee, authorities said on Sunday. A dispatcher at the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the number of those killed and missing and said authorities were working to conduct house-to-house searches of the area. Record rainfall of up to 17 inches (43 cm) in some areas sparked massive flooding on Saturday afternoon and evening. Especially hard hit was the town of Waverly, about 55 miles (88 km) west of Nashville. Hundreds of homes were left uninhabitable. Waverly Mayor Wallace Frazier told the Tennessean newspaper that those killed in flooding ranged in age from babies to the elderly. The Washington Post, citing family members, reported that 7-month-old twins died after they were swept away from their parents’ arms. The flooding uprooted massive trees, tore through homes and tossed cars and pickup trucks into ditches and atop sheds and other structures.

Egypt closes Rafah border with Gaza over Hamas: Reports
Ismaeel Naar, Al Arabiya English/22 August ,2021
Egypt has closed its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip starting Monday in protest of Hamas’ recent behavior, according to several media reports. A week ago, Egypt resumed the opening of the Gaza-Egypt Rafah border crossing in both directions to help Palestinians stranded at the crossing to enter the North African country on humanitarian grounds.Citing security concerns, Israel and Egypt both tightly restrict cross-border movement with Gaza, territory controlled by Hamas.Rafah is the only exit point for Gazans seeking to travel, via Egypt, to other countries.

Saudi Arabia intercepts explosive Houthi drone targeting Khamis Mushait
Ismaeel Naar, Al Arabiya English/22 August ,2021
Saudi Arabia’s defense forces intercepted an explosive drone that was launched by the Iran-backed Houthi militia towards Khamis Mushait, the Arab Coalition confirmed on Sunday. “The Houthi militia continue in their attempts to target civilians. We are taking operational measures to protect civilians and infrastructure from hostile attempts,” the Arab Coalition said in a statement. The Iran-backed group has launched ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones towards Saudi Arabia multiple times in recent months, most of which have been thwarted, according to Saudi authorities.
A day earlier, Iranian expert Haidar Sirjan and nine other Iran-backed Houthi militants, including two colonels, were killed following an airstrike by the Arab Coalition forces on Houthi sites in Marib, according to Yemen’s minister of information Moammar al-Eryani.

Libya Sufis strive to protect their heritage as they come to the open
The Arab Weekly/August 22/2021
ZLITEN, Libya-- Bullet holes scar the minaret of the Sufi mosque in Libya’s Zliten, but followers of the Muslim mystical tradition are working to renovate and preserve their heritage. A handful of students sit cross-legged on the floor of the mosque in the Asmariya zawiya, transcribing on wooden tablets as their teacher chants Koranic verses. Elsewhere in the complex, named for its 16th-century founder Abdessalam al-Asmar, scholars pore over old manuscripts on theology and Islamic law. The zawiya — an Arabic term for a Sufi institute offering a space for religious gatherings, Koranic education and free accommodation to travellers — also includes a boarding school and a university. Historian Fathi al-Zirkhani says the site is the Libyan equivalent of Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar University, a global authority in Sunni Islam. But despite Sufism’s long history across North Africa, Libya’s plunge into chaos after long time ruler Muammar Gadhafi was ousted in a 2011 NATO-backed revolt gave a free hand to militias. They included hardline Islamists, who are deeply hostile to Sufi “heretics” and their mystical nighttime ceremonies aimed at coming closer to the divine. “(Previously) dormant ideological currents, with backing from abroad, took advantage of the security vacuum to attack the zawiyas,” Zirkhani said. In August 2012, dozens of Islamist militants raided the site, blowing up part of the sanctuary, stealing or burning books and damaging Asmar’s tomb. But today, craftsmen are busily restoring terracotta tiles and repairing damage caused by the extremists. The tomb is surrounded by scaffolding but still bears its green silk cover, delicately embroidered with gold. The zawiya hosts several hundred students, including many from overseas, who enjoy free food and lodging. “I came to Libya to learn Koran here,” said Thai student, Abderrahim bin Ismail, in faltering Arabic. Houssein Abdellah Aoch, a 17-year-old from Chad wearing a long blue tunic, said he was working hard to commit verses to memory. “I’m hoping to memorise the entire Koran then go home and become a religious teacher,” he said.
Turbulent decades
When the call to prayer rings out, all rise and head through an arcaded courtyard to the mosque for noon prayers. It is a scene repeated daily for hundreds of years, but the zawiya has had a turbulent few decades. Gadhafi, who ruled Libya with an iron fist for four decades after seizing power in a 1969 coup, was suspicious of the Sufis. “He infiltrated the zawiya with his secret services, creating a climate of fear and mistrust,” said an employee, who asked to remain anonymous. “Gadhafi chose to divide the Sufis to control them better.”But Gadhafi’s authorities “loosened the stranglehold in the mid-1990s, which allowed the zawiyas to regain their autonomy,” he added. After Gadhafi’s overthrow in 2011, another danger emerged. The attack in Zliten, on the Mediterranean coast east of Tripoli, was echoed across the country. Islamist militants used diggers and pneumatic drills to destroy numerous Sufi sites across Libya — attacks echoed in Iraq, Pakistan and elsewhere. Zirkhani says the people who attacked the complex in Zliten were “extremists known to the state”. But in the chaos of post-revolt Libya, they have never been held to account. The zawiya has also suffered from a lack of funds as it seeks to rebuild and restore its treasures. Zirkhani showed dusty old manuscripts he wants to preserve for posterity. “We have neither the means nor the know-how to restore them,” Zirkhani said. “We need help from (UN cultural agency) UNESCO and European institutions.”But there are some signs of hope for Sufis in Libya. The zawiya was closed for six years following the 2012 attack. But in 2018 it discreetly reopened, and Sufis have been able to exercise their customs more publicly. Last October in Tripoli, they took to the streets of the old city to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed — a festival frowned upon by more austere currents of Salafi Islam.

Tunisian President Takeover Sparks Fears for Freedoms
Agence France Presse/August 22/2021
Concern is mounting over freedoms in Tunisia as President Kais Saied presses ahead with a "purge" that has seen politicians, judges and businessmen arrested or banned from travel, activists say. On July 25, Saied sacked the government and suspended parliament for one month citing powers he says were granted by the constitution, but he has yet to reveal a "roadmap" for his decisions despite repeated demands by political parties. Saied's shock move has sparked uncertainties for Tunisia, where the Arab Spring began a decade ago, setting in motion pro-democracy revolts across the region that unseated autocratic leaders. Tunisia, hailed as a rare democratic success story in the Middle East and North Africa, is mired in a political crisis compounded by dire economic woes and the Covid-19 pandemic. Several politicians, businessmen and judges, as well as members of parliament -- who lost their immunity after Saied suspended the legislature -- have said they were banned from travelling abroad or put under house arrest without prior warning. Their claims have sparked a chorus of condemnation, with critics denouncing "arbitrary" and "unjustified" measures.
But Saied offered a stiff response to his critics during a recent visit to the Tunis-Carthage International Airport. "The freedom to travel is a constitutional right which I promise to guarantee," he said. "But some people will have to answer to the judicial authorities before being able to travel".
'Constitution violated'
Saied insists that his actions are guaranteed by Article 80 of the constitution, which stipulates that the head of state can take "exceptional measures" in case of an "imminent danger" to national security. Constitutional law professor Salsabil Klibi believes the terms of the controversial article "are more dangerous for rights and freedoms than a state of emergency". "It implies the suspension of rights and freedoms and other guarantees linked to them," she said. Sana Ben Achour, a professor specializing in public law, was among many Saied critics who had accused the president of staging a "coup." The president's measures "violate the constitution", she said. "He holds power and, as far as he is concerned, he is the only one capable of interpreting the constitution," she said. By doing so, he is effectively holding all power in his hands, Ben Achour told local media outlets. Saied was a political newcomer before he won a landslide election victory in 2019. He was propelled to power amid growing frustrations at the failure of the political elite since the 2011 revolt. A legal academic who lectured at the Tunis faculty of judicial and political sciences, Saied had from the onset declared his determination to revamp the political system through his views of the law.
'Authoritarian drift'
A group of 45 judges have penned a joint statement in recent days, denouncing Saied's travel bans as "authoritarian drift". They also condemned what they called "the awful and unprecedented" moves by the president to bar judges from travelling in and out of the country. Saied's nemesis, the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party -- the largest bloc in parliament -- said one of their leaders, Anouar Maarouf, was among those held under house arrest. The opposition Democratic Current party also accused authorities of barring one of its deputies from travelling to France. Like Ennahdha, the party said the move was arbitrary and did not rest on any "judicial decision". On Friday night, the former head of Tunisia's anti-corruption body, Chawki Tabib, said he had been ordered under house arrest. A former head of Tunisia's bar association, Tabib said in a Facebook post that the move was "a flagrant violation" of his rights as guaranteed by the constitution.
30-day deadline looms
I Watch, a Tunisian non-government group that battles corruption, said at least 14 members of parliament face legal proceedings or have been sentenced over a range of crimes. Among the MPs is Yassine Ayari, who was found guilty by a military court in 2018 of criticizing the army, and Faycal Tebbini, sentenced in a libel case. Media outlets have also been targeted since Saied's shock July measures, including Al Jazeera television. The Qatari broadcaster was shut by police in the Tunisian capital and the keys to the premises confiscated. No reason was given for the closure.
With the deadline on his month-long suspension of parliament looming, Saied is expected to address the nation in the coming days to announce his future moves.
According to Ben Achour, he is expected to extend the suspension of parliament which is tantamount to suspending the constitution. "And this can go on for years," she said.

Turkey Denies Targeting Clinic in Iraq Airstrike
Agence France Presse/August 22/2021
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denied that an air raid in northwest Iraq earlier this week, in which eight people died, had targeted a clinic, insisting the facility housed members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization. "Contrary to the allegations of the terrorist organization, the target that was hit was not a hospital or a medical center, but was one of the places of accommodation of the organization," Erdogan said in a telephone call with Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhemi. Initially, the death toll in the air raid on Tuesday in Iraq's Sinjar province had been put at three, but Iraqi officials said the day after that the number of dead had risen to eight. Among the dead were four employees of the clinic and four fighters from the PKK-linked 80th Brigade of Iraq's powerful, state-sponsored Hashed al-Shaabi coalition. The 80th Brigade is made up of Iraq's Yazidi minority, who were persecuted by the Islamic State group from 2014 and whose bastion is Sinjar. One local source said drones were used in the attack.  Repeated Turkish raids have stoked tensions with Baghdad, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that his country will "deal with" the PKK presence if Iraq is unable to do so. Iraq regularly decries violations of its sovereignty and has repeatedly summoned the Turkish ambassador over Ankara's cross-border military campaign.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials published on August 22-23/2021
The Afghan Graveyard: Today, America’s Might and President. Tomorrow, China’s Haughtiness and Greed.
Raghida Dergham/August 22/ 2021
US President Joe Biden will not express any regret for the chaotic withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan and will never admit that he has erred and miscalculated. This is today. However, the resurgence of Al-Qaeda and ISIS as a result of the Taliban’s crushing victory could force Joe Biden later to admit that his confused decisions in Afghanistan were the worst possible investment in US national security and international security, especially if these terror groups knock on America’s doors as they probably intend. Indeed, the Biden administration rushed to the exit door in Afghanistan without an exit strategy and post-exit strategy, bearing in mind that the US intelligence community had warned of a rapid collapse of the Afghan army, which had 300,000 soldiers trained by the Americans over many years. In a matter of days, these Afghan forces retreated before the Taliban’s advance, leaving them huge quantities of ammunition and advanced military equipment. Eyes are now on Iraq, where there are fears a similar departure of US forces could bring about a terrifying outcome for Iraq, causing war between ISIS and Popular Mobilization Forces militias controlled by the IRGC in Iran. Libya is also susceptible to further collapse, leading to the respawning of terror groups that have come in from Syria with international enablement. Today, the biggest threat following the fall of Afghanistan into the Taliban’s hands is the opening this momentous development creates for terrorist groups to regroup, reinvent themselves and relaunch their projects beyond Afghanistan’s borders. The Taliban has declared itself not responsible for these groups, which have promised to leave Afghanistan’s affairs for the Taliban in return for being given freedom of operation for attacks outside of Afghanistan. Despite this, Russia, China, and Iran have since rushed to seek deals and insurance policies from the Taliban. US foreign policy in the meantime is scrambling between the preoccupation of the administration with striking a nuclear deal with Iran at any cost, and the delivery of electoral promises to withdraw US troops from the ‘wars of others’ at any cost. For their part, the European powers continue to be panicked by the prospect of refugee waves, responding only with superficial theories without serious plans of action. As for the Arab countries, they remain torn and discordant as ever, some the victim of their regimes, others the victims of Iranian, Turkish, Israeli, and Jihadi schemes. A And amid all this, they are trying to protect themselves from the fallout of the Afghan crisis.
The Taliban ‘movement’ is now the Taliban ‘government’. With only 75,000 fighters, the Taliban won a war against a nuclear-armed superpower that spent over $3 trillion in two decades, yet failed to build a state, institutions, and democracy in the country it occupied. It is absolutely true that Afghanistan is America’s second Vietnam. It shall forever remain a stain on the prestige of Washington and its NATO allies, and the repercussions of this pivotal moment in Afghanistan will be regional and global in their dimensions.
Iran is not celebrating the return of the Taliban, but it is revelling in the failure and humiliation of the United States. It has established contacts with the Taliban, although the pillars of the regime in Tehran remain divided about this. Iran has engaged the Taliban seeking to address the issue of refugees and border security, but what Iran ultimately wants is to contain the threat of ISIS, al-Qaeda and similar groups and is ready to buy ‘insurance policies’ from the Taliban through certain kinds of deals. And the same goes for Russia, China, and other nations.
To be sure, Russia is also engaging the Taliban, ready to deal with the group as a political administration in Afghanistan, not just a militant group. The Kremlin is dealing with a sense of pragmatism that seems to have overcome the memories of the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan. But unlike the West which claims to be concerned about such matters, the Kremlin sees Afghanistan under the Taliban from a security lens, not a human rights or women’s rights one.
The Taliban has promised Russia not to make deals with al-Qaeda, ISIS or others to facilitate their operations outside of Afghanistan. But the Taliban has also made it clear to Russia and others it will not ask these groups to leave Afghan territory. There is an agreement from 2019 between Taliban and ISIS to coexist and cooperate. The Taliban is not keen to abolish these deals with groups that share similar religious and ideological beliefs.
The Taliban has declared it will govern on the basis of the Islamic Sharia, declaring Afghanistan an Islamic Emirate with some small ‘modernising touches’ in the beginning to give the world the impression its doctrine has changed. This has the goal of avoiding any economic embargo and invite other countries to recognize its rule. This requires some cosmetic measures but these will likely be limited to Kabul and will not go beyond paying some lip service to moderation to hide the real mindset of the Taliban.
For the Taliban right now, the priority is to uproot the current system of government, then rule on the basis of Sharia without any constitution or any mention of democracy. Women may not be subjected to corporal punishment except under court orders, which makes them part of the Taliban makeover, but women will have no rights except what an obscure interpretation of the Sharia will give them – that is, they will have no rights at all. Yet the West will not dare intervene again and invoke women’s or human rights, especially since the Taliban can now yield the weapon of refugees against the West.
The second priority is to forge accords with China for economic reasons, and work with Pakistan to get official recognition from as many states as possible.
Officially, foreign states will be watching one another to see who will first recognise the Taliban government and how the designation of the Taliban as a terrorist group at the UN Security Council can be overcome. But informally, many Western and Arab states are preparing to recognize the Taliban government, albeit are avoiding being the first to do it as long as possible.
Russia for example is ready to recognize the Taliban but cannot propose the idea of un-designating them at the Security Council given the political risks. The United States is not prepared at all to delist the Taliban. The Europeans may be eager about the idea, but they also fear to do so publicly, even though they are hinting at the inevitability of recognition. China began working with the Taliban before their victory and then expedited the collaboration afterwards. Pakistan is likely to be the first state to recognize the Taliban government, and everyone is waiting for that move.
The problem of peace and security in Afghanistan is not just dependent on the Taliban’s success in imposing law and order – in its usual violent way or any other way – in Afghanistan. The problem is that Afghanistan is today back to being a haven for terror groups, which was the reason the United States invaded and occupied the country 20 years ago after 9/11. In the past few months, thousands of ISIS fighters arrived in Afghanistan from Syria and Libya, with estimates suggesting up to 10,000 of now stationed in the country according to sources that closely track jihadist activities.
The Taliban may be able to stabilize Afghanistan but they are unwilling or unable to rein in al-Qaeda or ISIS. The deal between them is: Leave Afghanistan for the Taliban, and whatever happens outside the Afghan border is not the responsibility of the Taliban, who is unable or unwilling to control the border. And everyone is concerned by this.
Foremost of those concerned is China, but it sees the US withdrawal and the relationship with Pakistan an opportunity to spread its influence to Afghanistan and exploit its rich mineral resources. And China has the money to tempt the Taliban. China may thus see that its interests are best served by working with Pakistan to be the masters of the game in Afghanistan, counter rivals like India there, and build on the US retreat from the region.
But Afghanistan could become a graveyard for China, as it became a graveyard for Soviet and US might. This does not seem yet to dampen China’s hunger for mineral resources, the strategic lure of a central Asian foothold, and the opportunity to contain any bid by radical Islamic groups to destabilize the Sunni Muslim majority Uighur regions in China. In this it sees its relations with Iran and Pakistan a kind of a shield in Afghanistan.
The developments in Afghanistan could prove to be a graveyard for the Biden administration, not only because they exposed the short-sightedness of Biden’s team, but because of the possibility of luring terrorism back to US cities, something that former President George W. Bush in his arrogance thought he had eliminated by invading Afghanistan and Iraq. In that case, former President Donald Trump may benefit politically, despite having been the one who proposed pulling US troops from Afghanistan. To be fair however, Trump had conceived to do so gradually, not on a tight inflexible deadline as Joe Biden has done.
The idea of building an international coalition to fight terrorism has died with the fall of Afghanistan into the Taliban’s hands. True, President Biden has succeeded in escaping the Afghan quagmire, but the ‘how’ of this escape will bring many regrets to the administration and perhaps even haunt it back to the Afghan graveyard.

Night Falls on Afghanistan: Again
Amir Taheri/Asharq al-Awsat/August 22/2021
Rival Islamist groups are already present, controlling chunks of territory. The so-called ISIS is planted in Konar and Loghar while another outfit known as Khorasan and promising to create a new caliphate covering parts of Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran is also busy recruiting. The Taliban itself is a far from united outfit with Pakistan, Islamic Republic in Iran and, it seems even Turkey, China and Russia having their respective "contacts" in the movement.
More importantly, Taliban may face an urban people-based opposition that was often absent in Afghan politics. The experience of the past four decades, especially the past 20 years, cannot be wiped out with a stroke. Millions of Afghans have had a taste, albeit furtive, of a different way of life and are unlikely to put the clock back 1,400 years as Taliban demand.
In other words, Taliban are doomed to fail, leaving Afghanistan as an ungoverned land. And that is bad news for the whole world, as an ungoverned land is ideal location for terrorist groups of all denominations.
The Taliban are doomed to fail, leaving Afghanistan as an ungoverned land. And that is bad news for the whole world, as an ungoverned land is ideal location for terrorist groups of all denominations.
With President Ashraf Ghani's hasty flight from Kabul, we are now witnessing the fall of the second of five regimes that label themselves "Islamic Republic" in just over two years.
The first to fall was the Islamic Republic of the Sudan and what we have left are Islamic Republics in Pakistan, Iran and Mauritania. If we include the Islamic State created in parts of Iraq and Syria a few years ago and still lingering as a bad smell, we might conclude that, despite Taliban's latest success, the label "Islamic" is not as invulnerable as some suggest.
The difference is that in Sudan the Islamic Republic was replaced by a timid, though no less sincere, attempt at democratization while the Islamic Republic in Afghanistan signals the return of the Islamic Emirate or a more radical version of Islamism.
The question now is whether or not the Taliban will succeed in building a state in Afghanistan or will Afghanistan become another ungoverned territory in West Asia's arch of instability? The speed with which Ghani's US-backed Islamic Republic fell might suggest that the Taliban enjoy a popular support base large enough to sustain the building of a new state.
However, here, as often in similar cases, appearances may be misleading. Taliban did not win on any battlefield because, outside a few locations such as Kandahar and Lashkargah, Afghan security forces either surrendered or ran away. Like the last time when they emerged as top dog in Afghanistan, Taliban used a mixture of bribes, Samsonites full of greenbacks, promises of safety and appeals to Pushtun tribal affinities to persuade army and police chiefs to sheath their swords.
Ghani's regime largely depended on some 20,000 private sector security men, mostly from Europe and the United States. But they, too, saw no reason to get involved when Afghan security chiefs themselves were on the run.
More importantly, perhaps, most Afghans saw no reason to fight and possibly die for Ghani's Islamic Republic. To be sure, Ghani's set-up was far better than whatever Taliban might have to offer. But the regime's corruption, incompetence, tribalism and cowardice prevented the shaping of a will to resist. Today, one shaky set-up is replaced by another shaky concoction.
Afghanistan has over 18,000 villages, where 76 percent of the population live, which have never really been governed by anyone in any acceptable sense of the term, always relatively safe in their isolation. As far as the urban population is concerned, numerous opinion polls over the past two decades show Taliban support hovering below 14 percent. This is why even in Pushtun-majority towns and cities, no one turned up to welcome the prodigal sons. Instead, people took precautions to hide themselves as if from a spell of bad weather or a hail storm. Women dusted off their old burqas or stayed home while men started to grow longer beards.
Since the fall of the monarchy in the early 1970s Afghanistan has experienced several attempts at building an alternative state structure and failed in all of them. The experiment with Muhammad Daoud Khan, the egomaniac who ended the monarchy, lasted under five years.
Then was the turn of old-style Communists who wasted another five years on socio-political engineering. They were replaced by KGB men who spent their five-year spell trying to cope with the Mujahedin, armed opponents mostly backed by the US and its regional allies. The Mujahedin had their own five-year spell in which Tajik, Uzbek and Pushtun factions spent their energy fighting each other rather than building new state structures. The next five-year span went to Taliban, who entered Kabul without a fight. But they, too, never managed to build anything resembling a state. Their regime was recognized by only two countries and never admitted to the United Nations.
Medieval Islamic historians divided the emergence of a solid state in five phases. In the first phase, a force, a tribe or a mercenary army conquers a chunk of territory. In the second phase the conqueror makes sure that he is the most powerful in the territory concerned. In the third phase, the winners establish their dominance beyond any possible challenge. The fourth sees the winning camp transforming itself into a governing force. That in turn, and in time, leads to the fifth and final phase in which a new state emerges with the prospect of durability.
In their first appearance on the Afghan scene, Taliban did not manage to go beyond a half-complete first phase and, in some urban areas the second one. There is no reason why Taliban should be more successful this time. Right now, they don't seem to face a challenge by any armed group. But that would change quickly. Rival Islamist groups are already present, controlling chunks of territory. The so-called ISIS is planted in Konar and Loghar while another outfit known as Khorasan and promising to create a new caliphate covering parts of Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran is also busy recruiting. The Taliban itself is a far from united outfit with Pakistan, Islamic Republic in Iran and, it seems even Turkey, China and Russia having their respective "contacts" in the movement.
Even in the core structure of Taliban, such groups as the Haqqani network, now top dog in the movement, has a long history of deadly rivalry with various groups, including Wardak, the Quetta circles, and remnants of Abdul-Haq's Mujahedin.
More threatening than that the Taliban may face new opposition groups emerging on the basis of ethnic identities. The Tajiks, accounting for some 32 percent of the population are unlikely to submit to a mainly Pushtun domination and may revive their old anti-Taliban alliance with Uzbeks and Hazarahs, who have their own blood-stained history with Taliban.
More importantly, Taliban may face an urban people-based opposition that was often absent in Afghan politics. The experience of the past four decades, especially the past 20 years, cannot be wiped out with a stroke. Millions of Afghans have had a taste, albeit furtive, of a different way of life and are unlikely to put the clock back 1,400 years as Taliban demand. Because without their cooperation nothing resembling state structures could be built, the Taliban won't find it easy to line them up with the usual terror tactics.
In other words, Taliban are doomed to fail, leaving Afghanistan as an ungoverned land. And that is bad news for the whole world, as an ungoverned land is ideal location for terrorist groups of all denominations.
*Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat since 1987.

Western Diplomacy: Imploring the Terrorists
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/August 22/2021
Born in the years of the Cold War, the German Army was the backbone of NATO forces in Europe. Today, it is... "a quasi-humanitarian organization, a kind of Médecins Sans Frontières with guns".
Meanwhile.... American officials, not humiliated enough, were trying to obtain assurances from the Taliban that, in exchange for aid, they would not attack the US Embassy in Kabul.
Afghan feminists counted on the solidarity of their German colleagues. But the Green Party was apparently too busy deleting male politicians from official photos for their own feminist propaganda. Well, what about the Swedish Army, then? It was busy waving the LGBT flag.
Meanwhile, the US military was busy teaching "critical race theory" at West Point. All great on the Western front ...
In the so-called "free world" there is the thick, unhealthy air of betrayal.
American officials, not humiliated enough, have been trying to obtain assurances from the Taliban that, in exchange for aid, they would not attack the US Embassy in Kabul.
"What we've witnessed this week in Afghanistan is a watershed moment in Western decline", Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote. "America cares more about pronouns than the fate of Afghan women."
You could see it from the Western diplomatic response after the Taliban conquered Kabul without firing a shot and arrived in the capital as tourists.
"The Afghan government should engage with the Taliban to reach an inclusive agreement". Even before Afghanistan had fallen into hands of the Taliban, that intrepid EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was already begging the Afghans to reach an agreement with the Islamists.
The same day, the Associated Press was reporting what now awaits millions of Afghan women. In a park of Kabul, which was turned into a refuge for displaced people, girls returning home were stopped and whipped for... wearing sandals. Since then, there are reports of women being raped, sold to terrorists as sex slaves, murdered for not wearing a burqa, having their eyes gouged out, and girls as young as 12 being hunted door-to-door and "dragged out as sex slaves" or forced to marry fighters in the terror group. Associated Press added:
"Borrell warned that the Taliban would face non-recognition, isolation, lack of international support and the prospect of continued conflict and instability in Afghanistan if they take power by force and re-establish an Islamic Emirate."
Oh, and if you think that for the West the Taliban are enemies, you would be wrong. Enemies? "I think you have to be very careful using the word enemy", said the UK Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter. The Taliban, he explained, "want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all" -- the words of a surrender. Meanwhile, the French government is already busy listing its "conditions for recognizing the Taliban regime".
"If you impose sharia law, we will no longer give you our money", said Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who was also terrifying the Taliban. Six weeks earlier, Maas gave a heroic speech to the Bundestag on the imminent "orderly withdrawal of Nato troops from Afghanistan", which also included the units of the German Army (Bundeswehr) stationed in Kunduz, a city conquered days later by the Taliban. Maas praised the efforts of the Germans, who "achieved something extraordinary in Afghanistan". Ahh, yes: Extraordinary....
Born in the years of the Cold War, the German Army was the backbone of NATO forces in Europe. Today, it is Europe's military soft underbelly. It is now "a quasi-humanitarian organization, a kind of Médecins Sans Frontières with guns". Already at the end of April, the German Foreign minister had warned the Taliban that "Any help will depend on democratic standards". Apparently unimpressed by the German threats, the Afghan mujaheddin began their march towards Kabul, while killing women, soldiers, interpreters, journalists and poets.
Britain, today less and less Churchillian, announced that "it will work with the Taliban if they take back power", as Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace told the Telegraph.
Meanwhile, from the US, a strange request came from the Biden administration, according to the New York Times. American officials, not humiliated enough, were trying to obtain assurances from the Taliban that, in exchange for aid, they would not attack the US Embassy in Kabul. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, "hopes to convince Taliban leaders that the embassy must remain secure if the group hopes to receive US financial aid and other assistance as part of a future Afghan government".
Pope Francis, instead, asked for "dialogue" with the same people who had been busy in Lahore blowing up a playground and killing 70 Christians, many of them children, and bombing a church in Peshawar and killing 106 people.
"Canada closes its embassy in Kabul". "Germany minimizes its embassy in Kabul". "Denmark closes its embassy in Kabul". "Spain begins repatriation of staff from Kabul". "Netherlands prepares the evacuation of the embassy in Kabul". "UK sends 600 soldiers to evacuate its people from Kabul". "Norway closes the embassy in Kabul". Western retreat is now a litany.
"Please do not recognize the Taliban", Afghan journalist Lailuma Sadid said in tears while begging Western leaders during a news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had other priorities: she "implored" the Taliban to "recognize human rights". "Helping the Taliban to help Afghanistan", stated Gregor Gysi, the charismatic leader of Germany's Left Party. "Why can't we offer aid to the Taliban, on which women depend, and place conditions on these offers?"
A special fund for three million girls kicked out of school? Afghan feminists counted on the solidarity of their German colleagues. But the Green Party was apparently too busy deleting male politicians from official photos for their own feminist propaganda. Well, what about the Swedish army, then? It was busy waving the LGBT flag. Okay, what about the Australian army? It was fighting with Photoshop to delete the cross of its most decorated soldier from official photos. The Taliban would be so proud. They proclaim openly their war against "the Crusaders". Meanwhile, the US military was busy teaching "critical race theory" at West Point. All great on the Western front ...
"Show us that you have changed", Western countries tell the Taliban. But they have not changed. Mixed classes have now been abolished by the Taliban, who consider them "the source of all evil." The Washington Post reports that music has disappeared from Afghan cafes. The Afghanistan National Institute of Music, reveals the New York Times, is going to close, after years of training female musicians. The faces of women have already vanished from the capital's shops. An Afghan journalist in Kabul told Outlook magazine that the Taliban have entered the gyms: "Don't show your muscles, cover your body and grow a beard..." Journalists are already victims of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
The family member of a journalist from the Germany state-owned broadcaster Deutsche Welle was killed, and Christians have fallen into absolute terror. " We're hearing from reliable sources that the Taliban demand people's phones, and if they find a downloaded Bible on your device, they will kill you immediately", related SAT-7. Americans are being beaten by the Taliban. Intelligence agencies now fear a scenario like Iran's taking of US diplomats as hostages in 1979.
"Taliban, the world is watching you", warned an audacious Nancy Pelosi, while the State Department officially asked the Taliban to form an "inclusive government", as if they were talking about a "safe space" in one of those crazy American university campuses.
After Kabul's fall, the EU's foreign policy representative, Josef Borrell, came up with another idea: after the Afghan unity government was born dead, Borrell invited the Taliban to "dialogue".
At the same time, the former Minister of Finance of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis, was celebrating the American defeat:
"On the day liberal-neocon imperialism was defeated once and for all, DiEM25's thoughts are with the women of Afghanistan. Our solidarity probably means little to them but it is what we can offer -- for the time being. Hang in there sisters!".
A spokesman for the German Ministry of Defense spoke about the responsibility of getting Afghan personnel out of Kabul: "We did not force them to collaborate with us". That was perhaps the pinnacle of moral depravity. The most honest was the former British Ambassador to Kabul, Nick Kay, who confessed to the BBC: "I hang my head in shame".
While the capture of Kabul will be a tornado for radical Islam around the world, in the so-called "free world" there is the thick, unhealthy air of betrayal. As a Taliban leader said last week to CNN, "Jihad will come not only in Afghanistan, but all over the world".
Hang in there Westerners!
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
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