English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  September 27/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
Matthew 10/16-22: “”See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 26-27/2021
MoPH: 500 new Corona cases, 9 deaths
Al-Rahi Slams Attacks on Judiciary, 'Double Standards' in Port Case
Miqati to Visit Qatar and Kuwait in Next Few Days
Hizbullah MP Urges Authorities to 'Give Answers' on Bekaa
NitratesMinisters of Energy, Economy issue joint statement
Ministers of Energy, Economy issue joint statement
Hawat says Hezbollah is making huge profits from oil
Al-Halabi: School year start in public, secondary schools postponed till October 11
Agriculture Minister: Support of friendly countries is required to reach recovery stage
Pushkian meets with Safar, Lahoud: We want industries with high added value
Chamoun visits Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya in Shehim: We are in need of one another
Al-Baddawi camp residents block the main road using waste containers
Al-Sayegh underlines need for Lebanese expatriates' participation in parliamentary elections
Man Dies of Swallowing Gasoline in Fuel-Strapped Lebanon
Shifting tides/Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/September 26/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 26-27/2021
Iran strikes oil deal with Venezuela in defiance of US sanctions
Closely Fought German Election Ushers in Post-Merkel Era
4 Palestinians Killed, 2 Israeli Troops Seriously Hurt in W. Bank Raids
Iraq condemns meeting that called for normalising relations with Israel
At least 3 killed, multiple injured after Amtrak train derails in Montana
Majority of women elected in Iceland's new parliament
Polls open in tight race to elect new chancellor
Mali Approaches 'Russian Private Companies,' Slams France At UN
More than 100 resignations rock Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda Movement

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 26-27/2021
Putting bigotry on a pedestal/Oussama Romdhani/The Arab Weekly/September 26/2021
How Iran could become a genuinely good neighbor/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/September 26/2021
Iraqi voters have a rare chance to weaken Tehran’s grip/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/September 26/2021
Why Tehran must never have a nuclear weapon/Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri/Arab News/September 26/2021
Al-Kadhimi’s balancing act to preserve Iraq’s national unity/Yaşar Yakış/Arab News/September 26/202

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 26-27/2021
MoPH: 500 new Corona cases, 9 deaths
NNA/September 26/2021
In its daily report on the COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health announced on Sunday the registration of 500 new infections with the Coronavirus, which raised the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 622,235.The report added that 9 deaths were also recorded during the past 24 hours.

Al-Rahi Slams Attacks on Judiciary, 'Double Standards' in Port Case
Naharnet/September 26/2021
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday deplored those attacking the judiciary with the aim of “obstructing the investigation” into the catastrophic Beirut port explosion. “The Lebanese state’s top officials should condemn the attacks on the judiciary and support the work of the investigative judge so that he can reach the truth,” al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon. “Today and every day we are calling for unveiling the truth and the good conduct of justice,” he added. The patriarch also said that he opposes “the double standards in the summonings for interrogation.”“We would have liked to see all those enjoying immunity rushing to lift it voluntarily in the face of the magnitude of the disaster, which is considered the second disaster in the world after Hiroshima,” al-Rahi added.

Miqati to Visit Qatar and Kuwait in Next Few Days
Naharnet/September 26/2021
Prime Minister Najib Miqati will seek support for Lebanon from the Gulf countries and he will head within days to Qatar and Kuwait for this purpose, sources close to him told the PSP’s al-Anbaa news portal in remarks published Sunday. Miqati has meanwhile requested an appointment to visit Saudi Arabia but he is yet to receive an answer, diplomatic sources told the Kuwaiti al-Jarida newspaper. The prime minister has visited Paris and London in recent days. Evaluating his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, the pro-Miqati sources told al-Anbaa that the visit was “successful in all standards.”
“This visit paves the way for similar visits to Arab and foreign countries and it will also have a positive impact on Lebanon’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, on which the new government is highly counting to prove its credibility in working to rescue Lebanon, and to highlight the difference between it and Diab’s government,” the sources added. Opposition sources meanwhile said that “there is not much difference in the political approach between Miqati’s government and Diab’s government, except for the arrival of the Iranian diesel in Lebanon.”“PM Miqati’s situation is acceptable internationally, and maybe in the Arab world, in contrast to his predecessor Hassan Diab,” the sources added, noting that “the warm welcoming that Miqati received at the Elysee serves Macron more than it serves Miqati amid the absence of discussions over the CEDRE funds and the donor countries’ willingness to help Lebanon.”MP Ali Darwish, a member of Miqati’s bloc, however revealed that there is “a French pledge to assist Lebanon.”France will assist the country in obtaining international aid and assistance from donor institutions, Darwish added, in remarks to al-Anbaa.

Hizbullah MP Urges Authorities to 'Give Answers' on Bekaa Nitrates
Naharnet/September 26/2021
MP Hassan Fadlallah of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc on Sunday called on Lebanese authorities to “giver answers” about the source and owners of the ammonium nitrate quantity that was seized in the Bekaa. “The continued concealment of the source of the Bekaa nitrates and the way they entered Lebanon and were being illegally stored raises major question marks over the motives and sides that are trying to cover up this essential case,” Fadlallah said in a statement. He added that certain parties are trying to keep the case under wraps because “unveiling its threads would lead to knowing a lot of things about the manner in which the nitrates were brought into Lebanon and the sides who did that, including the nitrates of the (Beirut) port (explosion).”
Fadlallah said the security and judicial authorities are asked to “offer convincing answers to the public opinion about the essential and legitimate questions in this case.”“These questions include: who are the sides that brought these nitrates, where from, how did they bring them in, who facilitated the issue for them, for what purpose, have all the suspects been questioned, and if all of this is related to the port nitrates,” the MP added. He went on to say that “what increases these suspicions and raises concern” is “the similarity between the attempts to conceal the facts in this case and the attempts that the investigations into the port blast disaster have witnessed.” “The adopted policy is still to hide the essential points, such as the real sides who brought in the nitrates, to the benefit of whom inside or outside Lebanon, the reasons behind keeping them for a long period, the judiciary’s role in impounding them, and the nondisclosure of technical investigations and instead focusing on the administrative flaws,” Fadlallah added.
He also said that “revealing everything related to the Bekaa nitrates is a national necessity in order to protect the Lebanese from the threats of bringing in and storing this material, and so that they don’t witness a repetition of their experience with the port disaster probe, which on the one hand kept them away from the truth, and on the other hand did not represent a deterrence in the face of those bringing in and storing dangerous nitrates in a manner that threatens citizens’ safety.”

Ministers of Energy, Economy issue joint statement
NNA/September 26/2021
Ministers of Energy and Water, Walid Fayyad, and Economy and Trade, Amin Salam, issued a joint statement on Sunday, indicating that "after receiving several complaints about abuses and unjustified increases in the prices of diesel when delivered to consumers, especially that the new official price has been issued by the Ministry of Energy and Water, which determines the value and transportation fee that should never be exceeded, the Ministers of Energy, Water, Economy and Trade denounce these actions and are in the process of taking urgent procedural measures to combat any fraudulent act, starting with stopping the delivery of goods to violating distributors to legally prosecuting them."The statement urged all those affected to inform the concerned authorities in the Consumer Protection Department, in order to prevent the persistence of similar violations. In this connection, the Ministry of Economy and Trade reminded citizens that "they can report any breach by calling the Consumer Protection Authority on the hot line # 1739," pledging to "take the immediate appropriate administrative and judicial action against anyone who violates the laws."

Hawat says Hezbollah is making huge profits from oil
NNA/September 26/2021
MP Ziad al-Hawat affirmed that the ‘Strong Republic’ parliamentary bloc "will closely monitor the government's work, and will never be in a position of obstruction, but it will not allow corruption after today and will confront any attempt to pass suspicious projects." Speaking in an interview with "Voice of All Lebanon 93.3" Radio Channel this morning, the MP stressed "the importance of the parliamentary elections as a pivotal event that would bring about radical change in the ruling system," noting that "the upcoming elections will give people a choice between two projects, either covering corruption and leading the country to isolation and collapse or seeking the establishment of a state of institutions and transparency." Hawat emphasized herein the “right of every Lebanese inside and outside Lebanon to participate in the elections," pledging to "prevent any attempt to prevent expatriates from voting and to stand in the way of any attempt to postpone the parliamentary elections under any pretext."Commenting on the Iranian fuel entering Lebanon, Hawat asked the government and the Ministry of Energy about the manner in which the oil entered the Lebanese territories, and whether or not fees and taxes were paid?
"When they stop smuggling across the border, we no longer need Iranian or other diesel," he asserted, while referring to “the huge profits that Hezbollah is reaping from this oil” and accusing it “of taking the country into Arab and international isolation.” Hawat also highlighted the need for adopting expanded administrative decentralization across the country "after the experience of the central state proved its failure."

Al-Halabi: School year start in public, secondary schools postponed till October 11
NNA /September 26/2021
Minister of Education and Higher Learning, Abbas al-Halabi, on Sunday, issued a decision pertaining to the amendment of Decree No. 385/M/2021, which entails postponing the start of the 2021/2022 scholastic year in public and secondary schools until 10/11/2021, in order to allow more time for following-up on the constructive dialogue with the teacher representatives.

Agriculture Minister: Support of friendly countries is required to reach recovery stage
NNA/September 26/2021
Minister of Agriculture, Abbas Hajj Hassan, considered that "the existing situation is very difficult, but not impossible, and PM Najib Mikati's visit to the French capital, Paris, and his meeting with President Emmanuel Macron is very positive, and the atmosphere also confirms that the French support is renewed".
"The Government of Lebanon and the Ministry of Agriculture need the support of all friendly and brotherly countries, and Arab countries in particular, until we reach a stage of economic and agricultural recovery, which ensures that farmers remain on their lands and alleviates the widespread misery, whether in the suburbs of Beirut or in the remaining country regions,” Hajj Hassan emphasized. His words came before a delegation of the "Baalbek Media Forum", who visited him at his residence in the town of Shaath on Sunday. "Through this media meeting, I make an appeal to the donor and friendly countries that have always supported Lebanon, to the United Nations and to all the organizations that support Lebanese farms,” Hajj Hassan said. He added: “We, at the Ministry of Agriculture, are developing a plan that will be presented to all these bodies, in order to find funding for projects targeting small, middle-income and large farmers, so that there will be an integrated agricultural economic cycle in the near future.”The Agriculture Minister also pledged to exert every effort to render Lebanon’s nature reserves among his Ministry’s priorities in the coming months.

Pushkian meets with Safar, Lahoud: We want industries with high added value
NNA/September 26/2021
Minister of Industry, George Pushkian, met today with Head of the Archdiocese of Zahle and Bekaa for Syriac Orthodox, Archbishop Boulos Safar, who congratulated him on his assumption of his ministerial duties, wishing him success in his mission and affirming that “Pushkian will work to transfer his successful experience in the private sector to the government, which requires an unprecedented rush of activity, planning, future vision and joint efforts in a crisis stage that needs actual rescue."The Archbishop also considered that "the government headed by Najib Mikati and its members will work with all seriousness to achieve rapid development goals that are supportive of people's demands, and mitigate the worsening economic, financial and social crises."Earlier, Pushkian met with the Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Eng. Louis Lahoud, with talks touching on areas of joint cooperation in developing agricultural and food manufacturing projects in rural and mountainous areas and agricultural plains in the Bekaa, the North, Akkar, Mount Lebanon and the South. "These industries, like software and medicine, have a high added value, attract foreign direct investments, provide new job opportunities, increase exports and raise the rate of recovery of the dollar and foreign currencies inwards," Pushkian stressed.

Chamoun visits Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya in Shehim: We are in need of one another
NNA/September 26/2021
National Liberal Party Chief, Camille Dori Chamoun, visited Sunday accompanied by a party delegation, the "Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya" quarters in Shehim, where they were received by the Al-Jamaa's Official in Mount Lebanon, Sheikh Ahmad Fawaz, and a number of prominent dignitaries from the region.
In his word during the visit, Chamoun said, "We are in need of each other to confront the epidemic that has afflicted Lebanon as a whole."He added: "The opposition has no sectarian color, but its only color is the color of the cedar, which we are proud of and live under its shadow...Today we are carrying out a project of a sovereign front to save Lebanon and restore the confidence of the people in the actual existence of those who have a clean history and who are ready to contribute to rescuing Lebanon, through ensuring its neutrality from all the axes that have been impacting our policies for more than 40 years and purifying the state from all corruption that has caused poverty and emigration among all citizen groups..."Chamoun, thus, highlighted the necessity of being united at this stage, adding that "determination has no electoral or populist characteristic, but rather is a mission that needs everyone's will and unified opinion so that the country can gradually recover." He continued to underline the importance of ensuring that the Lebanese expatriates do participate in the electoral process at its right time, stressing that "the parliamentary elections should not be delayed and must be transparent and held under the auspices of the United Nations, lest the corrupt class would reach Parliament.""I hope that we will join hands, Muslims and Christians, to rebuild this country on the foundations laid down by the late Camille Nimr Chamoun...We shall connect with everyone who resembles and thinks like us. We will not visit the corrupt and those who ruined Lebanon. I think that there are many good and honest people in this country and it is useful for us to join hands to overcome this stage. God created us equal, and gave us a conscience, so we should judge our conscience at the polls, and not sell it for $100 or $200," Chamoun underscored. For his part, Sheikh Fawaz welcomed Chamoun and his accompanying delegation, stressing that "Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya" believes in Lebanese coexistence, as the country cannot thrive without its Muslims and Christians. He added: "We are all in the same boat, and any defect that affects it would cause us all to drown...There is no difference between a Muslim and a Christian, for everyone feels humiliated and hence, we affirm that man strives for the best to live with dignity and freedom because God created us free and liberal."Fawaz regretted that people in Lebanon currently live below poverty line, adding, "We aspire for the situation to change and for the voter's voice to be a tool for change in the future."

Al-Baddawi camp residents block the main road using waste containers
NNA/September 26/2021
A number of al-Baddawi camp residents blocked the main road inside the camp with waste containers, boxes and stones, in protest against the clash that occurred this morning at the entrance to the camp near the “Palestinian Intifada Movement” checkpoint, which led to the death of one person and the injury of two others.The residents expressed their dissatisfaction with the security chaos in the camp, and the instability prevailing during the recent period, demanding an end to the chaotic situation. Meanwhile, an atmosphere of anxiety can be felt across the camp with streets empty of pedestrians and vehicles, for fear of the reaction of the families of the deceased and the wounded.

Al-Sayegh underlines need for Lebanese expatriates' participation in parliamentary elections
NNA/September 26/2021
Member of the "Democratic Gathering", MP Faisal al-Sayegh, tweeted today on the importance of Lebanese expatriates’ participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections, saying: "More than six billion dollars were transferred during the past year from expatriates to their families in Lebanon, which contributed greatly to alleviating the effects of the economic collapse and avoiding total chaos…This amount came without any conditions, and can be doubled through investments in the event that the Lebanese population is convinced that we are on the verge of serious reforms. Therefore, it is required that the expatriates participate in shaping the future of Lebanon and that their voices be heard by partaking in the upcoming parliamentary elections.”

Man Dies of Swallowing Gasoline in Fuel-Strapped Lebanon
Associated Press/September 26/2021
A Syrian man has died after swallowing gasoline he was siphoning out of his vehicle's tank with a plastic tube, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.
Lebanon is witnessing a paralyzing fuel shortage that has driven the public to hoard gasoline and resort to black-market vendors, while many businesses have been forced to shut down. A diesel shortage has also caused extended blackouts, in a country dependent on private generators.
People queuing for several kilometers to fill up their tanks are a daily occurrence at gas stations across the country. The long lines have often descended into chaos, and sometimes violence. Amid the shortage, men peddle gasoline on the street in plastic bottles. People sometimes use plastic hoses to siphon fuel, filling bottles either to sell on the black market or fill other vehicles. Fuel smuggling to neighboring Syria, in private vehicles or in trucks, also became rampant, with many blaming it for deepening the crisis. The Lebanese National News Agency said the young man in the northern Lebanon town of Bhannine died in the hospital where he was transferred after swallowing the gasoline from his vehicle's tank. It offered no further details. Police officials were not immediately available for comment. Lebanon has for decades suffered electricity cuts, partly because of widespread corruption and mismanagement. Foreign reserves are running dangerously low and inflation and unemployment have soared in the Mediterranean nation of 6 million, which include 1 million Syrian refugees.
The situation deteriorated dramatically over the last months, particularly after the central bank decided to end subsidies for fuel products. Fuel prices are now 10 times more expensive than they were last year.

Shifting tides
Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/September 26/2021
Emmanuel Macron will not give up on Lebanon.
That’s what the French president promised Prime Minister Najib Mikati during a working breakfast on Friday, when the Lebanese head of government was in Paris hoping to reactivate the 2018 CEDRE donor conference that pledged $11 billion in development aid and to support Beirut in reopening the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.
Mikati is to head to the Gulf next week in an attempt to melt some hearts.
But looking at the talk of the main European cities – Berlin and Paris right now – France remains Lebanon’s best bet, especially in terms of support given to progressive voices in the country and pressure applied to political groups.
WELCOME to the weekly roundup from NOW. It’s not exactly all you need to know to end a week and start another, but it may give one some insight into interesting changes that could play a role in Lebanon’s future.
Rearranging the EU may help rearrange Lebanon
Elections in Berlin: With Angela Merkel retiring and Germany most likely undergoing a long process of political rearrangement after this weekend’s parliamentary election, France is expected to take the lead in the European Union’s foreign policy. Germany, as the most developed economy of the EU, was not the foreign policy-oriented leader anyway – Berlin was more focused on EU cohesion and internal policies. It also had a very pragmatic multidirectional and hard to sustain foreign policy: gas from Russia, trade with China, and NATO security.
A new foreign policy for the bloc: France, on the other hand, is emerging as the EU bloc’s foreign policy voice, more focused on principles, and it has been quite active and vocal lately. It also sent hints that there may be a bit of a breakup with Washington, after Australia decided to silently ditch a deal with France for conventional submarines and go for US-made nuclear ones. Of course, the deal with Australia, changes things strategically in the pacific and in the balance of power with China. But it also made Paris, and, with it, some parts of Europe say “hm, maybe we need to get our own defense and be more assertive in our foreign policy.”
As far as Lebanon is concerned: That may pose various problems inside the EU, but with Paris at the helm, the bloc is expected to become more assertive in the Middle East – where it’s political visibility as a liberal hub has been indirectly proportional to the amount of money it donated in the past decade. It should at least become more visible in the Lebanese crisis, if not also in Syria, where all moves continue to be frozen by “we don’t really know what to do anymore.”
Elections on the mind: For the new government in Beirut there is one high priority: to buy time for the country until the parliamentary elections and reconnect with some important donor capitals to get support and restart the dialogue with the International Monetary Fund. Basically, to show there is a captain on the ship and that it’s worth saving it from sinking. Nicholas Frakes spoke to Carnegie Middle Middle East Center’s Michael Young and Middle East Institute’s Firas Maksad to find out what to expect from Mikati’s third cabinet.
A renewed plea for justice
As this year’s third meeting of the UN Human Rights Council began in Geneva mid-September, the families of the Beirut blast victims renewed their plea to the international community to find a way to get international institutions involved in the investigation that is constantly at risk in Lebanon.
More pressure on the Lebanese investigation: Several former dignitaries and current Lebanese MPs who are expected to show up for questioning as suspects in the explosion probe have found various ways to skip it. After former PM Hassan Diab left the country for the US days before his scheduled questioning, former Minister of Interior Nohad Al Mashnouk and Former Public Works Minister Youssef Fenianos sued chief investigator Tarek al Bitar at the Supreme Court claiming he was biased.
Some international lobbying results: Human Rights Watch researcher for Lebanon and Bahrain Aya Mazjoub told NOW last week that, even if Lebanon is not per se on the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council, several countries have agreed to mention it during their interventions, as a first step to push one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in the world that killed 218 people and flattened half of Beirut on the UN’s agenda.
Germany delivered: The German representative expressed official concern for human rights in Lebanon right after expressing concern for human rights in Afghanistan. And yes, one thing many people forget when confronting with everyday hurdles and the explosion many people are never going to recover after, but Lokman Slim’s assassination is part of that human rights story. The long series of assassinations are part of Lebanon’s quest for justice and, yet, they are too many times pushed aside and left to the care of surviving relatives.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 26-27/2021
Iran strikes oil deal with Venezuela in defiance of US sanctions
The Arab Weekly/September 26/2021
WASHINGTON--Venezuela has agreed to a key contract to swap its heavy oil for Iranian condensate that it can use to improve the quality of its tar-like crude, with the first cargoes due this week, five people close to the deal said.
As the South American country seeks to boost its flagging oil exports in the face of US sanctions, according to the sources, the deal between state-run firms Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) deepens the cooperation between two of Washington’s foes. One of the people said the swap agreement is planned to last for six months in its first phase, but could be extended. The deal could be a breach of US sanctions on both nations, according to a Treasury Department email to Reuters which cited US government orders that establish the punitive measures.
US sanctions not only forbid Americans from doing business with the oil sectors of Iran and Venezuela, but also threaten to impose “secondary sanctions” against any non-US person or entity that carries out transactions with either countries’ oil companies. Secondary sanctions can carry a range of penalties against those targeted, including cutting off access to the US financial system, fines or the freezing of US assets.Any “transactions with NIOC by non-US persons are generally subject to secondary sanctions,” the Treasury Department said in response to a question about the deal. It also said it “retains authority to impose sanctions on any person that is determined to operate in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy,” but did not specifically address whether the current deal is a sanctions breach. US sanctions are often applied at the discretion of the administration in power. Former US President Donald Trump’s government seized Iranian fuel cargoes at sea bound for Venezuela for alleged sanction busting last year, but his successor Joe Biden has made no similar moves.
In Washington, a source familiar with the matter said the swap arrangement between Venezuela and Iran has been on the radar screens of US government officials as a likely sanctions violation in recent months and they want to see how far it will go in practical terms. US officials are concerned, the source said, that Iranian diluent shipments could help provide President Nicolas Maduro with more of a financial lifeline as he negotiates with the Venezuelan opposition towards elections. Sanctions on both nations have crimped their oil sales in recent years, spurring NIOC to support Venezuela – including through shipping services and fuel swaps – in allocating exports to Asia.
In a meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Venezuela and Iran publicly stated their commitment to stronger bilateral trade, despite US attempts to block it.
Trump’s tightening of sanctions contributed last year to a 38% fall in Venezuela’s oil exports – the backbone of its economy – to their lowest level in 77 years and curtailed sources of fuel imports, worsening gasoline shortages in the nation of some 30 million people. A U.S. Treasury spokesperson said the department was “concerned” about reports of oil deals between Venezuela and Iran, but had not verified details. “We will continue to enforce both our Iran and Venezuela-related sanctions,” the spokesperson said. Treasury “has demonstrated its willingness” to blacklist entities who support Iranian attempts to evade US sanctions and who “further enable their destabilising behaviour around the world,” the official added.The swap contract would provide PDVSA with a steady supply of condensate, which it needs to dilute output of extra heavy oil from the Orinoco Belt, its largest producing region, the people said. The bituminous crude requires mixing before it can be transported and exported.
In return, Iran will receive shipments of Venezuelan heavy oil that it can market in Asia, said the people, who declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak publicly.
Coming cargoes
PDVSA has boosted oil swaps to minimise cash payments since the US Treasury Department in 2019 blocked the company from using US dollars. Washington has also sanctioned foreign companies for receiving or shipping Venezuelan oil. Since last year, PDVSA has imported two cargoes of Iranian condensate in one-off swap deals to meet specific needs for diluents, and it has also exchanged Venezuelan jet fuel for Iranian gasoline.
The new contract would help PDVSA secure a source of diluents, stabilising exports of the Orinoco’s crude blends, while allowing its own lighter oil to be refined in Venezuela to produce badly needed motor fuel, three of the people said. The first 1.9 million barrel cargo of Venezuela’s Merey heavy crude under the new swap set sail earlier this week from PDVSA’s Jose port on the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Felicity, owned and operated by National Iranian Tanker Co (NITC), according to the three people and monitoring service TankerTrackers.com. The Venezuelan crude shipment is a partial payment for a cargo of 2 million barrels of Iranian condensate that arrived in Venezuela on Thursday, according to the three sources and one of PDVSA’s port schedules.
Last year, the previous Trump administration seized over 1 million barrels of Iranian fuel bound for Venezuela and blacklisted five tanker captains, as part of a “maximum pressure” strategy, but the United States has not interdicted recent Iranian supplies to Venezuela. US government officials have insisted they do not plan to ease sanctions on Venezuela unless Maduro takes definitive steps toward free and fair elections.

Closely Fought German Election Ushers in Post-Merkel Era
Associated Press/September 26/2021
German voters are choosing a new parliament in an election that will determine who succeeds Chancellor Angela Merkel after her 16 years at the helm of Europe's biggest economy. Polls point to a very close race Sunday between Merkel's center-right Union bloc, with state governor Armin Laschet running for chancellor, and the center-left Social Democrats, for whom outgoing finance minister and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz is seeking the top job.
Recent surveys show the Social Democrats marginally ahead. The environmentalist Greens, with candidate Annalena Baerbock, are making their first run for the chancellery, and polls put them several points behind in third place. The Social Democrats have been boosted by Scholz's relative popularity after a long poll slump, and by his rivals' troubled campaigns. Baerbock suffered from early gaffes and Laschet, the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia state, has struggled to motivate his party's traditional base. About 60.4 million people in the nation of 83 million are eligible to elect the new Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, which will elect the next head of government.
No party is expected to come anywhere near an outright majority. Polls show support for all of them below 30%.
Such a result could mean that many governing coalitions are mathematically possible, and trigger weeks or months of haggling to form a new government. Until it is in place, Merkel will remain in office on a caretaker basis. Scholz said as he voted in Potsdam, just outside Berlin, that he hopes voters "will make possible ... a very strong result for the Social Democrats, and that citizens will give me the mandate to become the next chancellor of Germany." Laschet said in Aachen, on Germany's western border, that the election "will decide on Germany's direction in the coming years, and so it will come down to every vote."Merkel has won plaudits for steering Germany through several major crises. Her successor will have to tend the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, which Germany so far has weathered relatively well thanks to large rescue programs that have incurred new debt. Laschet insists there should be no tax increases as Germany pulls out of the pandemic. Scholz and Baerbock favor tax hikes for the richest Germans, and also back an increase in the minimum wage. Germany's leading parties have significant differences in their proposals for tackling climate change. Laschet's Union bloc is pinning its hopes on technological solutions and a market-driven approach, while the Greens want to ramp up carbon prices and end the use of coal earlier than planned. Scholz has emphasized the need to protect jobs as Germany transitions to greener energy.
Foreign policy hasn't featured much in the campaign, though the Greens favor a tougher stance toward China and Russia. In Berlin, Wiebke Bergmann, a 48-year-old social worker, said Merkel's departure makes this a "really special" election. "I really thought hard about which candidate I want as next chancellor — until this morning I hadn't made up my mind. None of the three really convinced me," Bergmann added. "All seem fine as human beings, but I'm not sure they can do a good job as next chancellor."
In the capital's Kreuzberg district, a traditional leftwing stronghold, Jan Kemper, a 41-year-old manager at an online bank, said climate change and Germany's slow pace of digitalization were among his main concerns. He praised Merkel's crisis management style, but said key issues were left unattended. "Previously, elections set the course for the next two to four years," he said. "Now decisions have to be made that will affect the next generations." As they have struggled in polls, Laschet and other Union leaders have warned that Scholz and the Greens would form a coalition with the opposition Left Party, which opposes NATO and German military deployments abroad. Whether such a partnership is realistic is questionable, given foreign policy and other differences between the parties, but that line of attack may help turn out the conservative base. Scholz has said he'd like a two-party coalition with the Greens, but that looks very optimistic. Absent a majority for that, his first choice would likely be an alliance with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats. A coalition with those two parties is also Laschet's likeliest route to power. The Greens favor an alliance with the Social Democrats, while the Free Democrats prefer one with the Union. The result may also allow a repeat of the outgoing "grand coalition" of the traditional big parties, the Union and Social Democrats, under either Scholz or Laschet. The far-right Alternative for Germany party is polling a little below the 12.6% it won to enter parliament in 2017, but won't feature in any new government this time either. All other parties say they won't work with it. The Bundestag has at least 598 seats, but Germany's complex voting system means it can be much larger. The outgoing parliament had a record 709 lawmakers; the new one is widely expected to be even bigger. The number of people voting by postal ballot is expected to be higher than the 28.6% who did so four years ago. Also Sunday, voters in Berlin and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in northeastern Germany — both states currently led by the Social Democrats — are electing new state legislatures.

4 Palestinians Killed, 2 Israeli Troops Seriously Hurt in W. Bank Raids
Agence France Presse/September 26/2021
An Israeli operation to dismantle a Hamas Islamist cell in the West Bank sparked fierce gun battles at multiple locations Sunday, killing four Palestinians and seriously wounding two Israeli soldiers, official sources said.  The Palestinian health ministry confirmed a total of four deaths from Israeli gunfire, including one in Burqin near Jenin and three more in the Biddu area comprising several villages between Ramallah and Jerusalem.  An AFP photographer saw heavy blood stains in the village of Beit Annan, in the Biddu area. Israeli army spokesman Amnon Shefler gave the same death toll to AFP, adding that the fatalities were Hamas fighters killed during a joint Israeli operation to apprehend "terrorists." An army statement said two of its soldiers were "seriously injured" from Palestinian gunfire in Burqin and that the pair remained in hospital, without giving details on their wounds.  "The security forces took action overnight in Judea and Samaria against Hamas terrorists who were about to carry out terrorist attacks in real-time," said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, referencing the biblical names used widely in Israel for the occupied West Bank.  Hamas confirmed its fighters had clashed with Israeli forces near Jerusalem and Jenin and said that at least one its members, Ahmad Zahran, was among those killed. Hamas has controlled the Israeli-blockaded Gaza strip since 2007, but also has a strong presence in the West Bank, which is formally controlled by rival group Fatah. Islamic Jihad, another Islamist militant group and the second strongest in Gaza, issued a statement identifying Osama Soboh as one of its "martyrs" who died in Burqin, praising his "heroism".Hamas has responded to previous Israeli raids by launching air strikes at the Jewish state's territory. Shefler said the operation targeting the Hamas cell -- involving the army and the Shin Bet domestic security agency -- began before midnight Saturday with an arrest near Jenin that did not result in clashes. But he said "gunfire erupted" when Israeli forces descended on Burqin early Sunday to make an additional arrest, with a further exchange of fire in Biddu later Sunday. Shefler described the operation as "ongoing" and that several arrests had been made. Jenin has been a flashpoint through the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Four Palestinians were killed in the Jenin refugee camp during clashes last month. Israel occupied the West Bank in the Six-Day War of 1967.

Iraq condemns meeting that called for normalising relations with Israel
The National News/September 26/2021
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi has rejected a meeting of prominent tribal leaders and dignitaries that called for ties with Israel to be normalised. More than 300 Iraqis, including tribal leaders, attended a conference in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq, organised by a US think tank demanding normalisation of relations between Baghdad and the Israelis. It took place on Friday and was arranged by the New York-based Center for Peace Communications (CPC). "The government confirms, from the outset, that these meetings do not represent the people of Iraq and its residents. This was an attempt to confuse the general situation and revive the hateful sectarian tone," Mr Al Kadhimi's office said in a statement on Sunday. The normalisation of relations with Israel is "constitutionally, legally and politically rejected in Iraq," said the statement. The government in Baghdad has "clearly expressed its consistent historical position in support of the just Palestinian cause, and the defence of the rights of the Palestinian people", it added. In a statement given to The National, the Kurdistan Regional Government said it was not aware of the conference, which was held in its capital Erbil. It said the meeting was held without "its approval". "The organisers of this conference will be held accountable and will face the appropriate punitive measures for hosting a non-government sanctioned event of the sort," said KRG spokesman Jotiar Adil.“The foreign policy of the Kurdistan Region is directly linked to the foreign policy of Iraq, which the KRG is committed to respect," Mr Adil said. Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed Al Halbousi and one of his deputies also rejected the meeting, along with Iraqi President Barham Salih. Iraq's Ministry of Culture also rejected the conference and affirmed "its adherence to the position of the Iraqi government and people in rejecting the normalisation of relations and its support for the Palestinian people". The CPC advocates normalising relations between Israel and Arab countries while working to establish ties between civil society organisations.The organisation is led by Joseph Braude, a Jewish American whose family fled Baghdad during the 1940s. Mr Braude told the conference that those gathered in Erbil had made a "courageous decision." —-

At least 3 killed, multiple injured after Amtrak train derails in Montana
AP/September 26/2021
At least three people were killed Saturday afternoon when an Amtrak train that runs between Seattle and Chicago derailed in north-central Montana, an official with the Liberty County Sheriff's Office said. Dispatcher Starr Tyler told The Associated Press that three people died in the derailment. She did not have more details. Amtrak said in a statement that there were multiple injuries. The Empire Builder train derailed at 4 p.m. near Joplin, a town of about 200, Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said in a statement. The accident scene is about 150 miles (241 kilometers) north of Helena and about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the border with Canada.

At least 50 people were killed in new battles around the city of Ma’rib, northern Yemen
NNA/September 26/2021
At least 50 fighters from the forces loyal to the Yemeni government and the Houthis were killed in new battles around the strategic city of Ma'rib in northern Yemen, AFP reported today.

Majority of women elected in Iceland's new parliament
RTE/September 26/2021
In a first in Europe, women hold more than half of the seats in Iceland's new parliament, according to final election results. Of the 63 seats in the Althing, 33 were won by women, or 52%, according to projections based on the final results. No other European country has had more than 50% women lawmakers, with Sweden coming closest at 47%, according to data compiled by the World Bank. Five other countries in the world currently have parliaments where women hold at least half the seats, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union: Rwanda (61%), Cuba (53%), Nicaragua (51%) and Mexico and the United Arab Emirates (50%). Unlike some other countries, Iceland does not have legal quotas on female representation in parliament, though some parties do require a minimum number of candidates be women. Iceland has long been a pioneer in gender equality and women's rights, and has topped the World Economic Forum's ranking of most egalitarian countries for the past 12 years. It offers the same parental leave to both men and women, and its first law on equal pay for men and women dates back to 1961. Iceland was the first country to elect a woman as president in 1980, and since 2018 it has had a pioneering gender-equal pay law that puts the onus on employers to prove they are paying the same wages to men and women. Yesterday's election saw the left-right coalition government widen its majority. However, Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir's Left Green Movement emerged weakened while her right-wing partners posted strong scores, casting doubt over her future as prime minister. Opinion polls had forecast the coalition would fall short of a majority but a surge in support for the centre-right Progressive Party, which won five more seats than in 2017, pushed its total count to 37 seats in the 63-seat parliament Althingi, according to state broadcaster RUV. The current government, which consists of Ms Jakobsdottir's Left-Green Movement, the conservative Independence Party and the centrist-agrarian Progressive Party, said before the election that they would negotiate continued cooperation if they held their majority. President Gudni Johannesson has yet to officially hand a mandate to the party that will be tasked with forming the next government. The conservative Independence Party again became the biggest in parliament with nearly a quarter of votes and 16 seats, unchanged from the last election. The Left-Green Movement got eight seats, down from 11 in the 2017 election, although two parliamentarians left the party shortly after the last election. ---

Polls open in tight race to elect new chancellor
Al-JAZEERA/September 26/2021
Warm temperatures and clear blue skies greeted voters across Germany as tens of millions of voters headed to polling stations on Sunday to determine the country’s next government and the chancellor who will lead it. The election is the first since the county reunified in 1990 that Angela Merkel will not run in as a candidate. After 16 years in the chancellery, the woman who became the defining European leader of her era will step aside once a new government is formed. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged citizens to vote and make their voices heard. ---

Mali Approaches 'Russian Private Companies,' Slams France At UN
Barron's/September 26/2021
Mali has asked private Russian companies to boost security, Russia's foreign minister confirmed Saturday, as the Malian leader accused France of abandoning the conflict-ridden country by preparing a large troop drawdown. European countries have warned the Malian government on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week against hiring paramilitaries from the controversial Wagner group. But with Paris set to reduce its military presence in Mali, Sergey Lavrov told reporters that the Malian government was turning towards "private Russian companies." "This is activity which has been carried out on a legitimate basis," he said during a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York. "We have nothing to do with that," he added, saying the Malian government estimated that "its own capacities would be insufficient in the absence of external support" and initiated the discussions. According to reports, Mali's army-dominated government in Bamako is close to hiring 1,000 Wagner paramilitaries. France has warned Mali that hiring the fighters from the Russian private-security firm would isolate the country internationally. But Mali PM Choguel Kokalla Maiga accused France of abandoning his country with the "unilateral" decision to withdraw troops as he addressed the UN General Assembly. He said his government was justified to "seek other partners" to boost security and slammed a "lack of consultation" by the French. The Wagner group is considered close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Western countries accuse it of acting on behalf of Moscow. Russian paramilitaries, private-security instructors and companies have grown increasingly influential in Africa in recent years, particularly in the conflict-ridden Central African Republic, where the United Nations has accused Wagner contractors of committing abuses. Moscow admits having deployed "instructors" to CAR but says they aren't active in fighting. Russia insists there are no paramilitaries in Libya, despite Western claims to the contrary. The UN, which has some 15,000 peacekeepers in Mali, has also expressed concern at the possible involvement of Wagner fighters.
The EU, which trains Malian troops through its EUTM Mali mission, made up of 700 soldiers from 25 European countries, has warned that Wagner's involvement would "seriously" affect its relations with Bamako. "To say, 'I was there first, get out,' it's insulting, first of all for the government in Bamako which invited foreign partners," insisted Lavrov. France, which has lost 52 soldiers in the Sahel since it began engagements in January 2013, has decided to reorganize its military presence around a tighter unit centered on targeted strikes against jihadist leaders and on supporting local armies. --- Barron's

More than 100 resignations rock Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda Movement
The Arab Weekly/September 26/2021
TUNIS--More than 100 prominent officials of Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda party, including lawmakers and former ministers, resigned on Saturday in protest at the leadership’s performance, the biggest blow yet to the party which is facing a severe split. Ennahda, the largest party in parliament, has been thrown into crisis by its response to President Kais Saied’s sacking of the government and suspension of parliament on July 25. The Islamist party’s internecine wars started prior to July 25 with many leading figures rebelling against the policies of party chief Rached Ghannouchi whom they accused of clinging to the top leadership position against the provisions of the party’s bylaws. Most opinion polls have consistently shown Ghannouchi to be the “least trusted politician” in the country. In a statement, 113 senior officials from the party said they had resigned due to wrong choices taken by Ennahda’s leadership, which had led to its isolation and failure to engage in any common front to confront Saied’s decisions. Among the resignations are eight lawmakers and several former ministers, including former Minister of Health Abdellatif Mekki. “I feel deeply sad…I feel the pain of separation…but I have no choice after I tried for a long time, especially in recent months…I take responsibility for the decision that I made for my country,” Mekki said on Facebook. Since Saied’s move two months ago, Ennahda officials have demanded that their leader Rached Ghannouchi, the parliament speaker, resign over the party’s response to the crisis and key choices he has made since a 2019 election. Ghannouchi last month dismissed the party’s executive committee in an effort to calm the protests against him. Ennahda has been the leading party in Tunisia since the 2011 uprising that led to the ousting of its long-time president, playing a role in backing successive coalition governments. It was eventually blamed by the public fo the governments’ failures as the economy stagnated, the health pandemic span out of control and public services declined. Since 2019, Ennahda has lost many traditional allies in its struggle with Saied, especially the Democratic Current and the People’s Movement. Increasingly isolated politically and among the public, the Islamist party has also lost the trust of loyal factions in light of its poor governance over the past ten years. Tunisia has often been praised as a rare success story for its democratic transition after the so-called Arab spring mass protests sparked by its 2011 uprising. But many Tunisians are angered by a political class seen as disconnected from the suffering of the poor, amid high unemployment and spiralling prices. This anger turned into a massive wave of support for the president’s July 25 measures. Few months before Saied suspended parliament, police repression of protests and mass arrests raised questions about the intentions of Ennahda and about whether Tunisia was sliding back towards heavy-handed security practices to silence dissent and intimidate protesters. Some leftist activists have even warned about “a return of the police state,” which they said had been co-opted by Islamists to reinforce their grab on power. As the isolation of Ennahda grew earlier this year, Ghannouchi, in particular, has been facing accusations of serious errors such as poor management of parliamentary procedures and making unauthorised unilateral decisions. He has been repeatedly criticised for alleged abuse of authority and infringing on the prerogatives of President Kais Saied. But analysts point out the whole party faces a steady erosion of public support and atrophy of its traditional constituencies. The speculate that the resigning officials intend to form a new party after the mother-ship has sunk.

The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 26-27/2021
Putting bigotry on a pedestal
Oussama Romdhani/The Arab Weekly/September 26/2021
Elections and sensationalist media seem to bring out the worst in people. And France is no exception. Considering all the hype coming out of French media during the days before last Thursday’s TV debate between far-right polemicist Eric Zemmour and leftist presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melanchon, television viewers had the impression they were being invited to a pivotal debate on the eve of France’s presidential election campaign.
That was a counter-intuitive proposition since were are still about nine months away from the vote and the two contenders have no chance of winning the ballot. Nearly 70% of French voters in fact deem both unelectable to highest executive office. Still, the debate was watched by no less than three million viewers in France without counting the many countries with large francophone audiences in the Maghreb and the rest of Africa.
For the North African public which switched to the BFM-TV broadcast on the evening of September 23, the event was the equivalent of self-flagellation by satellite. Many, especially those unfamiliar with France’s social travails, wondered how a clearly-bigoted perspective could be dignified with a seat in a two-hour long live TV debate. Mr Zemmour is an adept of the conspiracy theory of “population displacement” made popular by French author and militant Renaud Camus in his 2011 book Le Grand Remplacement . There, Camus claims that white Europeans are being replaced on their own continent by non-Europeans, especially Muslims and Africans.
The theory was the ideological inspiration behind Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant’s killing of 50 Muslims in two New Zealand mosques in March 2019.
As expected, Zemmour heaped the blame for most of France’s problems on its five-million Muslim population, which, he belives, should be encouraged to “re-migrate” from France and banned, in any case, from giving their newly-born Muslim first names. France is already in the throes of a civil war that dare not say its name, according to Zemmour, because of the disproportionate number of Muslim migrants who not share the country’s republican values.
The reason, from his viewpoint, is that Islam is “not compatible with France” and “Islam is the same than Islamism”, as the Muslim religion is “in essence a political religion” that carries its own social norms and civil code.
Never mind that the five million Muslims of France constitute just about 8% of the population. Never mind that Zemmour himself is a child of Algerian Jewish migrants who arrived in France during the Algerian war in the 1950s.
The hostile behaviour of Muslims is the core of France’s crime problem, according to Zemmour. “The delinquency that we face is not just a delinquency. It is a form of Jihad. It is a war of civilisations against us, a war of pillaging, a war of rape, a war of murders,” he told viewers. Early in his career, Zemmour was a writer of slogans for a French PR firm. During the debate, some of his anti-Muslim diatribes sounded like well-prepared slogans at a bigotry festival.
“There are millions of Muslims who are not terrorist but all terrorists are Muslims,” Zemmour asserted to the dismay of his rival in the debate who admonished him: “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?,” asked Melanchon.
The leader of the French leftist movement “La France Insoumise” (France Unbowed) bears at least part of the blame for making the shocking display of insensitivity possible by agreeing to debate with someone like Zemmour. Unlike Melanchon, many other politicians have refused to provide the controversial far-rightist with a sparring partner. The channel bears a further share of the blame for staging and promoting such as a debate for the sake of ratings or maybe for other reasons that are difficult to fathom.
To save face, the channel mobilised a team of ten “fact-checkers” to vet the debaters’ statements. The fact-checkers found issue with some of the figures but did not challenge Zemmour on his dangerous generalisations, which do not differentiate between the Islamist political ideology and the faith-based Muslim value-system. Considering the terrorist incidents that have jolted France in recent months and during last few years, such confusion can only drive an unjustifiable wedge between French-Muslims and the rest of their society.
For Zemmour, a still-undeclared candidate for next year’s presidential elections, any media appearance is good in order to gnaw a little bit more of Marine Le Pen’s share in the opinion polls. His own ratings stand now at about 10%, that is double of what his figures were a few months ago. Le Pen is credited with about 20% of possible votes. The rise of Zemmour might be good news for the centre-right supporters of President Emmanuel Macron. Zemmour could conveniently splinter the far-right votes ahead of the May 2022 presidential elections and help Macron in his re-election bid.
According to a survey by the French polling firm Odoxa, Macron would pull ahead of Le Pen with 26% of the votes in the second round. But she is bound to be his main challenger if no dark horse has emerged by then. But the cost of dignifying a blatantly racist narrative is high for France and its diverse make-up. Inciting hate against a religious minority and equating Muslims with extremists is not part of what tolerant secularism should be all about.

How Iran could become a genuinely good neighbor
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/September 26/2021
The new Iranian government under Ebrahim Raisi has declared that its major priority is to improve relationships with other countries in the region. But the Islamic Republic needs to take several crucial steps in order to achieve such an objective. Gulf states are not opposed to having good relationships with Tehran as long as Iran takes the necessary steps and alters its destabilizing behavior in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman expressed hope for direct talks with Iran, pointing out at the UN General Assembly that “Iran is a neighboring country, and we hope that our initial talks with it will lead to concrete results to build confidence based on respect of sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.”First, the Iranian regime needs to change its sectarian agenda in the Middle East, and abandon the “divide and rule” tactics that set the Shiite and Sunni against each other. This means the theocratic establishment must stop supporting militia and terror groups that act on the behalf of the Islamic Republic, and advance Tehran’s parochial and ideological interests in other Arab states.
The regime’s policy of sponsoring militia groups in other nations is a major source of instability in the region and a blatant violation of national sovereignty.
When it comes to developing relationships with Saudi Arabia, the Iranian government must order the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to halt its military assistance to the Houthis. The IRGC, designated a terrorist group by the US, is a key supporter and sponsor of the militia, which it supplies with weapons, including anti-tank guided missiles, sniper rifles and rocket launchers.
This means that the Iranian regime must fundamentally alter its core mission, which stipulates: “The Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps will be responsible not only for guarding and preserving the frontiers of the country, but also fulfilling the ideological mission of jihad in God’s way; that is, extending the sovereignty of God’s law throughout the world.”Iranian leaders must respect Saudi Arabia’s national security interests. While Yemen does not pose a national security threat to the Islamic Republic, it does to Saudi Arabia, since it shares a border with the Gulf state.
Iranian leaders must respect Saudi Arabia’s national security interests. While Yemen does not pose a national security threat to the Islamic Republic, it does to Saudi Arabia, since it shares a border with the Gulf state.
Unfortunately, the Houthis’ attacks appear to have increased since US President Joe Biden assumed office in January and adopted a softer tone toward the Iranian government. Even Western officials have previously acknowledged the escalation, with a senior US defense official telling NBC News: “We’re certainly aware of a troubling increase in Houthi cross-border attacks from a variety of systems, including cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles).”When it comes to Bahrain and Kuwait, the Iranian government must stop promoting the narratives of individuals or groups that aggressively cause instability. Bahraini security forces have arrested more than 100 people on charges of terrorism and plotting attacks on government officials. Bahrain accused them of being part of a network founded by the IRGC.
This is not the first time Iran has been caught supporting terror cells in the island kingdom. Bahraini officials previously detected or dismantled several Iranian-backed groups that were planning, or had already carried out, attacks. Similarly, several Iranian diplomats were expelled from Kuwait over links to a “spy and terror” cell. Iran’s cultural and military missions also were ordered to shut down in Kuwait.
In Lebanon and Iraq, Tehran pursues the same sectarian agenda of sponsoring Shiite militant groups, such as the Popular Mobilization Forces and Hezbollah. The Iranian regime must end its political opportunism, and the use of countries such as Iraq and Syria as a proxy battleground to advance the ruling clerics’ revolutionary, strategic and geopolitical objectives.
One military institution is mainly responsible for this — the Quds Force, the elite branch of the IRGC, which is mandated to advance Iran’s ideological and political interests in foreign countries.
Finally, the Iranian regime must address the critical concerns of regional countries regarding its nuclear ambitions. To improve ties with Gulf states, Tehran must halt its nuclear program, thereby eliminating the possibility of a nuclear arms race in the region and removing the strategic threat that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the Middle East. In a nutshell, if Iranian leaders’ top priority is to develop relationships with regional powers, such as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, Tehran must abandon its sectarian agenda, support for militia and terror groups, and interference in the domestic affairs of Gulf states, and also halt its nuclear proliferation.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Iraqi voters have a rare chance to weaken Tehran’s grip
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/September 26/2021
Pity the Iraqi people. Once again they are being called upon to vote for representatives who will never represent them, and public servants who have only ever served themselves. Most citizens probably won’t bother to vote, and who can blame them? However, no less than Iraq’s identity and sovereignty are at stake. When Iraqis fail to make their voices heard, foreign enemies become empowered to dictate their interests.
For the first time since voting began in 2005, one figure is notably absent: Qassim Soleimani, the Iranian warlord who used to be everywhere in the months before and after elections, engineering Tehran-aligned political blocs to dominate the vote, and then dictating who got to be prime minister. Nouri Al-Maliki lost the election in 2010, but thanks to months of personal effort by Soleimani he kept his job while his victorious rival, Iyad Al-Alawi, was pushed aside. The price Maliki paid for power was moving wholly into Tehran’s orbit and allowing Iraq to fall under the sway of Iran-dominated militias. Thanks to a drone missile courtesy of Donald Trump, Soleimani and paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis will struggle to manipulate these elections from beyond the grave — although the death-cult ayatollahs’ regime in Tehran remains determined not to relinquish its murderous grip.
Something else has changed definitively since 2018: The advent of mass protests by furious citizens in Shiite areas crying out against social injustice and undue Iranian influence. After protesters burned down Iranian proxy offices, pro-Iranian paramilitaries staged a brutal crackdown, with hundreds of indiscriminate killings followed by an unceasing succession of broad daylight targeted killings against activists — several of whom were seen as potential credible candidates in elections. Where once Hashd paramilitaries were widely popular for their (often exaggerated) role in fighting Daesh, the Hashd are today almost universally loathed.
Although these early elections are a demand of the Tishreen protest movement that emerged in October 2019, faced with the hostility of established political forces, protesters have struggled to transform popular anger into credible electoral prospects. Indeed, women and liberal candidates have frequently had their promotional billboards vandalised, or suffered physical attacks and death threats.
There is a parallel in Lebanon, where ruling parties have been thoroughly discredited by corruption, incompetence and their role as proxies for a hostile state. Yet young, progressive and non-sectarian voices nevertheless have a mountain to climb, in part because everyone believes that their participation in the elections won’t be enough to change anything — when in fact, if everybody did participate decisively, they could move mountains.
Through massive manipulation of the vote, the Hashd’s list in 2018 came near the top of the ballot in traditionally Sunni majority areas such as Salahuddin and Diyala. This time, in locations such as Kirkuk and Nineveh, where Hashd mafiosi exert a stranglehold on the economy and society, the polls should be monitored carefully.
For the sake of Iraq, for the sake of the Arab world, for the sake of humanity — swallow your cynicism and bring everyone you know out to vote in the largest possible numbers, to slay this cancer that is corrupting the very soul of our region. The Hashd’s “Fatah Alliance” in 2018 won a miserable 48 out of 329 seats, yet partly thanks to Soleimani’s bullying tactics it managed to dominate parliament. If the Oct. 10 election is free and fair (and if the Hashd doesn’t get the vote delayed or cancelled), these Iranian proxies would be lucky to win half these seats.
Although the potential exists for this to be a moment when the puppets of Tehran suffer a richly deserved defeat, there are reasons to be skeptical. It was estimated in 2018 that actual electoral turnout was about 30 percent. In such circumstances, well-mobilized factions can turn their supporters and subordinates out in high numbers and dominate the vote.
As just one example of Iran’s exploitation of Iraqi weakness, amid regionwide water shortages, Baghdad is threatening to take Tehran to the international courts for stealing Iraq’s water supplies, leading to a disastrous reduction in water availability for agriculture. Iraq's Minister of Water Resources claimed: "We have indications that Iran is digging tunnels and changing the course of waterflow.”Western diplomats have largely thrown their support behind Muqtada Al-Sadr, believing that the influential cleric is primarily an Iraqi nationalist, opposed to Iran-backed militias. Sadrists won 54 seats in the last election, making them the largest faction in parliament and widely predicted to be the biggest winners this time. Secretive meetings have been reported between Sadrist politicians and Western diplomats, reportedly with a behind-the-scenes agreement that Sadr allow Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to remain as prime minister.
Yet Sadr emerged from the same ideological and paramilitary origins as these Iran-backed forces. He has changed sides and positions on so many occasions that who knows what he stands for any more? When his representatives controlled ministries, there were the worst excesses of corruption, cronyism and gangsterism. At one point, Sadrist officials at the Health Ministry were lending ambulances to Sadrist death squads. Opponents have been quick to blame the Sadrist mismanagement of the health sector after dozens of people died in two major hospital fires.
In recent Russian elections, liberal oppositionists were advising citizens in certain constituencies to “hold their noses” and vote for the communists as the only possible potential means of weakening Vladimir Putin. Iraqis are in a similar position: Whichever party they vote for won’t reduce unemployment, improve services or act on citizens’ behalf, but at least they can vote for parties who won’t sell their country out to a hostile neighbor.
In both Lebanon and Iraq, Tehran-backed minority factions have thoroughly manipulated the political system to consolidate their power, even as the nations themselves disintegrate under economic stagnation, theft of state funds, paramilitary violence, narcotics and weapons proliferation, and mushrooming sectarian tensions. They are able to do so only because most citizens don’t believe that their vote carries the power to realize real change and protect their nations’ sovereign identity.
For the sake of Iraq, for the sake of the Arab world, for the sake of humanity — swallow your cynicism and bring everyone you know out to vote in the largest possible numbers, to slay this cancer that is corrupting the very soul of our region.
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Why Tehran must never have a nuclear weapon
Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri/Arab News/September 26/2021
Saudi Arabia has condemned Iran’s behavior in general, and the regime’s efforts to obtain a nuclear bomb in particular, following Tehran’s failure to cooperate with the UN agency that monitors its nuclear program. This condemnation is shared by the wider region, which is watching as the Islamic Republic’s criminal activities provoke crises and threaten stability in the Gulf.
Tehran’s threat leaves the entire world at risk because of the Gulf’s vital importance to security and the global economy. After more than a decade, it is no longer acceptable for the world to stand by and watch Iran’s nuclear efforts without tightening its grip on the project, which poses a great danger in view of Iranian behavior, which has been anything but peaceful since the country’s revolution.
Saudi Arabian concerns over Iran’s dealings with International Atomic Energy Agency came after the Tehran regime initially refused to allow new memory cards to be installed in surveillance cameras monitoring its nuclear sites, prompting accusations that Iran had been stonewalling the agency’s investigations and impeding its activities.
Effective monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program is essential if there is to be any possible agreement between Iran and world powers. However, as any experienced Iran observer will know, the latest issue is simply part of a game to gain time, a card that Tehran is playing with the international community as part of its quest to build a nuclear weapon.
Tehran’s destabilizing efforts are numerous, ranging from its support for terrorist militias and harboring members of terror groups to the supplying of ballistic missiles and drones to militants in the region. Alongside this runs the regime’s ugly human rights record. The failure to hold Iran responsible for these flagrant violations of international norms and laws means Tehran now believes it is beyond accountability, which encourages the regime to pursue its nuclear ambitions. That is why the Kingdom voiced concerns about Iran’s non-compliance with the nuclear safeguards agreement and its lack of transparency with the IAEA, since this constitutes a threat to the agency and affects the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Tehran’s destabilizing efforts are numerous, ranging from its support for terrorist militias and harboring members of terror groups to the supplying of ballistic missiles and drones to militants in the region.
Saudi Arabia supports all international efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, as well as the development of a nuclear non-proliferation regime in the region and the world. The Kingdom has repeatedly called for action on the nuclear threat and for the Middle East to be free of nuclear weapons. In this regard, Saudi Arabia highlighted the importance of fully implementing the 1995 resolution on the establishment of a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East.
Riyadh also adheres to a national policy that guarantees the highest standards of transparency, credibility and security. It is also working on developing peaceful uses of nuclear technology in various fields, including a national nuclear energy project. Saudi Arabia held talks with several other countries at the IAEA general conference in Vienna last week, including the US delegation led by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
There is no doubt that benefiting from nuclear energy is of great importance, but ignoring regimes that refuse to observe international laws and spread devastation is as dangerous as the nuclear bomb itself. The international community must fulfil its responsibilities and not allow Tehran to possess nuclear weapons — or else it will be lost. Iran and the world powers have abandoned their greatest responsibilities in the region, a failure that may, in turn, lead to wars and conflicts whose consequences will be catastrophic and extend beyond the region itself.
Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri is a political analyst and international relations scholar. Twitter: @DrHamsheri

Al-Kadhimi’s balancing act to preserve Iraq’s national unity
Yaşar Yakış/Arab News/September 26/2021
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi convened a summit for “cooperation and partnership” in Baghdad last month, with the participation of King Abdullah of Jordan, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the president of the UAE Sheikh Khalifa bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, the emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, and French President Emmanuel Macron — the only non-Middle Eastern leader to take part.
Some Turkish media analysts suggested that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not attend in order to avoid criticism of Turkey’s policy in various Middle Eastern countries, including Iraq. Others said he did not want to sit at the same table as El-Sisi, who he continues to criticize while also courting Egypt to initiate a thaw in relations with Cairo. Or he may have had other priorities. Turkey was represented at the summit by Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu.
Kadhimi has led the Iraqi national intelligence service, so he knows the intricacies of the power balance in the Middle East. As a non-sectarian politician he has been able to keep his distance from Iran, and he tries to keep Iraq in a non-aligned position as part of a “zero enemies” policy. This approach may not eliminate all Iraq’s problems, but will certainly alleviate them.
The main purpose of the meeting was to seek ways to overcome Iraq’s political, economic and security challenges. In domestic politics, Kadhimi may be able to introduce a policy less influenced by sectarian connections and strike a balance among the three main political groups —Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis. This is a policy that Iraq badly needs, because it has in the past suffered a lot from sectarian and ethnic divisions. The threat is real and if it is not properly addressed it may jeopardize the country’s territorial integrity. The Kurds have always been tempted to gain independence because their cause is steadily moving up the international agenda.
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the US, moved by anti-Saddam sentiment, demonized everything related to the dictator, including the Baathist structure that was mainly composed of Sunnis. It did not take into account thatreducing the Sunni weight in domestic politics would consequently lead to the ascendance of Shiite influence, which means Iranian influence. Kadhimi did his best to keep his distance from Iran, but it is still unclear whether the encroachment of Iranian influence can be contained. Iran’s penetration in Iraq is deep and may not be easy to uproot.
The prime minister’s efforts to solve the long catalogue of Iraq’s problems are praiseworthy.
On the other hand, if the expectations of the Shiite population in the south of Iraq are not met, they also may be tempted to seek autonomy or independence in the future. If Kadhimi returns as prime minister after elections on Oct. 10, a non-sectarian approach to Iraq’s problems may be further consolidated. His performance so far has proved that he is capable of doing it. Among the political figures who have tried it so far, Kadhimi has demonstrated the most dexterity.
Iraq is now fighting to consolidate its national unity by trying to keep the Kurds within the union, despite strong US support for the promotion of the Kurdish autonomy and perhaps independence some time in the future.
The second purpose of last month’s meeting was to promote dialogue among the countries of the region on a variety of issues, including conflicts in Syria and Yemen and the financial collapse of Lebanon. It also coincided with the US withdrawal from the region and the resumption of negotiations on the Iran nuclear deal. Another important aspect of the summit was the efforts that Kadhimi has been making to defuse the tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia. He also hosted another undisclosed meeting in April between these two important neighbors. This is a task that few leaders in the Middle East have been able to achieve. In addition to several other vulnerabilities, Iraq is also negatively affected by the tension between these two neighbors.
Turkey is another target country for Iraq to cooperate with, but there are limits for such cooperation. Arab countries consider themselves a family and regard non-Arab countries as outsiders. Turkey is one of them. Furthermore, the Ottoman legacy is remembered in many Arab countries mostly for its negative aspects. Therefore, it is worth trying, but the success is not guaranteed. Turkey’s recent initiatives in Syria, Libya and the Caucasus, and its enduring military presence in the north of Iraq, are additional issues that hamper genuine cooperation. Kadhimi’s efforts to solve the long catalogue of Iraq’s problems are praiseworthy, but they are not likely to be eliminated any time soon.
• Yasar Yakis is a former foreign minister of Turkey and founding member of the ruling AK Party. Twitter: @yakis_yasar