English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  September 02/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
If you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Letter of James 02/01-13/:”My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please’, while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there’, or, ‘Sit at my feet’, have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’, also said, ‘You shall not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgement will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgement.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 01-02/2021
Maronite Bishops: Lebanon's freedom and sovereignty at stake
Aoun Meets U.S. Delegation, Stresses Govt. Formation 'Progress'
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy Leads Congressional Delegation in Visit to Lebanon
US Congress delegation leaves Beirut: Government formation necessary and we are working to solve the fuel crisis
President Aoun signs credit decree for Alvarez & Marsal to start forensic audit
Berri meets US Congress delegation
Mikati meets US Congress delegation
Army chief receives US Congress delegation
Berri chairs Amal Movement’s Central Council extraordinary meeting
Ibrahim Efforts Make Progress, 14th Aoun-Miqati Meeting May be Last
Details Emerge about Possible Final Govt. Line-Up
U.N. Allocates $10 Million to Ensure Fuel for Lebanon Hospitals
Israel: Hizbullah Ship a Security Issue, Lebanon Ruled by Terror Organization
Hezbollah hammered with criticism amid Lebanon’s crises/Bassem Miroue/AP/September 01/2021
Geagea to Aoun, Diab: Liberate Markets, Issue Ration Card 'Immediately'
U.N. Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination Issues Findings on Lebanon
Hizbullah Hammered with Criticism amid Lebanon's Crises
Climate Change in Lebanon: A Threat Multiplier/Op-ed by U.N. Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon Najat Rochdi/ Naharnet/September 01/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 01-02/2021
Pope Francis Criticizes Imposition of Democracy
Biden Defends Departure from 'Forever War,' Praises Airlift
Taliban soldiers are reportedly going door-to-door and executing people – 'They haven't stopped killing'
Taliban Parade to Show Off Plundered U.S. Hardware
Iran plans new round of talks with Saudi Arabia -Iranian envoy
France tells Iran to return to nuclear deal talks immediately
Vaccine Drive Launched in Gaza Strip Schools
Drone Attack on Southern Saudi Airport Wounds Eight
Tunisia Issues Arrest Warrant for Ex-Presidential Candidate
Armenia Says Soldier Killed in Clash with Azerbaijan

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 01-02/2021
Taliban call the shots as America’s humiliation continues/Clifford D. May /FDD/September 01/2021
The Taliban Accused of Necrophilia/ Raymond Ibrahim/September 01/2021
UK: Welcome to the Medieval Era of 2021/Andrew Ash/Gatestone Institute/September 01/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 01-02/2021
Maronite Bishops: Lebanon's freedom and sovereignty at stake
NNA/September 01/2021 
The Maronite Bishops on Wednesday warned that "Lebanon's freedom, sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity are on the verge of fading; and that there are regional and locally-affiliated forces behind that," calling the Lebanese people to face such bids "with all their might.
"The cause today is that of fate," they said in a statement following their periodic meeting in Bkerki under the chairmanship of Patriarch Beshara Rahi. The also urged the international community to interfere to impose "the respect of the international resolutions relevant to Lebanon and their firm implementation, in contribution to the protection of the Lebanese state's structure and fate, as well as the fate of the Lebanese, away from international and regional considerations and tensions that only pushed Lebanon into chaos." Furthermore, they deplored the "irresponsible mismanagement of public interests and funds." "The Fathers and the Lebanese are all angered by this irresponsible persistence in mismanaging public interests and funds," the Bishops said. Moreover, the Bishops vehemently rejected "the systematic humiliation" of citizens, whether in banks or outside gas stations. They also highlighted the obligation to prosecute fuel and medicine monopolists, as well as to curb border smuggling operations.

Aoun Meets U.S. Delegation, Stresses Govt. Formation 'Progress'
Naharnet/September 01/2021
President Michel Aoun met Wednesday with a U.S. Congress delegation and stressed that there is "major progress" in the cabinet formation process, the Presidency said. "The cabinet formation process has made major progress and a lot of obstacles have been resolved," Aoun told the delegation. Moreover, the President said "the parliamentary elections will be held on time in Spring 2022," emphasizing that "the anti-corruption fight will continue" and that "the forensic financial audit will be held.""Achieving just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East would reflect positively on Lebanon, which is committed to the implementation of international resolutions, especially Resolution 1701," Aoun added. The president also thanked the delegation "for the U.S. support for the Lebanese army." The delegation for its part voiced support for the Lebanese people and said U.S. assistance for the Lebanese Army will continue. The U.S. delegation was led by Senator Chris Murphy and the meeting was held at the Baabda Palace in the presence of the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea.

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy Leads Congressional Delegation in Visit to Lebanon
NNA/September 01/2021
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) led a Congressional delegation visit to Lebanon. The delegation met with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, Lebanese Armed Forces Commander General Joseph Aoun, and other political and civil society representatives. The delegation’s meetings focused on the latest political and economic developments, security cooperation between the United States and Lebanon, and U.S. humanitarian assistance. The delegation also visited a bakery in Karantina, rebuilt with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). -- US Embassy

US Congress delegation leaves Beirut: Government formation necessary and we are working to solve the fuel crisis
NNA/September 01/2021 
he delegation of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the US Congress headed by Senator Chris Murphy has left Beirut after a two-day visit, during which it met with President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, a number of political leaders, and Army Chief Joseph Aoun. Prior to its departure, the delegation held a press conference at the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, in which it recapped its visit to Lebanon. Murphy initiated his address by saying: "We are here as friends of Lebanon, and we strongly represent Americans of Lebanese origin in every state they are in. My heart is saddened by what the Lebanese people are going through. (…) We came here to find additional ways for the United States to assist the Lebanese people. The US was one of the main countries helping Lebanon and providing donations to it, and we stress the need to increase support for Lebanon."
"The first step lies in forming a government," he said, stressing that there are no excuses, especially in the midst of this crisis that threatens the lives of the Lebanese. "Officials in Lebanon refuse to take the necessary measures to form a government which could conduct dialogue with the International Monetary Fund and represent the Lebanese people in its relations with countries such as the United States."Murphy added: "We heard good news today during our meeting with President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, who was confident that the government would be formed at the end of this week. Likewise, we sensed confidence on this matter from the Speaker of Parliament and the Prime Minister that we are two or three days away from a government birth." "We will exert efforts to work with these leaders to make sure that their promises are fulfilled, and we are ready to ask our colleagues in the United States to secure more support for Lebanon."For his part, Richard Blumenthal considered that "the formation of the government is the beginning, and there are reforms that must be implemented, including the fight against corruption, as the United States cannot do anything for Lebanon if the latter does not enact reforms.""We have discussed the parliamentary elections of 2022, which will bring new faces to power. The government must ensure that every Lebanese can vote next spring in a safe and free manner," he said. "We are confident that the current crisis that Lebanon is going through will end. We leave this country in the hope that a government will be formed by the time we reach the United States," he concluded. In turn, Senator Jon Ossoff said that "the Lebanese-US community plays a key role in the success of the United States of America. (…) We have high hopes that the Lebanese government will be formed by the end of the week, and this is an important step, although it took a while to achieve.""Many of the leaders we met with have expressed their commitment to holding the parliamentary elections. As for the Lebanese Army, it is a successful institution respected by all for being non-sectarian, and it is important that we maintain its support while working to solve the Lebanese state's political and economic problems," Ossoff added. In response to journalists' questions about the Iranian oil ship, the delegation declared that "there is no need for Lebanon to depend on Iranian fuel, and the US is actively working to solve the fuel crisis in Lebanon."

President Aoun signs credit decree for Alvarez & Marsal to start forensic audit
NNA/September 01/2021
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, signed Decree No. 8360, on September 1, 2021, to transfer funds from the general budget reserve to the Finance Ministry budget, amounting to 4 billion and 927 million Lebanese Pounds, due to the necessity of conducting a contract with Alvarez & Marsal company, to start forensic audit on Central Bank accounts. -- Presidency Press Office

Berri meets US Congress delegation
NNA/September 01/2021 
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Wednesday received a delegation of the US Congress, chaired by Chairman of the Subcommittee on Middle East Affairs, Senator Chris Murphy, in the presence of US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea.
Discussions reportedly touched on the general situation in Lebanon and the broad region.Speaker Berri expressed hope that the government will be formed in the nearest future, stressing commitment to holding parliamentary elections on time.
Berri also stressed before the US delegation the necessity that Lebanon obtains exceptions that guarantee the freedom of import and export movement across its land borders with sisterly Syria, in order to help it address many of the pressing social and daily living crises impacting the Lebanese people.

Mikati meets US Congress delegation
NNA/September 01/2021
Prime Minister-designate, Najib Mikati, on Wednesday received a delegation of the US Congress, chaired by Senator Chris Murphy, in the presence of US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea.

Army chief receives US Congress delegation
NNA/September 01/2021
Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, on Wednesday received at his Yarzeh office a delegation of the US Congress, chaired by Senator, Chris Murphy, in presence of US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea.Discussions reportedly touched on the conditions of the army in light of the circumstances endured by Lebanon and ways to support it to continue carrying out its duties.

Berri chairs Amal Movement’s Central Council extraordinary meeting
NNA/September 01/2021 
Amal Movement head, House Speaker Nabih Berri, on Wednesday chaired an extraordinary meeting of the Movement's central council, devoted to discussing the general political situation in the country, and the repercussions of the aggravating daily living and health crises. The conferees also discussed an array of organizational matters and took appropriate decisions in this regard, including postponing the Movement's general conference for two years.Speaker Berri stressed that the Movement has always been a guarantee of Lebanon’s unity, adding that its sons while being pioneers in resisting Israel’s aggression will also be pioneers in serving the people and relieving their pain with the available capabilities, in addition to preserving the dignity of Lebanon and its people.

Ibrahim Efforts Make Progress, 14th Aoun-Miqati Meeting May be Last
Naharnet/September 01/2021
General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim’s mediation has made progress and the fourteenth meeting between President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Najib Miqati might be their last, media reports said on Wednesday. The meeting might produce a new government or could lead to Miqati’s resignation, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported. Ibrahim had shuttled between Aoun and Miqati on Tuesday, holding two meetings with the President and a meeting with the PM-designate, carrying amendments and new suggestions, the daily said. Speaker Nabih Berri’s political aide MP Ali Hassan Khalil meanwhile held a series of consultations over the past 48 hours with Miqati. The proposals that Khalil carried “have been linked to what Berri has revealed about the need to form the government before the end of this week,” al-Joumhouria said.

Details Emerge about Possible Final Govt. Line-Up
Naharnet/September 01/2021
The latest government formation contacts have managed to resolve a number of obstacles, keeping some of the candidates of the recent draft line-up and re-distribution some portfolios, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Below are the new line-up’s details according to the daily:
- Keeping Dr. Saade al-Shami as deputy PM, as per Miqati’s line-up
- Dropping the name of Marwan Abou Fadel and the return of President Aoun’s nomination of Brig. Gen. Maurice Slim for the defense portfolio
- The interior and justice obstacles have been resolved and retired Tripolitan judge Bassam Mawlawi has emerged as a candidate for the interior portfolio (from Miqati’s list of suggestions)
- State Shura Council judge Rita Ghantous Karam -- the wife of Judge Claude Karam and daughter of retired judge Georges Ghantous -- has emerged as a candidate for the justice portfolio
- Marada will get the telecom and information portfolios for the two Maronite candidates Johnny al-Korm and Georges Kourdahi
- A Sunni candidate will be allotted the economy portfolio and the social affairs portfolio will be allocated to candidate named by Aoun
- Aoun’s demand of allotting the social affairs portfolio to Raymond Tarabay has been dropped
- The energy portfolio obstacle has been resolved and will be allotted to Dr. Walid Fayyad as per Aoun’s suggestion

U.N. Allocates $10 Million to Ensure Fuel for Lebanon Hospitals
Naharnet/September 01/2021
The United Nations said its humanitarian funds have allocated Lebanon $10 million to help the cash-strapped nation buy vital fuel to power hospitals and water stations. "Lebanon faces profound uncertainty. The humanitarian community, though, is resolved to assist all vulnerable populations, whether Lebanese, refugees or migrants," U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths tweeted Wednesday during a visit to Beirut. The U.N.'s humanitarian agency OCHA said Tuesday a $6 million allocation from the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund was planned to help 65 hospitals, primary healthcare centers, dispensaries and medical cold storage facilities. Another $4 million would be set aside for health centers as well as water stations and four water facilities that serve more than two thirds of Lebanon's population, it said in a statement. "The allocation will help 2.3 million people across Lebanon by making sure there is enough fuel to keep water stations functioning," said OCHA. "The fuel shortage, a result of the ongoing socioeconomic and political crises, is jeopardizing the availability of health care and drinking water for nearly everyone in Lebanon," it added.Lebanon's economic collapse has stripped the national currency of most of its value and left four out of five inhabitants below the poverty line. The crisis deepened when central bank started removing subsidies in order to shore up its dwindling foreign currency reserves, making the cost of fuel imports more expensive. That has led to shortages of almost everything, with power cuts lasting up to 22 hours a day and fuel for private generators increasingly scarce. Many hospitals have been forced to scale back operations because of the shortages. The U.N. children's agency UNICEF has repeatedly warned that a near total shutdown of the water supply in Lebanon could threaten more than four million people.

Israel: Hizbullah Ship a Security Issue, Lebanon Ruled by Terror Organization
Naharnet/September 01/2021
The issue of the Lebanon-bound Iranian fuel ship is a “security matter,” Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Wednesday.“Lebanon has turned from a state containing a terrorist organization into a state ruled by a terrorist organization,” Lapid added, referring to Iran-backed Hizbullah.

Hezbollah hammered with criticism amid Lebanon’s crises
Bassem Miroue/AP/September 01/2021
BEIRUT (AP) — Driving back to base after firing rockets toward Israeli positions from a border area last month, a group of Hezbollah fighters was accosted by angry villagers who smashed their vehicles’ windshields and held them up briefly.
It was a rare incident of defiance that suggested many in Lebanon would not tolerate provocations by the powerful group that risk triggering a new war with Israel.
As Lebanon sinks deeper into poverty, many Lebanese are more openly criticizing Iran-backed Hezbollah. They blame the group — along with the ruling class — for the devastating, multiple crises plaguing the country, including a dramatic currency crash and severe shortages in medicine and fuel.
“Hezbollah is facing its most consequential challenge in maintaining control over the Lebanese system and what is called the ‘protective environment of the resistance’ against Israel,” said Joe Macaron, a Washington-based Middle East analyst.
The incident along the border and other confrontations — including a deadly shooting at the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter and rare indirect criticism by the country’s top Christian religious leader — have left the group on the defensive.
The anger has spread in recent months, even in Hezbollah strongholds where many have protested electricity cuts and fuel shortages as well as the currency crash that has plunged more than half the country’s 6 million people into penury.
In its strongholds, predominantly inhabited by Shiite Muslims, it is not uncommon now for people to speak out against the group. They note that Hezbollah is paying salaries in U.S. dollars at a time when most Lebanese get paid in Lebanese currency, which has lost more than 90% of its value in nearly two years.
Protests and scuffles have broken out at gas stations around Lebanon and in some Hezbollah strongholds. In rare shows of defiance, groups of protesters have also closed key roads in those areas south of Beirut and in southern Lebanon.
In recent speeches, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has appeared angry, blaming the shortages on what he describes as an undeclared Western siege. The chaos in Lebanon, he said, is being instigated from a “black room” inside the U.S. Embassy.
Critics say that rather than push for reform, Hezbollah has stood by its political allies who resist change. They say the group is increasingly pulling Lebanon into Iran’s orbit by doing its bidding, and that U.S. sanctions against Iran and Hezbollah have made things harder.
Where Hezbollah was once considered an almost sacred, untouchable force fighting for a noble cause — the fight against the Israeli enemy — it is now seen by many simply as part of the corrupt political clique responsible for the country’s epic meltdown. Still, when it comes to fighting Israel, the group enjoys unwavering backing within its base of support.
Often criticized for operating as a state within a state, Hezbollah has tried to ease the effects of the crisis on its supporters in similar fashion.
While the government has been working for months to issue ration cards to poor families, Hezbollah has been well ahead. It has issued two such cards to poor families living in Hezbollah bastions, one called Sajjad after the name of a Shiite imam, and a second called Nour, or light, for its fighters and employees of its institutions who number about 80,000.
“We will serve you with our eyelashes,” is Hezbollah’s slogan to serve the extremely poor in its communities — a Lebanese term meaning they are ready to sacrifice anything to help others.
The tens of thousands carrying Sajjad cards not only can buy highly subsidized products from dozens of shops spread around Lebanon — mostly staples made in Lebanon, Iran and Syria — but can also get medical treatment and advice at 48 Hezbollah-run clinics around Lebanon.
Nasrallah is also organizing a sea corridor carrying oil from Iran to Lebanon to help alleviate the fuel shortages, with the first tanker believed to be on its way. The move has been praised by Hezbollah’s supporters and heavily criticized by its opponents, who say it risks bringing more sanctions on Lebanon.
In the border incident, villagers from the minority Druze sect intercepted Hezbollah fighters on their way back after firing rockets toward a disputed area held by Israel. The villagers briefly detained them and the mobile rocket launcher they used after accusing them of putting them at risk if Israel strikes back.
The fighters and the launcher were then handed over to Lebanese troops, who released them on the same day.
Later, Hezbollah angered many Christians after supporters launched a social media campaign against the head of Lebanon’s Maronite Catholic church, the country’s largest, accusing him of treason after he criticized the group for firing the rockets on Israeli positions.
The widely feared group has been hammered by accusations from its local opponents. They include silencing its opponents, facilitating smuggling of fuel and other subsidized items to neighboring Syria, and alienating oil-rich Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, leading them to halt financial assistance because of Hezbollah’s dominance of Lebanon.
The most serious charge has been a claim by opponents at home that the group brought in the hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded at Beirut’s port last year, killing at least 214 people, wounding thousands and destroying parts of the capital.
No direct connection to Hezbollah has emerged, but unsubstantiated theories that tie the group to the stockpile abound. One claim is that Hezbollah imported the chemicals on behalf of the Syrian government, which used them in barrel bombs against rebel-held areas during the neighboring country’s 10-year conflict. “Hezbollah’s agencies are active at the port and this is known to security agencies and all Lebanese. Why is Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah above questioning?” asked Samy Gemayel, head of the right-wing Christian Kataeb Party recently.
Hezbollah has repeatedly denied any link to the ammonium nitrate. But Nasrallah further angered families of the victims and other Lebanese recently by criticizing the judge leading the investigation into the blast, suggesting he should be replaced. Nasrallah described Judge Tarek Bitar as “politicized” after he filed charges against some legislators and former Cabinet ministers allied with Hezbollah.
“There is an attempt to satanize Hezbollah and tarnish its image,” said Lebanese University political science professor Sadek Naboulsi. The professor, who has ties to the group, accused foreign powers including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the U.S. of seeking to incite internal strife between Lebanon’s Shiite and Sunni Muslim communities with the aim of weakening Hezbollah. He added that Hezbollah had overcome such pressures in the past and emerged more powerful.
A serious test for Hezbollah came in early August when a funeral of a militant came under fire by suspected Sunni gunmen on the southern entrance of Beirut. Three Hezbollah supporters were killed and 16 were wounded in the shooting in the town of Khaldeh.
Hezbollah did not retaliate and instead called on Lebanese authorities to investigate the case.
“An increasing number of Lebanese are realizing that the concept of a Lebanese state cannot coexist with a powerful armed militia serving an outside power,” wrote Michael Young, editor of Diwan, the blog of the Carnegie Middle East Center.
Macaron said Hezbollah will not be the same after the crisis and will have to adapt to ensure political survival in the long term.
“What they can do at this point is to limit losses as much as possible,” he said.

Geagea to Aoun, Diab: Liberate Markets, Issue Ration Card 'Immediately'
Naharnet/September 01/2021
Head of the Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea has addressed President Michel Aoun and caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab saying sarcastically that their "wise policy" concerning the fuel crisis has led to a worsening of the situation.
Geagea said in a tweet Wednesday that the way Aoun and Diab have dealt with the situation “has increased smuggling, fuel stockpiling, monopolization and endless queues on the Lebanese stations.”“For how long will this continue?” Geagea asked, adding that the solution is “simple and known.”He urged Aoun and Diab “to liberate the markets and to issue the ration card immediately,” unless they are “intentionally or unintentionally encouraging smuggling, hoarding, monopolization and the humiliation of people.”

U.N. Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination Issues Findings on Lebanon
Naharnet/September 01/2021
The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has issued its findings on Lebanon. The findings contain positive aspects of the country's implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination as well as the Committee's main concerns and recommendations. Some of the key highlights include: The Committee remained concerned about kafala, the sponsorship system that requires migrant workers, in particular domestic workers, to have a sponsor, usually their employer, who is responsible for their visa and legal status in Lebanon.
The system results in exploitation, in particular non-payment of wages, long working hours, confiscation of passports, as well as psychological and physical abuse. CERD reiterated its recommendations that the State party abolish the sponsorship system and replace it with new labor regulations, based on standards set by the International Labor Organization. In the light of rising racist hate speech against migrants and refugees, the Committee urged the State party to amend its legislation to prohibit hate speech and to step up its efforts to cooperate with Internet service providers and social media platforms to curb the spread of racist and abusive messages online. CERD was concerned about refugees, in particular Syrians, who have been victims of arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment in detention centers or refugee camps.The Committee urged the State party to ensure that asylum seekers and refugees are not detained arbitrarily and that all alleged cases of torture or ill-treatment are investigated and all perpetrators are prosecuted accordingly.

Hizbullah Hammered with Criticism amid Lebanon's Crises
Associated Press/September 01/2021
Driving back to base after firing rockets toward Israeli positions from a border area last month, a group of Hizbullah fighters was accosted by angry villagers who smashed their vehicles' windshields and held them up briefly.
It was a rare incident of defiance that suggested many in Lebanon would not tolerate actions by the powerful group that risk triggering a new war with Israel.
As Lebanon sinks deeper into poverty, many Lebanese are more openly criticizing Iran-backed Hizbullah. They blame the group — along with the ruling class — for the devastating, multiple crises plaguing the country, including a dramatic currency crash and severe shortages in medicine and fuel.
"Hizbullah is facing its most consequential challenge in maintaining control over the Lebanese system and what is called the 'protective environment of the resistance' against Israel," said Joe Macaron, a Washington-based Middle East analyst.
The incident along the border and other confrontations — including a deadly shooting at the funeral of a Hizbullah fighter and rare indirect criticism by the country's top Christian religious leader — have left the group on the defensive.
The anger has spread in recent months, even in Hizbullah strongholds where many have protested electricity cuts and fuel shortages as well as the currency crash that has plunged more than half the country's 6 million people into penury.
In its strongholds, predominantly inhabited by Shiite Muslims, it is not uncommon now for people to speak out against the group. They note that Hizbullah is paying salaries in U.S. dollars at a time when most Lebanese get paid in Lebanese currency, which has lost more than 90% of its value in nearly two years.
Protests and scuffles have broken out at gas stations around Lebanon and in some Hizbullah strongholds. In rare shows of defiance, groups of protesters have also closed key roads in those areas south of Beirut and in southern Lebanon.
In recent speeches, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has appeared angry, blaming the shortages on what he describes as an undeclared Western siege. The chaos in Lebanon, he said, is being instigated from a "black room" inside the U.S. Embassy.
Critics say that rather than push for reform, Hizbullah has stood by its political allies who resist change. They say the group is increasingly pulling Lebanon into Iran's orbit by doing its bidding, and that U.S. sanctions against Iran and Hizbullah have made things harder.
Where Hizbullah was once considered an almost sacred, untouchable force fighting for a noble cause — the fight against the Israeli enemy — it is now seen by many simply as part of the corrupt political clique responsible for the country's epic meltdown. Still, when it comes to fighting Israel, the group enjoys unwavering backing within its base of support. Often criticized for operating as a state within a state, Hizbullah has tried to ease the effects of the crisis on its supporters in similar fashion.
While the government has been working for months to issue ration cards to poor families, Hizbullah has been well ahead. It has issued two such cards to poor families living in Hizbullah bastions, one called Sajjad after the name of a Shiite imam, and a second called Nour, or light, for its fighters and employees of its institutions who number about 80,000.
"We will serve you with our eyelashes," is Hizbullah's slogan to serve the extremely poor in its communities — a Lebanese term meaning they are ready to sacrifice anything to help others.
The tens of thousands carrying Sajjad cards not only can buy highly subsidized products from dozens of shops spread around Lebanon — mostly staples made in Lebanon, Iran and Syria — but can also get medical treatment and advice at 48 Hizbullah-run clinics and medical centers around Lebanon.
Nasrallah is also organizing a sea corridor carrying oil from Iran to Lebanon to help alleviate the fuel shortages, with the first tanker believed to be on its way. The move has been praised by Hizbullah's supporters and heavily criticized by its opponents, who say it risks bringing more sanctions on Lebanon.
In the border incident, villagers from the minority Druze sect intercepted Hizbullah fighters on their way back after firing rockets toward a disputed area held by Israel. The villagers briefly detained them and the mobile rocket launcher they used after accusing them of putting them at risk if Israel strikes back.
The fighters and the launcher were then handed over to Lebanese troops, who released them on the same day. Later, Hizbullah angered many Christians after supporters launched a social media campaign against the head of Lebanon's Maronite Catholic church, the country's largest, accusing him of treason after he criticized the group for firing the rockets on Israeli positions.
The widely feared group has been hammered by accusations from its local opponents. They include silencing its opponents, facilitating smuggling of fuel and other subsidized items to neighboring Syria, and alienating oil-rich Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, leading them to halt financial assistance because of Hizbullah's dominance of Lebanon.
The most serious charge has been a claim by opponents at home that the group brought in the hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded at Beirut's port last year, killing at least 214 people, wounding thousands and destroying parts of the capital. No direct connection to Hizbullah has emerged, but unsubstantiated theories that tie the group to the stockpile abound. One claim is that Hizbullah imported the chemicals on behalf of the Syrian government, which used them in barrel bombs against rebel-held areas during the neighboring country's 10-year conflict.
"Hizbullah's agencies are active at the port and this is known to security agencies and all Lebanese. Why is Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah above questioning?" asked Samy Gemayel, head of the right-wing Christian Kataeb Party recently.
Hizbullah has repeatedly denied any link to the ammonium nitrate. But Nasrallah further angered families of the victims and other Lebanese recently by criticizing the judge leading the investigation into the blast, suggesting he should be replaced. Nasrallah described Judge Tarek Bitar as "politicized" after he filed charges against some legislators and former Cabinet ministers allied with Hizbullah. "There is an attempt to satanize Hizbullah and tarnish its image," said Lebanese University political science professor Sadek Naboulsi. The professor, who has ties to the group, accused foreign powers including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the U.S. of seeking to incite internal strife between Lebanon's Shiite and Sunni Muslim communities with the aim of weakening Hizbullah. He added that Hizbullah had overcome such pressures in the past and emerged more powerful.
A serious test for Hizbullah came in early August when a funeral of a militant came under fire by suspected Sunni gunmen on the southern entrance of Beirut. Three Hizbullah supporters were killed and 16 were wounded in the shooting in the town of Khaldeh. Hizbullah did not retaliate and instead called on Lebanese authorities to investigate the case. "An increasing number of Lebanese are realizing that the concept of a Lebanese state cannot coexist with a powerful armed militia serving an outside power," wrote Michael Young, editor of Diwan, the blog of the Carnegie Middle East Center. Macaron said Hizbullah will not be the same after the crisis and will have to adapt to ensure political survival in the long term. "What they can do at this point is to limit losses as much as possible," he said.

Climate Change in Lebanon: A Threat Multiplier
Op-ed by U.N. Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon Najat Rochdi/ Naharnet/September 01/2021
"Over the last few years, Lebanon has been through immense challenges that have left no segment of its society unscathed. The country has been challenged by economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Port of Beirut explosion, environmental disasters and prolonged political deadlock. These challenges have crippled Lebanon, obstructed its development and decimated its capacity to cope. To top it all off, in climate change Lebanon faces another challenge: a threat multiplier that will intensify current predicaments, and one that requires resolute action by the government and the people, both in the short-term and well into the future.
Economically, Lebanon is reeling from years of financial crises, which have plunged more than half of the population into poverty and many into extreme poverty, caused others to lose their homes and wiped away the savings of many more. The Ministry of Environment estimated that climate change will cause a 14% fall in Lebanon’s GDP by 2040, falling further to 32% by 2080. In terms of livelihoods, climate change is expected to increase temperatures and make water resources scarcer. This will negatively affect agricultural output and the livelihoods of many communities. Higher temperatures will also result in increased energy demand, putting a strain on businesses and services as they struggle to meet their power needs.
Healthwise, the combination of COVID-19 and the Beirut port explosion in August 2020 starkly exposed the fragility of Lebanon’s health system. Climate change will cause higher rates of infectious disease, rises in illness and deaths due to higher temperatures, increased malnutrition from reduced agricultural output and higher frequency of extreme events. This will result in more annual deaths than today and strain available capacity in urban and regional health facilities.
For Lebanon’s natural resources, climate change is already in plain sight. The wildfires in the country’s North that have burnt large swathes of pine forests have already caused the death of at least one firefighter and forced some to flee their homes in search of shelter. The month of July this year was the hottest ever recorded, and the fires that have also burnt throughout the summer of 2021 in Greece, Italy, the United States and Canada give us a glimpse into the new normal. Despite these challenges, there is cause for hope. The government of Lebanon has made significant strides in its response to climate change. In 2021, it submitted its revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), a key component of countries’ global commitment under the Paris Agreement. The climate action planned under the NDC up to 2030 can significantly contribute to Lebanon’s sustainable recovery from COVID-19, addressing structural challenges such as energy, waste, and water, as well as create job opportunities and improve socio-economic conditions. Lebanon is also embarking on a National Adaptation Plan, which provides a platform to mainstream climate adaptation across its governance structures and processes, enhancing resilience of Lebanese communities. In tackling the bundle of crises Lebanon is going through, the government should include and prioritize climate planning and disaster risk management in all reforms moving forward. This would accelerate Lebanon’s path towards sustainable development, and enhance the protection of the economy, livelihoods and ecosystems. Governments must also work with and empower their citizens to do their part. Options and incentives must exist in order for people to take up new, more sustainable behaviours. For example, minimizing energy consumption with easy, low-cost options such as using energy efficient appliances and shifting daily travel habits by walking, cycling, and carpooling can make a significant contribution to reducing emissions. More importantly, and in light of the current fuel crisis, investing in a safe and reliable public transportation system would be a transformative social and environmental effort.
Increasing resilience and adaptative capacity is crucial. Ensuring agricultural communities are supported with know-how, technology and finance to continue providing sustainable food options is another priority to avoid additional disruptions.
Entrepreneurship, long a mainstay of Lebanese society, can also play an important role through climate-resilient and sustainable technological innovation. The private sector is a critical component in finding solutions in the real world, and climate change is no different. To support entrepreneurs, an ecosystem of opportunities to develop ideas, through incubators and accelerators, sustainability-related business training and mentoring, fiscal and financial incentives, and other forms of support must be provided.
Finally, focus must be placed on awareness raising. Whether it’s through campaigns informing citizens of climate change and its impacts, including relevant courses and research programs in the higher education system, or establishing and enhancing existing early warning systems that alert residents and responders to the threats posed by extreme weather, information and knowledge must be developed and shared with all segments of society. Climate change will add complexity and uncertainty to the myriad challenges faced by Lebanon. What is certain, however, is the need for action and the full engagement at all levels of the community, today and into the future."

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 01-02/2021
Pope Francis Criticizes Imposition of Democracy
Associated Press/September 01/2021
Pope Francis has criticized the West's recent involvement in Afghanistan as an outsider's attempt to impose democracy — although he's done so by citing Russia's Vladimir Putin while thinking he was quoting Germany's Angela Merkel.
In a radio interview aired Wednesday, Pope Francis was asked about the new political map taking shape in Afghanistan after the United States and its allies withdrew from the Taliban-controlled country after 20 years of war. The pope said he would answer using a quote that he attributed to the German chancellor, who he described as "one of the world's greatest political figures."
"It's necessary to stop the irresponsible policy of enforcing its own values on others and attempts to build democracy in other countries based on outside models without taking into account historic, ethnic and religious issues and fully ignoring other people's traditions," the pope said, using his own translation into Spanish.
But the quote was pronounced last month by the Russian president in the presence of Merkel, during her visit of the German to Moscow.
During the meeting on Aug. 20, Putin scathingly criticized the West over Afghanistan, saying that the Taliban's rapid sweep over the country has shown the futility of Western attempts to enforce its own vision of democracy. Instead, Merkel urged Russia to use its contacts with the Taliban to press for Afghan citizens who helped Germany to be allowed to leave Afghanistan.
The interview with Spain's Cadena COPE took place at the Vatican late last week. The radio station owned by Spain's Catholic bishops' conference aired the talk on Wednesday and said that its content had been vetted by the pope himself.
Francis also said there that "all eventualities were not taken into account" in the departure of Western allies from Afghanistan.
"I don't know if there will be any revision (of what happened during the withdrawal), but there was much deceiving from the new authorities (of Afghanistan)," said the Pope. "Either that or just too much ingenuity. Otherwise, I don't understand."
Francis called for Christians across the world to engage in "prayer, penance and fasting" in the face of events in Afghanistan.
MORE ON AFGHANISTAN:
— Victorious Taliban focus on governing after US withdrawal
— In Kabul, some fear economic collapse more than Taliban fist
— Analysis: War is over but not Biden's Afghanistan challenges
— As US military leaves Kabul, many Americans, Afghans remain
— Last troops exit Afghanistan, ending America's longest war
— Qatar emerges as key player in Afghanistan after US pullout
— Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/afghanistan
HERE'S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff reflected on the Afghanistan war's end and delivered an emotional tribute Tuesday to the 13 service members killed by a suicide bombing last week.
Gen. Mark Milley said the military's counterterrorism efforts over the past 20 years and the evacuation of 124,000 people from Afghanistan in the last 20 days are the legacy of U.S. service members. In his words, "We're now closing a chapter in our nation's history."Milley said the 11 Marines, one soldier and one Navy corpsman who died in the suicide bombing "gave their tomorrows for the tomorrows of 124,000 people."
His comments came during the retirement ceremony for Gen. Robert Abrams, who most recently commanded U.S. Forces Korea. Both men commanded troops in Afghanistan. Milley called it "an incredibly emotional day," adding: "All of us are conflicted with feelings of pain and anger, sorrow and sadness, combined with pride and resilience. But one thing I am certain of, for any soldier, sailor, airman or Marine and their families, your service mattered. It was not in vain."
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden says he chose to end the war in Afghanistan in order to focus the nation's defenses on other security problems, including China and Russia.Addressing the nation Tuesday from the White House on the day after the last U.S. troops left Afghanistan, ending a 20-year war, Biden said he will sharpen the focus of U.S. foreign policy by concentrating on threats such as cyberattack and the proliferation of nuclear weapon technologies.
He vows to continue counterterrorism operations, including against any threats emanating from Afghanistan. He says this can be done with forces based outside of Afghanistan.The president also mentioned the Islamic State extremist group's Afghanistan affiliate, which conducted a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport on Aug. 26 that killed 13 American service members and dozens of Afghan civilians. Biden said, "We are not done with you yet."
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is defending his handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, including the frantic final evacuation from Kabul airport.
In remarks at the White House on Tuesday, Biden said the U.S. government had reached out 19 times since March — prior to his public announcement that he was going to end the U.S. war — to encourage all American citizens in Afghanistan to leave. He acknowledged that 100 to 200 were unable to get out when the airlift ended Monday. Biden asserted that his administration was ready when the U.S.-backed government in Kabul collapsed in mid-August and the Taliban took over. But the airlift that began Aug. 14 has been heavily criticized by many as initially unorganized and chaotic.Biden said that 5,500 Americans eventually got out, and that "arrangements" will be made to get the remaining Americans out if they so choose.

Biden Defends Departure from 'Forever War,' Praises Airlift
Associated Press/September 01/2021
A defensive President Joe Biden called the U.S. airlift to extract more than 120,000 Americans, Afghans and other allies from Afghanistan to end a 20-year war an "extraordinary success," though more than 100 Americans and thousands of others were left behind. Twenty-four hours after the last American C-17 cargo plane roared off from Kabul, Biden spoke to the nation and vigorously defended his decision to end America's longest war and withdraw all U.S. troops ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline.
"I was not going to extend this forever war," Biden declared Tuesday from the White House. "And I was not going to extend a forever exit."Biden has faced tough questions about the way the U.S. went about leaving Afghanistan — a chaotic evacuation with spasms of violence, including a suicide bombing last week that killed 13 American service members and 169 Afghans. He is under heavy criticism, particularly from Republicans, for his handling of the evacuation. But he said it was inevitable that the final departure from two decades of war, first negotiated with the Taliban for May 1 by former President Donald Trump, would have been difficult, with likely violence, no matter when it was planned and conducted. "To those asking for a third decade of war in Afghanistan, I ask, 'What is the vital national interest?'" Biden said. He added, "I simply do not believe that the safety and security of America is enhanced by continuing to deploy thousands of American troops and spending billions of dollars in Afghanistan."Asked after the speech about Biden sounding angry at some criticism, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the president had simply offered his "forceful assessment."
Biden scoffed at Republicans — and some Democrats — who contend the U.S. would have been better served maintaining a small military footprint in Afghanistan. Before Thursday's attack, the U.S. military had not suffered a combat casualty since February 2020 — around the time the Trump administration brokered its deal with the Taliban to end the war by May of this year. Biden said breaking the Trump deal would have restarted a shooting war. He said those who favor remaining at war also fail to recognize the weight of deployment, with a scourge of PTSD, financial struggles, divorce and other problems for U.S. troops. "When I hear that we could've, should've continued the so-called low-grade effort in Afghanistan at low risk to our service members, at low cost, I don't think enough people understand how much we've asked of the 1% of this country to put that uniform on," Biden said. In addition to all the questions at home, Biden is also adjusting to a new relationship with the Taliban, the Islamist militant group the U.S. toppled after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in America, and that is now once again in power in Afghanistan. Biden has tasked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to coordinate with international partners to hold the Taliban to their promise of safe passage for Americans and others who want to leave in the days ahead. "We don't take them by their word alone, but by their actions," Biden said. "We have leverage to make sure those commitments are met."
Biden also pushed back against criticism that he fell short of his pledge to get all Americans out of the country ahead of the U.S. military withdrawal. He said many of the Americans left behind are dual citizens, some with deep family roots that are complicating their ability to leave Afghanistan. "The bottom line: 90% of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave," Biden said. "For those remaining Americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out, if they want to come out." Biden repeated his argument that ending the Afghanistan war was a crucial step for recalibrating American foreign policy toward growing challenges posed by China and Russia — and counterterrorism concerns that pose a more potent threat to the U.S. "There's nothing China or Russia would rather have, want more in this competition, than the United States to be bogged down another decade in Afghanistan," he said
In Biden's view the war could have ended 10 years ago with the U.S. killing of Osama bin Laden, whose al-Qaida extremist network planned and executed the 9/11 plot from an Afghanistan sanctuary. Al-Qaida has been vastly diminished, preventing it thus far from again attacking the United States. The president lamented an estimated $2 trillion of taxpayer money that was spent fighting the war. "What have we lost as a consequence in terms of opportunities?" Biden asked. Congressional committees, whose interest in the war waned over the years, are expected to hold public hearings on what went wrong in the final months of the U.S. withdrawal. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Tuesday described the Biden administration's handling of the evacuation as "probably the biggest failure in American government on a military stage in my lifetime" and promised that Republicans would press the White House for answers. Meanwhile, the Senate met briefly Tuesday, with Vice President Kamala Harris presiding over the chamber, to pass by unanimous consent a bill that increases spending for temporary assistance to U.S. citizens and their dependents returning from another country because of illness, war or other crisis. Biden quickly signed the legislation, which raises funding for the program from $1 million to $10 million.
A group of Republican lawmakers gathered on the House floor Tuesday morning and participated in a moment of silence for the 13 service members who were killed in the suicide bomber attack.
They also sought a House vote on legislation from Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., which among other things would require the administration to submit a report on how many Americans remain in Afghanistan as well as the number of Afghans who had applied for a category of visas reserved for those employed by or on behalf of the U.S. government. The GOP lawmakers objected as Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., gaveled the House into adjournment. They then gathered for a press conference to denounce the administration. For many U.S. commanders and troops who served in Afghanistan, it was a day of mixed emotions. "All of us are conflicted with feelings of pain and anger, sorrow and sadness, combined with pride and resilience," said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He commanded troops in Afghanistan earlier in his career. "But one thing I am certain of, for any soldier, sailor, airman or Marine and their families, your service mattered. It was not in vain."

Taliban soldiers are reportedly going door-to-door and executing people – 'They haven't stopped killing'
Yahoo News UK/September 01/2021
After the Taliban seized Afghanistan last month, the militant group made a point of issuing conciliatory words. On 17 August, spokesman Suhail Shaheen spoke of a “new chapter” in the country, and a desire to provide its people with “prosperous lives”.Later that day, another Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed at a press conference that anyone who “fought against us” – as well as the interpreters and contractors who supported Allied efforts over the past 20 years – would be pardoned. He promised the Taliban is “committed to the rights of women within the framework of Sharia” law, and even committed to a “free and independent media” Two weeks on, worrying reports are already emerging about the Taliban's brutal rule in Afghanistan. A former Afghan special forces soldier claimed to the BBC on Tuesday that 15 of his colleagues have already been killed, forcing him and his family into hiding. “Since the Taliban have come to power they haven't stopped killing," he was quoted as saying. The BBC also reported that two senior police officials have been executed by the Taliban. The outlook appears similarly grim for Western allies such as interpreters who were left behind in Kabul as troops evacuated the country. The Daily Mail has reported that armed Taliban soldiers are going door-to-door in search of the “traitors” who helped the British. One translator, Kaleem, told the paper: “No one believes the Taliban’s words of forgiveness… we provided the intelligence to fight against them.” The West’s departure from Afghanistan, confirmed last week when US president Joe Biden refused to extend his 31 August evacuation deadline, was put into stark perspective on Tuesday when Fox News reported a US official as saying the Taliban was carrying out door-to-door executions within hours of Biden's withdrawal.
On Saturday, ITV reported another example of the Taliban's brutal rule: telling the story of a man who was raped and beaten because he was gay. All these reports should come as no surprise, despite the Taliban's promises after seizing power.

Taliban Parade to Show Off Plundered U.S. Hardware
Agence France Presse/September 01/2021
Taliban fighters stood aboard captured Humvees as they prepared for a parade Wednesday of plundered U.S. military hardware, including possibly a Black Hawk helicopter, in their southern Afghan spiritual heartland. A long line of green vehicles sat in single file on a highway outside Afghanistan's second-biggest city of Kandahar, many with white-and-black Taliban flags attached to aerials, according to an AFP journalist. Fighters manned the controls of the multi-purpose trucks -- used by U.S., NATO and Afghan forces during Afghanistan's 20 years of war -- while others clambered over the vehicles at Ayno Maina, a town on the outskirts of the city. Pick-up trucks laden with supporters rolled past the convoy of military vehicles, some armed with heavy weapons and machine guns. At least one Black Hawk helicopter has been seen flying over Kandahar in recent days, suggesting someone from the former Afghan army was at the controls as the Taliban lack qualified pilots. Kandahar is the ethnic Pashtun heartland of the Taliban where the hardline group was founded and from where it rose to power in 1996. By 2001, when U.S.-led forces invaded, the Taliban had seized control of most of the country. At Kandahar Cricket Ground, white-bearded Taliban leaders waited in the shade in the players' dugout, reclining on armchairs behind wooden coffee tables as they waited for the parade to start. Others sat crossed-legged on the grass, while hundreds more gathered in the terrace stand to watch. The Taliban's secretive supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is living in Kandahar, the group said Sunday, after years in the shadows. Word had spread that he would make an appearance Wednesday, but he did not show up, leaving the city's new governor to address the crowd. In footage posted online of the build-up to the event, another helicopter flew overhead trailing a Taliban flag as fighters in headscarves waved beneath.A day earlier thousands of Taliban faithful had poured onto the streets of Kandahar, waving flags and shouting "God is greatest" in celebration at the final U.S. withdrawal.

Iran plans new round of talks with Saudi Arabia -Iranian envoy
Reuters/September 01/2021
Iran plans to hold a fourth round of talks with regional rival Saudi Arabia in Iraq after the new Iranian government is set up, the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad was quoted on Tuesday as saying. Iran and Saudi Arabia, leading Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim powers in the Middle East, have been rivals for years, backing allies fighting proxy wars in Yemen, Syria and elsewhere. They cut diplomatic ties in 2016. Iran confirmed publicly for the first time in May that it was in talks with Saudi Arabia, saying it would do what it could to resolve issues between them. Since then, it has elected a new president, hardliner Ebrahim Raisi, who was sworn in on Aug. 5. The announcement of plans for new talks, carried by the semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA, came days after a regional summit held in Baghdad to help ease tensions among Iraq's neighbours. "We have had three rounds of negotiations with the Saudi side, and the fourth round is to be held after the formation of a new Iranian government," said Iraj Masjedi, Iran's ambassador to Iraq, according to ISNA. Iran’s parliament last Wednesday approved all but one of the nominees for a cabinet of hardliners presented by Raisi. Separately, Iran's foreign minister said he had discussed ways of improving ties during a meeting with Vice-President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates on the sidelines of the Baghdad summit. "In this conversation, we talked about the positive intentions and will of the two countries' leaders to strengthen relations... Working with neighbours is the (new Iranian) government's priority," Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Twitter. Tensions rose in Iran's relations with the UAE after the U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state agreed last year to normalise ties with Tehran’s arch-foe Israel.

France tells Iran to return to nuclear deal talks immediately
Reuters/September 01/2021
France's foreign minister told his newly-appointed Iranian counterpart in a telephone call that it was urgent for Tehran to return to nuclear negotiations immediately, the French foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. "The minister underlined the importance and the urgency of an immediate resumption of negotiations, interrupted by Iran since June," the foreign ministry said after the conversation between Jean-Yves Le Drian and Hossein Amirabdollahian. Le Drian expressed his concern with regard to all the nuclear activities carried out by Iran in violation of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Iran has gradually violated limits in the agreement since Washington abandoned it in 2018.

Vaccine Drive Launched in Gaza Strip Schools
Associated Press/September 01/2021
Palestinian health authorities are launching a vaccination drive for students in the Gaza Strip ages 16-18 as the territory contends with a third wave of coronavirus infections. Health officials began giving the Pfizer vaccine in Gaza Strip schools on Wednesday and aim to inoculate more than 100,000 students in the coming weeks. Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank began a similar drive on Tuesday. The Gaza Health Ministry reported six deaths and more than 1,400 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest number since a new wave of infections began in August. Less than half the population of the West Bank has received a first vaccine dose, and around 15% of Gaza's population has gotten a first shot. The Palestinians received 500,000 doses of Moderna vaccine last week that were donated by the United States through COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing initiative distributing vaccines to poorer nations.The Palestinian Authority and Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group have worked to secure their own vaccine supplies, partly through COVAX and donations from other countries. But the territories remain far behind neighboring Israel, which has a world-leading vaccination drive.

Drone Attack on Southern Saudi Airport Wounds Eight
Agence France Presse/September 01/2021
A drone attack on Saudi Arabia's Abha airport wounded eight people on Tuesday, said the Saudi-led coalition battling Huthi rebels in neighboring Yemen. Following an earlier reported attack, "a second drone attempting to attack Abha International Airport was intercepted and shot down", the coalition said in a statement carried by the kingdom's official Al-Ekhbariya television channel. "Eight people were wounded and a civilian aircraft was damaged, according to initial information," it added. The coalition said the second attack on the airport "constitutes a war crime" after it intercepted a booby-trapped drone earlier in the day.  In a second statement, the coalition said that those injured included one Saudi national, a Nepalese, three people from India and three from Bangladesh -- one of whom was in critical condition. The coalition also said it launched a military operation targeting a launchpad used in Yemen's capital Sanaa -- under rebel control since 2014 -- that was used to carry out the Abha attack. It added that it "destroyed the terrorist elements responsible for the attack." According to Al-Ekhbariya, after the coalition intercepted the first attack, shrapnel hit parts of the airport near the runway.  It added that flights had been temporarily halted "to ensure the safety of incoming and departing aircraft, as well as civilians at the airport". The rebels have yet to comment on the incident. The United States condemned the attack, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling on the Huthis to "uphold a ceasefire and engage in negotiations under UN auspices". Saudi Arabia intervened in the Yemen war on behalf of the internationally recognised government in 2015, shortly after the Huthis seized Sanaa.  The Iran-allied insurgents have repeatedly targeted the kingdom in cross-border attacks. In August, the rebels escalated those operations, using drones and missiles. Yemen's grinding conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions, resulting in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. While the U.N. is pushing for an end to the war, the Huthis have demanded the re-opening of Sanaa airport, closed under a Saudi blockade since 2016, before any ceasefire or negotiations. The incoming U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, will officially assume his duties on September 5.

Tunisia Issues Arrest Warrant for Ex-Presidential Candidate
Agence France Presse/September 01/2021
Tunisia issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for former presidential candidate Nabil Karoui and his brother, authorities said, a day after reports that they were detained in neighboring Algeria. Karoui was runner-up in Tunisia's 2019 presidential election, a poll won by Kais Saied, who in July this year suspended parliament and granted himself sweeping presidential powers.The privately owned Radio Mosaique FM reported Monday that the Qalb Tounes party chief and his brother, lawmaker Ghazi Karoui, were taken into custody in Algeria. On Tuesday Riadh al-Nouioui, spokesman for Kasserine court in central Tunisia, told AFP an "arrest warrant has been issued against Nabil and Ghazi Karoui for illegally crossing the border".A person suspected of helping the pair to leave the country had been arrested the day before, he added, without elaborating. Algeria and Tunisia are bound by an agreement stipulating the extradition by either country "of any person prosecuted or convicted" in the other. Any extradition request must be "accompanied by an official document from the authorities". Nabil Karoui founded the private Tunisian channel Nessma TV, which is partly owned by Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. On Monday, human rights groups accused Tunisia of handing over to Algeria political activist Slimane Bouhafs who had been sentenced to jail in 2016 for "insulting Islam". Speculation has mounted in Tunisian media and social networks that the Karoui brothers' arrest was in exchange for the handover of Bouhafs. Karoui has been under investigation since 2017 in a money laundering and tax evasion case. He was arrested in 2019 and spent more than a month in prison at the height of the presidential election campaign. He was freed but rearrested last December and spent six months in pre-trial detention before being let out again in June.Karoui came second in the 2019 election to Saied, a retired law professor and political newcomer, as the electorate rejected the political class that had ruled since the 2011 revolution.

Armenia Says Soldier Killed in Clash with Azerbaijan
Agence France Presse/September 01/2021
Armenia said Wednesday one of its soldiers had been killed by Azerbaijani troops on the border, in the latest military incident between the enemies since last year's war over a disputed region. The Armenian defense ministry said that Azerbaijani forces opened fire on the Armenian military's position in the border region of Ararat. As a result, a contract soldier received a "fatal injury," the ministry said in a statement. "The defense ministry strongly condemns the actions of the Azerbaijani side and warns that they will not go unpunished," the statement said. There was no immediate reaction from Azerbaijan. The six-week war over Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh last autumn claimed more than 6,500 lives and ended in November with a Russian-brokered ceasefire under which Armenia ceded territories it had controlled for decades. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia have reported occasional shootouts in recent months along their shared border, sparking fears of a new flare-up in the territorial dispute.Nagorno-Karabakh is an ethnic Armenian region of Azerbaijan that broke away from Baku's control in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the ensuing conflict has claimed around 30,000 lives.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials published on September 01-02/2021
Taliban call the shots as America’s humiliation continues
Clifford D. May /FDD/September 01/2021
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
“The answer is no.” That was the response, on Aug. 24, of Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen to a Sky News reporter who asked if the United States might be permitted more time to evacuate American civilians and their allies from Afghanistan.
Defense Department press secretary John Kirby responded: “I think we all understand that view.” Let’s be clear: Dr. Shaheen (as Sky News respectfully refers to him) was not expressing a view. He was issuing an edict to the United States of America.
A few days later, Islamic State terrorists launched an attack at the Kabul airport that killed 13 American troops and nearly 200 Afghan civilians. Perhaps Taliban leaders had thought: “If a few Islamic State fighters should slip through our checkpoints, Americans will be reminded that their time here is up.”
You should take with a grain of salt those reports claiming that the Taliban and the Islamic State are “archenemies.” They have theological and strategic differences but similar goals. That makes them more like rivals.
It cannot be emphasized enough: The American troops Mr. Biden withdrew from Afghanistan had generally not been engaged in direct ground combat since 2015. Instead, a small, residual force was preventing the Taliban from re-conquering the country. This is not unique: We currently have 28,000 troops in South Korea. Their mission: to frustrate the ambitions of the despotic Kim Dynasty, whom we began fighting in the 1950s.
White House announces plan to build 100K affordable homes
The modest U.S. military presence in Afghanistan was essential to our Afghan allies – the most forward-leaning anti-jihadis in the Muslim world. Afghan forces may not have been “all that they could be” (to borrow a phrase), but they were fighting and shedding blood by the tens of thousands. They were succeeding in confining the Taliban to the country’s backwaters. When Mr. Biden entered the White House, the Taliban held not one of the country’s major urban centers.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Biden appeared to grasp that America has dangerous and determined enemies who cannot be appeased. In September 2004, he wrote: “Democrats understand that those who would spread radical fundamentalism and weapons of mass destruction are beyond the reach of reason. We must defeat them.”
What changed his mind? Was he persuaded by the neo-isolationists who have become prominent at many think tanks and in much of the media? They are well-funded and clever – styling themselves as “restrainers” and advocates of “responsible statecraft.”
That the unrestrained and irresponsible Taliban would humiliate the United States – as they now have – was always the likely outcome of the policies they advocate.
Until the bombing at the airport – both predictable and predicted – Mr. Biden congratulated himself for the difficult and dangerous evacuation effort his poor judgment made necessary. “This is now on track to be the largest airlift in U.S. history,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki enthused last week. “I would not say that is anything but a success.”
In the end, several hundred American civilians are believed to have been left behind – stranded and at the mercy of the Taliban, whose leaders are doubtless pondering: “Should we further humiliate the satanic Americans, as the Islamic revolutionaries did in Iran in 1979? Or should we sell the bodies Biden has generously gifted us? What’s the going price for a captive infidel these days? How much tribute did the Ottoman corsairs of the Barbary Coast demand?”
Among those, the Taliban are likely to consult on such questions: al Qaeda, which, Mr. Biden has claimed, is “gone” from Afghanistan.
In fact, a U.S. Defense Department report to Congress issued on Aug. 17 stated: “The Taliban continued to maintain its relationship with al Qaeda, providing safe haven for the terrorist group in Afghanistan.”
Similarly, a report from the U.N. Security Council’s monitoring team recently stated that “a significant part of the leadership of al-Qaeda resides” in Afghanistan. The two groups “remain closely aligned and show no indication of breaking ties.”
Do you doubt that President Biden will offer billions of dollars ransom for any Americans taken hostage? Whether cash will arrive on palettes – one way President Obama sent funds to the rulers of Iran – remains an open question. Expect American money to be passed along to al Qaeda, just as funds sent to Tehran helped underwrite Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Although the American presence in Afghanistan did not transform that country into a liberal democracy – nor was it intended to – in some places, at least, Afghans enjoyed newfound freedoms, which they will henceforth be denied.
Yet proponents of “responsible statecraft” insist our priority must be to end “endless wars” by the simple mechanism of surrendering. Abandoning comrades-in-arms, they insist, brings no dishonor, and won’t prompt our friends to cut deals with our enemies at our long-term expense.
In truth, and it’s an ancient truth, wars – whether short or long – are contests of wills. What have President Biden’s actions demonstrated about America’s will?
And on what basis does he embrace the fiction that when America backs down, some higher authority will stand up to the world’s barbarians?
Consider what State Department spokesman Ned Price said to reporters just a few weeks ago: “[T]he world won’t accept the imposition by force of a government in Afghanistan. The world will not accept a government in Afghanistan that doesn’t respect basic human rights – the rights of women, the rights of minorities, the rights of Afghan girls to pursue an education.”
The question a reporter might have asked Mr. Price: “What world do you live in?”
• Clifford D. May is the founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times.

The Taliban Accused of Necrophilia
 Raymond Ibrahim/September 01/2021
According to an August 22 report, a female Afghan refugee to India just “revealed that the Taliban has sex with dead bodies.” While discussing how the terrorist group thrives on raping women, she asserted that “They rape dead bodies too. They don’t care whether the person is dead or alive… Can you imagine this?”The report continues: “The practice of having sex with corpses is called necrophilia. She revealed that Taliban either picked up [dead?] women or shot them. Muskan revealed that a woman was picked up by the Taliban only yesterday.”
What to make of this macabre revelation? No doubt, many will point to it as “proof” that the Taliban’s Islam was, as the apologists of Islam had long claimed, always skin deep—a veneer to legitimize their otherwise illegitimate and corrupt rule. After all, if they were “students [of Islam]”—the very definition of taliban—they more than the average Afghan would know that Islam forbids such a disgusting practice. Right?
Alas, the opposite is true. Just as pedophilia with boys (Afghanistan’s bacha bazi or “dancing boys”) has Islamic backing, so too does necrophilia, by way of Muslim scriptures, commentaries, and fatwas (Islamic decrees).
It begins, as usual, with the prophet of Islam: Muhammad. According to a bizarre hadith (a recorded tradition concerning his sayings and doings) that exists in six of Islam’s classical reference texts (including the important Kanz al-‘Umal and al-Hujja fi Biyan al-Mahujja), Muhammad once took off his shirt, placed it on a dead woman, and then descended into her grave to “lay with her.”
As they hurled dirt atop the corpse and Muhammad, the grave diggers exclaimed, “O Prophet, we see you doing a thing you never did with anyone else,” to which he responded: “I dressed her in my shirt so that she may be dressed in heavenly robes, and I lay [myself] with her in her grave so that the pressures of the grave [also known as Islam’s torments of the grave] may be alleviated from her.”
One can interpret this, and there certainly is no reason to insist that Muhammad was actually copulating with the corpse. There are, however, some hurdles:
First, the two Arabic words (ataja‘ ma‘ha اضطجع معها) translated above as “lay with her,” are also used in Arabic to mean “intercourse.” This is similar to the English idiom, “to lay with her,” which can literally mean nothing more than laying down with a woman, but often is an indirect reference to sex. More than a few Muslim clerics have made this linguistic observation.
Second, Sunni Islam’s four orthodox schools of jurisprudence (or madhahib al- fiqh)—namely, al-Hanafi, al-Hanbali, al-Maliki, and al-Shafi‘i—implicitly permit necrophilia. None of them actually addresses it on its own; rather, they give it a nod whenever it comes up in the context of other topics. Thus, in the section on adultery, the Maliki teaching is that “If a husband enters his dead wife—any which way, from front or behind—there is no penalty for him” (Sharh Mukhtasar al-Khalil fi al-fiqh al-Maliki).
Similarly, Shafi‘i rulings on ablution point out that it is unnecessary to rewash the body of the dead—male or female adds the Hanbali madhhab—after penetrating it, though the penis of the penetrator does require washing.
Regardless of all the above, it is not for the non-Muslim—certainly not for me—to tell Muslims what their texts are really saying and teaching. That is the job of their ulema: scholars and clerics devoted to learning the deep truths of Islam. Thus, the real question remains: do modern day ulema permit necrophilia?
The lamentable answer is yes. For instance, in 2011 a leading Moroccan cleric and founding member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Sheikh Abdul Bari Zamzami, issued a fatwa permitting the Muslim husband to copulate with his dead wife. He prefaced his decree by saying that, although he does not necessarily approve of this act, it is not for him to ban what Islam permits. As proof, he cited the aforementioned rulings of Islam’s schools of jurisprudence.
Soon thereafter, in April 2012, when the Muslim Brotherhood held the presidency of Egypt, news that Islamist Egyptian parliamentarians were trying to pass a law legalizing necrophilia appeared. Although Al Ahram, Egypt’s most reputable paper reported the story, it was quickly dismissed as a hoax in Western media (which often happens whenever Islam makes the news in ways that do not comport with Western sensibilities). As one journalist argued, “This ugly rumor and hoax, thought to originate in a fatwa by [the aforementioned] sheikh Zamzami, a noted Moroccan cleric, should be doubted for the simple reason that no Egyptian Islamist sheikh, or any other Imam, has ever been reported to approve of necrophilia.”
If that was true in 2012, it wasn’t in 2017, when necrophilia was yet again mentioned and legitimized, this time by Sheikh Sabri Abdul Raeuf, a professor at Egypt’s Al Azhar—the Islamic world’s most prestigious university (which Pope Francis considers an ally). During a televised show in Egypt, the Sheikh/professor was asked if it is permissible for a husband to penetrate his wife after death. He replied, “It is not favorable in Islam; however Islamic law considers it as halal”—that is, permissible, not a crime or sin deserving of punishment in the here or hereafter (unlike, for example, the heinous crime of apostasy, leaving Islam).
A subsequent Youm7 Arabic report titled (in translation) “The Books of al-Shafi‘i, al-Hanbali, and al-Hanafi Reveal that Sex with a Dead Wife is Not Adultery,” verified the Al Azhar professor’s claims.
Nor, it should be noted, is necrophilia limited to crazy terrorists lurking halfway around the world. In the UK, late one night in 2019, a Muslim man, Kasim Khuram, broke into a funeral home, opened several coffins, and, having made his “selections,” proceeded to yank out and “rape” two female corpses. When police arrested him, Khuram explained his actions by laughingly saying, “Every hole is a goal.”
At any rate, after the expenditure of two decades’ worth of American blood and treasure, here is yet another, especially disgusting, reminder of who the Biden administration has left in charge of Afghanistan.

UK: Welcome to the Medieval Era of 2021
Andrew Ash/Gatestone Institute/September 01/2021
Advocates of multi-culturalism demand not only that we should accept sweeping changes to our cultural landscape, but also that we should be far more welcoming of some of the medieval customs, traditions, and religious laws it has taken much of the world -- often at great cost in the irrevocable currency of life as well as treasure -- centuries to get rid of.
This importation of Muslim laws and customs, which often sit at odds with the British way of life, is seen as yet another example of a "preferential treatment" that minority groups receive over and above the indigenous population. That Christians, and people of other faiths, are guiltlessly persecuted in a majority of Muslim nations only serves to increase this resentment.
The advocates of diversity then claim that those who would disagree with what seem to them outdated practices that should remain outdated, are called "racist", "xenophobic" or "Islamophobes," when actually they might just be opposed to the beating of women, child marriage, female genital mutilation or a whole host of abuses they mistakenly thought had been left behind ages ago.
Advocates of multi-culturalism demand not only that we should accept sweeping changes to our cultural landscape, but also that we should be far more welcoming of some of the medieval customs, traditions, and religious laws it has taken much of the world -- often at great cost in the irrevocable currency of life as well as treasure -- centuries to get rid of. Pictured: Anjem Choudary (center), a British radical Islamist, leads a demonstration demanding the imposition of Islamic sharia law, on January 12, 2010 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
If there is one "woke" issue that has caused more division and anger in the UK than any other, it is that of the "multi-culturalism experience" that has been incrementally dumped on us – here and in Europe -- since the end of the Second World War.
These practices have been introduced via the ever-expanding British Muslim community, which this writer was born into, and with which he therefore shares a certain understanding and affinity.
Advocates of multi-culturalism demand not only that we should accept sweeping changes to our cultural landscape, but also that we should be far more welcoming of some of the medieval customs, traditions, and religious laws it has taken much of the world -- often at great cost in the irrevocable currency of life as well as treasure -- centuries to get rid of.
Nowhere is an odd sense of entitlement -- and a hostile reaction against it -- more epitomised than with Sharia law, which, since the early 1980s, has been allowed to flourish in the UK. According to a BBC report from 2012, which quoted Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad, a representative of the Islamic Sharia Council: An estimated 85 Sharia councils could be operating in Britain, according to a 2009 report by the think tank Civitas.
Several bodies like the Islamic Sharia Council have seen a large increase in their cases in the past five years.
"Our cases have easily more than tripled over the past three to five years," says Sheikh al-Haddad. "On average, every month we can deal with anything from 200 to 300 cases. A few years ago it was just a small fraction of that."
"Muslims are becoming more aligned with their faith and more aware of what we are offering them," he explained.
The introduction into Britain of a separate judicial system for Muslims has inevitably provoked a bitter reaction from non-Muslims, who see no reason for tailoring separate systems of jurisprudence based upon religion. This importation of Muslim laws and customs, which often sit at odds with the British way of life, is seen as yet another example of a "preferential treatment" that minority groups receive over and above the indigenous population. That Christians, and people of other faiths, are guiltlessly persecuted in a majority of Muslim nations only serves to increase this resentment.
Despite the fact that Sharia law -- and its association with wife-beating, child abuse, polygamy, inequality under the law and female genital mutilation (FGM), from rules for circumcision in the Sunna ("habitual practice"), intolerance for homosexuality -- and the potential of death sentences for blasphemy, apostacy, and even for being raped -- has been widely condemned, there has been no attempt made to stem the trend. The outcry from human rights groups, who see the medieval practice of FGM as unjustifiable and barbaric, appears to have done little to prevent its widespread practise.
Because of the controversy surrounding the practice of FGM, the wider implications of Sharia law -- such as permission to beat women, child marriage, polygamy, inequality under the law and blasphemy laws that curtail freedom of speech -- become a topic of debate, even in the House of Lords.
The spread of Sharia law itself has been continuing unabated.
Takeaways from the discussions include items such as: that out of the 80 or so Sharia councils operating in the UK, none of its practitioners is a trained lawyer. There is no proper record keeping. "Judgements" are made on a merely ad-hoc basis, and as Baroness Shreela Flather highlighted, "Sharia is discriminatory against women, not only in relation to marriage and children, but in most aspects".
Arguing for Sharia councils, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the daughter of Pakistani Muslim immigrants, and a former Labour party minister, protested,
"... arguing that there was a difference between 'Sharia and Sharia law' and that 'Sharia exists in the United Kingdom in our multicultural society.' Lady Warsi raised the example of Sharia-compliant financial bonds and student loans, as well as halal food and circumcision."
If only.
Defending accusations of women being stripped of their rights in unrecognised "nikah" (Islamic) marriages, Warsi, somewhat ambiguously, put forward the notion that the government should formally recognise Islamic marriages as a way to curtail the outlawing of bigamy and polygamy. In Pakistan, it is not unusual for men to have multiple wives. Although bigamy is illegal in the United Kingdom, a polygamous marriage will be recognised if the marriage took place in countries where the practise is legal. At present there are as many as 20,000 such marriages in the UK amongst the Muslim community.
A recent poll for a Channel 4 documentary found that 61% of Muslim couples participating in nikah weddings have not had a separate civil ceremony that would legalise the marriage under British law. This means that officially, 6 out of 10 women in the UK who have had a traditional Islamic wedding ceremony are not legally married. They are therefore deprived of both legal rights and any safeguarded protection. That almost 100% of married Muslim women have had a nikah marriage, but fewer than 40% of them, under British law, are legally married, is an alarming statistic. Should the marriage break down, 61% of married Muslim women have no other option but to defer to Sharia law, rather than British common law, and are therefore deprived of rights that might have been more favourable to them in a British court, especially in terms of potential alimony and custody rights.
They have, by default, effectively forfeited any rights.
With no access to a family court to seek a division of assets, whether the family home or their spouse's pension, they are left extremely vulnerable. When, for instance, my mother sued my father for divorce in 1973, it was the first case in Britain of a nikah wedding coming to light -- and being challenged. To my family's surprise, it was discovered that under British law, my parents had never actually been legally married. The "talak" (Islamic divorce) my father had obtained two years prior in the United Arab Emirates Consulate in London (there were no Sharia courts in the UK at the time), by declaring three times in front of a male (Muslim) witness, that he "renounced" her -- was also invalid under UK law.
Another Sharia import -- the halal meat industry -- now subserviently adopted by most fast-food outlets, has animal rights activists up in arms against what they see as an unnecessarily cruel method of slaughter, by not stunning the animal first. The tone of this BBC piece on Sharia law is perfectly in tandem with the Islamic approach. By paying lip service to the halal method of cutting the throat of an unstunned animal before despatching it -- the BBC seems more concerned with upsetting the sensibilities of Muslims than those of animal rights activists:
"Many people, including Muslims, misunderstand Sharia. It's often associated with the amputation of limbs, death by stoning, lashes and other medieval punishments. Because of this, it is sometimes thought of as draconian. Some people in the West view Sharia as archaic and unfair social idea that has been imposed upon people who live in Sharia-controlled countries. Many Muslims, however, hold a different view. In the Islamic tradition Sharia is seen as something that nurtures humanity. They see Sharia, not in the light of something primitive, but as something divinely revealed. In a society where social problems are endemic, Sharia frees humanity to realise its individual potential."
Most Brits, I assume, could not care less about the religious practices of other nations. Objections arise, however, when laws that seem archaic in the United Kingdom are imported wholesale. Whether the BBC -- and the rest of the submissive media -- appreciate this or not, their apologetic stance is bound to infuriate the public, who might well view their centuries-old traditions -- honed by the Magna Carta, John Locke and the Enlightenment -- as effectively being bulldozed into a ditch. Their apparent lack of understanding that Sharia -- and its perpetuation of the non-integration into British life -- are damaging to our society, is more than astonishingly tone-deaf. To suggest that we should condone the rights of those who have come here of their own free will but who are now seeking solutions through seventh century religious laws that have no place in the lives of the non-Muslim majority of Britain might seem a bit presumptuous.
"Sharia-controlled countries" -- or "Islamic States" to be specific -- are notorious for what we in the West would regard as barbaric and wanting in human rights. Slavery, for instance, although perhaps not officially permitted, still exists in parts of North Africa and the Middle East. It is also considered permissible for a Muslim man to take a non-Muslim woman as he pleases -- as witnessed by the more than 19,000 victims of grooming gangs in Britain. Importing such contentious practices not only entails taking a step backwards, but is a sure-fire catalyst for divisiveness.
When it comes to multi-culturalism, it appears that levelling the landscape to accommodate such traditions can be a useful device in the minds of those who would advocate diversity, even if they sow the seeds of division. The advocates of diversity then claim that those who would disagree with what seem to them outdated practices that should remain outdated, are called "racist", "xenophobic" or "Islamophobes," when actually they might just be opposed to the beating of women, child marriage, female genital mutilation or a whole host of abuses they mistakenly thought had been left behind ages ago.
*Andrew Ash, born in Great Britain to Anglo-Egyptian, Muslim parents, is based in London, England.
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