English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For March 29/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

#elias_bejjani_news
 

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Bible Quotations For today

Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be lifted up and thrown into the sea”, it will be done
Matthew 21/17-27: “Jesus left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there. In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, ‘May no fruit ever come from you again!’ And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, ‘How did the fig tree wither at once?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be lifted up and thrown into the sea”, it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.’ When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’ Jesus said to them, ‘I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ And they argued with one another, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” But if we say, “Of human origin”, we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.’So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”!”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 28-29/2021

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/
Jesus’ Victorious Entry into Jerusalem -Palm Sunday/Elias Bejjani/March 28/2021
Health Ministry: 2,724 new Corona cases, 38 deaths
Hariri Hospital: 53 critical cases, one death
Health Minister’s Press Office corrects what was reported in his interview with LBC regarding the Russian, Chinese vaccines
Hassan files lawsuit against those who claim "no oxygen shortage"
Fakhoury Daughters Start Foundation for Helping Families of U.S. Hostages
Al-Rahi: Aoun, Hariri Must Specify Standards Together, Agree on Entire Line-Up
Al-Rahi Reportedly Ready to Mediate between Aoun, Hariri
Lebanon’s largest Christian bloc warns against sidelining president
Lebanon PM warns of 'dangerous nuclear chemicals' in oil facility
Jumblat Wonders if 'Sanctions' are Delaying New Govt.
U.S. Contractor Pleads Guilty to Sharing Classified Info with Hizbullah-Linked Man
Bilal Shamas appointed as a judge at the International Tribunal for the Settlement of Disputes in London
Hawat warns of major security explosion, says Hezbollah & FPM are adopting obstruction
Why Lebanon should also look east/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/March 28/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published March 28-29/2021

Beleaguered Syria Suffers Also Due to Suez Canal Closure
Indonesia Cathedral Rocked by Palm Sunday Suicide Bombing
Russia Offers Egypt Assistance in Freeing Ship Blocking Suez
Syria Kurds Launch Security Sweep, Arrests in IS Families Camp
Armenia PM to Resign ahead of Snap Election to Defuse Crisis
Sudan, Rebel Faction Sign Deal on Peace Talks
World Bank, IMF Say Sudan Eligible for Debt Relief after U.S. Deal
Qatar Human Rights Protests Spread across World Cup Qualifiers
 

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published March 28-29/2021

Erdoganistan: The New Islamic Superpower?/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/March 28, 2021
Why US eyes are on three key elections/Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/March 28/2021
Who radicalized the Boulder gunman?/Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/March 28, 2021
If China and Russia want global respect, stop backing the bad guys/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/March 28, 2021
 

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published March 28-29/2021

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/
 

Jesus’ Victorious Entry into Jerusalem -Palm Sunday
Elias Bejjani/March 28/2021

http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/38277/elias-bejjani-jesus-victorious-entry-into-jerusalem-palm-sunday/
(Psalm118/26): “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of Yahweh! We have blessed You out of the house of Yahweh”.
On the seventh Lantern Sunday, known as the “Palm Sunday”, our Maronite Catholic Church celebrates the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The joyful and faithful people of this Holy City and their children welcomed Jesus with innocent spontaneity and declared Him a King. Through His glorious and modest entry the essence of His Godly royalty that we share with Him in baptism and anointing of Chrism was revealed. Jesus’ Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem, the “Palm Sunday”, marks the Seventh Lantern Sunday, the last one before Easter Day, (The Resurrection).
During the past six Lantern weeks, we the believers are ought to have renewed and rekindled our faith and reverence through genuine fasting, contemplation, penance, prayers, repentance and acts of charity. By now we are expected to have fully understood the core of love, freedom, and justice that enables us to enter into a renewed world of worship that encompasses the family, the congregation, the community and the nation.
Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time to participate in the Jewish Passover Holiday. He was fully aware that the day of His suffering and death was approaching and unlike all times, He did not stop the people from declaring Him a king and accepted to enter the city while they were happily chanting : “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”.(John 12/13). Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19/39-40). Jesus entered Jerusalem to willingly sacrifice Himself, die on the cross, redeem us and absolve our original sin.
On the Palm Sunday we take our children and grandchildren to celebrate the mass and the special procession while happily they are carrying candles decorated with lilies and roses. Men and women hold palm fronds with olive branches, and actively participate in the Palm Procession with modesty, love and joy crying out loudly: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21/09).
On the Palm Sunday through the procession, prayers, and mass we renew our confidence and trust in Jesus. We beg Him for peace and commit ourselves to always tame all kinds of evil hostilities, forgive others and act as peace and love advocates and defend man’s dignity and his basic human rights. “Ephesians 2:14”: “For Christ Himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in His own body on the cross, He broke down the wall of hostility that separated us”
The Triumphal Entry of Jesus’ story into Jerusalem appears in all four Gospel accounts (Matthew 21:1-17; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-40; John 12:12-19). The four accounts shows clearly that the Triumphal Entry was a significant event, not only to the people of Jesus’ day, but to Christians throughout history.
The Triumphal Entry as it appeared in Saint John’s Gospel, (12/12-19), as follows : “On the next day a great multitude had come to the feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet him, and cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!” Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it. As it is written, “Don’t be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt. ”His disciples didn’t understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him, and that they had done these things to Him. The multitude therefore that was with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, was testifying about it. For this cause also the multitude went and met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “See how you accomplish nothing. Behold, the world has gone after him.” Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast. These, therefore, came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew came with Philip, and they told Jesus.”
The multitude welcomed Jesus, His disciples and followers while chanting: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”.(John 12/13). His entry was so humble, meek simple and spontaneous. He did not ride in a chariot pulled by horses as earthly kings and conquerors do, He did not have armed guards, nor officials escorting him. He did not come to Jerusalem to fight, rule, judge or settle scores with any one, but to offer Himself a sacrifice for our salvation.
Before entering Jerusalem, He stopped in the city of Bethany, where Lazarus (whom he raised from the tomb) with his two sisters Mary and Martha lived. In Hebrew Bethany means “The House of the Poor”. His stop in Bethany before reaching Jerusalem was a sign of both His acceptance of poverty and His readiness to offer Himself as a sacrifice. He is the One who accepted poverty for our own benefit and came to live in poverty with the poor and escort them to heaven, the Kingdom of His Father.
After His short Stop in Bethany, Jesus entered Jerusalem to fulfill all the prophecies, purposes and the work of the Lord since the dawn of history. All the scripture accounts were fulfilled and completed with his suffering, torture, crucifixion, death and resurrection. On the Cross, He cried with a loud voice: “It is finished.” He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.(John19/30)
The multitude welcomed Jesus when He entered Jerusalem so one of the Old Testament prophecies would be fulfilled. (Zechariah 9:9-10): “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth”.
The crowd welcomed Jesus for different reasons and numerous expectations. There were those who came to listen to His message and believed in Him, while others sought a miraculous cure for their ailments and they got what they came for, but many others envisaged in Him a mortal King that could liberate their country, Israel, and free them from the yoke of the Roman occupation. Those were disappointed when Jesus told them: “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom” (John 18/36)
Christ came to Jerusalem to die on its soil and fulfill the scriptures. It was His choice where to die in Jerusalem as He has said previously: “should not be a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem” (Luke 13/33): “Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem”.
He has also warned Jerusalem because in it all the prophets were killed: (Luke 13:34-35): “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! “behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”.
Explanation of the Palm Sunday Procession Symbols
The crowd chanted, “Hosanna to the Son of David” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21/09), because Jesus was is a descendant of David. Hosanna in the highest is originated in the Psalm 118/25: “Please, LORD, please save us. Please, LORD, please give us success”. It is a call for help and salvation as also meant by the Psalm 26/11: “But I lead a blameless life; redeem me and be merciful to me”. Hosanna also means: God enlightened us and will never abandon us, Jesus’ is a salvation for the world”
Spreading cloth and trees’ branches in front of Jesus to walk on them was an Old Testament tradition that refers to love, obedience, submission, triumph and loyalty. (2 Kings 09/13): “They hurried and took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”. In the old days Spreading garments before a dignitary was a symbol of submission.
Zion is a hill in Jerusalem, and the “Daughter of Zion” is Jerusalem. The term is synonymous with “paradise” and the sky in its religious dimensions.
Carrying palm and olive branches and waving with them expresses joy, peace, longing for eternity and triumph. Palm branches are a sign of victory and praise, while Olive branches are a token of joy, peace and durability. The Lord was coming to Jerusalem to conquer death by death and secure eternity for the faithful. It is worth mentioning that the olive tree is a symbol for peace and its oil a means of holiness immortality with which Kings, Saints, children and the sick were anointed.
The name “King of Israel,” symbolizes the kingship of the Jews who were waiting for Jehovah to liberate them from the Roman occupation.
O, Lord Jesus, strengthen our faith to feel closer to You and to Your mercy when in trouble;
O, Lord Jesus, empower us with the grace of patience and meekness to endure persecution, humiliation and rejection and always be Your followers.
O, Lord Let Your eternal peace and gracious love prevail all over the world.
A joyous Palm Sunday to all.

Health Ministry: 2,724 new Corona cases, 38 deaths
NNA/March 28/2021
The Ministry of Public Health announced, on Sunday, the registration of 2,724 new Corona infections, thus raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 461,062.
It also indicated that 38 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

Hariri Hospital: 53 critical cases, one death
NNA/March 28/2021
Rafic Hariri University Hospital announced, in its daily report on the latest developments of the emerging “COVID-19” Coronavirus, that it has 53 critical cases currently receiving follow-up treatment and one death registered during the past 24 hours.
The report outlined the following:
- Number of examinations conducted in the hospital’s laboratories during the past 24 hours: 268
- Number of patients infected with Coronavirus currently in the hospital for follow-up: 112
- Number of Coronavirus suspected cases during the past 24 hours: 24
- Number of recovered patients in the hospital during the past 24 hours: 2
- Total number of recoveries at the hospital from the beginning to-date: 1058
- Number of cases transferred from the intensive care unit to the isolation unit after improvement: 2
- Number of critical cases receiving treatment at the hospital: 53
- Number of deaths: 1
The hospital reminded that the call center for the Covid-19 vaccine service provides citizens and residents with assistance, by filling out the registration form for all those wishing to receive the vaccine or following-up on the registration form that was previously filled out, adding that the numbers to contact are: 01/832070 or WhatsApp # 70/056182.

Health Minister’s Press Office corrects what was reported in his interview with LBC regarding the Russian, Chinese vaccines
NNA/March 28/2021
Caretaker Public Health Minister, Hamad Hassan’s Press Office clarified in an issued statement this afternoon, that “the Ministry of Health has given permission for the emergency use of the Russian and Chinese vaccines after reviewing their scientific dossiers, with the aim of purchasing them under a direct contract with the manufacturing or producing company, funded by the general budget or in an indirect way through the private sector.”As evidence of the above, the Ministry’s statement indicated that a private company imported a quantity of the Sputnik vaccine two days ago within the context of individual initiatives, adding that the Ministry is waiting for a donation of the Chinese vaccine soon while a number of private companies are completing talks to import this vaccine as well. The statement corrected what was quoted by LBC with regards to the vaccine import, stating that "Minister Hassan explained in his interview this morning with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation Channel that the Lebanese government will not be able to purchase the two vaccines through a World Bank loan, because the World Bank only funds the vaccines approved by the Kovacs platform.”

Hassan files lawsuit against those who claim "no oxygen shortage"
NNA/March 28/2021 
Caretaker Minister of Public Health, Hamad Hassan, indicated today, Sunday, that ensuring oxygen is an ethical issue and has nothing to do with politics. Hassan also announced that he had filed a lawsuit against those who suspected that there was no shortage of oxygen in the country because the issue is not a joke, adding that limits must be set to the voices that actually harm the health of citizens before causing political harm. Speaking to LBCI, Minister Hassan indicated that he promised the Minister of Information to give priority to media professionals when receiving a Chinese donation soon.
 

Fakhoury Daughters Start Foundation for Helping Families of U.S. Hostages
Naharnet/March 28/2021
Amer Fakhoury's four daughters, who started a foundation in the name of their late father, are reaching out to help the families of U.S. hostages and were invited to share their story in Washington. Fakhoury was an ex-member of the pro-Israel South Lebanon Army militia who was jailed for several months in Lebanon over decades-old murder and torture charges that he and his family always denied. His release in 2020 and his eventual travel to the U.S. in mysterious circumstances sparked controversy in Lebanon. Witnesses had accused Fakhoury of ordering or taking part in beatings of thousands of inmates at the notorious Khiyam Prison. The goal of the Amer Fakhoury Foundation is to be a support network for families of U.S. hostages to "amplify their voice, share their story with as many people as we can, and help them financially," Zoya Fakhoury, one of the four daughters, told The Associated Press in an interview. The daughters returned from a visit Thursday to Washington, where they met with State Department officials and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who had worked with New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen on a bill to ban visas and freeze assets of Lebanese officials involved in Fakhoury's detention in Lebanon. "We saw our dad when he came back, how difficult it was for him to even function," daughter Guila Fakhoury said. "He would wake up in the middle of the night screaming. So, the recovery is very important with hostages." Through fundraisers and donations, the nearly 7-month-old foundation has assisted the family of Jamshid Sharmahd, of Glendora, California, who was detained by Iran while staying in Dubai last year. He is accused of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people and wounded over 200 others, and plotting other assaults. His family denies the allegations.The foundation also is helping the family of Paul Whelan, a former corporate security executive from Novi, Michigan, who was arrested in Moscow in 2018. His lawyer said Whelan was handed a flash drive that had classified information on it that he didn't know about. Whelan was convicted in June and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
 

Al-Rahi: Aoun, Hariri Must Specify Standards Together, Agree on Entire Line-Up
Naharnet/March 28/2021
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday hoped President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri will “realize that they are governed by consultations and agreement, according to the rule that has been in place since the 1990 constitutional amendments.”Presidents and PMs-designate “used to specify the standards together and each of them would pick ministers,” al-Rahi reminded in his Palm Sunday sermon. “They would then agree on the entire line-up,” he added. Lashing out at the delay in forming a new government, al-Rahi said he condemns “every political official who brought the State of Lebanon and the people of Lebanon to this tragic situation.”“This patriarchal seat has never supported any official who refrains from rescuing Lebanon and its people. This seat has never supported an authority that deliberately refrains from respecting a constitutional juncture and that obstructs the formation of governments,” the patriarch added. “This seat has never been supportive of political groups that prioritize their personal ambitions at the expense of Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence,” al-Rahi went on to say.

Al-Rahi Reportedly Ready to Mediate between Aoun, Hariri
Naharnet/March 28/2021
The recent meeting between Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi was positive, a media report said on Sunday. “Bkirki has not closed the doors in the face of resuming the mediation between President Michel Aoun and the PM-designate,” Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported. “But what’s delaying its move is linked to a main point: how much the president is willing to cooperate with him (al-Rahi) before getting into the details related to the government formation process,” the daily added.

Lebanon’s largest Christian bloc warns against sidelining president
Reuters/March 28/2021
Lebanon’s largest Christian bloc, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), warned prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri on Saturday against sidelining President Michel Aoun and other parliamentary blocs in talks over forming a cabinet. Hariri and Aoun have been at loggerheads over the cabinet for months, dashing hopes of a reversal of Lebanon’s deepening financial meltdown. Hariri has said Aoun’s party is trying to dictate cabinet seats in order to gain veto power. The FPM, which is headed by Gebran Bassil, who is also Aoun’s son-in-law, accused Hariri of trying to orchestrate a majority for his own supporters. “The political committee warns of the dangers of sidelining methods that the prime minister-designate is using when dealing with the president and concerned parliamentary blocs,” an FPM statement said. Veteran Sunni politician Hariri was nominated in October to form a cabinet after Hassan Diab’s government resigned in the wake of the Beirut port blast, which killed 200 people and damaged large swathes of the city. Diab’s government has stayed on in a caretaker capacity. On Monday, the 18th meeting between Hariri and Aoun failed to produce any concrete results. Lebanon is in the throes of a deep financial crisis that is posing the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-1990 civil war. A new cabinet is needed to carry out reforms that could unlock foreign aid.

Lebanon PM warns of 'dangerous nuclear chemicals' in oil facility
Jerusalem Post/March 28/2021
The comments came nearly eight months after a stockpile of chemicals detonated in Beirut, killing nearly 200 people in one of the largest non-nuclear explosions on record. BEIRUT - Lebanon's outgoing prime minister said on Friday that experts had found "dangerous chemicals" at a warehouse at the Zahrani oil installations in the south. Hassan Diab said the country's atomic energy authority identified the substances as "nuclear" after reviewing a report by German company Combi Lift, which Lebanon had tasked with clearing hazardous material at Beirut port. The comments came nearly eight months after a stockpile of chemicals detonated in Beirut, killing nearly 200 people in one of the largest non-nuclear explosions on record. The ammonium nitrate went up in flames after being stored unsafely at the port for years. A Combi Lift spokesman confirmed to Reuters that the firm was in talks with Lebanon over potential recovery projects in Tripoli and Zahrani refineries but said there were no concrete results yet. "We don't want to comment on possible finds," the spokesman said. Diab appealed for action, without elaborating. But Lebanon's oil directorate said the canisters, which totaled 1.2 kg (2.7 lb), were just used for research and would be transferred next week for safe storage. "We assure the Lebanese...there is no reason for any fear," the directorate said. Diab's cabinet has served in a caretaker capacity since resigning over the devastation that last August's explosion wreaked in much of the Lebanese capital, compounding an already acute financial crisis. After Lebanon hired Combi Lift in the wake of the blast, the German firm said it had found 58 containers at Beirut port that posed a threat to the city. Some of it had been there for more than a decade. The German ambassador to Beirut, Andreas Kindl, said this month the material were packed well but were still waiting to be shipped to Germany for disposal, as Lebanon had yet to make a nearly $2 million payment in the contract. Combi Lift spokesman Malte Steinhoff said on Friday those containers remained in Beirut amid talks with the Lebanese authorities over financing.
"We...hope to find a solution this month," he said.

Jumblat Wonders if 'Sanctions' are Delaying New Govt.
Naharnet/March 28/2021
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumbat on Sunday commented on the protracted delay in the government formation process.
“The world is waiting for several news. Maritime navigation and global trade are awaiting the rescue and reopening of the Suez Canal, while a regional axis is awaiting the lifting of sanctions without preconditions in order to consolidate its hegemony,” Jumblat tweeted, in an apparent reference to the Iran-led axis. “The question today is: what kind of mines or sanctions, be them individual or collective, is preventing the formation of the government in Lebanon?” he wondered. Jumblat met Saturday in Mukhtara with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari. He also met with President Michel Aoun in Baabda earlier in March.

U.S. Contractor Pleads Guilty to Sharing Classified Info with Hizbullah-Linked Man
Associated Press/March 28/2021
A woman who worked as a contract linguist for the U.S. military in Iraq has pleaded guilty in the U.S. to sharing classified information with a romantic interest linked to Lebanon’s Hizbullah. Mariam Taha Thompson was arrested last year in an espionage case that investigators said put the lives of American military members and confidential sources at risk and represented a significant breach of classified information. Thompson, 63 and formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, pleaded guilty to a single count of delivering national defense information to aid a foreign government. She admitted as part of a deal that she shared the names of U.S. government assets with a Lebanese man with connections to Hizbullah. Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the Justice Department's top national security official, said in a statement that the actions represented "a disgraceful personal and professional betrayal of country and colleagues."
Sentencing was scheduled for June 23. A lawyer for Thompson, who faces up to life in prison, did not immediately return an Associated Press phone message seeking comment. Thompson began communicating with the man, whom she never met in person, in 2017 after being connected via social media by a family member, and she ultimately developed a romantic interest in him, prosecutors said. After a January 2020 U.S. strike that killed Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani, the Lebanese man -- who is not named in court papers -- asked Thompson to provide "them" with information about the human assets that had helped the U.S. target Soleimani. Investigators say Thompson accessed dozens of files about human sources, including their names, photographs, background information and operational cables that described the information they had gathered. She agreed to provide the classified information to the man; officials say she had planned to marry him, and was afraid he would end her relationship if she did not cooperate.

Bilal Shamas appointed as a judge at the International Tribunal for the Settlement of Disputes in London
NNA/March 28/2021
The International Tribunal for Settlement of Disputes, based in the British capital, London, has chosen Lebanese Consultant, Bilal Shamas, as a judge in its Middle East and North Africa Department.
The International Tribunal for Settlement of Disputes is complementary to its counterpart, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and is also one of the organizations working under the umbrella of the United Nations. As per the Court's internal rules of procedure, all dispute settlement experts and judges enjoy international immunities in accordance with the “International Model Encoder Law” No. (89/31/1976). The International Tribunal has three official headquarters around the world, namely in London, Sofia and Maastricht, and has nine global circles, in England, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Germany, India, Australia, West Africa, the Middle East, North Africa and North America. Alongside his role as a member of the Arab Ambassadors Authority and a peace ambassador in the International Arab Organization for Settlement of Disputes, Shamas holds numerous positions in several fields:
- Diplomatic Commissioner at the International Justice Organization
- President of the International Dispute Settlement Commission
- Member of the International Union for Security Studies and Political Science Strategy
- Expert in combating financial and administrative corruption at the United Nations Organization
- Security Expert and Criminal Investigator
- International Arbitration Advisor to settle and resolve disputes at the General Bar Association in Egypt and the International Arab Organization.
Shamas, who hails from the town of Hermel in the Bekaa, currently resides in Beirut.

Hawat warns of major security explosion, says Hezbollah & FPM are adopting obstruction
NNA/March 28/2021 
MP Ziad al-Hawat called today for "speeding up the formation of the government and overcoming the obstacles."
In an interview this morning with "Voice of All Lebanon 93.3" Radio Station, Hawat warned of "a major security explosion," noting that “the recent diplomatic movement falls within the context of fear of this huge collapse that will affect the entire region, in which no one has any interest."
Hawat pointed out that "Hezbollah's presence in the government is not the main obstacle for the international community, but rather being the decision-maker in it," adding that "the American leadership has adopted the French initiative."
He considered that "Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement are adopting a policy of obstruction to serve their own interests by trying to secure the third veto power, pending the Iranian-American settlement," calling on the Parliament Council to "move to stop the obstruction before the huge collapse."
The MP expressed his fear that the parliamentary elections will not be held on time, "so the outcome would be handing Lebanon over to the opposition project," stressing his "adherence to the approved electoral law because any discussion of a new law will lead to the postponement of the elections."
Hawat emphasized the need for Caretaker PM Hassan Diab to assume his responsibilities and perform the minimum at the level of ensuring the flow of business until the formation of the new government in light of the crises we are suffering, since his retreat will not help in putting pressure towards the cabinet formation. The MP regretted the absence of all reform laws on the agenda of the Parliament Council, such as the Capital Control, the rationing card, and putting an end to all smuggling, while only the laws that serve electoral campaigns and political propaganda are actually included on said agenda. “The lesson remains in applying the laws under a judiciary that is independent of the power of politicians, in order to be able to stop suspicious deals and hold the corrupt accountable," Hawat asserted.
He concluded by affirming that the “Strong Republic” bloc will vote tomorrow against the draft bill to grant an monetary advance to the electricity sector, because the advance would be from depositors' money and half of it will go to brokers, preferring "total darkness over waste and corruption."

Why Lebanon should also look east
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/March 28/2021
Everyone in Lebanon is talking about the potential American, French and Russian roles in solving the conundrum of forming a government that can stop the eventual collapse of the country. However, few are talking about the Israeli elections and the effect they might have on the situation. An Israeli intervention would make the situation much worse and should be prevented by all means.
Israel’s main concern has been Hezbollah’s high-precision missiles. Nevertheless, despite the escalating rhetoric and tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, the Tel Aviv government has not taken a decision on how to handle the issue, as it did not want to take a step that could have had unknown and unwanted repercussions ahead of last week’s elections. Now that the vote is over and the Israeli electorate is as fragmented as ever, we might end up with a far-right government that is even more hawkish than the last coalition.
Another option is an amalgam government of left, center and far-right parties that wouldn’t be able to agree on anything except their rejection of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It would be difficult for such a government to make bold foreign policy decisions when it gathers parties like Meretz, whose main narrative is ending the occupation, with far-right groups that advocate annexation. A third option is for the deadlock to remain and for the country to head to a fifth election in the last two years.
However, a far-right government that has a more extreme view on national security and on the Palestinians might be enticed to strike Lebanon, especially if a new leader emerges and wants to prove that he is tougher than his predecessor, such as when Ehud Olmert struck Lebanon after succeeding Ariel Sharon in 2006. While the general perception in Lebanon is that Israel is happy for its neighbor to be in turmoil, the reality is far from that. Despite the animosity between the two countries, Israel has an interest in relative stability, as it views chaos as playing into the hands of Hezbollah, which is a very well-organized armed group that can quickly fill any vacuum. The signs of a potential breakdown of social order in Lebanon are becoming clearer by the day. Two weeks ago, the commander of the army addressed the political elite and warned them of the risks the country will face if the army runs out of money.
The Russians have a competitive edge, as their position in Syria has given them leverage with the various parties.
A right-wing government might be inclined to strike Lebanon, as it would want to hit Hezbollah while it is down and facing scrutiny from the Lebanese, who are blaming it for their problems and more insistently asking for its disarmament. Israel knows that Hezbollah no longer has the quasi-unanimous support it had when it struck Lebanon in 2006. Also, the far-right narrative thrives on conflict and the perception of threat. The turmoil the country is living in can help increase Hezbollah’s influence, which causes a security threat to Israel. A hit might weaken the group in the short run, but it will increase the state of chaos in Lebanon, from which the group will ultimately benefit.
While the US, France and Russia are trying to push the different parties to make the necessary concessions that will enable the formation of a government capable of conducting the reforms the country badly needs in order to be eligible for any form of international aid, few have paid attention to the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which might result in disaster. In this case, the Russians have a competitive edge, as their position in Syria has given them leverage with the various parties. The Russians can talk to everyone, including Hezbollah — unlike the Americans. Much media fanfare was given to this month’s visit to Moscow by Hezbollah members. Though no breakthrough was made, it is obvious that Russia has a line of communication with Hezbollah and it has leverage over the group.
Though Russia and Hezbollah fight on the same side — in support of Bashar Assad — Israel has been striking Hezbollah in Syria, supposedly with the tacit acquiescence of Moscow, which has not used its firepower to defend its “ally.” Here, Russia can play a role on the Hezbollah front, which could untie a knot in Lebanon’s government formation file. Russia could play the role of guarantor between Hezbollah and Israel. With Hezbollah facing demands of disarmament from a large faction of the Lebanese and the US, Moscow could present a compromise solution by asking Hezbollah to freeze its current arsenal, meaning no new influx of arms from Iran and no improvement of its current weapons. In return, Russia could mediate a nonaggression pact between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Israel. This agreement would be an interim one until elections are held and a new representative Lebanese parliament is voted in. These lawmakers would then decide the fate of Hezbollah’s weapons.
Such an agreement would reduce the uncertainty surrounding Lebanon and help decrease tensions. It would also be an opportunity for Russia to play a constructive role. It could create common ground to cooperate with the US and help stabilize Lebanon.
While America and the EU can use sanctions to pressure Lebanese politicians into convening a government of specialists that will conduct reforms, Russia can handle relations with Hezbollah. This sort of cooperation, with the aim of stabilizing Lebanon, could also create an example to be extended to Syria and throughout the region.
*Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is co-founder of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese NGO focused on Track II. She is also an affiliate scholar with the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published March 28-29/2021

Beleaguered Syria Suffers Also Due to Suez Canal Closure
Associated Press/March 28/2021
Syria has begun rationing the distribution of fuel in the war-torn country amid concerns that shipments could be delayed because Egypt's Suez Canal is being blocked by a giant cargo ship that has run aground, the Oil Ministry said. The container ship remained stuck sideways in the Suez Canal over the weekend, as authorities prepared to make new attempts to free the vessel and reopen a crucial east-west waterway for global shipping. Even before the Ever Given ran aground, Syria had been suffering from fuel shortages mostly caused by Western sanctions. Syria has been struggling with deteriorating economic conditions, shortages of basic goods and medicine. Syrians have been forced to wait in long lines to buy subsidized bread and fuel. The Oil Ministry said that fuel is being rationed to allow the basic services in Syria can continue while the Suez Canal remains blocked. Such services include bakeries, hospitals, water services and telecommunications centers. Earlier this year, the Syrian government raised the price of fuel, including fuel products that had been subsidized, by more than 50%, in the third increase this year. It also raised the price of cooking gas. Nearly 80% of Syrians live in poverty, and 60% are food insecure -- the worst food security situation ever seen in Syria, according to the United Nations. A decade of conflict has caused huge devastation to the Syrian economy, isolated its government and displaced its people, driving most of them into poverty. The pandemic restrictions have added to pressure on the economy, compounded by the financial crisis in neighboring Lebanon, which has been a bridge to Syria economically and financially. More than half a million people have been killed in Syria's 10-year conflict that has also left the country's infrastructure in ruins and most of its oil and agriculture resources outside of government control.

Indonesia Cathedral Rocked by Palm Sunday Suicide Bombing
Naharnet/March 28/2021
An Indonesian cathedral was rocked by a suicide bombing on Sunday with body parts littering the chaotic scene as Christians inside celebrated the start of Holy Week. The powerful blast at the church in Makassar city on Sulawesi island happened around 10:30 am local time (0330 GMT) and left at least 14 church officials and congregants injured by debris, police said. It was not clear if their wounds were life threatening. "There were two people riding on a motorbike when the explosion happened at the main gate of the church -- the perpetrators were trying to enter the compound," National Police spokesman Argo Yuwono said. "The bike was destroyed and there are body parts... We're still collecting parts and trying to identify the sex of the perpetrators."Earlier, local police had said at least one bomber died at the scene. They have not confirmed if both attackers were killed. Makassar Mayor Mohammad Ramdhan said: "There are many body parts here at the church compound as well as in the street." A witness at the scene described the explosion as "very strong." Police said a church security guard tried to prevent the motorbike from entering the compound when the blast occurred. The explosion at the main Catholic cathedral in Makassar -- a port city of about 1.5 million -- happened just after congregants finished celebrating Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, which commemorates Jesus's entry into Jerusalem. It comes a week before Easter. "We were finishing the service and people were going home when it happened," Pastor Wilhelmus Tulak told reporters. Churches have been targeted in the past by extremists in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation. In 2018, a dozen people were killed when a family of suicide bombers blew themselves up at churches during Sunday services in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya. The family -- including two daughters aged nine and 12 -- and another family of five, which carried out a suicide bombing on a police headquarters, all belonged to the same Koran study group and were linked to local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State. JAD, which has not claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack, gained notoriety in 2016 for a gun and suicide bomb attack in the capital Jakarta that killed four civilians and four attackers -- including one who blew himself up at a Starbucks outlet. It was the first attack claimed by Islamic State in Southeast Asia. Indonesia has long struggled with Islamist militancy and has suffered a series of attacks in the past two decades, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists. The bombings were Indonesia's deadliest terror attack.

Russia Offers Egypt Assistance in Freeing Ship Blocking Suez
Agence France Presse/March 28/2021
Russia's ambassador to Egypt on Sunday offered the country "any possible assistance," as efforts continue to free a megaship that has been blocking the Suez Canal for nearly a week. The MV Ever Given has been stuck diagonally across the span of the canal since Tuesday, blocking the waterway in both directions.In comments to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, Russian ambassador Georgy Borisenko said that Moscow is ready to help any way it can. "We hope that this problem will be overcome in the very near future, that the work of the channel will be restored, and, naturally, we are ready to provide our Egyptian friends with any possible assistance from our side," the ambassador said. Borisenko added that Egypt has not reached out to Moscow for support, but said Russia "empathizes with what's happening now in the Suez Canal," describing it as "an important waterway for the whole world." On Saturday, Suez Canal Authority chief Osama Rabie had told reporters that the massive ship could be afloat by Sunday night.  The jam has crippled international trade and forced companies to reconsider re-routing vessels around Africa's Cape of Good Hope, a longer and more expensive way to travel between Asia and Europe. Another Russian ambassador had earlier this week seized on the Suez Canal blockage to promote Russia's northern shipping route as a reliable alternative, part of a broader push by Moscow to develop the Arctic and capitalize on climate change. Moscow has invested heavily in the development of the Northern Sea Route that allows ships to cut the journey to Asian ports by 15 days compared with the conventional route via the Suez Canal.
 

Syria Kurds Launch Security Sweep, Arrests in IS Families Camp
Agence France Presse/March 28/2021
Kurdish forces launched a security operation in a camp for suspected family members of Islamic State group militants and made dozens of arrests Sunday, a war monitor and Kurdish officials said. "More than thirty women and men have been arrested" in a sweeping anti-IS operation in and around the Al-Hol camp, said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "The arrests are ongoing" as part of a days-long operation by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is the Kurdish regional administration's main fighting force, the Kurdish YPG militia and a local police force, Abdul Rahman said. Syrians and foreigners "suspected of supporting IS" have been arrested, he said. SDF officials confirmed the operation, with one of them saying it would run at least 10 days. The US-led coalition battling IS said it was providing its SDF partners with "intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance" support. "The purpose of this SDF operation is to degrade and disrupt Daesh activities within the camp to ensure the safety and security of camp residents," coalition spokesperson Wayne Marotto told AFP, using an Arabic acronym for IS. Al-Hol is the largest such settlement controlled by Kurdish authorities, who warn it is emerging as an extremist powder keg. It holds almost 62,000 people, mostly women and children, including Syrians, Iraqis and thousands from Europe and Asia suspected of family ties with IS fighters. The Observatory has recorded around 40 murders in Al-Hol since the start of this year. Kurdish authorities say IS sympathizers are behind most of the murders, while humanitarian sources have said tribal disputes could be behind some of the killings. In a report published last month, the U.N. said it had documented cases of "radicalization, fundraising, training and incitement of external operations" at Al-Hol. It also warned over the fate of around 7,000 children living in a special annex designated for foreign IS relatives. They are "being groomed as future ISIL (IS) operatives," according to the United Nations. Despite repeated calls by the U.N. and Kurdish authorities for countries to repatriate their nationals, only a limited number of people, mostly children, have been allowed to return.

Armenia PM to Resign ahead of Snap Election to Defuse Crisis
Agence France Presse/March 28/202
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced Sunday that he will resign next month while staying in office until snap parliamentary elections due on June 20, as part of an effort to curb the political crisis gripping the Caucasus country. Political unrest erupted in ex-Soviet Armenia after Pashinyan in November signed a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement with Azerbaijan that ended six weeks of fighting for control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The prime minister earlier this month announced snap parliamentary polls that he said were "the best way out of the current internal political situation." In a visit to northwest Armenia, Pashinyan told villagers that he will "resign in April" ahead of the vote. "I will resign not to resign, but in order for early elections to take place," he said, according to a video published on his Facebook page. "I will continue to serve as interim prime minister," he added. Pashinyan has been under pressure to step down after agreeing to the ceasefire with Azerbaijan, which many in Armenia saw as a national humiliation. Under the deal, Yerevan handed over swathes of disputed territory to Azerbaijan and allowed Russian peacekeepers to deploy to regions it had controlled for three decades. Both anti-government protesters and Pashinyan's supporters have regularly taken to the streets in the months since. Pashinyan said that if voters support him and his team, they will "continue to serve you better than before"."If not, we will transfer power to whoever you select," he added. An ethnic Armenian region, Nagorno-Karabakh broke from Azerbaijan's control during a war in the early 1990s. Fresh fighting erupted over the region in late September with Azerbaijani forces backed by ally Turkey. The conflict claimed around 6,000 lives from both sides.

Sudan, Rebel Faction Sign Deal on Peace Talks
Agence France Presse/March 28/2021
Sudan's government signed an agreement with a rebel faction on Sunday to guide future peace negotiations as the country's transitional leaders move to put an end to myriad internal conflicts. The "declaration of principles" signed with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) faction lays out priorities including the unification of armed forces and the establishment of a democratic, secular state with freedom of religion. It was signed by Sudanese head of state General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Abdelaziz al-Hilu, head of the SPLM-N wing. The group is based in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile in the country's south. The signing took place in South Sudanese capital Juba. "The next thing is the two parties will resume talks three weeks from now," mediation team official Ramadan Goch told AFP. "They are now going to organize their teams and prepare to resume the peace talks." The transitional government in Khartoum, which includes soldiers and civilians installed after the 2019 overthrow of Omar al-Bashir's 30-year dictatorship, have made peace with the country's rebel groups a priority. A historic agreement was signed in October with the Sudan Revolutionary Front, an alliance of rebel groups from the Darfur, Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan regions. A branch of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid Nour in Darfur refused to sign. Al-Hilu's SPLM-North signed a separate ceasefire, allowing its fighters to keep their weapons for "self-protection" until the Sudanese constitution is amended to guarantee separation of state and religion. South Kordofan and to a lesser extent Blue Nile state have significant Christian populations who have fought for decades to end the imposition of Islamic law by Khartoum.

World Bank, IMF Say Sudan Eligible for Debt Relief after U.S. Deal
Agence France Presse/March 28/2021
The United States confirmed on Friday that it has assisted Sudan with more than $1 billion to help clear arrears at the World Bank as it hailed reforms by the civilian-backed government. Following the announcement, the Washington-based development lender and the IMF said in a joint statement that Sudan could now be eligible for relief on its nearly $50 billion in external debt under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries program. "This is a breakthrough at a time when Sudan needs the world's help to support its development progress," World Bank President David Malpass said. "The steps taken so far, including arrears clearance and exchange rate unification, will put Sudan on the path to substantial debt relief, economic revival and inclusive development." U.S. President Joe Biden's administration said it carried out a financing deal signed in January by the previous treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, during a trip to Sudan, which has faced unrest over the past several years due to the dire economic situation. The Treasury Department on Thursday provided Khartoum with $1.15 billion in bridge financing, typically loans that cover short-term needs. No US taxpayer money was involved."Sudan's civilian-led transitional government deserves credit for making challenging but necessary reforms to restore its social contract with the Sudanese people," said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Mnuchin's successor. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, a British-educated economist, has been seeking ways to end conflicts and rebuild economic opportunities as Sudan turns the page on decades of pariah status under strongman Omar al-Bashir, who was toppled in April 2019. In the final months of Donald Trump's administration, the United States removed Sudan from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, a long-sought goal of Khartoum as the designation severely impeded investment. Trump agreed to the move after pushing Sudan to agree to normalize ties with U.S. ally Israel, a decision that has triggered protests in Khartoum.

Qatar Human Rights Protests Spread across World Cup Qualifiers
Agence France Presse/March 28/2021
Denmark on Sunday joined Norway and other European national teams in a growing movement protesting against the treatment of migrant workers involved in building venues for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Danish players wore jerseys with the slogan "Football supports CHANGE" as they lined up for a photograph before their World Cup qualifier against Moldova, with the Danish Football Union saying the shirts would be put up for sale and the money given to migrant workers in the Gulf state. Players from Germany and the Netherlands have also protested in recent days as the European qualifying campaign begins for the 2022 tournament, the hosting of which was controversially awarded a decade ago to Qatar. Norway players, including superstar striker Erling Braut Haaland, donned t-shirts with the slogan 'Human rights, on and off the pitch' prior to their game in Gibraltar on Wednesday.
Germany players then undertook a similar action before taking on Iceland the next day, lining up in T-shirts which spelled the message 'Human Rights'. "We have the World Cup coming up and there will be discussions about it... we wanted to show we are not ignoring that," said Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka. "We have a large reach -- and we can use it to set an example for the values we want to stand for."The Dutch team joined in prior to kick-off in their game against Latvia in Amsterdam on Saturday and the movement raises the question of whether players, or national federations, would be prepared to actually boycott the World Cup. Several Norwegian clubs had already spoken out in favor of a boycott before their national team's action. The Norwegian Football Federation is expected to debate the issue at a special congress in June.
- Could there be a boycott? -
"It is 10 years too late for a boycott. We should have thought about that at the time" the World Cup was awarded to Qatar in 2010, admitted Bayern and Germany midfielder Joshua Kimmich. Indeed Belgium coach Roberto Martinez believes a boycott "is not the solution. That would just be turning our backs on the problem." Qatar has faced criticism for its treatment of migrant workers, many of whom are involved in preparations for the World Cup, with campaigners accusing employers of exploitation and forcing laborers to work in dangerous conditions. However, Qatari authorities insist they have done more than any country in the region to improve worker welfare and say they have "always been transparent about the health and safety of workers". "Since construction began in 2014, there have been three work-related fatalities and 35 non-work-related deaths," a spokesman for Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy claimed in a statement. Organisers insist a first World Cup in the Arab world has already brought "significant benefits to workers" including improved accommodation facilities and a guarantee to reimburse more than $30 million in illegal recruitment fees to workers.
- 'Extremely positive' -
There are contradictions within the protests themselves, with several German internationals playing club football for Bayern, who have a sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways and have regularly visited the country on training camps. It would be awkward to say the least for any Paris Saint-Germain player to be involved in the various national team protests given the French champions are owned by Qatar. The movement could nevertheless become especially awkward for FIFA if it continues to spread, although world football's governing body says it will not stop protests. "FIFA believes in the freedom of speech, and in the power of football as a force for good. No disciplinary proceedings in relation to this matter will be opened by FIFA," it told AFP. Meanwhile the stance taken by the Norwegians and others has been praised by advocates on the rights of migrant workers in the Gulf. "It's very commendable of these teams to take a stance and I think they're doing it in a way that's respectful and positive," said Nicholas McGeehan, a researcher at labor rights campaign group Fair Square."I think anyone who genuinely cares about the game and the issues these players are raising would agree that what's happening is extremely positive."

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published March 28-29/2021

Erdoganistan: The New Islamic Superpower?
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/March 28, 2021
جوليو ميوتي من معهد جيتستون/أردوغانستان هي القوة الإسلامية العظمى الجديدة؟
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/97429/giulio-meotti-gatestone-institute-erdoganistan-the-new-islamic-superpower-%d8%ac%d9%88%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%88-%d9%85%d9%8a%d9%88%d8%aa%d9%8a-%d9%85%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%87%d8%af-%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%aa%d8%b3/
Erdogan was promoting his global campaign of victimization by “Islamophobia”, while in fact it is the critics of extremist Islam who are in danger and frequently killed.
In the Caucasus, Turkey has just supported the Azerbaijani war against Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh in order to create a Turkish Islamic corridor between Azerbaijan, Turkey and other Muslim countries.
“It began in 1989 with the fatwa against Salman Rushdie: no Western country reacted except with words – as if they thought a verbal spell might work!…. The battle lost in Armenia is the first of a war waged in the West against the Judeo-Christian civilization”. — Michel Onfray, Reveue des deux mondes, February 1, 2021.
While the new sultan extends his influence to Syria, Libya and the Caucasus, he also extends it to the Mediterranean. For pacifist Europe, that sea only exists when it comes to bringing in migrants.
“What the Turkish regime is doing is using its diaspora as a Trojan horse.” — Michel Sifaoui, europe1.fr, February 7, 2021.
In Turkey under Erdogan, school textbooks have been rewritten to refer to Jews and Christians as gavur, “infidels.” Earlier Turkish textbooks referred to the members of the two religions as the “people of the Book”…. The curriculum adopts an anti-American stance, and shows sympathy for the motives of ISIS and al-Qaeda. — Report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), March 2021.
“We are a large family of 300 million people from the Adriatic to the Great Wall of China”. — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Minval.az, October 18, 2018.
Europe, the US, NATO and the Free World might start worrying. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems aiming to be the new Islamist wolf in sheep’s clothing. Pictured: Erdogan speaking in Ankara on September 17, 2020. (Photo by Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images)
“It was a very special day, July 24 [2020],” said France’s leading expert on Islam, Gilles Kepel.
“It was pilgrimage time to Mecca and, due to the pandemic, no one was there! It was the anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, the origin of modern Turkey within its current borders. Erdogan was about to twist the arm of the secular Ataturk, who had turned the old Hagia Sophia basilica into a museum that he had donated ‘to humanity’. Erdogan… turned it back into a mosque”.
This was the moment, remarked Kepel – who just published a new book, “Le Prophète et la Pandémie” [“The Prophet and the Pandemic”] — that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the new leader of the umma, or global Islamic community. “Erdogan is trying to appear as the champion of Islam, just like Ayatollah Khomenei in 1989”.
Both Khomeini and Erdogan seem to have been committed to erasing secularism and ties with Western culture from their respective countries; to heading a battle against Saudi Arabia for supremacy of the Islamic world and to re-Islamizing their societies. Veiled women, for instance was rarely seen in Tehran before Khomeini, and Erdogan reintroduced it into Turkish society.
The Iranian mullahs were also able to impose on the international arena the use of the word “Islamophobia”, but now it is Turkey that is leading the ideological persecution of the “Islamophobes”. Under the auspices of Turkish diplomat Volkan Bozkir, President of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the UN just celebrated the “International Day against Islamophobia” and Secretary General Antonio Guterres himself strongly denounced an “epidemic of Islamophobia”. Erdogan was promoting his global campaign of victimization by “Islamophobia”, while in fact it is the critics of extremist Islam who are in danger and frequently killed.
This grotesque and shameful conference was organized by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), an entity made up of 56 mainly Muslim countries, plus “Palestine”. In the OIC, states such as Pakistan punish “blasphemy” with death; Saudi Arabia flogs and jails liberal bloggers such as Raif Badawi, and Turkey fills its jails with writers and journalists, to mention just a few of members.
On that July 24, in 2020,, Erdogan challenged Europe and the West by re-appropriating what had been, for a thousand years, the largest church in Eastern Christianity. The lack of response on the part of the West most likely convinced him that the moment was right. No one paid attention or countered the act.
Unlike Iran and Saudi Arabia, Turkey is a democracy. It is in talks with the European Union about its possible membership; it is pampered in Washington; it is the second-largest army in NATO, and stands as Asia’s gateway to Europe.
The Financial Times (FT) has dedicated a series of analyses to Erdogan’s grand plan for hegemony. In Africa, for the past 15 years, for instance, the Turkish president has spearheaded a mega-relaunch of his alliances. Since 2009, Turkey has increased the number of embassies there from 12 to 42. Erdogan has even been a frequent visitor, making trips to more than 20 capitals. The government has set itself the goal over the next few years of doubling Turkey’s trade volume with Africa to $50 billion, about a third of its current trade with the European Union.
Turkey has also chosen the Balkans as a battlefield — “the region,” according to the FT, “is symbolically very important, since much of it was ruled by Istanbul during the Ottoman Empire”. Then, there is Europe:
“Several European countries have voiced concern over activity by Turkey’s intelligence service on their soil and the use of state-trained Turkish imams to spy on the diaspora”.
Erdogan’s goal in Europe seems to be to use the Turkish diaspora as a political instrument of pressure on states (in particular Germany, France, Austria, Belgium and Holland) and as the base for his hegemony.
In the Caucasus, Turkey supported Azerbaijan’s war against Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh presumably to create a Turkic-Islamic corridor between Azerbaijan, Turkey and other Muslim countries. Erdogan also apparently makes use of mercenaries. The Indian media reported a contingent sent to Kashmir to support Pakistan. Turkey has also previously used “Sadat” mercenaries against the Armenians, as well as in the Libyan and Syrian civil wars.
In the latest issue of the Reveue des deux mondes, the French philosopher Michel Onfray remarked that there is a clash of civilizations and that Erdogan now leads the Islamist side. “It began in 1989 with the fatwa against Salman Rushdie,” he wrote.
“No Western country reacted except with words – as if they thought a verbal spell might work! With the beheading of Professor Samuel Paty it is this Judeo-Christianity that is being attacked — in Armenia, Islam is attacking the oldest Christianity in Europe …. Europe is afraid of Erdogan and his ability to cause damage. This Tamerlane in the making threatens, insults, attacks, [and] supports those who threaten us, insult us and attack us”.
That, Onfray continues, was the meaning of the Turkish aggression against Karabakh:
“Armenia is being attacked by Azeris and Muslim Turks who want its total disappearance. It is the result of a war of civilizations. What is happening in this country, which is the cradle of Christian civilization, is what awaits us here, in the tomb of the Judeo-Christian civilization itself. The battle lost in Armenia is the first of a war waged in the West against the Judeo-Christian civilization”.
Erdogan has not even tried to hide his ideological vision. “The crescent and star embellish the skies of Karabakh now thanks to the efforts of our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters”, the Turkish president proclaimed after the war. “The Azerbaijani flag flies proudly over Nagorno-Karabakh as a symbol of our martyrs’ valor”.
One of Erdogan’s advisors, the retired Turkish general Adnan Tanrıverdi, who founded the mercenary agency “Sadat”, articulated the vision of a unified Islamic superpower. His Justice Defenders Strategic Studies Center called it “Asrica”, the union of Africa and Asia, 61 countries whose capital is Istanbul and under the aegis of this “Erdoganistan”. They include 12 countries of the Middle East, namely Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Palestine, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan and Yemen; eight in Central Asia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan; four in the Near East, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Pakistan; three in Southeast Asia, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia; six in North Africa, namely Algeria, Chad, Morocco, Libya, Egypt and Tunisia; six in East Africa, including Djibouti, Eritrea, Comoros, Mozambique, Somalia and Sudan; ten in northwestern Africa and South America, ie Western Sahara, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Guyana and Suriname; eight in South West Africa, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Togo; and four in Europe, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia.
Turkey evidently wants to be a great neo-Ottoman Emipire and the only one capable of leading the Muslim world. The conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque seems to have been intended as a watershed in Islamic history that heralds the establishment of a powerful league of Muslim nations to face the West under the Turkish leadership.
Three seas surround Turkey: the Eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. Turkey recently launched a large naval exercise. The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced that 82 warships, 17 naval aviation craft, amphibious forces, air force units and special operations teams engaged in exercises that ended on March 8.
“Blue Homeland” — Mavi Vatan in Turkish — is the geopolitical concept that marks Erdogan’s agenda for the coming years. Conceived by nationalist Admiral Cem Gurdeniz, it is the “diplomacy of drills and warships” that pursues “the return of Turkey to the sea, the union between Anatolia and the eastern Mediterranean”. The goal is clear: to control the sea, to control energy resources and to impose its influence. Erdogan announced that it will no longer be called “Aegean”, but the “sea of ​​islands”.
Ankara is on a collision course with Greece and Cyprus over who has the right to exploit the eastern Mediterranean’s oil and gas deposits. “They will understand that Turkey has the political, economic and military power to tear up immoral maps and imposed documents,” Erdogan said.
Turkey has problems with Cyprus, which, unlike the Turks, belongs to the European Union but not to NATO. Turkey, which invaded the island in 1974, remains the only country to recognize Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus as a state. The Republic of Cyprus, which is majority-Greek Cypriot, wants to make deals with foreign energy companies, while Turkey, to the island’s north, wants economic rights in the waters that Cyprus considers its own.
While the new sultan extends his influence to Syria, Libya and the Caucasus, he also extends it within the Mediterranean. For pacifist Europe, that sea only exists when it comes to bringing in migrants.
President Erdogan, in an official visit to Paris on January 5, 2018, proceeded to launch this provocative phrase to the leaders of the French Council for Muslim worship: “The Muslims of France are under my protection”. Those were the first lines of an inquiry by the France’s Journal du Dimanche. Several reports sent to the Elysée Palace by the Directorate General for Internal Security (DGSI), which the newspaper was able to consult, reveal the scope, forms and objectives of a “real infiltration strategy” through networks managed by the Turkish embassy and the Turkish spy agency, the MIT. “They act mainly within the Turkish immigrant population, but also through Muslim organizations and also recently in local political life, through the support given to elected officials”.
“These actions have different objectives,” commented the journalist Mohamed Sifaoui.
“First, to improve the image of the Turkish regime in the diaspora and in French society. Then, to defend Erdogan’s image at all costs. And finally, of course, the spread of an Islamist vision of Islam”.
Sifaoui cites as an example the latest charter wanted by French President Emmanuel Macron, the charter of principles present in the law that strengthens “republican principles,” and is currently being examined by Parliament:
“It was not signed by the two Turkish federations, at the request of Ankara, because it is a charter that recalls the fundamental principles important for the Republic and which the Turkish regime clearly opposes… What the Turkish regime is doing is using its diaspora as a Trojan horse.”
The Brookings Institution wrote in 2019:
“According to the [French] ministry of interior, 151 imams have been sent by Turkey (which has undertaken a spate of religious outreach to Muslims across Europe over the past decade)…”
Just as Turkey controls 400 mosques out of 2,500 in France. It is Ahmet Ogras, apparently close to Erdogan, who for two years occupied the symbolic position of president of the French Council for Muslim Worship — as Turkish voters in France are generally more pro-Erdogan than in Turkey. During the presidential elections of 2014, Erdogan won 66% of the votes cast by Turkish citizens in France, compared to only 51.79% in Turkey. First- and second-generation Turkish immigrants in France continue to watch Turkish television, which is extremely submissive to Erdogan’s power. In French public schools, 180 teachers, directly appointed by Ankara, are responsible for teaching the Turkish language.
These efforts make up the great project of conquest by Erdogan the Islamizer.
Erdogan recently withdrew Turkey from an international treaty on preventing violence against women. With this decision, it seems that the president is determined to increase impunity around murder of women and “honor killings”, which common in Turkey.
In Erdogan’s Turkey, school textbooks have been rewritten to refer to Jews and Christians as gavur, “infidels,” according to a new study published by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se). Earlier Turkish textbooks referred to the members of the two religions as the “peoples of the Book”. “School books have been used as a weapon in Erdogan’s attempts to Islamise Turkish society and to trace back to a nostalgic era of Turkish domination,” wrote IMPACT-se’s CEO, Marcus Sheff.
These are some of the findings of the study: Jihad was introduced in textbooks and transformed into the “new normal”, with martyrdom in battle glorified. Ethno-nationalist religious goals of neo-Ottomanism and pan-Turkism are taught. Therefore, Islam is described as a political issue, with science and technology used to further its goals. There is an emphasis on concepts such as “Turkish world domination” and “Turkish or Ottoman ideal of world order”. According to the curriculum, the “Turkish basin” extends from the Adriatic Sea to Central Asia. The curriculum adopts an anti-American stance, and shows sympathy for the motives of ISIS and al-Qaeda. Turkey takes anti-Armenian and pro-Azerbaijani positions. The identity and cultural needs of the Kurdish minority continue to be largely neglected. The pogroms of 1955 against the Greek community in Istanbul are ignored.
At schools, during the term of Erdogan, maps showing Turkish power have appeared. Reference is made to the “Turkish heritage from the Adriatic Sea to the Great Wall of China”: “Turkish cultural artifacts can be seen in a vast region, starting with the countries of Central and East Asia, such as China and Mongolia, and extends to Herzegovina and Hungary…”
“We are a large family of 300 million people from the Adriatic to the Great Wall of China,” Erdogan said in a speech from Moldova.
Europe, the US, NATO and the Free World might start worrying. Erdogan seems aiming to be the new Islamist wolf in sheep’s clothing.
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
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Why US eyes are on three key elections
Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/March 28/2021
As Washington ramps up for a comprehensive re-engagement with the world, its Middle East portfolio will undoubtedly be affected by the aftermath of what promise to be consequential elections in Palestine, Israel and Iran .
The usual policy deliberations and maneuvering in Washington, often based on the traditional geopolitical calculus of maintaining fragile alliances in a volatile part of the world, will be sidelined, since these elections will be more a reflection of domestic attitudes toward vastly changed dynamics.
Palestinians, going to the polls for the first time in 15 years, seek renewed political engagement in a less auspicious regional and international context with regard to a final settlement of the Palestinian question. On the other hand, Israeli parliamentary elections last week have only deepened the political crisis instead of delivering a decisive referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reflecting the depth of the political morass that has entangled Israel’s domestic landscape. In Iran, the reformist camp, headed by the outgoing President Hassan Rouhani, will probably not survive an expected anemic turnout, all but guaranteeing fundamentalists a swath of victories given the lack of sanctions relief and a deepening economic crisis.
All three contexts exude a familiar refrain of the impossible political stalemates of deeply bifurcated societies, where one side seeks to maintain the status quo, while the other demands wholehearted commitment to much-needed transformations — driven by younger generations exasperated by woeful circumstances. If the results of the Israeli elections are any sort of bellwether for what awaits post-election Palestine or Iran, then the stalemates will probably persist even if new faces dominate key leadership positions.
Meanwhile, what awaits Israel is the same sort of political wrangling that has resulted in the country holding four elections in two years. The results of last week’s election will be presented to President Reuven Rivlin, who must now formally consult with leaders of the 13 political parties elected to parliament before asking either Netanyahu or opposition leader Yair Lapid to form a coalition. But any coalition that emerges from this latest round of elections will be so fragile and fraught with divisions that it is unlikely to survive.
Cynicism aside, President Mahmoud Abbas’s calls for parliamentary and presidential elections in May and July are a welcome development after political stagnation and divisions only incensed a dissatisfied Palestinian public. The unwillingness of the West Bank’s Fatah-led Palestinian Authority and Hamas in the Gaza Strip to cooperate after a 2007 rift has not only exacerbated the catastrophe of poor governance, it has also frustrated the goal shared by 13 million Palestinians across the globe — national liberation. It is hoped the elections spark critical changes, including broad institutional reform of not just the now mostly defunct Palestine Liberation Organization but the concept of Palestinian self-governance. So far, Palestinian forays into self-governance have resulted only in the troubled Abbas/Hamas era, with institutional power monopolized and opposition suppressed — sparking doubts about whether elections will actually repair democracy or become a vehicle to entrench the status quo.
Worryingly, Abbas’s decree for elections was soon followed by further maneuvering via politically motivated arrests designed to undermine rival candidates and even the judiciary’s independence, given its adjudication role in contested electoral matters. This kind of interference is not new, nor will it be the last, regardless of whether it is perpetrated by Palestinian leader, Israel, or the international community. However, elections are a chance for Palestinians to rally at the ballot box and deliver a decisive reckoning against a leadership loathed by nearly two thirds of the population, fed up with political division and bleak economic prospects; 40 percent of Palestinians are unemployed.
For Iran, while a hard-line president is concerning, Washington has demonstrated its resolve on not granting sanctions relief as an opening offer to future negotiations. Thus, even if Khamenei’s preferred candidate is chosen based on how tough they promise to be with the US, far more pressing internal socioeconomic issues and Tehran’s shrinking capacity to fix them will force their acquiescence to re-negotiated terms in a new JCPOA.
There is also an unlikely convergence, which guarantees elections will actually take place. Abbas hopes for a political revival both within Palestine and with the international community, particularly the Biden White House — which itself hopes to re-engage on Palestine with a human rights-centered foreign policy outreach. For Hamas, favorable election results could mean greater legitimacy and securing permanent roles in Palestinian leadership. Unfortunately, both Fatah and Hamas will probably be entangled in yet another stalemate as the former will continue to resist the latter vetoing its decisions, while Hamas will continue to reject demands for it to relinquish its weapons.
In Iran, the reformist camp has little chance of obtaining a reprieve from the Biden White House in the form of sanctions relief, and most Iranians are hard-pressed to give moderates a second chance amid a 5 percent economic contraction, falling oil exports and a trade deficit of more than $4 billion. What makes “maximum pressure” sanctions especially painful is that after Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, its Iran’s economy grew by 12.5 percent and generated a trade surplus of over $6 billion. The whiplash between exponential growth and the dismal current reality of rising unemployment, worsening inflation, a weak currency and an ever-widening fiscal deficit is what dooms any chances of the moderates remaining in power.
The reformist-moderate camp will blame the stagnation and related socioeconomic problems on US sanctions, while the hardliners will appeal to vague populist criticisms of the reformist-dominated government’s inefficiency and mismanagement. No formidable moderate names have emerged as possible candidates, given the unlikelihood of a victory and the notable absence of enduring support for a group far more likely to reach a new nuclear deal and secure much-needed sanctions relief. There are discussions, however, pointing to Mohsen Hashemi, son of the late President Hashem Rafsanjani, and Ali Larijani, a former speaker of parliament. Unfortunately, even if they did choose to run for the presidency, they would not be able to attract sufficient national support, let alone the approval of the Guardian Council or Ayatollah Khamenei himself.
Unsurprisingly, it is the hardliners who appear well positioned to win the elections as powerful names with broad support in conservative circles weigh their candidacy, such as Ebrahim Raisi, the chief justice and a close ally of Khamenei, and Saeed Jalili, Khamenei’s representative on the Supreme Council of National Security. Other well known figures include, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Speaker of Parliament, and Gen. Saeed Mohammad, a commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in charge of its construction conglomerate, Khatam Al-Anbiya. The latter appears to tick all the boxes for the sort of candidate Khamenei has urged Iranians to support — young, technocratic and a “revolutionary,” a gamble to make hard-line conservatism more appealing to largely disaffected Iranian youth.
The results of all these elections will definitely interest Washington. In Israel, it was not just the public’s attitude toward Netanyahu’s decision to persist with his candidacy despite being on trial for fraud, bribery and breach of trust. It was also a referendum on normalization and the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations, which are of great interest to the White House.
In Palestine, the renewed push for democracy may not mend existing divisions but could unlock more donor aid while also centering the resolution of the Palestinian question in regional and international normalization deliberations.
For Iran, while a hard-line president is concerning, Washington has demonstrated its resolve on not granting sanctions relief as an opening offer to future negotiations. Thus, even if Khamenei’s preferred candidate is chosen based on how tough they promise to be with the US, far more pressing internal socioeconomic issues and Tehran’s shrinking capacity to fix them will force their acquiescence to re-negotiated terms in a new JCPOA.
• Hafed Al-Ghwell is a senior fellow with the Foreign Policy Institute at the John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Twitter: @HafedAlGhwell

Who radicalized the Boulder gunman?
Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/March 28, 2021
When a gunman killed 10 people, one of them a police officer, in a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, the American people were understandably impatient to find out who the killer was and what motivated him. As video footage emerged of police escorting the shooter from the scene in handcuffs, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the leg, the mainstream media quickly leapt on the fact that he was a white male.
Social media was flooded with comments about the dangers of white supremacy (which are not in dispute), but also claims that the gunman was probably a supporter of former US President Donald Trump. This racist and divisive narrative continued until the next day, when the shooter was identified as Ahmad Al-Aliwi Alissa, 21, a Syrian native who came to the US with his family as a child, and who lived in a Denver suburb. This left the mainstream media and the US far left struggling to change their twisted narrative, after the whole world had seen how they tried to widen the fissure in American society.
Ahmad’s brother Ali, 34, said Ahmad had been bullied in high school by classmates who made fun of his name and religion. By 2014, Ahmad had become paranoid, believing he was constantly being followed, chased, and hacked because of his religion, racism, and false rumors.
On March 23, the day after the shooting, Facebook removed access to the accounts of both Ahmad and his father Moustafa. However, several posts were captured and circulated on social media.
Only American Muslims themselves can defeat Islamist extremism, erase this horrible picture and be part of the solution — instead of being silent because they lack understanding, support, and media platforms.
Ahmad’s family believe he is mentally ill, and his defense lawyer has asked for an evaluation of his mental health. Nevertheless, there is also evidence that he has been radicalized by Islamist organizations using ideology to achieve political gains. His father’s social media accounts
suggest that Moustafa is very fond of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Muslim Brotherhood, and he openly expresses anti-US and anti-Israel views. “Israel is the ruler of the US and Trump was created by the Zionists,” Moustafa posted in March 2019. He adds that, as an Israeli agent, Trump obeys his masters’ orders. Other statements suggest that the father is a misogynist who supports polygamy.
In a Facebook post in March 2019, Ahmad said the 51 Muslims who died when a gunman opened fire that month in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, were not victims of a single shooter, but “victims of the entire Islamophobia industry that vilified them.”
Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy, said the social media posts of both father and son appeared to be right out of the Islamist propaganda textbook. “The shooting may be another in a long list of instances where Islamist groups radicalize vulnerable, disgruntled and mentally ill individuals to commit acts of violence,” he said.
Such attacks put moderate Arabs and Muslims in the US in a dark corner, struggling between their own peaceful way of life and the political agenda of radical Islamism. While several Islamist entities flourish on American soil under the pretext of freedom of religion and human rights, inspired by “woke” culture and supported by “progressives,” the vast majority of moderate Muslims have no serious support to stand against the radicals who are the real enemy of Muslims around the world.
Only American Muslims themselves can defeat Islamist extremism, erase this horrible picture and be part of the solution — instead of being silent because they lack understanding, support, and media platforms.
• Dalia Al-Aqidi is senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy. Twitter: @DaliaAlAqidi

If China and Russia want global respect, stop backing the bad guys
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/March 28, 2021
NATO member states at last week’s summit mustered a superficial show of unity regarding “aggressive and coercive” behavior around the world by China and Russia, but there was precious little unity of purpose on specific policies and goals that could compel Moscow and Beijing to evolve into more constructive global powers.
America broadly views Beijing as the primary long-term threat, but the Europeans are keen to embrace China as a trade partner. While many leaders seek a more aggressive approach toward Moscow, countries such as Germany are engaged in projects that will increase dependence on Russia. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken very reasonably stated that the US wouldn’t “force our allies into an ‘us or them’ choice with China.” However, the resulting policy divergences may weaken the West’s ability to wield influence. Putin and Xi are experts at running rings around Western disunity. We are at a pivotal moment for superpower relations. Over the past half decade the Chinese-Russian autocratic model has been expanding around the globe, while Western values and institutions undergo a prolonged existential crisis. While Western leaders dithered and bickered, Russia and China wasted no time in aggressively projecting power outside their borders, and ruthlessly cracking down inside their borders. As President Biden characterizes it: “This is a battle between the utility of democracies in the 21st century, and autocracies … we've got to prove democracy works.”
A decade ago Russia and China were politically irrelevant in the Middle East. Now Russia is exploiting its presence in Syria and Libya to project influence more widely, while China has massively ramped up its diplomatic activities and investments through the Belt and Road initiative. While Blinken and Biden have yet to visit the Middle East, the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers have both staged high-profile regional tours.
Leading Gulf states are hardly likely to jump into the Russia or China camp. However, with Western states talking about “pivoting away” from the Arab world towards Asia, matters may gain a momentum of their own. In 2020 China supplanted the EU as the GCC’s principle trading partner. Foreign Minister Wang Yi has proposed an ambitious-sounding “five-point initiative” for Middle East security, and discussed the long-touted China-GCC free-trade deal.
However, China and Iran agreed in 2016 to boost bilateral trade by more than 10 times to $600 billion over a decade; in 2020 they reached a deal for $400 billion of Chinese investment in Iran; and on Saturday they signed a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement. As primary Asian powers, Russia and China have a fundamental decision to make about whether to continue providing cover for Iran’s nuclear program and regional paramilitarism, or cooperate with Western nations in curbing these threats, particularly as Iran’s militancy, terrorism and arms proliferation pose a strategic challenge to their long-term Central Asian interests.
China and Russia aspire to be global powers, but if they don’t want the regions under their influence to be perpetual hellholes of anarchy and warfare, they will ultimately have to resort to multilateral institutions and international law mechanisms.
Moscow in Syria continues to be culpable for the slaughter of civilians. In what has been described as a “siege-and-starve strategy,” Russia, with Chinese support, has used its Security Council veto to gradually shut off all Syrian humanitarian routes. In northeastern Syria about 2.5 million civilians lost all access to UN-mandated humanitarian aid during 2020. For 4.5 million civilians in northwestern Syria, three out of four humanitarian routes have been severed, with the final Bab Al-Hawa Turkish crossing likely to be cut in the coming months — with the goal of starving these regions into acceptance of Assad regime supremacy.
The irony in Syria is that in order for Russia to consolidate its influence, it finds itself doing the dirty work for a regime that it privately loathes, alongside Assad’s fundamentalist Iranian and Hezbollah allies. Likewise in Afghanistan, Russia secretly offered bounties to the Taliban to kill American troops.
The problem with always backing the bad guys is that Russia ultimately requires stability in these regions where it has labored to gain influence, in order to consolidate its gains. Islamist extremism in the Caucasus and Central Asia have long constituted an existential threat for Russia and China. They can ill afford to be cultivating Tehran’s ayatollahs and Taliban terrorists.
Throughout Africa and Asia both China and Russia also have a troubling record of backing terrible regimes for short-term gain. It is a lucrative route to acquiring influence when they buy off a corrupt elite in order to be allowed to pillage natural resources and monopolize port facilities. In the long term they may simply discover that they have acquired precarious real estate in eternal hotbeds of instability. Putin and Xi may believe that by bankrolling bloodthirsty dictators around the world they are cultivating a like-minded model of governance, but can they really expect loyalty and respect from kleptocrats and murderers?
Throughout the Middle East, the Caucasus, sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia, Moscow may thus increasingly be compelled to rely on the Security Council and Western goodwill to put out the fires it ignited.
The West’s problem has been a failure of leadership and strategy. NATO’s 30 states are often divided by conflicting objectives and ideologies, with a risk-averse political culture, while China and Russia’s patriarchal systems can mobilize rapidly and single-mindedly toward specific goals. Yet China and Russia are not the all-powerful monsters we often make them out to be. The combined GDP of NATO members is about $40 trillion, dwarfing Russia’s $1.7 trillion. Likewise, the collective defense spending of NATO states exceeds $1 trillion, compared with China’s official defense budget of about $180 billion and Russia’s $65 billion.
China and Russia aspire to be global powers, but if they don’t want the regions under their influence to be perpetual hellholes of anarchy and warfare, they will ultimately have to resort to multilateral institutions and international law mechanisms. As long as they spite the West by enabling rogue states such as Iran, Syria and North Korea, they will eventually reap the consequences.
The goal is thus not to neutralize or contain Russia and China, but to persuade them to become constructive global players who aren’t trying to subvert the rules of the global system, but instead play a role in enforcing them — not from a desire to be altruistic and law abiding, but out of self interest. When you always back the bad guys, you shouldn’t be surprised when they burn down your home and steal your possessions.
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.