English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  September 17/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day
Second Letter of Peter 03/01-09/:”This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; in them I am trying to arouse your sincere intention by reminding you that you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour spoken through your apostles. First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!’ They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgement and destruction of the godless. But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 16-17/2021
A Message Of Abomination To Father Georges Hobeika: The Lebanese dialect does not make a Saint Paul Context sermon./Elias Bejjani/September 15/2021
MoPH: 647 new coronavirus infections, 6 deaths
Presidency Press Office clarifies truth of what happened with journalist Layal Saad at Presidential Palace today
Lebanon’s new cabinet agrees policy program: Official source
Cabinet Approves Policy Statement of 'Together for Rescue' Govt.
Ministerial Panel Finalizes Policy Statement, Govt. to OK It Thursday
European Parliament adopts resolution on Lebanon
Rights Groups Urge International Probe into Beirut Port Blast
Lebanon to Resume IMF Talks, Begin Reforms, Draft Policy Statement Says
Hezbollah-Organized Fuel Arrives in Crisis-Hit Country
Bitar Issues In-Absentia Arrest Warrant for Fenianos
Bassil Refuses to Discuss Presidency Bid, Slams Berri and Hariri
A Report on Syrian-Lebanese Relations over the Past Two Weeks
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/September 16/2021
The United States Has No Plan to Save Lebanon/Anchal Vohra/Foreign Policy/September 16/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 16-17/2021
France Calls Killing of ISIS Leader Big Victory
EU 'Not Informed' on U.S., UK and Australia Alliance
Biden’s ‘summer of love’ with Europe hits an abrupt break-up
France cancels DC event as ties with US quickly sour
France’s Macron, Germany’s Merkel meet in Paris on world’s crises, EU issues
Iran's Raisi to Attend Regional Conference in First Official Visit Since Taking Office
4 Iranians Sentenced and Charged for Violating US Sanctions
IAEA Condemns Reported Harassment of Female Inspectors in Iran
Armenia takes rival Azerbaijan to top UN court
US State Department approves $500 mln military deal with Saudi Arabia
Group: Egypt's Security Tactics 'Destroy' Lives of Activists

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 16-17/2021
L’Afghanistan, l’Iran et l’arc des conflits interminables/Charles Elias Chartouni/September 16/2021
UK: Record Number of Migrants Crossing English Channel/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/September 16/2021
China's Belt and Road Initiative: Bad News for Human Rights/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/September 16/2021
Egypt’s President Sisi is moving to thaw relations with Israel, reap economic rewards/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Al Arabiya/16 September/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 16-17/2021
A Message Of Abomination To Father Georges Hobeika: The Lebanese dialect does not make a Saint Paul Context sermon...
We miss the active role of our monks. They are the salt, conscience and inspiration of Lebanon, and without their active resistance and leadership role in confronting Iran’s occupation, Lebanon’s existence will be in real danger.
Elias Bejjani/September 15/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/102436/102436/
We were waiting with high hopes and expectations to hear what Father George Hobeika would say in his sermon during Martyr President Bashir Gemayel's annual mass prayers in Bkfaia. Sadly the outcome was not what we expected and hoped for.
We were eager to hear a sermon that would raise and ignite the morale and strengthen the sovereign and patriotic Lebanese who are subjected to a systematic misleading campaign aiming to thwart their zeal and weaken them in encountering the ongoing plot to change the civilized face of Lebanon, for which martyr Bachir gave his life in order to achieve it.
Father Hobeika's sermon was in the Lebanese dialect, which Bashir adored and proudly used in his speeches, but its content was flatulent and void of Bashir’s strength in confrontation, will of steadfastness and determination to liberate Lebanon from all occupation.
The sermon was merely rhetoric and focused on philosophers' quotations describing the character and qualities of the statesman which Bachir strongly possessed and used. Meanwhile the most important quality that a statesman should enjoy is his capability to translate his words into actions, an opportunity that was not provided to Bashir to achieve.
What we actually needed from Father Hobeika, the philosopher, is to loudly and courageously present a different creative reading of Bashir’s heroic resistance path, in a bid to solidify and strengthen our determination and courage in confronting the occupier from within, as well as to remain standing tall in facing the international conspiracy against our independence; the two acts that Bashir, and the "Lebanese front" persisted on doing in defeating sovereignty, while the whole world conspired against our beloved country.
I, personally wonder what makes a brave and highly educated monk like Father George Hobeika patriotically back off, and not witness for the truth at a time when we are in the greatest need of confrontation and steadfastness.
Is this the policy of the Lebanese Maronite monastery, which, according to our knowledge, prohibits its monks from interfering in public affairs and politics, in order to preserve its interests with the ruling authority, on the Vatican request, and a tacit approval of Bkerke?
Or is it a personal request from the Gemayel family, who are preparing to restore their past glories in the upcoming parliamentary elections?
What myself and many others fear the most, is that this very low patriotic profile sermon might be related to calculations that have to do with  the monastic elections that will take place a year from today.
Dear Father Hobeika, please note that your sermon is frustrating and lacking the needed patriotic stances, exactly like the void created by your monastery through confining and isolating itself within its monasteries and institutions, while our people are in dire need  of its leadership, help, guidance and directions.
It is worth mentioning that the current Iranian occupation is more dangerous than the “statoko” that existed between the 1969 Cairo Agreement and the 75th War.
Don't you think that the time has come to go back to Abbot Charbel al-Kassi’s saying: “Our people will blame us if we leave them alone, and want us to go with them"?
Dear father George Hobeika, Lebanon's salt is the monks, and without them, openly, loudly and courageously playing their heroic role that they have historically played, Lebanon's independence, sovereignty and existence will be in danger.
In summary, what we need at this present time is sermons that inspire hope, steadfastness, faith, perseverance, and at the same an active leading role for our monks who are Lebanon's salt.
We miss the active role of our monks. They are the salt, conscience and inspiration of Lebanon, and without their active resistance and leadership role in confronting Iran’s occupation, Lebanon’s existence will be in real danger.

MoPH: 647 new coronavirus infections, 6 deaths
NNA /16 September ,2021
Lebanon has recorded 647 new coronavirus cases and 6 deaths in the last 24 hours, as reported by the Ministry of Public Health on Thursday.

Presidency Press Office clarifies truth of what happened with journalist Layal Saad at Presidential Palace today
NNA /16 September ,2021
The Presidency Press Office issued the following statement:
“In clarification of the circumstances which accompanied what happened today with journalist, Layal Saad, while she was at Baabda Palace, we indicate the following:
-Previously, while Ms. Saad was at the Presidential Palace, she said an offensive word against the President of the Republic, during a dialogue between and other journalists in the palace.
- Subsequently, the management of the “Al-Jadeed” station was asked to replace the media person, Saad, with another representative of the station, to cover presidential news. In addition, other delegates have already been sent over the last period, without any problems.
- Today, Al-Jadeed station management was re-informed that the same measure was continuing in terms of sending a media representative other than Saad, pending treatment of the repercussions of the abuse which resulted from the speech she issued against the President of the Republic.
However, Al-Jadeed insisted on sending the media person Saad to cover the cabinet session today, contrary to what the station management was informed of. Accordingly, the media person Saad was asked to leave the Presidential Palace, pending the treatment of what had previously happened.
The Presidency Press Office, under the direction of the President of the Republic, emphasizes cooperation with all media institutions without exception, and providing all necessary facilities to their media professionals, regretting that the mistake made today by Saad, as a result of a personal behavior which was offensive to the President and the Al-Jadeed station itself. The Press Office regrets that this material has become a material for exploitation, contrary to professional and ethical principles, and portraying what happened as a suppression of media freedom, which the Presidency of the Republic is keen to respect.—Presidency Press Office

Lebanon’s new cabinet agrees policy program: Official source
Reuters/16 September ,2021
Lebanon’s cabinet approved on Thursday a policy program that aims to tackle one of the worst financial meltdowns in history.New Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government met at the presidential palace to agree the proposal, which will now be sent to parliament for approval. On Wednesday Reuters saw the draft document, which included a resumption of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and a restructuring of the banking sector. An official source told Reuters the policy program was agreed to without any major changes to the draft. The Lebanese pound significantly strengthened against the dollar in the past week since the cabinet was formed, selling at around 13,800 to the U.S. dollar on Thursday at the street rate after having reached 23,000 to the dollar last month. The draft program had said the Mikati government would renew and develop the previous financial recovery plan, which set out a shortfall in the financial system of some $90 billion - a figure endorsed by the IMF. Lebanon’s financial crisis was dubbed by the World Bank one of the worst depressions of modern history. The scale of the losses was a main sticking point that brought down the plan last year when major political players and bankers disputed their scale and the talks were eventually abandoned last summer. With the rate of deterioration in living conditions accelerating over the past year and shortages of basic goods such as fuel and medicine bringing life to a near standstill, some believe the gravity of the crisis could encourage politicians to pass decisions that were previously resisted.

Cabinet Approves Policy Statement of 'Together for Rescue' Govt.
Naharnet/16 September ,2021
Cabinet on Thursday unanimously approved the ministerial statement of Najib Miqati’s third government, after a ministerial committee held three meetings to finalize it. The Presidency said the statement was passed with some “minor amendments,” noting that the new government has been called the “together for rescue” government. The statement calls for “instant negotiations with the International Monetary Fund as necessitated by priorities and the national interest.” It also stresses the need for “cooperation between the government and parliament over in everything needed to reach the truth of the port explosion,” emphasizing that “the issue of immunities is linked to legal texts.” Information Minister George Kordahi meanwhile announced that Cabinet did not discuss the issue of the Hizbullah-imported Iranian diesel seeing as the session was dedicated to the ministerial statement, noting that “no decision was taken to lift subsidies off fuel.”Economy Minister Amin Salam for his part underline the government’s “keenness on citizens,” reassuring that the issue of lowering the prices of commodities will be followed up.

Ministerial Panel Finalizes Policy Statement, Govt. to OK It Thursday
Naharnet/16 September ,2021
The ministerial committee drafting the new government’s policy statement completed its work on Wednesday after a third meeting and Cabinet will convene Thursday to approve it, the information minister said. “The draft statement will be discussed and approved in a Cabinet session that will be held at 4:00 pm Thursday at the Baabda Palace, and we hope the new government will appear before parliament at the beginning of next week to request confidence from MPs based on this ministerial statement,” the minister, George Kordahi, told reporters. Asked about the clause related to “the resistance and Hizbullah,” Kordahi said: “All issues are mentioned in the draft statement that will be discussed tomorrow at the Baabda Palace and the policy statement will be adopted. There is harmony among all ministers, contrary to what has been said about the presence of disputes.”As for the issue of the banking sector and the electricity plants, Kordahi said the statement “does not mention power plants.”“But our priority is to provide electricity, diesel and gasoline to the people,” he added. Asked about the issue of lifting subsidies off fuel, the minister said the statement does not tackle the issue and that such a decision would be taken in Cabinet. Told by a reporter that the statement’s content has been imposed on the committee in light of the swiftness in approving it, Kordahi reassured that the statement was not “parachuted” and that “there is a very realistic approach that cares about the people’s plight and pain.”Asked about the financial forensic audit, the minister said: “Everything related to the judiciary, justice and investigations is mentioned, but I cannot talk about these issues before the statement’s official approval in Cabinet.”

European Parliament adopts resolution on Lebanon
Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/September 16/2021
The document drafted by the progressive Renew Group calls for targeted sanctions and a fact-finding mission into the Beirut blast, amongst other demands, but the document is not binding. The European Parliament resolution calls for targeted sanctions, a fact-finding mission to establish what led to the August 4, 2020 Beirut Blast and also increased scrutiny of the newly formed government. The European Parliament voted on Thursday a resolution demanding the European Council impose targeted sanctions on Lebanese entities “responsible for undermining democracy or the rule of law”.
The joint motion on Lebanon requested by the progressive Renew Group was adopted on Thursday afternoon, after a short debate with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles on Tuesday.
MEP Cristophe Grudler, whose team negotiated and drafted the resolution, said the progressive Renew Group in the EP has been requesting the resolution for many months, but the idea was rejected by the conservatives and the socialists because they “were not convinced that calling for sanctions against corruption in Lebanon was a priority for them”. “Now that the EU Council (the 27 Member States) unanimously agreed for sanctions on Lebanese authorities on July 30, the centre pushed once again for a resolution and we convinced others,” he explained.
The EP “considers Lebanon’s present situation to be a man-made disaster caused by a handful of men across the ruling political class,” the resolution read.
Calls for sanctions and a fact-finding mission
The document adopted by the EP called on the European External Action Service to propose a list of accountable authorities in Lebanon in cooperation with the Member States and asked the member states to implement the sanctions. The resolution called on the EU to offer Lebanon the deployment of a comprehensive EU administrative advisory mission to help the government prevent the dissolution of public institutions. The resolution also urged a transparent investigation into the Beirut blast and the establishment of an international fact-finding mission under UN auspices.
It called on member states to donate more humanitarian aid, especially food and medical supplies, and to provide alternative energy sources, but to channel the aid through international or local non-governmental organizations rather than through the state. It also asked the European Commission, the EU executive body, to find channels to disburse the humanitarian aid in the fastest manner possible. The MEPs also urged the new Lebanese government to restart negotiations with the International Monetary Fund as soon as possible and to implement reforms promised under the 2018 CEDRE conference. They expressed concerns over endemic corruption and Hezbollah’s control over state institutions and its potential veto power in the new cabinet.
Sanctions unlikely
The EP resolution, although an important statement of the EU bloc, is not binding for the European institutions. Although several MEPs during the debate dedicated to Lebanon on Tuesday urged the Council to impose sanctions, EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles said that since a government in Beirut has been formed, targeted sanctions are unlikely. “What we have to do now is to urge the new government to face the country’s problems, to face them in a credible, transparent manner, independent of makeshift interests and to give us reasons and arguments to continue our financial assistance,” Borrell Fontelles said. The EU has assigned to Lebanon EUR 2,8 billion in the past ten years, out of which EUR 2 billion supported humanitarian aid to help deal with the spillover of the Syrian crisis. “No, we will not reduce the aid for Lebanon. On the contrary, we will try to increase it. We will try to facilitate the agreement with the International Monetary Fund and we will see if it is possible to dispatch an Electoral Observation Mission for the next elections which are to take place in May 2022,” he pointed out.

Rights Groups Urge International Probe into Beirut Port Blast
Asharq AlAwsat/September 16/2021
More than 140 human rights groups, survivors and relatives of victims of the Lebanon port blast called Wednesday for a UN-backed international, independent and impartial probe into the disaster. The explosion of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer on the Beirut dockside on August 4 last year killed at least 214 people, injured thousands and ravaged entire neighborhoods. It emerged later that several top officials, including the president, had known that the highly volatile substance had been left to linger unsafely at the port for years, in a warehouse close to residential neighborhoods. Lebanese politicians have rejected previous calls for an international probe into the disaster, but have also hampered the progress of a local investigation at every turn. The 145 signatories -- which include Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Lebanese rights groups, survivors, and relatives of the victims -- called on member states at the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish “an international, independent and impartial investigative mission, such as a one-year fact-finding mission”. “The failures of the domestic investigation to ensure accountability dramatically illustrates the larger culture of impunity for officials that has long been the case in Lebanon,” they said. A first lead investigator was removed by a court in February after he charged former prime minister Hassan Diab and three ex-ministers with “negligence and causing death to hundreds”. The second, judge Tarek Bitar, has also faced obstructions, including the parliament refusing to lift the immunity of former ministers who are also lawmakers so he could question them. Bitar in August subpoenaed Diab for interrogation on September 20, but local media has reported the ex-premier has flown to the United States to see his family.
Diab’s government resigned in the wake of the blast, but remained in a caretaker capacity until this week when a new government finally took up its functions after 13 months of political wrangling. Former prime ministers and Hezbollah have accused Bitar of “politicizing” the investigation.

Lebanon to Resume IMF Talks, Begin Reforms, Draft Policy Statement Says
Asharq AlAwsat/September 16/2021
Lebanon’s new cabinet is committed to resuming talks with the International Monetary Fund for a short- and medium-term rescue program, a draft of its policy statement obtained by Reuters showed on Wednesday. Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government is due to meet on Thursday to approve the draft, which will then go to a vote of confidence in parliament. The government, which was finally agreed on Friday after a year of political conflict over cabinet seats, must tackle one of the worst economic depressions in history. The draft policy statement said the government would begin implementing reforms as it resumes talks with the IMF, which broke down last summer. It said the government would resume negotiations with creditors to reach an agreement on “a mechanism to restructure the public debt”, and put in place a plan to reform the banking sector. The statement said the government was committed to all the articles set out in a French reform initiative and would “renew and develop” a financial recovery plan that was drawn up by the previous government. The government will also work with parliament to pass a capital control law, the draft document said. It will hold parliamentary elections due next spring on time, the draft said.

Hezbollah-Organized Fuel Arrives in Crisis-Hit Country
Asharq Al Awsat/September 16/2021
A convoy of tanker trucks carrying Iranian diesel crossed the border from Syria into Lebanon early Thursday, a delivery organized by the militant Hezbollah group to ease crippling fuel shortages in the crisis-hit country. The delivery violates US sanctions imposed on Tehran after former President Donald Trump pulled America out of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers three years ago.It was portrayed as a victory by Hezbollah, which stepped in to supply the fuel from its patron, Iran, while the cash-strapped government grappled with the fuel shortages for months, reported The Associated Press. The first Iranian oil tanker arrived in the Syrian port of Baniyas on Sunday and the diesel was unloaded to Syrian storage places and later brought overland to Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech earlier this week that the tanker did not offload its cargo directly in Lebanon to avoid embarrassing Lebanese authorities and risking sanctions on Lebanon. There was no immediate comment from Lebanese or US officials on the Iranian fuel delivery Thursday. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV called it “the tanker truck convoys to break the American siege” adding that 20 tanker trucks each carrying 50,000 liters (13,210 gallons) crossed the border Thursday and were on their way to the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek where Hezbollah will start distributing the fuel. Lebanon is in the grips of a devastating economic crisis. Severe shortages in fuel have paralyzed the country, resulting in crippling power cuts that have disrupted the work of hospitals and bakeries. Just to get gasoline, people must wait hours in line, commonly called, “queues of humiliation.” The tanker trucks crossed from Syria’s central province of Homs into Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and were welcomed by residents who gathered on the sides of the main road. Hezbollah’s yellow flags and banners praising the Iran-backed group and Syria’s President Bashar Assad decorated the streets. The arrival of the Iranian diesel comes nearly a week after a new government was formed ending a 13-month deadlock. Lebanon’s new Prime Minister Najib Mikati has not commented on the deal to import fuel from Iran. Nasrallah said earlier this week that the diesel will be donated for a period of one month to institutions including public hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, water stations and the Lebanese Red Cross. Nasrallah added that others who will get fuel at low prices are private hospitals, medicine and serum factories, bakeries and cooperatives that sell food products. Nasrallah said three other tankers carrying diesel and one carrying gasoline will arrive in the coming weeks.

Bitar Issues In-Absentia Arrest Warrant for Fenianos
Agence France Presse/September 16/2021
The lead investigative judge into the Beirut port blast, Tarek Bitar, on Thursday issued an arrest warrant in absentia for former public works and transport minister Youssef Fenianos. The agency said the warrant was issued after Fenianos failed to show up at an interrogation session scheduled for the same day.
Bitar had at the beginning of the session dismissed preliminary objections filed by Fenianos’ lawyers, Nazih al-Khoury and Tony Franjieh, who were present at the session. The judge considered that the ex-minister had been formally and properly informed of the session’s date and that he opted not to show up, NNA said. Suleiman Franjieh, the head of the Marada Movement to which Fenianos belongs, was swift to comment on Bitar’s move. “With the news that an arrest warrant has been issued against minister Youssef Fenianos, we stress that we will stand by him as he rightfully defends himself within the applicable laws,” Franjieh tweeted. Fenianos, 57, headed the ministry from 2016 to early 2020. His whereabouts are unknown, but he is thought to be in Lebanon. The warrant came a day after more than 140 human rights groups, survivors and relatives of victims called for an international probe into the country's worst peace time disaster, as "Lebanese leaders continue to obstruct, delay, and undermine the domestic investigation." Hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded at Beirut's port on August 4 last year, killing at least 214 people, injuring thousands, and ravaging entire neighborhoods of the capital. It emerged later that officials had known the highly volatile substance had been left to linger unsafely at the port for years after it was unloaded in 2014. But progress in the Lebanese investigation has been slow. A court threw out a first judge put in charge of the investigation after he charged former prime minister Hassan Diab and former ministers with "negligence and causing death to hundreds" after all had refused to appear before him. And officials have been working to hamper the probe led by his successor Bitar. Parliament has refused to lift the immunity of three other former ministers who are also lawmakers so the judge could question them. And the former interior minister refused to allow the head of the General Security agency to be interrogated. Political parties across the spectrum, including the powerful Iran-backed Hizbullah, have accused Bitar of "politicizing" the probe. Bitar in August subpoenaed Lebanon's then caretaker premier Diab for interrogation on September 20 after he too failed to show up for questioning, but he has flown to the United States on holiday. Diab's government handed over to a new cabinet earlier this week after more than a year of horse-trading over who would next take the reins of the multi-confessional country. Fenianos' lawyer, Nazih al-Khoury, said the arrest warrant was in "blatant violation of the law." "We, as a defense team, are studying the options we can resort to in the coming days and that are available to us under the law," he told AFP. Observers fear that Bitar, like his predecessor, will be kicked off the investigation.

Bassil Refuses to Discuss Presidency Bid, Slams Berri and Hariri
Naharnet/September 16/2021
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has refused during a TV interview to delve into the possibility of him running for presidency when President Michel Aoun’s term ends. “As long as President Aoun is in Baabda, I will not discuss this issue, and in the face of people’s pain the presidential elections become a small detail,” Bassil told Alaraby TV. Separately, Bassil denied that the new government was formed as a result of the phone call between French President Emmanuel Macron and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, noting that its line-up “respected the Lebanese components and the balances in the country.”
The FPM chief also accused Speaker Nabih Berri and others of “eradicating the idea of a strong president and strong component between 1990 and 2005.”“When it returned, they considered that it did not befit their interest, or the system’s interest, which is comprised of Berri, (ex-PM Saad) Hariri and others. It always looks for a Christian cover to use as a front and their concern is to strangle the strong president and the strong partner who does not meet their demands,” Bassil charged. “When Berri says that he will not let Aoun rule, this means that he has the ability to obstruct and that he is in charge of things,” the FPM chief said. “Saad Hariri was not able to form a government and he did not allow anyone to assume the mission,” Bassil went on to say. As for the chronic and ongoing electricity crisis, the FPM chief said: “Had our electricity plan been endorsed in 2010, we would have spared the Lebanese a lot of what we’re witnessing today, and we hope the new government will be able to address the power issue.”Asked about the Hizbullah-imported Iranian fuel ships, Bassil said “if there is insistence on depriving the Lebanese of fuel, they have the right to obtain it from any place.”Bassil also noted that he has not discussed the issue of lifting the sanctions imposed on him with any domestic of foreign party, describing the measures as “political and unjust.”“The political part can be addressed through politics and the second part can be addressed in a legal and administrative way,” he added.

A Report on Syrian-Lebanese Relations over the Past Two Weeks
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/September 16/2021
Those following the Syrian and Lebanese-Syrian news over the past few weeks notice two tendencies: the first is what is happening in Syria and can be summed up in the following events:
As Russian aircrafts launched strikes on rural Idlib, six of them according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Right Observatory. These same Russians sponsored talks to bring Daraa back to the regime’s embrace. Destruction and forced displacement, which are part and parcel of Moscow’s “diplomatic activity,” stirred fears of Iranian militias and Lebanese militias loyal to Iran replacing Daraa’s original inhabitants.
Their entry into Daraa al-Balad on September 9 for the first time since 2013 ended a siege that had begun early this summer, while the regime had recaptured Daraa’s surroundings two and a half years ago. Thus, the south of “useful Syria” was captured and nothing remains but extending control to the north of “useful Syria,” Idlib. Syrian regime forces and their allies’ advances were accompanied by another event: Amnesty International issued an extensive report on sexual violence in Syrian prisons and border crossings. This time, it is the Syrians who believed Bashar al-Assad and Gebran Bassil’s claims that they could “return to the embrace of the homeland” who were the victims. Amnesty International documented 66 cases of men, women and children being assaulted by security officials, including 13 children between 3 weeks and 17 years of age, 15 women and 38 men. The report was not given the title: “You are Going to Syria.” A more eloquent and accurate title was given: “You are Going to your Death.”
Meanwhile, as news about Rami Makhlouf died down over the past few weeks, news about Rifaat al-Assad returned to the fore. He was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzlement and fraud after having amassed a fortune of around 70 million euros divided between apartments, mansions and horse stud farms. For those who have forgotten, Rifaat is Bashar’s uncle and Hafez’s brother and partner in power for the first half of the latter’s reign (1970-84). He is among the most prominent if not the most prominent architect of Hafez’s bloody reign, especially with what he did in Palmyra in 1980 and in Hama in 1982. His dispute with his older brother was only about inheritance. Beyond that, “blood does not turn into water.”
This is the second tendency: at the beginning of the month, a ministerial delegation headed to Damascus, and before they returned, a Druze delegation that included few politicians and many clerics followed. Some observers believe that other sects and communities could follow the example of the two delegations in what my colleague Mounir Rabih called “the season of crawling to Damascus.” During the first visit, Nasri Khoury, the secretary general of the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council, one of the most prominent features of the era of Assadist tutelage over Lebanon, was reintroduced.
Many commentators have referred to French, American and Arab approval of this approach. There are those who spoke of “Western interests tied to Iran” that demand this, and there are those who mentioned the morbid theory about “persuading Assad to distance himself from Tehran.” Of course, also in the picture was the news of the “re-legitimization the Syrian regime through the Egyptian gas pipelines and the Jordanian electricity network,” which is supposed to reach Lebanon through Syrian territory.
In any case, the most prominent reward and the greatest gift was the new Lebanese government’s formation. My colleague Hazem al-Amin believes it is likely that the new prime minister, Mr. Najib Mikati, had pledged to normalize relations with Damascus, and that this pledge was precisely what allowed the government to see the light of day.
The government’s vice premier is a Syrian nationalist, and its culture minister represents Hezbollah. Whoever still has a shadow of a doubt about should Google: Who is the new Information Minister Mr. George Kordahi? From the Arab version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” Those performances brought the best out of him. For example, he is an information minister who does not like the media hosting dissidents. More importantly, his admiration for “Assad’s Syria” leaves him blushing, and he boasts about “conspiracies being shattered on the walls of Damascus,” and “the walls of Aleppo” as well. Perhaps he had other opinions about Syrian media freedoms. Clinging to “Assad’s Syria,” which we are witnessing with the developments referred to above, has, of course, its own explanations and justifications. The horrifying Lebanese decline, which was not a coincidence, added new arguments and buttressed the logic behind them. With that, a note that stems from the heart of these developments must be made; politics has not been as removed from ethics as we are seeing it become today. That is also among the effects of Lebanon’s collapse and Syria’s degeneration, which has reduced morality to where it has fallen to today.
Politics is not morality? True, but it is also not opposed to morality. Reaching this degree of separation is a matter we ought to contemplate, especially with the Lebanese mortifyingly handing out congratulations and gifts with the government formation.

انشل فوهرا/فورن بوليسي: لا خطة اميركية لأنقاذ لبنان لأنه لم يعد اولوية
The United States Has No Plan to Save Lebanon
The country’s desperate citizens are increasingly investing their hopes in a U.S. government that has other priorities.
Anchal Vohra/Foreign Policy/September 16/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/102538/anchal-vohra-foreign-policy-the-united-states-has-no-plan-to-save-lebanon-%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%b4%d9%84-%d9%81%d9%88%d9%87%d8%b1%d8%a7-%d9%81%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%86-%d8%a8%d9%88%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%b3%d9%8a-%d9%84/
Lebanon’s unprecedented economic crisis, which has plunged the country into darkness and ushered 78 percent of the population into poverty, has no shortage of authors. The country’s political elite and its sectarian factions have been more occupied with infighting over their traditional privileges than addressing the country’s problems. On Sept. 10, after more than a year of waiting, the country received a new, ostensibly independent, government, under Prime Minister Najib Mikati. But there is little indication it will has the will or ability to pass necessary political or economic reforms.
As the country’s economy continues to crash, the hopes of many Lebanese citizens are increasingly invested with the United States. Only Washington, so the prevailing thinking goes, has the power to arrange for an economic lifeline while forcing the political changes Lebanon needs—and the democratic principle to ensure that such changes are truly democratic, by disempowering sectarian political actors and their regional sponsors alike.
Unfortunately for Lebanon, the United States has no active plan to rescue the country—nor is there any indication that one is in the works.
Until now, the United States has only offered ad hoc support, doing the minimum to keep the country from utter collapse. Instead, it has outsourced the Lebanon file to France. Over the last year, France took a lead in trying to resolve the crises in its former colony, and French President Emmanuel Macron visited the country several times after the August 2020 Beirut port blast to push for a new social contract between the Lebanese state and the people. The French plan, however, naively banked on the same political elite that benefited from the country’s sect-based power-sharing plan to reform that same system. There was no stick, no threat of repercussions to encourage a very stubborn—and allegedly highly corrupt—ruling class to change its behavior.
As disillusionment with the French set in, many analysts said France simply did not have the kind of influence the United States does to coerce a haughty and unrepentant political elite into action. But they are disheartened at America’s apparent lack of interest. “Lebanon is not the Biden administration’s priority,” said Sami Nader, a Lebanese political analyst. “Israel’s security is on top of their agenda, reviving the deal with Iran is on top of their agenda, but Lebanon is not.” Nader reminisced about a time when Lebanon was a priority for Washington: “During George W. Bush’s time, mid-2000s, Lebanon topped Washington’s agenda, because he saw the first success of his democracy agenda policy in Lebanon, and we saw a lot of hope and support at all levels. Not anymore.”
The Americans are the largest donor of humanitarian aid to Lebanon, bankroll the country’s armed forces, and have even said that they are going to facilitate cheap and sustainable energy solutions for the fuel- and electricity-starved nation. Yet the common sentiment is that the United States is merely reacting to events instead of adopting a proactive policy to extract the country from what the World Bank said could be one of the three worst economic crises in the world since the mid-1800s.
Many Lebanese have deep ties with the United States and look up to the American way of life and political ideas. They want the United States to stop seeing Lebanon through an Israeli or an Iranian prism and instead hope it will draft a more comprehensive policy centered on cultivating an aspirational democracy. More than a million Lebanese who thronged the streets in the country in October 2019 wished to overthrow a sectarian and self-serving ruling dispensation, but peaceful protesters simply do not have the tools to take on a well-armed state, backed by a powerful militia. They expected the United States to use its massive diplomatic clout more energetically to protect their rights—for instance, by making aid to Lebanon’s military conditional on the assurance that it will not target protesters. Furthermore, they say that the United States could easily use its financial prowess to sanction the corrupt and freeze their ill-gotten assets abroad.
One of the reasons protests faded away was the constant fear of abductions, assassinations, and arrests. Several protesters were detained, and many more were harassed by the authorities and intimidated by supporters of Hezbollah and its ally the Amal Movement. A vociferous Hezbollah critic, Lokman Slim, was shot four times in the head and found dead in his car in Hezbollah-dominated south Lebanon. The ever-lingering fear that they might be killed was also why no leaders emerged to replace the old guard. The momentum gradually dissipated while people’s suffering worsened.
Lebanese analysts said while the United States expressed general sympathy for protesters, it did not spell out what it would do to support and protect them. Moreover, as the Biden administration focuses on reviving the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, Lebanese people are suspicious about what that will mean for the strength of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon’s government.
Laury Haytayan, a Lebanese energy expert and political commentator, said she wonders if the United States has a coherent plan to save Lebanon. “I don’t think the U.S. has a clear Lebanon policy. They are doing business as usual through grants to NGOs, supporting the army, which also they used to do,” Haytayan said. “I don’t see anything else at the political level, you know. I don’t see any shifts or any strategy. The U.S. is just reacting to humanitarian crises.”
The recent announcement that the United States would facilitate provision of gas and electricity, however, has been widely welcomed, and the Lebanese are hoping for more such initiatives. The United States has given its consent to a multilateral plan to provide Lebanon with Egyptian gas through Jordan and Syria, and Jordanian electricity through the Syrian grid. It will exempt countries that conduct business with Syria from sanctions under the Caesar Act and facilitate a World Bank-assured line of credit to Lebanon.
Washington’s Arab allies, many of whom have been pushing for resumption of ties with Syria to balance Iranian influence in Lebanon, are pleased with these plans. But Bassam Barabandi, a former Syrian diplomat based in the United States, said that America was making a mistake by relying on Bashar al-Assad to counter Iran in Lebanon. “Iranian militias will physically have control of areas in Syria through which the Egyptian gas will pass,” he said. “Americans are aiding, not containing, Iran.” The U.S. government has not commented on the leverage that the Syrian route has provided to Iran, which, according to Hezbollah, is sending tankers of its own to Lebanon.
One theory for that reticence is that the United States might be hoping to cooperate with Iran on keeping the Lebanese economy afloat, even at the expense of further empowering Hezbollah. “By giving a waiver for transporting Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity through sanctioned Syria, it is possible the U.S. is trying to say that sanctions against Iran will also be waived if it delivers on the deal,” Nader, the Lebanese analyst, added.
The Biden administration is determined to limit its costs in the Middle East and retreat as quickly as possible without any further entanglements, and it seems inclined to encourage regional actors to resolve regional problems. The idea of the energy corridor was reportedly pushed by Jordan’s King Abdullah II when he met U.S. President Joe Biden in July and suggested that the arrangement would not only help Jordan’s economy and make up for Lebanon’s severe shortfall but also stabilize Syria.
The United States has given just enough aid to keep Lebanon from imploding. But if the country is ever expected to stand on its own feet, it will need the full thrust of U.S. diplomatic and financial power for wide-reaching political reform, perhaps even more than U.S. cash. Lebanon needs America’s guarantees to civil society activists that it would raise hell were any of them to be assassinated, its ability to find and punish the corrupt elite who siphoned away people’s cash in foreign banks, its threat to use the whip of sanctions that France was too timid to crack, and its insistence on making Hezbollah’s disarmament a part of the nuclear negotiations with Iran in Vienna. Absent all that, Lebanon may never recover at all.
*Anchal Vohra is a columnist for Foreign Policy and a freelance TV correspondent and commentator on the Middle East based in Beirut. Twitter: @anchalvohra

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 16-17/2021
France Calls Killing of ISIS Leader Big Victory
Asharq AlAwsat/September 16/2021
France killed the leader of ISIS in the Greater Sahara because the group attacked French aid workers, African civilians and US troops, French officials said Thursday, calling him “enemy No. 1” in protracted anti-terrorism efforts in the Sahel.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the death of Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi overnight. According to Macron's office, al-Sahrawi personally ordered the killing of six French aid workers and their Nigerien colleagues last year, and his group was behind a 2017 attack that killed US and Niger military personnel, reported The Associated Press. He was killed in a strike by France’s Barkhane military operation “a few weeks ago,” but authorities waited to be sure of his identity before making the announcement, French Defense Minister Florence Parly told RFI radio Thursday. She did not disclose details of the operation or where al-Sahrawi was killed, though the ISIS group is active along the border between Mali and Niger. “He was at the origin of massacres and terror,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday on France-Info radio. He urged African governments to fill the void and seize background taken by the extremists. Rumors of the militant leader’s death had circulated for weeks in Mali, though authorities in the region had not confirmed it. It was not immediately possible to independently verify the claim or to know how the remains had been identified. Al-Sahrawi had claimed responsibility for a 2017 attack in Niger that killed four US military personnel and four people with Niger’s military. His group also has abducted foreigners in the Sahel and is believed to still be holding American Jeffrey Woodke, who was abducted from his home in Niger in 2016.
The extremist leader was born in the disputed territory of Western Sahara and later joined the Polisario Front. After spending time in Algeria, he made his way to northern Mali where he became an important figure in the group known as MUJAO that controlled the major northern town of Gao in 2012. A French-led military operation the following year ousted ISIS extremists from power in Gao and other northern cities, though those elements later regrouped and again carried out attacks. The Malian group MUJAO was loyal to the regional al-Qaeda affiliate. But in 2015, al-Sahrawi released an audio message pledging allegiance to the ISIS group in Iraq and Syria. France, the region's former colonial power, recently announced that it would be reducing its military presence in the region, with plans to withdraw 2,000 troops by early next year.

EU 'Not Informed' on U.S., UK and Australia Alliance
Agence France Presse/September 16/2021
The EU was not told in advance about a new military partnership between the United States, Britain and Australia, a spokesman said Thursday, fuelling fears Europe is being cut out by Washington. The three countries' leaders unveiled the alliance on Wednesday in what was seen as a move to counter China's rising might.  The agreement to provide a nuclear submarine fleet to Australia raised hackles in EU member France, which saw its earlier multi-billion dollar deal with Canberra scrapped. "The EU was not informed about this project or about this initiative and we are in contact with the said partners to find out more," European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said. "And we will, of course, have to discuss this within the EU with our member states to assess the implications."A second spokesperson Dana Spinant insisted that the new alliance would have "no impact" on relations with the three countries. U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and British counterpart Boris Johnson unveiled the new alliance -- dubbed AUKUS -- just as the EU prepared to detail its own Indo-Pacific strategy on Thursday. The 27-nation bloc is looking to strengthen ties in the region, which it says is of "prime strategic importance for EU interests." Brussels said in April the strategy could include bolstering the European naval presence in the Indo-Pacific. Many in Europe were dismayed with the way the US pulled out of Afghanistan, critics accusing Biden of sidelining allies over the decision.

Biden’s ‘summer of love’ with Europe hits an abrupt break-up
The Associated Press/17 September ,2021
President Joe Biden’s summer of love with Europe appears to have come to an abrupt end. After promising European leaders that “America is back” and that multilateral diplomacy would guide US foreign policy, Biden has angered numerous allies with a go-it-alone approach on key issues, the latest being a new security initiative for the Indo-Pacific that notably excluded France and the European Union. Some have compared Biden’s recent actions to those of his predecessor, Donald Trump, under Trump’s “America First” doctrine. That’s surprising for a president steeped in international affairs who ran for the White House vowing to mend shaken ties with allies and restore US credibility on the world stage. Although it’s impossible to predict if any damage will be lasting, the short-term impact seems to have rekindled European suspicions of American intentions — with potential implications for Biden’s broader aim to unite democracies against authoritarianism, focused primarily on China and Russia. Just three months ago, on his first visit to the continent as president, Biden was hailed as a hero by European counterparts eager to move beyond the trans-Atlantic tensions of the Trump years. But that palpable sense of relief has now faded for many, and its one clear winner, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is on her way out. Since June, Biden has infuriated America’s oldest ally, France, left Poland and Ukraine questioning the US commitment to their security and upset the European Union more broadly with unilateral decisions ranging from Afghanistan to east Asia. And, while Europe cheered when Biden pledged to return to nuclear negotiations with Iran and revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, both efforts remain stalled nine months into his administration. The seeds of discontent may have been sown in the spring but they began to bloom in July over Biden’s acquiescence to a Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline that will bypass Poland and Ukraine, and a month later in August with the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan that left Europe scrambling to keep up after it had expressed reservations about the pullout.
Then just this week, Biden enraged France and the European Union with his announcement that the US would join post-Brexit Britain and Australia in a new Indo-Pacific security initiative aimed at countering China’s increasing aggressiveness in the region. Unsurprisingly, China reacted angrily, accusing the US and its English-speaking partners of embarking on a project that will destabilize the Pacific to the detriment of global security. But, the reactions from Paris and Brussels were equally severe. Both complained they were not only excluded from the deal but not consulted on it. The White House and Secretary of State Antony Blinken say France had been informed of the decision before it was announced on Wednesday, although it was not exactly clear when. Blinken said Thursday there had been conversations with the French about it within the past 24 to 48 hours, suggesting there had not been an in-depth consultation. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who in June extolled the “excellent news for all of us that America is back,” expressed “total incomprehension” at the announcement of the initiative. “It was really a stab in the back,” he said. “It looks a lot like what Trump did.”
France will lose a nearly $100 billion deal to build diesel submarines for Australia under the terms of the new AUKUS initiative, which will see the US and Britain help Canberra construct nuclear-powered ones.
As such, French anger on a purely a commercial level would be understandable, particularly because France, since Britain’s handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, is the only European nation to have significant territorial possessions or a permanent military presence in the Pacific.
But French and European Union officials went further, saying the agreement calls into question the entire cooperative effort to blunt China’s growing influence and underscores the importance of languishing plans to boost Europe’s own defense and security capabilities. In a joint statement with Le Drian, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said the decision “only reinforces the need to make the issue of European strategic autonomy loud and clear. There is no other credible way to defend our interests and our values in the world, including in the Indo-Pacific.”
In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell echoed those remarks. “I suppose that an agreement of this nature was not cooked up the day before yesterday. It takes a certain amount of time, and despite that, no, we were not consulted,” he said. “That obliges us, once again … to reflect on the need to put European strategic autonomy high on the agenda.”Indeed, the 27-member European Union on Thursday unveiled a new strategy for boosting economic, political and defense ties in the Indo-Pacific, just hours after the announcement by the US, Britain and Australia. The EU said the aim is to strengthen and expand economic relations while reinforcing respect of international trade rules and improving maritime security. It said it hopes the strategy will result in more European naval deployments to the region. US officials brushed aside the French and EU complaints on Thursday, echoing brief comments from Biden on Wednesday that gave a nod to France’s role.

France cancels DC event as ties with US quickly sour
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/16 September ,2021
Ties have quickly deteriorated between Washington and Paris after a recent US deal between the UK and Australia excluded France. Less than 24 hours after the US announced a deal with the UK to provide Australia with nuclear technology for submarines, France lashed out at what it called a “lack of coherence.” And despite US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying France was a vital partner during a meeting with his Australian counterpart on Thursday, France chose to push ahead and cancel an event in Washington celebrating bilateral ties. The New York Times cited a French official in Washington saying the event was scheduled to take place at the French Embassy and aboard a French frigate in Baltimore. According to the NYT, the top French naval officer was in Washington for the event to be held on Friday, but he will return to Paris. The three-way deal between the US, Australia and the UK to “help safeguard the peace and security of the Indo-Pacific” not only excluded France but also led to Australia backing out of a $40 billion deal previously signed to acquire French submarines. France's former ambassador to the US called the move a “stab in the back.”

France’s Macron, Germany’s Merkel meet in Paris on world’s crises, EU issues
The Associated Press/16 September ,2021
French President Emmanuel Macron met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris Thursday to discuss international crises and European issues, days before elections that will determine who succeeds her after 16 years in office. Key topics include the diplomatic and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the fight against extremists in Africa’s Sahel region and European Union affairs, both leaders said before their meeting, to be followed by a working dinner. The meeting comes ahead of Germany’s parliamentary elections on Sept. 26. Merkel has announced she won’t seek a fifth term.
Although Germany will be putting together a new government after the election, “we want to make everything possible on the German side so that there is no standstill on the necessary decisions that need to be made,” Merkel said. In Germany, the outgoing chancellor stays on until a new coalition government is formed, which can take weeks or months. Macron said he was closely monitoring the political developments in Germany. Until a new government is formed, “dear Angela Merkel and myself will continue to work hand in hand on the big issues on which we seek to bring Franco-German solutions,” he said. On Afghanistan, Macron and Merkel said they would discuss how to extract remaining European citizens and Afghans who are under threat, and how to support neighboring nations hosting Afghan refugees. “We will of course also have to consider what the end of the NATO deployment in Afghanistan means for us and our future missions in connection with the fight against terrorism, and what lessons we draw from its unsuccessful end, if you look at the aims we had imagined,” Merkel said. Macron pushed for greater European “autonomy” regarding the world’s crises, citing the “fight against terrorism” in Libya and in Africa’s Sahel region. French authorities announced overnight the death of the leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, killed in southern Mali in a French-led operation. France has over 5,000 troops deployed in the Sahel to fight Islamic extremists. Paris announced plans to nearly halve that force in the coming years. Germany has several hundred soldiers in United Nations stabilization and European Union training missions in Mali. Both governments expressed concern this week at reports on the possible deployment of Russian mercenaries in Mali. German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer tweeted on Wednesday that, if confirmed, “that puts into question the basis of the mandate” for German soldiers in Mali. A French top official, speaking anonymously in accordance with the Elysee’s customary practices, said Merkel will be back in Paris in the coming weeks for a “goodbye visit.”Macron met last week with two candidates to succeed her, Armin Laschet of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and Olaf Scholz, running for the Social Democrats. The meetings, at the request of the two candidates, allowed Macron to get “the most precise information possible” about the political situation in Germany, and different hypothesis for the future coalition government, the official said. Macron didn’t meet with Greens contender Annalena Baerbock.

Iran's Raisi to Attend Regional Conference in First Official Visit Since Taking Office
Asharq AlAwsat/September 16/2021
Tehran's participation in a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conference demonstrates the importance it places on regional cooperation, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said before leaving for Tajikistan on Thursday on his first foreign trip since taking office last month. The summit in Dushanbe will discuss last month's takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, a neighboring country of the SCO's largely Central Asian members. Afghanistan itself is an observer at the SCO, as is Iran, reported Reuters. The SCO was launched in 2001 to combat security concerns in China, Russia and four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics. "Regional cooperation is a top priority for us," Raisi said in live televised remarks at Tehran airport before leaving for Dushanbe. Legal, economic, and agricultural agreements would be signed with Tajikistan, he said without giving details. The official IRNA news agency said Raisi was accompanied by the ministers of foreign affairs, energy, justice, labor and social welfare, cultural heritage, and tourism.

4 Iranians Sentenced and Charged for Violating US Sanctions
Washington - Muath Alamri/Asharq AlAwsat/September 16/2021
Two courts, one in Texas and another in Florida, have sentenced and charged four Iranians for violating US sanctions on Iran, money laundering, and exporting military sensitive items, the Justice Department announced. One of them was sentenced to 63 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), it said Tuesday. Mehrdad Ansari, 40, a resident of the United Arab Emirates and Germany, was convicted by a federal jury in May 2021 for his role in a scheme to obtain military sensitive parts for Iran in violation of the Iranian Trade Embargo. In coordination with his co-conspirators, Ansari obtained and attempted to obtain parts that had dual-use military and civilian capability and could be used in such systems as nuclear weapons, missile guidance and development, secure tactical radio communications, offensive electronic warfare, military electronic countermeasures (radio jamming) and radar warning and surveillance systems. Evidence presented during trial revealed that Ansari attempted to transship testing equipment obtained from the US by co-defendants Taiwanese citizen Susan Yip, aka Susan Yeh, and Iranian citizen Mehrdad Foomanie, aka Frank Foomanie, using Ansari’s companies located in Dubai. From Oct. 9, 2007 to June 15, 2011, Yip and Foomanie obtained or attempted to obtain from companies worldwide over 105,000 parts valued at approximately $2,630,800 involving more than 1,250 transactions. The defendants conducted 599 transactions with 63 different US companies in which they obtained or attempted to obtain parts from US companies without notifying the US companies these parts were being shipped to Iran or getting the required US government license to ship these parts to Iran.
In October 2012, Yip was sentenced to two years in federal prison. Mehrdad Foomanie remains a fugitive. In the second case, three Florida residents were charged with crimes related to their violations of US sanctions on Iran, and money laundering, the Justice Department said.
Defendants Mohammad Faghihi, 52, his wife Farzeneh Modarresi, 53, and his sister Faezeh Faghihi, 50, operated Florida company Express Gene. According to the criminal complaint affidavit, between October 2016 and November 2020, Express Gene received numerous wire transfers from accounts in Malaysia, China, Singapore, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, totaling almost $3.5 million. It is alleged that some of the money received was used by Express Gene and its principals to purchase genetic sequencing equipment from US manufacturers and ship them to Iran.
On Feb. 20, Faghihi arrived at Miami International Airport from Iran, where he was inspected by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. According to the charging documents, during his inspection by CBP officers, Faghihi made false statements, including that he did not practice his profession in Iran or conduct any type of research in Iran. In fact, according to the affidavit, Faghihi was the director of a laboratory within Shiraz University of Medical Science in Iran bearing his name: “Dr. Faghihi’s Medical Genetic Center,”. In addition, his luggage contained 17 vials of unknown biological substances covered with ice packs and concealed beneath bread and other food items, according to the affidavit. All the vials were subject to regulations. From approximately 2013 to approximately 2020, Faghihi was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami (UM), Miller School of Medicine. It is alleged that Express Gene and Faghihi received large deposits from international wires during this period, but they were not disclosed. All defendants are charged with conspiring to commit an offense against the United States and conspiring to commit money laundering.

IAEA Condemns Reported Harassment of Female Inspectors in Iran
Asharq AlAwsat/September 16/2021
The UN nuclear watchdog on Wednesday condemned as "unacceptable" incidents involving its inspectors in Iran following a news report that Iranian guards had harassed female agency staff. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that guards at Iran's main nuclear facility, Natanz, physically harassed female International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors in several incidents since early June. The incidents allegedly included inappropriate touching and orders to remove clothing, the report said, citing diplomats. The United States condemned the incidents. "Harassment of IAEA inspectors is absolutely unacceptable and any repeat of such conduct would be of serious concern," said US Charge d'Affaires Louis L Bono. "The safety and well-being of IAEA inspectors must be one of this Board’s highest priorities." Asked to comment on the report, the IAEA noted in a statement "some incidents related to security checks of agency inspectors at one Iranian facility" in recent months. "The agency immediately and firmly raised this issue with Iran to explain in very clear and unequivocal terms that such security-related incidents involving agency staff are unacceptable and must not happen again," it added. The statement said there had been no further incidents after the IAEA and Iran exchanged messages on this matter. "Security measures at the nuclear facilities in Iran are, reasonably, tightened" Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Kazem Gharibabadi, wrote on Twitter late Tuesday. "The IAEA inspectors have gradually come up with the new rules and regulations."The Natanz nuclear facility was hit by an explosion in April, which Tehran has branded an act of sabotage.

Armenia takes rival Azerbaijan to top UN court
AFP/16 September ,2021
Armenia dragged rival Azerbaijan to the UN’s top court on Thursday, accusing it of decades of rights abuses including last year’s war over a disputed region. Yerevan is calling on the International Court of Justice to take emergency measures to “protect and preserve Armenia’s rights,” the Hague-based tribunal said in a statement. Armenia’s case is based on an allegation that Azerbaijan has breached a UN treaty, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Armenian application says that “for decades, Azerbaijan has subjected Armenians to racial discrimination,” according to the ICJ. “As a result of this state-sponsored policy of Armenian hatred, Armenians have been subjected to systemic discrimination, mass killings, torture and other abuse,” the Armenian case says. Armenian also says that the alleged violations “once again came to the fore in September 2020, after Azerbaijan’s aggression.”A six-week war over Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh last autumn claimed more than 6,500 lives. It ended in November with a Russian-brokered ceasefire under which Armenia ceded territories it had controlled for decades.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. The ensuing conflict has claimed around 30,000 lives.

US State Department approves $500 mln military deal with Saudi Arabia
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/17 September ,2021
The US State Department approved the sale of $500 million in equipment to Saudi Arabia, according to a statement released Thursday. Despite the deal being a continuation of a prior agreement, the US package includes maintenance support services for helicopters, including Saudi Arabia’s Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, as well as a future fleet of CH-47D Chinook helicopters. “This proposed sale will support US foreign policy and national security objectives by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that continues to be an important force for political stability and economic growth in the Middle East,” the State Department said. Washington said the deal would also help improve Saudi Arabia’s capability “to meet current and future threats.”The deal will also aid in maintaining Saudi Arabia’s rotary-wing aircraft fleet, engines, avionics, weapons, and missile components, the State Department said. “Saudi Arabia will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces.” The deal has been sent to Congress for review and approval. Thursday’s announcement comes after the Biden administration froze weapons sales to Saudi Arabia shortly after taking office. President Joe Biden also halted US support to “offensive operations” in Yemen in support of Saudi Arabia while removing the Iran-backed Houthis from the terror blacklist. Last week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia and meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The visit was rescheduled at the last minute due to a scheduling conflict.

Group: Egypt's Security Tactics 'Destroy' Lives of Activists
Associated Press/16 September ,2021
A global human rights group Thursday accused Egypt's main domestic security agency of harassing and intimidating rights advocates and activists to silence them. The Amnesty International report was the latest rebuke to Egypt's government, which faces increasing pressure from the U.S. to improve its human rights record. A government media officer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. The rights group said the National Security Agency was "increasingly using a well-honed pattern of unlawful summons, (and) coercive questioning" of activists in practices amounting to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."The London-based group said it documented how the agency, which handles terror-related and political cases, used such measures to "control the lives" of at least 26 people, including seven women, between 2020 and 2021. The report is titled: "This will only end when you die," in reference to what one activist was told of her regular summons to the agency. Amnesty did not disclose the names of those activists. The NSA is overseen by the Interior Ministry. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has in the past maintained that his country has no political prisoners.
Egypt's government has in recent years waged a wide-scale crackdown on dissent, jailing thousands of people, mainly Islamists, but also secular activists involved in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Many people have been imprisoned on terrorism charges, for breaking a ban on protests or for disseminating false news. In recent years, lengthy pretrial detentions have become a common practice to keep the government's critics behind bars for as long as possible. "NSA officials' questions and threats reveal one clear objective: to stifle human rights and political activism," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's research and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa region. Amnesty said at least 20 activists described how the agency's attempt to monitor and manipulate their activities had left them in a depressed and helpless state.
The group said officers used "physical and psychological abuse" during interrogations of summoned activists, many of whom had already spent significant time in detention. In their cases, they were told to present themselves to police stations for so-called monitoring after their release. Security forces also threatened activists and their families with detention or physical harm if they did not give up information, Amnesty said. The group said many activists and rights advocates are now fearful of voicing their opinions or taking part in political activities. Some have left the country as a result, the report added. But even they are not out-of-reach: After traveling, one received a message from an officer saying he would now be "on the run" for the remainder of his life. Amnesty urged the country's chief prosecutor to open investigations into the NSA's practices. The State Department announced Tuesday it would withhold $130 million of $300 million in military financing for Egypt due to human rights concerns. Secretary of State Antony Blinken would allow the rest go through to preserve a U.S.-Egypt security engagement that Washington believes is critical to Mideast stability.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials published on September 16-17/2021
شارل شرتوني: افغانستان وايران وقوس النزاعات التي لا تنتهي
L’Afghanistan, l’Iran et l’arc des conflits interminables
Charles Elias Chartouni/September 16/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/102528/charles-elias-chartouni-lafghanistan-liran-et-larc-des-conflits-interminables-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%84-%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%81%d8%ba%d8%a7%d9%86/
Quelques semaines après le retrait des États Unis et la fin de l’épisode qui a succédé aux attaques terroristes du 9 septembre 2001, l’Afghanistan se heurte à l’incapacité des Talibans à pouvoir gérer l’administration et les finances publiques, résoudre les problèmes économiques et sociaux et faire face à la famine massive qui en résulte, à la résurgence de l’hydre islamiste avec son totalitarisme et ses dérives pathologiques misogynes, au retour de la terreur, à la de-légitimation météorique du régime naissant, et aux aléas sécuritaires d’un pays aux contours géopolitiques controversés. En outre, les Talibans étalent au grand jour leurs divisions internes, et leur incapacité à pouvoir se projeter en acteur cohérent sur la scène afghane, se délier de l’internationale terroriste islamiste, et affirmer leur indépendance à l’égard des politiques de puissance islamique ( Pakistan, Arabie Saoudite, Qatar, … ), alors qu’ils revendiquent leur reprise de contrôle des friches afghanes. Les paradoxes dans lesquels se débat cette mouvance terroriste sont insolubles pour des raisons multiples se rapportant à son misonéisme, son totalitarisme islamique, ses liens de consubstantialité avec le terrorisme islamiste, et son instrumentalisation par les politiques de puissance dans un espace afghan en état de dislocation structurelle. Les difficultés de positionnement sont dues à l’impossibilité de démêler les enjeux, arrêter des priorités, se distancer par rapport aux bailleurs de fonds et pouvoirs de tutelle, se démarquer des contraintes idéologique et stratégique, et doter le simulacre d’État afghan d’une autonomie normative et opérationnelle minimale, alors qu’en réalité toute l’infrastructure institutionnelle est annexée par les politiques de partage de butin des coalitions tribales mutantes et leurs doubles mafieux et terroriste.
Les conditions dirimantes au travail de réformes structurelles et de modernisation sont suffisamment contraignantes pour empêcher la mise en œuvre des stratégies de changement. Les chances de normalisation des rapports avec la communauté internationale butent sur des interdits religieux, des contraintes stratégiques, des objectifs terroristes et des intérêts mafieux, et de réinstallation des contrôles hermétiques d’un totalitarisme islamique sans nuance. Leur seul point de contact avec le reste du monde est induit par l’acuité des crises humanitaires en cascade, et la gravité des questions stratégique et géopolitique qui leur sont rattachées. Or la normalisation requiert des ancrages institutionnels solides dotés d’une autonomie morale, et animés par une volonté d’insertion dans les règles de la vie internationale, qui font communément défaut. L’Afghanistan reprend son statut de terre abandonnée, de marginalité politique et socio-économique, de terre d’élection du terrorisme islamiste et d’indicateur séismique dans une aire géopolitique dépourvue de tout équilibre.
L’Iran, de son côté, représente un cas d’école, nommément, celui d’un pays et d’une configuration révolutionnaire qui se débattent avec des aléas stratégique et géopolitique multiples, un récit révolutionnaire entièrement discrédité, des crises économique, sociale, morale, et environnementale d’une extrême gravité, et une crise politique mortelle qui remet en question les mythes fondateurs de la révolution islamique, la légitimité de ses institutions et des dérives oligarchiques et mafieuses qui les caractérisent. La politique de subversion régionale qui s’est construite à l’ombre des accords sur le nucléaire (Vienne 2015), ont fini par remettre en cause le bien-fondé de la diplomatie de contrôle de la militarisation du nucléaire civil, révéler les visées impériales de l’Iran islamique, les aléas sécuritaire et stratégique d’une géopolitique aux équilibres incertains, et le lien entre les politiques de déstabilisation et la survie du régime.
Le régime islamique considère que la normalisation sur le plan international induit la libéralisation sur le plan domestique, dans un contexte où la rupture entre la société civile et les sphères concurrentes de l’oligarchie révolutionnaire ne cesse de croître en attendant la rupture. Le retour en force des extrémistes illustré par l’élection du tortionnaire du régime islamiste, Ibrahim Raissi, la réaffirmation de la doxa islamiste, la poursuite de la politique de déstabilisation tous azimuts, la pugnacité de la terreur d’État, le pari sur un ordre international alternatif structuré autour de l’axe russo-chinois, et les impondérables de la scène politique américaine et ses incidences sur la politique mondiale et les intérêts stratégiques de l’Occident, expliquent largement les louvoiements des négociations en cours sur le nucléaire, et la volonté de déjouer la politique des sanctions américaines, et de l’endiguement multilatéral que projettent les États Unis. Le régime iranien n’est pas en quête de normalisation, il est dans la manœuvre et le gain du temps en vue d’achever sa nucléarisation militaire, et poursuivre sa politique de déstabilisation régionale.
Nous sommes confrontés, dans les deux cas de figure, à des scénarios de contournement, de navigation indéterminée dans les interstices d’un ordre régional et international aux contours imprécis qui mènent inévitablement à la violence. La fermeté stratégique et les politiques de conditionnalité s’imposent, d’ores et déjà, comme entrées autant d’entrées pour traiter ces dossiers, et mettre fin aux illusions dont se nourrissent les politiques islamistes et les mouvances terroristes qui évoluent dans leur orbite.

UK: Record Number of Migrants Crossing English Channel
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/September 16/2021
More than 14,500 migrants have crossed the Channel in around 600 small boats so far in 2021, surpassing the 8,713 arrivals (in 650 boats) during all of 2020, according to Migration Watch, which notes that the actual number of arrivals is probably far higher than what has been recorded in official statistics. Since the beginning of 2021, not a single migrant has been deported to the safe European countries they traveled through.
"The incentives are skewed so that they encourage, rather than discourage, illegal (and dangerous) trips that often lead to asylum abuse." — Migration Watch UK.
"They want to go to England because they can expect better conditions on arrival there than anywhere else in Europe or even internationally. There are no ID cards. They can easily find work outside the formal economy, which is not really controlled." — Mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart.
"Both traffickers and migrants know that 'no civilized country can allow people to drown at sea'; this is why people get on overcrowded vessels. 'And this is why Britain is about to be plunged into a similar crisis to the one Italy faced three years ago, albeit on a reduced scale.'" — British news magazine, The Week, quoting James Forsyth in The Times.
"Instead of the United Kingdom being able to choose the children and families most in need, illegal immigration instead allows those who pay people smugglers, or who are strong, to push their way to the front of the queue.... Our legal system needs reform. It is open to abuse." — Immigration Control Minister Chris Philip.
"First it was a few, then hundreds, and now 1,000 in a day, the French just waving them through with a cheery 'Bon Voyage.' If the French won't stop the small boats then we need to by turning them back, making returns and taking firm control of our borders." — Natalie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover.
The British government is struggling to stop illegal migrants attempting to cross the English Channel on small boats — partly because of its need for cooperation from France. British authorities have repeatedly accused their French counterparts of not doing enough to stop small boats from leaving French territorial waters. Pictured: Illegal migrants walk ashore on the beach at Dungeness, England on September 7, 2021.
Nearly a thousand migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East have attempted to cross the English Channel on small boats in just one day to illegally get into the United Kingdom. The record-breaking surge in illegal crossings is being facilitated by warm weather and calm seas.
The British government is struggling to stop the crossings — partly because of its need for cooperation from France. British authorities have repeatedly accused their French counterparts of not doing enough to stop small boats from leaving French territorial waters.
Although the UK has pledged to pay France tens of millions of pounds to stop migrants crossing the Channel, French naval vessels are accused of escorting small boats into British waters. French officials counter that the UK has not done enough to reduce the incentives that act as a magnet for migrants: not only are newcomers showered with generous social welfare benefits, but the UK's decision to scrap national identity cards, combined with its sizeable shadow economy, makes it easy for illegal immigrants to find work.
On September 6, 785 migrants entered the UK illegally after crossing the English Channel, according to official statistics compiled by Migration Watch UK, a British think tank. It was the second-highest number of daily arrivals since a record-breaking 828 migrants reached the UK on August 21. The previous daily record was 482 migrants who crossed the Channel on August 4, according to the BBC. A record-breaking 3,510 migrants reached the UK by boat in July 2021.
More than 14,500 migrants have crossed the Channel in around 600 small boats so far in 2021, surpassing the 8,713 arrivals (in 650 boats) during all of 2020, according to Migration Watch, which notes that the actual number of arrivals is probably far higher than what has been recorded in official statistics. Since the beginning of 2021, not a single migrant has been deported back to the safe European countries they traveled through, according to Migration Watch, which stated: "The number of people crossing continues to rise even after nearly £200 million of taxpayers' money was paid to France since September 2014 to tackle illegal immigration (see media report). This is hardly value for money.
"The government is also spending around £400 million of taxpayers' money each year on 'free' accommodation for more than 60,000 asylum seekers and failed claimants over the next decade (total of £4 billion in the ten years from mid-2019 – see National Audit Office summary). The number of people housed has tripled since 2012 when it was around 20,000....
"Nearly 10,000 people have been housed in nearly 100 hotels across the country in what is known as 'initial accommodation' set aside for people just after they claim asylum but are awaiting an allocation of more long-term housing (for more read this piece). "This despite the fact that, as Home Office sources admitted recently, housing migrants in hotels creates a 'pull factor.'
"The incentives are skewed so that they encourage, rather than discourage, illegal (and dangerous) trips that often lead to asylum abuse (also see this Home Office page telling people what they will get if they claim asylum).
"Payments and the offer of free housing for those eligible while an asylum claim is being processed (and for thousands of failed claimants) may serve to encourage people to attempt the dangerous and needless journey.
"98% of those arriving claim asylum once landed, says the Home Office, even though they are traveling from a safe country from which protection is not required. However, 81% have been found by the authorities not to have a credible claim here in the UK. The asylum route should be reserved only for the truly needy."
The UK's Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, Dan O'Mahoney, explained:
"This unacceptable rise in dangerous crossings is being driven by criminal gangs and a surge in illegal migration across Europe. "We're determined to target the criminals at every level, so far, we have secured nearly 300 arrests, 65 convictions and prevented more than 10,000 migrant attempts.
"But there is more to do. The government's New Plan for Immigration is the only credible way to fix the broken asylum system, breaking the business model of criminal gangs and welcoming people through safe and legal routes."
The United Kingdom appears to be pursuing a two-pronged strategy to curb the migrant flow: negotiating a bilateral deal with France and reforming the UK's asylum system.
Anglo-French Border Deal
In November 2020, Home Secretary Priti Patel agreed to pay France £28 million (€33 million; $40 million) to stop illegal Channel crossings. As part of the deal, France doubled the number of officers patrolling French beaches, which resulted in a significant decline in illegal crossings. As French interceptions increased, however, people traffickers moved their operations farther north along hundreds of kilometers of the French coast.
In July 2021, Patel agreed to pay France another £54 million (€63 million; $75 million) to increase police patrols along the northern coast of France. The deal called for increasing the use aerial surveillance, including drones, and for drawing up a long-term plan for a technological "smart border" to prevent crossings.
On July 21, addressing the Commons Home Affairs Committee, Patel revealed that 60% of illegal arrivals have come from Belgium and that migrants who have travelled across Continental Europe are amassing "along the entire French coastline," not just in Calais, the closest point on the European mainland to England.
On September 7, Patel threatened to withhold millions of pounds in promised payments to France due to the low numbers of migrants being intercepted before they reach British waters. "It's payment by results and we've not yet seen those results," she said. "The money is conditional." Patel demanded that France stop three in four crossings by the end September. She also threatened to return boats carrying migrants in the Channel back into French waters.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin replied that Patel's proposal is contrary to maritime law and accused her of blackmail:
"France will not accept practices contrary to the Law of the Sea, nor financial blackmail. Britain's commitment must be kept. I made this clear to my counterpart."
Pierre-Henri Dumont, France's MP for Calais, claimed that the French coast is too big to secure: "We have too many kilometers of shore to monitor. The French coast is difficult to monitor because they [migrants] can hide in a lot of places. There are a lot of roads, woods and trees. Even if you are monitoring 100 percent of a small or large part of the French coast, the smugglers will find a place to cross somewhere else. "If it's not Calais it will be Normandy, and if it's not Normandy it will be Belgium. If they're not going to Belgium they can go to the Netherlands."
Mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart has said Britain's "black market economy" and "cushy benefits system" were responsible for drawing migrants to her town. She said: "They want to go to England because they can expect better conditions on arrival there than anywhere else in Europe or even internationally. There are no ID cards. They can easily find work outside the formal economy, which is not really controlled. "Calais is a hostage to the British. The migrants come here to get to Britain. The situation here is barely manageable. The UK border should be moved from Calais to the English side of the Channel because we're not here to do their jobs." Tory MP Tim Loughton accused French authorities of failing to honor their part of the deal: "The French having a different interpretation [of maritime law] is the French giving you an excuse for not doing what they are not only able to do under international law but actually obliged to do under international law.
"Because two crimes are being committed by the occupants of those boats: one is trying to enter the UK illegally and the second is paying money to organized crime. Both of which provide grounds for those boats to be intercepted, the occupants apprehended in as safe a way as possible and returned to France. You are getting fobbed off [tricked] with excuses."
Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative MP for Thanet South in Kent, said that sending boats back to France would be a "high-octane" measure:
"We need to up the stakes and consider immediate removal back to France of all who arrive via this illegal route and disregard diplomatic niceties.
"This, above all else, would show, and rapidly, that the route does not work and the migrants would simply not waste their money in trying it." Lee Anderson, the Conservative MP for Ashfield, added: "We should drop these illegal immigrants off on a French beach and send the French government a bill for the cost of the journey." French authorities counter that they will not take back migrants from the UK — which has lost the legal right to return refugees to other EU nations because of Brexit. The British news magazine, The Week, quoting James Forsyth in The Times, noted that French and British interests are "not aligned" on this question:
"France, which had 92,000 asylum applications last year to the UK's 27,000, is not particularly worried about people leaving its soil. The fact is that the Channel crossings are 'almost impossible to halt.' Both traffickers and migrants know that 'no civilized country can allow people to drown at sea'; this is why people get on overcrowded vessels. 'And this is why Britain is about to be plunged into a similar crisis to the one Italy faced three years ago, albeit on a reduced scale.'"
Immigration Reform
Home Secretary Priti Patel has pledged to make the illegal crossings "unviable" by reforming UK immigration policy. On July 6, she introduced new asylum legislation — the Nationality and Borders Bill — that aims to deter illegal entry into the UK by cracking down on people traffickers and by making it easier to deport people who are in the country illegally.
The main provisions include:
new and tougher criminal penalties for those attempting to enter the UK illegally by raising the punishment for illegal entry to four years in prison (up from six months previously), and by introducing life sentences for people smugglers.
provide Border Force with additional powers to stop and divert vessels suspected of carrying illegal migrants to the UK and, subject to agreement with the relevant country such as France, return them to where their sea journey to the UK began.
increase the penalty for migrants who return to the UK in breach of a deportation order to five years in prison (up from six months previously).
introduce expedited processes to allow rapid removal of those in the country illegally. Home Secretary Priti Patel, in a statement to Parliament, said:
"The British people have had enough of open borders and uncontrolled migration. Enough of a failed asylum system that costs the taxpayer over a billion pounds a year. Enough of dinghies arriving illegally on our shores, directed by organized crime gangs. "Enough of people drowning on these dangerous, illegal, and unnecessary journeys. Enough of people being trafficked and sold into modern slavery. Enough of economic migrants pretending to be genuine refugees.
"Enough of adults pretending to be children to claim asylum. Enough of people trying to gain entry illegally, ahead of those who play by the rules. Enough of foreign criminals – including murderers and rapists – who abuse our laws and then game the system so we can't remove them."The British people have had enough of being told none of these issues matter – enough of being told it is racist to even think about addressing public concerns and seeking to fix this failed system.
"The British people have repeatedly voted to take back control of our borders. They finally have a government that is listening to them. Our priorities are the people's priorities.
"For the first time in decades we will determine who comes in and out of our country. Immigration Control Minister Chris Philip added: "The UK will always play its part for those in genuine need. But we will choose who deserves our help.
"Illegal immigration undermines that choice. Instead of the United Kingdom being able to choose the children and families most in need, illegal immigration instead allows those who pay people smugglers, or who are strong, to push their way to the front of the queue.
"There is no worse example of that than the small boats crossing the English Channel. Around 80% are young single men who have paid people smugglers to cheat the system. They are not fleeing war. France is not a war zone. Belgium is not a war zone and nor is Germany. These are safe European countries with well-functioning asylum systems. These journeys are dangerous and totally unnecessary, and they push to one side those in greatest need, including women and children.
"Our legal system needs reform. It is open to abuse. People make repeated human rights, asylum and modern slavery claims, often strung out over many years, in an effort to avoid removal. But very often they are later found to be without merit. For example, in 2017, 83% of those last-minute claims raised in detention to frustrate removal were later found to be without merit....
"This bill also has measures on age assessment. We are the only European country not to use scientific age assessments. Recent evaluations in Kent concerning 92 people claiming to be children later found that around half in fact were not. There are very obvious and serious safeguarding issues if men that are 23 years old successfully pretend to be under 18 and then get housed or are educated with 16-year-old girls and we cannot tolerate that."
The central weakness of the bill is that deportations will be dependent on the willingness of France and other EU countries to accept the return of migrants.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has demanded that the French "stiffen their sinews" to prevent more migrants reaching the UK:
"A large number of people want to come to this country, and we are doing everything we can to encourage the French to do the necessary and impede their passage." Natalie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover, called for emergency laws to give UK Border Force powers to turn back boats carrying migrants:
"First it was a few, then hundreds, and now 1,000 in a day, the French just waving them through with a cheery 'Bon Voyage.' If the French won't stop the small boats then we need to by turning them back, making returns and taking firm control of our borders."
British commentator Melanie Philips concluded that the illegal immigration problem will not be stopped until British leaders drum up the courage to implement "draconian" measures:
"Trying to get the French to stop this traffic is to duck the real problem. The reason so many migrants want to come to Britain is that it has made itself the most attractive destination in the world for such people. That's because migrants correctly perceive it to be a soft touch. They know that Britain's slavish adherence to human rights laws makes it so difficult to deport them that there's every chance they won't be sent away but will be able to melt into the country and receive accommodation and welfare services.
"To end this farce, therefore, Britain has to remove all those incentives. It has to send such migrants away from Britain for the processing of their asylum claims — to cruise liners in the North Sea, to the Isle of Man, the Falklands, wherever; deport them to the first country to which they fled; or fly them straight back to France. Anyone without proper documentation should be made to realize they will never be entitled to British citizenship or to access Britain's health, housing or welfare services. "To do anything like this, however, would not only provoke a storm of accusations of racism, cruelty, inhumanity and so forth. It would also be prohibited by the courts. To enact the draconian measures needed to stop this illegal migrant traffic, Britain would have to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and maybe also the Refugee Convention — which it is deeply unwilling to do.
"As for changing Britain's interpretation of maritime law, this in the same league as the not infrequently floated idea of rewriting human rights law. Well, the British government can rewrite its interpretation of international law to its heart's content; but the inconvenient fact remains that, while the UK is party to the relevant treaties and conventions, it remains bound by them. "If Britain cannot accept the terms of those treaties and conventions, it must leave them. Otherwise it will just have to take what follows and lump it. But Boris Johnson cannot admit this; nor will he take the action that is necessary, because that would take courage and leadership and that's all Just Too Difficult."
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
© 2021 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

China's Belt and Road Initiative: Bad News for Human Rights
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/September 16/2021
Findings about BRI's negative impact on human rights in Cambodia and Guinea raise the much wider issue of how China's Belt and Road Initiative affects human rights worldwide. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, around 139 countries -- more than half the countries in the world -- have now joined BRI.China has also invested in multiple large-scale BRI projects in Iran, which has reportedly been leasing out its territorial waters in the Persian Gulf to Chinese industrial ships for more than a decade. This arrangement has led to a situation... where Chinese fishing vessels are "illegally cleaning out fish resources in the Persian Gulf" while "Iranian fishermen are forced to pay ten thousand dollars in bribes to Somalian pirates to let them fish on the African shores".
Such a compromise of locals' food-and-income security is a measure of China's influence in the country -- and a practice coupled with the Iranian government's disregard for the living conditions of its own citizens. Scant regard for human rights is presumably also one of the reasons why China prefers to deal with autocratic regimes. A new report has found that one of China's Belt and Road Initiative projects in Cambodia -- a hydroelectric dam known as the Lower Sesan 2, completed in 2018 -- resulted in severe human rights violations. The project displaced nearly 5,000 mainly indigenous people and ethnic minorities. Pictured: The Lower Sesan 2 dam.
A new report, "Underwater: Human Rights Impacts of a China Belt and Road Project in Cambodia," has found that one of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects in Cambodia -- a hydroelectric dam known as the Lower Sesan 2, completed in 2018 -- resulted in severe human rights violations. The project displaced nearly 5,000 mainly indigenous people and ethnic minorities, who had lived in villages along the Sesan and Srepok Rivers for generations, earning a living from fishing and agriculture. The project, the report estimates, negatively affected the lives of tens of thousands of other locals, who depend on fishing in the rivers for food and income. The project compromised locals' food security, and their losses were either inadequately compensated or not compensated at all. The Lower Sesan 2 is just one out of seven BRI hydroelectric projects in Cambodia.
In April 2020, serious concerns were also raised about mass displacement from the construction of the Souapiti Dam in Guinea. The construction of the dam reportedly "devastated the livelihoods and food security of thousands of people."
Findings about BRI's negative impact on human rights in Cambodia and Guinea raise the much wider issue of how China's Belt and Road Initiative affects human rights worldwide. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, around 139 countries -- more than half the countries in the world -- have now joined BRI. China launched the Belt and Road Initiative -- the land-based "Silk Road Economic Belt," and sea-based "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" -- in 2013. The BRI has massively extended China's presence in Central and South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Latin America through an enormous network of roads, railways, tunnels, dams, airports, ports, energy pipelines, power plants and telecommunications networks. Underpinning the initiative, the "digital glue", as it has been called, is China's "Digital Silk Road" -- the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System -- a global navigation system created by the People's Liberation Army to rival the US-owned Global Positioning System (GPS). BRI is "an initiative to create a China-centred political and economic bloc, one that will reshape the global order", in the words of Professor Anne-Marie Brady. The project holds such importance for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that the CCP incorporated the BRI into its constitution in 2017.
It is hardly surprising that China's massively expanding presence, particularly in countries that already have dismal or poor human rights records, can cause the human rights of those unfortunate enough to get in the way of a BRI project to deteriorate even further. Cambodia, where the hydroelectric dam caused mass displacement, is a country with significant human rights issues. These, in 2020, included torture, arbitrary detention, the absence of judicial independence, and arbitrary interference in the private lives of citizens, including pervasive electronic media surveillance, and government corruption, according to the US State Department's country report.
In Cambodia, no one, whether from the Cambodian government or the Chinese companies involved in building the dam, came to consult with the communities affected by the dam, and pressure was applied to locals to agree to preset terms. Given China's disregard for human rights, such behavior is likely to be the rule, whenever corrupt and undemocratic local government power, coupled with China's massive infrastructural investments in the form of BRI, bear down on powerless individuals across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Iran, where China has also invested in multiple large-scale BRI projects, is another example of such disregard for the rights of locals. Iran has reportedly been leasing out its territorial waters in the Persian Gulf to Chinese industrial ships for more than a decade. This arrangement has led to a situation, according to Iranian reform media, where Chinese fishing vessels are "illegally cleaning out fish resources in the Persian Gulf" while "Iranian fishermen are forced to pay ten thousand dollars in bribes to Somalian pirates to let them fish on the African shores". Such a compromise of locals' food-and-income security is a measure of China's influence in the country -- and a practice coupled with the Iranian government's disregard for the living conditions of its own citizens.
Scant regard for human rights is presumably also one of the reasons why China prefers to deal with autocratic regimes. "China", a report in early 2021 by risk the consultancy firm Verisk Maplecroft concluded, "is pivoting towards more autocratic regimes that represent greater stability for its supply lines than democracies that are, or may become, hostile to Beijing".
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2021 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Egypt’s President Sisi is moving to thaw relations with Israel, reap economic rewards
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Al Arabiya/16 September/2021
For the first time in a decade, an Israeli prime minister is visiting Egypt. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is hosting Naftali Bennett at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, at a time when Cairo has begun to play a more assertive regional role, especially in mediating between Israel and the Palestinians. More important than politics, however, is Cairo’s perception that better relations with Israel may boost the Egyptian economy at a time when austerity measures are weighing heavily on consumers. With trade surging between Israel and the United Arab Emirates following the Abraham Accords, Sisi may see a compelling case for thawing the cold peace that Israel and Egypt have maintained since 1979.
In 2019, after 40 years of peace, bilateral trade stood at a paltry $267 million. After a single year of peace between Israel and the UAE, trade volume between the two countries reached $712 million.
In March, some 60 Israeli and Egyptian businessmen congregated at Sharm el-Sheikh for the largest bilateral meeting of its kind, to discuss expanding economic cooperation. The conference received “little press coverage, at the request of the Egyptians,” who still fear public shaming of their ties with Israel.
The March conference, along with Bennett’s visit, suggest that Egyptians have realized that their peace treaty with Israel offers economic benefits that they have yet to reap. But not so fast.
While the two countries have full diplomatic ties, Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel has yet to lead to truly normal relations, mainly due to seemingly popular Egyptian opposition. Egyptian politicians tread carefully, often away from the spotlight, when dealing with their Israeli counterparts. In 2018, then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Sisi in Egypt, but the meeting was kept out of the public eye.
With Bennett as the new prime minister, Sisi can use change in Israeli leadership to argue that Egypt has an opportunity to turn a new page with the Jewish state and start collecting the economic rewards of normalization. While Emirati success is the most visible, Egyptians may also be thinking of Turkey, whose government is hostile to Israel politically, but has eagerly reaped the benefits of bilateral trade that is now worth $6.5 billion a year, an increase of $5.1 billion from the days when the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) first came to power in 2003.
If normalization is driving Sisi’s first-ever invitation to Israel’s head of government – the previous visit by Benjamin Netanyahu came in the final days of the regime led by Hosni Mubarak – it has yet to show in public Egyptian rhetoric. Sisi’s regional policies continue to be portrayed as part of a plan to bolster pan-Arabism, a plan that precludes a partnership with the Jewish state.
According to Egyptian columnists, Sisi’s goals consist of inter-Arab reconciliation and an effort to stem intervention by non-Arab regional powers, mainly Iran and Turkey, in ongoing conflicts in Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq. For this purpose, Sisi has participated in two summits: One in Baghdad that saw the participation of several Arab states plus Turkey, Iran and France, and secondly in Cairo, during which Egypt hosted King Abdullah of Jordan and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
If Sisi’s overture toward Israel, and his hosting of Bennett, is a first step toward true normalization and economic cooperation, then the Egyptian president will have to do more heavy lifting in selling such concept to his public. Sisi’s job will not be easy or the most popular, but it will be the right thing to do in leading his country in the right direction. Behind the scenes cooperation can only go as far in boosting bilateral economic ties, especially the lucrative tourist trade.
If Egypt is not willing to tap into the prosperity that normalization with Israel has to offer, other Arab countries are queuing in line to do so, from the UAE and Bahrain to Sudan and Morocco.
The Egyptian president can either grasp the opportunity or can stick to Cairo’s old ways of maintaining ties with Israel behind closed doors while appeasing Egyptian public opinion and allowing instigation against the Jewish state.
Egyptians deserve to be told the truth about the economic rewards they can collect from normalizing their ties with Israel. Alternatively, they can just continue doing more of the same, which has so far yielded little, if any, benefits.
*Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy. Follow him on Twitter @hahussain